Struggles on the road to health

Ok...frustrated

So the "weight gain" from last week wasn't so much a gain. By the end of the week I was back down to 206.8 on my scale, which was where I was the week before. And where I still am now. I'm not stressing TOO much right now...the "official" weight for the week will be Friday, so there are still a couple of days. But I just don't understand.

In the approximately 15 weeks I've been working out, I've been consistently losing a pound or two a week, until last week. I've dropped 14 pounds, until last week. Then all of a sudden...nothing. And I'm doing nothing different, as far as food goes. I'm eating smaller portions and trying to eat healthier. I'm working out and lifting weights five days a week.

The only difference in the past two weeks has been my using the elliptical trainer, rather than recumbent bike. Now I'd always heard the ET was great for burning calories and working out your entire body. And when I get off the thing, I FEEL like I've worked out. I'm sweating and my arms and legs are tired. After a recovery period, I've got energy to burn because it just feels so GOOD. But the machine's telling me that, in 17 minutes the other day, I burned only 47 calories. Then in another 10 minutes after I lifted weights, I burned only about 20 extra. In 25 minutes on the recumbent bike, I burned 160 today.

The lady at the little gym I go to said maybe the ET is causing me to build a little muscle in places the weights haven't been addressing, and that building of muscle is offsetting weight loss for now.

What do y'all think? I'm considering going back to the bike every day, and maybe even adding more time on it, rather than splitting it up with the ET. Or should I just stick with it and see what happens?
 
Joined Fitday...and more...

Well, I decided to stick with the Elliptical Trainer, and today did 2.1 miles in 25 minutes. Whoo hoo for me!!!!!!!:jump:

Also asked a question yesterday in another forum, and got some answers (Thanks, Ms.GhettoBooty and everyone) about why I was probably not losing weight. Seems as if my increased calorie burning sessions weren't offset by enough calories, so my body was probably in "starvation mode." So I'm going to try to throw in some healthy and protein-packed snacks throughout the day to keep things going.

It's a mental block I've got to get through....two really. First, I was raised to eat three times a day, only...snacks were BAAAAAAD. Now I'm having to learn that healthy snacks are good, and will keep my metabolism running throughout the day. Second, dinner was always my family's BIG meal. If we ate next to nothing the rest of the day, we'd have a big dinner. Usually not homemade, but big all the same. I'm having to try to overcome that notion, as well, to understand that perhaps a smaller and more portion controlled dinner isn't such a bad thing. In fact, that one may be easy to overcome. Earlier in the week (when I wasn't eating enough) I had enough calories left at dinner to do a full cup of shells and cheese. I didn't realize how big that serving was. And as for the hamburger patty that same night, I'd planned on a patty containing about one cup of meat. Yeah...HUGE. So I cut that in half.

It's crazy how the smaller portions, which I thought would have NEVER filled me up before, seem so huge now. That's a good thing, I suppose.

So here's the schedule for today...so far.

Breakfast:
Quaker Oats breakfast cookie - 180 cal., 6 g. fat
SoBe Life Water (throughout morning) - 120 cal., 0 fat (LOTS of vitamins)

Lunch:
2 pieces of toast with 1 tbsp butter - 190 cal., 7 g. fat

Snack:
Apple - (about) 100 cal., 0 fat

Dinner:
Pork chop (about 4 oz, grilled) - 150 cal., 5 g. fat
Ranch potatoes (so good)
Blackeyed peas - 1/2 cup - 110 cal., .5 g. fat
Green Beans - 1/2 cup - 22 cal., 0 fat

I joined FitDay yesterday, too, so I'll be keeping up with meals on there from now on. Gosh I'd better get to work!!!!!
 
Hey girly,

heck.. I didn't even know you had a diary. haha There are just so many that I can't keep up with. Anyways... as for yesterday.. hey if I can be of help, then you betcha bottom I'll try. :D Oh.. and you're welcome. ;)

I was looking over today's menu and I have a couple suggestions, if you're interested:

breakfast- No offense, girl... but that's straight up "junk food." Those "breakfast" cookies are nothing but.. ummm cookies. Also, I know Sobe's supposedly good for you due to all the vitamins, but you can get that from taking a multivitamin without all that extra sugar. Plain and simple:

Breakfast Cookie= 15 grams of sugar
Sobe Life Water (20oz)= 24 grams of sugar
Total g sugar for breakfast alone= 39g

Break it down a bit more... 4g of sugar= 1 tsp of sugar---> ~10 tsp of sugar in your breakfast today!! :eek2: (I'm a calculations nerd)

For breakfast, if time permits that is, try eating fruit with oatmeal... or even an omelette with veggies, toast, milk.. etc

What is your calorie allotment now? Okay.. sorry if I'm being a pain in the ass, but hey.... you'll definitely see the scale start moving, girly.

