May/June Weight Management Challenge

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Originally Posted by Anelia

This is not fair and everybody tells me that it's not possible to gain weight if I ride this much. But the scale does not lie. I should be stricter in my eating and I should eat more protein and less carbs (especially sugar) and more raw vegetables.
Anyway, tomorrow I have a race, so I'm going to engulf on some pasta now.

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Sounds like me, Anelia! I also have a big problem with fresh fruit. It's about the best thing where I live (pineapples, papaya, mango, and bananas with real flavor, not like what you get in the US), and as a result, I eat WAY more fruit than I ever did in the US. And being a high sugar food, I am sure that has had an impact on my weight. I am going to try to cut back a bit on it. Although I love it, I am probably eating more than I should. I ate more veggies in the US, where there was a much better variety available to me.

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Originally Posted by solobiker

I will be here again. Mainly for maintence..I have been going between 138-141. Hope I can stay there. I am changing the way I eat though because I think the paleo way was making me feel very jitery, decreased my memory and I was not sleeping well at all. I was eating paleo for several months ( probably 90 % paleo) and could not figure out why I was so anxious for no reason and my memory for simple things was gone. I did some research and it confirmed what I already knew.

So far after 1 week of eating more carbs I feel far better and have been sleeping again.:D My boss was telling me one of her co-workers at her old job had the same experience with the Paleo way of eating and had to stop. I know some of you strong paleo followers will say just eat more fruits and veggies to up my carbs. I tried that but still felt very anxious...like I was about to give a speech or start a race. I felt that way all of the time. After reintroducing rice and whole wheat noodles back into my diet I feel great and can actually remember my patients' names again. :)

Oh..my weight now is 140

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Wow, that's really interesting. I'm the exact opposite. I was having memory issues before I went paleo (which are now resolved) and sleep WAY better now than I ever did on a conventional diet. Though, I'm not low carb. Not even a little. ;) I eat plenty of fruit and potatoes (and the occasional white rice in sushi) so I'm probably not your typical paleo case.


OK, so count me in again. I'm at 151 still. This time, I'm going to actively try to lose weight. I'm cleared to swim, so there is at least one form of cardio that I can do now! My goal for the end of June is 144.

Thanks, Possegal!

Potatoes on a paleo diet?

I do not understand this diet. Someone at work recently started it and the logic seems very twisted to me.

Yeah, I eat potatoes - most paleo people don't. Potatoes (unlike grains and legumes) don't have any substances in them that attack the digestive system. They are higher in starch/sugars, but as an endurance athlete, those are needed. The Paleo Diet for Athletes recommends things like sweet potatoes/yams and bananas as good fuel for longer endurance efforts.

Of course, my habit of eating them even while injured is exactly the reason I haven't lost any weight in the past 3-4 months. ;) Great part of the diet when exercising a lot...not so much when mostly sedentary! Though, based on solobiker's experience, maybe they are helping me sleep better at least. :)

Paleo can be low carb, but it doesn't have to be. And like any other type of nutrition plan, there are some grey areas about what is good/acceptable and what isn't. Everyone falls onto the spectrum in different places. That's why some drink raw milk, some don't. Some eat pastured butter, some don't. Some eat rice or quinoa, some don't. Some eat potatoes, some don't. Some eat honey, some don't. It's not like 'you have to eat exactly this and nothing else or you will burst into flames, get fat, die tomorrow or shrivel up and waste away'...it's a guideline. Of course, some people are WAY more militant about it than others. I started out pretty strict and then slowly added in different things to see how my body reacted. How I eat now is a result of 9-10 months of experimentation and knowing that if I'm too crazy strict about things, I won't stick with it over the long haul.

Plus, people who are just starting out tend to be 1) more strict and 2) more vocal. (I certainly was). ;)

I'm back in. Starting weight 228:eek::eek: (but if I made it through this without gaining significantly, it's all good!).

Goal to the end of May - Maintain. We're moving/have general chaos until then.

Goal to the end of June (for the spreadsheet) - 220.

Funny, right after dropping out of the spreadsheet, I had my lowest weight in months this morning! :D

Not sure if it will stick, but I'm pleased.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

Sounds like me, Anelia! I also have a big problem with fresh fruit. It's about the best thing where I live (pineapples, papaya, mango, and bananas with real flavor, not like what you get in the US), and as a result, I eat WAY more fruit than I ever did in the US. And being a high sugar food, I am sure that has had an impact on my weight. I am going to try to cut back a bit on it. Although I love it, I am probably eating more than I should. I ate more veggies in the US, where there was a much better variety available to me.

