Weight loss with NROL4W

[CakeAllStar]

Here is a brief background:

5 years ago I was diagnosed with graves disease. I was 170+ pounds at 5'2". After my thyroid was under control I decided to take better care of my self and started eating well and working out regularly. I got down to a maintenance weight of 130 to 136. I stayed there for 3 years and felt great, but wanted to put some muscle on.

I started going to a gym and got a trainer, all that lead to was another friend to go drinking at the bars with, a complete waste of time and money! I continued to work out on my own and was doing fine until I had to make the big decision of where to go with my life, stay an accountant or go to culinary school and become a pastry chef like I always dreamed. That stress and poor eating led my to pop back up to 147 pounds.Since I started school I have come back down to 139, put no matter how many calories I cut I could not seem to loose any more weight.

My fiancé told me about the New Rules of Lifting for Women and I loved it. I started stage 1 right away, 142 pounds. I have been very strict about the workouts, I haven't missed one. I am getting stronger than I ever have been. My calories are 1850 for non-training days and 2100 for training days. I have been keeping to a pretty strict 40/30/30 calorie breakdown. I had a few bumpy eating weeks (2-3 cheat meals a week with tasting my products at school) and did not lose any weight, now at the start of stage 2 I just seem to keep going up on the scale, I know this is normal when you are putting on muscle put I feel wider in my hips and thighs and am just not happy in general with the shape of my body. My measurements have also not changed at all since I started.

I am getting married at the end of June and I want to look much thinner (and fitter) for that day.

1. Should I cut calories by a few hundred to try to change my weight?

2. Should I add more cardio to my workouts?

Thanks in advance

[Aoife]

Sure.

I'd do only one or the other. Either increase your work or decrease your intake. Doing both might put you a bit too far.

I'm not saying I think a slight drop in calories and increase in cardio would be bad, just that you'll prolly want to see what one does before you change the other, ya know? So, which of the 2 would you rather do? More work? Fewer calories?

You could prolly stand to drop 100 cals without detriment, for the most part. 2000 is still an acceptable amount. For me at decent activity in the 140s, 1700 was fine on non-working days. Being 5'3" myself... 1700/2000 would be my general intake.

You're not seeing a dramatic increase in size/weight/etc right? So you're prolly not totally off in your equation... but just a bit. For me... I'd have to be doing much work to make 1800/2100 work, actually. A day like that here or there is fine.. but I don't seem to get as revved as metab as some do.

Just like everything else... once you have the basics and have been going by the general guidelines for a bit, it's time to reconsider if what you're doing is right for you. It seems not.

If it were me, I'd prolly lower my cals simply because the extra time of another session of HIIT or whatever sometime in the week would be better spent elsewhere. With wedding planning, you may feel the same.

[Aoife]

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

[CakeAllStar]

Originally Posted by Aoife

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

Thank you!

I think I am going to drop my cals to 1700/2000 for the next 4 weeks - through Stage 2 and see how things go. My goal is to be at 125 to 130 pounds with a body fat% of 15 to 18%.

I am trying not to put all my focus on the scale but I got into my bathing suit for the first time this year and was not happy with what I saw compared to last year.

Thanks for the advice, I needed some encouragement.

[Mandos]

Couple of thoughts for you:

1. If by "cardio" you mean things like aerobics, long runs/bikes, etc--what people commonly mean by the word "cardio," you'll make yourself fatter. Remember, a huge part of what NROL is about is trying to get people to stop repeating the things that make them weak and fat and look yucky. "Cardio" is best for making you flabby and fat.*

2. HIIT however, can do a lot of fat stripping.

3. As long as you say things like "My goal is to weigh/lose x pounds" you are trying to screw yourself up, using a crappy proxy that is the foundation of American sickness in health and eating. The best thing you could do for yourself right now is throw away your scale.

4. I've looked at NROL4W and it looks to me like the program takes you through a buildup of lean muscle building, before you strip body fat in the end in a cut-down (stage 7). I ma not sure how many workouts a week you are doing, but if you are at stage 2, then stage 7 is about 7-10 weeks away (are you doing 4, 3 or 2 workouts a week?). So maybe if you just follow the program, you'll be set.

5. If you are getting bigger through stage 2 (are you done with stage 2 or about to start it?) then that could be a concern (going up in weight is good). If you are just in stage one though, you can always trim down later in calories, but if you start starving yourself, you'll bakcfire and force your body to get fat. I'd wait until stage three to start cutting calories, and I'd make sure I was using a good proxy, like hip/waist/thigh meausrements.

