47 yo female: expectations and frustrations
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Ha! As a mother of two competitive swimmers, I should have caught that!
I'll have to give that some thought--adds more to the balancing act for sure. But more carbs is always good news! I have definitely been noticing for awhile now that I need carbs to feel satisfied. It seemed to be so contrary to the way usually protein is pushed for satiety that I had already wondered about it. Bottom line is even though I am constantly aware of fueling my two young athletes, I really don't consider myself an athlete, and so I've not given it much thought beyond calories, and a nod to protein, which I always seem to come up low on. 70+ is a good protein day for me!
Any additional suggested reading on this?0 -
Ha! As a mother of two competitive swimmers, I should have caught that! How many times have we carb-loaded for meets! And after practice! (After practice snack for 14 yo: 4 pop tarts, huge bowl of ice cream, and two bagels with cream cheese. True story, and that was just before dinner!)
I'll have to give that some thought--adds more to the balancing act for sure. But more carbs is always good news! I have definitely been noticing for awhile now that I need carbs to feel satisfied. It seemed to be so contrary to the way usually protein is pushed for satiety that I had already wondered about it. Bottom line is even though I am constantly aware of fueling my two young athletes, I really don't consider myself an athlete, and so I've not given it much thought beyond calories, and a nod to protein, which I always seem to come up low on. 70+ is a good protein day for me!
Any additional suggested reading on this?0 -
Well, the realistic level of protein too.
For some the 40/30/30 can be big overkill on protein, taking away from those carbs they could be having.
And protein can help satiety, but so can a meal/snack with good balance of fat and protein perhaps eating first, then carbs.
For many, it's the straight carbs as snack that's a killer. Got son some raisins the other night to make our own snack mix, totally xnew they were nothing but sugar, but shocked at how fast they hit. About fell asleep actually eating dinner since we did that first!
Then again I can do an equal carb load of chips that has more fat in them - and no issue.
In a diet you are closer to athlete than other times. Meaning you have a fine line to toe for success or problems. And especially so since shorter and the margin for error is smaller.
I've read so many things threw the years, it really boils down to what works for you.
Pre-workout meal could be as close to 30 min and be digested, or could be 4 hrs prior and still beneficial.
Depends on the day.
But looking at one long workout, and seeing how the carb loading afterwards can effect the next day. Can be interesting.
Say that 60 min run was middle of aerobic level and 600 calories and 50% carb burn energy source.
300 cal carbs, or 75 grams burned just from exercise. Some from liver as blood sugar supplied less and less as time went on and muscle glucose supplied more and more, especially after that 30 min mark. (unless you do a lot of low level aerobic training and body switches faster).
Last meal was lunch 5 hrs prior, so liver already a bit drained, amount would be due to how active you were from lunch to run.
Next meal 500 cal, 40% carb, or 200 carb calories.
Say 50 takes care of liver, 150 off to muscle stores, so another 150 to go. Insulin drops fast since all stored and back to normal fat burning mode.
Rest of evening and sleep drain liver of 200 cal carbs until breakfast.
Eat 300 cal, 40% carb again, or 120 carb calories. Off to liver, but not topped off. Muscles not topped off either.
Lunch 300 and 40% again, another 120, liver stores used since breakfast, just now topped off say.
Run at 6 pm again, muscles still 150 shy from prior nights run. Liver drained a bit.
So that's how you can keep draining yourself. Throw some other snacks in there of about 500 cal, or 200 carbs say, and perhaps you got topped off.
And yes, I've actually done that math, because when you do a 3-4 hr bike ride, and have planned a 2 hr run the next day - I've got to know I've done enough, and usually just eating enough calories doesn't do it right.
So while I've got big numbers to deal with, I've still got problem of small margin.0 -
That's a lot to digest (haha)!
Okay, so here is my quick takeaway plan, no numbers here, just basic thoughts. (Btw I really like numbers. Understanding the math behind this has been so helpful to me! I'm a math geek, I guess right after being a music geek.)
On run days I should be more conscious of carbs in breakfast and lunch, and then include a carb-heavier snack in early afternoon. That I can do.
Yesterday, I supplemented with an awesome donut mid morning! Lunch got a bit sidetracked, because someone produced banquet leftovers at the staff table. No one in memphis is going to pass on bbq! That would be wrong. Then for afternoon, a granola bar. I checked the nutritioun label for one higher in carbs (bear naked) instead of my favorite (kind--love all the nuts!).
