Making Amaris Glamorous!

[pga617]

Hi, my name is Amaris, and I'm creating a journal in hopes of gaining tips/advice and encouragement for losing 8-10% bf and 15 lbs. I began a 12 week transformation July 1, now half-way through I am sorely disappointed with my progress and am now going to try carb-cycling in hopes of seeing some movement in my measurements or the scale or both! This is how my week breaks down w/diet & workouts:

Mon: Low Carb - Arms
Tue: Low Carb - Shoulders/Abs
Wed: High Carb - Legs
Thu: No Carb - Off (or light cardio)
Fri: Low Carb - Chest
Sat: High Carb - Back
Sun: No Carb - Off

I alternate different types of cardio (HIIT, steady-state, plyometrics) throughout the week to keep from getting bored.

High carb day = 1650-1700 cals - 40P/45C/15F
Low carb day = 1500-1550 cals - 45P/30C/25F
No carb day = 1500-1550 cals - 50P/15C/35F

My progress stats are in my sig, but somehow over the last 2 days I've shown a gain of 4 lbs. I know, I know...throw the scale out! I just can't bring myself to do it! I know that I couldn't have possibly gained fat, but it certainly doesn't do anything for your motivation. Even so, after 6 weeks, no real change in how my clothes fit and it is very discouraging, but I will not quit, I just need to find the right combo of exercise and diet. So any tips are VERY welcome!



20AUG07 DIET

5:30a - protein shake
****workout****
7:30a - oats w/milk, blueberries, protein powder
11:00a - apple w/pb
2:00p - chicken, broccoli, spinach w/non-fat feta
6:00p - tuna, whole wheat toast
8:00p - pork tenderloin, spinach w/non-fat feta
9:00p - cottage cheese

1496 calories - 47P/33C/20F



20AUG07 WORKOUT

10 min cardio warm-up
30 min bi/tri supersets w/jump-roping inbetween sets
10 min cardio

[Be-Be]

The good news is that your results are exactly where they should be for what you are doing. But you can do better.

Couple observations:
How heavy are you lifting? You need to really be challenging yourself.
How intense is your cardio? If it's too intense or not intense enough, your limiting your results.
How long is your cardio? The length, along with the intensity, determines your progress on fat loss.
Roughly on the cardio: keep your sessions longer and your heart rate below where you start to hyperventilate. Try to get in 4-6 sessions a week.
Are you taking your rest day?
Your calories: based on your height and goal weight, you need to be eating less. Probably 1200 - 1500 calories unless you have a very active job. That will cause you to lose another pound a week. You probably don't need to carb cycle if you are eating the correct amount. Carb cycling is best when you have a lower body fat and are trying to get off that last couple percentages.

As far as the 4 pound gain - that can be hormones, water retention, random fluctuation. Look at trends instead of day to day weight. If over the last week, your weight has crept up, there is a problem. If it jumped up overnight, there are a variety of reasons for it and it will probably go away.

[pga617]

Couple observations:
How heavy are you lifting? You need to really be challenging yourself.

I'm definitely challenging myself. I choosing heavy enough weights to fatigue myself, and I usually have some DOMS for the next day, sometimes 2. I have been increasing my strength, so I don't think strength training is the issue. I've actually put on a few lbs of muscle (according to my weight & bf% comparisons)

How intense is your cardio? If it's too intense or not intense enough, your limiting your results.

When I do HIIT (which is normally 2 days/week) it is very intense, but I only do it for 10-15 mins. When I do cardio for 20 mins or longer I usually keep the HR in the 70-75% range (I wear a HRM to prevent myself from working too hard which is a habit I have)

How long is your cardio? The length, along with the intensity, determines your progress on fat loss.
Roughly on the cardio: keep your sessions longer and your heart rate below where you start to hyperventilate. Try to get in 4-6 sessions a week. Are you taking your rest day?

I do cardio 5-6 days/week. Usually 2-3 of those days I do HIIT, 1 day I do JUST cardio and that is usually 30-45 min moderate intensity, the other days are moderate intensity 20-30 min AFTER my weight training. I take 1 complete rest day (usually Sundays), sometimes I take a 2nd day off, but usually that is the day I do some moderate cardio (active rest).

