Well, I finally reached my limit AGAIN.
I thought I was doing really well on maintenance. I fully expected to gain 5 lbs or so getting my glycogen back in my body. Well, after seeing 146-147 on my scale and then jumping back to 152 for some reason my coach thought it best to phase me off. She thought my body was resisting and needed a change. Well, I stayed around 151-152 as I shifted into phase 2 and 3. I was okay with that actually. My clothes felt great although emotionally I wanted to weigh 143. I kept telling myself to get over it and take a rest and come back to phase 1 after 6 months or so.
Well..... I hit phase 4 and was doing great. I rarely cheated with sugar and I truly enjoyed bread in the mornings only. I ate fruit in the morning and added nuts, dairy and some other healthy options back in. Sure, I had some dessert now and then but I have yet to eat a full plate of pasta, rice or potatoes since phasing off. I thought that was a great thing since those foods tend to make me feel heavy, bloated, etc. I was super proud of myself.
So I got weighed twice at the clinic over the last month and I topped out at 162. WTF? How the heck did I gain 10 lbs in 7 weeks? Like I said, I expected 3-5 lbs for glycogen and 1-2 lbs of muscle from exercise but I thought I'd continue burning more fat off. I actually gained almost 6 lbs of fat. I was so ticked off! My coach kept telling me at my last appointment that I had a 1.8 lb loss of fat and I was carrying about 4 lbs of water that morning but guess what? I felt awful and my clothes are choking me in the waist and my upper torso has gained about inch everywhere. I don't think that's what's supposed to happen when you're eating relatively healthy and exercising 3-4 times a week. I rarely eat refined/processed foods or sugars and I eat lots of veggies, protein and some complex grains.
I know when you look at the overall picture 10 lbs makes sense. That 5-7 lbs is glycogen. The 3 lbs is probably muscle and water and waste. But guess what? I feel heavy, bloated and uncomfortable. Something isn't feeling right.
My coach says that my body is more efficient and burning almost 1500 at rest. At rest means doing nothing but lie down and don't move. So technically, I'm supposed to have a minimum of 1700-1800 calories a day. Then when I exercise it's 2100. What the..... that seems like an insane amount of food! I'm trying to really figure that one out. It seems way off. She said I was in starvation mode so my body was holding on to everything. I don't see how I was in starvation though. I was eating well and feeling good until about 2 weeks ago. I had finally hit 160 and felt like a huge whale. Seriously.... I feel heavy.
So..... what's next? Phase 1 for a minimum of a week and probably as long as . I am going to get back into ketosis and see what happens over the next few days. According to everyone that's done IP, when you flip back into phase 1 after being on maintenance your body remembers this and reacts very well. It jumps right into ketosis, even quicker than the first time (sometimes within 1-2 days rather than the 3-5 days it normally takes). The weight loss is supposedly immediate and quick. Not like 10 lbs of fat in a week but you will burn off the glycogen storage, excess water and lose maybe a lb or so of fat initially. Some people have larger glycogen tanks and I'm wondering if I may be one of those people. If that is the case, I really want to lose 20 lbs so I will be around 135-138 when I phase off and then I'll gain the 5-10 in glycogen. I would be happy to weigh 145-148 normally.
Yee gads..... the strict phase of this diet is easy BUT maintenance is really bothersome. I don't know what I'm doing wrong so I am trying to analyze my food journals (yes, I still keep a daily food journal!) and judge my caloric intake. I know I eat more on my exercise days so I am going to scrutinize everything and see if there were any hidden calories I was forgetting.
I really want to go low carb in the future so fats should not be a big deal. I keep wondering if there is something about my body that is resisting because of the fats I was ingesting. I'll experiment this week and hopefully figure it out. In the meantime, I feel like I'm taking control over this and that is a good thing. I'm not obsessive but I want to just feel good again.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
The 'real' life struggle with food
This one will be quick..... I definitely need to get on the bandwagon and post frequently though! I need to be accountable.
I've just had a 'bad' kind of week where I cheated here and there. I want to eat correctly but my sweet tooth is definitely active again. I'm not eating candy though... go figure. I can't handle that...I'll get a wicked headache so for that I am truly grateful!
I did manage bread, a little rice and gelato and some flour products (tortillas) these past 10 days. My weight is up about 3 lbs as of today but that, I guess is a normal gain. I'm not happy with it though. I really want to be another 10 lbs lighter but I'm thinking I HAVE TO EXERCISE. I started walking more and I'm going to do more barre work to lose inches. I can't be too hung up on actual weight # but on how I feel.
So that's where I am at today. I feel pretty good though and I'm not going crazy on food. I just don't feel like I'm as in contol of my intake as I would like to be. I've got a weigh in on Saturday so hopefully I can be a little more accountable to myself again!!!!
I've just had a 'bad' kind of week where I cheated here and there. I want to eat correctly but my sweet tooth is definitely active again. I'm not eating candy though... go figure. I can't handle that...I'll get a wicked headache so for that I am truly grateful!
I did manage bread, a little rice and gelato and some flour products (tortillas) these past 10 days. My weight is up about 3 lbs as of today but that, I guess is a normal gain. I'm not happy with it though. I really want to be another 10 lbs lighter but I'm thinking I HAVE TO EXERCISE. I started walking more and I'm going to do more barre work to lose inches. I can't be too hung up on actual weight # but on how I feel.
So that's where I am at today. I feel pretty good though and I'm not going crazy on food. I just don't feel like I'm as in contol of my intake as I would like to be. I've got a weigh in on Saturday so hopefully I can be a little more accountable to myself again!!!!
Monday, April 14, 2014
Week 34 finished and now in Phase 4 for LIFE
So it's official and I'm now in Phase 4 or what IP'ers call 'maintenance'. That means I'm at the point where I eat this way for the rest of my life AND I must incorporate exercise into it as well. I will be eating relatively clean most days and then attempting to go onto phase 1 after a binge or 'fun' day and once a year I fine tune my diet by going back into phase 1 for 2-4 weeks. Most people choose to do it in January after the holidays. It makes sense since that's when most people indulge in sweets/carbs the most.
I lost .2 lb of fat last week on my last week of Phase 3 but no inches. I was eating quite a bit: breakfast was huge. I almost found it to be too much but it's the only way you can get your pancreas to readjust without a lot of weight gain and shock. So breakfast is carb (like oatmeal, cereal or bread), protein (eggs), fat (butter, a piece of bacon), and fruit (another carb) like berries. If you saw my breakfast tray (and yes, I use a tray because I have so many cups or ramekins and plates for all my food!) you'd be overwhelmed. It's a lot of food but it really is necessary to eat. Lunch and dinner are still 'clean' but you separate fats from carbs. So the idea would be to eat protein and fats with one meal and protein and carbs with the other. It's a very European way of eating which makes sense since the founder of this plan is French. Yes, one will end up eating fats and carbs together occasionally (Like I DID last night!) but you eat super clean (phase 1 or a version there of) the next day and drink lots of water to get all that stuff flushed out.
Because this whole weekend was a huge celebration, I ended up using Sunday as my big cheat day (my first day on phase 4 too!). I was shocked at how easy it was to eat the forbidden foods. I really thought my body would say STOP! Guess what.... it doesn't right away. It will later on....when your belly is distended or your intestines get mad or however your body responds to these kinds of foods.
I ended up gaining 2 lbs from yesterday BUT I also know I hardly had any water so I just need to eat clean today and flush it out and also do my planned exercise. It will be gone by tomorrow if I follow the plan.
So yesterday's brunch was a breakfast casserole, spinach frittata, fresh fruit and mimosas. Now I haven't had alcohol (other than a sip of wine at Church) in 9 months so this was a little scary for me. I ended up not having one reaction to the sparkling wine so it seems watered down alcohol (and one glass) is enough for me. I don't want to tempt my body into taking all this sugar and gaining all these pounds back so that will be a rare indulgence. The rest of the breakfast was actually on task for a normal meal. I didn't have much dairy though. I had a quest bar in the afternoon but no veggies. For dinner, Mark and I went to one my goal restaurants (Azteca) for Mexican food. I have 3 places I said I wanted to go after I reached goal so this was one of my big rewards. I ended up with carne asada, shrimp with rice and beans. Yes, I indulged in chips for the first time too. I ended up eating probably about 15 chips. YES, I COUNTED. I really wanted to enjoy the texture and taste and I did. That kind of scared me that I kept wanting more. I let myself have some fun there but after that I realized that beans and rice were coming (which I also haven't had in almost a year) so I stopped. The shrimp and beef were fab....I knew that was okay to eat so I enjoyed that. The beans were also an awesome treat. Super fatty but yummy. The rice....well, that tasted good but I found myself kind of shying away from it. I realized that rice really isn't a big deal for me (this is the Asian girl talking too!) and I can live without it. I also did not take any tortillas so that I could justify the chips and rice. I still feel bloated today because of it but I have no regrets. I enjoyed the taste and texture of everything. The thing is, your brain, your memory, your senses will NOT stop you from eating unless you consciously make the decision to eat only a specific amount. Your body will pay for it the next day so you have to remember that. The chips about drove me crazy because I did want a lot BUT I told myself I could have only so many. When the main course arrived I told myself to have only a couple of spoonfuls of rice since the chip quota was exceeded. That actually worked for me.
So now today is a phase 1 day and I will drink a ton of water. I don't expect to lose all 2 lbs today but I know I will lose it within a few days. The body will work with you if you feed it right. I'm prepping to make Wheat Belly (low carb/higher protein) foods and mostly sugar free treats from now on. Mark needs to lose about 50 lbs and we really can't afford to put him on IP right now so I'm going to just change the daily diet to make it work for the two of us. I know that he'll lose weight much faster (guys are lucky that way!) so I hope to have him at least 25-30 lbs down in 8 weeks.
I don't intend to stop blogging about this..... It is an ongoing program for me for life and I need to be able to see the progress (both forward and backward) so I can see the patterns and stop bad habits from forming. I'm really proud of what I've accomplished and will continue to learn and adjust my ways. Now that exercise MUST be a big part of my maintenance I am looking forward to running and biking. I'm going to get started on that shortly..... I still have another 10 lbs I'd like to lose but it will be more of a fat loss/muscle gain kind of thing so the actual weight may not change and it will be more of an inches kind of thing!
I'll be posting regularly...hopefully at least every few days! Thanks for staying on the journey with me!
I lost .2 lb of fat last week on my last week of Phase 3 but no inches. I was eating quite a bit: breakfast was huge. I almost found it to be too much but it's the only way you can get your pancreas to readjust without a lot of weight gain and shock. So breakfast is carb (like oatmeal, cereal or bread), protein (eggs), fat (butter, a piece of bacon), and fruit (another carb) like berries. If you saw my breakfast tray (and yes, I use a tray because I have so many cups or ramekins and plates for all my food!) you'd be overwhelmed. It's a lot of food but it really is necessary to eat. Lunch and dinner are still 'clean' but you separate fats from carbs. So the idea would be to eat protein and fats with one meal and protein and carbs with the other. It's a very European way of eating which makes sense since the founder of this plan is French. Yes, one will end up eating fats and carbs together occasionally (Like I DID last night!) but you eat super clean (phase 1 or a version there of) the next day and drink lots of water to get all that stuff flushed out.
Because this whole weekend was a huge celebration, I ended up using Sunday as my big cheat day (my first day on phase 4 too!). I was shocked at how easy it was to eat the forbidden foods. I really thought my body would say STOP! Guess what.... it doesn't right away. It will later on....when your belly is distended or your intestines get mad or however your body responds to these kinds of foods.
