Phoebe jumps on the bandwagon
- Thread starter allyphoe
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I agree with Felici - maintenance is something that we are all going to have to cope with and is going to be a bit of a struggle for many of us. I think that they should devote a section of the forum to it. I know that I will still need the forum in maintenance and will be hoping for challenges with the weight "loss" element being translated into one of keeping within a range. I know that if I lose my focus I will be very likely to gain.
For me it is yet quite a bit in the future - but it is near enough that I do give it a fair bit of thought.
Well done for staying in the vicinity of your goal weight. You must be pleased with your new measurements.
Take care
Love
Margaret
For me it is yet quite a bit in the future - but it is near enough that I do give it a fair bit of thought.
Well done for staying in the vicinity of your goal weight. You must be pleased with your new measurements.
Take care
Love
Margaret
The transition to maintenance was a tough one for me. It took me more than a month to go from "I've seen a number I'm happy with on the scale every day for a week" to "I know that random scale fluctuation isn't going to make me see a number I'm unhappy with."
Bumping my calories up took some working at. I'm still not eating all of them, but I'm pretty close - about 50 short per day, on average. Usually I'll have a high day, then a low day, then a high day, just because I'll be hungrier or less hungry. I could do with more veggies in my diet.
Coming down to the deadline at work, so I'm having a hard time getting much exercise in.
Being on the other side of that transition, staying in my calorie range isn't difficult at all. I'm not finding maintenance to be difficult (it's only been a week, but I didn't find losing to be difficult, and maintaining feels the same now that I've settled into it). But the "I'm so sick of losing weight; I'm ready to be done with this, but every time I try upping my calories, my weight levels off higher than I'd like" part of the transition was really miserable, and going back to losing once I'd mentally shifted to maintaining was really miserable. That part just takes gritted-teeth determination.
Bumping my calories up took some working at. I'm still not eating all of them, but I'm pretty close - about 50 short per day, on average. Usually I'll have a high day, then a low day, then a high day, just because I'll be hungrier or less hungry. I could do with more veggies in my diet.
Coming down to the deadline at work, so I'm having a hard time getting much exercise in.
Being on the other side of that transition, staying in my calorie range isn't difficult at all. I'm not finding maintenance to be difficult (it's only been a week, but I didn't find losing to be difficult, and maintaining feels the same now that I've settled into it). But the "I'm so sick of losing weight; I'm ready to be done with this, but every time I try upping my calories, my weight levels off higher than I'd like" part of the transition was really miserable, and going back to losing once I'd mentally shifted to maintaining was really miserable. That part just takes gritted-teeth determination.
Phoebe, I am popping in to say a late "congratulations" for not only reaching your goal but making a successful transition! My task in the coming days will be to slowly read your diary and steal as much useful tips as I can. 
You have achieved something tha millions of people in the world dream about. Really great job!
You have achieved something tha millions of people in the world dream about. Really great job!
Back from two weeks of vacation. Weight this morning was 126.4, which is on the high side of the range I'd been in before we left, so I did a decent job of balancing calories in and out on vacation. Didn't weigh myself, count calories (even by guesstimate), or keep track of exercise on vacation, but I'm back to keeping track now that I'm back home. I did make an effort to get plenty of protein and plenty of water, to eat smaller amounts more frequently, and to mostly eat only what I wanted and only when I wanted. The last day driving home was the only day I didn't do well at that.
I've become a fan of Kozy Shack rice pudding. And homemade cocktail sauce (ketchup, lemon juice, massive quantities of horseradish).
Once things settle back to normal here, I'm going to use some of my bonus money to get this thing:
I've become a fan of Kozy Shack rice pudding. And homemade cocktail sauce (ketchup, lemon juice, massive quantities of horseradish).
Once things settle back to normal here, I'm going to use some of my bonus money to get this thing:
Over on WYED, I said:
So tonight, I ran out of calories around 8pm, and wanted more to eat. I just figured out how to work the free On Demand feature on the cable box (we have a bundle with free long distance, and pay less for cable + high-speed internet + phone service than we used to pay just for long distance - and we'd had a 5 cent a minute plan then!), so I figured I'd try doing one of the exercise programs there as a way of earning some extra calories.
