Healthy Weight Loss

[Kelt]

Hey Healthies,

I just ran across an article on lifehacker that may be of interest. 10 Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science.
It has some interesting things, I have not gone through all of the included links, but it is a good quick layperson oriented overview.

[foxyshaman]

I just came back from weighing in and I am down four pounds in the last two weeks. I am 6.4 lbs away from my November 18 goal. I gave myself 10 weeks to lose 10 pounds to make it to my new mini goal.

So you can say "I told you so"... no one... c'mon I bet someone is gonna say it but - tracking works. I have tracked for the last two weeks and voila down I went. I also worked my hiney off at the gym the last two weeks. I measured my thighs on the weekend. Now I measured four times in case I had it wrong. But I lost six inches off my thighs since mid August. Squats and Zumba... they really do work.

So, this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. We have a big dinner planned. I am fortunate that I don't eat meat and I can't eat bread. My son has asked me to make his favorite peanut butter cookies. I agreed as long as he took the rest of the PB home with him. He agreed, as long as he could take the rest of the cookies too. He is a smart one that boy.

I have a couple of questions for my more seasoned peeps:

When does weight training in women start to create muscles (bulk) as opposed to toning? I am squatting in my five minute segment with 55 lbs. Not much weight, but I am afraid to increase (well really after 5 minutes I cannot always lift more than that off my shoulders and over my head) incase I create bigger muscles and not fat burning.

My second question. I find that when I stop eating certain foods for periods of time and re-introduce them I can no longer tolerate it. Peanut Butter is one. I used to love it. Now if I eat it, even just a Teaspoon I am nauseated. My coffee house was out of soy milk today so I got skim. My body reacted within two sips. Nothing serious, just my body saying Do others experience this as well?

Thoughts?? Ideas??

[PinkieLee]

Wooooooooooohooooooooooo foxyshaman! We are all so proud of you! It's awesome when you finally find a program that clicks for you and your lifestyle. Even better when you start to see results.... that's motivation right there! Keep up the great work! We are all so super proud of you!!!!!

As for cooking around the holidays, you are smart about sending the cookies home. I did that the other night, when I invited my brother over for dinner. He always requests that I make him a chocolate pie (nothing but chocolate pudding, cool whip, graham cracker crust & chocolate shavings)... like you, I sent the remainder with it home with him. No, don't want that kind of temptation! I did manage to make it a lil' healthier using 2% milk and sugar free cool whip...so that one piece I did allow myself wasn't too bad. He didn't even notice

I plan on cooking Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year for my family. My dad is diabetic & my mom is pre diabetic, so I'm gonna do my best to make some healthy modifications whether they like it or not!

As for the muscle instead of toning... I don't really have a clue. Maybe if Candace, Kelt or Thinker (the workout gurus) make it in here they can let us know. Hell, I'm still trying to just work off the fat

I totally hear what you are saying about the what you can/can't eat anymore after starting this journey. I have the same problem with regular rice and pasta. Once I switched to brown rice or wheat pasta, my stomach can't handle the old white products anymore. Who knows, maybe our body is giving us a reminder of how bad that stuff actually was for us.

[little_ms_sunshyne]

I have been extra bad this week! Have been sick and for me that means comfort food. Have to to turn it back around! *sigh*

[Corkey]

Muscle mass is a tricky thing. First how much do you start with and how much are you looking to put on? If one for instance has lean muscle mass bulking would look very different than say Miss Universe. More like a swimmers body. We are all different and what works for one will not work for another. If we're older and lord knows I'm old, I probably would only gain muscles that I've had over the years. Toning them is preferable to me than bulking because I need to retain the elasticity of the muscles. I'm sure everyone here has heard of "too big to stretch out". It happens to some who put too much muscle mass on. So you need to decide which is preferable to you.

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by foxyshaman

I just came back from weighing in and I am down four pounds in the last two weeks. I am 6.4 lbs away from my November 18 goal. I gave myself 10 weeks to lose 10 pounds to make it to my new mini goal.

So you can say "I told you so"... no one... c'mon I bet someone is gonna say it but - tracking works. I have tracked for the last two weeks and voila down I went. I also worked my hiney off at the gym the last two weeks. I measured my thighs on the weekend. Now I measured four times in case I had it wrong. But I lost six inches off my thighs since mid August. Squats and Zumba... they really do work.

So, this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. We have a big dinner planned. I am fortunate that I don't eat meat and I can't eat bread. My son has asked me to make his favorite peanut butter cookies. I agreed as long as he took the rest of the PB home with him. He agreed, as long as he could take the rest of the cookies too. He is a smart one that boy.

I have a couple of questions for my more seasoned peeps:

When does weight training in women start to create muscles (bulk) as opposed to toning? I am squatting in my five minute segment with 55 lbs. Not much weight, but I am afraid to increase (well really after 5 minutes I cannot always lift more than that off my shoulders and over my head) incase I create bigger muscles and not fat burning.

