Thanks! I've never been a real tracker sort of person, but I'm finding that that's what it's going to take for these last several pounds. They are the most stubborn! I'm still trying to work things out. I may have to check into purchasing OPT and try out that multiplier. Thanks for the info!!
If you put in mediocre effort, you get mediocre results. That's something I've found over and over to be true. It's not to say that it's wrong to have different priorities, but you really do get out what you put into it.
I didn't mean it that way, sorry. I was speaking myself, using a phrasing I use often, and "mediocre" happens to just be habit in my phrasing. Your progress has been great.
Fine tuning may help with seeing your end goal more quickly. I did find, before, that the last 10 pounds required the most amount of detail and accuracy. I only got 5 of those before I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Resting if you need to (and are too tired/overwhelmed to work out) is better than driving yourself into the wall at full speed. That day could be better spent upping NEAT, since if you go ahead and bang your head against that wall, you're usually just gonna lose those calories burned on lowered activity throughout the day, netting you nothing but exhaustion.
Oops. Where were you six months ago?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aoife
f the task can be done in under 2 minutes, and there's nothing keeping you from doing it now, do it now. Then, it's one less thing on a list, one less thing looping in your brain, one more thing done for the day. Little things are easy to take care of. Why the heck should it be allowed to conglomerate with other little things to become a mountain to tackle?
Good one -- I follow this religiously at the office and it always surprises people when they ask for a little favor and I do it right away. What, like I need your little task hanging over my head all week?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aoife
Work to become more self-aware. Mentally, physically, emotionally. Really understand what's going on with you. You can't truly move on till you find out where the hell you are now.
I'm such a geek at this. Annoyingly so. You too?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aoife
Make every calorie count (esp if you're eating at a deficit). Make it fulfill some need. It's filling, it's packed with micronutrients, it's killing the craving, something. Everything eaten should be for a purpose. If your purpose is because you're bored, can't find something better, too lazy for real food, it was there… you're cheating yourself.
Love this one. Another recent "aha" for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aoife
Don't forget to smile. Often. For no reason other than to give yourself a pick-me-up. Remember that smiles, like many other things, are infectious. And, when you smile, it makes other people wonder what you're up to. Add a little wink when they look confused. Guaranteed to bring about a little chuckle inside.
I've decided to do this today. Thanks.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Wearing myself into the ground trying to lose weight... then gaining 5 pounds.
Quote:
I'm such a geek at this. Annoyingly so. You too?
I'm continually amazed at how unaware people are. In whatever it is they do. They think they're "concentrating" or "studying" for HOURS and really they've been on the internet, chatting, checking mail, etc.
Some people can't even connect a bad tummy with what they ate 2 hours ago, let alone if they're overstressed or have some anxiety about something.
Long story short, they used to be hyperflexible, and not very strong. One day, whilst doing pullover extensions, they decided to separate. One a little, the other all the way. I've spent years slowly building them up, and then usually something really stupid to tear them apart again.
They're almost strong again, and this time I'm not fukking around doing shit I shouldn't. It still is hard to close the cover on the sunroof, but it's getting better.
Gee, that was only from like a month and a half ago *sigh*
No prob ... my shoulders are similar ... congenitally lax, combined with fast-pitch softball pitching, swimming butterfly, and a few other injuries. I couldn't even carry groceries from the car without aggravating (my neck usually). I had surgery and am uber-faithful about scap strengthening and now my shoulders are strong and haven't subluxed in a very long time. And my neck is even better!!
I think there was a "diet" book out a while ago about cleaning your house to clean your mind and lose the weight ... I think I saw it on the Today show ... too lazy to surf for it ...
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Yeah, I'm realizing (as of last night) that a lot of my ROM is back, which is nice. I'm still weak in areas, but I'm strengthening. I go really slow because it's easier to not overreach that way. I had been strong enough to do head stand work in yoga last year, I don't think I've slipped from that. I can't do hand stand work yet, but then the extra weight is the bigger concern. That would immediately make pushups, pullups, balancing, etc infinitely easier. (on more than just my shoulders)
ended up tring again with dumbbells for the pushups, bigger db works better than the little ones.
music:
tempted - collide
figured you out - nickelback
men an tol - aeone
alive - mail order bitch
awaken - disturbed
frozen - celldweller
send me an angel - zeromancer
tainted love - manson
forgot my water and was pretty tired, but I did last a bit.
music:
only - nin
meaning of life - disturbed
intoxication - disturbed
weak and powerless - apc
decided I did really need some decent regen time so
Stayed pretty stable weight last 3 days. Yes, I know it's no big deal, but still kinda pisses me off, as before every day was a nice change down. Oh well. Was hoping for a bigger drop this week, but there's still 2 more days so we'll see.
