Posts by suzushii

Hey guys. So like, turns out the 4-5 pound mysterious gain, was just a 1-2 pound gain plus water weight. And it must be muscle because I actually have a *smaller* hip measurement and everything else is the same.

I ran my first 5k non-stop! I was so proud of myself. What I did was slow jogging for the first km, then running for the next 4. And at a 4.5% incline! I managed it in just under 40 minutes. I googled what people consider a good time, and lol, that's so not it apparently.

But that's ok, it's not a race :P. Plus I'm a 5'3 female, surely I still get some props :P

Nop, not pierogies, those are slavic according to Wiki. Romanians are latin (like the french and the italians). We totally have stuffed cabbage and sausages though, and I hate Romanian cuisine (soooooo fatty, and so much pork in everything). And the traditional Romanian way to raise children is to stuff them full of food so they're fat and healthy (yeah, that's right). I was the odd kid. The very odd kid :P.

I'm 23, doin my masters now :P What's your speciality?

My gym is also dingy, and what's great, it's in front of my building. Like, I go out in my flip flops and walk 20 paces to it. And it's always empty, so it's like my turf :D.

Yup, I have a lot of free time. Can't find a job (still looking), and it's school holiday now so - TONS free time.

agruskin:

Heh, I know muscles since my mum is a doc, and I'm a biochemist :D.

As for the weight, yeah, pick one that makes you do this:

First set - hard, but not too hard, ya know

Second set - wow, the last couple ones are hard

Third set - the last couple ones BURN

If it's too easy, you won't feel that burn. If it's too hard, you won't be able to finish, and you don't wanna risk a strain.

Does your gym have equipment with little stickers on them, that shows the targeted muscles and the proper movement? I've seen them on all 3 gyms I've ever frequented. Very useful, if you just want to do a full body work out, you just pick a machine or two for each muscle zone. If not, ask the gym junkies, they usually shower you with advice :D

Oh, make sure you include some exercises for the muscles on the inside of your leg. Those are often ignored, and when you do end up working on them, you'll find it QUITE a challenge :D (for me, it was like cardio, at the end I was sweating  :P).

I like machines, since they limit the movement, so you can't mess up posture (which is SO important when doing weights). However I've read that free weights are better for you.

I don't pay attention to time, but today, with 10 min warm up on threadmill (just walking) then weights/machines for lower half of the body and abs, then stretching, a few yoga positions, and another 10 min slow walk to cool down, it took about an hour and 10.

As for how I do them...lesse - so I do 12 movements, then rest 30 sec or so, 12 movements, rest, and 12 movements again. So in total 36? Depends, on some machines I do 3 sets of 10.

Poland's a neighbour of Romania, you were pretty close :D.

Original Post by agruskin:

SUZZI- well then id say ur pretty damn lucky to be able to eat, what, 5000 calories-am i rt? and not gain all that much.

when ur underweight ur gain goes 1st to ur stomach, i think ur familiar w this?  ur still pretty light, i know not everyone goes w the bmi charts but id still suggest gaining to a higher weight.  u already see that a few pounds doesnt even show in the mirror but that u do think u looke BETTER. 

im really in relatively the same position as u but not as active bc i know running is such a calorie burner.  so, rt now, im going to get my butt in gear and try to do some weights, found a routine to try, what is ur routine?  maybe do more weight sessions and hold off on the running for now at least?

Actually, I ate some 250-500 more calories then usual, on several occasions. By my calculations in total it shouldn't have been more then a couple thousand extra. on the span of 3 weeks. Since a pound is 3500 extra calories, that's why I'm all "whut" at the 4 pound difference.

For weights - I do 1-2 machines per major muscle group. Never the same muscle group in consecutive days so they have time to rest. An easy way is to do one day upper body and one day lower body plus abs.

And I do heavy weights with low reps (3 sets of 10-12). From what I gather that's more conductive to muscle GAIN rather then fat loss, which is not my goal. I wish I could tell you the names of the machines, but I don't know them in my native language, let alone English :P (my second).