Your calories: based on your height and goal weight, you need to be eating less. Probably 1200 - 1500 calories unless you have a very active job. That will cause you to lose another pound a week. You probably don't need to carb cycle if you are eating the correct amount. Carb cycling is best when you have a lower body fat and are trying to get off that last couple percentages.

I had my BMR tested the beginning of July w/BodyGem and it was 1380 so since that is pretty much what I would burn if I were in a coma I don't think I should be eating below that. According to most of what I've read and calculations my maintenance level based on my BMR should be around 2000 (1380 * 1.5 = 2070), but maybe someone else can chime in on this one. I know it isn't exact science and it can be different for everyone so I'm not against playing w/the numbers, but I also don't think I should be eating in a 1200-1500 range. Also when I average my calories over the week I usually end up around 1550-1600 which should still be putting me at a deficit.

(**FYI - According to my HRM I'm burning about 300-350 cals per workout.**)

As far as the 4 pound gain - that can be hormones, water retention, random fluctuation. Look at trends instead of day to day weight. If over the last week, your weight has crept up, there is a problem. If it jumped up overnight, there are a variety of reasons for it and it will probably go away.

I know the scale can be quite deceiving, and there are a lot of things that affect it. I'm pretty sure I know why it jumped (it was over just a 2 day period). I usually keep carbs to about 35% of my macros, but I had a few days where I was craving carbs and snacky so I ate more bread & crackers than I usually do, that is why I'm not really that concerned. I do weigh myself everyday which helps me see trends, last week I was weighing around 133-134, but after 2 days of carb binging it jumped to 136, then 138 (a number I hadn't seen in about 2 months!) but this morning it was back down to 136, and I'm hoping tomorrow it will be back to normal.


I hope this answers everything and gives more clarity to my situation. I know I'm definitely a hard fat loser (total endo!) and when I do lose I'm still able to keep my muscle if not gain a little even eating at a deficit...my body just loooves to hold onto fat I guess.

[pga617]

I'm an early bird workout person so I'll post what I did already this morning. Today was abs & shoulders. I felt good today, I upped my weights on most of my shoulder exercises this week after my 1st sets felt too easy.

Warm up on treadmill - 3.6 mph @ 5% incline for 10 mins.
Front Raises - 1 x 15 (7.5#)/ 2 x 8 (10#)
Slow crunches on stability - ball 3 x 10
Military Press - 1 x 12 (10#)/ 1 x 10 (12.5#)/ 1 x 8 (12.5#)
Oblique machine - 2 x 10 (65#) ~ would've done a 3rd set, but someone jumped in on the machine and I was short on time so I moved on.
Side raises - 3 x 10 (12.5#)
13 min HIIT on eliptical

333 calories burned

[pga617]

BTW Be-Be, I just visited your bodyspace....great progress so far, amazing job & I wish you the best of luck!

[Be-Be]

I would agree that your BMR is around 1350 but I disagree that you shouldn't be eating that little if you want to lose weight. BMR is frequently used as a base when cutting calories as it covers the basic nutrition that you need.

In my experience with my clients, multiplying BMR x 1.5 always comes in a little high. Experience tells me that for most people who exercise it's more like 1.25. You probably are around 1700 to 1900 for maintenance. (I can provide the math if you want it.) So, if you are eating 1500 - 1700 calories per day, you you may not even have a deficit or it might be as high as 500 calories. That means, at best, you could lose about 3/4 pound per week - if you are eating 1500 calories every day and manage to burn your 350 calories every single day. If you are happy with this progress, by all means keep doing what you're doing. There is nothing wrong with slow progress and you are more likely to keep the weight off if you do lose it more slowly.

But it you want quicker progress... If you ate your BMR, you would have a deficit of 350 to 550 which means you would lose .5 - 1 pound per week. This would be a good sustainable amount of weight loss for you. (1% of body weight is considered a safe maximum goal and it's harder to get that much the closer you get to your goal weight.)

I'm sticking to the diet because you are doing everything else right. The only other considerations for your lack of progress could be genetics (if your family tends to be chubby) or if you have always been at this weight or higher. Both of those items could make it harder and slower for you to lose the fat.

Thanks for visiting my bodyspace. My weight loss stalled out because of some emotional baggage I had to deal with. Thanks to several things that happened this year, including my training to become a Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant, I've been able to work through my issues and am back on track. It's really been quite embarrasing to be able to help other people create healthier lives but not able to fix my own so I'm very happy that I've found the key to finishing my journey to fitness.

