This is after working out almost every day and repeatedly coming in low on my calorie count. I haven't gone over once. Mathematically, I should be losing. But here's the thing -
My roommates can't seem to lose weight. They work out almost constantly and yet every day is a struggle for them. I'm paranoid that working out every day is making it worse... When I went on my own - which was less frequent - my body seemed to be like, "Okay, yeah, sure, I can burn this, no problem". Now it seems to be saying, "Um, you just jogged almost 9 miles in 2 days, how about I hold onto this?"
I feel like I need a break at times. I was going to take one last night but my roommate said no, we're going, you'll feel better if you do. So I went and did 2.5 miles before I'd had enough. I wake up the next day and I've gained...
I know it is probably just a fluctuation from only God knows what but still... I feel like maybe I'm running my body too hard right now and it just doesn't like it between being restricted to an average of 1200/1300 calories and jogging all the time. Mentally, I wasn't even in it. The two previous days, I was able to go the full hour and made it over 4 miles each day. Last night, I pushed the mile hard and then walked at a 3.0 mph pace for 30 minutes and I only did that because my roommate was still going.
I think you're doing too much and also, I really think your body is holding onto water. I also think that for that activity level you should eat more. If I were you, I'd do some calorie cycling and high intensity interval training to shake things up. You can have a few days a week where you eat 1700 calories and then drop down to maybe 1300 or so and take it easy on those days. You can still exercise, but just take walks. Then for exercise, rather than just running, why not do slow jogging and then sprinting about 7 or 8 times in a 30 minute period? I think that will really help. Don't forget to drink plenty of water. Are you including enough healthy fats in your diet? That's important. Try to eat things like avocado, raw nuts and raw olive oil. I know you didn't ask about diet but I can't help myself. Also, make sure you're getting enough protein and not eating too much sodium as that can make you hold onto water as well. I think you're doing very well though! You're very close to goal, so that slows things down for sure.
What if you try the 30 minutes @ 3.0 for a few days? I wish I could take my own suggestion.
I have been doing 50-60 minutes a day at 2.8-3.0mph which isn't really strenuous or hard but it's exercise. My weightloss has been stalling like crazy (to me) these last couple of weeks since I amped up the time (I had been doing 35-40 minutes a day). It's not a huge increase but it seems like the harder I work the less I am losing and it's frustrating. But I am in such a good habit of doing it everyday I'm afraid to take a day off or cut back too much. My diet runs about 1000 calories before exercise (it's medically supervised so it's ok to be that low).
I'm going to read the articles JossFit linked, hopefully they might help us!
Your body may or may not need a break... IDK.... BUT it sounds like your mind does from what you're describing... And as far as the scale goes... The one thing I've learned is if I can't deal with day to day fluctuations of a few lbs for whatever reason... Than its probably better for me to just not hop on the scale so much... It's taken a long time... But I've decided to stop entrusting my mental health for the day to a bathroom scale... Which just always seemed to leave me second guessing myself... and that seemed to lead me to not having faith in my plan and what I was doing... And the one thing I've found as far as that's concerned when it comes to dieting and trying to lose weight... That's the kiss of death for me...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 03-06-2013 at 10:58 AM.
Your body may or may not need a break... IDK.... BUT it sounds like your mind does from what you're describing... And as far as the scale goes... The one thing I've learned is if I can't deal with day to day fluctuations of a few lbs for whatever reason... Than its probably better for me to just not hop on the scale so much... It's taken a long time... But I've decided to stop entrusting my mental health for the day to a bathroom scale... Which just always seemed to leave me second guessing myself... Which for me would lead me to not have faith in my plan and what I was doing... And the one thing I've found as far as that's concerned when it comes to dieting and trying to lose weight... That's the kiss of death for me...
VERY good point. I find myself going back and forth over how often to weigh, and really have decided I don't have to have a PLAN all the time. If I'm weighing daily and that's working for me, I'll stick with it. If I don't feel like doing it and would rather try for once a week I'll do that. Maybe here in the future I'll shoot for once a month. In the past I've gone long periods of time (months or years) without weighing at all.
Don't feel like you HAVE to do things a certain way or like you can't change your approach periodically based on how you feel.
Take a Mental Health Day.
Do something that refreshes your spirit and brings you pure joy!
Once you get your head in a better place,
Decide what is working for you and what's not .
Sometimes a change of pace can be just the thing that's needed.
I think what works for me is having my head in the game.
I de stress with my 3 Amigos my Doggies that's what does it for me spending time being active and enjoying it at the same time...
Good Luck ,Roo2
You may need a break, so take one. Also, what is the quality of your calories? Are you getting in enough leafy greens and fruits? Maybe too many processed diet foods? You're keeping track of calories, have a look at your food groups.
You are in this for the long haul, so you'll be re-evaluating your program from time to time. Keep up the good work!
