October 7, 2006 at 9:55 am
Well, I obviously need to fly back to Boston and eat some more Dunkin’ Donuts muffins. Oatmeal in the mornings doesn’t seem to be working out. Anyone got some frequent flyer miles to spare?
My moving average for the week also went up to 207.7. I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but I’m going to wait another week and see what happens before making any adjustments. I’ve been running more, but maybe I’m not drinking enough H20 and am instead retaining water. I don’t think I’ve been overeating because I’ve actually started vaguely counting calories, but maybe I’m underestimating my dinner portion sizes. And there’s always the possibility that I’m not eating enough and my body could be slowing down my metabolism. Or maybe now that I’m eating the same foods I always eat my metabolism has slowed down because it’s efficient at processing those foods. Sheesh, weight loss can be so complicated, no? I wish there were some way to determine what was going on so I knew exactly what I should do to correct it, but it’s mostly just guess work. On the bright side my scale also said I was down to 39% body fat which is the lowest number it’s ever given me.
Well, back to the fray!
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10 Comments
Vickie • October 7, 2006 at 12:09 pm
This has been the most frustrating part of the whole process for me – THE KNOWING WHAT TO DO.
I have tried lots of combinations of different kinds of food, different kinds of exercise, etc.
I do seem to have to have a WIDE variety of exercise – if I get stuck in a rut of just walking or just swimming, etc. I do tend to get stuck.
I have also had good luck with Changing Nutritional Balance within my food – making sure I eat different food groups (protein and veggies and starch/grain) or (dairy with fruit) together, etc.
Does it all work? Who knows – I get stuck for a while – change a whole bunch of little things around – get unstuck for a while and start loosing again.
The current thing I am trying is the timing between when I exercise and when I eat – because I read a little article on production of insulin and that your body can’t release fat when there is excess insulin in your blood stream. So I am eating EARLY and then exercising about 5-6 hours later (before I eat again).
I AM “unstuck” again – is it because of this timing? WHO KNOWS! But it gives me something different to try and is working again for a little while anyway.
I check in here every day – love your writing style!
Vickie
http://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/
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Janice Bridge • October 7, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Hmmmm . . . could just be a Saturday morning after two days rest from exercise (remember Wednesday and Thursday?) but I also vote for water retention as part of the equation. A large glass of soda (like from McDonalds) is 32 ounces = 2 pounds! So if, for any reason, your body decides to hang on to the water – there you are, up two pounds. So how about making sure that you drink between 4 and 6 quarts of fluid (preferably water, not diet soda or caffiene laced coffee or tea) each day for a week . . . and see what that does??
I am very close to graduating from a VLCD (very low calorie diet) where all portions were pre-measured (by someone else) so that there was NO question about the number of calories taken in. And I have carefully maintained records of all exercise, so there was only a slight chance of not knowing the calories out. . . .yet there were weeks when my weight would hover and never drop. Talk about frustrating. . . but it merely proves that our bodies are far more complex than the simplistic believe.
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Melissa Sanders • October 7, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I really hear the frustration with figuring out the infinite variables involved in weightloss! This is something I’ve been struggling with, and at times I just want to throw my hands up in the air and resign myself to it being random. But, of course, it’s not random. There are just more weird factors than I understand or can track.
For me, balancing on that fine line between accepting the whims of my body and also still doing the rational things I know are good for me is tricky. I’m still figuring it out.
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...jus me • October 8, 2006 at 12:06 am
Who knows what makes our weight fluctuate so much? It can be so many things. And sometimes it takes our bodies awhile to catch on to what we have been doing. No wonder we are confused.
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Heather • October 8, 2006 at 2:34 am
The figuring out what does what — A-MEN!
I slowly can figure out things that don’t work… but there’s so many variables that figuring out what does is a different story.
And I am fairly informed… no wonder the average person gets so frustrated and turns to fad diets.
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K • October 8, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I’ve been trying to figure it out for about 15 years now, and all I have come up with is that my body doesn’t much care what I eat within certain limits, but it turns against me when I don’t exercise. (Honestly.)
39% is pretty impressive. I should get my bodyfat level checked out; when I was at 192 it was 41%, but that was over a year ago and I’m a size smaller… I know that bodyfat is hard to measure accurately, but it does feel (to me, anyway) like a better number to put your faith in than weight alone.
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Greta • October 8, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Body weight varies. It depends on the last time you went to the bathroom, how much water you have drunk in the last few hours, how much sodium you are taking in, and what part of your menstrual cycle you are in.
Sodium is a BIG factor. I normally try to eat between 500mg and 1000 mg sodium a day but I have the occasional high sodium meal out and INSTANTLY can gain 5-6 pounds overnight due to sodium induced water retention.
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Hmmm • October 9, 2006 at 9:08 am
Well, I’m not an expert for this type of issue but I’ve heard it from time to time. People get attached to the idea that the scale readings are more important that BMI reading. Perhaps I don’t really know, but if you are exercising and “gaining” weight…I’m wondering if it is true that muscle mass is denser (and more weighty). I recall being the same weight as another individual of the same gender, yet she was much leaner and more fit looking than me. By far, more muscled. Weight scales, in my opinion, are good for determining over time one’s actual weight changes, but not all that accurate indicator of fitness at that very moment. I assumed that it was well known that scales aren’t the best indicator..but I’ve seen so many people get upset over what the scales indicate–and bring up how much they’ve exercised. Some truth to leaner, denser muscle mass?
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TQL • October 9, 2006 at 10:00 am
Right now I’m on a VLCD where everything is controlled. While I am nowhere near graduating, I am starting to wonder how I will manage when I am on my own and trying to figure out what to eat and what not to eat and how exactly my body will decide to “gain weight”
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v'ron • October 9, 2006 at 10:56 am
Congrats for breaking the 40% fat percentage mark. That’s getting more important to me as time rolls on…
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