I ended up gaining 2 lbs from yesterday BUT I also know I hardly had any water so I just need to eat clean today and flush it out and also do my planned exercise. It will be gone by tomorrow if I follow the plan.
So yesterday's brunch was a breakfast casserole, spinach frittata, fresh fruit and mimosas. Now I haven't had alcohol (other than a sip of wine at Church) in 9 months so this was a little scary for me. I ended up not having one reaction to the sparkling wine so it seems watered down alcohol (and one glass) is enough for me. I don't want to tempt my body into taking all this sugar and gaining all these pounds back so that will be a rare indulgence. The rest of the breakfast was actually on task for a normal meal. I didn't have much dairy though. I had a quest bar in the afternoon but no veggies. For dinner, Mark and I went to one my goal restaurants (Azteca) for Mexican food. I have 3 places I said I wanted to go after I reached goal so this was one of my big rewards. I ended up with carne asada, shrimp with rice and beans. Yes, I indulged in chips for the first time too. I ended up eating probably about 15 chips. YES, I COUNTED. I really wanted to enjoy the texture and taste and I did. That kind of scared me that I kept wanting more. I let myself have some fun there but after that I realized that beans and rice were coming (which I also haven't had in almost a year) so I stopped. The shrimp and beef were fab....I knew that was okay to eat so I enjoyed that. The beans were also an awesome treat. Super fatty but yummy. The rice....well, that tasted good but I found myself kind of shying away from it. I realized that rice really isn't a big deal for me (this is the Asian girl talking too!) and I can live without it. I also did not take any tortillas so that I could justify the chips and rice. I still feel bloated today because of it but I have no regrets. I enjoyed the taste and texture of everything. The thing is, your brain, your memory, your senses will NOT stop you from eating unless you consciously make the decision to eat only a specific amount. Your body will pay for it the next day so you have to remember that. The chips about drove me crazy because I did want a lot BUT I told myself I could have only so many. When the main course arrived I told myself to have only a couple of spoonfuls of rice since the chip quota was exceeded. That actually worked for me.
So now today is a phase 1 day and I will drink a ton of water. I don't expect to lose all 2 lbs today but I know I will lose it within a few days. The body will work with you if you feed it right. I'm prepping to make Wheat Belly (low carb/higher protein) foods and mostly sugar free treats from now on. Mark needs to lose about 50 lbs and we really can't afford to put him on IP right now so I'm going to just change the daily diet to make it work for the two of us. I know that he'll lose weight much faster (guys are lucky that way!) so I hope to have him at least 25-30 lbs down in 8 weeks.
I don't intend to stop blogging about this..... It is an ongoing program for me for life and I need to be able to see the progress (both forward and backward) so I can see the patterns and stop bad habits from forming. I'm really proud of what I've accomplished and will continue to learn and adjust my ways. Now that exercise MUST be a big part of my maintenance I am looking forward to running and biking. I'm going to get started on that shortly..... I still have another 10 lbs I'd like to lose but it will be more of a fat loss/muscle gain kind of thing so the actual weight may not change and it will be more of an inches kind of thing!
I'll be posting regularly...hopefully at least every few days! Thanks for staying on the journey with me!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Week 34 almost done!
So I'm now officially in Phase 3 but I'm fighting it.....
I couldn't manage to get started on Monday was supposed to start on Tuesday. I didn't have any yogurt or fruit plus I had a breakfast to go to on Wednesday which was most of what I should eat so Thursday is when I started a complete meal.
So today was a full phase 3 breakfast of eggs, bacon, oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. A LOT of food as far as I'm concerned! Even though my servings were small it was a lot to eat. It tasted great - but I wasn't super excited about the carbs. The fruit and yogurt was awesome though.
My last weigh in I lost .6 in fat and my coach said I was up 1.6 in water so technically I was really down more than I thought. The numbers are still higher than I want but I hope that they'll keep going down once I start exercising. That's something I'm supposed to start doing which I need to get on the ball with.
I'm hoping that I don't gain too much now that I'm eating more carbs and refilling my glycogen tank again!
I couldn't manage to get started on Monday was supposed to start on Tuesday. I didn't have any yogurt or fruit plus I had a breakfast to go to on Wednesday which was most of what I should eat so Thursday is when I started a complete meal.
So today was a full phase 3 breakfast of eggs, bacon, oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. A LOT of food as far as I'm concerned! Even though my servings were small it was a lot to eat. It tasted great - but I wasn't super excited about the carbs. The fruit and yogurt was awesome though.
My last weigh in I lost .6 in fat and my coach said I was up 1.6 in water so technically I was really down more than I thought. The numbers are still higher than I want but I hope that they'll keep going down once I start exercising. That's something I'm supposed to start doing which I need to get on the ball with.
I'm hoping that I don't gain too much now that I'm eating more carbs and refilling my glycogen tank again!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Week 33 weigh in/Phase 2 & starting week 34
Well, no TOM. My BF decided to stay high BUT it showed 1.2% less than last week. What????? And oddly enough I showed a drop again on my scale this morning....what the????
I don't get my body sometimes. But at least I am still losing in very small increments. According to the measuring I was bloated and gained in the waist & hips plus I was wearing a padded bra (always adds) but in terms of weight loss I showed 1.6 lbs of fat gone but was retaining a lb so it showed a .6 total loss. Luckily, water weight is fickle and goes away so I get to count the full 1.6!!!
I'm still about 2-5 lbs over what I really want to land at because I'm going to start gaining water/glycogen again on phase 3 which is in 9 days! Kind of nervous...kind of excited.
I'm hovering in the 146 area although the last couple of days have been 147. I've probably been a little low on water so I'll attempt to hydrate a lot more today. It was a fun day yesterday as we went to a family friend's wedding and we danced a LOT! I probably did too much so I may be retaining for that reason. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes and I start my second week of phase 2 tomorrow!
I don't get my body sometimes. But at least I am still losing in very small increments. According to the measuring I was bloated and gained in the waist & hips plus I was wearing a padded bra (always adds) but in terms of weight loss I showed 1.6 lbs of fat gone but was retaining a lb so it showed a .6 total loss. Luckily, water weight is fickle and goes away so I get to count the full 1.6!!!
I'm still about 2-5 lbs over what I really want to land at because I'm going to start gaining water/glycogen again on phase 3 which is in 9 days! Kind of nervous...kind of excited.
I'm hovering in the 146 area although the last couple of days have been 147. I've probably been a little low on water so I'll attempt to hydrate a lot more today. It was a fun day yesterday as we went to a family friend's wedding and we danced a LOT! I probably did too much so I may be retaining for that reason. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes and I start my second week of phase 2 tomorrow!
Monday, March 17, 2014
Week 32 ends & Week 33 begins
So it was as always an interesting week.
I have been super hungry....to the point where I'm making 2 eggs and a little bacon to fill me up. I should always know that this typically means the hormones are shifting and prepping for you-know-what....
I keep feeling like I'm on a never ending cycle with my hormones. I guess some of us go through this on ketogenic diets. Sigh..... oh well, I just have to deal with it.
I was starting to lose a little throughout the week and then on Saturday I went back up again a little. Not enough to really be a big deal though, as I still showed a loss on the scale. What really bugged me was that my body fat % went up more than 2% which always means that TOM is coming. I was so upset at my weigh in. After 32 weeks I think I had thought things would settle down and I'd find some sense of normal. Nope.... my body is doing whatever it wants and I guess there's still lots of hormones stored in my fat cells and causing me to have these long cycles and dramatic changes in my BF% readings.
I think my coach was pretty surprised at how upset I was. Even though I still lost 1/2" in my hips and 1/4" in my arms I was still furious. She was the one who said it was time for me to shift into Phase 2. I wasn't going to say it because I didn't want to do something based on anger. She was smart enough to realize I'd had enough and I needed a change. Phase 2 is still really similar to phase 1 so it's not that big of a deal. It's introducing more real food which if you think about it, I've kind of been doing since I seem to need more protein throughout my day. So now I am supposed to eat real food for lunch and dinner and only have packets for breakfast and snacks.That's a 2 week cycle. Then I shift into phase 3 when I start eating real breakfast but still have a packet for a snack. We're waking up the pancreas in phase 3 so that it's not in shock. I get to have very specific amounts of carbs reintroduced into my diet this way so my body doesn't freak out. I'm actually not too concerned about that..... I think I'm more concerned about reintroducing normal everyday stuff back in. I have had so little sugar and carbs that I'm wondering what it will be like to taste a dessert again. I can't go crazy or else I'll gain weight and have all the horrible problems I had before. That's NOT going to happen again.
So that's where I'm at right now...in my first days of phase 2. It seems strange to be on this path....of phasing off into maintenance! I'm hopeful that I don't screw things up....and I think I'll be okay but I'm a little worried to tell you the truth. I just don't want those horrid cravings and the accompanying stomach pains to come back. I don't want to gain a lot of weight back.... so I'm tentative.... keeping the faith....
I have been super hungry....to the point where I'm making 2 eggs and a little bacon to fill me up. I should always know that this typically means the hormones are shifting and prepping for you-know-what....
I keep feeling like I'm on a never ending cycle with my hormones. I guess some of us go through this on ketogenic diets. Sigh..... oh well, I just have to deal with it.
I was starting to lose a little throughout the week and then on Saturday I went back up again a little. Not enough to really be a big deal though, as I still showed a loss on the scale. What really bugged me was that my body fat % went up more than 2% which always means that TOM is coming. I was so upset at my weigh in. After 32 weeks I think I had thought things would settle down and I'd find some sense of normal. Nope.... my body is doing whatever it wants and I guess there's still lots of hormones stored in my fat cells and causing me to have these long cycles and dramatic changes in my BF% readings.
I think my coach was pretty surprised at how upset I was. Even though I still lost 1/2" in my hips and 1/4" in my arms I was still furious. She was the one who said it was time for me to shift into Phase 2. I wasn't going to say it because I didn't want to do something based on anger. She was smart enough to realize I'd had enough and I needed a change. Phase 2 is still really similar to phase 1 so it's not that big of a deal. It's introducing more real food which if you think about it, I've kind of been doing since I seem to need more protein throughout my day. So now I am supposed to eat real food for lunch and dinner and only have packets for breakfast and snacks.That's a 2 week cycle. Then I shift into phase 3 when I start eating real breakfast but still have a packet for a snack. We're waking up the pancreas in phase 3 so that it's not in shock. I get to have very specific amounts of carbs reintroduced into my diet this way so my body doesn't freak out. I'm actually not too concerned about that..... I think I'm more concerned about reintroducing normal everyday stuff back in. I have had so little sugar and carbs that I'm wondering what it will be like to taste a dessert again. I can't go crazy or else I'll gain weight and have all the horrible problems I had before. That's NOT going to happen again.
So that's where I'm at right now...in my first days of phase 2. It seems strange to be on this path....of phasing off into maintenance! I'm hopeful that I don't screw things up....and I think I'll be okay but I'm a little worried to tell you the truth. I just don't want those horrid cravings and the accompanying stomach pains to come back. I don't want to gain a lot of weight back.... so I'm tentative.... keeping the faith....
Monday, March 10, 2014
Week 31 weigh In & Week 32 begins....WHAT?
I can't get over this.... I'm 8 months into IP? Wow....time has FLOWN BY. I started this the first week of August when I was still doing my summer theatre camp job and I had just attended my cousin's wedding the previous weekend!
Where does the time go?
