Exercise....water....and non OP foods....
 

I have a few questions for you all out there......

1) If we exercise too much on this program, why does it slow down our weight loss? Is it because out body goes into a starvation-like mode and holds on to everything? I noticed the more I worked out, the less I lost. Thoughts?

2) Has anyone else heard about not drinking while eating? I've heard it messes with your digestion because liquid digests faster than food. So, I've tried to steer clear of drinking a ton of water right before or right after a meal. Does anyone do the same or have more insight?

3) When I was in a connections class, one woman talked about having cake. She said she would do it with a meal so that it was absorbed with the other OP foods. Any thoughts on this? I just had a Hershey chocolate candy (OMG) right after my breakfast. The idea I got from this lady was that since your not eating it on its own, it will absorb with the other OP foods and not be as bad...??? I have no idea if this makes any sense, but I'd like to know if there is any scientific basis to this.

Appreciate the help!

1) I don't know about starvation mode (that does makes sense though), but the more you exercise, the more muscle you gain. Muscle weighs more than fat. If you're doing strength training, it's especially going to slow down your loss because you'll be putting on more muscle mass. Cardio, on the other hand, when done about 3xs per week should enhance your plan. Keep in mind - the more you exercise, the more you need to increase your water intake. Your body will hold on to the water if you don't give it more water. So on a regular plan, we're supposed to be having 64 oz of water (plus an extra 8 oz for every 25 lbs you want to lose) - I would expect you'd need to be closer to 100-120 oz/day when you're exercising.

2) My mom had lapband surgery and she's not allowed to eat/drink at the same time, but I don't know exactly why. I think she's only allowed a certain amount of liquid during the entire course of the day, and that it has more to do w/that then anything else. Personally, I always have water w/my meals - and usually try to have 8 oz before I eat simply because it makes me feel more full.

3) LMAO (not at you :) just in general). Truly, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard. OP is chemically balanced - throwing cake or a chocolate bar into the mix isn't OP; therefore, making it less or more bad isn't the issue - bottom line is simply that it's bad. :) Perhaps that works in the world of not OP, but if you're living in the world of OP, then that won't work. It's ruining the chemical balance of the diet. Please don't take this the wrong way - I'm truly smiling!! I wish that it would magically work that way, but I would be so wrong in telling you anything but the truth on this one. OP means OP, and unfortunately for ALL of us, cake and chocolate bars are not OP.

Hi there!
I am right in the middle of trying to solve this problem, so I will let you know what I'm working on. I went from exercising very little (a couple of walks a week), to getting all my energy back and going back to karate, personal training and zumba in the last month. I am exercising 6-8hrs/week. I completely stalled on my weight loss. It was NOT muscle gain. I only gained 1/2lb muscle in that month; not enough to make up the difference. My counselor said that it is VERY hard to gain even 1lb of muscle; gaining 5-7lbs of muscle is out of the question. So, they decided that the calorie count on metaslim was not sufficient and my metabolism was too low. I switched to metabalance as of today. Some of the food is rearranged (less protein at each meal, HNS between meals instead of with, and add in 1 fruit and 2 dairy/day). I'm terrified that it will be too many calories, but seeing as how I'm burning all of what I eat some days in exercise, I'm hoping this will work for me.

Good luck and stick to the plan - it works! But, if something changes consistently in your life (consistently more exercise, etc), talk to them.

Thanks for the advice! My weight loss stalled for like 3 weeks when i was working out alot, so I'm cutting back (which if great for having more free time!) and I will see how that goes. hatethesweatpants: for sure keep us posted on how your loss changes!

Guinevere: I figured it was bad no matter when you ate the chocolate/cake :) but no one said anything at the class, so it got me to thinking....ugh, the excuses we try to make!

I also did some research on drinking while eating and some people say to do it, some people say to wait up to an HOUR before/after eating to drink anything! I guess bottom line is to do what your body wants. If your thirsty during a meal, have some water, right?

One more question on the exercise: do you all just walk at a moderate pace, or do you do something like interval training which is supposed to be the calorie and fat blasting way to go? I just feel better when i work out harder and actually work up a sweat compared to a walk where i feel like Im at the mall.....have the counselors ever said anything to you? I haven't really discussed it with them.

Ditto hatethesweatpants on the Metabalance plan - my center has spoken of that plan for those who are exercising more - definitely ask your center about it, especially if you continue to maintain the higher levels of exercise.

Yeah, we are sooooo always looking for excuses!! :) Believe me, that's what got me here in the first place - I totally understand!!

On walking - my center does a C25k program on Thursday nights and invites everyone to join in on about an hour of walking together, and the consultant who leads that walk does interval training during that walk - she's like a little drill sergeant! :) When I walk on my own, I tend to just keep a moderate pace because that's what's comfortable for me and I seem to need her actually leading me to inspire me to do the interval training mode. :) I actually tend to bike and swim more though - and for those, I focus on being pretty intense. On my bike, I always peddle in the highest gear and typically do about 10 miles at a time - and when swimming laps, I spend a good 15 minutes swimming laps as quickly as a can before I slow down. I just prefer those to walking. :)

I have very little time to workout (4 kids, a disabled father who lives with me and a fulltime job) so I do an interval program I uploaded to my itouch. It's 20 minutes but broken down into 30 second fast spurts with normal walking in between. I can do it on my treadmill and I'm done by the time the kids are up and ready for school.
The breakdown goes like this and the paces I use are 3.5, 3.7 and 4.0. So nothing too rigorous:
2 min warmup 3.5
30 secs 4.0
1 1/2 mins 3.7
keep rotating that on every odd minute (so at 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5 and 3)
Then with 2 mins left you walk slowly to cool down and you're done. The itouch app was free and counts it all down for you so it couldn't be easier.

Sweet-good advice on quick interval training!

Ok, ANOTHER question: when do you all drink your water? I tend to drink all my plain water by about 5pm (about 100oz). Then at night i drink one of those liters of the flavored sams choice water from walmart (I find it helps late night munchies). It makes me kind of bloated, im guessing from the carbonation. But, as long as your getting in your water at some time during the day it should be good, right? Or should I be drinking more plain h2o at night to help "flush out" my system?

Sorry if these seem like weird questions....:)

They don't seem weird. :) I drink 16 oz at breakfast, another 16 oz by 10am, 16 oz at lunch, another 16 oz at about 3pm - so by 3pm, I've got my required 64 oz in - then I typically have 16-32 oz around dinner time - I do try to have an additional 16 oz somewhere between breakfast and 3pm, but the above is a pretty consistent schedule for me because I'm at my desk at work and it's easy to hit the water cooler - my daily intake is about 96-112 oz.

Shawna...the program is just like any other weight loss program....it only works if you do it....and like Guenivere I was laughing too, at what some people use to justify eating off program (not at you). If you're going to spend all of this money and effort, you owe it to yourself to give it your best shot!

As far as water...most will recomend drinking a glass of cold water before a meal (people who do that eat less). I've heard it recommended that you don't drink while you're eating because you wash down food quickly, therefore making it very easy to overeat in a short amount of time. I find it personally much easier to drink a lot of water when I use a straw.

Good luck!

Hey sgustin8, one more thing to check though is the sodium in those waters, you may be getting a bit more than water in the carbonated stuff.

So I was completely stalled out at 172-174 for 3 weeks. They switched me to metabalance on Tuesday. Not only do I have a TON of energy, but I've dropped to 169 in 4 days! Obviously, that was the problem and I am thrilled. The odd/ironic thing is now that I'm eating more, I'm soooo much hungrier than I was before. I'm taking that as a good sign that my metabolism is cranking.