Weight Loss Blues

All im going to say is I know it sucks... A year ago today I was a size 2-4, 5'9 and feeling pretty damn good about it. Now I have gained about 15 ibs, (size 6-8) my pants dont fit right and every time I put them on all my insecurities raise their ugly heads. It doesnt matter what you look like, its how you feel about how you look. I just got engaged and I have been trying desperately to get back into my old work out routines... Sometimes though it can be really frustrating when I work out. After a work out I feel great.. then when I shower and put on my fav. pair of jeans my mood drops. I know it takes a while to get back into shape, but im impatient and I wanna feel good now because I know how good I felt then. You are not alone, if you keep at it and dont let that feeling get out of control then you will get back to where you want to be in time..

But believe me I know waiting is a :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:. :rolleyes:

It doesn't have to suck. My fitness pal is a amazing tool, and free! Use it. There is so much I could go into about losing weight on here but who knows if you will read it. If you would like my advice feel free to PM me. I'm best with working with guys, but have have trained my wife through losing pregnancy weight twice, I dropped 30 lbs off of her both times. With out fad diets you can't stick to or crazy workouts.
Me :)
http://img.tapatalk.com/46bcafec-9646-c81d.jpg

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Originally Posted by Rob

It doesn't have to suck. My fitness pal is a amazing tool, and free! Use it. There is so much I could go into about losing weight on here but who knows if you will read it. If you would like my advice feel free to PM me. I'm best with working with guys, but have have trained my wife through losing pregnancy weight twice, I dropped 30 lbs off of her both times. With out fad diets you can't stick to or crazy workouts.
Me :)
http://img.tapatalk.com/46bcafec-9646-c81d.jpg

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^This!!!! I probably should have written something short and sweet like Rob when I replied before, but I was trying to give you some tools like the BMR equation to get started. The bottom line is that MyFitnessPal or some other nutrition tracker is really pretty much mandatory. Nutrition is sooooooo important and often ignored or done incorrectly when someone starts an exercise routine. I know diets don't work, I know that some of the crazy exercise plans don't work either, but this does. I am female and lost just shy of 30lbs this way in conjunction with weights/exercise. I wasn't obese to start with, but the weight I did have stays off! I am also stronger and healthier overall. You can do it! :)

Best of luck!

Its not that working out/eating well sucks. its just that I can sympathize with the weight loss blues. A lot of the good feeling that comes with getting in shape is how it affects your psyche. You have to understand that working out alone isnt enough. You have to feel good mentally to feel good physically regardless of your body type or how fit you are. Some people have a more visual relationship with their emotions, being fit on the outside affects how they feel on the inside. Sometimes you dont want to wait for your outside to feel as good as the inside, or your having a bad day and you just want your goals to be met. Everyone can give you advice on how to get in shape, but half the time you feel like "I know I know, im just grumpy and I want it now!" There are alot of reasons to feel impatient about wanting to get in shape. All I was trying to say was that she isnt alone and that as long as she keeps with it and doesnt let that emotion go crazy then she will get there in time.

Oh my goodness. The amount of replies this thread has gathered made my jaw drop this morning when I checked in. Never imagined I’d get that kind of response, haha. Hopefully I can do justice in return!

Karen: Thank you for the kind words. As the first reply I read, it was great to see such a positive tone. Haha. Actually, I did see my ex not too long ago. He put on about 20+lbs and has a total beer gut now. Too funny. Poetic justice, much? ;-)
In regards to the cardio, I’ve been stepping that up to about 2-3 times a week when I have the chance. My other half does shift work, so sometimes our schedules are chaotic. But the gym I go to is on my drive home from work, so that makes it easier. Currently I do about 30-45 minute sessions on my cardio, although I just recently got back into it (same time I started my weights again), so I’m definitely getting back to my regular pace. With a cruddy knee, I’ve been careful with my cardio until I get that a little stronger and more stable. Thankfully, it didn’t bother me once last week, so I’ll probably bring up the intensity a notch and see how it goes. With a bit of luck, this increase in intensity will get me more out of this plateau. Fingers crossed!

