Posts by anang

I see you are dealing with ED (don't know if you are in recovery or not, but you are dealing with it somehow). You need to eat more during the day. I don't have personal experience with ED, but I eat 2/3 of my total intake before 3PM (I am up at 7 and in bed by 10-10:30 weeknights, for reference). If you aren't eating during the day for mental/emotional reasons, please call your doctor or therapist. I'm not scolding you; I am giving you sound, well-intentioned advice. You may take it or ignore it. Ultimately your recovery and your survival are your choices to make. I'm not going to recommend you do anything to reinforce any disordered thinking that may have led to your intestinal tract not behaving as intended.

This may be a complication of recovery, especially if you are refeeding; someone else can chime in on that. Also, I feel it critical to point out that being 2-3 pounds over your comfort zone for maintenance is not a cause for alarm unless you are three feet tall. I suspect this is disordered thinking on your part. Again, this is something only you and your healthcare professional can know.

You also probably need more sleep. Chronic short-sleeping causes the brain to crave glucose to bolster your alertness, which can lead to erratic eating.

Eating at night is better than not eating at all; don't get me wrong, but if your daytime fasting isn't your ED warping your thoughts and you are very very busy, carry nuts or cheese (hard cheese can tolerate being room temp most of the day for a day) with you, or some dried fruit.

Best of luck.

I'm with ddorzok-- accountability is everything. If you can't find an in-the-flesh friend, join one of the weigh-in or other goals groups on here and see if that helps. I am back in the saddle after a couple of months of sloth and stress, as you will see if you check out my journal.

What I do, and it really helps me stay on track, is every week I outline my goals: 1. what daily calorie deficit I shoot for, and 2. when and what I will exercise (and rest! you gotta rest or you'll get injured and burnt out). Then, as I do them, I edit the post to denote whether I did it, or what I did instead.  (E.g., this week an old knee injury has flared up, so I modified my plan to keep it happy.)

I also keep a deficit log since CC doesn't store that info for us. I also record surpluses on cheat days. This really helps me keep the math in mind to make sure my weekly goals are compatible with my larger goal, in this case losing 2-5 pounds and toning up. (I have been on maintenance.) 

I realize this is way more anal-retentive than many people would want to be, but it really helps me focus on my goals every single day. Posting a deficit is very gratifying to me, so while I am in there, I also update my goals post. I also get a charge out of logging my activity.

My current inspiration is my profile photo, which is some catalog photo. I'm going to the beach in a month and don't have to look exactly like her, but I want to be closer to that than I am currently. Since I'm not going to wear a bikini under my work clothes to keep this in mind, this is the next best thing. :)

Right now I am only losing a few pounds and toning up-- this past winter I lost 11 pounds. To do this, I set goal dates for dress size attained and set rewards for myself when I hit those goals. I think they are on my journal as well. I recommend non-food rewards for meeting goals-- they really worked for me. I wanted those darn boots so bad no eclair was going to stand in my way. :)

And before you go getting scared I am completely obsessed-- I want you to know I have never missed a single cheat day and have never beaten myself up for one-- they are part of the deal. Last weekend I went crazy at a cookout and my travel dates are a month away, so this week I am going to try and keep it to a cheat meal, but I am still going to eat what I want and enjoy it.

Anyway, feel free to peruse my profile/journal and see if anything I'm doing might help you. Best of luck!

The BEST advice I've gotten here about eating out is this, even if it sounds counterintuitive: before you go out to eat, eat a good sized healthy salad or other filling, low cal mini-meal/large snack. It'll help you from overindulging so much. If you can plan the rest of your day accordingly, try to also eat filling, low cal foods earlier to save some cals for the evening. BUT! be sure not to undereat throughout the day or you'll send your body into starvation mode and you're more likely to go nuts at the restaurant.

The other option would be to make this your "cheat" meal/day. You do have one, don't you? Everyone should once a week, for the sake of sanity, firstly, and also because varying your intake keeps the body from getting too efficient (i.e., slowing its burn rate) on your normal intake.