[pga617]

If you could provide some math to what you're getting at it would be greatly appreciated so I could better understand where you're coming from. I just worry about eating below my BMR because that is what I read about so much on this site that you shouldn't do since it is what your body uses just for minimal body functions. I don't want to alarm my body that it isn't getting enough cals to sustain itself and go into starvation mode. I also don't want to be in a situation where my body adjusts to so low calories that I eventually have to drop to 1000-1200 to lose.

I definitely do not have the greatest of genetics, all the women in my family struggle w/their weight. I myself have gone back & forth twice from 135 to 120 over the past 10 yrs. I'm kinda in a weird & frustrating situation right now because in Nov 2005 I decided to permanently make changes to stay at a lower weight. I started eating better & exercising consistently I dropped from 138lbs/32%bf to 117/23%bf over a span of 7 months (very healthy slow weight loss) I was eating about 1400-1500 cals and exercising 4-5 days week. I went on the anti-depressant Lexapro and began gaining weight like crazy. I was gaining on avg 1 lb/week while eating & exercising the same, and it seemed the better I tried to eat and harder I exercised the quicker I gained where eventually in 6 months I had put on all my weight back on.

I went off the Lexapro in April (turns out my depression stemmed from a crappy 6 yr relationship I was in, that has since ended). I finally stopped gaining weight once I reached an all-time high of 140 (way too much for my 5'2" frame), and July decided to re-dedicate myself to a clean diet & structured exercise plan (not that I strayed too far from this while gaining) to get back to the weight I previously worked to hard to get down to. It seems to be going much more slow this time around than 2 yrs ago. I've been eating much more clean this time too. The first time I still included quite a bit of processed stuff in my diet, now I try to incorporate as much natural food and a lot more veggies, but the fat loss seems harder to come by this time which is frustrating. I don't know if the Lexapro damaged my metabolism (which is why I did the BodyGem test to see where my baseline was), it doesn't seem to have considering that my BMR is pretty normal for height/weight. All I can do is be consistent, I don't see myself eating the junk I used to and I love to exercise because I just feel better this way, I just wish I had the body to go along with it !

[pga617]

Okay so here is my diet for today:

5:30a - Protein shake
***WORKOUT***
7:30a - Oats w/milk, blueberries & whey
10:30a - Apple w/PB
1:30p - Chicken, broccoli, spinach w/balsamic & feta
5:00p - Tuna
***Bonus 30 min cardio***
7:30p - Tilapia, spinach w/balsamic & feta
9:30p - FF Cottage cheese

1413 Calories - 51P/30C/19F

So I got in a bonus workout, I had brought some extra workout clothes w/me to work and I told myself if I got out on time I would hit the gym for a 30 min mod-cardio session. I gotta be in a swimsuit in 3 1/2 weeks so I'm trying to kick the fat-loss into high gear over the next few weeks. I'm hoping to get in some double cardio sessions twice a week over the next month. Extra motivation lies in that I'm in a wedding in October. The dress is a pretty revealing dress and I would love to have some cut looking arms & back as they'll be the most exposed. Think it is possible to drop to 23% by Oct?? I hope so, even if I don't I'll try my darndest to get there!

[Be-Be]

First off, I'm not giving you body building advice because right now you are more concerned with fat loss and general fitness than preparing for a show.

Second, I'm not a body builder. I'm an ACE certified personal trainer and, as of this upcoming Saturday, I'll be a ACE certified Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant. I'm also a certified personal trainer from a couple other less prestigious organizations. I work as a personal trainer at Fitness Together which are high end private training studios. I'm also starting my own business as a consultant primarily focused on nutrition and fitness counseling and seminars.

All of which is to tell you that I'm not simply regurgitating some information that somebody else told me or that I read in a magazine. A lot of information out there applies to an "averaged" person. Since you are a bit shorter than average, your optimal weight should be lower than the optimal weight of the "averaged" woman who is about 5' 6" and 135 pounds.

First the bad news. The primary determinant of our body shape and weight is the genes we are born with. It is important to remember that many overweight individuals have a genetic disposition to be heavy and/or have a lower RMR than people who are not overweight. If you have not been able to maintain your "ideal" weight for a year or more, it will be challenging to do so now. Not impossible, but you will have to work at it.

