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Define success

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  • Define success

    If you are in the midst of a weight loss or fitness plan, can you describe what will qualify as success for you? Not necessarily in terms of numbers, but in terms of how you look, how you feel, how you live, how you perform at your chosen activity?

    I set out a couple of years ago to get fit enough to keep up with my family and be comfortable and happy hiking. I wanted to drop my blood pressure out of the "prehypertensive" zone it'd been in since my late 20s. I wanted my electronic scale to read below 30% body fat -- because 25-30% is NORMAL for women (although electronic scales are quite inaccurate and I expect calipers would put me at least 5% lower than what the scale reads.) I wanted to be a good example for my children of making physical activity an enjoyable part of everyday life. I wanted to have a base fitness that would allow me to temporarily train harder and achieve more lofty goals, like running or riding farther or faster.

    I'd say I'm there. My blood pressure is about 130/80, which is better than it was but can still be improved for sure. My total cholesterol is 156, which I'm pretty stoked about, since I think my paternal aunts had to go on cholesterol-lowering drugs in their 40s! My bodyfat scale has been below 30% since last May, and my weight has been steady within a +/- three pound range for over 18 months. I ran regularly all last summer, and my kids and I hiked farther and steeper than we ever have before! My kids now absolutely love biking and hiking, and my son is ready to train to run a 5k. I'm training for the half marathon and feeling really confident I can PR it, but I also don't feel like I have to run always and forever to maintain my body shape where I want it -- I might well take November through January off again, swapping brisk walks for running, and be none the worse for wear.

    How about you? Where have you started, where are you now, where are you going from here?
    Alison

  • #2
    Some of mine is on the scale - I need to get at least back to a weight that is within my healthy BMI range. Some of it is fitting into my clothes. Some of it is just feeling happier with my body.

    I should be aiming to be healthier. I haven't had a checkup in a long time, and I'm sure my cholesterol is high, since it usually is. I'd love to get that back under control too.
    Allison - professor; wife to a urology attending; mom to baby girl E (11/13), baby boy C (2/16), and a spoiled cat; knitter and hoarder of yarn; photographer

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    • #3
      I'm shamelessly about aesthetics. I'm down about 10 pounds since the last fall and I feel so much better about myself. I'm getting into old clothes that I haven't worn in two years! I'm buying a new swim suit this year

      I'm enjoying lifting weights and seeing how much stronger I can get. I like the curves of muscles. I'd like to get my body fat % down to 18-20%. That is definitely a long term goal with steady progress. I'm measuring it by my ab definition. I've always had low BP and cholesterol. My genetic line is very healthy. I'd also like to shoot par on my golf course someday and qualify for tournaments. That's where my life will end happily.
      -Ladybug

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      • #4
        Body sculpting can absolutely be a goal in and of itself.

        I think I calipered at 18% when I took this photo. I was 25, working out at least 15 hours a week, and I was starting to get erratic menstrual cycles. This was VERY lean for me, and I was also starting to flirt with disordered eating, which is why I posed to accentuate my ribs:



        My friend the bodybuilder and fitness coach (trained with the Poliquin Group) had her first figure competition in March, which she entered in order to get more experience that would help her with her coaching clients. She's just a few weeks out from her second competition. She's amazingly strong and has an incredibly cut physique right now -- and her hard work to get there helps me to realize that body recomposition will never be an important enough goal for me to do that amount of work. You mentioned you like fitness Instagrams...https://www.instagram.com/shannyn/
        Alison

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        • #5
          I'm totally following her. She's great! Thanks. I'm starting to see my abs for the first time in years. I want to get a caliper just for curiosity. What kind of scale are you using for BF measurements?
          -Ladybug

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          • #6
            The resting heart rate and BP are clean. The next step is taking off the final 10-20lbs of fat, and adding 5-10lbs of muscle.
            Since I'm on the injured list for running, I'm working on flexibility, range of motion, and really getting into weights.
            I found someone that I think jives with me, and isn't too sadistic. 😅
            I'm sore from my eval today, that for sure...


            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
            Wife to Family Medicine attending, Mom to DS1 and DS2
            Professional Relocation Specialist &
            "The Official IMSN Enabler"

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            • #7
              Wait, I've been measuring body fat by waist, hips, wrist, and forearm measurements. Is that not right?