Okay..... well I had my weigh in on Saturday. I was having a pretty good week....losing a little weight almost each day as I weighed myself in the a.m. I ended up gaining a little back before weigh in but that was probably water. My results were:
1.2 lbs down (.6 of it being fat)
29.5% BF
Arm: 1/2 inch total
Chest: 1/4 inch
Thorax: 1 inch
Hips: 1/4 inch
According to the clinic it's 53 lbs. According to my scale it's 55 lbs (sans clothing).
I had my coach adjust the goal BF% to both 26 and 27 per cent to see what the total lbs of fat I would need to lose. So....I would have to lose 5.9 lbs or 9 lbs to get to those goals. Honestly..... I don't see where and how I could lose 9 more lbs so I'm going for a personal loss of 3-5 more lbs. Wherever the BF% lands when I hit that weight....I'm DONE with phase 1. I am a little frustrated with my BF readings because water weight and TOM (hormones) affect it dramatically. How the heck am I supposed to know where I am? According to the charts, 27% would be the bottom of 'acceptable for body fat and 26% would be considered 'fit' for my age. I figure once I get to work out seriously and eat a little more balanced 'real' food I can get to 23% (which is the bottom of 'fit' for my age group). If I get to 22% that's considered athletic/thin and I don't think I need to go there. My bones are big so I don't want to get too thin.
I had a crazy day of eating both Saturday and Sunday. I kind of lived it up a little. I've never really done that before but I think I'm getting tired of Phase 1. I had a bacon/cheese omelette for lunch yesterday (which was HIGH fat) and Saturday afternoon I had a chicken and beef kabob at a bridal shower and that night I had some serious piles of pulled pork at my cast party. I actually ate super clean beyond those extravagances and I only gained a pound. I'm sure I've got a little sugar, salt and fat that shouldn't be in my system so it'll take a day or two to get out and I should be back to normal. I know I shouldn't have eaten these things but I needed to live in the moment and enjoy what was there. I have learned so much about diet and what to eat and what NOT to eat. I can tell when my body doesn't like something and I don't really want to make myself sick. Those days are LONG gone as far as I'm concerned.
So today I started at 148.7 which is about a lb higher than Saturday morning. Not too bad..... I am working on losing 2-3 lbs this week because I really, really, really want to get to goal by next week. I know that's pushing it since I have so little left to lose. This is definitely not like my first 6 weeks when I was losing 3-6 lbs a week!
I'm going for 145 at the minimum..... but I really, really, really hope I can make it to 142 or 143. That would be pretty darn awesome.
Just wanted to share pics from the weekend......
Where does the time go?
Okay..... well I had my weigh in on Saturday. I was having a pretty good week....losing a little weight almost each day as I weighed myself in the a.m. I ended up gaining a little back before weigh in but that was probably water. My results were:
1.2 lbs down (.6 of it being fat)
29.5% BF
Arm: 1/2 inch total
Chest: 1/4 inch
Thorax: 1 inch
Hips: 1/4 inch
According to the clinic it's 53 lbs. According to my scale it's 55 lbs (sans clothing).
I had my coach adjust the goal BF% to both 26 and 27 per cent to see what the total lbs of fat I would need to lose. So....I would have to lose 5.9 lbs or 9 lbs to get to those goals. Honestly..... I don't see where and how I could lose 9 more lbs so I'm going for a personal loss of 3-5 more lbs. Wherever the BF% lands when I hit that weight....I'm DONE with phase 1. I am a little frustrated with my BF readings because water weight and TOM (hormones) affect it dramatically. How the heck am I supposed to know where I am? According to the charts, 27% would be the bottom of 'acceptable for body fat and 26% would be considered 'fit' for my age. I figure once I get to work out seriously and eat a little more balanced 'real' food I can get to 23% (which is the bottom of 'fit' for my age group). If I get to 22% that's considered athletic/thin and I don't think I need to go there. My bones are big so I don't want to get too thin.
I had a crazy day of eating both Saturday and Sunday. I kind of lived it up a little. I've never really done that before but I think I'm getting tired of Phase 1. I had a bacon/cheese omelette for lunch yesterday (which was HIGH fat) and Saturday afternoon I had a chicken and beef kabob at a bridal shower and that night I had some serious piles of pulled pork at my cast party. I actually ate super clean beyond those extravagances and I only gained a pound. I'm sure I've got a little sugar, salt and fat that shouldn't be in my system so it'll take a day or two to get out and I should be back to normal. I know I shouldn't have eaten these things but I needed to live in the moment and enjoy what was there. I have learned so much about diet and what to eat and what NOT to eat. I can tell when my body doesn't like something and I don't really want to make myself sick. Those days are LONG gone as far as I'm concerned.
So today I started at 148.7 which is about a lb higher than Saturday morning. Not too bad..... I am working on losing 2-3 lbs this week because I really, really, really want to get to goal by next week. I know that's pushing it since I have so little left to lose. This is definitely not like my first 6 weeks when I was losing 3-6 lbs a week!
I'm going for 145 at the minimum..... but I really, really, really hope I can make it to 142 or 143. That would be pretty darn awesome.
Just wanted to share pics from the weekend......
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| My SM Sheryl Dizon & my music director Rod Gray on closing weekend |
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| My friend Jenn Buhl's bridal shower with (from L to R): Katie Richardson, Erin McKiernan, Jenn Buhl, me, Courtney Hood, Emileigh Kershaw |
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Week 31 begins
Weighed myself yesterday morning...I knew I'd be up because I ate SPAM. Yes... I broke the rules and ate something pretty fatty and more important...SALTY. I can't help it... I love the stuff. I chop it up like hash and fry the heck out of it so it gets crispy on the outside and put it in a scramble. It was damn good. No regrets.
So I was up again at 151.4 yesterday morning. ALL water weight my friends.... 8 hours later I was down to 148.3! So that's how great Monday and my 31st week on IP began. This felt great....
This morning I knew I'd be up again because I ate hamburger at dinner a little late last night (big mac salad - a big favorite around here) but it will burn off by tomorrow. I weighed in at 148.7 this a.m. so I know that'll come down. No worries.....beef and some fatty pork products (like bacon and SPAM) actually seem to encourage weight loss in me. I am NOT complaining.
Seriously..... I am pretty excited. I'm down to the end and am close to my goal. I know I thought I'd be here 2 months ago....well actually 3 months ago but I'm okay with the struggles I had in January and February. It took me 8 weeks to let go of 8 lbs but I'm fine. We all have plateaus and I hit a long one. Most IP followers don't go more than 3-4 weeks. I always seem to be an over-achiever, LOL.
Again, I'm not after a number on the scale but more for body fat. I know that exercise is going to help me achieve the actual number I'm going for (23% which is considered athletic/fit for my age group) but getting to 27% without full on exercise is pretty dang amazing to me. Can you believe I read almost 41% BF back in July? YES....I speak the truth. I'm at 29% now and it's slowly dinging down with every ounce of body fat I burn. I only need to lose about 3 lbs or so to get rid of 2%!!! I am psyched!
Okay....so I happened to find a pair of jeans that I wore last year in a laundry basket. Been meaning to give them to a friend who lives a couple of blocks away and it slipped my mind. I decided to try them on for shits & giggles and about died! They are HUGE on me! I really should have been wearing another size up but was too ashamed to buy anymore clothes so they were pretty tight around the waist. I can't believe how much room I have. I have lost so many inches it's blowing my mind!!!! I need to get all the actual inches lost for each body part from my coach the next time I weigh in. I'm just flabbergasted by the change. To think that I should have been wearing size 18's (I refused to buy bigger than 16's) and I now wear size 6 and the occasional 8! Woo-hoo!
I was thinking of trying on my wedding dress (got married in 2010) to see the difference there. I don't know exactly what I weighed then because I was avoiding the scale so this will be interesting. I may try to take a pic if it's not too revealing! I'll keep ya posted!
So I was up again at 151.4 yesterday morning. ALL water weight my friends.... 8 hours later I was down to 148.3! So that's how great Monday and my 31st week on IP began. This felt great....
This morning I knew I'd be up again because I ate hamburger at dinner a little late last night (big mac salad - a big favorite around here) but it will burn off by tomorrow. I weighed in at 148.7 this a.m. so I know that'll come down. No worries.....beef and some fatty pork products (like bacon and SPAM) actually seem to encourage weight loss in me. I am NOT complaining.
Seriously..... I am pretty excited. I'm down to the end and am close to my goal. I know I thought I'd be here 2 months ago....well actually 3 months ago but I'm okay with the struggles I had in January and February. It took me 8 weeks to let go of 8 lbs but I'm fine. We all have plateaus and I hit a long one. Most IP followers don't go more than 3-4 weeks. I always seem to be an over-achiever, LOL.
Again, I'm not after a number on the scale but more for body fat. I know that exercise is going to help me achieve the actual number I'm going for (23% which is considered athletic/fit for my age group) but getting to 27% without full on exercise is pretty dang amazing to me. Can you believe I read almost 41% BF back in July? YES....I speak the truth. I'm at 29% now and it's slowly dinging down with every ounce of body fat I burn. I only need to lose about 3 lbs or so to get rid of 2%!!! I am psyched!
Okay....so I happened to find a pair of jeans that I wore last year in a laundry basket. Been meaning to give them to a friend who lives a couple of blocks away and it slipped my mind. I decided to try them on for shits & giggles and about died! They are HUGE on me! I really should have been wearing another size up but was too ashamed to buy anymore clothes so they were pretty tight around the waist. I can't believe how much room I have. I have lost so many inches it's blowing my mind!!!! I need to get all the actual inches lost for each body part from my coach the next time I weigh in. I'm just flabbergasted by the change. To think that I should have been wearing size 18's (I refused to buy bigger than 16's) and I now wear size 6 and the occasional 8! Woo-hoo!
I was thinking of trying on my wedding dress (got married in 2010) to see the difference there. I don't know exactly what I weighed then because I was avoiding the scale so this will be interesting. I may try to take a pic if it's not too revealing! I'll keep ya posted!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Week 30 Weigh In DONE
So I finally had a GREAT weigh in!
The pounds finally started coming off again after 8 weeks of up and down over the same 3-4 lbs. I need to remember that my stress levels were high trying to get 'Wonka' up on the boards and I wasn't sleeping well AND my appetite was all over the place.
Stress really affects me. I keep forgetting this minor detail. Anyway, I made a huge change in my diet in that I stopped drinking so much coffee. I now am enjoying one big mug of it with a little half/half as opposed to my super yummy coconut creamer (which has egg, coconut milk, coconut cream, vanilla). I was drinking a ton of it but I was making up the caffeine with water. Still....I was stalling and continually losing and regaining the same 4 lbs. Now that I'm drinking the roasted cocoa bean drink I am avoiding caffeine and creamer altogether and it seems to be making a difference.
I also tried to convince my coach to let me switch to phase 2 but she wants me to be at my own personal goal before moving on. So I decided to go for 27% body fat rather than 25%. I also said 145 is the lowest number I'm going for on their scale. I am sure I will lose more weight on phase 2 (everyone tells me I will lose another 2-5 lbs on it) and then another 2 lbs or so on phase 3 so that would actually put me at about 140 lbs if I manage to lose any more.
Well, that is perfect in my book! I will be done soon...... gotta remember to be patient.
So, my weigh in results showed that I lost another 1.7 lbs of FAT and 1 1/4" total (1 inch off the chest, 1/4" arm, 1/4" underarm). I weighed in at 151.2 at the clinic BUT at home I weighed in at 149.2! That was my second day being under 150 lbs for the first time in YEARS!
