January/February Weight Management Challenge

[goldfinch]

Bah. 156.6. I'd been dropping steadily for the past couple months. The past week and a half, I've been struggling with any loss, and even had a couple pound gain. I'm weight training three to four days a week, and have started to do some slow riding back on my bike, but my ankle injury has really been affecting me (stood on it for too many hours at a blues festival a couple weeks ago), so I'm wearing a boot most days and need to avoid putting weight on it. I really should use my Concept 2 rowing machine that's just sitting in a corner of my house to get some cardio in, but I'm being really resistant for some unknown reason.

I don't know if this is true, but I have a fuzzy memory of reading somewhere that if you were at a certain weight for a long period of time, it's like a set point, and you tend to plateau at that weight while trying to lose. If that's true, my current stuck point would make more sense to me as I was between 154-158 for years in my early 40s.

It isn't so much a set point but it is very tough to lose weight and to keep it off for a number of reasons. Hormones that regulate appetite end up out of whack, at least for a period of time. Genes are a significant both in weight gain and weight distribution. Conditioning is a factor. Etc.

[Crankin]

Catrin, I get home pretty late, too (6-7 3 days a week and 7:30 one day), but somehow, I've adjusted. I am home later in the AM now, so sometimes I get some part of dinner ready then. On the days I don't go to the office, and just see a couple of clients, I have more freedom to make things that require more work. We started eating later when I quit teaching; it's been 5 years, and if anything, I'm thinner now. However, I think I eat less at dinner now.

[Catrin]

Catrin, I get home pretty late, too (6-7 3 days a week and 7:30 one day), but somehow, I've adjusted. I am home later in the AM now, so sometimes I get some part of dinner ready then. On the days I don't go to the office, and just see a couple of clients, I have more freedom to make things that require more work. We started eating later when I quit teaching; it's been 5 years, and if anything, I'm thinner now. However, I think I eat less at dinner now.

It sounds like it works well for you I leave home at 4:50 am and get home at 6-ish pm (sometimes much later), so I don't have much time at either end of the day for cooking. For years I just ate the same thing which wasn't much fun, THIS way I get the calories and nutrition I need, and a nice range of variety. I've also found I enjoy my cooking time during the weekend, there is something relaxing about it.

[Crankin]

Glad someone else thinks cooking is relaxing. I always have.
Funny, once my friend we ride with came over for dinner during the week, when her DH was away. She was incredulous when she saw what we were making and asked if we always ate stuff like this! They mostly eat sandwiches/salads during the week and she saves her cooking for one-two days during the weekend. I've always seen good meals/cooking as something important, probably because my mom did. It didn't matter to me that I was working; it still seemed important. I remember once my grandmother expressing shock that I didn't just feed my kids hot dogs because DH was often away on business during the week when they were little .Like that would make a difference! Both of my boys and my brother are also great cooks, so I think it really does depend on your family's view of food, unless, like you did, you decide to change it.

[shootingstar]

I do find cooking mindlessly creative and relaxing. I always have. But then I'm either cooking for myself or for both dearie and I. I even sometimes like the hunt at the grocery store, since sometimes I shop at ethnic supermarkets/stores ...Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Middle Eastern. I don't consider grocery shopping totally boring..it's like seeing things differently ...to me.

I do now try to eat before 7:00 pm or earlier. It helps that I live close to work..a 20 min. bike ride away. That helps with managing my weight..by not eating supper too late.

[Owlie]

Glad someone else thinks cooking is relaxing. I always have.
Funny, once my friend we ride with came over for dinner during the week, when her DH was away. She was incredulous when she saw what we were making and asked if we always ate stuff like this! They mostly eat sandwiches/salads during the week and she saves her cooking for one-two days during the weekend. I've always seen good meals/cooking as something important, probably because my mom did. It didn't matter to me that I was working; it still seemed important. I remember once my grandmother expressing shock that I didn't just feed my kids hot dogs because DH was often away on business during the week when they were little .Like that would make a difference! Both of my boys and my brother are also great cooks, so I think it really does depend on your family's view of food, unless, like you did, you decide to change it.