Now that probably still left me a bit low numbers wise, but I think it was an improvement. I seemed to feel better at the end of my run. Sounds like the first step will be just being a little more intentional. That is do-able.
Right now I have my macro goals set for 25%p-30%f-45%c mostly because I was just trying to get my protein up. I come from the cholesterol controlling no fat eating 80's, so it has been hard to break away from the mindset that cheese and meat is actually better for you than crackers and jelly beans (remember T-factor diet?)! Baby steps. Also, I have not seen much of an effect of protein vs. carbs on my weight. Now the effect on fat vs muscle, who knows because that is much harder to measure. So basically I have just tried to make sure there is enough protein to preserve muscle. Trying to hit between 70 and 100. Most days I manage 70. Who knows, in 20 years maybe they'll tell us that is wrong too!
I will take a look at these carb numbers and timing more carefully and see where that takes me.0 -
I'm down another 0.8 from my last good weigh in day! (2 weeks ago--last week was too hormonal) This is my lowest weigh in day since Christmas! Bodyfat calipers on my waist site are down 0.1 too. I forgot to measure my waist before I had my breakfast and gallon of coffee, so I'm not going to bother with that! Also, I had three people this week ask me if I have lost weight! So the body is definitely showing the changes.
It is so nice to have my body respond correctly to a calculated deficit! (Currently eating about 1650 calories average per day--most days are between 1450-1550). And between the Vitamin D appetite change and being more active this spring, I am becoming one of those people I thought were crazy before--the ones who say "I'm not hungry and I have 500 calories left. What do I do?" I seriously have not felt like I am consistently satisfied with my calorie allowance like this in many, many months. This is a good feeling. Now, if I am a little lower one day, I know that I will be okay on another, less active day because I can eat some of those "saved" calories if I want. Before there were never any left!
I have also figured out that if I keep a 400 calorie deficit per my misfit, I will see about 1/2 lb loss per week. That should help me going into summer with activity changes.
@heybales--just so you know--if I look at my average intake plus 250 (what it takes to lose 1/2 lb per week), it puts my TDEE almost exactly where both your calculators put it (the one you tested a few weeks ago, and the one I downloaded about a year ago). Misfit gives me an average about 150-200 more than that. Now whether the error is from misfit, or from my logging, I'm not sure, but 200 is a reasonable margin of error that can be worked with for sure.0 -
Congrats.
Does it seem a tad fairer now, though being shorter?0 -
Absolutely! This must be what it feels like for everyone else, I guess! My appetite before must have been matched to someone twice my size!
I'll try not to go on too long! I can't express how totally different it is to have an appropriate appetite! For instance, I just finished a small lunch. I ate lunch not because I was ravenous and about to tear the wallpaper off the walls and start munching on it, but because I knew I needed to eat. Ideally I would have waited another hour, but I also know that if I push lunch too late ( or eat too much ) I will regret it when I run this afternoon. (Anything more in my tummy than a granola bar, and I am fighting to keep it down where it belongs. I won't even go into the details of my Saturday run a couple of weeks ago when I had Mexican with lots and lots of chips and salsa and a margarita for lunch. . . . Let's just say I DID make it through the run, but it wasn't pleasant!). Anyway, still feeling full before lunch, when I am eating the same breakfast I have for the past few years, is incredible! It makes those donuts in the break room unappealing. So I have no problem passing them by. So there is more room at the end of the day for dinner, or afternoon snack, or whatever.
And the psychological stress load that has been lifted--wow! The thing that was making me crazy was feeling like I was stuck in a place where I had to choose between feeling miserable and hungry for the rest of my life or gaining back my weight and being too heavy. Right now, I would like to continue to lose about 6 lbs (that would put me at 124-125 which is maintainable. Btw, your spreadsheet gives me an ideal weight goal of 101 lbs. That seems way low. That was my weight at age 19!). Or alternately, I want to continue to improve my fitness and body comp, but if nothing changes, I'm also okay. It was the thought that there was no way to prevent losing all the hard work I had done to lose my weight initially that was so distressing. And it is so much easier to be positive when you don't feel like you need to tear someone's (hubby was always handy) arm off and start munching! I can tell you that hubby is glad things have changed!
