March/April Weight Management Challenge

[Catrin]

Ok, so I avoided the scales for a full week - which is something like a miracle for me. The planned weigh in at the gym for my body-fat loss group was painful.
This morning I-just-had-to-get-on-the-scales.

133.2

I feel like I've been eating massive amounts of food this past week and like I am eating every 5 minutes but still haven't been able to hit my caloric goals yet - but am much closer. Obviously one can't just jump 400-600 calories daily at one fell swoop!

[Crankin]

I wonder why my weight has settled at 105.4. It feels like a weird # to me.
I'm exercising more and my weight is stable. DH is continuing to lose . However, he is riding longer commutes to work and has been doing significant mulching. I also think he is eating less carbs.

[Catrin]

I wonder why my weight has settled at 105.4. It feels like a weird # to me.
I'm exercising more and my weight is stable. DH is continuing to lose . However, he is riding longer commutes to work and has been doing significant mulching. I also think he is eating less carbs.

Why does that seem an odd weight Crankin? Just curious...tell DH that carbs aren't bad, our body does need them...though I am sure you've already had that talk.

[emily_in_nc]

I wonder why my weight has settled at 105.4. It feels like a weird # to me.
I'm exercising more and my weight is stable. DH is continuing to lose .

As long as your DH is weighing on the same scale, it must just be a very stable setpoint for you (and a fine one at that!)

A friend down here told us a story about one year when she and her DH brought their digital scale down in their suitcase -- they spend 6 months here and 6 months at their home in the US every year. She weighed herself often down here and was surprised to see the scale unchanging week after week. That would be a huge red flag for me, especially since she knew she was eating a lot more fattening food.

When she got back to the US and weighed on a different scale, she realized she'd gained 13 lbs. The scale they brought down had apparently broken and gotten "stuck" at her last weight!

But doesn't sound like that is the case with you. I just wish my scale weighed in single tenths of lbs. rather than 1/2 lbs, so it would be a little easier to track my weight fluctuations without them looking quite so significant.

[goldfinch]

Forgot to post my weight yesterday, it was 104.8 .

For the past month I have been doing an experiment with running a weighted average. I weigh myself everyday first thing in the morning. It is surprising how much my weight can vary from day to day. Weigh-in day, Friday, it was 104.8. Today, Saturday, it was 102.6. My weighted average is running at 104.2 right now. On a slight loss trajectory of a quarter pound a week which is basically flat. Which is fine with me.

[ny biker]

Obviously one can't just jump 400-600 calories daily at one fell swoop!

I could do that easily...

[Catrin]

I could do that easily...

I THOUGHT that I could, but when you aren't hungry it is easier said then done - my body was accustomed to doing all of that activity on 1300ish calories a day... (more like 900-1000 net). She really likes my diet, just insists that I need to eat more. I am starting to succeed

[goldfinch]

I THOUGHT that I could, but when you aren't hungry it is easier said then done - my body was accustomed to doing all of that activity on 1300ish calories a day... (more like 900-1000 net). She really likes my diet, just insists that I need to eat more. I am starting to succeed

Your body sure did a good job of adaptation! I find it interesting that you weren't hungry. I still battle hunger all the time. I ate roughly 1200 calories a day for about 8 months, then upped it to 1300 as my activity increased. Now I am running close to 1600. I was hungry at 1200, hungry at 1300 and hungry at 1600. I am surprised though that I seem to be doing fine with the increase in calories. And I enjoy having the extra to eat.

I sure would like to have the body fat and nutrition analysis done that you had done. I am not sure what my body fat is running now. My rough guess based on the army calculator which uses height and weight, plus neck, waist, belly and hip measurements is about 28%. I still need more muscle as compared to fat. I don't know if I run artificially high because I have too much extra skin around the belly, from birthing children and my large weight loss.

[Crankin]

I am pretty much hungry all of the time, too, unless I overeat, and then, 3 hours later I'll be hungry again.
On some days, I have to just forget about my hunger, which is what I've trained myself to do. I eat 3 meals a day, with at least one snack, so it's not like I am starving myself.
I'd like to have that nutritional analysis and body fat done, too, only to see if my Tanita scale has been lying to me for the past 10 years. I take the body fat part of the scale reading as a "range," and I'm not concerned, unless it gets above a certain number, which it rarely does. One thing I notice, is that since I lost the 5 pounds, my body fat is consistently at a lower number. I think that may be the running I'm doing.
I wonder how someone with body fat as low as mine can still have such nice saddlebags, despite all of the weights, circuit training, etc I've been doing for the past 6 months. It's definitely a genetic tendency, but geez, I can't work out any more than I do.

[Catrin]

Your body sure did a good job of adaptation! I find it interesting that you weren't hungry. I still battle hunger all the time. I ate roughly 1200 calories a day for about 8 months, then upped it to 1300 as my activity increased. Now I am running close to 1600. I was hungry at 1200, hungry at 1300 and hungry at 1600. I am surprised though that I seem to be doing fine with the increase in calories. And I enjoy having the extra to eat.

I sure would like to have the body fat and nutrition analysis done that you had done. I am not sure what my body fat is running now. My rough guess based on the army calculator which uses height and weight, plus neck, waist, belly and hip measurements is about 28%. I still need more muscle as compared to fat. I don't know if I run artificially high because I have too much extra skin around the belly, from birthing children and my large weight loss.

Apparently I need 1600-1800 on REST days, and 2000 on workout/ride days. This approach allows me to not have to worry about "net" calories...and on long ride days whatever I consume on the bike or in the 1st hour afterwards doesn't "count".

My body fat is a bit high, right at 33% and that is all belly & boobs. THAT is nothing new though the belly is far smaller than it was 90 pounds ago, but haven't had any luck moving the needle there in the last year. Sports nutritionist said that is because my body thinks that starvation is around the corner so it won't give up those fat stores without more consistent fuel.

I've been strength training for quite some time, but I am coming to think my previous trainer was more focused on "toning" rather than actually building muscle. Considering the shape I was in 2.5 years ago when I started with him that was certainly a valid and proper approach - but that needs to change now He did hit my legs pretty hard, but there are so many different ways to get there. To be fair I HAVE had a couple of injuries with...protracted recovery periods. That has an effect as well.

[gnat23]

144.0 for me.

SUPER CONGRATS jobob for your success after all that hard work!!! Looking forward for your tips on maintenance now!

-- gnat!