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Just curious. Do you find you get much weight related to the heat? Whenever I spend time "down there", Caribbean, two weeks a year usually, I find a really retain a lot of water. Every time I get on the scale when I get home and and :eek: but it always drops off after I return to my regular PNW climate. It can affect my clothing fitting buy a full pant size. I retained over 6# of water when I was three weeks in the Grand Canyon last year. Heat Edema is what it is officially called.

I started a bodyrock 30 day challenge 2 weeks ago, and today was my 2 week mid-challenge test. I did the same fit test I did on day one and I'm so pleased to see my strength increasing.
In the same amount of time I'm able to do 4 more burpees, 8 more boy push-ups, 9 more elevated tricep dips, and 6 more elbow-to-knee elevated ab crunches.

I am starting to see definition (just a wee bit) in my arms. My legs are still gooey, but I know I'm getting stronger. I hope when I weigh in at the end of June I'll see some kind of small loss, but I'm REALLY hoping for some inches lost. :)
Thanks for keeping me accountable, ladies. Even if I'm not weighing in regularly, I still feel like I'm being accountable to someone. :)

Here it is so far. :)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...DVsZzVFNnFiaHc

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Just curious. Do you find you get much weight related to the heat? Whenever I spend time "down there", Caribbean, two weeks a year usually, I find a really retain a lot of water. Every time I get on the scale when I get home and and :eek: but it always drops off after I return to my regular PNW climate. It can affect my clothing fitting buy a full pant size. I retained over 6# of water when I was three weeks in the Grand Canyon last year. Heat Edema is what it is officially called.

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I generally feel like I gain weight when it's hot and humid, especially when I visit my parents, who don't have air conditioning.

I would like to try this with you, if you don't mind. I have just starting making commitments to increase my cycling (I only commute now) and I'm far too heavy at 215. I would like to get to 210 by the end. :D

I've that I retain water for 2 days after a significant workout or ride - and it takes 2 full rest days for my body to give that up. Have others noted this? It is frustrating, and it also makes it easy to become complacent (ohhhh, that 2 pounds is just water) about it all. Most of the time it is indeed true - but I hate to have to take 2 complete rest days to prove it.

I am wondering if perhaps I am getting too much salt or something that encourages my body to hold onto fluid for so long - but if this is a normal process then I won't worry about it.

I notice the "water weight" gain only after very very long/hard/hilly rides. Sometimes in the heat. I also get it after eating salty, Asian food, which is the reason I no longer eat Japanese, Chinese, or Indian food more than 2-3 times a year now.
Finally back to 104 this morning. Not sure what was going on with my body, but the damage from my trip wasn't bad. I did do a lot of walking around, in addition to the hiking.

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Just curious. Do you find you get much weight related to the heat? Whenever I spend time "down there", Caribbean, two weeks a year usually, I find a really retain a lot of water. Every time I get on the scale when I get home and and :eek: but it always drops off after I return to my regular PNW climate. It can affect my clothing fitting buy a full pant size. I retained over 6# of water when I was three weeks in the Grand Canyon last year. Heat Edema is what it is officially called.

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Interesting! When we first got here, my feet used to swell a lot, but that stopped happening over time, so I am assuming my body adjusted. I haven't been back to the US since last August, so there's no way to know if I'm still retaining any extra water. I'm visiting my mother in June, but her scale is certainly not calibrated to mine, so who knows if I'll be able to tell anything.

However, since giving up the fruit smoothies, I am now down to 104 in just a few days, the lowest I've been since fall, so I am a cappy hamper. :D I weighed 103 when we arrived in Belize last August, so I doubt I'm retaining much water since my clothes all fit the same. When I was up to 108-109, I could definitely feel them getting tighter.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

However, since giving up the fruit smoothies, I am now down to 104 in just a few days, the lowest I've been since fall, so I am a cappy hamper. :D

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Now, I'm the one who's curious! How do you prepare your fruit smoothies?

You mentioned a few posts back that you think you eat way more fresh fruit than you should. Is most of the fruit you consume in smoothie form? That might be the problem -- smoothies might add in extra calories. Plus if you eat fruit in its native form you'll likely eat it slower, and it might be more filling. Just a thought.