Bobbafett: I spoke with my chiropractor about that. The common thing I’ve heard is that, yes, it is good for your form, but it can also cause strain on your lower back :-( I work at switchboard, so I’m forever angling forward to reach for things.
I also downloaded My Fitness Pal when I first started this. It is a great app, for sure!

Youbeyouibei: Hm. The Cross fit idea always daunted me back in the day, but you bring up a valid point. Using our own body weight can be really difficult sometimes, especially if you’re combining that with other challenging aspects to a workout (balance, movement, etc). I’ll look into that a bit more than before, thank you.

Life is definitely about focusing on yourself sometimes. I mean, who else is going to look out for you 100%? Thankfully, I have a fairly good ‘fight’ aspect to me, so I don’t give up easily when presented with challenges. Too much of a problem solver for that. “This isn’t working? Lets tweak it and find a way to get results.” So the crossfit suggestion is great. Adds another tool to my arsenal. Once I’m done training with my personal trainer (I signed up for enough sessions to give me a good foundation), I do plan to get into some form of martial arts. My boyfriend’s family is doing Karate right now, and his sister wants to get into the weapons aspect of it. So we might partner up and hit that together over the winter. Very excited!

Bellatrix: That’s a very valid point, actually. I’ve heard that before with various times. I typically stop eating by 8pm (normally because I can’t get home to make supper until 6pm most days). Haha. Aww that’s cute about your BP being your kindred spirit. I sometimes think that of my Crestie (sleep through the day, bouncing off the walls when no ones around…)

Julie: Not currently. I went off my one medication after I was having these seemingly ‘random’ symptoms for about two years. Doctor couldn’t place it. After some research, I determined it was Hypoglycemia, and upon further research, it turns out this medication was getting linked more and more to cases of hypoglycemia in women. So I went off the medication and have been watching my diet very closely ever since.

DrDooLittle: It really does! And not just calories. Since my bought with sugar-related issues, I read my labels all the time on food. I can’t believe how much sugar is in things. Like a can of soda. It’s disgusting. My co-workers were all on ‘diets’ at one point, but were calorie counting rather than sugar monitoring too. So I took them aside and used sugar cubes to show how much sugar is in what they ate.

I wish they taught that kind of thing in school. More nutrition based stuff, for sure. Gah. I wish I could walk at lunch. I used to! But I work in an industrial area now and there’s nowhere to walk without PPE. And as attractive as I look in a hard hat and boots, the guys operating the CAT equipment might not enjoy me hanging around the yard. I hear you on the finding time thing. I spent about 2 hours in my car each day driving to and from work. That really really cuts into my time some nights.

Solar: Congratulations on the change! That’s fantastic to hear. Amazing how good we feel after some changes, isn’t it? I only weigh myself weekly, and typically go more by how my clothes feel than my scale anyway. Thanks for the inspiring reply
MrLang: Hmm. I might have to look that up. I love a good documentary, no matter the subject. And that raises some fantastic points as well. After cutting out sugar from my diet as best I can, I find it’s easy to wrap my brain around the concept of eating well for the rest of my life, and focusing on it. Food is fuel, after all. The more I eat well, the less my body tolerates bad food. I can’t eat cheesecake anymore. It’s too sweet and too rich and I get almost nauseous from it. So that’s a really good defense mechanism.

Thanks for the amazing response. I will be checking that out for sure.

Sentinel: After your response, I sat down and did a bit more calculations. Mainly casual ones based on caloric intake and output. You are correct. My goals are currently unreasonable. Even with a combination of working out daily with a mix of strength training for muscle development and then cardio to utilize these, it would be asking a lot to get to that 2lb a week goal without sacrificing something at the moment. And I’d much rather feed my body correctly and get it into better shape than just drop weight magically. So I’ll re-evaluate my goals a bit better.