It sounds like you still have the old, sick programming firmly ruling you: "Do cardio, starve myself, and somehow magically, the results will be different this time."

Remember, you can't look like a goddess if you train like a slob.





*and endurant, which is of real value. But it has nothing to do with how you w ill look in a swimsuit.

[maggieandmommy]

Originally Posted by Mandos

Remember, you can't look like a goddess if you train like a slob.

I love this statement, Mandos! I think I'm going to write it out and post it in my car (where I'll see it ALL the time!).

[Aoife]

Originally Posted by CakeAllStar

Thank you!

I think I am going to drop my cals to 1700/2000 for the next 4 weeks - through Stage 2 and see how things go. My goal is to be at 125 to 130 pounds with a body fat% of 15 to 18%.

I am trying not to put all my focus on the scale but I got into my bathing suit for the first time this year and was not happy with what I saw compared to last year.

Thanks for the advice, I needed some encouragement.

What's really important is to be honest and sensible. Too often people get scared, caught up in common myths, etc... or swing totally the other way. You look at the progress you're making, you evaluate, and you decide the next course of action. If you're not going dramatically in the wrong direction, then you don't need dramatic changes. You seem like you know perfectly well what you want to do and what you want your results to be.

Part of "our" general problem in discussion is, of course, the words we have to work with. Smart women want to look like they weigh what is generally perceived a certain weight, and could really care less about what we actually weigh. I'm sure if you're 135 and a size 3-5 that you'll have no complaints about your weight.

You don't have far to go in the time allotted so I'm sure you'll make reasonable progress. It's just a matter of paying attention, being rational and honest, and making appropriate adjustments as necessary. If your changes don't work, then reevaluate. If they do... hurrah. Let's hope they do.

[Kates310]

If by "cardio" you mean things like aerobics, long runs/bikes, etc--what people commonly mean by the word "cardio," you'll make yourself fatter. Remember, a huge part of what NROL is about is trying to get people to stop repeating the things that make them weak and fat and look yucky. "Cardio" is best for making you flabby and fat.*

Mandos said this earlier in this thread. Im do not disagree to what he says. But I am wondering why steady state cardio can make you "fatter". Ive always thought that you were supposed to combine your weight training with cardio to shed fat. Could someone please explain?

[DirtyMartini]

It's explained in the book - did you read that part yet?

In short, it makes your body more efficient at burning energy. So it requires less & less energy for your workouts. Keep your calories the same, and you've got more & more stored energy after a while.

[Leigh P.]

To Original Poster-

Research has found that those dealing with a thyroid problem have a harder time reading the signaling of a deficit through their hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal /gonadal axis (HPA/HPG). I am assuming you are still undergoing medication to regulate thyroid function?

In short I would recommend keeping the training less intense and keeping the calories lower and working as much off of low grade activity deficits as much as possible to work with the system that you have rather than against it.

[CakeAllStar]

Aoife - Thanks for the response. I guess I am still getting over the whole number on the scale thing. As Mandos suggested I am putting the scale away for a while (not in the trash though, that thing is expensive!). I don't think I am too far off from what I need to be doing but I guess I wanted some reassurance of my changes.

Originally Posted by Leigh P.

To Original Poster-

Research has found that those dealing with a thyroid problem have a harder time reading the signaling of a deficit through their hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal /gonadal axis (HPA/HPG). I am assuming you are still undergoing medication to regulate thyroid function?

In short I would recommend keeping the training less intense and keeping the calories lower and working as much off of low grade activity deficits as much as possible to work with the system that you have rather than against it.

Leigh P. - I went through the radioactive iodine treatment when I first diagnosed and finally got my thyroid meds (Synthroid) to a level my doctor and I feel has me functioning normal. Are you saying that HIIT or NROL4W is too intense? I am really enjoying this program and would hate to think is has been counterproductive.

[karenmc6]

Originally Posted by CakeAllStar

I went through the radioactive iodine treatment when I first diagnosed and finally got my thyroid meds (Synthroid) to a level my doctor and I feel has me functioning normal. Are you saying that HIIT or NROL4W is too intense? I am really enjoying this program and would hate to think is has been counterproductive.

sorry to hijack your thread, but i wondered how your radioactive iodine treatment went and how long before you got your thyroid meds worked out. my husband had surgery yesterday and they ended up removing the whole thyroid since the frozen pathology during surgery showed papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. he'll see the endocrinologist next week to discuss the radioactive iodine treatment and thyroid meds. he's an ob/gyn and we are trying to determine how "sick" he's going to be the next few weeks so we can get him working again.

thanks! karen