A healthy person requires appoximately 10 calories per pound of body weight to meet the needs of their resting metabolic rate. Energy for general movement or exercise requires additional calories. So figure out how many calories you burn at work (which can vary greatly depending on your job) and add in exercise calories. Remember that you don't exercise the same every day and that your activity on weekends may be different. That's your maintenance.

Never eat less than a calorie level of: healthy body weight x 10 calories per pound.

So there's your range. What you do know right now that 1500 - 1700 calories is not causing very quick weight loss. Though you have done a wonderful job of losing fat and gaining muscle. Very exceptional. But you won't continue to gain that much muscle (unless you use steriods). Since you are doing plenty of exercise, the other place to look at is your eating plan.

I don't like the 1.5 x BMR because according to it, I burn something like 2800 calories a day. To hit that, I'd have to burn 600 calories at work and 600 calories of exercise every day.

If you were my client, I would advise you to not go under 1200 and not over 1500 for the next 30 days to see if you made better progress.

If you do not feel comfortable lowering your calories, don't do it. Just accept that your progress will be slower and may halt before you reach your current goal. It'll be up to you to decide if achieving and maintaining your goal is worth the work.

[pga617]

Thanks for the advice, and I will certainly try lowering my cals to see what happens. I've got nothing (but fat) to lose at this point. I've been reading your journal so I am aware of your background (congrats BTW on starting a business!).

I definitely know that genetics play a big role (I just don't want to accept it!). I know I will never be super skinny & that I will always have bigger thighs & bum, I just want to be a healthy weight of 120 and firm up what I have. I do think I can maintain a weight of 120 now with the knowledge of fitness & nutrition that I have and the permanent changes in my lifestyle I'm making. When I was yo-yo-ing between weights it was because I fell into bad habits w/huge life changes. My senior yr in college is when I started cutting back portions and exercising consistently. I had built-in exercise when I was in HS because I was a dancer. I weighed only 110 back then - oh and to think I thought I was fat then. If I knew then, what I.....well, we all know the rest of that saying! Anyhow, I dropped from about 130 to 115-118, then after graduating I picked up & moved to FL where I didn't know a soul, worked a job w/60-70 hrs week & ate crappy cafeteria food! I eventually made great friends & slipped into the habit of going out for drinks several times/week and it was a given to order pizza a few times/week also WITH garlic bread & that buttery garlic sauce....mmmm (actually, the thought makes me want to puke). Slowly I crept back up to 130-135 over the span of 2 yrs and then again, started cutting back portions (1-2 slices of pizza vs 4-5) and dropped back down to 125.

I then picked back up & moved again, this time to CT w/my bf. We had been doing the long-distance thing for 3 yrs so living together, eating out all the time, spending time together rather than hitting the gym packed on the lbs again for both of us. I realized I was doing exactly what my mother did while I was growing up (gain & lose over & over) and decided to definitely put an end to it. I studied up on proper nutrition (previous times all I did was eat the same junk....just less of it) and exercise in an effort to forever lose the excess and be fit & healthy. I've seen my mother go through a lot of health issues over the past 8 yrs and I absolutely believe it definitely has to do with her not keeping a steady healthy weight consistently (throughout my lifetime I've seen her go from 130-200+ @ 5'0 at least 4 times) and I do not want that for myself.

I thought I was definitely on the right path this last time, but with the inexplicable weight gain w/the Lexapro I've gained yet again. So I'm hoping....no, I KNOW this is the last time.

Luckily, I don't really do the emotional eating thing, except for when I'm bored. So I just try really hard to keep myself occupied. I keep pretty busy with work & going to the gym, but weekends are the toughie, which is why I don't keep any snack food around the house.

Okay, well now that I've written a book I just want to reiterate that I will take your advice to heart. I don't know if I can consistently eat at a 1200 level, but I will try to readjust things to keep it under 1500.

[pga617]

Today is legs day....my favorite!

10 min warm-up walking on treadmill 10 min @ 3.6mph, 1% incline

Squats ~ 3 x 8 @ 75# (I lowered the weight on these to work on form - going deeper into the squat, I will definitely feel these tomorrow!)

