I was NOT overly happy with my weigh in this week. It could have been worse...but it SHOULD have been a whole lot better! I kept my food totally under control! my calories were in line. I limited my carbs. I didn't eat bad choices, I ate healthy! There is NO reason! (Ok, so my monthly 'ick' was arriving on the day of my weigh in....but really?)
Seriouslu,look at my stats! Yeah, you can see my calories were a bit higher on three days.
But, look at it when you add my exercise in!
And then here is my weigh in results!
So this week made me really sit back and think about what I’m doing. I talked a friend and got some advice. (thank you Donna) I had already been thinking that maybe, just maybe I was eating too little. I know...crazy right???? I have my profile on myfitnesspal set to a sedentary lifestyle. That is true...because on the weekdays I work a desk job and I spend 3 hours in my car for my commute to and from work. That is pretty sedentary! But on the weekends, I am anything BUT sedentary. I haven't been eating many of those extra calories either.... rather I only a few minimal extra calories. Is my body going into starvation mode? I know I lose LESS (or even gain) the weeks where I am REALLY active on each weekend day. My friend had a few suggestions but the one that I am trying first is to STOP the intermittent fasting. If I am already eating on the cusp of starvation (ok, I’m not close to starving....I'm completely satisfied...and obviously still overweight) maybe that 16 hours of fasting is just emphasizing the 'almost' problem. Maybe that long fast is just exacerbating the hunger and making it an issue.
On Tuesday I had a situation where when I started to think about it, it ALL made sense. We had hiked on Monday and I had eaten a HUGE dinner......I felt stuffed (but I was still pretty close to my goal of 1550 calories....look above I didn't eat crazy!) I woke up on Tuesday and within 10 minutes I felt HORRIBLE! It felt like I was getting the flu! I worried but got ready for work. I was fully expecting to have to go home half way through the day. But then at about 8AM I heard my stomach growl. What? So I dug into my emergency food and broke my fast early with a power bar. I felt better.....for about an hour and then the sickness came back. ALL. DAY. LONG. I would eat something and feel better but then an hour or so later I would feel miserable again. What the heck? When I got home I had some chips while I was making dinner and then dinner and voila, I felt perfectly fine! I had just been hungry all day and unable to catch up with just the 'snacky style' food I had on hand....and obviously my fruit and cheese lunch hadn't been enough either. (Duh, I could have gone to the cafeteria had I known that it really was just hunger!)
SOOOO, I am stepping away from the intermittent fasting for a while. I want to see what happens. I am also making a concerted effort to eat more on the weekends when I am super active. It really makes me panic though......I have been so comfortable with where I am...for the first time in my adult life! I have been so worried about upsetting the balance. But, this quest to be healthy is not about sitting back and being comfortable....it is about the journey to fitness and weight loss. It is about making me the best me possible! So while I don't want to lose that peace and balance that I have found with food....I know that I need to find the balance that my body needs also! This really is a total body journey!
I think you are awesome. You know what you want and you stick with it. Yup, eating too little can do it. Whenever I went over and couldn't understand why my leader asked me if I was eating enough.
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard thing to do to make myself eat more food though!!
DeleteYou are doing it right. You have lost weight and are still continuing the downward trend. I am a slow loser myself. I hate it. When I was young I could lose 10 pounds in a month or two but now it can take 3-4 months so I completely understand the frustration you’re feeling. I am older than you (56) and losing weight at an older age is harder. I finally went to the Dr to see what the heck was going on & after a bit, I found a Dr who feels I have Hashimoto’s & that I suffer from hypothyroidism. At first I did the diet routine but I was gaining! Talk about giving up, but now I am on Rx for hypothyroidism and I am finally losing weight. Slow as molasses but I keep at it because I want to be healthy. Maybe you should be tested too. Not that you have it but if you do, an Rx might help you too.
ReplyDeletePaula C
Thank heavens you are losing now!!! I have an appointment with my doctor coming up and we will be talking about my weight...we have to, I have to have her sign my appeal so that I can get a ‘healthy weight discount on the cost of my health insurance. So I am sure the thyroid will be checked!
DeleteI agree - I think your calorie range is way too low - 1200-1500 seems like starvation mode!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about you during my run yesterday :) I was thinking that doing a What I Ate Today post or even do it for a week and see if people have feedback for you.
Have a good week!
I have thought about that also! If I don’t start losing soon I will definitely do that!
DeleteYay you for the run!!
It's such a hard thing to believe, as a longtime dieter, that you SHOULD eat more when you exercise. Just goes against everything we knew from back in the day. But yes, I agree that you probably aren't getting enough food in to make your body happy, instead of holding on to every last pound because it thinks it's being starved. Of course, as my trainer would say, that doesn't mean eating sugar, it means eating some healthy protein and veggies. BLAH. But it's true. Good luck with your changes this week!
ReplyDeleteWhat? I can’t just eat four Reece’s cups to make up the extra calories? Hahah I AM just joking!! Health is my mission....four Reece’s cups isn’t health...one is a treat though! :-)
DeleteI am the assistant weight recorder in our local group. People come in and said they had bad couple of days and the scales was down. Then on the other hand people said "There were on track" the scales was up...Go figure but over time if the numbers are going down...that what counts.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
Our bodies are crazy aren’t they???
DeleteWeight loss is such a trial and error and it sucks sometimes. But maybe this little bit of an adjustment could be just the trick for you. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. There's so much insight to gain.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am going to keep adjusting and changing to make this work!!!! Thanks for joining me on this journey!!!
DeleteYou are listening to your body and finetuning your program, that is great progress! IF is not for everyone and it is also scientifically proven that not eating enough does slow down weightloss because your body goes into starvation mode and tries to preserve as much as possible. I was very tempted by IF but when I looked into how to diet for people without a gallbladder the advice was to eat smaller meals more often. Without a gallbladder it is not recommended to eat big meals as that's much harder to digest for us. That was such a good lesson to learn for this overeater! By the way, I always count my exercise calories and use them as buffer where needed.
ReplyDelete