Even better, this morning I weighed in at 148.6! I will probably go for about 5 lbs as I always wear heavier clothes and show a lot more water weight at the clinic. But hitting 145 on my own scale will actually count as making goal in my book! That means I'll show 147 on the clinic scale and that's pretty good! If I can get to 145 on the clinic scale before switching to phase 2 that would be phenomenal but I'll see how I'm feeling in a week. If next week is a drudge and I can't seem to shed much, I may say enough is enough. My hope is that I'll be able to be patient and say 'one more week'. I'd really like to get to 145 on their scale (143 on mine).
I thought I'd share a before/after pic. Here's pics from my friend Dorothy... top photo was from 'Master Class' at the Jewel Box when I was a size 16/18 and about 203 lbs. Bottom pic was from last night at Willy Wonka at CSTOCK!
The pounds finally started coming off again after 8 weeks of up and down over the same 3-4 lbs. I need to remember that my stress levels were high trying to get 'Wonka' up on the boards and I wasn't sleeping well AND my appetite was all over the place.
Stress really affects me. I keep forgetting this minor detail. Anyway, I made a huge change in my diet in that I stopped drinking so much coffee. I now am enjoying one big mug of it with a little half/half as opposed to my super yummy coconut creamer (which has egg, coconut milk, coconut cream, vanilla). I was drinking a ton of it but I was making up the caffeine with water. Still....I was stalling and continually losing and regaining the same 4 lbs. Now that I'm drinking the roasted cocoa bean drink I am avoiding caffeine and creamer altogether and it seems to be making a difference.
I also tried to convince my coach to let me switch to phase 2 but she wants me to be at my own personal goal before moving on. So I decided to go for 27% body fat rather than 25%. I also said 145 is the lowest number I'm going for on their scale. I am sure I will lose more weight on phase 2 (everyone tells me I will lose another 2-5 lbs on it) and then another 2 lbs or so on phase 3 so that would actually put me at about 140 lbs if I manage to lose any more.
Well, that is perfect in my book! I will be done soon...... gotta remember to be patient.
So, my weigh in results showed that I lost another 1.7 lbs of FAT and 1 1/4" total (1 inch off the chest, 1/4" arm, 1/4" underarm). I weighed in at 151.2 at the clinic BUT at home I weighed in at 149.2! That was my second day being under 150 lbs for the first time in YEARS!
Even better, this morning I weighed in at 148.6! I will probably go for about 5 lbs as I always wear heavier clothes and show a lot more water weight at the clinic. But hitting 145 on my own scale will actually count as making goal in my book! That means I'll show 147 on the clinic scale and that's pretty good! If I can get to 145 on the clinic scale before switching to phase 2 that would be phenomenal but I'll see how I'm feeling in a week. If next week is a drudge and I can't seem to shed much, I may say enough is enough. My hope is that I'll be able to be patient and say 'one more week'. I'd really like to get to 145 on their scale (143 on mine).
I thought I'd share a before/after pic. Here's pics from my friend Dorothy... top photo was from 'Master Class' at the Jewel Box when I was a size 16/18 and about 203 lbs. Bottom pic was from last night at Willy Wonka at CSTOCK!
Monday, February 24, 2014
Week 29 done. Week 30 begins
Seriously...I did not think I would be on this diet 30 weeks later.
But I am. And it's okay. I'm super close to being at goal. So close....5 lbs away.
Saturday's weigh in showed a .6 lb of fat gone. BUT....I was up 1 lbs from the previous week. Turns out, it was all water. I have a nasty cold so I'm drinking a ton of water. I guess that's what that was all about so my coach was really happy that I was so hydrated.
I'm still a little pissy that I have 5 lbs to go. I've tried to cut most of my coffee out which means most of the coconut creamer is too. My friend Patty turned me on to roasted cocoa beans. Basically it's like drinking chocolate without the sugar or caffeine. You brew these roasted ground cocoa beans just like coffee. It's absolutely amazing! You can add milk and sugar if you're so inclined but being on this low carb/no sugar diet I can't. Luckily, it doesn't need anything!
So...I'm hovering at 150.5 lbs. Got to get to 145. Would love 143 but I'll take 145!!!! Please God.... :-)
So....here's to hoping that cutting out that extra fat and caffeine will help. I'm sure my cold is affecting my loss a little but I am trying to really eat clean and lose this last 5 lbs as quickly as possible!
I just got an order from Old Navy and I tried on my clothes. Looks like Size medium works really well and is almost loose and one of my pairs of pants was almost a little too loose in the waist but I think I'll keep them anyway! I think they'll shrink in the wash..... what a nice problem to have...something being a little 'too big'? No regrets....trying to stay patient....staying the course. I've got this. These last 5 lbs WILL BE GONE. SOON.
But I am. And it's okay. I'm super close to being at goal. So close....5 lbs away.
Saturday's weigh in showed a .6 lb of fat gone. BUT....I was up 1 lbs from the previous week. Turns out, it was all water. I have a nasty cold so I'm drinking a ton of water. I guess that's what that was all about so my coach was really happy that I was so hydrated.
I'm still a little pissy that I have 5 lbs to go. I've tried to cut most of my coffee out which means most of the coconut creamer is too. My friend Patty turned me on to roasted cocoa beans. Basically it's like drinking chocolate without the sugar or caffeine. You brew these roasted ground cocoa beans just like coffee. It's absolutely amazing! You can add milk and sugar if you're so inclined but being on this low carb/no sugar diet I can't. Luckily, it doesn't need anything!
So...I'm hovering at 150.5 lbs. Got to get to 145. Would love 143 but I'll take 145!!!! Please God.... :-)
So....here's to hoping that cutting out that extra fat and caffeine will help. I'm sure my cold is affecting my loss a little but I am trying to really eat clean and lose this last 5 lbs as quickly as possible!
I just got an order from Old Navy and I tried on my clothes. Looks like Size medium works really well and is almost loose and one of my pairs of pants was almost a little too loose in the waist but I think I'll keep them anyway! I think they'll shrink in the wash..... what a nice problem to have...something being a little 'too big'? No regrets....trying to stay patient....staying the course. I've got this. These last 5 lbs WILL BE GONE. SOON.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Week 28 done and Week 29 continues
Well.....
the weight loss is definitely SLOWING down. I've been battling hormonal stuff for 19 days and that makes it impossible to get an accurate BF reading. I am getting pretty tired of it actually.
One good thing is that I've been steady and wearing the same size clothing so at least I've been able to buy things and not have them be too big in a month! That's a positive way of looking at this stall!
The pic to the left is a Squirrel print (yes, you read that right) dress I got from PinUpGirlClothing.com for my opening night of Willy Wonka. I couldn't resist. I mean, how often do you find anything with squirrels on them? For those of you that don't know the story of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, the Veruca Salt scene actually takes place in the 'Nut Room' as opposed to the "Geese That Lay the Golden Egg" room in the 1971 movie. Anyway, I have 6 adorable little girls in my show that play squirrels and this was for them as much as it was for me!
I was super proud to be able to fit into this dress. Six months ago I would have been 4 sizes bigger!
So at my last weigh in I managed to lose the water weight I gained from PMS. I always weigh a little more at my official weigh in since I've managed to eat and drink a lot just prior and it's weighing my clothing too. If I take into consideration all the excess, I have at least 2 extra lbs at the clinic. So I look at my weight as being 151 that particular day. Not bad! That's 52 lbs!!!!!
I had a long chat with my coach about my goal. I am finally at the point where I'm comfortable so I decided to phase off. I still have to lose 5-7 lbs so that when I start eating regular foods (meaning carbs) I will actually gain that extra weight back so I need to be a little lighter than my actual goal. I think I really need to get into exercise now so that I can build up muscle and keep burning more fat. Now that I have my food intake under control I think this will be pretty easy for me to handle. I am planning to go gluten free or mostly GF as well as sugar free and consciously eat less carbs so I can have the occasional binge days to enjoy pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. I don't miss them now so I want to be sure I stay that way. But I do want to enjoy sushi again as well as some good Mexican food now and then.
So....IF all goes according to plan and this cold that I have doesn't screw up my fat burning, I should be done with Phase 1 in 2 weeks. I am really trying to stay 'clean' and avoid fats at all cost (except for the alloted amounts) so we'll see what happens! I'd like to see a 5 lb drop like I've had a few times before but I think I'll be lucky to see 1 or 2 lbs!
Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!
the weight loss is definitely SLOWING down. I've been battling hormonal stuff for 19 days and that makes it impossible to get an accurate BF reading. I am getting pretty tired of it actually.
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| Willy Wonka Opening Night 2/14/2014 |
The pic to the left is a Squirrel print (yes, you read that right) dress I got from PinUpGirlClothing.com for my opening night of Willy Wonka. I couldn't resist. I mean, how often do you find anything with squirrels on them? For those of you that don't know the story of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, the Veruca Salt scene actually takes place in the 'Nut Room' as opposed to the "Geese That Lay the Golden Egg" room in the 1971 movie. Anyway, I have 6 adorable little girls in my show that play squirrels and this was for them as much as it was for me!
I was super proud to be able to fit into this dress. Six months ago I would have been 4 sizes bigger!
So at my last weigh in I managed to lose the water weight I gained from PMS. I always weigh a little more at my official weigh in since I've managed to eat and drink a lot just prior and it's weighing my clothing too. If I take into consideration all the excess, I have at least 2 extra lbs at the clinic. So I look at my weight as being 151 that particular day. Not bad! That's 52 lbs!!!!!
I had a long chat with my coach about my goal. I am finally at the point where I'm comfortable so I decided to phase off. I still have to lose 5-7 lbs so that when I start eating regular foods (meaning carbs) I will actually gain that extra weight back so I need to be a little lighter than my actual goal. I think I really need to get into exercise now so that I can build up muscle and keep burning more fat. Now that I have my food intake under control I think this will be pretty easy for me to handle. I am planning to go gluten free or mostly GF as well as sugar free and consciously eat less carbs so I can have the occasional binge days to enjoy pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. I don't miss them now so I want to be sure I stay that way. But I do want to enjoy sushi again as well as some good Mexican food now and then.
So....IF all goes according to plan and this cold that I have doesn't screw up my fat burning, I should be done with Phase 1 in 2 weeks. I am really trying to stay 'clean' and avoid fats at all cost (except for the alloted amounts) so we'll see what happens! I'd like to see a 5 lb drop like I've had a few times before but I think I'll be lucky to see 1 or 2 lbs!
Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!
Friday, February 7, 2014
More ups and downs
It's Friday and it's the day before my 27th weigh in. I've been at this for almost 7 months. I'm not complaining about that part of it at all. I'm grateful that I have learned that I can eat to live and still be a cook. I love to bake desserts. I love to create fantastic meals whether they are exotic, old school, fresh or rich. I am trying to figure out how to make dishes low carb and somewhat low fat but still have lots of flavor. I'm trying to avoid any and all added sugar. So far, so good. I don't miss starchy foods at all and I'm even cool not having wine or any other form of alcohol for these past 27 weeks.
What's killing me today is that after a couple of days of finally hitting what has been the lowest weight (my barrier has been 152) I finally started hovering around 151. I was in shock that I was slowly coming down and getting closer to 150. But then..... sure enough, my weight decided to go back up and I'm back to 152 yet AGAIN.
I ate hamburger two days ago plus some slices of pickle which always make me retain water/gain. I figured that out after I saw a 1.1 lb gain overnight. I was okay because I assumed this morning I would be down to my lower weight again. Well.... I have lost .6 of it as of this morning. I really expected all of it to be gone but I guess I shouldn't complain. I have managed to get rid of a little more than half of the gain. And yet I want to complain. I'm tired of yo-yoing back and forth. I'm tired of being less than 10 lbs from my goal but not having the scale go down these past 2 months.