Deadlifts ~ 3 x 8 @ 95#

Leg Press ~ 2 x 8 @ 70#
1 x 10 @ 70# (these are new to me, so I'll probably up the weight next week since I could eek out 10 reps on the last set)

Wide-Stance Squats ~ 1 x 8 @ 20#
1 x 8 @ 25#
1 x 8 @ 30# - x4 @ 25# - x4 @ 20# (this was a drop-set)

5 min walking @ 3.4mph cool-down

My legs were quite shaky after the workout today, love that feeling & know I'll be paying for it tomorrow!

The abs are sore from yesterday and so are the shoulders and back a little.

[pga617]

I just realized a HUGE error I may be making when calculating my food intake. I try to be as accurate as possible, and I'm definitely a numbers person so that is why I weigh my foods. I always thought you were supposed to weigh meat after cooking, it occured to me that maybe I'm supposed to be weighing it BEFORE cooking?? I'll have to do some more research on this. I try to pay attention to nutrition labels if it says "pre-cooked" or not, but it seems I usually see this on grains (pasta, oats, etc) I never noticed this on my meat labels. Maybe someone can answer this for me....if there is anyone lurking around my journal?? I'm sure it doesn't make a huge difference day-to-day, but would imagine over a weeks time with as much meat as I eat it would add up and thus the reason for my slow progress because I'm actually eating more cals than I thought??

[pga617]

Diet recap time!!

5:30a - Protein shake
***workout***
7:30a - Oats w/blueberries & protein powder
10:30a - Apple w/PB
2:00p - Chicken, sweet potato, & spinach w/balsamic & feta
7:30p - Shrimp w/whole wheat pasta & spinach w/balsamic & feta
9:00p - FF Cottage Cheese

I skipped my afternoon snack because I was still pretty full from lunch, I normally have broccoli, but traded it out for the sweet potato, definitely filled me up for awhile!

Stats:
1385 Cals - 43P/39C/18F

A pretty light day for me, I will probably be hungrier tomorrow. I usually am after legs day for some reason, must be all that muscle building .

My legs are already feeling pretty tight so I'll definitely be doing some light cardio tomorrow morning to help loosen things up, nothing too strenuous though.

[Wyomann]

Wow that calorie intake is pretty low. I know you are 5'2'' and 130, but that still seems very low for an active woman. How long do you plan to stay around 1300? I am curious to see if you can maintain that while working out hard. Keep up the hard work.

[pga617]

Wow that calorie intake is pretty low. I know you are 5'2'' and 130, but that still seems very low for an active woman. How long do you plan to stay around 1300? I am curious to see if you can maintain that while working out hard. Keep up the hard work.

See....this is where I get so confused I don't know what to do! If you see my first post in the journal I was going to keep a caloric intake closer to 1500-1600, but then Be-Be came on here & gave me some great advice and suggested that since I wasn't seeing that much weight loss to try a calorie intake between 1200-1500, so that is what I'm trying for a few weeks to see how I progress. Most days I'll probably keep closer to 1400 because I think I would starve on 1200-1300 cals for more than a day or 2. Yesterday was probably the lowest for me in a few weeks and not really the norm.

I'm still playing w/my diet to see what caloric level works for me. Last week I got a little out of control w/the eating where there were a few days that I ate around 2000-2500 cals and the scale jumped up 4 lbs, and now 1 week later I'm still working my way back down. The last 3 days w/lower cals & clean foods the scale has slowly worked its way down 2 lbs, so I still have 2 more to go to be back where I started a week ago. I'm definitely an endo, quick to gain, slooooow to lose so lower cals with as much activity I do may be what I have to do. I'm just afraid of stalling and having to lower them even more. Time will tell I suppose.

[Wyomann]

See....this is where I get so confused I don't know what to do! If you see my first post in the journal I was going to keep a caloric intake closer to 1500-1600, but then Be-Be came on here & gave me some great advice and suggested that since I wasn't seeing that much weight loss to try a calorie intake between 1200-1500, so that is what I'm trying for a few weeks to see how I progress. Most days I'll probably keep closer to 1400 because I think I would starve on 1200-1300 cals for more than a day or 2. Yesterday was probably the lowest for me in a few weeks and not really the norm.

I'm still playing w/my diet to see what caloric level works for me. Last week I got a little out of control w/the eating where there were a few days that I ate around 2000-2500 cals and the scale jumped up 4 lbs, and now 1 week later I'm still working my way back down. The last 3 days w/lower cals & clean foods the scale has slowly worked its way down 2 lbs, so I still have 2 more to go to be back where I started a week ago. I'm definitely an endo, quick to gain, slooooow to lose so lower cals with as much activity I do may be what I have to do. I'm just afraid of stalling and having to lower them even more. Time will tell I suppose.

