Welcome Melyn! Glad you are feeling good so fast! It will only get better.
Susan, I'm back from my NYC trip. Applaud me - I had a dinner of broiled scallops and then followed that with an hour of ice skating!! I came back weighing the same amount as when I left, so I was pretty charged about that!!
Back to the salt mines today with a lbwo and 1 hour of cardio. I CAN'T WAIT to get going. Just giving my protein smoothie some time to digest and I'll be back at it.
I did my cardio yesterday. I used a tape, it was a cardio pilates workout using hand-weights. It was actually fun.... which was kind-of surprising. I think I liked it because the instructor was not one of those - with a fake plastic smile and fake cheerful - squeaky "Okay - I am your new best-friend" voice.
Today - I am taking a break.
I was kind of worried this week - I drank my water - watched my food intake - seriuosly - I have become an ingrediants reading - food measuring CRAZY LADY - I have exercised every day - and the scale did not budge. My clothes are fitting fine - no tighter - no looser. Has this happened to anyone else? It's too soon to hit a plateu isn't it??
You are probably ok and will find a nice number next week. You are including total number of calories in all that crazy lady measuring, right? I think if you are not exceeding 1600 cals a day, you are ok. I think I posted a similar post a while back; just make sure you are counting every morsel and not sneaking a 1/2 cookie here and hershey kiss there kind of thing.
Oh I am definitely counting calories - actually I was trying to keep my calories between 1200 and 1300. I am pretty good about no "unauthorized snacking" . If I do have a snack that was not planned - then I drop something off of the next part of my menu plan. I have to plan - I have found that as of yet - I cannot be trusted to go it on my own and keep track of everything...
Hmm, you should be fine then. Try weighing again tomorrow or Tues just to see if it has budged. If still nothing, you may want to consider adding extra cardio - either an extra 15mins to each session or adding extra cardio days. Perplexing I know, but sometimes you just need to do a little something extra to get over the bump.
Penney, IMHO you are not eating enough. 1200-1300 calories to support BFL type training at your stats is just not enough. Also starting off at 1200-1300 also leaves you no room to cut calories later on when you hit a plateau. This may or may not be why you are not seeing no movement right now (although it does seem kind of fast for your body to go into survival mode).
Basically, your training is telling your body to build muscle but your nutrition is not providing the body with the materials it needs to do so.
I would start off with an average of at least 1600 calories per day. I would also zig-zag the calories. Perhaps averaging about 1800 on the days you lift and 1400 on the days that you do not lift. I would also eat heartily with a lot of good carbs post-workout (weight training) when your body needs them the most. This could all be easily accomplished with a good PWO shake of protein powder, fruit, and if you like ground oats immediately following your lifting and then have your normal meal about 45 minutes after that. Again, this is just my opinion, take it or leave it.
Either way, don't let a temporary stall get you down. Keep moving and keep eating clean and the results will come.
There gol dern it ... I got a good 30 mins of cardio in! Yeesh that seems like a long time ago ... it was Saturday However, today is actually ubwo day. I'll do that too. A feeling of empowerment for a Monday!
I *only* have to do 1/2 hour of cardio today! lol Don't know how long it's been that I've had a non-wl day that I haven't had to dbl up on the cardio for having missed one or working ahead for a trip. I LOVE IT! I mean, I love working out, but also love feeling caught up.
Okay - I am going to try bringing my calorie content up a little - I can always eat some extra veggies/fruits. I thought of something else - I was just put on a new diabetic medication - one of the side-effects is weight-gain - NICE -I may have to up my exercises to counter-act the medication.
Question about the shakes - I normally do my workouts in the evening after I have eaten dinner - that is about the only "free" time that I have.... Should I still have a shake - that late?
Thanks so much for the information - you are a great group!!
Hmm, I can't really comment on the late shake question, wouldn't want to tell you the wrong thing. Maybe if you are hungry after working out, then yes. But if you try to follow the no-eating rule 3 hrs before bed, then maybe no. Big help, I know!! Gosh, I hope it's not the new meds causing you to retain weight. Even so, eventually, you should be able to move down again - it might just be a week's delay or something hopefully.
Do you know where this weight gain from the medication is coming from? I'm guessing the medication causes you to retain water and thus causes an initial weight gain. I really can't see a medication causing you to gain fat unless it causes a substantial slow down in metabolism. See if your doctor can explain this weight gain for you. If it is just water retention, then don't worry about it. Remember the goal is fat loss not weight loss and besides after the initial water retention you should see the scales come down when the fat loss is not cancelled out by the water retention which has to level off at some point. If it is caused by a slowing of the metabolism, then see if your doctor has any other alternative medications that can treat your diabetes as well but won't prohibit your weight loss.
As for having the shake at the end of the night, my research has found conflicting information on whether eating at night is good or bad. Most of the non-eating crowd is from the weight loss gurus and most of the eating crowd are from the body-building sector. Given those options, I usually go with the body building crowd. They are the ones who are walking around with the proof on their bodies. They are also focused on fat loss and muscle gain, while the weight loss gurus are focused on scale weight.
I believe that you are already going 8 hours without food while you are sleeping. If you don't eat for another 3-4 hours before that then that is 11-12 hours without providing your body building material. While you require less energy because your metabolism is slower, you are still in a highly catabolic state at this time. The one thing I may do here, having a PWO shake this late at night is switching from Whey (a fast digesting protein) to a casein powder (a slow digesting protein) which will give you a slow release of nutrients to last you longer through the night. Or, if you want to skip the shake, some cottage cheese (casein) with some pineapple might be a good choice as well. It gives the muscles a small dose of the carbs they crave after the glycogen depletion and provides you the slow digesting protein that is desirable late at night. I work out in the mornings, so I have no first hand experience with late-night post-workout nutrition. I do, however, eat right before bed every night (cottage cheese and peanut butter) and have not seen any undue weight gain as a result.
HOT & HUNGRY. That's how I would describe myself these days. Always burning up (except at nite when I wake up cold, even tho I'm sleeping with the same number of blankets as always, and we're having a mild snap actually!) and always hungry. I'm actually start to wonder if this is the peri-m coming in (I'm 42, but my sister didn't go thru this for another 10 years so that's what I expect) or if I'm just really burning an efficient furnace. But really, sitting around in public spaces with a tank top on in December just doesn't seem the way it should be, ya know? lol
. If I do have a snack that was not planned - then I drop something off of the next part of my menu plan. I have to plan - I have found that as of yet - I cannot be trusted to go it on my own and keep track of everything... 
However, today is actually ubwo day. I'll do that too. A feeling of empowerment for a Monday!
