still struggling with the "to eat, or not to eat?" question regarding my calories from exercise. i have people telling me "don't eat them if you want to lose weight" then other people telling me "eat them if you want to lose FAT..."

apparently not eating back calories means you lose weight, but you lose it from muscle. RAR. i hate this. i hate being stalled. i hate working so hard and seeing so little results. i'm so tempted to either stop worrying about food and counting every little calorie. just eat healthy stuff when i'm hungry like a normal person and continue my workouts.

either that or go back to sitting on my butt and just eating at a caloric deficit.

i hate this feeling. i want my positive upbeat self back. :(

MANDY ~ It is actually, TOWANDA (my sp error) -- an assertive, alter-ego warrior like person from the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" ... it was a compliment, really. :D

About the exercise issue, you are getting lots of benefits from it like I mentioned in my last post: you are toning up; you are losing inches; you are getting smaller; you are getting fitter; and much stronger too. Maybe cycle your calories a bit to see if that helps.

Have you ever worn your HRM all day long to see how many calories you are using up for the whole day? That might help you decide if you should up your food intake or not. You are likely building up a bit a muscle right now too; and that should help boost your metabolism overall. Just some thoughts ... don't give up -- I think you are doing great! :hug:

haha you spelled it right, i effed it up. i haven't seen the movie so i didn't get the reference.

i keep saying giving up exercise all together would just make this so much easier (even though it would - math wise), but i know i'm not going to... simply because i got a package today from amazon.com and was all YAY!!! because i got a new exercise dvd and a set of lifting gloves.

MANDY ~ I went back and fixed it up; when I realized I had spelled her name wrong, but you get the idea now anyways. The movie was about friendship between women (helping & supporting each other); and learning to stand up for ourselves when life & people get in the way, and fighting back. Kind of like this weight-loss journey -- working to get our health & strength back. BTW, the movie is a good one; rent it sometime just for fun, but you'll need some Kleenex handy ... :lol:

Mandy, I've been wondering the same thing about "spending more". (I do WW and get extra points for exercise (APs) as well as a weekly stash for whatever) I never spend my APs and rarely dip into my weeklies. The weekly pool is pretty significant (it averages out to about 25% extra per day). My limited math skills tell me a bigger deficit = bigger/faster weight loss, but I keep hearing tales of increased intake (within allowances) = greater loss. Now I'm konfyoozed too!

I'm mid week my first attempt at cycling as Rosebud suggested to you above. I'm not sure what my results will be or if I can draw a direct corrolation, but I figure the worst that can happen is I'm stuck for another week. Best case scenario I figure out what my body wants/needs to lose consistently. I'll let you know what I learn.

Whatever you do, DON'T STOP EXERCISING. Clearly it makes you happy regardless of any immediate noticable benefit. (Yes, I know you were kidding, but sometimes we've been known to talk ourselves into some pretty silly stuff, right?)

MANDY & SUE ~ as I understand it, if a person is lifting heavy weights & doing a lot of cardio, they need to eat enuff that they don't lose muscle, but build some muscle instead. In order to do that, they should add in a bit more PROTEIN calories each day (i.e. 1-2 oz of lean protein).

Since MANDY has been stalled for about 2 months, and if all the other ideas don't work, she could try this strategy which has worked for others, esp some men here. I know that it may sound counter-productive, but it's not in this type of situation. Mandy is doing a lot of exercise each day, and lifting weights as well.

bbl ... have company

Rosebud, I think you're right as counter-intuitive as the math sounds!

got so caught up on the towanda thing i forgot to answer this.

i have not worn my HRM all day to see what i burn on a regular basis. pretty sure the abbreviation for that is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)... not to be confused with BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is the calories your body needs to function, as is, if you were in a coma.

however, i HAVE worn it while watching 3 hours of TV vegging with my husband. and because i'm a dork and get excited over commercials, as well as a wiggle worm who can't get comfy, i burned over 600 calories in that 3 hour period... just sitting there. i'm assuming my TDEE is somewhere around 2400-2500 (200x12 plus a little)... which, according to online calculators is probably accurate for a person my age, height, weight, and lightly active.

okay. i promise i'm done whining about my stall until next month if/when i have to report another 0 lb loss for the month. to make up for my pity party, here is an awesome picture of my fat cat. i want her life.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/5628/pixaloo.jpg

Hi! My friend came over to help me in the garden yesterday. (Thursday) I am faced with beds full of creeping charlie and weedy lamium. She dug up all the plants in two flower beds and put each plant in my lap. I picked and pulled the weeds from the plants & soil. I loved getting my hands in the dirt and didn't have to stand for any of it. (However.. I didn't like the weeds.) Each plant is now potted where I 'll watch for those weeds before replanting the plants. Now - this means 'war' on each flower bed to erradicate the weeds. It's some of the best fun I've had in the garden for a while.

Food choices were so, so. I wasn't willing to stay with my plan. But - I am checking in. I will strive to do better. I've kind of lost my umph. However, I will not run away.

Thanks to all for your support and kind words for my ankle and thoughts for my food struggles. My ankle is doing better today (Friday).