Celebrities benefit by looking hot, and in our society, for women, that means looking skinny. They might get brownie points for being healthy, but it isn't going to get them broadcast into every home in America, and it isn't going to win them an Oscar. Society's relationship with celebrity encourages unhealthy and dangerous weight loss/weight maintenance for female celebrities. I mean, how many real women do you know who drop their baby weight as fast as Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie? This is in part because it is their job to look hot to some extent, so they invest in the chefs, the trainers, the surgeons so they can maximize their genetic potential. They also face enormous pressure to knock off that baby weight that the general public may feel but is ostracized to a far lesser degree than celebs. I'm not saying people can't be insulting to non-celebs, but try to imagine a bobble-head on TMZ talking about your mudflaps. I know they asked to be in the spotlight, but that has GOT to be hard. I have actually heard people call Salma Hayek fat, which is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Also of note is that most regular mommies don't have the armies of staff to watch junior while they get into Chaturanga. It is a whole different set of standards and expectations, and you know what? I bet there are plenty of them who actually envy us.

Hi Lisa, we're about the same height, and I was a CC lurker for a long time too. But it wasn't until I started seeing the underside of my chin in photos that I freaked out and got serious. I think I could just mentally photoshop myself in the mirror until then. I was, like you are now, at the upper end of "healthy" weight for my small frame and height. I was also soft, soft, soft.

But I think Jane is right. When I was finally over the underhang gone rogue, I logged back on CC and started reading some articles, and then I sat down and came up with deadlines, concrete solutions (calorie budget, workout schedule), and REWARDS. I think the two things I did wrong the other times I wanted to lose weight but didn't was that I didn't break my goal into smaller chunks (in my case 5-pound increments), and I didn't come up with concrete rewards for hitting those goals. I also started using the Groups/Forums and Journal feature. I post weekly goals on there to help me stay accountable to myself. I track my calorie deficits (or surpluses, as it does happen some). Feel free to check out my profile and journal if you think it might help you, and if you have any other questions I'd be happy to help.

I've been recording mine in journal entries by the month. It would be more convenient in a deficit/surplus meter. It'd be cool if, based on your account settings, it looked "positive" when you were hitting your desired state, deficit or surplus. That way it'd be some use to the gainers, too. I mean, how crappy would it be for all these folks trying to overcome anorexia seeing some red thumbs down for having a surplus? But I would really love to see a big happy face if I were in deficit territory. That would be slightly more complex to program than just the numbers, but on their forums I see how hard these (mostly) girls are struggling to ignore the evil voices of ED, so maybe something less neutral than the figures would be helpful. Just a thought.

See if you can find Kind bars. I get them at a natural foods store. They're minimally processed and usually between 160-200 calories, and they're tasty.

Other ideas for mid-morning snack: low fat yogurt with an apple, DIY granola with some dried fruit (lots of "hippie" grocery stores have bulk grains you can get to make your own granola way cheaper than the boxed stuff and with way less sugar).

Healthier food costs more whether it is processed or not because it usually doesn't contain much of the crops on the Farm Bill that get massive subsidies (corn and soy, mostly). So if you're looking to cut costs and still eat healthy food, I'd suggest preparing more of it yourself, buying in bulk when it is appropriate, and trying to think of the increased bill as investment in your health-- now and in old age. Sounds kinda dorky, but it could mean years longer you won't have to live in a nursing home. I've been to enough nursing homes that it keeps me plunking down the cash! Other cheap sources: local farmer's markets often sell cheap veg, eggs, and even meat sometimes.

It is a little more work cooking and shopping, but you can save some money that way and still eat "clean."

A 670 calorie deficit is a bit higher than I shoot for, but if you don't feel run down and starving today, you're probably okay. I wouldn't, however, advise a deficit this large every day as a matter of course. Any one day's deficit isn't super important as long as you don't get into starvation mode territory-- what matters is what your deficit is like over the course of a week. "The experts" recommend losing weight no faster than one pound a week, and if you keep that 670 deficit up, you'll lose more than that-- like a pound and a third a week.