I'm burning out. I can sense it. But the odd thing is that I'm not wanting to start eating all the bad foods again. Far from it. I want to continue to eat low carb forever. I was to include some paleo too. I'm excited about the future in terms of my cooking style. I can't wait to try more things and start full out exercising.
The main problem.... my body fat is still too high for my liking. I'm not even in the 29% range yet. I want to be 27% at the highest and work toward 23%. My TOM affects body fat so much that I jump up to 32% and it makes any reading of my actual weight and BF impossible. I have been having 10-21 day periods too so it's been virtually impossible to get a clear reading more than 2x a month on the body fat. I'm ready to wage an all out war with my body because this seems ridiculous that my hormones would affect my success. But it does and I have to learn to be patient. I'm seeing others who started after me already finishing their phase 1 part of the plan and I'm still sitting here doing NOTHING but yoyo-ing. I'm so ticked off.
I'll be okay.... I just needed to whine and gripe about this. I know I don't eat 100% clean. I have permission to eat a little bacon and to add coconut milk to my coffee. Maybe that's finally affecting it. I don't know for sure. I'm going to try to avoid some of these extras this week and see what it does. I'll also eat a LOT of lettuce and greens to see if it helps at all.
I just want to move on to phase 2. So I'm putting that out there into the universe. I'm telling my body to let go of the body fat so I can go on and live my life as a phase 4 IP graduate. Please body..... let go of these last 6-10 lbs of fat that are so stubbornly holding on? Please??????
What's killing me today is that after a couple of days of finally hitting what has been the lowest weight (my barrier has been 152) I finally started hovering around 151. I was in shock that I was slowly coming down and getting closer to 150. But then..... sure enough, my weight decided to go back up and I'm back to 152 yet AGAIN.
I ate hamburger two days ago plus some slices of pickle which always make me retain water/gain. I figured that out after I saw a 1.1 lb gain overnight. I was okay because I assumed this morning I would be down to my lower weight again. Well.... I have lost .6 of it as of this morning. I really expected all of it to be gone but I guess I shouldn't complain. I have managed to get rid of a little more than half of the gain. And yet I want to complain. I'm tired of yo-yoing back and forth. I'm tired of being less than 10 lbs from my goal but not having the scale go down these past 2 months.
I'm burning out. I can sense it. But the odd thing is that I'm not wanting to start eating all the bad foods again. Far from it. I want to continue to eat low carb forever. I was to include some paleo too. I'm excited about the future in terms of my cooking style. I can't wait to try more things and start full out exercising.
The main problem.... my body fat is still too high for my liking. I'm not even in the 29% range yet. I want to be 27% at the highest and work toward 23%. My TOM affects body fat so much that I jump up to 32% and it makes any reading of my actual weight and BF impossible. I have been having 10-21 day periods too so it's been virtually impossible to get a clear reading more than 2x a month on the body fat. I'm ready to wage an all out war with my body because this seems ridiculous that my hormones would affect my success. But it does and I have to learn to be patient. I'm seeing others who started after me already finishing their phase 1 part of the plan and I'm still sitting here doing NOTHING but yoyo-ing. I'm so ticked off.
I'll be okay.... I just needed to whine and gripe about this. I know I don't eat 100% clean. I have permission to eat a little bacon and to add coconut milk to my coffee. Maybe that's finally affecting it. I don't know for sure. I'm going to try to avoid some of these extras this week and see what it does. I'll also eat a LOT of lettuce and greens to see if it helps at all.
I just want to move on to phase 2. So I'm putting that out there into the universe. I'm telling my body to let go of the body fat so I can go on and live my life as a phase 4 IP graduate. Please body..... let go of these last 6-10 lbs of fat that are so stubbornly holding on? Please??????
Monday, February 3, 2014
Week 25/Week 26 weigh ins & Week 27 begins
Whoops.....
I obviously ignored my poor blog for a couple of weeks. I've been incredibly distracted. My weight has been staying with me. It hasn't been coming off for the last couple of weeks. I've actually gone up and down and it's been really annoying. I truly thought I would be DONE with phase 1 at the end of January.
I'm still 7-10 lbs away. This is where I was at the beginning of the month! What the what?????
Okay.....I've been eating strangely. I have added Quest bars into the mix as they are very satisfying and have little to no carbs/sugar (even compared to IP product). I have been starving the last 2 weeks (which I now see was symptoms of my TOM) and possibly knocking myself out of ketosis. I also was exercising the entire month and that's when my weight really stalled.
Go figure. I was doing great on my planks (3.5 minutes people!) and my squats but I wasn't eating enough to lose weight. I sabotaged my own losses by trying to exercise. Damn.....
So I stopped about 3-4 days ago. I started cutting back on my coffee and upped my water. I started chowing down on lots of lettuce.
My weigh in a week ago showed a gain and a skyrocketing BF% (TOM is coming - warning, warning) but it was obvious I hadn't lost any muscle so I was doing okay. This past weigh in (#26 on Feb. 1) showed a .8 LOSS and an even higher BF%. What the what???? So after looking at my food journal, Rochall said I was NOT eating enough protein. She said my exercise was burning up too much fuel and I was going into starvation mode. ARGH....... but the good news was I hadn't burned up my muscle....YET. But that would be next if I didn't up my food intake.
I swear, I'm always learning on this plan. I really thought I would have everything under control and I would be at my goal weight having finished all my phases. WRONG, kiddo...... you are still NOT in control just yet. That's okay though. I am now staying away from any vigorous training and eating as cleanly as I possibly can and drinking a ton of water. I can't cut the coffee though.... I love it too much so I up the water to make up for it. I seem to be handling that part okay. :-)
Today I started at 152.5 which is pretty darn close to the lowest I've seen on the scale (I believe I had a 151.9 back in December) so I know the plan is now working again. I could not escape past 153 for a long time. I have got to get down to 140-145 before I call phase 1 quits and move into the world of eating real foods again. I feel like I finally have control over what I eat and what I want to eat for the first time ever so I know I can do this. I really need to get down to 25-27% body fat. It's a health thing for me, not about sizes, pounds or inches. I don't care what the numbers are actually. I just want the doctor to see normal levels on everything although I doubt my blood pressure will ever be normal without meds. That's okay though.....just keep me healthy and away from diabetes and heart problems! I'll take meds for BP! That's easy!
I obviously ignored my poor blog for a couple of weeks. I've been incredibly distracted. My weight has been staying with me. It hasn't been coming off for the last couple of weeks. I've actually gone up and down and it's been really annoying. I truly thought I would be DONE with phase 1 at the end of January.
I'm still 7-10 lbs away. This is where I was at the beginning of the month! What the what?????
Okay.....I've been eating strangely. I have added Quest bars into the mix as they are very satisfying and have little to no carbs/sugar (even compared to IP product). I have been starving the last 2 weeks (which I now see was symptoms of my TOM) and possibly knocking myself out of ketosis. I also was exercising the entire month and that's when my weight really stalled.
Go figure. I was doing great on my planks (3.5 minutes people!) and my squats but I wasn't eating enough to lose weight. I sabotaged my own losses by trying to exercise. Damn.....
So I stopped about 3-4 days ago. I started cutting back on my coffee and upped my water. I started chowing down on lots of lettuce.
My weigh in a week ago showed a gain and a skyrocketing BF% (TOM is coming - warning, warning) but it was obvious I hadn't lost any muscle so I was doing okay. This past weigh in (#26 on Feb. 1) showed a .8 LOSS and an even higher BF%. What the what???? So after looking at my food journal, Rochall said I was NOT eating enough protein. She said my exercise was burning up too much fuel and I was going into starvation mode. ARGH....... but the good news was I hadn't burned up my muscle....YET. But that would be next if I didn't up my food intake.
I swear, I'm always learning on this plan. I really thought I would have everything under control and I would be at my goal weight having finished all my phases. WRONG, kiddo...... you are still NOT in control just yet. That's okay though. I am now staying away from any vigorous training and eating as cleanly as I possibly can and drinking a ton of water. I can't cut the coffee though.... I love it too much so I up the water to make up for it. I seem to be handling that part okay. :-)
Today I started at 152.5 which is pretty darn close to the lowest I've seen on the scale (I believe I had a 151.9 back in December) so I know the plan is now working again. I could not escape past 153 for a long time. I have got to get down to 140-145 before I call phase 1 quits and move into the world of eating real foods again. I feel like I finally have control over what I eat and what I want to eat for the first time ever so I know I can do this. I really need to get down to 25-27% body fat. It's a health thing for me, not about sizes, pounds or inches. I don't care what the numbers are actually. I just want the doctor to see normal levels on everything although I doubt my blood pressure will ever be normal without meds. That's okay though.....just keep me healthy and away from diabetes and heart problems! I'll take meds for BP! That's easy!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
My rant for the day....
To start off, I've been ingesting a lot more fat the past couple of days. I've been told it helps you when you're in a stall and that's exactly what I consider these past 4 weeks. Up and down and back up again. I know I'm doing okay though because I feel really good. It was just frustrating to not lose much. Of course, with less than 10 lbs of fat to lose, that's what happens to us. Anyway, my body finally released another 1.5 lbs over the past 4 days. We'll see if I manage to keep it off or if I yo-yo back up (which is what I've been doing lately) but I'm okay with it. As long as I'm showing a fat loss, even if I do gain weight, then I know it's either water, salt or muscle and it's ALL good! I blogged this rant on my regular blog but it's diet related so I'm posting it here too:
"Stop with the excuses"
I have become a huge proponent of the low carb/high fat lifestyle. Granted, while I'm on IP I can't do that much fat but a healthy 'low' amount is approved so that weight loss won't stall. Since IP is about being in ketosis (burning the fat reserve already in the body) they don't want us adding too much more. I'm not talking about doing Atkins after IP since that allows for too much fat, almost to the point of being grossed out by it. This is more about the newer 'Wheat Belly' or basic ketogenic diet. Almost all gluten/sugar is cut out from your diet in IP but will be slowly reintroduced after reaching your weight loss goal. Part of the reason I want to switch over to Wheat Belly after IP is that it continues to encourage little to no gluten and sugar, actually less than IP maintenance. I know it works because I've started eliminating it from Mark's diet and while he is still enjoying some gluten/sugar (but NOT FOR LONG!) he's lost about 10 lbs just eating a healthy lunch and dinner.
I don't talk too much about IP to friends and acquaintances because diet is a touchy subject. I figure if someone has reached their rock bottom, they will talk to me about it. I've had several friends approach me and while one of them has started IP (it's not cheap!), another two have started doing it on their own (basic ketogenic diet). I'm really proud of them because it's harder to do it on your own. They're both seeing successes so far and that's terrific.
I have had others who are doing other plans and complain that they're not getting what they want. Well.....then why stay on those plans? We did Nutrisystem for 3 months and HATED it. I lost 16 lbs and gained it all back plus another 5. It does not teach you how to eat correctly in the real world. Most plans don't. That's what is so frustrating. Some programs have coaches which is marvelous but others expect you to read the little booklet and make it happen. These programs don't take into consideration, hormones, food allergies, etc., and I think it's a recipe for disaster. Some of these plans also allow 'fat-free' products which are so loaded with sugar that we're basically poisoning our bodies. How the heck can a diet plan allow for that? Fat-free is BAD stuff.
