Posts by tink8

Hi! OK, so I was stuck at a plateau for ever and ever...probably not a physical one but I would have a small deficit during the week, aiming for 1500-1600 cal/day, but then when I would try to maintain over the weekend I would always end up going over my limits, effectively maintaining over the week.  What I've been doing for the past 3 weeks is going week to week.  I give myself 11,000 calories a week, which averages out to 1571 cal/day, a good level for me considering my weight and activity level.  On the days I have more willpower and aren't as hungry, I'll eat around 1300 or 1400 (which is usually Mon-Thurs), then the rest of the days when I am more likely to go out or cook nice meals with the fiance, I have around 1700-1900 calories.  It's worked really well for me; I've gone down steadily at almost 2lb/week.  I don't know if you have days you want/can eat less while studying for exams, but this might be a way to reconcile your schedule without taking a break from weight loss.

Good luck on exams!

Well a couple of things, though I'm hardly an expert...

First, you can't really help where you lose weight from when, so if you say you're still 50 pounds away from your goal, or a healthy weight, then it's possible you will lose from there in the future.

Second, you lost a lot of weight pretty quickly, and sometimes it takes time for your skin to recover from weight loss and bounce back.

Third, weight lifting really can help tone what you have.  If you've done no exercise then you're not maximising your lean mass, i.e. you still have more fat than someone your weight/height that works out.  I think.  But it can give you more shape, increase your lean muscle mass, which in turn helps you burn more calories.  You don't have to do tons of working out but a few times a week lifting weights and maybe a half hour of cardio a day, or every other day can really make a difference.  Plus exercise releases endorphins and gives you energy and a whole bunch of other advantages that don't directly affect your physical appearance but can make you feel a lot better about yourself.

Last, sometimes your mind doesn't fix itself as quickly as your body does.  There are many days that I look in the mirror and see myself as I was 30 pounds ago.  So it's possible that your physique doesn't look as bad as you see it...give yourself a chance to catch up with your body. 

Hope this helps!

SW: 150? GW: 143 5'8 26 y.o.  

30 Oct: 148.2
6 Nov: 150
13 Nov (148.2):
20 Nov (147):
27 Nov (145.5):
4 Dec (144.5):
10 Dec (last day before I go home) (143):

So...my digital scale was apparently low on batteries because it started moving everywhere and when I changed the battery I was up 2.5 lb.  Boooooo.  Well, I have nothing to distract me until Thanksgiving, and I'm only giving myself that day, so hopefully the next three weeks will help me out.  So depressed right now. 

May I join?  I'm going home 10 December so I won't be able to keep up past that (it'll be hard enough maintaining, without trying to keep losing!), but I'd like to have a group until then!

CW: ~148

GW: 138?

See you Friday!

I should definitely specify that I am not able to eat any less than 1200-1300 calories a day without being very very sad, and therefore never ever do it. 

Hi ltj, I do feel like we lost some in the first weigh-in!  We only had three people report back.  I'd like to stick with it but it's important to have some people going through the same stuff!  I've been procrastinating b/c my weigh-in this week was shameful...I was up to 152.2!!  Since two weeks ago I'm up 3.8 lb!  I'm sure (hoping) that it's a combination of water weight from all the crap I was eating and then getting back heavy into exercise...I tried to do the math:

Out of the past 14 days, I overate my calories on six days.  Overestimating that I ate 2000 over maintenance, that's 12,000 extra calories, or 3.5 lb. 

Out of the past 14 days, I ate at maintenence or slightly under 2 days.  Count those as nothing.

Out of the past 14 days, I ate between 600-1000 calories deficit, or average 800 on 6 days.  That would be a deficit of 4,800 or 1.4 lb.  

Overall, I know I didn't eat that much over on each of the days I overate, and I know my deficit was at least as good on the other days, so at the very most I should have gained 2lb of fat...which I was kind of anticipating.  My fiance's bday is on Sunday, so Sunday and Monday will be more overeating days though hopefully not by much...after that, I'm on the straight and narrow until Halloween!!  I'll stick with you ltj if you want! 