I feel where you are coming from. I am an endo myself and I put on muscle easy, but fat as well. There has been a lot of times when I did everything right during the week and I still would weigh the same and other times I would lose 2 or 3 lbs. It is very frusterating, but the key is consistency. When I was first cutting I took in 2600 a day, it worked, but my gut instinct told me I wasn't getting enough calories. I was scared to increase them because I was only losing a pound or two a week with 2600 cals. I bit the bullet and increased to 3000, somehow I continued to lose about 1 or 2 pounds a week. From trial and error what has worked best for me is to cycle calories somewhat. For cutting I usually eat around 3000 a day, but sometimes i'll go down to 2700 and other times up to 3300 keeping my protein around 300 all the time. I squat on Tuesdays and I definitely like to throw in another small meal to get around 3300 cals. You should just keep doing what you are doing and if it doesn't work after a few weeks then change. Don't be scared to increase your calories every so often. Going up to 1700 for a few days is fine compared to going on a weekend binge where you eat fast food with 4000 cals a day. Without a doubt the most important thing is consistency, discipline and time. It just takes time to lose.

If you aren't using any supps like hot-rox or something I would start. It seems like a lot of people don't recommend supps and just want people to do it naturally. They aren't a ticket to eat whatever you want, but losing an extra 1 or 2 pounds per month makes a big difference 6 months later.

Good Luck

[Mikey Fraser]

awrite bbe

how do u make a journal... what do u go 2?

[pga617]

If you aren't using any supps like hot-rox or something I would start. It seems like a lot of people don't recommend supps and just want people to do it naturally. They aren't a ticket to eat whatever you want, but losing an extra 1 or 2 pounds per month makes a big difference 6 months later.

Good Luck

Thanks....I've thought about using supps like a fat burner (I'm assuming that is what hot-rox is), but I'm nervous about trying them for a few reasons. One, I'm pretty sensitive to ones that contain caffeine basically for energy. I don't really consume any caffeine with the exception of 2 cups of tea in the mornings (no coffee, soda w/caffeine, chocolate, etc) so I feel really crappy if I take an energy supp which is what it seems like a lot of the supps are. Two because I fear that if I want to quit taking the supp I will gain weight....I have no idea if that is true or not, but it is just what I imagine.

I'll have to do a bit of research on here about different ones and people's experience w/them.

Oh, and I do try to have 1 day/week that I cheat to up the cals a bit & keep the metabolism revved. Usually a slice of pizza & glass of wine reserved for Fridays, I seemed to do okay the first month with that & still losing bf%. Just seems like for a few weeks beginning of this month I stalled, but I know I just need to be patient & stay consistent. I have learned over the past few weeks that I'm definitely carb sensitive and that I must keep the carbs at 40% max or less, preferrably 30-35%. I think that is definitely why I showed such a big jump in the scale, carbs, carbs, carbs!

Thanks for checkin' in on me!

[pga617]

Oooooh, my legs are barkin' at me today! I really focused on form & going deep for my squats yesterday and it really paid off. It hurt so bad just to get in & out of my chair atwork today, I probably walked like an old lady in my heels today. Luv that soreness, means my muscles are growing! I did some light cardio this morning, it helps loosen up the legs and I certainly needed it today I was so stiff when I rolled out of bed.

Tomorrow is chest day, I'm really trying to build strength in this area, my upper body is pretty weak, right now I can only bench about 50#. My short-term goal is to lift half my body weight which right now would be 67#. Long-term is to eventually lift 100% of my body-weight. I'm hoping between losing weight (hence a lighter goal) & gaining strength to achieve that goal in 1 yr. I have no idea if that is possible, I'm not sure how quickly one can build strength, especially since I'm on a cut right now.