I have one more lift to get in before monday, donno when that'll be and if I'll feel it today. Cardio, wii fit and other activity, etc. monday starts OPT including the resistance, cardio, and calorie components. It's really too much a pain in the ass to get the macros perfect, and I don't really care right now. I have easily another 35 pounds to lose, so right now the tweaking on that level is not worth the effort. It'll be stepping up activity, mainly because my cardio isn't the 50 min that it will be. But, I'll do ok, since I'm setting up the trainer downstairs near the tv for at least some work. Evenings are usually some slowdown for me. Now every once in a while, it can be not so slow on the bike.
Need to pull out the HRM and hope the battery isn't dead. It seems like every time we get a new one, it lasts exponentially less than the previous one. When we got it, we both used it daily (it has settings for 2 people), multiple times a day, for over a year. No prob. Now they're lucky to last 6 months of barely any use. Partial exaggeration on the 6mo figure maybe, but not by much. *sigh*
Anyway. 3 weeks of OPT before deciding if I'll continue or not.
Which will lead me about up to when I get all my lower molars and another wisdom tooth out. Who needs chewing anyway?
Today I'm going liquid. Had breakfast, but I think everything else is gonna be water and shake. See what that does.
Well, whereas last week was swell with a nice loss, this week was rather meh. No real movement, and I ate rather low. So, after looking at the data, I decided on a refeed before lowering back down tomorrow and going even lower monday when I start OPT.
So, it wasn't that bad. The things I can easily count the calories of still amounted to only 1200 calories. Everything else could not have been more than 1000. Prolly not that much. Small 1/2 greek salad from Panera, brownie from same, and sesame tofu for dinner. My guess is around the 600-800 mark for all that.
Anyway, so workout tonite waited till late, when energy started to lag a bit. I may still get around to the cardio planned, but we'll see.
Note to self, grip fails at about rep 4.8 of RDL @135#.
another note to self, screw the front raises. They make the left shoulder feel weird, an uncomfortable snappy kind of motion, and requires popping back into correct alignment when finished. Lateral raises do not cause said weirdness, nor do any sort of cleans, snatches, curls, or even swings up to the same arm position as the raises.
That is all.
music:
all billy idol
power junkie (cyberpunk)
wasteland (cyberpunk)
venus (cyberpunk)
mother dawn (cyberpunk)
rebel yell (rebel yell)
adam in chains (cyberpunk)
I usually just eat more in a day. I've been very steady on the scale this week, after a couple weeks of good dropping. Looking over my records of what I was eating when and what my workouts are, I've been very low for a bit now. Varied, but still 5-800 under maintenance. So, since I'm about to start on 3 weeks of 1200/day, I figured it was a good time.
Usually my refeeds are relatively clean, but since I tolerate carbs well I tend to also let myself have treats if I so want. I don't normally say no to treats because of the kind of food, more because they're so NOT bang for your buck, very calorically dense, and on low cal, I need those cals for something that isn't completely useless if I'm not really craving it. So a brownie and a sunday were my treats.
Today, I'm still at that same number, leaving me with not even a pound loss this week, but it's usually the day after the day after the refeed that I see the drop.
I don't schedule refeeds, don't have them often, just when it looks like it would be helpful or if I really just can't manage a day at low cal. When I'm actually serious about paying attention and tracking, I don't tend to crave, don't tend to be overly hungry, don't find it hard to just stay the course.
I prolly wouldn't even worry about it but I feel like I'm on a deadline to lose what I want before school. So yes, unlike normally, I am obsessing about the scale a bit.
PN lists a couple refeed strategies if you're doing really low carb or really low cal. From weekly or biweekly (up to 3x your deficit level) to just every couple days (1.5x deficit). Or, just basically when you feel you need it (for sanity or for keeping the metab from slowing).
The important thing is, in reality, there's nothing you can do in a single day that can be a huge detriment. The reason to not completely binge, for me, is that then it'll take a few days to normalize again, and I'm usually more hungry than normal the following day if I eat too much. You just can't absorb that much stuff into your system really. So a single day isn't gonna kill you. The (negative) psychological issues with a refeed are just the blip in weight and that it might take a bit to come back down because of extra water retention or just the food itself.
The important thing is, in reality, there's nothing you can do in a single day that can be a huge detriment. The reason to not completely binge, for me, is that then it'll take a few days to normalize again, and I'm usually more hungry than normal the following day if I eat too much. You just can't absorb that much stuff into your system really. So a single day isn't gonna kill you. The (negative) psychological issues with a refeed are just the blip in weight and that it might take a bit to come back down because of extra water retention or just the food itself.
Thank you for the explanation... it helps a lot! So... if you have a "bad" (read: unintentional) refeed - say you hit a buffet at a party too hard or something like that and go close to or above maintenance kcals - would you count that as a refeed, as it would seem to serve the same purpose whether or not you planned it? Almost like your body told you that it was time???
What I'm thinking of is a buffet we were at a while ago - I ate clean choices, but I know I blew the kcals that day - pigged out on veggies, fruit, shrimp, etc etc - but still, too much food overall. Would that be an example of what you consider to be a refeed (whether or not it was pre-planned)?
(hope I'm not bugging you too much in your log here with my questions / hijack!)