I do keep a daily journal of my food intake, even on my ‘free’ day (which I give myself every Sunday due to family dinner at my boyfriend’s place). After a bought of sugar-related issues, I’ve been monitoring my food much more carefully, as it was making me horribly ill not too long ago. Basically, I would eat food and my blood sugar would crash due to my body overcompensating in balancing it. Whole foods with a high glycemic index helped this until we found out why my body was doing that. Since then, sugar is a big no-no in my day to day life. I do the cooking in the house, so I have more control of that. A portion of protein with each meal, higher fiber, more vegetables than I’ve ever eaten before, whole foods like cooked beans (from dried beans), plenty of herbs and spices to avoid sauces, lots of home made dishes, etc. I’m certainly not perfect, but nothing comes into my house anymore that I wouldn’t put into my body. So that helps as well. I do 3 medium sized meals daily (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 2 snacks. My portion sizes were something I was guesstimating on, but have gotten more on track recently. So that could have been affecting it prior. But I’m happily measuring out all my stuff now, and have my fridge stocked with grab-and-go options. Amazing how jealous people are at my work when I walk in with a ‘good lunch’. Everyone else is busy microwaving their frozen dinners.

I’ll check out the BMR and get back to you on that. Anything to do with body mass calculations I’ve always avoided. When I was 135lbs, 5’6”, I was told that I was still ‘overweight’. Meanwhile, I was actually a size 6, very lean muscle and honestly wasn’t sure how much more I could ‘lose’. There wasn’t any bulk. So it made me leery about those kind of calculations, I suppose. I didn’t quite believe them to be as accurate as they promised. But I’ll give it another chance and see how it goes this time around.
Thanks for the awesome response!

Sissy: It does suck sometimes. But, I think it’s definitely hard for girls, given how strong visual recognition is within our society. A lot of pressure, even though we don’t realize it. But we’ll get back into our pants! Especially my skinny low rise jeans. Oh man. I miss those like crazy.

Rob: Yep, I love that app. I use it daily. I’m not sure exactly what kind of questions to ask you via PM, but I’d love to hear any input. I read all of these responses, so alternative input is something I value. We all have different approaches and experiences. After all, not everything works for every body. Hopefully we can chat a bit soon for sure. I’ll try not to take up too much time.

Sentinel: Haha. No I liked your response! It was great. Gah. Diets really aggravate me, so we’re on the same page there. I guess that’s why I just felt a little frustrated. I felt like I had this going for me, all my ducks in a row, but apparently I’m just being a bit impatient, unreasonable and still need to tweak a few things. But congrats on the 30lbs! That’s great. I’m really hoping to drop this 20lb sometime in the near future. And keep it off with a nice lifestyle switch. My boyfriend’s family ALL have diabetes. All of them. Mother, father, aunts, uncles… So this change up isn’t just for me either. Since I do all the cooking, Dan is getting used to new foods too. I’m more than happy to commit to the ‘Lifestyle’ change aspect, if to get both of us eating better and prevent any conditions like that down the road. Especially with a family history.

Sissy: That makes perfect sense. I love my workouts (okay, except anything to do with triceps… but I still do them. I just make faces). Part of us just want to know that we’re doing something right, and that feedback can come from our own bodies. When we don’t get that feedback we’re looking for, it’s easy to get a bit frustrated. Everyone’s had that point. And after it, everyone’s had that awesome feeling of being successful.

So thank you so much for all the feedback. I feel like there are a few more things I can tweak, a few more aspects I can add and try out, and found some reassuring encouragement here from you guys. Can’t put a price on this kind of support, so thank you

I really like My Fitness Pal as well, and it helped me lose 20 lbs and maintain over the holidays.

I think having a goal of 2 pounds lost per week is too much. That seems like a better goal for someone who has 50+ pounds to lose. I would set your goal to .5-1 pound a week. You'll have less disappointment and more motivation with a smaller target.

Don't forget about making sure you're consuming ENOUGH calories. That's something I ran into early on, and saw other people having difficulty with. If you're not eating enough to fuel your burn, your body's metabolism is going to slow down and cling to the fat it has! I think the bare minimum is 1400/day after you calculate exercise.

