What type of exercise are you doing? I've read others experience a gain as well so I'm curious. I got a fitbit and do 10k steps a day. It's not strenuous, but I'm moving. My weight loss has been steady. Thinking I want to try something more, like weight or strength training.

I love reading this!! Thank you Rayze, such motivation for me.

After 2 wks of very small gains, I am seeing some real movement on my home scale (within 5 lbs of hitting 100 lost movement). I am determined to reach that goal on my IP scale asap and am finally looking forward to being weighed and measured at my WI Monday. I want to see change in some numbers!

I have focused focused focused on getting all of my water in this week. Water makes such a huge difference in my losses. Why do I continue to fight it?

I want to work up to 10k steps, too. I have arthritis in my foot (and I'm sure the weight isn't helping), so I'm starting slow.

Doing strength training is an awesome idea, but you may need to eat another packet per day, to have enough protein available to build muscle. Three packets/day is good for maintaining muscle, but it doesn't leave a lot extra for building it.

You'll also want to be mentally ready for the weight not to go down in the same way; if inches are more motivating for you, then it won't be much of a shift, but I know some of us focus on that scale number. And muscle is heavy--awesome for you! and it'll look great! but heavy.

Definitely worth talking over with your coach!

Yes, strenuous exercise will cause a weight gain. The science behind it is that as you exercise your muscle will break down from the stress. It uses extra water while repairing it (in conjunction with protein and some carbs - for protein synthesis) so you gain water and muscle weight.

It will even out though. With the long running intervals of C25K, I am bouncing all over the scales (variance of +/- 3lbs on any given day) but the measurements are going down and then I'll have a "whoosh" in the next couple of weeks.

Not sure if the other Couch to 5K folks have noticed the same issue. For me, it's more about losing the body fat percentage than the actual weight, because muscle will ultimately burn MORE fat and will increase your metabolic rate which will help hugely in maintenance.

Don't be scared of temporary upticks while you're doing exercise, it doesn't mean you aren't losing weight, just that it's masked by muscle gain.

On the subject of muscle being heavy - basically, a pound of fat and a pound of muscle are STILL both a pound of weight. Just that the underlying physical processes that produce and utilise them have different requirements. Muscle needs more water to function - the water helps push glucose and glycogen in and out of muscle - so you have to accept that gaining muscle will mean a higher water percentage than fat, which needs less water. This is why muscle burns more calories than fat, it's working harder for you.

Yeah, like Briael said, muscle actually takes up less room, pound for pound, than fat, so you will be slimmer and tighter, but heavier. That's why it's important not to get too stuck on the scale number. I don't care if the scale says 160 lbs if I take the same size as if it says 135. I would be smoother and more taut anyhow. Something to look forward to actually. And exercise is a good habit to get into for maintenance...

Liana

I did and it was still gross but to be fair it was store-brand organic and pretty stringy. I'll have to make a trip to Sprouts or Whole Foods to look for something more legit.

have you tried celery in a recipe???
like peanut butter stir fry?

Sorry your celery experiences were disappointing gals. Maybe one more try with a good farm brand. I would wait to buy it until the choices seemed to be less tough looking. Some weeks I don't buy celery because it all looks stringy (but I do miss it then).
Liana

I had started with the C25k program because I like the idea of 1. Running eventually with the skinny people in my neighborhood LOL and 2. The Ap is cool!

Drink drink drink lol. I put 32 oz. of water in a bottle on the kitchen counter when I get up at 6 and I must have that finished by 9am....that's my rule. Then I fill it again and sip thru the day. Usually I have all my necessary water in by noon and the rest is extra! I work from home so that's why I keep in the kitchen, but just as easy to do on your desk at work....

FYI I live on celery that's my in between meals filler.....

Good morning my 100+ lb losers!

Just wanted to share a book I just finished reading that I heard about on NPR. An autobiography called "It was me all along" by Andie Mitchell. Story about a woman who losses 135lbs after being overweight since childhood. I thought the first half of the book got a little tedious about her childhood but once she lost the weight, I found myself relating to her again and again. Gave me hope that I might be able to find lifelong success, come to peace with my body and enjoy food (in moderation again).

One passage at the end stuck out at me:

"I will alway know fat. And love who she was. And know that fat, in itself, is not a bad word. I'll own it and respect those twenty years. They were hard, but they were sweet, too. I grew up in that body, in that time, in that big, beautiful mind.

I will always love thin. And love who she is. And know that even when she feels heavier mentally, she's freer now. She's effervescent. Small but tough.

I will always know that the grass, though it seems emerald and glowing in that field in the other side - it isn't. Flowers grow here. They grow over there. Weeds do, too.

But both are wide, and they're open. And I can lie and cry in one and move and spin in the other, all while knowing this: they're the same field.

And they're both mine."

Not talking Pulitzer here, but an interesting read from someone who's done it and been able to maintain. Thought you might be interested.

I love that! Makes so much sense too...

*bump*

How's everyone doing?!

So I have been "ordered" by my new coach to plan a special something for when I hit 199.

What special things have you done to mark your significant weight-loss milestones?

After 50 lbs lost, I treated myself to a couple of massages, a facial, and a charming Diamonique ring and earrings from the Liquidation Channel !

I have little rewards every 10 pounds, but at a couple of milestones I have bigger things. One's a fitness tracker (which might just be another color of Misfit Shine, or I might abandon Misfits for Fitbit, I don't know), and my Onederland reward is a new bicycle. My reward for getting to my goal is a tattoo and getting to plan a big trip with my sweetie.

(This all assumes we're both gainfully employed before I hit any of these milestones. Ugh, I hate uncertainty.)

When I hit 70 I hit the stores for a huge shopping spree. It was all spring clothes so I have had to wait a while to wear them, but this week I did! It's wonderful to feel good in clothes! For my 100 down I also need to plan something good....hummmm. I will probably hit it during the summer at this rate..maybe something special on vacation?