I'm using the Metabolic Repair manual, and I love it. It's an 8 week program designed to reset yourself, and there's a ton a great information about hormones and how your metabolism works. I'm two weeks in and just feel so much better. I have a log with what I've been doing if you're curious.
Good luck with everything! I understand your frustration with the Warp Speed thing and wish I had some good advice.
I found your log a little earlier - it definitely looks interesting. Is there a forum/support system that comes with the Metabolic Repair Manual too? I may have to buy that book.
I think the biggest problem I have is just frustration. I know I'm a hard worker - I can survive tough workouts and restrictive diets - as long as I'm seeing results. But it's been so long since I saw any of my numbers move in a significant way. That emotional/mental component is the worst - everywhere you look, people are telling you you're just lazy, you need to eat less, you're eating the wrong foods - so that even if you're putting forth a concerted effort, you start to feel like you must be wrong - maybe working out six days a week and tracking every calorie ISN'T enough, maybe you just need to tighten things up a bit more...
I did bump up calories last year for about a month. It was hard, but I was eating around 2400 calories a day. And then I went back to working out and "dieting" (though I wasn't tracking, just eating healthy foods until satisfied) - I lost 11lbs in about a month, and it just FLEW off. And then it stopped. Instead of going back UP in calories, I just freaked out instead.
But that's years of social programming. I realize I've been obsessing over diet and exercise since I was fourteen or so - that's ten, going on eleven years. I've gained weight, lost it...I've gone to bed hungry and then eaten way too much (though not in some time). I think I've found a better place now - a balance where I don't automatically eat something sweet because it's there, but I don't deny myself occasional treats if it's something I really enjoy. But that mental push/pull is still there.
I would love to have a glass of wine and some pasta with dinner. But those are things I almost never allow myself to have.
Sorry for the rant...I just need to get my head in a good place this week.
I can't stop swinging back and forth between eat less and eat more.
It's driving me crazy!
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
Rix... Where do you get your bf numbers? I am doubting them based on your workouts, your description of yourself when you are working out and what I know about body comp. Unless LBM does not equate to strength, by your workouts, you are not lifting heavy enough to have as much LBM as you say (point 1). You described yourself once as santa or belly rolls or some such thing when doing push presses. This is a descriptor I could not ever see on my own body even at 31% bf and 175lb (point 2). I would guess that at your weight you are proabably closer to 35% or 45% and that you have more to lose than 20lbs. I also bet 50lbs would not be at all detrimental to your LBM. Personally I would be very interested in hearing what an Ormon reading gives you over a period of a week of daily measurements. Not saying it isn't possible only that things are not all adding up.
In any case, were I you I would set ONE goal for myself and stick to that goal. What I see in your log when I read it is a back-and-forth mindset about being strong versus losing weight. If you want to stay strong and fat and happy then keep on keeping on. If you want to lose fat than shake it up, be weaker, suffer and lose fat and get it over with. Stop worrying about losing LBM. This is just a mind set change that I think you should at least consider if you are serious about losing and changing.
With respect to metabolism repair... Today I posted in my log about "dialing in" to your body. I can't stress how important this has been for me so far on my journey the past 7 months. I had to do metabolism repair as well. I think Leigh's book is a good one for this, but I can't say as I haven't seen it. I only know how my trainer did it for me.
For me, I simply kicked it up for 5 weeks on low cals, then turned around and did a bulk period. Since I was on a 1400 cal a day diet for years before the only way for me to really lose weight was to increase my activity. Unfortunatdely that was largely cardio work. I did this for 5 weeks until I saw the scale moving pretty well. (Of course I was eating muscle at this time but I could not care about that then) Then I switched gears and started a bulk. The bulk is what repaired my metabolism more than anything. During this time I watched my metablism climb and climb with my calorie consumption. Finally it pegged out at 2370 (ish) average per day and that is where it stayed. It took me about 7 months to get to the point I am today. It took a lot of tracking and a lot of "staying the course" even when I felt (mentally) that things were not going my way. Hope this helps a bit.