It's funny. Growing up, my parents tried to have a hot dinner on the table every night. They'd cook two big batches of whatever over the weekend and then reheat it, and make the veggies and starch while it was reheating. When it came to actual cooking, though, my mom views it as a chore, though I think this has changed somewhat since I left home. My dad looks at it almost as a hobby. He likes playing with spices (he who wouldn't eat garlic or onion until he met my mom!). I...do a bit of both. I like playing with food, so I'll make up a big batch of chicken breasts with different seasonings, spaghetti sauce, soup, stew or whatever over a weekend. If it's winter and I'm not doing much at work/school, I cook quick stuff (eggs with spicy tomato sauce, stir fry, pizza...) but I have fun with it. (Of course, there are days I'm too tired to eat anything other than cereal, but...)

It's actually the same in my boyfriend's family. His dad LOVES cooking. If it stays still long enough, he tries to grill it. He loves experimenting with veggies. His mom, on the other hand...she says she likes cooking (and she's not a bad cook!), but she doesn't have the energy. Doesn't help that she's an incredibly picky eater. BF takes after her.

[Chile Pepper]

122, so up one this week. I'm actually quite pleased it wasn't more. I was traveling last week, so the diet was sidelined.

I love to cook, and I do a lot of it. My boys are 14 and 11, so I bake a lot for them, and my DH and I love good food, so dinners are generally fairly elaborate. I tend to eat more on the weekends, but I also have my longest bike ride on Sundays. I also compensate for the heavier dinners by eating mostly fruit and yogurt for breakfast, salad for lunch, and veggie juices in the afternoon. If I need something more, I try to eat lean proteins.

[Chile Pepper]

I leave home at 4:50 am and get home at 6-ish pm (sometimes much later), so I don't have much time at either end of the day for cooking.

Wow! That is a long day! What kind of work do you do? Do you have some breaks during the day?

[Catrin]

Wow! That is a long day! What kind of work do you do? Do you have some breaks during the day?

My work day is only 9 hours not counting my lunch - I work four 9-hour days and one 4. My day starts at the gym 3 days a week however...and when I am not headed to the "iron temple" at 5am I seem to always wind up at work earlier than I have to on the other days. I need corrective/mobility exercises prior to my group training and then of course I need to shower/get ready for the office. I am a travel demand modeler (here is a Wiki link that gives a VERY abbreviated description of what that means). The next few months are going to be very intense for me so my days may well get a bit longer. Hopefully not...but we will see. Thankfully I like what I do, very much.

The problem with my schedule comes when I want to do something at church or elsewhere in the evening - by 6 I am ready to go home and stay there...

[carlotta]

164 this week.

Not thrilled with not losing, I've bumped up the weights/squats/etc and off-bike exercise and still put in 70 miles this week. I know it's probably all in the diet but I'm not willing to meticulously track/count calories so maybe this is where I stay (I'm 5'10", broad shouldered, so I'm not massively overweight, but I've lost ~35 in the last 18 mo and would like to lose another 15-20).

The BF is a chef and I love to cook and weighing/measuring ingredients isn't either of our styles....it's a rare day that either of us use a recipe for anything other than yeast dough. There's very little processed food in the house and most meals start with fresh produce, bulk beans/grains, good meat/fish, etc, etc. I do have a sweet tooth and there was a box of thin mints that disappeared too fast last week (unfortunately for the girl scouts today, I'm not buying any more...), but don't drink many calories-- a little 2% in my coffee, 1-2 beers or glasses of wine/week, no soda/juice/etc, really just coffee/water. I'm just kind of annoyed at this point...

[Becky]

Cooking is relaxing for me if I'm not starving. I try to spend a few hours cooking on the weekend, just to have the fridge stocked up for the week. I'm getting concerned about how I'm going to keep this "weekly cook-up" process going once the weather warms up and group rides and races start. Any ideas?