PEELE-ing Away The Pounds and Stopping The INSANITY

[UConnJulie]

Tracey,
Great attitude! I like it ...
Keep on keeping on ... with Leigh as your guide you have nowhere to go but to reach your goals!
Julie

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by Espi

And here's a contrasting view: perhaps you just weren't eating enough overall, so you experienced a metabolic slow down that wasn't reversed by your free meals?
Your intake on those days really wasn't all that high if I remember correctly.

Cutting is really an art of its' own, as you can obviously not get decent results when you are eating too much. But it can also bite people when they eat too little.
There's been too many reports I've read about (especially) women who say they lose better once they eat slightly more calories.

I'd really suggest to weigh every single bite you take, especially what you eat during free meals. So you can be 100% sure it wasn't you but your body that lets you down if after this month you still won't progress.

But like Leigh wrote, it may be that the free-er eating is a good starting point for next month. Keeping fingers crossed !

Originally Posted by Leigh P.

I would like to address this as to ease Tracey's mind and to discuss the issue. With someone like Tracey being at the level of BF that she is, the short amount of time we were at things, and her level of daily activity/training this just isn't a likely possibility. Technically at this point someone at her BF level isn't in any need of specific re-feed for physiological sake. Now from a psychological standpoint it can be a different conversation of course.

There have been plenty enough training breaks and higher levels of dietary eating to where in no way should any metabolic decrease occur and it would take a much more aggressive training and dieting program to achieve that.

We have to be careful not to diagnose everything as a metabolic problem, sometimes we just get hungry, as we should in a caloric deficit. Sometimes we just want to eat, for the sake of eating. And sometimes the mundane of all this can drive us to the point of cracking, but the reward pays off when we focus on one thing...

To never have to do this again.

End point being there is nothing to "figure out" here, its just some miscounting and the frustration that comes with this process and the AWESOME efforts of a woman taking charge of her goals and vowing to kick their butt.

Yup - I know that my lack of progress has been the result of allowing myself too much freedom on my treat days! I am totally compliant during the week, but allowed myself to over-indulge during that one day without counting a thing! It was the "I've earned a treat day" mentality!! So from here on, I'll still have a few treats, but I'm gonna count every calorie!
And my ultimate reward - To never have to do this again.

Originally Posted by rixatrix

Yes! Hunger can be it's own comfort sometimes. Leigh, after reading through your blog and website, particularly the "symptoms of fat loss", hunger has become almost rewarding. I'm not starving myself, but I am cutting, and when I get hungry, I think, "My metabolism is stoked, I'm burning through food, and the fat comes next." I imagine I'd be more worried if I were eating so little food and NOT hungry.

Dilly - I have a compliance spreadsheet that I'm going to attach. It's got little pull down menus for each meal and you just fill in whether you were compliant to your plan or not. It's even got a spot for PWO shake. It can be really empowering to look at a weeks worth of compliance. It can even stop a craving in its tracks - why ruin all that hard work? It's sort of like getting a gold star from your elementary school teacher. A weeks worth of little gold stars...It's all mental. Whatever helps. I hope you like it!

Thanks for the spreadsheet - I like it!

Originally Posted by UConnJulie

Tracey,
Great attitude! I like it ...
Keep on keeping on ... with Leigh as your guide you have nowhere to go but to reach your goals!
Julie

Thanks Julie!!!

[dillytl]

I've been slacking at posting my workouts!

Tuesday, March 25
Circuits
Rounds: 4
Reps per movement: 15
Rest: 2 min in between each round

Lunges
Face Pulls
Rock and Roll to Stand
Dumbbell Unilateral Fly (15 each side)
Diagonal Woodchip (15 each side)
Trunk Extension
Lying Tricep Extension
Side Planks

*I ended up NOT doing the Rock and Roll to Stand - it really aggravated my lower back (which I think I tweaked doing the Turkish Get Ups). Maybe I'm just too old to be doing these "get on the floor then get right back up" type of movements!!!
*The lunges are supposed to be walking lunges, but I don't have that much floor space in the basement (it's all taken up by equipment!) so to do walking lunges, I would have had to take one step, turn around and repeat - I probably would have gotten dizzy! So I ended up doing alternating stationary lunges.

Wednesday, March 26
45 min intervals on treadmill
5 min warmup
36 mins of 2 min @ 5mph/2 min @ 3mph
4 min cooldown
2.87 miles total
AVG HR: 140
Then I did some stretching!


Ok - I think I'm caught up with posting - well at least until this afternoon - it's circuit A today!

[LWilson212]

oooh Tracey-

That one looks killer too! Great job. I can see how the rock and roll one could hurt your back.

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by LWilson212

oooh Tracey-

That one looks killer too! Great job. I can see how the rock and roll one could hurt your back.

I have the Turkish Get Ups on my list for today - we'll see if they aggravate my back again - if so I'll have to ask Leigh for a replacement!!!

[Espi]

So weird how a Turkish get up seems so 'innocent' and 'easy' but messes with your back. I got injured with the Turkish get up but forgot where.. it was in the first chapter of the odd lifts.