My second question. I find that when I stop eating certain foods for periods of time and re-introduce them I can no longer tolerate it. Peanut Butter is one. I used to love it. Now if I eat it, even just a Teaspoon I am nauseated. My coffee house was out of soy milk today so I got skim. My body reacted within two sips. Nothing serious, just my body saying Do others experience this as well?

Thoughts?? Ideas??

Hey Foxy,

Congratulations! This is terrific!

I don’t know about all this tracking and measuring stuff...sounds a little sketchy to me.

I kinda think you might have answered your own question at least partially on the workout/muscle thing. It sounds like you’ve been working out really hard and doing a lot of things with your lower body and yet it gets smaller. We could speculate about your fast vs slow twitch fibers and all of that, but a couple of things stand out to me; you are vegan or at least close to it, so I think it would be hard for you to get the really large amounts of protein that would accompany the extra heavy slower work of gaining much bulk without resorting to isolates. Of course you may be doing HIIT intervals, but still the dietary stuff...hmm, well, I would tend towards experimenting , you have your current thigh measurements, why not go for the workout you want and check the measurements again in two or three months and see how your body is reacting? Then just adjust the workout accordingly.

Are you meeting your goals as to how you want to perform in endurance, strength, and flexibility? I don’t know your end point, but it sounds like you are paying attention and trying things, and that will lead you to your own answers.

Food tolerance is sure an interesting development for me also, so, I hear where you’re coming from. Who knew wheat could be a sleep aid?? Trial and error....at least it’s not boring, lol.

P.S. cashew butter is brilliant stuff

[Rockinonahigh]

Wow Foxy,what a way to go..so glad its working for ya.AS for bulking up,ive been trying my best to do that but with weight restrictions because of my back I cant lift the weight I can because it gets me right between the shoulder blades bad...think hot burning stab in the back...ouch.Back to the suybject,,I am geting some bulking up but it is more toneing up of what muscle I have plus reshapeing my body in relation to the kind oif exersiseing im doing.My worst place is my mid section everything else was comeing along nicely but im still down with this sinus thing that dosent want to give in.I cant do squats but do use a leg press thing that dose some of the same resultsso far im moveing 165 pounds,sometimes I feel like a wimp cause I can ony use anywhere fron 30 to 70 pounds on some of the other things.
Today I went to the gum for this first time in a while but my vertago really put me in my place,all I could do was sit on the floor and hold my head till the spinning stoped and hope I didnt puke when it dose.

[Cowboi]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

Im on this low carb thing,I have 135 a day to use but am keeping it mostly at something like 70 to 80 pr day,tho hear lately its been 102 cause of some things im allowed but dont eat much of cause of the high carbs.Tonight I had a cup of sea shell noodles with skettie sause with spicy italan sasuage cooked in it.. the noodles had 30 carbs for the amount I had.I know im well within my allowed carbs but im trying to keep them as low as I can...im half way wanting to change my food plan or stay on what the doc gave me cause I feel I should be loseing more than I am.I just feel a pound aweek isnt enough with all im doing,Oh and my calorie count runs atound 6 to 700 calories a day,I tryed to up the cals and lower the carbs but I feel like a stuffed pig .

and be sure to eat the slow digesting carbs. Like sweet potato, brown rice, oatmeal, The only time I have a fast digesting carb is right after my workout.
I try take in less carbs later in the day also.

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by Cowboi

and be sure to eat the slow digesting carbs. Like sweet potato, brown rice, oatmeal, The only time I have a fast digesting carb is right after my workout.
I try take in less carbs later in the day also.

That may be part of my problem because I dont eat anywhere a normal meal drueing the day,I usely have cottage chees and some fruit..not much fruit just a little...then for lunch I have a respectable sise salad with a home made dressing,mostly a vinnagarett type.Then a snack of cheese and ceackers with or on its own celery with pimento sperad on...dinner is my main meal.I would east much the same but my son dosent hardly eat much druering the day for lunch so I fix a good meal wich is mostly whatever I can eat with an etra thing or so for him...then a very light something about nine cause if I dont my stomach with be growling at me befopre I get up.I use to have a real bad habbit of eating at all hours of the night so the late snack stops that.

[Cowboi]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

That may be part of my problem because I dont eat anywhere a normal meal drueing the day,I usely have cottage chees and some fruit..not much fruit just a little...then for lunch I have a respectable sise salad with a home made dressing,mostly a vinnagarett type.Then a snack of cheese and ceackers with or on its own celery with pimento sperad on...dinner is my main meal.I would east much the same but my son dosent hardly eat much druering the day for lunch so I fix a good meal wich is mostly whatever I can eat with an etra thing or so for him...then a very light something about nine cause if I dont my stomach with be growling at me befopre I get up.I use to have a real bad habbit of eating at all hours of the night so the late snack stops that.