Making any decision based on four days worth of data makes no sense. If you need to change things up, then do it, but I'd think a little more about why you're hung up on daily fluctuations. Cause that's what they are and they are meaningless.
Look at a monthly trend; I'd bet that you aren't gaining anything if you look at a larger sample.
Thanks, those were great reads and when I really think about it, I've seen those kinds of results myself. Actually, that 134.8 was after I ate badly for about a week. I wasn't expecting it, I had actually been quoting myself as 140+ so imagine my surprise when...
Quote:
Originally Posted by luckymommy
I think you're doing too much and also, I really think your body is holding onto water. I also think that for that activity level you should eat more. If I were you, I'd do some calorie cycling and high intensity interval training to shake things up. You can have a few days a week where you eat 1700 calories and then drop down to maybe 1300 or so and take it easy on those days. You can still exercise, but just take walks. Then for exercise, rather than just running, why not do slow jogging and then sprinting about 7 or 8 times in a 30 minute period? I think that will really help. Don't forget to drink plenty of water. Are you including enough healthy fats in your diet? That's important. Try to eat things like avocado, raw nuts and raw olive oil. I know you didn't ask about diet but I can't help myself. Also, make sure you're getting enough protein and not eating too much sodium as that can make you hold onto water as well. I think you're doing very well though! You're very close to goal, so that slows things down for sure.
Really great advice, thank you so much, I'll be sure to do that! I'm kind of lazy compared to my roommates, I must admit. But it's always seemed to work for me. Then I saw that 134.8 and went crazy like holy crap, I'm almost in the 120's for the first time in like...ever! So I started working out and eating sort of how they do. A week in, I'm just done, I'm dead in the water. I know we're different from one another but I compare what they do to what I've done historically and I always felt like they could stand to relax a bit. Given everything I've seen, read, and been told, yeah, it's time to take a chill pill.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TripSwitch
Your body may or may not need a break... IDK.... BUT it sounds like your mind does from what you're describing... And as far as the scale goes... The one thing I've learned is if I can't deal with day to day fluctuations of a few lbs for whatever reason... Than its probably better for me to just not hop on the scale so much...
I used to be a weekly weigh in sort of person. Before that, I was a monthly weigh in person. I'm not sure how I became so obsessed that checking every day became a must. I'm going to take your advice as well and stop looking. I get weighed every Friday at work, that is good enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Exhale15
You may need a break, so take one. Also, what is the quality of your calories? Are you getting in enough leafy greens and fruits? Maybe too many processed diet foods? You're keeping track of calories, have a look at your food groups.
You are in this for the long haul, so you'll be re-evaluating your program from time to time. Keep up the good work!
I think the quality of my food could do with a touch up, good advice!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin41
Making any decision based on four days worth of data makes no sense. If you need to change things up, then do it, but I'd think a little more about why you're hung up on daily fluctuations. Cause that's what they are and they are meaningless.
Look at a monthly trend; I'd bet that you aren't gaining anything if you look at a larger sample.
I posted four days of data, I hardly only have four days of data.
Making any decision based on four days worth of data makes no sense. If you need to change things up, then do it, but I'd think a little more about why you're hung up on daily fluctuations. Cause that's what they are and they are meaningless.
Look at a monthly trend; I'd bet that you aren't gaining anything if you look at a larger sample.
I think Robin is quite right here. Regardless of how much data you have you gave us 4 days and asked for our opinion.
It is very unlikely that an hour of cardio, per day, is too much unless that hour is extremely intense, even in a caloric deficit. However, if you've been doing it for months, a break might not hurt.
Regardless of how much data you have you gave us 4 days and asked for our opinion.
Well, you could communicate with me by asking for the other data.
Joss and the others already gave me great advice though. But to clarify - historically, when I've cut calories and picked up exercise, my weight held wherever it was. If I took a bit of a breather, it would be more likely to drop. Cycling, as was suggested, seems to work well for me. I just hadn't realized that's what I had been doing. It was kind of natural to me.
I had to get over the guilt of taking breaks, and noticed that they actually helped me. My body feels better when I get back to working out and the scale always seems to drop when I skip. I used to make so many excuses why not to work out, so it's difficult when I miss a day because I feel like I am making excuses, but deep down inside I know I need a rest.
My body needs a break?
Also, make sure you're getting enough protein and not eating too much sodium as that can make you hold onto water as well. I think you're doing very well though! You're very close to goal, so that slows things down for sure.
But it's always seemed to work for me. Then I saw that 134.8 and went crazy like holy crap, I'm almost in the 120's for the first time in like...ever! So I started working out and eating sort of how they do. A week in, I'm just done, I'm dead in the water. I know we're different from one another but I compare what they do to what I've done historically and I always felt like they could stand to relax a bit. Given everything I've seen, read, and been told, yeah, it's time to take a chill pill.