I ended up doing 2 different levels of Walk Away the Pounds, which has the tremendous advantage of requiring little enough physical coordination that I'm actually capable of keeping up. Most of the time. (I never do workout videos or aerobics class, because by the time I've figured out how to do one thing, the class is three things down the line.) For a whopping 86 calories, woohoo. Now I remember why I don't exercise to lose weight.
Now I get a cup of raspberries. Yum.
So tonight, I ran out of calories around 8pm, and wanted more to eat. I just figured out how to work the free On Demand feature on the cable box (we have a bundle with free long distance, and pay less for cable + high-speed internet + phone service than we used to pay just for long distance - and we'd had a 5 cent a minute plan then!), so I figured I'd try doing one of the exercise programs there as a way of earning some extra calories.
I ended up doing 2 different levels of Walk Away the Pounds, which has the tremendous advantage of requiring little enough physical coordination that I'm actually capable of keeping up. Most of the time. (I never do workout videos or aerobics class, because by the time I've figured out how to do one thing, the class is three things down the line.) For a whopping 86 calories, woohoo. Now I remember why I don't exercise to lose weight.
Now I get a cup of raspberries. Yum.
I want something to eat
I have 250-300 calories to work with. I've got all my macronutrients for the day covered. I've already had 4 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit. I average micronutrients over multiple days, so I'm covered there (and the only things I'm short on are calcium, A, and K, which translates into a glass of milk and a leafy green veggie, which isn't at all what I want to eat). Had plenty of fiber. About maxed out on saturated fat, which makes chocolate a less-good choice.
I already had a bowl of cherries with rice pudding, but I really, really want another serving. So I guess I'll have that.
I have 250-300 calories to work with. I've got all my macronutrients for the day covered. I've already had 4 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit. I average micronutrients over multiple days, so I'm covered there (and the only things I'm short on are calcium, A, and K, which translates into a glass of milk and a leafy green veggie, which isn't at all what I want to eat). Had plenty of fiber. About maxed out on saturated fat, which makes chocolate a less-good choice.
I already had a bowl of cherries with rice pudding, but I really, really want another serving. So I guess I'll have that.
My parents got a Wii Fit at their house, and I've been exercising over there, trying to get all the stuff I want to do unlocked. The only stuff I don't have unlocked yet are the two higher levels of step arobics; I can't make it through even the basic level, and have no interest in further tangling my feet.
It may be self-delusion, but I think I'm building some muscle from the yoga / strength work. Less upper-arm flap and a tiny hint of some ab definition, mostly. Plus I'm really enjoying it - it does all of the timing, gives me feedback on where my weight ought to be, gives me someone to compare my form to. Not quite as good as having a live person to work with, though. There are a couple of things where it would be handy to have someone knowledgeable to take a look and figure out where I've gone wrong.
I'd like the yoga better if you could set a routine that it ran through without having to press the A button a zillion times. And without the "practice every day to improve your posture" yammering. It takes me about an hour to get 30 credits, which isn't very efficient. The strength exercises are a bit better, but I haven't unlocked enough reps to get 30 credits from one round through. (As a result, I ended up doing the just-unlocked 60-second plank, which is sort of like 30 seconds of death, in order to get my credits in.)
It may be self-delusion, but I think I'm building some muscle from the yoga / strength work. Less upper-arm flap and a tiny hint of some ab definition, mostly. Plus I'm really enjoying it - it does all of the timing, gives me feedback on where my weight ought to be, gives me someone to compare my form to. Not quite as good as having a live person to work with, though. There are a couple of things where it would be handy to have someone knowledgeable to take a look and figure out where I've gone wrong.
I'd like the yoga better if you could set a routine that it ran through without having to press the A button a zillion times. And without the "practice every day to improve your posture" yammering. It takes me about an hour to get 30 credits, which isn't very efficient. The strength exercises are a bit better, but I haven't unlocked enough reps to get 30 credits from one round through. (As a result, I ended up doing the just-unlocked 60-second plank, which is sort of like 30 seconds of death, in order to get my credits in.)
Oh, it is. If you don't mind jumping around like a maniac, all of the games I've tried so far can get you sweating. You get a higher score if you don't jump around like a maniac, though.
I'd been going to get a resistance band set with my bonus money, to add in some strength work. I'm glad now I didn't, because for someone like me (no coordination, no ability to translate words into motion, no experience with weight work at all), the Wii Fit has really worked better for me than I think the resistance bands could have. I particularly like the audio cues to tell you when to move from one position to another. Although the hold at the bottom of a pushup is only going to get more miserable the farther down I can get.