-Sheryl
 
You're not being a pain, at ALL. I need all the help I can get!!

Yeah, this morning while I was on the elliptical, sweating my brains out, I was thinking about how my sudden weight loss stoppage directly coincided with eating too little, and then eating those dang "breakfast cookies." So I stopped eating those...

And I never even really considered the sugar content in the SoBe...I was just looking for water with a flavor for a change. :) But what you're saying DOES make sense. Usually during a day I'll drink a 1.5 liter bottle of water, or one whole one and part of a second. I'm also very addicted to sweet tea, but I'm slowly cutting back on the amount of sugar I use per gallon of tea I make at home.

But gosh...10 tsp of sugar! I didn't even realize...

I usually have a time crunch in the mornings, with breakfast. I'm the editor of a weekly paper in my little town, and I go in to work usually around 7:15 or 7:30 every morning and have things at night. So if I'm working out, I've got to be there at 6 a.m. Doesn't leave a lot of time....I'd gotten where I was drinking those Carnation breakfast shakes, with 1 cup of 2% milk, and that's what I had this morning. But between the Carnation and the milk, I see that it's about 30 g. sugar. Not really any better than the cookie, although the vitamin and mineral total is much higher.

I'll try for some oatmeal and fruit, starting ASAP. I think I'll have time for some of that without a lot of difficulty. :jump:

I also need to get some snack variations, with more protein. I'm absorbing what you're saying...and it'll get done!!

Well, when you commented before on my question, I looked back at my little journal I've been keeping. When I started I was steadily averaging in the mid-1,400s to 1,500 calories during the day, but then I for some reason started cutting out the snacks, the bananas and apples, and dropped to an average of 1,200 to 1,300. The lower totals were at about the same time I started on the elliptical trainer.

And you're not a pain at ALL. Got on the scale for my "official" weigh-in this morning, and still have not lost a pound. So it seems as if I do need help, definitely!!!

Thanks, Sheryl!!
 
Today's update....

Decided to kick the workouts up a notch, just because. The scale is stuck at 206 and I'm not liking it one little bit. I can SMELL the 100s, but I can't TASTE them yet and it sucks. I bet they taste gooooood.....

Anyway, went to work out this morning. Did 25 minutes on the recumbent bike (145 watts, an average of 14 mph), then lifted weights at a slower pace, with more reps on the ones I did. Then when the guy who was on the elliptical got off, I did 17 minutes on it and completed 1.5 miles.

Work today will consist of sitting here, uploading photos and typing stuff. I've also got to go take pictures at a pep rally, and then spend about 3 hours walking/standing on the sidelines at a football game taking pictures and dodging flying players. Wish me luck.

So today is exercise packed. I think it's the food that's killing me. Thanks to some ultra-helpful comments, I'm realizing my food choices, while ok on the surface, actually suck a lot. So I'll be working on that.

I've still got to get around the idea that I can eat the majority of my calories at night. I need to pace myself more during the day.....

Oh, and there's a garage sale in town this weekend that's got some exercise equipment for sale. Maybe it's something good, and cheap, I can buy and take home for use on weekends. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Edit:

Here's the menu I've planned up to dinner....
Breakfast:
Carnation Instant Breakfast shake w/2% milk = 250 cal, 6 g. fat
Lunch:
2 eggs, scrambled w/Kraft fat free cheddar cheese = 245 cal., 15 g. fat
1 pc. toast w/1 tbsp. butter = 120 cal., 6 g. fat
Snack:
1 small apple = 74 cal, 0 fat
2 tbsp peanut butter = 190 cal., 16 g. fat

Total up to dinner: 879 cal., 28 g. fat

Dinner:
Two Mission Carb-friendly tortillas = 160 cal, 4 g. fat
Rice, 1/2 cup, plain = 200 cal., 0 fat
Rotel (mild, 1/2 cup) = 20 cal, 0 fat
Fat free cheddar cheese (1/2 cup) = 90 cal., 0 fat
Canned pinto beans (1/2 cup) = 100 cal., 0 fat

Totals after dinner:
1,449 cal., 32 g. fat

That's about where I was, calorie-wise, when I stopped losing weight because I cut too much. So I'll try this range for a while...

