Day108: Gain to Lose

HAHAHAHA, so true!

It’s been 108 days.  I have stayed at the same weight loss total of 22 pounds for the last 3-4 weeks.  During that time I have fluctuated by a couple of pounds.  I gained a little and lost a little, and then repeated.  I gained a little around my birthday last week, and am losing a little this week.  It just seems to be in a constant state of fluctuation for the past couple of weeks.  [I’m sure that has nothing to do with the delicious birthday cupcakes my friend Michele made!] 

It’s tough to keep fighting the battle and staying at 1200 calories when you don’t see much of a change.  So I went to the web [like most smart people do] and googled “long term dieting.”  After a few articles, I found one [at fitnessblackbook.com]  that was talking about taking “strategic breaks” during long term fat loss to boost your metabolism.  It was really interesting!  No, it’s not saying to eat a whole chocolate cake right before bedtime each night. [I wish!  Wouldn’t that be awesome to have a diet that told you to eat chocolate cake every night…along with your other food of course.  Who wants to eat JUST chocolate cake.  Ok, stupid question.] 

Here is the run down. 

1.       When you want to lose weight, you cut calorie intake and usually increase calorie expenditure [exercise].

2.       Your body responds to this cut by gradually lowering your metabolism to reserve energy for basic bodily functions.

3.       When your metabolism slows down over time, you don’t need as much calories to maintain your current weight. 

4.       You end up having to either exercise MORE or eat even LESS to maintain fat loss. [Yikes!]

So the idea is to change your caloric intake to “maintenance level”.  This means figuring out how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight.   Men can use this calculator.  Women can use this one.  Or you can go to the awesome My Fitness Pal Website and use their wonderful features.  You may gain a few pounds while your body adjusts, but they will come off easily when you go back down.

I am changing mine from losing 2 pounds per week, to 1 pound per week.  This ups my calorie intake by 380 calories!  [This for some reason makes me very happy!]  I think I will keep this for 2 weeks and then switch it back and see if I get a jump start. 

109 days is a long time to have to be very cautious about my very limited food intake.  I will be equally cautious, but I will also enjoy my extra 380 caloriesJ.

Wish me luck!

Day 100: Keep on Truckin'

It has been 100 days!  I can't believe it has been 100 days!  To tell you the truth, I am proud of myself.  I have stuck with a diet, no, healthy way of life for 100 days! Woohoo!

In those 100 days I have gained weight only twice.  Those two times have been in the last 30 days.  That's not so great.  I think that means that I am starting to slow down and get complacent.  Last week I noticed this and tried to step it up.  Last Friday I weighed in and lost the 2 pounds I gained the week before.  Now I have officially lost 22 pounds.  Pretty good, but I want more!

How do I get more?

Here is my strategy:

1- Keep working out 5-6 days a week...hard.
2- Add another strength training session per week, the more muscle I have, the more calories I will burn at rest
3- Try to finish my food diary 100 calories under

I think I can pull these off and lose another 8 pounds by May 22.  I can do it!!!

Here's to another 100 health conscious days!

Day 94: Need a Boost?

No, not the 3 pm double shot of espresso you had in your latte.  Does your metabolism [calorie burning machine] need a boost?  During a diet, you consume less calories and your body adjusts to make sure that you can work on the lower amount of calories.  This is why our metabolism may slow down mid-diet giving us the dreaded plateau.  [Yikes, I hate plateaus!]   Why not try some things to boost your metabolism back up!

Shape Magazine's article...good stuff!

Increase “Fat-Burning Foods”

There are a couple of items you can consume that can rev up your calorie/fat burning [from www.shape.com].

Capsaicin – This is a compound found in spicy peppers.  When your body breaks down capsaicin, it causes your body temperature to rise which burns calories.  You would probably need to take it in supplement form to reap the most benefits.