I was at Starbucks last Saturday and the gal in front of me ordered a non-fat 7 pump sugar-free caramel latte. I almost choked when I heard that order. Granted, she wasn't overweight but I could tell she wasn't in shape and had lots of flab. And not knowing her actual body fat percentage (and I think it's probably pretty high) I really can't do anything except look at appearances. But seriously, do you know how much sugar is in that crap she ordered? Non-fat (or fat-free) garbage has so much freakin' sugar in it! The 7 pump part was pretty hysterical but at least Starbucks uses mostly Splenda based products. If there's aspartame based sugar free syrups being used, well that's basically pouring a lot of poison into our bodies. Splenda isn't great but it's a heck of a lot better. But still, 7 pumps?
I'm sure when she heard me order my grande brevè latte she probably had a heart attack and thought 'poor girl, she's going to get so fat drinking that half-n-half' but I'll tell ya what - my body is using that fat and burning it off because I'm not eating any sugar (other than what's in the dairy I had that day). Since I'm so restricted on the amount of dairy I do eat (NO cheese or additional milk on IP until I get into maintenance) I'm doing just fine, thank you.
This is the crappy information I fight through constantly. I've had people tell me I'm not doing the healthy thing. Seriously folks....I've lost almost 51 lbs and my body fat percentage is 3 to 5 points away from being 'fit'! I think I know what I'm doing......
I've had people tell me I've lost too much weight. Folks.... lay off. I am being monitored by professionals. I think they know what they're doing.....
I've had people tell me they'll stick with 'their' plans because it works. Well...have you had yourself tested lately? Are you overweight? Are you diabetic? Do you have high cholesterol or hypertension? Arthritis? Stomach or intestinal ailments? Circulation problems? Do your knees, hips and feet want to die at the end of the day? If you're on a 'plan' and any one of these things still exist, then your plan isn't working. Foods have so many hidden chemicals, sugars, etc., and with all the GMO wheat products in our lives we are basically poisoning ourselves while we think we're eating 'healthy'. Stripping away all the fats out of our diets have also created havoc in our bodies. Notice that we're getting more and more obese as a nation? Young people are starting their lives out fat even before they hit 10 years of age? Everything we eat (fast food, snack foods, non-fat products, gluten) are all laced with chemicals and sugar.
I've read and had medical professionals tell me that cancer feeds on sugar. CANCER FEEDS ON SUGAR. What are we constantly ingesting? SUGAR. We are making our bodies a wonderful laboratory for growing cancer. That one scared me. I realized I may have just saved myself from a fate that IS death. I eat very little sugar, enough to stay healthy and have good brain and organ function. And I feel great.
So......stop with your excuses that 'you can't cut out carbs out of your diet.' Guess what? You can. If I can do it, anyone can. I was a serious carb addict. I LOVED pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, wheat, sugar and anything made from them. In my mind, I still love them too. But my digestive system hates them. My joints hate them. My body in general hates them. After the first 5 days being almost carb free and having one bad headache and stomach attack, my cravings for them stopped. I still eat some 'sweets' that are approved on the IP plan but they're made with splenda, stevia, xylitol, etc. They really satisfy my sweet tooth. I actually love veggies now and look forward to eating them every day. I haven't had a piece of fruit in 6 months (sugar) and don't miss them. I look forward to having them again but I don't crave them. And I love meat. I seriously can't wait to have a steak, a hamburger (minus the bread), fish, chicken, turkey, pork, etc., for dinner. I enjoy eating meat so much I will never be a vegetarian! I don't really fry foods much, and I don't miss it. Baking, roasting, poaching, broiling has become a way of life. Food really tastes good this way.
I grew up eating meat, potatoes, and a veggie on a plate followed by dessert. I also ate lots of rice (I'm Japanese, come on!). Pizza - well, it was cheap and easy so that was a part of life too! Because of IP, I now have a lot of meat and veggies followed by an approved snack. No potatoes or rice or pasta. I don't miss it. I promise after a few weeks of eating this way you won't miss it either. And you'll lose weight if you use real milk, grass fed butter, nuts, and coconut/grapeseed oils. As long as you're not allergic to any of those foods, your body will thank you. Get the sugar out of your lives.... you won't regret it.
"Stop with the excuses"
I have become a huge proponent of the low carb/high fat lifestyle. Granted, while I'm on IP I can't do that much fat but a healthy 'low' amount is approved so that weight loss won't stall. Since IP is about being in ketosis (burning the fat reserve already in the body) they don't want us adding too much more. I'm not talking about doing Atkins after IP since that allows for too much fat, almost to the point of being grossed out by it. This is more about the newer 'Wheat Belly' or basic ketogenic diet. Almost all gluten/sugar is cut out from your diet in IP but will be slowly reintroduced after reaching your weight loss goal. Part of the reason I want to switch over to Wheat Belly after IP is that it continues to encourage little to no gluten and sugar, actually less than IP maintenance. I know it works because I've started eliminating it from Mark's diet and while he is still enjoying some gluten/sugar (but NOT FOR LONG!) he's lost about 10 lbs just eating a healthy lunch and dinner.
I don't talk too much about IP to friends and acquaintances because diet is a touchy subject. I figure if someone has reached their rock bottom, they will talk to me about it. I've had several friends approach me and while one of them has started IP (it's not cheap!), another two have started doing it on their own (basic ketogenic diet). I'm really proud of them because it's harder to do it on your own. They're both seeing successes so far and that's terrific.
I have had others who are doing other plans and complain that they're not getting what they want. Well.....then why stay on those plans? We did Nutrisystem for 3 months and HATED it. I lost 16 lbs and gained it all back plus another 5. It does not teach you how to eat correctly in the real world. Most plans don't. That's what is so frustrating. Some programs have coaches which is marvelous but others expect you to read the little booklet and make it happen. These programs don't take into consideration, hormones, food allergies, etc., and I think it's a recipe for disaster. Some of these plans also allow 'fat-free' products which are so loaded with sugar that we're basically poisoning our bodies. How the heck can a diet plan allow for that? Fat-free is BAD stuff.
I was at Starbucks last Saturday and the gal in front of me ordered a non-fat 7 pump sugar-free caramel latte. I almost choked when I heard that order. Granted, she wasn't overweight but I could tell she wasn't in shape and had lots of flab. And not knowing her actual body fat percentage (and I think it's probably pretty high) I really can't do anything except look at appearances. But seriously, do you know how much sugar is in that crap she ordered? Non-fat (or fat-free) garbage has so much freakin' sugar in it! The 7 pump part was pretty hysterical but at least Starbucks uses mostly Splenda based products. If there's aspartame based sugar free syrups being used, well that's basically pouring a lot of poison into our bodies. Splenda isn't great but it's a heck of a lot better. But still, 7 pumps?
I'm sure when she heard me order my grande brevè latte she probably had a heart attack and thought 'poor girl, she's going to get so fat drinking that half-n-half' but I'll tell ya what - my body is using that fat and burning it off because I'm not eating any sugar (other than what's in the dairy I had that day). Since I'm so restricted on the amount of dairy I do eat (NO cheese or additional milk on IP until I get into maintenance) I'm doing just fine, thank you.
This is the crappy information I fight through constantly. I've had people tell me I'm not doing the healthy thing. Seriously folks....I've lost almost 51 lbs and my body fat percentage is 3 to 5 points away from being 'fit'! I think I know what I'm doing......
I've had people tell me I've lost too much weight. Folks.... lay off. I am being monitored by professionals. I think they know what they're doing.....
I've had people tell me they'll stick with 'their' plans because it works. Well...have you had yourself tested lately? Are you overweight? Are you diabetic? Do you have high cholesterol or hypertension? Arthritis? Stomach or intestinal ailments? Circulation problems? Do your knees, hips and feet want to die at the end of the day? If you're on a 'plan' and any one of these things still exist, then your plan isn't working. Foods have so many hidden chemicals, sugars, etc., and with all the GMO wheat products in our lives we are basically poisoning ourselves while we think we're eating 'healthy'. Stripping away all the fats out of our diets have also created havoc in our bodies. Notice that we're getting more and more obese as a nation? Young people are starting their lives out fat even before they hit 10 years of age? Everything we eat (fast food, snack foods, non-fat products, gluten) are all laced with chemicals and sugar.
I've read and had medical professionals tell me that cancer feeds on sugar. CANCER FEEDS ON SUGAR. What are we constantly ingesting? SUGAR. We are making our bodies a wonderful laboratory for growing cancer. That one scared me. I realized I may have just saved myself from a fate that IS death. I eat very little sugar, enough to stay healthy and have good brain and organ function. And I feel great.
So......stop with your excuses that 'you can't cut out carbs out of your diet.' Guess what? You can. If I can do it, anyone can. I was a serious carb addict. I LOVED pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, wheat, sugar and anything made from them. In my mind, I still love them too. But my digestive system hates them. My joints hate them. My body in general hates them. After the first 5 days being almost carb free and having one bad headache and stomach attack, my cravings for them stopped. I still eat some 'sweets' that are approved on the IP plan but they're made with splenda, stevia, xylitol, etc. They really satisfy my sweet tooth. I actually love veggies now and look forward to eating them every day. I haven't had a piece of fruit in 6 months (sugar) and don't miss them. I look forward to having them again but I don't crave them. And I love meat. I seriously can't wait to have a steak, a hamburger (minus the bread), fish, chicken, turkey, pork, etc., for dinner. I enjoy eating meat so much I will never be a vegetarian! I don't really fry foods much, and I don't miss it. Baking, roasting, poaching, broiling has become a way of life. Food really tastes good this way.
I grew up eating meat, potatoes, and a veggie on a plate followed by dessert. I also ate lots of rice (I'm Japanese, come on!). Pizza - well, it was cheap and easy so that was a part of life too! Because of IP, I now have a lot of meat and veggies followed by an approved snack. No potatoes or rice or pasta. I don't miss it. I promise after a few weeks of eating this way you won't miss it either. And you'll lose weight if you use real milk, grass fed butter, nuts, and coconut/grapeseed oils. As long as you're not allergic to any of those foods, your body will thank you. Get the sugar out of your lives.... you won't regret it.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Week 25 begins
I weighed myself this morning at 155 and as it's higher than I was a couple of weeks ago I still cringe but then I remember I've gained muscle from my workouts!
Breathe Trina.....breathe. It's okay.
I'm 8-10 lbs away from goal. Breathe Trina.
I made it through a huge event last week too. I wrote about it on the Facebook IP Lifestyles page and got great support as well as insight and perspective too. I needed that because I tend to get too focused on the 'poor me' thing.
The 'pizza incident': my MIL insisted on pizza for her final night with us before heading back to Cali for the rest of winter and spring. She'll be back for summer as it's too hot for her and there is no A/C in her house. (I know..... every house in Socal should have A/C. Not a big deal since we can take her though.) So she wanted pizza. Mark suggests we get it from my favorite pizza joint. MY FAVORITE PIZZA. I have managed to avoid pizza in my house for 6 months. My last slice of pizza was on August 2nd. I remember this because it was my last hurrah weekend before starting IP. Pizza was on my list as well as alcohol (many vodka drinks and champagne at my cousin's wedding!) and other wonderful taboo items. I agonized over this pizza thing and told her I couldn't eat it. BUT THAT DIDN'T STOP HER FROM WANTING IT. So I had to go get the frickin' pizza! Do you know how mad I was????? I was spitting nails mad. So I order the pizza, pick up Mark at the ferry and then we still had to wait more than 45 minutes for this God damned pizza. Then, the agonizing drive home having to breathe through my mouth so I didn't have to smell MY FAVORITE PIZZA.
Mark even tells her we had to wait over an hour for the pizza because it's Friday night and this pizza place is the most popular place in the county. And then he tells her "you know, this is tough on Trina because this is her favorite pizza in the whole world. And she's had pizza in New York and Chicago and THIS IS HER FAVORITE. She has avoided this restaurant for 6 months because this is really hard on her". I get a little sympathy but VERY LITTLE.