Thanks! I think I'll do another round at the end of summer, because I anticipate some continued change even with little or no scale loss.
I am grumpy grumpy hungry. I wanted to finish up the rest of a batch of really terrible brownies (made in an attempt to salvage the chocolate chips I picked back out of a batch of really terrible banana-zucchini muffins). The base recipe is good, but I managed to screw up the proportions in sizing it down, and the result didn't taste good, had a really weird icky texture, and managed to contain large amount of calories while having no satiety factor at all. Seriously, I've eaten 1350 calories in the last 5 hours. I ought to be full.
Not thirsty, because 48oz of water did not help. Not craving anything in particular. Just feeling hungry.
Grump.
(I've been running a small deficit every day; maybe 50-60 calories. So I could have more to eat if I really wanted it. But I don't want a 50-60 calories snack. I want like 200-300 more calories. And I'm not willing to use up that many on nonspecific grumpy hungryness if previous applications of a big chunk of calories did not fix it.)
Not thirsty, because 48oz of water did not help. Not craving anything in particular. Just feeling hungry.
Grump.
(I've been running a small deficit every day; maybe 50-60 calories. So I could have more to eat if I really wanted it. But I don't want a 50-60 calories snack. I want like 200-300 more calories. And I'm not willing to use up that many on nonspecific grumpy hungryness if previous applications of a big chunk of calories did not fix it.)
My scale has a body fat percentage function, which the reviews on Amazon all said was worthless and unreliable. I happened to have a higher-than-average weight this morning, and a lower-than-average body fat percentage, so just out of curiosity, I compared to my recollection of the body fat percentage I got a few days ago, with a lower-than-average weight. The amount of fat for each calculation was very similar, which is what I would expect. (The lean mass includes everything but fat, meaning it also includes water, so it's the part that ought to fluctuate up and down with water weight.)
I'm thinking of tracking both pounds and bf% for the next while, rather than just pounds, and see if there's anything interesting to be had there.
I'm thinking of tracking both pounds and bf% for the next while, rather than just pounds, and see if there's anything interesting to be had there.
the newest scale i got has a body fat/muscle mass/water/bone density readings on it.. and the instructions that came with it - basically said without sayiing it -that it's not really accurate but it's a measurement and you will see changes over time... and that's what should be measured...
My guess is that it's calculating my body fat %age higher than it actually is, because I carry a disproportionate amount of weight in my hips and thighs, and the current runs up one leg and down the other. But yes, what I'm really hoping for is a change in the number, not to reach any particular number.
This morning: 126.0 pounds and 25.2% body fat. Which gives me 31.8 pounds of body fat, and 94.2 pounds of lean mass. If I assume my lean mass stays about the same (and I suspect it's a bit artificially high today, because I'm retaining water), and I wanted to aim for 20% body fat, I'd end up weighing 118. That seems spectacularly unlikely - 10 pounds ago, people I hadn't seen in awhile were coming up to me and saying how great I looked. Now, people I haven't seen in awhile are coming up to me and saying "You aren't going to lose any more weight, are you?" while looking worried. So I don't anticipate that's happening.
Or I'd need to gain 6.5 pounds of lean mass while simultaneously losing 6.5 pounds of fat. That's probably equally spectacularly unlikely - 6 pounds of muscle is a *lot* of muscle to put on, particularly for a girl.
So I think I'll just keep on keeping on for a while, and track numbers, before I come up with any particular target or plan.
This morning: 126.0 pounds and 25.2% body fat. Which gives me 31.8 pounds of body fat, and 94.2 pounds of lean mass. If I assume my lean mass stays about the same (and I suspect it's a bit artificially high today, because I'm retaining water), and I wanted to aim for 20% body fat, I'd end up weighing 118. That seems spectacularly unlikely - 10 pounds ago, people I hadn't seen in awhile were coming up to me and saying how great I looked. Now, people I haven't seen in awhile are coming up to me and saying "You aren't going to lose any more weight, are you?" while looking worried. So I don't anticipate that's happening.
Or I'd need to gain 6.5 pounds of lean mass while simultaneously losing 6.5 pounds of fat. That's probably equally spectacularly unlikely - 6 pounds of muscle is a *lot* of muscle to put on, particularly for a girl.
So I think I'll just keep on keeping on for a while, and track numbers, before I come up with any particular target or plan.