Any comments/suggestions?
 
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Bad, bad weekend

Yeah, so I decided to stop stressing about losing weight this weekend. Stop "Stressing," but not stop TRYING. Though judging from what I ate Saturday it seems like I stopped trying. According to FitDay, I consumed in the range of 1,700 calories Saturday. Then Sunday. Oh gosh. Sunday.

The husband and I went to visit my family, and my brother, being the dear, sweet brother he can be at times, decided to do an all-Italian meal since it's my favorite.

I felt obligated to eat what he cooked. And I did an ok job of keeping it to a minimum. Somewhat.

Had chicken parmesan, breaded; about 1/2 to 1 cup of shrimp alfredo, a piece of garlic toast and some green beans with sliced potatoes. And oh my gosh it was good. And I'm not apologizing for it OR counting calories accurately. So there.

Today started out ok. I'm going to try to vary my workouts a little more...keep the body guessing. I've either been eating too little, or have hit a plateau. So I'm eating a little more (healthily of course) and varying the workout as well. Should cover the bases.

Today I just did the recumbent bike for 15 minutes and, according to the machine, burned about 175 calories. Then I lifted weights. Tomorrow morning I plan to do the elliptical for about 25 minutes, then weights, then 10 or 15 more minutes on the bike.

So last week ended with yet another week of no weight loss. That WILL change this week. Oh, yes, it will. Or else the scale is getting thrown at the nearest head (which will probably be my husband's). Wish him, and me, luck.
 
Hey girly,

good attitude with eating at your brother's: We're human. We're entitled to a day of eating whatever we feel like eating. :) Also, at times it's nice to have these "refeed days", because it shocks the body with the extra calories, sometimes pushing it pass a plateau.

As for your workout, I have a question: When you workout on both the elliptical or recumbant bike, do you add resistance to your session? No doubt, if you aren't and you decide to do so, you will see the weight drop significantly. Anyways, you're only 7 pounds away from Onederland, girl. You can do it, just keep working hard even if the scale doesn't notice a change.

-Sheryl
 
Hey Sheryl! Thanks for the comment!

I had no shame at my brother's place....I could've died happy right that very second and been fine. In fact, I plan to add a potentially modified version of his chicken parmesan to my menu options in the near future. But as shameless as I was, I passed on the pie. It still hurts. But maybe this weekend helped.

Well, I work out on both the bike and elliptical sometimes. It just depends. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings a guy comes in and gets on the elliptical, then does the treadmill on Tuesday and Thursday. It just depends on when he gets there, and gets off the elliptical. Today he ran a little long and so I just did the bike, with a program that goes from a resistance level of 1, stair-steps up to 15, then drops to 1 and starts the process over. That repeats about three times. And I did the weights. I do the weights every day. I'm hoping to do the longest workout on the bike a couple of days a week, and finish up with a shorter elliptical session, and then reverse those the other days of the week until I get built up to a nice, 40-45 minute workout on the elliptical. Then I'll alternate days on the bike and elliptical.

On the elliptical the resistance level goes from 0-12, and I generally use a resistance of between 3 and 6. Right now it's an average of three, with some five in there.

I also joined a site...sparkpeople.com. I like it better than FitDay in some ways (the nutrition listings) and less in others (workouts). I'll use both for the time being, I suppose, to help out.