There's obviously a difference between controlling your appetite v. eating too much, and realizing you need a refeed. Yeah, there's times when I just decide I want/need a refeed for whatever reason, and just do. Sometimes, it may be that I'm just very hungry, and after having taken a vitamin, had enough water, etc… I'm just obviously running high that day. Maybe I'll be at a restaurant and have no idea what the cals are so just don't worry about it. Maybe I'll plan it, maybe not. Maybe it's clean, maybe not.
Getting fat requires CRONIC overeating, not just once here and there. A "naturally thin" person doesn't never over eat, they just don't always over eat. So, one day it's open buffet, or a great heaping dessert, or a pizza party, or whatever. And the rest of the time, they eat what they need to maintain, and often they tend to compensate by not needing as much the next day. They don't get fat because they don't do it every day.
Me, I don't have a problem maintaining my weight if I'm 1) at least moderately active and 2) not constantly overindulging. The problem for me becomes low enough activity that it don't take much to overindulge.
There's obviously a difference between controlling your appetite v. eating too much, and realizing you need a refeed.
What I mean here, is that if you manage to not have the ability to listen to your body, if you're "hungry" when you're not really hungry, etc. So if you're just constantly finding yourself "hungry" and giving in, versus genuinely hungry or seeing the other signs of needing a refeed, then there's the "you need to control your appetite" issue. You can't necessarily depend on your body telling you that you need to refeed, and therefore planning (when you're not hungry) may be a better way, versus winging it.
And to answer your question about your particular overage, that's likely what I'd consider a refeed. It doesn't sound like you just outright binged if you know what I mean. It was clean, it was controlled, but it was over your deficit. But if you just felt like you needed it and it doesn't lead to more overeating, it is fine.
Getting fat requires CRONIC overeating, not just once here and there. A "naturally thin" person doesn't never over eat, they just don't always over eat. So, one day it's open buffet, or a great heaping dessert, or a pizza party, or whatever. And the rest of the time, they eat what they need to maintain, and often they tend to compensate by not needing as much the next day. They don't get fat because they don't do it every day.
Me, I don't have a problem maintaining my weight if I'm 1) at least moderately active and 2) not constantly overindulging. The problem for me becomes low enough activity that it don't take much to overindulge.
I'm starting to realize how much my couch-potato habits (much worse in the past, but I'm not a naturally active person) affect all of this. NEAT is so damn important - why isn't it mentioned / stressed more in all those damn diets and exercise programs? I mean - it's mentioned, but not like it SHOULD be. I will consider refeeds and how much I have done them and will do them and how much guilt I should NOT have about them if they're not all the time.
Thank you for indulging my questions... you've helped me a lot
Unfortunately, most of this is old hat for me. *sigh* I can be incredibly sedentary if I'm not purposefully active, and that combined with what just always seems a low burn rate, no matter how much work I do, seems to make it rather easy to let the weight creep on if I don't pay attention. And I do stop paying attention. I stop weighing, I stop listening to the voice that tells me I don't need to eat the WHOLE pizza in one sitting (or the voice that tells me I don't need brownie AND cake AND cookies AND …).
So there's June. Done. Oh well, now only a month and a half till school starts again.
Starting today I'm doing OPT. 4 lifts, M, T, R, F and 3 cardios which may be MWF and may not. Calories will be at 1200, no overages. 3 weeks, then decide what to do.
June:
Down 6.4 pounds
18 workouts of some kind (including today), either rt, ct, or both.
Activity bumped up to be something significant on most non-workout days (evening walk, yard work, silly useless wii fit, etc.
We've finished all the parts of Lego Indy, but not gotten 100% yet. Still seem to be missing characters to play, and can't buy.
Kitchen, living room, bedroom, closets all cleaned, organized, and livable. The garage is 1/2 finished.
Meh, that's about it.
I'm beat. Next time, maybe not cardio right after lift.
music:
the bad touch - bloodhound gang
the first time - finger eleven
emotional connection - mail order bitch
only - nin
fear of dying - jack off jill
therapy - finger eleven
union of the snake - duran duran
send me an angel - real life
pushit - tool
music:
because i'm awesome - dollyrots
eurotrash - zeromancer
paralyzer - finger eleven
animals - nickleback
bilingual - jose nunez (feat taina)
raising hell - zeromancer
therapy - finger eleven
how high - tricky
idiot music - zeromancer
I am LOVING this log. I don't know why it took me so long to read it again. Nice pics and workouts scattered with great philosophy. You are doing really well in working through your eating issues it seems. You should see another drop very soon at this rate.
__________________
The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
music:
touch myself - genitorturers
raising hell - zeromancer
aerials - system of a down
without me - eminem
sympathy for the devil - stones
celebrity skin - hole
therapy - finger eleven
no useful thoughts. I have work to do. A bit tired, had to get up early to take kittehz to da vet, semi-annual comprehensive checkup, and flipper is getting fat. I pick them up later today. House is empty without them dickin around all day.
Linear Mode