Mostly it is nice to just not feel deprived constantly.
I am thankful that I had a Doctor who was willing to listen and take me seriously and who had the knowledge to look for answers beyond what is first obvious.
I do know that part of this is the fact that I am able to be more active right now which increases my cal goals, and I know that I will always be watching and adjusting, but everything is so much easier! Hopefully I can make the transition to summer easily. I will have to make an effort to not become a couch potato outside of working out! Also there are so many schedule issues to deal with. And my older son just decided that in addition to all he does (swimming, symphonic band, jazz band, all honors/AP classes), he needs to play football too. So that totally messes with the schedule and transportation for both boys, not to mention requiring me to sit through long boring football games.
To touch on your advice regarding carbs and running and blood sugar drops--this week's crazy early day went much better. (Again my long run was the evening before--66 minutes total with warmup/cool down). I ate my regular breakfast (whole wheat-protein powder waffles) very early, and that prevented the unpleasant shakiness. Also, because my hunger is in control, I was fine up until the regular lunchtime, and it was a very active work morning, including equipment moving for me, too. And I've been finishing my runs strong. I'm just paying attention to carbs in meals on run days, and having a granola bar before the run. So good advice. Thx!0 -
And, once again I complete the cycle of lose 2-3 pounds over a couple of months, then while keeping a similar deficit and exercise routine, turn around and gain 3-5.
Even taking into account hormonal/sodium fluctuations, I am up 3-5 lbs since christmas, and 5-7 lbs since last year at this time. Looking back one month, assuming the hormonal fluctuations were similar one month ago, I am up 4 lbs.
Over the last year my records show that my intake ranged from 1350-1700 (total not net) with most numbers being 1450-1550. I am pretty consistent with exercising 5-6 days a week, although seasonally the type of exercise may change a bit (more strength in winter, more cardio in good weather, more time spent in summer, etc. but overall not a whole lot of variation).
The past 6 weeks I have eaten more consistently 1550-1650, since I increased cardio from 30-45 minute sessions to 45-60 minute sessions, and I wanted to compensate and not under eat for the increased activity. I'm still including 2-3 strength days with dumbells. I'm just about to need a set of 35 lb ones now. For some of the lower body. I still have plenty of room for upper body with the weights I have. Mostly I use the 10-15 lb range for those, and I struggle to finish the third set of 6 (or sometimes 8) with most of the upper body work using the 12s and 15's. So again, plenty of room for growth there with what I am doing.
It seems that when I consistently eat over 1550 I consistently slowly gain. That still totally doesn't make sense. Calculators predict I should be maintaining at least at 1750 with the above routine.
I am still glad to feel satisfied while eating at around 1500-1600, as I said above, but I am frustrated that it seems I will have to go below 1300-1400 to see any progress. 1400-1500 seems to be the line below which hunger strikes. And based on the way my body has been feeling, I don't see that I can add a whole lot more workout right now. I have found that I have to increase very slowly (when I started running five years ago it took me an extra six weeks, repeating several of the weeks on the program, to finish the c25k because I know my body and I could feel when I was overdoing it-this comes from watching for years for symptoms of a flare that go along with the mild lupus I have had for probably most of my adult life). So while I still have a goal of being able to run continuously for 60 minutes, I can see that I have to build more slowly. So I'm not going to be able to compensate for lower calorie goals with adding a whole lot more exercise. I was hoping to consistently do three strength days this summer, and then on the evenings of those days, add a bike ride, swim, or short run, but that may not work out. I can continue to walk on those days, though, so I will at least meet my step goal (8,000) on those days hopefully. If I don't include some sort of walk or run each day this summer, I will not meet my step goal. Earlier this week, even a trip to the grocery and light housekeeping/cooking didn't get me to 8000 steps. I am truly sedentary in the summer outside of workouts. I don't garden, I do the bare minimum housekeeping (get those kids to do their chores!), and the kids'activities involve only driving and sitting on bleachers for me.
My clothes are all too tight. Even the shirts/tops.