For fat loss diet(not to be confused with a heathly diet) one should cut out all sugars, dairy products, fruits(natures candies) and the bad carbs. Get plenty of protien (1.5-2 grams per lb of body weight) Chicken, fish, lean red meat. Asparagus, broccoli, spinach, green beans, cabbage.
Try to use only fresh or frozen instead of canned. In a perfect world one should eat every 2.5 hours. I am able to do this on the weekends, but the type of job I have, I am not able to do this during the day.

If you need something to hold you over during the night, try using Casein. It is a slower digesting protein shake you can drink before bed.

[Rockinonahigh]

Shhhh,dont tell my ears ...but they havent had any vertago today...WOW!

No joke,it good to be able to move without feeling like a two day drunk,I hope tomorrow is the same.

[foxyshaman]

Corkey, Kelt and Rockin' and Pinkie Thank you for your suggestions and comments. I am not trying to bulk up at all. I was just worried that I was pushing too much weight and the result would be bigger muscles. I am going for lean. I have had big thighs long enough !! I have to play it by ear. I will do as you suggested Kelt, and measure them after working with X weight, tracking the changes.

I think it is the farm girl in me still coming out... trying be be all strong and what not!! I love my strong legs but I don't want big legs. I have noticed a huge change in their shape. I am losing weight where I thought would be the LAST place I would lose inches. I can only attribute it to the kinds of things I am doing in my workout.

I am loving my workout routine. I am enjoying my strength and endurance. And slowly but surely I am seeing a difference in my body shape. I don't know what my end goal will be. I guess one day I will look in the mirror and say..ok 10 more and I am done. I am a ways from there... but I am in no rush. I am exceptionally lucky to have the health that I do and a body that cooperates with me.

Thank you again for supporting me.

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by foxyshaman

Corkey, Kelt and Rockin' and Pinkie Thank you for your suggestions and comments. I am not trying to bulk up at all. I was just worried that I was pushing too much weight and the result would be bigger muscles. I am going for lean. I have had big thighs long enough !! I have to play it by ear. I will do as you suggested Kelt, and measure them after working with X weight, tracking the changes.

I think it is the farm girl in me still coming out... trying be be all strong and what not!! I love my strong legs but I don't want big legs. I have noticed a huge change in their shape. I am losing weight where I thought would be the LAST place I would lose inches. I can only attribute it to the kinds of things I am doing in my workout.

I am loving my workout routine. I am enjoying my strength and endurance. And slowly but surely I am seeing a difference in my body shape. I don't know what my end goal will be. I guess one day I will look in the mirror and say..ok 10 more and I am done. I am a ways from there... but I am in no rush. I am exceptionally lucky to have the health that I do and a body that cooperates with me.

Thank you again for supporting me.

Well, the good thing for you is that female bodies don't naturally bulk up like male bodies do. You would have to work extremely hard to get a good bulk to your muscles.

Congrats on your progress!

[foxyshaman]

Originally Posted by Gemme

Well, the good thing for you is that female bodies don't naturally bulk up like male bodies do. You would have to work extremely hard to get a good bulk to your muscles.

Congrats on your progress!

It is a good thing!! I still want definable triceps one day tho'. I do.... what is it about seeing that lovely small muscle on a woman that just makes my heart beat a bit faster??

[sylvie]

i really adore this thread ya's know?
Regardless if i dont come in here for awhile, when i do come in, the wonderfulness of support and encouragement is uplifting! Really is!

i'm in Oregon with Mtn, so haven't been weighing in (which is a good thing in His eyes) heh. but i am staying on track, with my walks each day & my meals (this place is breathtaking, so the walks are SO enjoyable, i'm curiously figuring out every trail and what's around the next bend, heh..) Even when i was flying on Monday, the airport layovers etc, i didn't give in to any temptations at all and stayed right on track, which felt awesome!

i have never felt so controlled and 'with' it as i do right now..
i will report any weight loss once i can, but right now just enjoying being here, and loving that i'm soo on track with everything - life is good!

Congratulations everyone, for all the steps taken for better health, weight loss and a more well balanced you! Keep it up!

We rock!

[JustJo]

Good morning everyone

Kind of a crazy weekend here so I didn't manage to come in and post, but I did do my weigh in on Saturday morning with 1 lb of the 1-1/2 lb gain from my trip back off. Not awe-inspiring, but in the right direction!

Yesterday, I went to the farmers market and loaded up....I find I eat much healthier when there's an abundance of fresh produce in the fridge. So, I got....