Hi emccoy79, welcome.  Good luck with your journey; our goal date is 4 December.  Though, please read through my comments to ltjchicklet:

that 1200 calories is the MINIMUM intake for a 5'0 woman who's sedentary...you are 5'9 and moderately active, which means you burn around 2300-2400 calories a day.  As we know you shouldn't eat less than 1000 less than your burn, which would be 1300-1400 calories a day, and the most effective deficit is around 700, which means you should be eating closer to 1600 or 1700 calories.  I know it seems like the less you eat the more you lose, but you're setting yourself up to stall in your weight loss and hurt your metabolism.

Other than that, I closed the group so hopefully we can keep the numbers down.  Good luck on this week's weigh-in; I had a good week partly because I think my average calories were around 2000! (burning around 2700/day)

SW: 149.8
Aug 28: 148.4

Loss: -1.4

Monday is my bday and I'm going out to dinner and dancing on Saturday, having a huge bbq blowout on Sunday and then will eat to cure my hangover on Monday so I'm sure next week will be 5lb up...oh well I'm excited for my bday!! 

OK, ltjchicklet, consider this your formal invitation!  Send in your stats, we have our first official weigh-in on Friday, and our goal date is 4 December.  Good luck!

Kimberly, please please please do not take anything I say (about relationships anyway) to be a tip!!  I just saw how you guys have similar sides as me and my guy and that you guys were on the outs...made me worried!  I think the important part is that you agree on long-term stuff, romantically and logically: will you eventually get married, do you want to have kids, where do you want to live, what do you want to earn, etc.  As long as you agree on those sometimes a Type A and Type B can work well together, as long as they complement instead of clash.  Let us know how it goes, but I'm rooting for you two!

Wow, really good ideas!  If you have a bit more time, you can make small bowls of oatmeal and add some sugar-free jam (40 g. oats, 1/2 c. skim milk, water, jam) for under 200 cal.  I also make pita pizzas with small whole wheat pitas (around 140 cal), I'll either use a bit of pesto or goat cheese and spinach; or tomatoes, oregano and parmesan cheese, broiled for about 10 min until it starts to get crispy for under 200 cal too.  You can make lots of snack sandwiches using iceberg lettuce instead of bread; tuna salad, chicken salad, cold cuts, cheeses.  Those could be as few as 100-150 cal.  2oz of tuna and 1 tbsp of light mayo is about 100 cal.  Cottage cheese with fruit; apples, celery, or rice cakes with peanut butter; celery and laughing cow cheese....the list goes on and on!

Hi mszander: we're a closed group but I think you'll fit right in you're right at our stats!  Weigh-ins are on Fridays and we have a goal date of 4 December.  My mom also nannies for twin girls, two years old, and she says it's definitely a workout!  Good for your upper arms, picking kids up and putting them down all day.  Let us know what your calorie intake is like with your workout, and what rate you've been losing at.  Thanks, and good luck!

jennali: I don't let myself go on the weekends, but I will eat an extra few hundred calories to prevent myself getting into a rut, and like you say, enjoy myself a bit!  I find that it helps prevent plateaus (even when you're only losing .9/week like me!).  I'll also try to save the higher eating day for once every two weeks instead of on both weekend days, every week, so that it doesn't throw me off schedule as much.  As for running, you should definitely check out Couch to 5k (google it, it's on the coolrunning.com website).  It's a program that gets you running a 5k three times a week in 9 weeks through increased intervals, and is great for someone who's just starting out. I couldn't run at all, and starting doing it so I could run outside and I was amazed at how easy it was to run 2 miles straight after just a few weeks!!  Try it out, I bet you'll love it and maybe the change in activity will help break your plateau.  And don't get stressed about the 1600 cal, you said you were losing on that a few weeks ago and I'll bet you'll go back to losing once your body feels it's getting enough calories to safely lose.

