What has been working for me thus far is a breakfast with lots of protein (2 scrambled eggs, black beans, jalapenos and salsa on a tortilla)
I eat a handful of fruit whenever I am hungry before I eat something more substantial. Thankfully that is really easy this time of year. Blueberries were two bucks a pint today at Whole Foods and the farmers market has some heavenly peaches and strawberries. I drink lots of water. I ride a bike or walk instead of drive, and I attempt to run and swim at least half an hour each day.
I am not so good at ‘clean eating’ I love cheeseburgers and beer and will happily go running for forty minutes to justify a in and out burger. I realize that may seem a bit sick…but it is what it is.
FWIW: I do weigh myself every morning, but I don’t feel like it is detrimental. I am aware that my weight fluctuates based on many factors (just as it would if I weighed myself every Saturday) If I have lost weight then I am inspired, and if I have gained it is that much easier to pass up a cupcake offered to me. Denying oneself peanuts is silly, denying a cupcake doesn’t seem neurotic to me.
What has been working for me thus far is a breakfast with lots of protein (2 scrambled eggs, black beans, jalapenos and salsa on a tortilla)
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Awesome breakfast idea! I’m now facing the challenge of no-wheat breakfasts, and this would probably be pretty great with rice instead of a tortilla. This morning I made two eggs with red peppers and green onions/parmesan reggiano, and it has been a nice, stable, craving-free morning ever since. It really does seem to make a difference whether I’m eating a bread-like thing or a protein-like thing for breakfast.
One recipe I’m excited to try for breakfast is a kind of paleo recipe I found, ground flax seed with pumpkin puree.
Today’s workout will be a bit of a challenge. Five sets of 10 of 6 different exercises, including push-ups.
Why not buy clothes? Then get rid of the “fat” clothes and not allow yourself to gain the weight again. I’ve lost 40 lbs so far, and every time I lose an inch I switch to a smaller pair of pants. I. Will. Not. Go. Back!
I’m so freakin’ happy right now I could burst. I did 50 push-ups! Chest-to-the-ground, good form 50 push-ups! These are the days that make all that other crap worth it.
I’ve decided to start losing weight, mostly due to health issues. I have a nerve compressed that will ‘supposedly’ get better if I shrink my waist. I’m not going by bodyweight, I’m more concerned with waist size.
I lost about 2-3" about 4 months ago, that was more because my pants stopped fitting. recently I started up again with slim fast, but I think I’m losing too fast. I can run a 2000+ deficit without problems, and that kind of deficit can cause loose skin. yesterday I did about 4 hours of hiking. with my normal maintenance and all the activity I probably burned 6k calories. I had barely eaten 900 by nightfall, so I ate another 1200 before bed. for me I’d rather do a vlcd liquid diet because weight loss is easier for me that way and easier to stay motivated, but those have negative effects for skin.
I need to slow down and aim for 3 lbs a week, which is about half an inch a week in my waist. at that speed there shouldn’t be much loose skin. that is about 1500 deficit a day, so about 2500 calories.
Nice work, olives! I’d love to have that arm strength and I will one day!
I’ve cancelled my WW sub and gone with My Fitness Pal, it has apps for iPad/iPhone and seems to be working well for me. I especially like the way I can alter the percentages of carbs/fat/protein.
Had a fairly stressful weekend - my husband got caught up in the Turkey riots thanks to being there for a medical meeting for work. He rang me on Thursday night to say he’d arrived and mentioned it was quite noisy outside, maybe there had been a football match or something.Then he rings me on Friday night and starts with, ‘I don’t want you to worry but…’. Basically, the park/square where the riots began was right outside his hotel. They couldn’t leave the hotel on Friday night. On Saturday, I lost contact with him (there was talk of the government intervening but it may have just been the networks getting overloaded) so it was a very stressful day. Finally got in contact with him on Saturday evening, 8.30pm when he landed back in the UK.
Sunday was a bit of a ‘let’s pretend nothing happened’ day and we went out to a local horse showjumping event which was really good because it kept us both occupied. Today I arrived at work, sat down at my desk and wanted to burst into tears. I think I’d spent Saturday being stressed, Sunday worrying more about my husband’s mental health than mine, and it just came crashing down this morning. I rang my manager, explained the situation and she sent me home. My husband works from home and also decided to take a bit of a mental health day today so we’ve had a nice quiet day together, sitting in the sun and reading books.
Anyways, this isn’t my personal blog so I’ll shut up now. Suffice to say, we had a ‘no holds barred’ day at the showjumping yesterday so that meant donuts in the morning, a foot long sausage for lunch (at least I didn’t eat the baguette), a soft serve with a flake in the afternoon, followed by honey roasted mixed nuts. Dinner was at least a healthy vegeterian frittata!
So I’m trying to have a few good low carb days now. I’ve had a hell of a headache all morning that has taken three doses of panadol to shift. I guess it could be a mixture of carby-food, stress and dehydration.
That does sound really stressful. I’m glad the two of you were able to get some down time.
