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Odysseus1

Odysseus1

New member
Hello every one!

I'm in the UK, and I have been on my weight loss & fitness journey since January when I weighed in at 300lbs. I've lost 35lbs through learning to cook healthy meals, and I've been regularly attending a gym to work on my fitness. I've recently started including weights in my work out.

Nice to meet you!
 
Hello Odysseus, sounds like you have been on a simple and logical track, that's the way to do it. Congratulations on the 35 lb. loss, that's great since January. Keep up the good work and the weights will certainly help. Keep your focus ahead and look forward to self improvement and good health.

knotty
 
Thanks, Knotty!

That's what this is going to be about for me; a lifestyle change that's long term. I'm trying to change years of bad eating habits by learning to cook. I'm trying to feel more connected to my body through exercise, and it's important to me that I am strong, and fit and healthy - not 'thin'.
 
Had my recent measurements in the gym. For the first time since joining in January, I had the numbers going in the wrong direction. Every thing was up; overall bodyweight, 2 inches on the waist and hips, even my resting heart rate was up 10 beats! My body fat remained stable which made it a weird measurement but for the last couple of days I've been working on not getting disheartened.

Obviously, I've been doing something wrong, and I know that making excuses will just lead to further bad results. I've tightened up on calorie intake through keeping a food journal and focusing on portion control. I've really been slamming the work outs too. I never leave the gym without sweat dripping off my hair!

I just feel a little as though my hard work hasn't paid off this month and I don't want a replay of this next month!
 
Hi Odysseus, sorry to hear about the lack of progress. Do you know how many calories your taking in and how many calories your body needs daily? also, what are the foods your eating and their calories? you must know this if you want to stay on the deficit side of calories.

Going to the gym is fine but a lot of people eat all their hard work back on at the dinner table so all that gym work is lost.

knotty
 
You're right knotty. I did a rather complicated equation to figure out what my calorie intake should be and I am determined to stay within those limits. One thing I feel I maybe ought to know more about is macros. I'm hearing a lot about them and I don't think it means close up photography!
 
Welcome to the forum.

Well done on your weight loss so far. You are doing brilliantly.

This might sound silly but you are not telling us a lot about yourself. You do not mention your height or even your gender and age... Sometimes these things can help us give advice - like when you mention that your weight went up for the first time.

It is important that you do not get disheartened. keep on working hard - and trust that the reward will come in time.

Hand held body fat meters can for instance be unreliable in their readings and there can be a load of reasons why weight goes up which are nothing to do with us getting fatter...

ladies for instance gain weight around the time of a period
people gain weight associated with how much sodium is in their diet or how much water they are drinking
food weighs inside us so things like our toilet and eating habits play a part

As for macros - if you enter your food into a tool like a free account from www.fitday.com - you can see that it calculates out your calories - but also the amount of grams of things like protein, fibre, healthy fats, calcium and a whole host of vitamins and minerals. You can then compare these numbers with the RDAs which various authorities suggest would benefit us. Just like with calories - you can learn to build a food plan which hits the targets.

I suggest that you read the following thread - it may help you settle in and make friends
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/57955-My-advice-to-newcomers

Good luck with your project.
 
You're absolutely right, how silly of me. I'm a 28 year old woman. Since posting this thread my weight seems to be moving again, just a slow few weeks I guess. Awesome link on the macros, I'll be sure to spend some time mulling it over.

The body fat calculation is done once every four weeks at the gym. The trainer there takes these sort of callipers and calculates a percentage based on a number of different measurements.

I notice that your weight loss ticker places you at a similar starting weight to me (I was 299); what an extraordinary loss! Well done! That's really inspiring.
 
I'm pleased that weight loss is moving again for you.

The body fat calculation sounds good... Trainers using callipers are often more accurate than these hand held machines that people buy...

Thank you for saying such nice things about my weight loss... LOL I spent a lot of my life as a big lady... I'm 5ft3 and could never manage to get anywhere with weight loss until 2007 when I was 48 years old... the forum really helped me - and I hope that it really helps you too.

I lost the bulk of my weight in 2007-2008 and then got my weight right down to goal at 126 in 2009... I maintained nicely - but have had a very stressful couple of years (husband had 5 operations, we needed to move 300 miles and go to live with my parents who are now in their 90s and were not coping) which saw me gain some weight... I had left the forum in 2010 - but shocked one or two old timers when I returned at new year... It was then that I embarked on the 2013 project to try to get me back down towards goal...

I know that your weight is moving - but it can be good to understand some of the reasons why things stop going down...

Sometimes our weight loss can stall because we have not been drinking enough water... The recommendation tends to be 1 ounce water for every 2 pounds that we weigh... A lot of people do not realise that heavier people should be drinking more water... Water drinking tends to be tough - and many of us do not manage to drink all that we are recommended to drink (it certainly makes you run to the toilet) but many of us are encouraged to try to drink more...

Sometimes we retain water due to having had too much sodium... It is quite easy to go high sodium - even if you never sprinkle salt on your plate or in the cooking... If you analyse your food - then the recommendation is to keep sodium under 2300mg...
 
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