Fitness/Weightloss 2014

[Sheherezade]

Heidi - I'm the same way. It really does suck. It sucks a LOT. I try to tell myself I'm just the world's most efficient machine to put a positive spin on it. Still, and I know I've complained about this on here and not everyone believes me, the only way I lose weight is by flipping the calorie switch HARD. When I take in 1200 calls or less, and do a daily 90 minute workout, I will EVENTUALLY see the scale start to move. Usually after I've had a few days of starvation feelings, total energy collapse and general complete bitchiness. Then and only then, my body finally starts burning some of the long stored fat.

Honestly, I don't always have the energy to battle that process. It's a lot of psychic energy and it IS harder than others have it. Still, that's me. I'm generally healthy and strong, so I'm not going to bitch about my body at 46. It has served me well.

I have found that 4 years of steady, vigorous exercise seems to have finally shifted my fat distribution. I've never been able to lose weight around my shoulders, it seems to go on/off my hips and stomach. Finally, my arms are slimmer and more defined. I've added muscles but clearly also locally lost fat. It's weird - not sure why that would be local...my butt is still well padded!

Anyhow, I sympathize. It's a raw deal. I could try to muster the will to climb back on the calorie restriction with you. Not sure if that would help, but I hope it helps a little to realize that someone else gets it.


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[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

I gained this week while consistently dieting...it frustrated me and so I fell off the wagon...which resulted in more gain. So I WAS down 6lbs...and then regained 5. Grrr.

[MAPPLEBUM]

Heidi - I'm the same way. It really does suck. It sucks a LOT. I try to tell myself I'm just the world's most efficient machine to put a positive spin on it. Still, and I know I've complained about this on here and not everyone believes me, the only way I lose weight is by flipping the calorie switch HARD. When I take in 1200 calls or less, and do a daily 90 minute workout, I will EVENTUALLY see the scale start to move. Usually after I've had a few days of starvation feelings, total energy collapse and general complete bitchiness. Then and only then, my body finally starts burning some of the long stored fat.

Honestly, I don't always have the energy to battle that process. It's a lot of psychic energy and it IS harder than others have it. Still, that's me. I'm generally healthy and strong, so I'm not going to bitch about my body at 46. It has served me well.

I have found that 4 years of steady, vigorous exercise seems to have finally shifted my fat distribution. I've never been able to lose weight around my shoulders, it seems to go on/off my hips and stomach. Finally, my arms are slimmer and more defined. I've added muscles but clearly also locally lost fat. It's weird - not sure why that would be local...my butt is still well padded!

Anyhow, I sympathize. It's a raw deal. I could try to muster the will to climb back on the calorie restriction with you. Not sure if that would help, but I hope it helps a little to realize that someone else gets it.


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This is me, at 27. I'd really like to be cute for our pictures in Sonoma next month but am starting to doubt if that will happen. Maybe I should just step on the scale.

[MAPPLEBUM]

Alright I did it. I'm about 5lbs heavier than I expected. I've gained 23 lbs in the last year and a half. The Midwest is not serving me well.

[Sheherezade]

Fitness/Weightloss 2014

27, 46. It's all the same! . At least for me. I wish I'd realized this about my body earlier and made peace with it. That actually would have helped me stay at a healthy weight. I've always been stable weight wise, but pregnancy added 40-50 lbs (lost 20 in delivery). Afterwards, your left with an extra 20. Then I had a second kid! I ended up post pregnancies with an extra 40 lbs that I can only lose at this glacial pace. That's discouraging. I end up losing 10, feeling discouraged and quitting. Then I gain back 5...and repeat.

Had I realized what my own metabolism did in reaction to diet and exercise I would have made a sustained effort to lose between pregnancies - or I would have been less discouraged by "wimpy" diets not working. At least I would have beat myself up less about it until I was ready to lose - and I would have done more to maintain.

My 2 cent advice is to learn what works for you and not let others or trends affect your thinking. Smart phone apps with monitoring really do help. You eventually see patterns. Then you can replicate.

We have to stick together! I tell my daughter (who is cursed with the same metabolism) that we get great mileage! Seriously, I can go 500 miles on a single tank of BBQ.

[spotty_dog]

I have so much weight to lose. It's just so daunting. DH and I have been very good diet-wise since the New Year. Even at a recruiting dinner the other night I ate a beet and arugula salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. I hate it when I'm asked, "Is that all you want?" No damnit. I want it all. I want all the things.

My calories have been between 1400-1800 a day, and I'm burning more than that (about 2100). I've gained weight. It's not muscle. I'm not really working out yet. I'm not eating too little either.

This sucks. It's no wonder I never stick with anything and give up. I'm really trying, and I get no results. Why do I even bother?

DH has lost about 6 pounds. Yay for DH.

I'm eating and burning in the same range as you (Fitbit says my average for the past three weeks has been 2190 burn, 1600 intake). My scale went up for the first 5 days, then a little dip, then up for another 5 days, then a dip, and now it's been up for the past week or more. I am not working out by any means, but I've walked briskly for an average of 30 minutes a day during that same week. The bodyfat calculator on the scale tells me that the reason my weight is up is that I'm gaining muscle. Just from a little extra effort to walk. And I believe it, I feel a little stronger at walking and this has been a pretty significant uptick in my activity levels, makes sense that some relatively atrophied areas are bringing in the reinforcements. And even a 1/2 pound shift from fat to muscle in a week is a big deal! It is a long process, there's no getting around that. But since, on average, 75% of your calorie burn is from BMR, every little bit of muscle counts to accelerate the amount of energy you use. Over two weeks of sticking to it! You are off to a great start!!