• potatoes
• onions
• corn on the cob
• mango
• avocados
• red and yellow peppers
• organic greens for my salads
• bananas
• pears
• celery
• radishes
• fresh squeezed oj for everyone else (I can't do juice)
• strawberries
• apples
• watermelon
• broccoli
• baby green beans
• raspberries

At BJ's, I got lots of lean meat, tuna packed in water, canellini beans, black olives and the Success brown rice (boil in bag type....thank you to whoever originally suggested that in this thread, it's fantastic and so easy!)...so I'm all set for a healthy week!

[*Anya*]

Good news: 50 sit-ups now plus other exercises, each day.

Bad news: woke up yesterday morning, decided I wanted to bake. The old kidding myself routine. Wanted to emotional eat, was more like it.

Been a long time since I have done that. Baked a lemon loaf cake from scratch to "take to my parents for dinner"- right, really for me. Had 2 pieces, felt nauseated, had to throw the rest in the garbage or might have eaten all of it.

At least mom and dad did not know what they missed.

I truly know what a relapsing addict must feel like in the cold light of day. I feel really badly about it but must just forgive myself and hope the amount of sugar in it was not enough to trigger a craving.

Glad it made me sick, negative reinforcement is a good thing.

[PinkieLee]

Originally Posted by *Anya*

Good news: 50 sit-ups now plus other exercises, each day.

Bad news: woke up yesterday morning, decided I wanted to bake. The old kidding myself routine. Wanted to emotional eat, was more like it.

Been a long time since I have done that. Baked a lemon loaf cake from scratch to "take to my parents for dinner"- right, really for me. Had 2 pieces, felt nauseated, had to throw the rest in the garbage or might have eaten all of it.

At least mom and dad did not know what they missed.

I truly know what a relapsing addict must feel like in the cold light of day. I feel really badly about it but must just forgive myself and hope the amount of sugar in it was not enough to trigger a craving.

Glad it made me sick, negative reinforcement is a good thing.

(((((((((Anya))))))))))

Honey, you and I must have been on the same page this weekend. My boo told me how much she wanted some chocolate chip cookies (you know the break apart kind). Well, I went ahead and bought them... yeah, 'cause SHE wanted them. Needless to say, I only baked 6 of them for us, but caught myself in full closet eating mode eating raw cookie dough in the kitchen while she was watching the football game. Ugh, why do I do this?!

Anyway, later last night, I took a lil' quiet time to kind of put things back into perspective for myself. I did some journaling to ask: Why do I allow negative self talk to creep up? Why do I have those days that I allow myself to be my own worst enemy. I soaked in the bath tub, did some reading and woke up this morning refreshed and ready to start anew!

Breakfast this morning was Special K with berries cereal and a small banana. I'm enjoying every drop of my cup of coffee with fat free sweet cream creamer. Today, lunch & dinner will be Subway since I have to work the 2nd job.

I am so happy to see such success happening on a daily basis. Y'all totally ROCK! That's what keeps me coming back here every. single. day!

Make it a great day healthy peeps

[foxyshaman]

Originally Posted by PinkieLee

(((((((((Anya))))))))))

Honey, you and I must have been on the same page this weekend. My boo told me how much she wanted some chocolate chip cookies (you know the break apart kind). Well, I went ahead and bought them... yeah, 'cause SHE wanted them. Needless to say, I only baked 6 of them for us, but caught myself in full closet eating mode eating raw cookie dough in the kitchen while she was watching the football game. Ugh, why do I do this?!

Anyway, later last night, I took a lil' quiet time to kind of put things back into perspective for myself. I did some journaling to ask: Why do I allow negative self talk to creep up? Why do I have those days that I allow myself to be my own worst enemy. I soaked in the bath tub, did some reading and woke up this morning refreshed and ready to start anew!

Anya and PinkieLee I can really relate to what you both have said. I have had to throw stuff into the garbage. At that point I try to go back to my journal to track what I was feeling that day and how I feel about myself that day and determine if I can find my triggers. Sometimes I have to think and think, and think some more, to bring forward into my conscious light what the f*ck I was thinking when I mindlessly went for the comfort food. It is not always 1 + 2 + 3 = my emotions/thoughts. Does this get any easier?

I baked pumpkin and lemon custard tarts for Thanksgiving dinner. But... I made sure I baked in the morning and put them into their containers as soon as I could before I was tempted to eat any. Then I sent the remainder home with my kids. And I only had two small tarts after supper. No gravy, no potatoes and no bread oh and no cheese. I did make yummy hummus to eat with the fresh cut up veges I brought. I was using my noggin'

I am so new at trying to understand my emotional eating. If anyone has tips or inspiring stories I would happily take the encouragement.

[girl_dee]

Ok I started Atkins today, I gained about 10 pounds on that last round of Prednisone and it hasn't come off yet. Atkins works for me so here I go.

Was a good first day.