I was a little disappointed this weekend when we went to see my family for the first time since before I started working out, and they noticed NO difference. My husband claims to, though. So I'm sticking with it. Pounds lost or not. :)
 
Hey Mindi Girl,

I'm glad you had a great time at your family's. Food and loved ones--> good times. Well at least, that's how my family is... hmmm maybe that's why we were all "chubby," eh? hahaaa! jk

Anyways, workout wise you seem to be doing great. So I take it that you have one treadmill... one elliptical.... one bike at your gym? Wow... talk about compact. haha jk Personally speaking, I find working a hard 25 mins on an elliptical beats working a so so 40 mins on it. I try to put the resistance up a bit with either an interval or hill interval training session for 25 minutes. If I'm busting my ass off for 25 mins, then it's all worth it, because my heart rate is up in that "awesome way to make your ass shrink zone." haha If I do 40 mins, I realize I get bored with it so damn easy that I don't really put my all into it. I'm sure you're different, but hey, I'm ADD... and I get bored quickly. I don't know if it's possible, but you know what also kicked my metabolism into gear... brisk walking. If you can ever find time inbetw/ your schedule, try taking a 15 min brisk walk around here and there. You'll be surprised at how good of a workout you'll get with your hip flexors, bum, thighs, etc.

Oh and sparkpeople... girl, I'm there to! haha I started with SP, so I didn't really bother looking into fitday. I think it's just easier for me to stick to one, so I won't get so damn confused.. once again, it's the ADD. LOL Take care, girly.

-Sheryl
 
Nobody in my family is little....so I fit in just fine. We've all got a love of food that gets us in trouble sometimes. Particularly the sweet stuff. :jump:

Well, it's a compact gym, but a little bigger than that. It's not really a "gym" actually. It's the hospital's physical therapy department, and they open it up 5 days a week for the public to come work out too. They've got a Nautilus machine, two recumbent bikes, two treadmills and one elliptical. I started on the treadmill until it got tedious and oh-so-boring. I'm having much more fun working myself into a sweaty mess on the bike and elliptical. But I do the treadmill when necessary - meaning when everything else is full.

I'm not getting bored on the elliptical yet, but it could certainly happen. I try to go at a pretty quick rate, but I'll up the resistance or use some intervals and see what that does, too. It's hard to get even that 25 minutes in, but it feels SO good when I get done.

Hmmm...brisk walks, huh? I might be able to squeeze some of those in during the day once the weather cools off. It's officially fall, but we're still in a hot Texas summer. Maybe some evenings, after dinner....if I nag enough, the husband might even go too. Yeah...I'm dreamin'. :rotflmao:

I've just noticed that SparkPeople seems to overestimate calories burned. At least I think so. Maybe not. I'll give it a try for a week and see what happens. If it helps start losing again, I'm all for it!!

Thanks again Sheryl!!!!!!
 
Yeah, totally made up for slacking yesterday. Hit the elliptical HARD for 25 minutes...did some intervals in there, then lifted weights as much as I could without feeling my legs. Today WILL be a good day.

I feel like there will be a change this week. I'm going to lose weight. I just can't weigh myself 'til next week...girl-type issues you know. I gain 3-5 pounds this week of the month alone, so I don't trust the scale at ALL.

Plan for today is work, work, work and work. And drink water, eat right and stay away from that last piece of pie in the fridge.

I've got a banana to eat and work to do. I'm out.:jump:
 
Another day...

So I'm trying to expand my food options, and eat smaller "meals" more often during the day than I was, previously. Dinner's still killing me.

Today I worked out for 25 minutes on the bike, did a little over six miles, and lifted weights. I was going to do the elliptical but got to talking too much and ran out of time. Tomorrow and Friday I plan to do 20 or 25 minutes on the elliptical, then another 20 or 25 on the bike for the 45 minute total. My goal, beginning next week, is to do 45 minutes per day of cardio on the bike and elliptical. Wish me luck!!

Menu for today:

Breakfast - Coffee (bad, I know) - 100 cal., 2 g. fat
Morning snack - 1 banana - 100 cal., 0 fat
Lunch - Low-carb English muffin with peanut butter - 200 cal., 10 g. fat
Afternoon snack - 1 medium apple - 100 cal., 0 fat
Dinner - 1 cup Pinto beans - 234 cal., 1 g. fat
1 slice cornbread - 346 cal., 9 g. fat
1 cup fried potatoes - (approx) 413 cal, 20 g. fat

Total = 1,453 cal., 42 g. fat

We're having cornbread tonight, because the husband wants it. With the cornbread, instead of rice that I'm considering instead, I'm at 1,453, give or take due to errors in amounts and such. I'm trying to keep between 1,400 and 1,500. Whoo hoo. Back to work.
 