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              • #8
                I set my goal based on BMI since I didn't have a good way to measure body fat percentage. It's more weight-focused, but I have a pretty normal build, so it works for me. When I had my fitness assessment by my trainer, their machine said I had 25.4% body fat. I'm hoping to gain more muscle over the 6-month contract, so that should go down a little.
                Laurie
                My team: DH (anesthesiologist), DS (9), DD (8)

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                • #9
                  For me, it's about getting to my goal weight (10 lbs to go) in a HEALTHY way. I know that I could get there in 2 weeks if I wanted to...I'm that vain and that sadistic. But I have been there and don't want to go anywhere near there again. So for me, it's about losing reasonably and appropriately. Id really like to improve my flexibility and tone. I've always been able to see my abs, it's just my build but my legs are overbuilt because all I do is running. I want to increase flexibility and balance in my legs this year.

                  Also, I want to model a healthy food relationship for my kids. No "fat" comments about myself or rigid rules, etc. I struggle with not verbalizing negatively about myself but I know the girls can hear it and will pick up on it.

                  One of my greatest triumphs was C pretending to "have a baby in her belly" and having her tell our nanny while on a walk "I want to walk or run to help keep my baby healthy!" She had actually absorbed a healthy message vs my vanity that I wanted to be "all bump" when I was pregnant.
                  Married to a Urology Attending! (that is an understated exclamation point)
                  Mama to C (Jan 2012), D (Nov 2013), and R (April 2016). Consulting and homeschooling are my day jobs.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by MAPPLEBUM View Post
                    Wait, I've been measuring body fat by waist, hips, wrist, and forearm measurements. Is that not right?
                    That seems like a terrific way to judge progress, but I think any body fat % you extrapolate from there would be just an estimate? The most accurate way to measure is some kind of a tank thing that high-end sports physiologists or the like would have, where they can measure your density directly. The second most accurate way is to have a person who's been trained in the correct use of calipers go over you skin-pinching at multiple locations and measuring the folds, then calculating from there. I have a Tanita scale that measures by electrical impedance: it sends a current through one foot and down into the other, and estimates bodyfat by knowing about how much resistance muscle gives vs. fat. So it only goes through the lower body, and I'm moderately pear-shaped, which is just one reason why I think it's fairly inaccurate for me, but again -- a good way to judge progress! It's nice to see that the number has gone down from 35 to 30 in the past couple of years.
                    Last edited by spotty_dog; 05-25-2016, 05:47 PM.
                    Alison

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Ladybug View Post
                      I'm totally following her. She's great! Thanks. I'm starting to see my abs for the first time in years. I want to get a caliper just for curiosity. What kind of scale are you using for BF measurements?
                      She's just such a cool person in general. We were in an online due date club together with our 2009 babies (her first, my second) and we've been Facebook friends for years and years, so I've been able to see her passion for fitness and strength training grow into a serious career. She's so hardcore, but so down to earth about it all!

                      It's a Tanita scale, about 10 years old.
                      Alison

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                      • #12
                        On the body fat note, I'm doing this (hydrostatic testing) next week! (They are coming to OrangeTheory)

                        http://bodyanalyticsusa.com/

                        $40/pop

                        I want to do one now and see how much it changes in about 3-4 months
                        Married to a newly minted Pediatric Rad, momma to a sweet girl and a bunch of (mostly) cute boy monsters.



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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by SoonerTexan View Post
                          On the body fat note, I'm doing this (hydrostatic testing) next week! (They are coming to OrangeTheory)

                          http://bodyanalyticsusa.com/

                          $40/pop

                          I want to do one now and see how much it changes in about 3-4 months
                          I've always wanted to do that! Let me know how it goes!!!


                          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                          • #14
                            Oh that's super cool! I'm jealous!
                            Married to a Urology Attending! (that is an understated exclamation point)
                            Mama to C (Jan 2012), D (Nov 2013), and R (April 2016). Consulting and homeschooling are my day jobs.

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                            • #15
                              Success for me is being able to shower.
                              For now, I'm barely going to be 3 months pp. I would just like to fit into my regular clothes again but it's not looking like its anytime soon. With my first it took me 18 months to lose all the baby weight and an additional 20 lbs. I'm so impatient this time around. I would probably be considered borderline obese but I'm for sure overweight. Hoping to start working out in the future but not anytime soon since my BM takes a nose dive every single time.
                              wife to PGY1 GS and two little girls, and 1 annoying dog

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