Agruskin - what I meant by almost medically underweight, was a BMI of 19. Considering the cut off is 18.5, and BMI doesn't take into account muscle mass, it was low. I don't mind gaining, as long as it's muscle. I'm not stuck on being a specific number, as long as I look good (lol, vanity) and feel good.

As for too much cardio - I really like running? I mean, I've never felt fast, or strong in my life. It feels good to be able to do things that would have been IMPOSSIBLE for me before. I hit a 9 minute mile 2 days ago. It was PURE PWNAGE. It wasn't even all that hard, I could probably do an 8 minute one if it was all I did. I used to get winded from chasing a bus for 100 meters. I also like biking. I get to go somewhere, propelled 100% by myself. And dont' get me started on being able to swim for a change without getting tired 2 minutes in.

pilgrimdude - I do eat healthy 95% of the time. Some days I eat perfect. Other days I munch a bit too much and it's healthy stuff 60%. But I do eat healthier then anyone I know. I'm a sort of health freak with a sweet tooth. Vegetables are my friend, I dislike saturated fat so I never had a problem with that. Simple sugars? You caught me :P. But I don't go overboard.

Anyways if nobody is noticing anything glaring wrong with what I'm doing *phew*

thanks!.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

I'm coming into this late but here's my perspective - posters who take the time out to reply long, thoughtful, intellegent responses are often ignored.

suzushii, you gave a list of possible responses that people could have given... but honestly, I've seen the reaction that OP's have given to those types of responses. More often than not, this is how an OP will respond:  "Look I wasn't asking for a critique, I just want to know if what I'm doing will work" or "I'm not interested in doing X, which is why I only asked about Y. Learn to read."

Then a new poster will post "Hey, I started lifting soup cans and drinking Crystal Lite and it completely reshaped my body and now I'm a Victoria Secret model"

"Oh thank you, new poster! I'm going to ignore all of the other people who gave me the truth, and embark on your fad exercise routine!"

So.... yeah, as danielle said, sometimes the snappy one-liner comes out first. It isn't personal, we swear.

ps. I wish I were exaggerating, but that's really often what happens. Ok, not the VS model part, but the rest of it.

LOL, I know exactly what you mean (with people reacting like that).

So I guess it's true that the diet thing is undoing the advantages of exercise *reluctantly puts down the pretzels*. My question would be - I still need all those calories, and I have no idea what to use them for? I usually eat 500 calories per meal, and that gets me to 1500. I was maintaining at 1700 while doing no exercise and sitting in bed reading. So with exercise I need at least 2000.

What do I eat for the rest of the calories? More fruit? More vegetables? More protein? If I eat more vegetables I get bloated (like I said I usually eat 2-3 tomatoes, 2-3 cucumbers, and 1-2 peppers, and an onion daily, plus one head of salad). Protein - I'm struggling enough as it is to get enough, it's so EXPENSIVE.  I guess fruit?

D'oh, it's true bout the warm up stretching

As for talking while exercising, I mean during cardio, I've read in many places, when you're at an elevated-enough heartrate, you have trouble speaking (I mean, sure, you can speak, but not easily). If it's lower, then you're not in the "burn zone" so to speak.

I think these are pretty obvious but:

- ALWAYS take the stairs

- if there's an escalator, walk on it all the way up

- on the bus/tube - stand, and do surfing (trying not to hold on to anything, and just balancing with your legs - but do hold a hand to a pole lightly, just in case of a sudden stop).

- bike to the grocery store. You get a new understanding of just how MUCH stuff you buy weekly. You also get a new understanding of physics (inertia, Newton's laws) :P

- when you walk - do it with tensed abs and straight back. By the end of the day you'll have muscle fever

- NEVER slouch

- when you go up the stairs, try not to do it with momentum (fast kick of the leg) but in a slow movement while tensing your butt, and trying to rely on it.

- at the gym, always walk around with an mp3 player. It minimises people walking up to talk to you, and it keeps you focused.

- at the gym - if you can talk while exercising, you're not doing it properly

- at the gym - if you haven't even sweated a bit - you're not doing it properly

- at the gym - stretch, warm up, exercise, cool-down, stretch

How can a size UK8 be fat. There's only size 6 and then nothing! Sounds more then fine to me!