Today is my 6 month fitness anniversary! For six months I have exercised daily, rain or shine, sickness and health, depression or none. Go me!
Sr. Olives and I went hiking yesterday. It was 85 degrees and humid. We were planning on doing 3-4 miles but we took a few wrong turns (oops) and ended up going about 6 miles, which is the furthest I’ve done so far. We were rather unprepared for a long trek as this was right before lunch, but we slogged through and overall enjoyed ourselves. I’ve had a massive headache ever since.
I’m officially going wheat-free for a month just to see what happens. The last few days I have experienced profound fatigue, difficulty staying awake every morning, both on the drive to work and sitting in front of my computer in the office. This is after a full night’s rest. I’ve been opting for protein things for breakfast more than carb things. Could the fatigue/headaches be some kind of withdrawal? The book I’m reading says to expect wheat withdrawal initially, so I’m not panicking or anything, but damn, I hope we can get on with it soon.
Can I be a bit of a wet blanket here? I’ve been exercising like mad for about six weeks and have barely lost 3 pounds. I’m sort of curious how that’s even possible; I know I’m burning calories and I don’t think I’m eating any worse, or any more, than usual.
Oh, hell yeah, I hear you Robot Arm. I was the same, and for a longer period of time. My advice, the advice I was given, was to use a food diary. I use My Fitness Pal. You get calorie credit for the exercise, but man, was I eating the wrong stuff. Try it!
It’s what I’ve been talking about with weight being a bad measure. If you step up your exercise routine, your body stores more water in your muscles along with a few other changes which can actually increase your weight, but obviously not your fat. Do you feel better? Do you have more muscular definition/less fat anywhere? Are you shrinking around the fatty parts? Those are all better measures.
When I started working out a lot a couple of months ago I actually gained 10 pounds over the next few weeks, but I gained some muscle definition where there wasn’t before, so none of the weight was bad weight, and in fact probably masked a little bit of fat loss.
I’ve been a bike rider for most of my life, with occasional 5-10 year lapses. The last few years, I’ve kept track of my mileage, average speed, weight, etc. (I’m not obsessing over it, just find the progress and fluctuations very interesting.) I had a good year in 2010; riding a 20-mile loop and my weight went down considerably. This year I got started a couple months earlier, and I’m trying to do 25 miles per day. (Skipping a day now and then.) The results have been very different.
I have a few theories.
I lost weight over the winter (probably from curling and cutting way back on soda); didn’t have my scale unpacked yet, but maybe 7-10 pounds. Perhaps the low-hanging fruit (in weight-loss terms) was already taken care of.
I was sick for a while in early April. Maybe the number I’m using for my starting weight was unusually low if I was still recovering.
I could be overdoing it this year. I don’t know enough of the details of burning calories, conserving fluids, etc., but maybe I’m not recovering enough and letting the metabolic processes run their course.
I definitely feel better. When the weather turns good, the first few rides each year are a bit of a struggle. My average speed is improving and I feel less worn out after riding. (That depends on the conditions; it was in the 90s over the weekend, which will take a bit out of me.) Haven’t really noticed a change in the fit of my clothes (but they were already a little loose) or muscle definition, except you could bounce a quarter off my calves.
I’m checking it out. I’ve put in everything I ate yesterday and today (haven’t had dinner yet) and the exercise. The calorie credit it’s giving me seems way out of line with numbers I’ve seen elsewhere. I rode 25 miles today in about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Other calorie calculators I’ve seen would put that around 700-800 calories (~400 per hour, or 30 per mile); My Fitness Pal is giving me a credit of 1,758 calories burned.
I haven’t found a way to do that, yet. It asks for the type of exercise and the duration, and it already knows my weight, but I can’t find a way to override those.
For that matter, it’s a bit imprecise. I kicked ass on the ride today; was trying to keep up with some people just a little faster than my usual pace and wound up with my fastest time so far. But in Fitness Pal, it’s the same type of exercise (bicycling, 14-16 mph) and a shorter time, so fewer calories for riding faster.
The last two days haven’t been exactly typical, but the calorie numbers have been about what I figured. Sodium and sugar were a little high yesterday, but I went to a burrito place for dinner.
My birthday, and thus my eat what you want day, is now over after way too much key lime pie (my favorite treat!) and two beers. Now to buckle down and get some muscles. To motivate myself, I bought a bikini at a thrift store and I am determined to look good in it by the end of summer. Yes, silly for a girl who has to wear a long sleeve rashguard at the beach, but I want to look good in that bikini regardless of whether I can actually wear it outside! I’ve gained a pound despite being the same measurements, so I think the Pilates torture is starting to work at making me not a weakling.
Weight loss, done. Now to get truly strong and healthy.
I’ve decided to start weighing myself daily. I’ve read enough at this point to feel it is not dangerous, and may actually be helpful. This morning I weighed in at just under 180, making a total of 12 pounds lost. I’ve had some good workouts lately, and I’m finally starting to feel a bit better.