EGCG + Caffeine – EGCG and caffeine have been proven to increase your metabolism.  Oh yeah, it also has some other great perks too: major antioxidant action going on, can help clear up skin, and can help support cardiovascular health.  The best source is green tea or supplements.

There is actually a supplement by GNC called be-Energized that has both of these.  I used to take these in the mornings to get me through my early morning workouts.  BUT – make sure you don’t drink coffee after you take them.  It’s already got 200 mg of caffeine when you take 2.  I couldn’t give up my morning coffee, so I gave those up J  Maybe I’ll start taking them in the afternoons…[good idea, me!]

Monounsaturated Fats – The fats in foods rich in monounsaturated fats make the body expend more heat while breaking these down: olives, olive oil, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts and avocados

Who wants guacamole?!?!

So here is something you can do that isn’t that hard.  Add in some of these monounsaturated fats into your diet.  Instead of eating a saturated fat like butter, switch to olive oil.  Instead of chowing on some pecans or walnuts, try a handful of peanuts or macadamia nuts.  Add some avocado to your salad.  You could ever spread some on a sandwich instead of mayo!  Just keep in mind that even though these are awesome foods, they pack quite a few calories. 

I’m going to try some of these to kick start my fat burn this week.  Let’s hope I have some good news to report on Friday!

BTW - I get an awesome newsletter each week from Shape.com.  That inspired this blog post today.  It's really nice to get this kind of thing in my inbox reminding me to make good choices!

 

Day 90: Excuses, Excuses.

It’s been a rough week. 

Easter made me gain weight. [Stupid chocolate bunnies and eggs and candy]

I’ve been taking some awful medication with terrible side effects.

My medication makes me gain weight and retain water.

I’ve had to eat out for lunch for work almost every day this week.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.

Why am I being such a whiney-butt this week!  Yes, it’s been a tough week, and I’ve been trying to get over taking the most awful medication ever [When you stop Prednisone, you actually go through withdrawals!!!!]. BUT, these are all a bunch of excuses. 

I am the best rationalizer ever.  I would beat anyone at an excuse throwing contest.  I am the queen of reasoning away anything worth my while.  That is a horrible trait!  I have to stop.  There is the truth, and that’s all I need to be concerned with.

I can lean on my hubby when I have a rough week.

I know how to limit my food intake…even on Easter.

I don’t have to fold my good intentions because I am uncomfortable.

I can drink extra water to curb water weight gain.

I can make good choices for lunch at any restaurant.

It all boils down to this.  I ate too much.  When you eat more than the amount you need, you don’t lose weight.  You gain weight.  Don’t do it, and you won’t gain weight!  It’s as simple as that.

No excuses.

 

Day 83: Week 12 Results, Month 3

Three months!  I’ve been doing this for three months!  I can’t believe it.  That just seems like an incredibly long time to have been on a calorie restriction…life change.  When I started writing this blog and counting calories, I knew that it would take a long time to reach my goal.  Especially if I wanted to do it in a healthy way and keep the weight off.  I just seems like it has just blown by though!  Thank goodness.

This week I have been struggling with my best friend and partner [Matt] being out of town, recovering from a sinus infection [nicknamed the Nast], and coping with the weird meds my doc put me on [crazy steroids]. 

·         Usually when Matt is out of town, I get lonely and want to make myself feel better by having some of my bad foods.  Pizza, chocolate, wine, and other goodies were my go-to splurges.  I fought that off this week.  Woohoo!

·         When I’m sick I don’t want to work out.  I just want to lay around and mope in my sickliness…stupid Nast.  With the help of the meds, I actually worked out a lot!

·         The meds for the Nast included a steroid that made me stay awake until at least midnight, and have tons of energy.  I didn’t get much sleep, but I didn’t feel like I needed.  The real challenge will be Sunday, when I don’t take any at all!  I feel a crash coming on.

 

Here’s what the measurements say:

·         Lost 1.2 pounds since Monday, Lost total of 21.8 pounds so far!