GOD DAMN IT. I hated this woman so much. I wanted to scream "FUCK YOU!" at her and slam the door and leave the house for the night. Seriously. But I didn't. I completely ignored the pizza. I fought through it. I did not cheat. I ate left overs. The damn left overs that she should have been eating because I made this meal for her. GOD DAMN IT.
I DID NOT CHEAT. I WON.
Breathe Trina.
We sent my MIL home on Saturday. I am so relieved. And no, I don't hate her. She drives me crazy but I don't hate her. Mark has been eating the damned pizza. I sent the rest off with him this morning for his lunch. The cursed food is out of my house for good. I wanted it.... but I did not eat it. Well...truth be told, I ate 2 little pieces of olives off of it. No cheese, no sauce. Just olives. It was good. REALLY GOOD.
I've started 'coaching' or mentoring several people who are doing IP or an alternative low carb version. Not trying to make money as I'm not a professional. I just want to help others know they are not alone and that even when the going does get tough, you will get through it. Hell, I still go through hills and valleys because it's a DIET. Our bodies do not do what we expect because they're hormonally driven machines. Can't predict them from day to day unfortunately.
Anyway, I have been staying at a higher weight (about 2 lbs higher than my lowest recorded weight) but my coach figured it's added muscle from my workouts. Grateful that I have more muscle now because that means I will burn more calories and that means more fat is burned since I'm in ketosis. Yay. My skin seems to be bouncing back better now as well. Our skin doesn't tighten up as well as we age so it seems my moisturizing (with coconut oil and olive oil) plus taking collagen seems to be helping me. Double yay!
On to week #25. The end of the tunnel is finally visible. Only 8-10 lbs of fat and 3-5% body fat to go.
Breathe Trina.....breathe. It's okay.
I'm 8-10 lbs away from goal. Breathe Trina.
I made it through a huge event last week too. I wrote about it on the Facebook IP Lifestyles page and got great support as well as insight and perspective too. I needed that because I tend to get too focused on the 'poor me' thing.
The 'pizza incident': my MIL insisted on pizza for her final night with us before heading back to Cali for the rest of winter and spring. She'll be back for summer as it's too hot for her and there is no A/C in her house. (I know..... every house in Socal should have A/C. Not a big deal since we can take her though.) So she wanted pizza. Mark suggests we get it from my favorite pizza joint. MY FAVORITE PIZZA. I have managed to avoid pizza in my house for 6 months. My last slice of pizza was on August 2nd. I remember this because it was my last hurrah weekend before starting IP. Pizza was on my list as well as alcohol (many vodka drinks and champagne at my cousin's wedding!) and other wonderful taboo items. I agonized over this pizza thing and told her I couldn't eat it. BUT THAT DIDN'T STOP HER FROM WANTING IT. So I had to go get the frickin' pizza! Do you know how mad I was????? I was spitting nails mad. So I order the pizza, pick up Mark at the ferry and then we still had to wait more than 45 minutes for this God damned pizza. Then, the agonizing drive home having to breathe through my mouth so I didn't have to smell MY FAVORITE PIZZA.
Mark even tells her we had to wait over an hour for the pizza because it's Friday night and this pizza place is the most popular place in the county. And then he tells her "you know, this is tough on Trina because this is her favorite pizza in the whole world. And she's had pizza in New York and Chicago and THIS IS HER FAVORITE. She has avoided this restaurant for 6 months because this is really hard on her". I get a little sympathy but VERY LITTLE.
GOD DAMN IT. I hated this woman so much. I wanted to scream "FUCK YOU!" at her and slam the door and leave the house for the night. Seriously. But I didn't. I completely ignored the pizza. I fought through it. I did not cheat. I ate left overs. The damn left overs that she should have been eating because I made this meal for her. GOD DAMN IT.
I DID NOT CHEAT. I WON.
Breathe Trina.
We sent my MIL home on Saturday. I am so relieved. And no, I don't hate her. She drives me crazy but I don't hate her. Mark has been eating the damned pizza. I sent the rest off with him this morning for his lunch. The cursed food is out of my house for good. I wanted it.... but I did not eat it. Well...truth be told, I ate 2 little pieces of olives off of it. No cheese, no sauce. Just olives. It was good. REALLY GOOD.
I've started 'coaching' or mentoring several people who are doing IP or an alternative low carb version. Not trying to make money as I'm not a professional. I just want to help others know they are not alone and that even when the going does get tough, you will get through it. Hell, I still go through hills and valleys because it's a DIET. Our bodies do not do what we expect because they're hormonally driven machines. Can't predict them from day to day unfortunately.
Anyway, I have been staying at a higher weight (about 2 lbs higher than my lowest recorded weight) but my coach figured it's added muscle from my workouts. Grateful that I have more muscle now because that means I will burn more calories and that means more fat is burned since I'm in ketosis. Yay. My skin seems to be bouncing back better now as well. Our skin doesn't tighten up as well as we age so it seems my moisturizing (with coconut oil and olive oil) plus taking collagen seems to be helping me. Double yay!
On to week #25. The end of the tunnel is finally visible. Only 8-10 lbs of fat and 3-5% body fat to go.
Week 24 Weigh In
Well.... it was an interesting week. Actually, these past 3 weeks have been interesting.
I weighed in on Saturday and I was up a pound. I was not happy initially. Then we measured and my thigh and hips came in 1/4" bigger. What the what?????
Then came the numbers from my read out. I lost 2.4 lbs of fat! I gained at least 1 lb of muscle (but probably more as this machine can't truly separate muscle from bone and organs). So that's why I haven't been losing weight because I started working out 3 weeks ago! I'm building up muscle in my core and lower body as my 30 day fitness challenge is focusing on squats and planks!
Hallelujah! I probably would have shown more of a loss had I not been working out BUT because I have more muscle this explains my additional hunger! I've been so worried lately as I want to have more packets! I guess this anaerobic workout I'm doing is making me burn more calories as my muscles need it so I'm actually okay! So believe me when I tell you: weight training is important and it burns calories. Aerobic exercise is important too BUT weight training is as important. I'm only using my own body weight right now. So believe me when I tell you, weight training works.
For the first time my body fat reading came in at 30%. I know that may seem high to some but I'm 51 so I'm actually right in the middle of acceptable body fat for the first time in my life! Well, I know I was fit some years ago but I wasn't able to truly keep tabs on body fat so I really don't know what my BF% was back then. If I make it to 25%, the scale said I should weigh in at 147. My goal has always been 145-147 and the damn readout finally agreed with me! I want to be at 23-25% BF because that is considered 'fit'. If I'm fit, then I will be in near to peak condition. I will never be a professional athlete in 'athletic' range for body fat (18-21%) BF) but I want my body to burn calories efficiently and be as healthy as it can be. If I'm in the 23-25% range that would be perfect!
The light is at the end of the tunnel now. I CAN see it. I'm less than 10 lbs away (this is fat) from reaching my goal. I will be eating more real food within 2-4 weeks. YAY!!!!!
I weighed in on Saturday and I was up a pound. I was not happy initially. Then we measured and my thigh and hips came in 1/4" bigger. What the what?????
Then came the numbers from my read out. I lost 2.4 lbs of fat! I gained at least 1 lb of muscle (but probably more as this machine can't truly separate muscle from bone and organs). So that's why I haven't been losing weight because I started working out 3 weeks ago! I'm building up muscle in my core and lower body as my 30 day fitness challenge is focusing on squats and planks!
Hallelujah! I probably would have shown more of a loss had I not been working out BUT because I have more muscle this explains my additional hunger! I've been so worried lately as I want to have more packets! I guess this anaerobic workout I'm doing is making me burn more calories as my muscles need it so I'm actually okay! So believe me when I tell you: weight training is important and it burns calories. Aerobic exercise is important too BUT weight training is as important. I'm only using my own body weight right now. So believe me when I tell you, weight training works.
For the first time my body fat reading came in at 30%. I know that may seem high to some but I'm 51 so I'm actually right in the middle of acceptable body fat for the first time in my life! Well, I know I was fit some years ago but I wasn't able to truly keep tabs on body fat so I really don't know what my BF% was back then. If I make it to 25%, the scale said I should weigh in at 147. My goal has always been 145-147 and the damn readout finally agreed with me! I want to be at 23-25% BF because that is considered 'fit'. If I'm fit, then I will be in near to peak condition. I will never be a professional athlete in 'athletic' range for body fat (18-21%) BF) but I want my body to burn calories efficiently and be as healthy as it can be. If I'm in the 23-25% range that would be perfect!
The light is at the end of the tunnel now. I CAN see it. I'm less than 10 lbs away (this is fat) from reaching my goal. I will be eating more real food within 2-4 weeks. YAY!!!!!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Week #24 is underway
I wanted to put 'underweigh' but since I tend to be obsessive I almost always weigh myself daily. I've managed to cut myself back to once a day though so that's an improvement!
I have had a couple of wacky days of eating.... not like I'm cheating but my timing is off or I'm cramming all my veggies into one meal or as a snack. I need to get on the ball and make myself eat meals at the appropriate times. I haven't really lost anything in the last 2 days so I'm doing my best to avoid weighing myself. That's not working great but again, I'm only weighing myself in the a.m. and it's one time so that's an improvement. I've got to remember, these are benchmarks but they're not the final product. Weight is so up and down depending on your diet, exercise, sleep patterns, stress levels, etc. I've had a couple of bad nights of sleep and my water intake was a little lower than I wanted it to be so I'm sure my loss has slowed down. Today is a much better day though and I slept in until 8:30! What a luxury for someone who is typically up at 5:30 or 6!
I am finishing up my 6th month on IP this week. I'm hovering at or around 50 lbs down. I was a little higher yesterday than I wanted to be but I wasn't higher than Saturday so that's a good thing. Today was a little lower than yesterday but it's minute amounts. I'm lucky to be losing a lb or 2 (with the exception of last weigh in!) for the week and I'm not frustrated but a little impatient. The plan was for me to be off by now and my body is still holding on to about 8-10 extra lbs of fat. I really won't know the exact amount until my body fat percentage is read this Saturday. I pray that it is a lot lower this week. I've been holding on to this stuff for so long though, I have to try to give myself a break here.
I have discovered that I do need to eat more fatty proteins now and then to kick my loss into gear. That's a great thing for an IP-er, since fats are not encouraged like they are on Atkins. I get to eat a piece of bacon here and there (which I love) and it really satisfies my appetite. I see a much bigger drop over the next 48 hours after I eat it. What doesn't seem to really help me are protein bars. I'm totally loving Quest chocolate chip cookie dough bars but I think they're a little too high in everything for me. I am trying my best to use them in emergencies and travel situations until I'm on maintenance. Then I'll use them here and there.
Nothing much else to report other than I'm loving wearing size 6 pants! It's still inconsistent. Sometimes it's an 8 but I'm not complaining about that! I never thought I'd be this small ever in my life again! Some clothing is a pain to deal with even if I'm measuring a 6 or an 8. My back is a true swimmer's back and I have a pretty large rib cage too. No big deal though...it's not about the number, it's about what looks and feels good. It's so weird to be wearing things that are very fitted and occasionally snug but intentionally so! Clothes look and feel great now!