This morning I did 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and bike. I WILL lose weight this week!! I'm also doing a lot better with the calories...keeping them higher than 1,400 but lower than 1,600. We'll see if that strategy pays off...

Other than that, not much. I tried some of those Weight Watchers "Smart Ones" meals. Yeah. Yuck. That's all I've got to say about that. Maybe I'll try some Healthy Choice meals. I don't want 'em all the time, but they're good for lunch during the week, on a couple of days. It breaks up the monotony. We've got to go grocery shopping this weekend, so I'll see what I can find.

Hitting the cardio for another 45 minutes in the morning AND putting in some weights since I skipped 'em today. Then work, work, work, all day.
 
Finally!!!

The stalemate is over...Mindi has FINALLY lost weight! Got on the scale this morning and it read about 203...which is 3 pounds less than I was steadily for about the past month. Whoo hoo!!!!:jump:

I don't know if my body finally got used to the elliptical trainer workouts and lost weight. When I started working out I gained five pounds, then after a couple of weeks lost all that and more, so that may have been the same situation. Or it could've been that I started eating a couple hundred more calories during the day, to average in the 1,400s. Whatever the reason behind it, I'm glad it happened before I drove my husband NUTS.

Three pounds to go 'til I finally get to see a "1" in front of my weight. I can't WAIT!!!!
 
<Doing the 201 dance> :jump::jump::jump:

Whoo hoo!!!!! One more pound 'til my first mini-goal!!!! :rotflmao:

I've been eating a little more during the day, and still working out. I'm still keeping it around 1,450 to 1,500 calories per day, and that seems to be working for me. I just feel like I eat ALL the time. Even if I'm not hungry, I'm eating. Is that good? Like during the week at work, I'm not hungry between breakfast and lunch, or between lunch and dinner, most days. Yet I make myself snack on things like apples, peanut butter, etc., to get to my 1,400 calorie goal. Should I force myself to eat if I don't want to?
 
I would't force yourself to eat, especially if you aren't hungry, but eating higher calorie foods - like peanut butter, isn't a bad idea... you don't want to stay iin too low a calorie range for long periods of time -that just hurts your efforts in the long run...

congrats for being so close to making your goal - what a wonderful feeling for you :)
 
Thanks Maleficent....I've been eating peanut butter sandwiches, low-carb English muffins with peanut butter, and apples with peanut butter. Good thing I like it...
 
Hey you..

wanted to drop in to congratulate you for getting pass that plateau! WOOT WOOOOT! So... what's the weight now? Are you in Onederland? Let ya girl know! Wishing you a Happy Halloween, Mindi!

-Sheryl
 
Hey Sheryl!! Thanks for the comment...I've been SUCH a diary slacker recently. Not in "one"derland let, but I'm close. Within the next week, maybe. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!

Work has been SO busy recently, but I'm proud of myself for keeping up with my five-day-a-week workouts. I've also recently learned that maybe I'm overdoing it on weight training. So starting this week I'm breaking things up, where I'm not doing ALL the weights every single day. On MWF I'm working my arms, and on Tues/Thurs I'm doing the legs, in addition to cardio every day. I'm still working the recumbent and elliptical, but trying to keep the workout varied so my body doesn't get "used" to the workout. The ladies who run the little "gym" I go to told me that it takes the body only four weeks to get used to the same, repetitive workout. So I'm working hard to not repeat the same thing too many times.

Set a new goal today, as well. This one's only 10 pounds...to 190. I think I haven't weighed 190 since around the time I entered high school in 1995. So it'll be nice.

I've noticed a lot of weight loss in my legs (calves and thighs) and my butt....and even in my boobs. Hope they don't shrink too much. And even some around my waistline. But I'm not buying smaller pants yet. Today it's nearly impossible to buy pants that aren't "low-rise," and sit on the hips, below the belly button. So that's what I've been wearing, and have been comfortable in for years. I'm worried I haven't lost enough weight where that type of pants rests to go down a size. I've been a size 16 forever.

I looked at the brand I wear over the weekend, while we were shopping, and they didn't have a 14 in stock that day. So I'm stuck waiting 'til we go again. I'm afraid I'll put on the smaller size and they WON'T fit...then I'll get discouraged. I've never been so afraid of pants before!!!!:eek:
 
Hi Mindi, just stopping in to see how your journal is going. Congrats on the weightloss!
 
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