[poky]

I'd really like to be cute for our pictures in Sonoma next month but am starting to doubt if that will happen

I understand that you want to lose weight. Since when is "cute" a number on a scale, though? Please don't tell yourself you can't be cute unless you weigh less!

[MAPPLEBUM]

Haha yea my body loves to pack the fat! I eat pretty well, and for the most part not too large of quantities, but I can have 3 cocktails in an evening without batting an eye....well as long as it's spread out across several hours. So that needs to change. I do think I know what works for me. Dark veggies, only chicken, no cheese, few sweets, little fruit, low carb, work out twice a day, and always finish eating before I'm full. I'm going to commit to it for the next month, as well as logging calories consumed on Spark (which I've done in the past). Did 30 minutes on bike trainer and a 20 minute Fitness Blender Tabata video. 5 weeks to vacation, I can do this.

[Michele]

Jillian Michaels is kicking my butt, in a good way. I've done the Ripped in 30 DVD workout 1 for the past 5 of 6 days. And I can already tell my clothes are fitting better. Some of it is water weight, but I think I'm toning up what I let get loose the last few months.

It's really really annoying to lose weight I already lost once. I know you all know how annoying that is. I just wish I could remember that feeling around a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough.

[Michele]

Could FitBit be wrong? If a pound is 3500 calories, you should lose if you are burning more than you take in. I understand the muscle weighing more than fat, but I still think you would notice an improvement in shape if the scale wasn't moving quickly. I just can't imagine that I would burn 2100 calories without exercising at all.

Jillian Michaels offers her 30 day diet plan with the Ripped in 30 DVD in case anyone wants some diet food ideas. (I'm sure you can google it, but if not let me know.) She recommends between 1200-1400 calories a day while doing the workouts to get maximum results. I honestly don't know her from any other fitness guru, except she's on Biggest Loser, right? I've never seen that show either. I picked up the DVD because it was on sale at Target and my friend said it was good.

[spotty_dog]

Could FitBit be wrong? If a pound is 3500 calories, you should lose if you are burning more than you take in. I understand the muscle weighing more than fat, but I still think you would notice an improvement in shape if the scale wasn't moving quickly. I just can't imagine that I would burn 2100 calories without exercising at all.

Jillian Michaels offers her 30 day diet plan with the Ripped in 30 DVD in case anyone wants some diet food ideas. (I'm sure you can google it, but if not let me know.) She recommends between 1200-1400 calories a day while doing the workouts to get maximum results. I honestly don't know her from any other fitness guru, except she's on Biggest Loser, right? I've never seen that show either. I picked up the DVD because it was on sale at Target and my friend said it was good.

Start here for your resting metabolic rate. Mine is about 1400 calories. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm That's if I lie in bed and do nothing but breathe.

At my weight, walking at about 2mph burns somewhere under 200 calories per hour. On my most sedentary day this week, I was moving around for 5.7 hours. (Fitbit logged me at just a bit over 2100 calories that day.)

So no, you are almost definitely burning at least 2100 calories per day without consciously working out, Michele, since you're taller than I am and have an active job.

[Michele]

Goodness! It put me at about 1350 for resting metabolic rate. It really doesn't seem like I burn that much (2100) during the day. Shrug. I see scale movement at a net of about 1500 calories a day. The FitBit sounds neat though and I could totally see myself trying to fidget and wiggle my way to more "burn".

[MAPPLEBUM]

I understand that you want to lose weight. Since when is "cute" a number on a scale, though? Please don't tell yourself you can't be cute unless you weigh less!

I've thought long and hard about this over the years and I've decided there's nothing wrong with saying to myself I don't look or feel cute at this weight. It doesn't really have much to do with other people. DH would be shocked to know how much weight I've gained. But when I see pictures of myself at this weight I'm like blleehhh gross. Haha. It's just being honest. I've exercised more or less consistently for the past 3+ years. I don't drink soda or eat much processed foods. I eat dark/fatty meets a few times a month, nothing regularly. Sure I like cheese and sweets but neither of those happen on a daily basis. So I'm healthy. But cosmetically, I don't like the way clothes fit me, I'm starting to wear looser shirts again, it's no good. No good!

[diggitydot]

Either their formula is way fucked up or my metabolism is stooopid. It lists my RMR at an average of 2,050. I have a hard time forcing myself to eat more than 1,500 per day. I'm usually around 1,200 and don't lose anything.

Whatev. My metabolism can go eat a dick.

[spotty_dog]

Goodness! It put me at about 1350 for resting metabolic rate. It really doesn't seem like I burn that much (2100) during the day. Shrug. I see scale movement at a net of about 1500 calories a day. The FitBit sounds neat though and I could totally see myself trying to fidget and wiggle my way to more "burn".

On LoseIt, your "net" is your food eaten minus your conscientious extra exercise, right? So you eat 1800 calories, burn 300 intentionally, your body starts to shift your composition to be one that can be supported at about that level of intake and output? Sounds pretty reasonable, and represents about a 20% deficit if my guess is accurate.

Fitbit is definitely a neat little thing. What I like best is that the combination of the 10k steps goal, and the 30 active minutes goal, basically makes me re-think the activity level of my whole life. A quick workout doesn't get you to 10k...a small effort might not do it...yesterday I made what felt like a serious effort, spent 2.5 hours on my feet, walking a brisk 2 miles as well as running errands around the elementary school, and it almost didn't get me there! But doing all your errands by foot but slow and meandering, even if you also do a quiet-ish yoga or pilates workout, won't get you to 30 aerobic minutes. So if cardiovascular health is important, you've got to think regular movement as well as occasionally intense movement. It's, like, a total paradigm shift, man. (And the algorithm is really slick. Just fidgeting wouldn't earn you any steps. )