Can I join?

I've actually been maintaining for the past 2 months or so. I lost weight while on a diet to improve my acne. Turned out the acne had nothing to do with food (and a bit of RetinA and another topical cured it in a month), but I got slimmer (15 pounds) and healthier. I was never fat, but I was heading there (my weight was on this slooow increase, and I had this addiction relationship to sweets that was getting ridiculous. Because I was young, I was able to get away with eating 3000-4000 calories a day, despite just being 125, but where was I headed?).

I like the new me so I'm staying at this size 5'3-5'4 (measured myself next to a wall, with a book :P so kind of innacurate) and about 112-114 pounds (it varies).

I'm gonna turn 23 in a little over a month, so I got thinking of my own mortality (I'm such a grim person) and I want to make sure to keep myself on this planet as long as possible.

So my new maintaining goal is to add some muscle to my frame, which I probably lost when I got thinner even though my weight was quite normal. And to improve my diet (I no longer binge, but I do eat small portions of fast food too often, and I'm addicted to Diet coke).

New healthy habbits:

Daily berries - antioxidants, and vit C. A new find at the supermarket. My usual fruits are bananas and apples, and seasonal ones, but I heard only good stuff about berries.

Going to the gym - lazyness again => There's this gym in the opposite building. And it's cheap. So I got a subscription. Discovered the stairmaster machine. My bum is hating me right now :P.

My problems: I keep comparing myself with photos of naturally petite skinny people. I have to remind myself that my hips are wide because that's how they're built, and there's nothing I can do about it. If I lose any more weight I'd just look sicky and bony. NOT that I'd ever try to lose more weight, I know far too much about medicine and biochemistry to do a stupid thing like that. But some small part of my mind is chastising me for not being 5'9 and 115 pounds and hotter then Kristine Kreuk. And while the rest of the brain agrees that's #$%$% stupid, it can't overpower it.

Thanks for the advice and kind words.

I'm afraid any bottled stuff isn't available where I live (eastern europe), but the shake was a resounding success - she said she liked the taste (which is an improvement, hasn't said much in days). My mum is a family doctor though, so she'll ask the pharmacy for something equivalent to those calogen thingies.

The blended beef in mashed potatoes sounds great. she does eat mashed potatoes with egg yolks already, so this sounds like a doable variation.

Also coconut milk (duh, why didn't I think of that)!

As for "deciding to pass away by not eating" - obviously I'm not going to force-feed her or try to keep her on by prolonging her suffering but.... She can still express not wanting to eat, and one can tell if she wants to when she does. So what I mean is - I think it's more of a case where she's in this vicious cycle where she's too tired to eat, which makes her more tired and more unable to eat.

Thanks again

Amenorrhea means losing your period 3 times in a row. So even if you skip this once, it's not amenorrhea, it's simply skipping once. Stop stressing (it's a cause), stop over-exercising (it's a cause) and eat more if you have to (undereating is a cause).

Counting - You don't have to do the actual math. Learn to guesstimate. Say you eat an 2 apples, a sandwitch with meat a portion of french fries and a soup. A piece of fruit is usually 100 calories, a sandwitch can be 200-400 calories, french fries is about 300 calories for a medium fast food portion and a soup is 100-200 calories. It's not precise, but you'd know you still need to eat something even if it sounds a lot.

Best way to find out is to increase your current calories by 100-200 calories every 2-3 weeks. You might still lose a couple of pounds until you reach your level, but trust me, it's better then taking someone's word (and that includes the calculators, which can be SOOO much under or over, they're useless).

Almost 2 weeks for 2200ish

Light exercise - 30 min floor exercises plus 40 min yoga. OR Jillian's 30 day shred. OR just being very active throughout the day with normal stuff (walking, cleaning etc.). Nothing major.

It's 7 days late. That's for a 30 day period. I'm usually like clockwork, even to the specific time of day (always during the night, never during the day). It's rather impossible that I'm pregnant, but I checked anyways. I'm not pregnant :P.