·         Lost 2 inches in the last 3 weeks, Lost total of 23.75 inches so far!

Good Weigh-in!

I still have 5 pounds to go to reach pre-pregnancy weight!  Then I will have another 19 pounds to go to reach my total goal of 40 pounds.  I am just glad to be within sight of my pre-preggers weight!  I will be a very happy girl when I get there…hopefully in about 3 weeks!  Hey, that will be right around my birthday…What a great present!

Here’s hoping I can stay on this winning streak!

Day 82: How Super Woman Feels?

Is this how Super Woman feels?

In no way am I saying that I am a super woman, or that I run around in a cool outfit with other hunky superheroes.  I am feeling super energetic and kinda crazed though.  Since Monday I have been taking Prednisone, a steroid that my doc prescribed for the nasty bacterial sinus infection that I’ve had for a week and a half.  He said that I will feel great, and that I will have a lot of energy.  Well, he wasn’t joking!  Since I started taking it, I have been doing basically two workouts a day!  Tuesday it was Pilates in the am, and then Zumba class in the pm.  Yesterday I ran in the afternoon and did Zumba [so fun!] at home later that evening.  What is going on???!!!  I am usually falling asleep on the couch watching TV with the hubs at 9:30!  Not this week.  It’s been a week of not sleeping much and going a little crazy with my workouts.  [BTW prednisone can cause insomnia too…yuck]

Apparently this is pretty normal for people taking prednisone or other steroids [not the creepy other steroids that meat-heads use].  Weird, right?!  AND it is supposed to make you GAIN weight!  I read one thing that said you would gain because you are more hungry [that’s an understatement].  I want to eat everything in sight, but I’m trying to stick to my calorie limits.  Another article said it was because prednisone increases cortisol, a stress hormone that can make you add or retain fat rather than melt it away.  Yikes!  I actually just lost my 2 beer fest pounds when I weighed in on Tuesday, but I’m afraid they are going to come right back with this. I guess we will see tomorrow…

So here is the game plan.  Drink more water to suppress the hunger and bloating [another lovely side affect].  Eat within my calorie restraints.  Exercise as much as I want, as long as it’s something each day.  Maybe that will keep me to my goal to actually lose weight this week!  I hope so!

This is such a weird post…sorry for the disjointed thoughts! 

I’m sure when I stop taking them I’ll crash, and that may be a better post…or not.

Day 79: Roided Up

No, you won’t see me in the gym pumping the big stuff on the free weights side with all the grunting men [ew, gross].  You won’t see me getting huge biceps or ripping my jeans with my thigh muscles.  The only things getting exercised today are the tissues for blowing my nose.  You guessed right, the steroids are for my nasty sinus infection that I was trying to fight off all last week.  Nope.  Didn’t work.  I got to make a special trip to the doc this morning because since Friday, I have had no voice.  It’s gone.  All that is left is a squeaky whisper.  Not cool.

So I left the doctor’s office with a steroid shot in my arm [ouch, more painful than the flu shot], and nose spray in my purse.  Now I have to go get my oral steroid pills, cough syrup, and allergy decongestant.  Whoa!  I don’t remember the last time I had to take sooo many medications at once!  That’s what you get when you push yourself too much. 

I worked out Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week while I couldn’t breathe right, and had a sore throat.  I probably should have only done some light walking.  Bad Leah.  It is so easy to push yourself when you shouldn’t sometimes.  [I kept having dreams at night about people being mad at me for not working out…ha!] Sometimes your body just needs a little rest.  In my case, my body tried to start shutting itself down to let me know…yikes.  Good thing I have an awesome hubby that kept telling me to go to the doctor!  Matt, you are the best!

I think I have figured out what was intended [maybe by God] for last week and these couple of days while I’m mending:  Stay within your calorie constraints!  It’s a little test to see if I can live without those extra calories I get from exercising.  If I can do that this week, I should still lose weight.

The challenge is on!

I’m all roided up and ready to … not eat too much J