I know all of our bodies process things differently, but last time I lost significant weight, I would cycle my points. My higher point days were always my exercise days. This methods worked for me, and I steadily lost 2-3 pounds a week doing this. Once I get through Easter at work, plan to begin the points cycling and add exercise into my life.

Yesterday I did great foodwise, but not so great drink wise :dizzy: We had friends of ver I had 2 adult beverages, but that's what weekly points are for. I just need to stick close to my plan un my week resets on Monday.

Good morning! I am far too cheerful for someone who has to go to work for the sixth day in a row, but the scale said 198.2 this morning, so that put me in a good mood.

I was expecting a little bounce up after yesterday. I was so HUNGRY all day, which I mostly managed with nuts, but those are calorie-dense, of course, so I try not to go crazy with them. Then I went out for dinner and had a not-exactly-on-plan Cobb salad that I'm sure was fairly calorie-dense, and I had a glass of wine as well. So the fact that I didn't gain, even temporarily, is a surprise, but a welcome one.

Today's a fast day, thankfully, because working weekends is crazy and we don't really take breaks from sitting at the public service desk (I'm a reference librarian) where we can't eat, so it's easier not to have to think about food at all.

Beverly, can you send your friend over to my yard next? It's a disaster, and I was counting on today to try to wrangle it, but clearly that's not happening!

I'm glad your ankle is feeling better. :) I'll be sending positive food thoughts in your direction. It's really hard to drag yourself back on plan, I know that all too well. You can do it, though.

Hello, everyone. :wave:

I am a regainer, trying to reLOSE and get back into Onederland. My last weight loss bout, I lost 100lbs and was in the 160's but life got in the way with DH deploying and me having to move cross country. Hubby is back and we bought a HOUSE and I finally have all the space I need to workout and cook healthy meals and I'm done making excuses. I am starting Insanity tomorrow the first and I'm going to finish it, too! :dizzy: I just want to get back in the swing of things, I had such a groove going on. I was unstoppable! So motivated and strong. I want that again.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.:)

:welcome: back, EVE ~ glad you came back again; life does that to us, but you'll have things under control again in no time! This is why I firmly believe coming round here on a fairly regular basis is so important, esp when you are trying to maintain a loss -- pick at least one favorite thread, and try to check in once a week (this is a good one for you right now). Make it a date: cuz it helps us keep ever aware of how we are doing ... :hug:

BEVERLYJOY ~ glad your ankle is feeling better; and about the eating -- just keep going cuz all of a sudden one day you'll find your groove again. That's what I did -- just plugged away at it day after day, and things just got better with time. No, I wasn't perfect, but you don't have to be -- persistence & perserverance are more important in the long run.

That is so nice to have a gardening buddy; you are blessed indeed. My perennial gardens need some more soil and maybe a little compost gold to give them a boost. As soon as some comes on sale, we'll buy several bags. Last fall we trimmed the bushes. I just love that everything is perennials that come up each year; and they mass planted so not much room for any weeds (the main two gardens have brick walls). The previous owners did a great job, but it just needs a little TLC ... :D

CAROLINE ~ I'm so glad that your 198 lbs has held for you; that's fab! :carrot:


TEXASCRAPPER ~ I really like that plan :idea: you have: that's exactly what I am trying right now too. Good luck ... :)

Eating went well this week; had a higher day on Thurs (leftovers & salad), and lower on Friday (had a burger/chz -- no bun with salad). DH picked us up a deli BBQ Spit whole chicken for the weekend; I will have that with salad and veggies for Sat & Sunday.

We have glorious :sunny: here today; still a bit cool in the mid-40's though. Hope you all have a great OP weekend; and, keep up the good work, ladies ... :flow2:

okay. i am decided. you all know i've been reading and researching and going crazy because i don't know if my calories are too high or too low and stressing about the whole thing like whoa.

well, i am going to try something a little crazy and try this "eat more, weigh less" plan. i am not worried about the gain it will produce at first, i really need my body to relearn that food is not evil, i have abused it for the last year, feeding it less than it needed to function. so, instead of taking my 1800 calories per day and dropping it even more, i'm going to raise it to 2600, mostly via protein/healthy fats/complex carbs and count on my regular exercise routine to be my deficit. you all know i work out like crazy.

if you are interested and want more info, or just curious about what this crazy talk is, read here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/diet-blogs...ore-weigh-less

i firmly believe that our bodies are not meant to take the double hit of crazy drastic calorie drop PLUS crazy exercise deficit. so i'm not doing that to myself anymore. i just did it because it was 'the thing to do.'

i am turning "eat less, move more" to "eat well, exercise freely"

and you know what? if it doesn't work... i will have been happy for the 4 months i plan on doing this. no more going to bed hungry or being grumpy because breakfast has to be egg whites and coffee.

"but isn't eating like that why you got fat in the first place?"... well. no. i was eating junk, not healthy food. AND i wasn't exercising to create a deficit, so this will be different and hopefully i will be happier knowing that i can include cheese, nuts, and peanut butter in my diet again.

wish me luck. :D