And the worst thing was looking at pictures taken this week while at my sister's. Compared to christmas pictures, there may be a tiny bit of tightening of the mid section (hard to tell because I'm not in the same clothes), but overall I looked really, really wide and thick. Very matronly (and even though I am "of a certain age" I prefer not to look like a middle aged fat lady). It was so disappointing. I thought I at least looked fit, even though I'd kind of given up on being small (it takes being under 115 for me to look small). We were in St. Louis touring all the Anheiser-Busch stuff (they give away all kinds of free beer!) with all the Germanic imagery. Let's just say my figure would have fit right into the pictures/statues, etc. of those full figured German gals! Probably because in all truth that is genetically where my inheritance is, and it seems you can't outrun your genes!
Anyway, I'm so frustrated, disappointed, and confused about exactly what to do next.
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So tonight was another family event. We celebrated hubby's 48th birthday. Fun evening, good food. Good planning (small lunch and a good run) allowed me to enjoy easily and still meet my goals. I am still very thankful to feel satisfied while eating within goal.
More pictures. Thankfully these were not unflattering like the earlier ones. Perhaps I looked so heavy in the others because of what I was wearing.
Shorts are still tight, and of course nothing changes the numbers on the scale, but at least I didn't look like the "fat lady who sings" like yesterday!
So I'll give it a little more time. I'm still trying to find the balance in all this.0 -
Thought I was done with this thread, as I made good progress in May. But bam! Three weeks of summer and it is all gone, plus I'm up even a bit more.
So when summer vacation came, I upped my mileage gradually on my run days. I am up to 6 miles 3 times a week. I'm still slow, but I can do the 6 without walking now, except to sip water because I am not coordinated enough to drink and run at the same time. So 4 or 5 30 second drink walks in there. I feel good about my progress there.
I have been very dedicated to getting at least two lifting sessions a week. I am now keeping a log so I can make sure I am adding weight, instead of just going at it willy-nilly each day depending on how I feel. I have missed this week because of a mystery hand injury. Probably overuse because of non exercise activity a couple of weekends ago--I hauled drinks and ice bags (20 lbs) constantly for two days. Also ripping open the ice bags and drink boxes, etc. anyway, it is still sore and a bit swollen but rest seems to help. I did yoga today for a change.
For the first three weeks of summer I have logged these average intake totals: 1579, 1742, 1667. My avereage TDEE for those weeks was about 2000. (According to Misfit. Actually 1950 for the first one).
And I have gained 3 lbs.
I was willing to write it off because of sodium, water, and hormones, but it has stayed very consistently up for the past two weeks. And hormones should not be the reason right now. That is in two weeks, and I can't imagine what will happen if I am already up this much.
And the worst part is that the fit of my clothes confirms that this is not just water. My larger (not largest, but close) shorts are now tight. The only bright spot is that the increase feels like it is more in the top of my hips rather than the waist.
Trying to focus on the positives--the performance gains like runs getting easier and longer, lifting a bit more, and the fact that at 47 I can still actually still wear a bikini in public without scaring small children, but this is still very frustrating.0 -
Summer and sweating more, blood volume goes up to aid in cooling.
Running more, glucose stores with attached water go up in muscles being used for endurance, and more blood volume again for reaching more of the muscle for desired quick fat/carb delivery.
That would explain some of it.0 -
Let's hope so! But that wouldn't explain the tighter shorts, would it?0
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Just to be devils advocate here...but what would happen if you put the scale away and just trained? You have healthy exercise habits. It sounds like you can keep your nutrition in control. What if you put the scale away and started tracking other things...like weight lifted, like running segment times etc? What would happen then?0
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Glucose is stored in the muscle now used more.
Using your glutes more when you run longer?
Biggest muscle.0 -
Just to be devils advocate here...but what would happen if you put the scale away and just trained? You have healthy exercise habits. It sounds like you can keep your nutrition in control. What if you put the scale away and started tracking other things...like weight lifted, like running segment times etc? What would happen then?
I have thought about this. Unfortunately I can't seem to get things under control, though. This slow gain has been going on for about 3 years now. (Total of 22 lbs.). So I don't trust that I am doing what works enough to just let it go. I do believe that some of that 22 lb gain has been muscle, because I have not added as much size as I would have thought, but it probably has been 2" gain in the waist. At least. I've not kept good records on measurements.
When it comes down to it, calculations have to be off somewhere--either logging or activity/TDEE estimates. If I could just stabilize at a certain eating level, I might could step off the ledge and do that! But my experience has been that the weight just goes up.
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