Here is my diet today:
6:00a ***Cardio***
7:30a - Oats w/blueberries, skim milk & whey
11:00a - Apple w/PB
2:30p - Chicken, broccoli, spinach w/balsamic vinegar & ff feta
7:00p - Tilapia, edamame
9:30p - FF cottage cheese & 1 slice ww toast

1352 Calories - 41P/38C/22F

[pga617]

Well, my body is screaming for more food today and I'm pretty sleepy which I guess is to be expected after 2 lower days. I had my normal morning diet of a protein shake before my workout, and oats, blueberries & whey after and by 10a my tummy was grumblin'. I drank a bunch of water and waited 'til 10:30 to have my snack. Now it is 11:37a and I feel like I could eat lunch already! Drink, drink, drink! I had a good chest workout this morning, it took all my effort to shower & wash my hair afterwards...lol! I upped all my weights, but my reps lowered which is to be expected. The hammies are still a little sore from Wednesday, but nothing like yesterday, doing the cardio on Thursdays really helps loosen them up.

Here is my workout today:

Warm up ~ 10 min on tread 3.5mph @ 4% incline

Bench Press ~ 1 x 10 @ 50#
1 x 8 @ 55# (this is the most I've benched so far)
1 x 5 @ 60# (I actually hit failure half-way through the 6th rep could not get it back up)
1 x 6 @ 50#

Incline w/dumbbells (so TW is double) ~ 1 x 12 @ 15#
1 x 10 @ 17.5# (highest weight used so far)
1 x 8 @ 20# (was definitely shaky on the last 2 reps)
1 x 5 @ 15#

Flys (TW double) ~ 3 x 10 @ 12.5# (usually use 10s, so I decided this morning to move up a little)

I also did 1 min jump-rope between each set & finished w/8 min jog on the treadmill.

Workout Time ~ 59 mins
Calories Burned ~ 377

I plan on getting in an additional 30 min cardio after work today...yay for double workouts!!

[IronCamp]

Hey there...thought I would check out your journal, since you popped into mine....thanks, by the way.

It does seem confusing the conflicting advice you are getting. I hope you do see the results you want by October. That would be nice if I see results by then too, since my 35th bday is in Oct!

[twinnett]

Hi there! Good luck to you...Bebe really knows what she's talking about, but it's best to pick something and stick w/ it for awhile to see how you'll react. I wouldn't recommend a fat burner right now, but that's just me..

[pga617]

Hi there! Good luck to you...Bebe really knows what she's talking about, but it's best to pick something and stick w/ it for awhile to see how you'll react. I wouldn't recommend a fat burner right now, but that's just me..

Thanks....yeah, I don't really see myself going the way of a fat burner either, but it definitely can be tempting sometimes.


So not only did I not get my 2nd workout in last night, but I ended up taking in a whopping 2200 calories....yuk! All I can do is move on and be a little more strict this weekend to balance it out. So here is what my diet looked like yesterday, don't want to post, BUT gotta be honest w/myself.

5:30a - Protein shake
7:30a - Oats w/blueberries & whey
10:30a - Apple w/PB
1:30p - Chicken, broccoli, spinach
5:00p - Tuna
5:30-11p (this is where it all goes downhill) - 2 glass of red wine, 1 rum & diet coke, spinach salad, PB, PB, and more PB (damn you PB!!), cottage cheese

Calories 2214 - 33P/32C/34F

I'm seriously considering not keeping PB in the house anymore. It is the only thing that I keep around the house that is quickly accessible to eat and I'm not above eating it straight out of the jar! I usually eat it as my only fat during the week, but I eat it at work so the amt is limited. On weekends or in the evenings at home though it has done me in on seveal occasions. So I may stop keeping it stocked in the house and use olive oil as my fat on the weekends.

Oh well, can't dwell. My chest is pretty sore this morning, and I'm just about to head to the gym for back day. I may do some extra cardio to work off some of those extra cals from yesterday. I'll be back to post my workout for today. Hope everyone is having a good Saturday!

[twinnett]

Those calories are not that much at all!! You should be having a day where you eat above maitenance anyway. Do you have any refeeds? I used to have a problem w/ PB too. Now I just measure out the amount I want and put it away. If you try to stay away and limit it, it just turns more tempting! Now, I can take it or leave it!

[Be-Be]

Just a quick at your journal since I was here last so I'm not really up to date on what's going on (I'll read more closely later) but I picked up that you are still worried about lowering your metabolism. Just in case you don't know, it takes 2-3 weeks of consistantly eating too few calories before your metabolism slows. So if you lose weight quickly for more than two weeks (discounting water weight when you initially start a diet), increase your calories. If you are losing 1-2 pounds, you are okay metabolism-wise. Hope that helps.