Rix, don't you live in a pretty metropolitan area? If I were you, I'd do a google search on your city and 'bodpod' and see if there is any place close by where you can get your BF% measured with the bodpod. Then, you will know once and for all what your BF% truly is. I, like Karla, am thinking it's quite a bit higher than you are thinking. Knowing what it is might help you key in on your goals. I know that I started this journey at about 31% and am now down to about 25% (will know for sure when I get measured by the bodpod on 5-23). I have a feeling I am also higher than I am thinking since the Omron (and calipers -- especially when not measured by a professional) are highly unreliable.
For me, I knew I was on a fat loss journey. I also knew in doing that that my goal was to maintain lean. I suspect I did just that with perhaps even a little loss. I know that the more weight you have to lose, the more lean you will have to lose as well. BUT, get the fat loss goal down and once you are there, then you can reassess and make other muscle, strength, or lean mass goals.
I think knowing your BF% may be key for you right now in making those decisions.
One thing that I thought about with you is that she mentions a "Metabolic Crash Set Point" which sounds like a lot of what you are going through. (Though obviously, take what I say with a grain of salt, I am no expert.) She gives an example of a 5'3", 210 lb woman who was eating little, exercising aggressively, and not losing fat. She first thought the woman was lying, but then saw that actually she wasn't. She describes the hormones that come into play and why it happens.
Rix, Im glad to see you are going to keep at it for at least another week. I am starting WSFL Monday and I am anxious to see how the program works for me. Like you I get to a point and get stuck there. I am fully committed to the diet and workout plans and I seem to crawl along too - I get frustrated and eventually so upset I end up losing all the gains I have made by giving up altogether. I just want to find the key to unlock my body's fat loss potential. (Without sounding too desperate! HAHA)
Hopefully we can compare notes! Good luck and keep at it!!
If you go to metabolismfix.com - the website to buy the book, you can sign up and it will give you the part of the book that allows you test yourself for whether you need metabolism repair. It takes three days, but I think I will be doing it this weekend (and Monday) to see if I need this. I used to be an excessive exerciser like Marty and I don't think I was eating enough, either. I got out of the over exercising but never really out of the under eating. I'm eating more now, but I'm gaining too, so who knows? Might as well test for free, right?
Thanks everyone. I appreciate all of your input and support. Right now I think I need to just take some time to do some research, some reading, and figure it all out. You have all been a big help, but for now, I think I'm going to retire the training log and turn my focus inward. Good luck to all of you!
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
I look forward to when you come back. I always enjoy your posts and you always shoot from the hip when you give out advice. I have also started the WSFL - Only Day3 so far - so waiting to see.
[quote=rixatrix;554256]At 190lbs and 26-27% body fat, I estimate a healthy "normal" weight for me at between 154 (10% bf) and 168 (20% bf) - which would mean I'm not outside the range of 25 lbs. If I lost fifty pounds or something, I'd have to give up a lot of lean mass. quote]
Looking at your picturs in a previous post I would have to strongly disagree that your bf % is that low. That would give you around 140lbs of lean mass and only 50lbs of fat and I just don't see that in your pictures.
I would put you with at least 35% bf which is only 120lbs lean mass.
I think your main problem is consistency. You are jumping from diet to diet without giving them any time to make a difference.
If you are wanting to drop fat, then increase your lifting intensity, number of sets and reps.
For example, leg day might look like this:
5 mins warm up on bike
leg press ss/w weighted lunges - 4 sets, 15 reps (10 per leg lunges)
leg extention - 4 sets, 12 reps
adduction - 4 sets, 12 reps
HIIT sprints, 20 mins, 1 minute sprint, 2 minutes jog / walk
I push 140kg's on the leg press with 10kg dumbells on the lunges, buy the time I've finished I can barely walk and have been know to fall over in the gym BUT it works, the bf melts off if you keep the intensity high, the weight high and the reps high.
Hope this helps a bit.
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