I would also take measurements of yourself, so that you're not focused on the number on the scale. Measure thighs, waist, butt, arms...wherever you feel you could lose a couple inches. I found that kept me motivated because there would be weeks when the number on the scale wouldn't budge, but the tape measure showed I was losing inches.

And most of all, you can do it! :) Managing one's weight is one of the few things a person can truly control these days, all it takes is some determination!

I dont know if you would be interested in this but have you thought about picking up a contact sport? I weighed 345lbs three years ago and then I found Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I dropped to 260-270 in ten months only going to 2 1 hour classes a week. After that I amped up the training and am now down to 218 as of a few days ago. From being barely able to do warm-ups to now doing 4 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes, 4 Kickboxing Classes, and 2 MMA training sessions a week. It's definatly a life saver/changer. Any gender, any size... really anyone can do it.

I am honestly with you. When i was about two years younger i weighed 125. And i am 5'. I went to the doctors and she told me i weighed 147. i wanted to cry!
So i began to count my food. i bought that weight watchers point calculator for $15. (i do no have a smart phone...so...i cant use anything fancy.) for my height, age and size, my points were 26 a day. As i began to keep track, i realized i actually was not eating enough and when i did eat, it was really fattening.
I started eating more, more fruits and veggies to fill me up. i weighed myself as of yesterday and i am maintaining 135lbs. though i do not feel like i have lost anything! my number has changed but my measurements didn't change. maybe my hips but not my thighs or arms. so i am with you on that!
even reading how our foods are processed and where they come from. i am getting more and more depressed.
we can do it though lady. just got to keep working out harder. :p

I HIGHLY suggest reading the book "The Beauty Detox Solution". It is an amazing book written by Kimberly Snyder.
It really opened my mind...not only to the good foods I SHOULD be eating, but also to how my body works and WHY I should eat these foods.

I read the responses and saw people recommending low but not to low calorie intake so i figured id try to help. To figure out the lowest caloric intake you should eat for maximum weight loss without putting your body in starvation mode is this,

take your weight (W) and multiply it by 15 so Wx15 = X. X would be what is called your maintenance calories (the amount of calories you would want to eat to maintain your current weight) now subtract 500 from X and that is the lowest amount of calories you should eat a day for optimum weight loss so Wx15-500
(if you were looking to gain weight you would add 500 calories instead of subtract them)

So for you, 155 x 15 = 2325 (2325 is your maintenance calories) now 2325 - 500 = 1825. so for optimum weight loss you would want to aim for 1825-1900 calories a day.

Now lets talk macronutrients. Macronutrients are the big 3 things you want to watch when dieting, they are Protein, Carbohydrates and fats.

Myself personally, since most of my workout is mainly weights with some cardio I prefer a 40/40/20 diet split, which means I like 40% of my calories to be from protein, 40% of my calories to be from carbohydrates, and 20% to be from fats (Healthy fats that is, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat NOT trans fat and saturated fat, although trans and saturated are hard to completely avoid.)

To figure that out, you need to know that,

1 gram of protein is 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates is 4 calories
1 gram of fat is 9 calories

so now to figure out your macros,

Protein - 1825 x .40 (the 40%) is 730 calories. 730 / 4 (4 calories per gram) = 182.5 grams of protein (to consume daily)
Carbohydrates - 1825 x .40 (the 40%) is 730 calories. 730 / 4 (4 calories per gram) = 182.5 grams of carbohydrates (to consume daily)
Fat - 1825 x .20 (the 20%) is 365 calories. 365 / 9 (9 calories per gram) = 40.5 grams of fat (to consume daily)

That is basically what you should base your diet around, you can change it around alittle if youd like and do say, 40/35/25 or 45/35/20, but as stated about you really need a high protein intake, and a pretty high carb intake.

hope this helps you some and isnt to complicating! also I highly recommend www.bodybuilding.com they have a great informational section as well as forums to read up on! (just be alittle careful what you post, most of the posters arent as friendly as on here :oops:)