To give you an idea, I'm 5'4", 128lbs., and I found that maintaining deficits over about 400 as standard business left me run down. I also exercise regularly and was finding I was gassed by the end of the day. So now I aim for around a 300-350 calorie deficit. But, if I go crazy on my cheat day and have a surplus, the next day I can carry a deficit of 500 or so and not feel hungry or tired because my body has "leftovers." I still never, ever, go below 1200 calories even after my surplus days and you shouldn't either. And remember that 1200 is bandied about for sedentary females-- add your exercised calories to that 1200 to figure out what your minimum is for the day if you're working close to the margin.

Because I'm weight training, even though the scale only shows I have lost 4.5 pounds since 1/11, I am down a full pants size, so don't get too hung up on the scale.

Hope it helps.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE those-- which ever term you use. I eat them in all sorts of stuff. I have a dry storage canister that came with a "tea" placard on it that isn't removable, so I filled it with dry chickpeas. But I am not normal...

Laura's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bitelettes  -- they really kick my sweet craving, have a great, gooey thing going on, and aren't too bad for you as long as you don't eat the whole tub. And they're vegan, if that is your thing.

Almonds

Craisins

Gorgonzola crumbles (sounds contradictory, but 1/2 tsp on my big salad with just a tsp of red wine vinegar delivers so much flavor and interest that I don't feel like I'm dieting. It only adds like 20 calories, too-- way less than blue cheese dressing!)

Pistachios

Spinach

Egg whites

Dove dark chocolate squares-- they keep me from wanting a whole Hershey bar or something.

(As you can see, sweets are my vice more than salt!)

whole wheat tortillas instead of bread

101cookbooks.com -- it isn't a dieting website at all, but it is a healthy whole foods recipe site-- if she calls for too much rich stuff I usually cut it back. But all the main dishes are very balanced and healthy and use fresh, minimally processed ingredients.

Thanks for the advice!

Well, it appears I'm not sick. :) I felt worst on Tuesday (day before-- don't know why), so I made that my rest day (I had gone the three days prior so it wasn't too wimpy). Yesterday I went to do cardio-- with the idea I'd do the best I could and ease up if I hit the wall. I ended up getting in 15 moderately-paced min on the treadmill, then 15 intense minutes on the elliptical. I started getting shinsplints on the treadmill and just didn't have the cojones to work through the pain. It was just making me whiny. :)

I sweated about ywice my usual for that activity, though. Kinda weird.

No idea why, but I've been way less bloaty this time around, and, with the exception of Tuesday and part of yesterday, more energetic. Woo hoo!

Thanks! Luckily, I don't feel crampy at all-- just gross and exhausted. If it doesn't let up by the end of today I am actually going to suspect a cold or something-- it is weird for me to be this crappy-feeling without also being crampy.

octo-luv, my goals are to burn fat, tone, and build strength, pretty much in that order. Re: the dips, I do feel sore in the muscles that stabilize the shoulder to do the dips-- it's just the tris that are filing their fingernails. I guess I was imagining I'd feel it more in the tris afterward. Would that qualify as a compound move? What about doing abs on the roman chair (vertical one since google search is giving me 3 differently shaped pieces of equipment)? Is that a compound move? I do that too, with straight and bent legs, and I love the challenge of not slumping!

I guess it makes sense that something working stuff that moves in tandem would lead to less overtraining, since the weaker muscles would stop you before you did something crazy like kill your quads!

Thanks for your help!

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Yep - after lifting, your muscles can retain water. It'll go away.

Good to know! Maybe that is why I wasn't lower than I thought I should have been weighing in on Monday-- Sunday I murdered my legs with weights. Subsequently discovered I'd overtrained (as in the quads just quit threatening to cramp when I sit down!!).