My fiance and I are hooked on squash.  It's one of the highest calorie burning activities you can do, and it's easy to start off playing well.  The only equipment you need are racquets and balls, which you can get for about £15/$20 each and balls are cheap.  We play for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, and I burn around 500 cal, while he burns around 800 (he's around 260lb)!  Plus it's really fun and the time flies by.  We also get a bit competitive (which might spice up the marriage outside the gym as well!).  Before or after, we'll also go up and lift weights separately to do weight training.  If there's no squash courts near you, racquet sports are all quite similar like racquetball, as far as calories burned go.  Good luck!

jennali- you did not in any way offend anyone!  i just want people to be healthy, and i totally understand that the eat more to lose weight thing is so hard to grasp, so i guess i'm just hoping that the more you/we all hear it the more we'll accept it!  case in point, i work out a lot and have worried that 1500 cal was not enough....saturday and sunday i ran closer to 1800-2000, and today i was down a half pound!  just don't freak out if you go up at first...if you can help it maybe stay off the scale for a few days after upping your cals?

raerose- i can't even imagine working in a bakery and trying to count calories!  i feel like it's definitely healthy to try to go about it without counting everything, but we can't let that be an excuse to binge.  try to go a week or even a few days not counting, but preparing healthy, tasty, well rounded meals and eating until you're full.  appreciate it!  also, this is a hard habit for me b/c i usually eat alone, but try to not watch tv or use the computer while eating.  just eat, and enjoy it!  and when life is hectic, try to plan your meals ahead with stuff you can either prepare and bring with you, or with food you know will be available wherever you are.  if you have a plan and manage to stick with it you'd be less likely to panic and binge, and then feel guilty.

kimberly- congratulations!  it's the small stuff like that that can motivate us to see it through to the end!  whenevr i'm around stuff i love and just want to eat until it's no more, i remember the studies that say you only really taste and enjoy the first few bites, after that it won't satisfy your tastebuds any more than the first ones.  so go ahead and enjoy a few bites, and then fill up with salad or something you can fit into your allowance.  we can't be expected to never eat pizza again, and we should be practicing a lifestyle we can do forever.  though i hear you when you say if you'd known you would have been able to save some calories....

i'm so happy we're here!  let's do well ladies!  i also want to change the goal date to 4 december, which is the first friday in december, and should give us some time to cancel out whatever we eat on thanksgiving!  (thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday!)

-jenna

HW: 173
CW: 149.8
GW: 135
Age: 25
Cal/day: 1500
Exercise: M, W: volleyball for 2 hours; M,W,F: squash for 1 hour; everyday, walking at least an hour as I don't have a car and don't like public transportation!  When I get bored sometimes I'll run though it hurts my knees, lift weights or do yoga.

I'm also in the UK (N. Ireland) so I might be posting a bit earlier on Fridays.  I am American, though I've been here for a few years.  I'm also getting married in 2011 and I definitely want to be at goal by then; I can see myself putting it off so long that it doesn't happen so I'm doing it now!  I've been maintaining around 150 or a bit lower for the past 9 months and I want to get back into dropping now.  See you guys soon.

My biggest confusion is deciding how much I really burn?  Maybe gi-jane can help...  At 5'8", ~150, 25 y.o., I walk at least an hour every day to get around, am active enough around the house cleaning, cooking, and at work I walk around at least once an hour to get stuff done.  Mondays and Wednesdays I have vb practice and play squash and burn between 1000-1400 cal in 3 hours according to my HRM.  I play squash on Fridays, for about 400 cal, and sometimes I'll do weights or run if I'm bored on the other days.  I eat 1500 cal consistently but am not losing any weight.  Am I not eating enough, if I burn 3000 cal 2 days a week, but only around 2200 the other days?

You need to keep updated your weight progress on your account page.  If you never change your weight there, it will assume you've stayed the same since the beginning of your journey therefore changing how much time it will take you to reach your goals.  It assumes you'll lose weight at a certain rate; if you lose more quickly the target date will be closer, if you lose more slowly then the target date will move further away.