Yup - I know that my lack of progress has been the result of allowing myself too much freedom on my treat days! I am totally compliant during the week, but allowed myself to over-indulge during that one day without counting a thing! It was the "I've earned a treat day" mentality!! So from here on, I'll still have a few treats, but I'm gonna count every calorie!

If that's the case, counting everything and making sure you aren't eating everything in sight on the free days, should solve your problem.

My own maintenance is pretty high, but I don't tolerate going very low for prolonged periods, but man... can I pack away the calories on a free day. So, there's like 101 strategies to prevent overeating on the higher calorie days. Main ones:
- pre-weigh everything & if possible buy single-serving stuff (as I will often end up eating more & more, despite weighing)
- limit the extra food to the last hour of the day so I'll be asleep when the munchies hit again
- take the extra food the night before a lifting day, NOT after lifting since the extra food will be too late then and I'll not be able to act sensibly.

Even then, it takes focus to stay on track.. isn't it pitiful

Perhaps this can be of use to you as well since, while I know you're being a remarkable example of compliance, it is great if things go easier by clever strategies, than by using willpower alone.

[MuscleMom23]

WOW that was a neat site that you referenced for the Turkish get ups... bookmarked!

[Fitwit]

I have been slack about posting my workouts, too, Tracey. I do write them down but whether they make it into my log or not.....

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by Espi

So weird how a Turkish get up seems so 'innocent' and 'easy' but messes with your back. I got injured with the Turkish get up but forgot where.. it was in the first chapter of the odd lifts.



If that's the case, counting everything and making sure you aren't eating everything in sight on the free days, should solve your problem.

My own maintenance is pretty high, but I don't tolerate going very low for prolonged periods, but man... can I pack away the calories on a free day. So, there's like 101 strategies to prevent overeating on the higher calorie days. Main ones:
- pre-weigh everything & if possible buy single-serving stuff (as I will often end up eating more & more, despite weighing)
- limit the extra food to the last hour of the day so I'll be asleep when the munchies hit again
- take the extra food the night before a lifting day, NOT after lifting since the extra food will be too late then and I'll not be able to act sensibly.

Even then, it takes focus to stay on track.. isn't it pitiful

Perhaps this can be of use to you as well since, while I know you're being a remarkable example of compliance, it is great if things go easier by clever strategies, than by using willpower alone.

Thanks Espi! I'll definately keep those tips in mind. Saturday is my first "test" of my new resolve!

Originally Posted by MuscleMom23

WOW that was a neat site that you referenced for the Turkish get ups... bookmarked!

It is pretty cool, eh? Leigh sent me examples of the exercise so that's where I got it! Have to admit - it scared me the first time I clicked one of the links when it started talking to me!!!

Originally Posted by Fitwit

I have been slack about posting my workouts, too, Tracey. I do write them down but whether they make it into my log or not.....

I'll try to do better if you do!!

Here's today's workout:

Rounds: 4
Reps per movement: 15
Rest: 2 min in between each round

Rack Pulls
Bent Over Rows
Turkish Get Ups
Single Arm Hangpull (15 each side)
Plank progression
Alternating Hammer Curls (15 each side)
Leg Up Crunch

*I still hated those Turkish Get Ups - they didn't seem to aggravate my back today but they still suck!!

Day 2 of the 30 day mini challenge is a SUCCESS!! (Well, I still have the rest of the evening, but everything is planned out!)

[LisaS]

Here is a blog that links to a video that really breaks down the TGU into individual moves
Conditioning Research: Turkish Get Up
and here is what he calls an alternative way of TGU
Conditioning Research: Turkish Get Up - variation

[Espi]

That's a fantastic explanation right in the first video of the first link!

[L'ilJ]

Hey Tracey, regarding your turkish getups. Are you doing them on a mat? How much weight are you holding? I haven't done them in a while, but they are one of my favorite exercises. I like to do them barefoot though, holding a kettlebell. I think doing them with shoes on and a dumbbell not on carpet or a mat may make them more of a challenge. Keep trying though - they are and EXCELLENT all-around exercise.

ETA: That first video is really good at breaking down the move!

[LisaS]

I've just got to figure out how to watch the video in a room where I have room to do a TGU - I think doing the breakdown of the moves as he does them may help me learn better - maybe burn it to a DVD and take it in the living room?

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by LisaS

Here is a blog that links to a video that really breaks down the TGU into individual moves
Conditioning Research: Turkish Get Up
and here is what he calls an alternative way of TGU
Conditioning Research: Turkish Get Up - variation

Lisa - that is an EXCELLENT video! I can tell you without a doubt I wasn't doing them correctly!!! Thanks so much!

Originally Posted by L'ilJ

Hey Tracey, regarding your turkish getups. Are you doing them on a mat? How much weight are you holding? I haven't done them in a while, but they are one of my favorite exercises. I like to do them barefoot though, holding a kettlebell. I think doing them with shoes on and a dumbbell not on carpet or a mat may make them more of a challenge. Keep trying though - they are and EXCELLENT all-around exercise.

ETA: That first video is really good at breaking down the move!

Hi Jill - I was doing them on a mat (over the carpet) and holding a 6.6 lb dumbbell.