I have had a couple of wacky days of eating.... not like I'm cheating but my timing is off or I'm cramming all my veggies into one meal or as a snack. I need to get on the ball and make myself eat meals at the appropriate times. I haven't really lost anything in the last 2 days so I'm doing my best to avoid weighing myself. That's not working great but again, I'm only weighing myself in the a.m. and it's one time so that's an improvement. I've got to remember, these are benchmarks but they're not the final product. Weight is so up and down depending on your diet, exercise, sleep patterns, stress levels, etc. I've had a couple of bad nights of sleep and my water intake was a little lower than I wanted it to be so I'm sure my loss has slowed down. Today is a much better day though and I slept in until 8:30! What a luxury for someone who is typically up at 5:30 or 6!
I am finishing up my 6th month on IP this week. I'm hovering at or around 50 lbs down. I was a little higher yesterday than I wanted to be but I wasn't higher than Saturday so that's a good thing. Today was a little lower than yesterday but it's minute amounts. I'm lucky to be losing a lb or 2 (with the exception of last weigh in!) for the week and I'm not frustrated but a little impatient. The plan was for me to be off by now and my body is still holding on to about 8-10 extra lbs of fat. I really won't know the exact amount until my body fat percentage is read this Saturday. I pray that it is a lot lower this week. I've been holding on to this stuff for so long though, I have to try to give myself a break here.
I have discovered that I do need to eat more fatty proteins now and then to kick my loss into gear. That's a great thing for an IP-er, since fats are not encouraged like they are on Atkins. I get to eat a piece of bacon here and there (which I love) and it really satisfies my appetite. I see a much bigger drop over the next 48 hours after I eat it. What doesn't seem to really help me are protein bars. I'm totally loving Quest chocolate chip cookie dough bars but I think they're a little too high in everything for me. I am trying my best to use them in emergencies and travel situations until I'm on maintenance. Then I'll use them here and there.
Nothing much else to report other than I'm loving wearing size 6 pants! It's still inconsistent. Sometimes it's an 8 but I'm not complaining about that! I never thought I'd be this small ever in my life again! Some clothing is a pain to deal with even if I'm measuring a 6 or an 8. My back is a true swimmer's back and I have a pretty large rib cage too. No big deal though...it's not about the number, it's about what looks and feels good. It's so weird to be wearing things that are very fitted and occasionally snug but intentionally so! Clothes look and feel great now!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Week #23 Weigh In
FINALLY. After a few crappy weeks of yo-yoing so damn much I finally am seeing the downward trend on the scale again!
I showed a huge bloaty gain last Saturday..... obviously my TOM was coming because I gained an inch around my belly and my weight stayed the same from 2 weeks prior. I had gone down according to my scale at home over the holidays but we're talking less than 2 lbs. It was so frustrating to not see good results last Saturday so today more than made up for it!
Even though it's still TOM I am managing to lose weight this week. I showed a 4.4 lb loss for the week! Of that, 2.8 lbs of it was all fat! Woo-hoo, baby! Like I said.......FINALLY. Just had to eat clean.
As for inches lost, that was great too! Here's the stats:
Under arm (but above bust): 1/2 inch
Bust: 1 inch
Thorax: 1/2 inch
Waist: 1/2 inch
Hips: 1 inch
Thighs: 1 inch (1/2 inch each leg)
Arms: same
Total of 5 inches!!!! Yay!
My body fat reading is still messed up from TOM so I won't really know where I'm at until next week. At least it came down though.....that's a good sign! So close to the finish line..... starting to get excited!
Wearing more size 6's and 8's are starting to become a little more loose! This chica may make into a size 4 just yet!!!!!
I showed a huge bloaty gain last Saturday..... obviously my TOM was coming because I gained an inch around my belly and my weight stayed the same from 2 weeks prior. I had gone down according to my scale at home over the holidays but we're talking less than 2 lbs. It was so frustrating to not see good results last Saturday so today more than made up for it!
Even though it's still TOM I am managing to lose weight this week. I showed a 4.4 lb loss for the week! Of that, 2.8 lbs of it was all fat! Woo-hoo, baby! Like I said.......FINALLY. Just had to eat clean.
As for inches lost, that was great too! Here's the stats:
Under arm (but above bust): 1/2 inch
Bust: 1 inch
Thorax: 1/2 inch
Waist: 1/2 inch
Hips: 1 inch
Thighs: 1 inch (1/2 inch each leg)
Arms: same
Total of 5 inches!!!! Yay!
My body fat reading is still messed up from TOM so I won't really know where I'm at until next week. At least it came down though.....that's a good sign! So close to the finish line..... starting to get excited!
Wearing more size 6's and 8's are starting to become a little more loose! This chica may make into a size 4 just yet!!!!!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Week #22 begins and Week 21 weigh in
Yikes.... I'm WAY behind here.
So I actually had a weigh in after all. I was told no weigh in until after the first week of January but I guess that meant the 4th was a weigh in.
So I didn't lose much.... .4 of a lb and I gained in my waist because I was bloated. Lovely. This was after I kept going up and down on the scale for the last 2 weeks too. My body fat went up too. Yeesh..... NOT a great way to start the New Year.
My body fat going up could mean only one thing. TOM was getting ready to start. LOVELY. Another strike against me. And then nothing happened for 3 days! I started my period this morning so that's where all the crazy BF percentage issues were stemming from.
My weight has been fluctuating the last week. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 158 and then I weighed 155 in the afternoon! At least I went down....typically I go up from all the water and food!
I indulged in a LATE dinner last night because I've started rehearsals again and I was up 1.2 lbs this morning and then TOM showed up a little bit later so that explains the upward trend. Now weighing myself is pointless and I just have to be okay with that. If I can stay on task and not cheat I should at least show a loss in inches. The BF% will be all over the place for at least 2 weeks now so I just have to let go and let God.
No bad attitude....just a little impatient. I am able to say I've shown a 48 lbs loss (even though right now I'm up so it's more like 45 to 46) and I'm hoping after 3-4 days my body will let go of the water show an additional 2-3 lbs off. If that happens I will be less than 8 lbs away from my goal weight! I would really LOVE that!!!
So I actually had a weigh in after all. I was told no weigh in until after the first week of January but I guess that meant the 4th was a weigh in.
So I didn't lose much.... .4 of a lb and I gained in my waist because I was bloated. Lovely. This was after I kept going up and down on the scale for the last 2 weeks too. My body fat went up too. Yeesh..... NOT a great way to start the New Year.
My body fat going up could mean only one thing. TOM was getting ready to start. LOVELY. Another strike against me. And then nothing happened for 3 days! I started my period this morning so that's where all the crazy BF percentage issues were stemming from.
My weight has been fluctuating the last week. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 158 and then I weighed 155 in the afternoon! At least I went down....typically I go up from all the water and food!
I indulged in a LATE dinner last night because I've started rehearsals again and I was up 1.2 lbs this morning and then TOM showed up a little bit later so that explains the upward trend. Now weighing myself is pointless and I just have to be okay with that. If I can stay on task and not cheat I should at least show a loss in inches. The BF% will be all over the place for at least 2 weeks now so I just have to let go and let God.
No bad attitude....just a little impatient. I am able to say I've shown a 48 lbs loss (even though right now I'm up so it's more like 45 to 46) and I'm hoping after 3-4 days my body will let go of the water show an additional 2-3 lbs off. If that happens I will be less than 8 lbs away from my goal weight! I would really LOVE that!!!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Week 21.....half way through and Happy New Year
I am usually not this lazy with my blog but I think the fact that I haven't had a weigh in to go to made me a little bleh about the whole thing. I don't have a weigh in this week either so I'm doing my best to stay up and focused.
I started week 21 up from Sunday but I finally lost all the excess water today plus a little more. I did some measurements but they're different from what Rochall has at the clinic so I don't get too caught up in them here. I do know that I had a couple of milestones in terms of clothing though so at least I know I'm burning fat and inches even if I don't seem to be losing a lot of weight on the scale!
So today I weighed in at 155.3 and that was .3 down from Sunday. I did a huge 2 pound gain on Monday and I know it was all water/salt related so I had to avoid salt as much as I could. That's hard because I love salty foods now more than ever! Since sugar is kind of not my thing anymore I rely on salt and pepper and herbs/spices a lot more. I know that I'm not over salting foods though, and I just have to remember to avoid pickles, salty cured meats, etc. It took me 2 full days to get rid of the excess water so I really need to watch my intake.
Until I have my next weigh in on the Tanita scale I won't know my actual body fat and that's what will tell me how much further I have to go. My BMI is already at a healthy number but I don't put much credence into that formula. It's all body fat % for me so I still have another week and 2 days before I'll know. Oh well....just have to keep plugging away!
I did have a couple of great non-scale victories and managed to fit into size 6 jeans and pants at Old Navy yesterday! I got into a pair of Size 6 Sweetheart jeans that I almost bought but they were bright green and I didn't think I needed them. I was super excited to be able to buy a pair of gray skin tight Rockstar cords that looked amazing on me on sale for $8.63! That was a coup of epic proportions that my mom would have loved! She was the queen of shopping bargains and I think I really nailed it yesterday! I also got a button down print shirt for $6.24. I got a large, knowing that it WILL shrink. The medium fit perfectly but I know it'll gape right at the bust line if it remotely shrinks which it will since it's 100% cotton and thin cotton at that!
So despite not knowing what my BF is or the actual inches lost from the IP clinic stats I can certainly tell I've lost something since size 6 actually fits me! The 8's that I own feel great though so I'm not moving into 6's on a full time basis. Until I get down to 143-145 I don't think that'll be such a big deal. That's 10 to 12 pounds and that's a typical size so we'll see. Who knows, maybe I'll even fit into a 4 at that point? What an exciting thought!!!!!
I started week 21 up from Sunday but I finally lost all the excess water today plus a little more. I did some measurements but they're different from what Rochall has at the clinic so I don't get too caught up in them here. I do know that I had a couple of milestones in terms of clothing though so at least I know I'm burning fat and inches even if I don't seem to be losing a lot of weight on the scale!
So today I weighed in at 155.3 and that was .3 down from Sunday. I did a huge 2 pound gain on Monday and I know it was all water/salt related so I had to avoid salt as much as I could. That's hard because I love salty foods now more than ever! Since sugar is kind of not my thing anymore I rely on salt and pepper and herbs/spices a lot more. I know that I'm not over salting foods though, and I just have to remember to avoid pickles, salty cured meats, etc. It took me 2 full days to get rid of the excess water so I really need to watch my intake.
Until I have my next weigh in on the Tanita scale I won't know my actual body fat and that's what will tell me how much further I have to go. My BMI is already at a healthy number but I don't put much credence into that formula. It's all body fat % for me so I still have another week and 2 days before I'll know. Oh well....just have to keep plugging away!
I did have a couple of great non-scale victories and managed to fit into size 6 jeans and pants at Old Navy yesterday! I got into a pair of Size 6 Sweetheart jeans that I almost bought but they were bright green and I didn't think I needed them. I was super excited to be able to buy a pair of gray skin tight Rockstar cords that looked amazing on me on sale for $8.63! That was a coup of epic proportions that my mom would have loved! She was the queen of shopping bargains and I think I really nailed it yesterday! I also got a button down print shirt for $6.24. I got a large, knowing that it WILL shrink. The medium fit perfectly but I know it'll gape right at the bust line if it remotely shrinks which it will since it's 100% cotton and thin cotton at that!
So despite not knowing what my BF is or the actual inches lost from the IP clinic stats I can certainly tell I've lost something since size 6 actually fits me! The 8's that I own feel great though so I'm not moving into 6's on a full time basis. Until I get down to 143-145 I don't think that'll be such a big deal. That's 10 to 12 pounds and that's a typical size so we'll see. Who knows, maybe I'll even fit into a 4 at that point? What an exciting thought!!!!!
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