Have a great weekend.

[cafitchick]

hey pga! Thanks for the notes in my journal! I like all the great advice you are getting in yours!

I will be following your progress and hope we can keep each other motivated!

[pga617]

Those calories are not that much at all!! You should be having a day where you eat above maitenance anyway. Do you have any refeeds? I used to have a problem w/ PB too. Now I just measure out the amount I want and put it away. If you try to stay away and limit it, it just turns more tempting! Now, I can take it or leave it!

Yeah, I know it isn't an outrageous amt of calories, just not what I had planned for. I do usually have 1 day per week that I up my caloric intake (usually only 1800-1900 though), but I prefer to do it w/food and not alcohol & spoonfuls of PB . I think I'm just going to keep trying w/having the PB around. I would like to think I have more control over an inanimate object than it has over me. Good news is I don't even want it today because I ate so much yesterday.

Just a quick at your journal since I was here last so I'm not really up to date on what's going on (I'll read more closely later) but I picked up that you are still worried about lowering your metabolism. Just in case you don't know, it takes 2-3 weeks of consistantly eating too few calories before your metabolism slows. So if you lose weight quickly for more than two weeks (discounting water weight when you initially start a diet), increase your calories. If you are losing 1-2 pounds, you are okay metabolism-wise. Hope that helps.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks for checking in. I'm actually am giving it a try for a few weeks to stay closer to 1300-1400. If you look back I had a few days where I was under 1400, I just had a lot to eat yesterday, well, actually a lot to drink. I normally don't drink...only like once every few weeks, but some friends were going out to happy hour after work, and I was tired of feeling anti-social.

hey pga! Thanks for the notes in my journal! I like all the great advice you are getting in yours!

I will be following your progress and hope we can keep each other motivated!

Thanks, I'll be following yours as well, it is great to have support!


I had a pretty good workout, would've been better had I not had anything to drink the night before. I wasn't hung-over or anything, but just a little tired & dehydrated. I drank so much water during my workout that my belly was just sloshing and it was hard to do anything "bouncy". I like to jump-rope between sets to keep the heartrate up, but I just had too much liquid in me & I felt like I was going to puke.

Back Day, not my strongest day, I always feel like I'm working my arms more than my back. I'm really trying to focus on form.

10 min jogging warm-up
Straight-arm pull-downs
Seated rows
Bent-over rows
Back extensions
Pull-downs w/the cable machine
Abs
30 min eliptical

Workout Time - 1 hr 22 min
Calories Burned - 548

[joed]

Your clever journal title caught my eye, sounds like something from an old Sinatra song. Just wanted to say welcome, maybe I'll stop back again when I'm not in the Over35 forum. As for the weight loss, you'll have to experiment to find out what combination of nutrition & exercise works best for you. As the saying goes, one size does not fit all.

[pga617]

Your clever journal title caught my eye, sounds like something from an old Sinatra song. Just wanted to say welcome, maybe I'll stop back again when I'm not in the Over35 forum. As for the weight loss, you'll have to experiment to find out what combination of nutrition & exercise works best for you. As the saying goes, one size does not fit all.

Thanks for checking out my journal and the welcome. My full nickname is Princess Glamorous Amaris....hence the "pga" as my username (now that I think of it, it is quite a long "nickname"). Very true about the one size thing, so still trying to figure out what works for me.

[pga617]

Gotta post the diet for today so I'm not tempted to eat anymore.

8:30a - Protein drink
***workout***
11:30a - Oats w/skim milk, blueberies & whey
3:45p - Shrimp, broccoli & yam
7:30p - Pot stickers & salad @ TGI Friday's

I had to estimate the TGIFriday's meal, on the menu it said all the "low-fat" items had approx 10g of fat & 500 cals, but no specific info....ugh, hate eating at restaurants w/o nutrition info.

1342 Calories - 35P/48C/17F

Pretty decent, macros could be better. The eating out was unplanned, but luckily I ate really light earlier in the day so I still ended below 1400. My friends went for italian ice afterwards, but I was so full from dinner I easily declined so yay for me!

Still stuck at 135 on the scale, BUT I did lose 1/2" on my thighs from July and I'm showing about .5% loss of bf since Aug 1. It is a small improvement, but at least it is an improvement. It is just frustrating to not see the LBs go down....I have such a love-hate relationship with that piece of machinery.