CARB CYCLERS UNITE....

pwrfl1

Muffin and hard boiled egg for breakfast
No snacks
No lunch
Thin cracker crust pepperoni and sausage pizza
Battered mushrooms
Barely any water........

Tomorrow will be better !

tiffkittyw

Awesome I will look for the Pinterest boards and send you some of my pins to add. I have some of my go to meals saved.

ms_smartypants

I did have a great day Sue .....I worked out this morning for 1 hour doing aerobics (no breaks and no back pain YAY!!) I don't eat at maintenance I have tons of weight to lose

Db8688

tiffkittyw wrote: »

Awesome I will look for the Pinterest boards and send you some of my pins to add. I have some of my go to meals saved.

I can add you as a collaborator so you can add to the boards. Literally just figured out how to do that today. I think you have to follow the boards ard then i add your pinterest user name as a collaborator.....I think

tiffkittyw

Ok, I just started following you DB.

Db8688

tiffkittyw - just invited you to the boards.

Db8688

QUESTION: When you are cycling do you change your calories settings in MFP each day? My targets are 1200 or LC days and 1500 on HC days. So far I'm just leaving the MFP settings at the standard 1200 with 40,40,20 settings (protein, carbs, fat). I was just curious if anyone does it differently. I tend to over analyze (and sometimes over complicate) something once the determination kicks in.

ms_smartypants

My calories stay the same but I change the percentage of carbs,fat and protein daily (20% carbs, 50% protein and 30% Fat on low carb days ....45% carbs, 40% protein and 15% fat on High carb days)

Db8688

ms_smartypants wrote: »

My calories stay the same but I change the percentage of carbs,fat and protein daily (20% carbs, 50% protein and 30% Fat on low carb days ....45% carbs, 40% protein and 15% fat on High carb days)

Thanks! That's my next task: getting the percentages in order

ms_smartypants

You're welcome DB

SpectacuLaura

Hi everyone! I had an insanely busy weekend so I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep up with the group much. I definitely ate more than I wanted over the weekend with my best friend's birthday celebration and a friend's wedding being back-to-back but I'm trying to not beat myself up over it. Better to focus on all of the hard work I'm putting in versus the minimal slip-ups.

On a better note, I had an interesting morning getting dressed for work today! I work at a law firm with a casual dress code so I don't have to dress up for work much. We have clients in the office today and needed to dress up and when I went to try on all of my dress pants, NONE of them fit lol. I've worn dresses all summer if we needed to dress up and haven't had to go for my dress pants in months so it was kind of nice to see that they were all crazy big now. (Although kind of annoying too since I actually needed to find something to wear!)

So much of the time I tend to focus on how much more I want to lose or all of the progress I still have yet to make. Seeing all of those pants that used to be uncomfortably tight fall to the ground was really shocking in a way and a good reminder to also acknowledge how far I've come. Feeling pretty awesome today AND it's a high carb day for me so it's a double win lol!

SpectacuLaura

Also, in reference to the coconut oil talk from a few days ago, I've been using coconut oil as an eye makeup remover for years now and it's INSANE. It literally removes every tiny speck of eye makeup with just a tiny bit and some gentle rubbing. So if anyone is looking for any other good reasons to get some coconut oil beyond its nutritional value... haha

Db8688

Congrats SpectacuLaura on the big clothes! (LOL-I don't get to say that very often.) Also congrats on staying with the lifestyle!

I totally forgot about the eye makeup remover. Actually thought of it last night when removing mine. Best makeup remover EVER!!! There's a web page called 101 uses for coconut oil or something like that. You get so many uses out of this one item that it saves you money in the long run! Plus it smells nice too.

tiffkittyw

That is awesome Laura! My pants are still super tight since I've only lost 4 lbs so I can't wait until they get loose.

tiffkittyw

DB I am not perfect at this carb cycling thing so I leave my calories set to 1,200 and just eat more carbs on my high carb day and less on my low carb day. The thing I struggle with the most is not having fat on high carb days. I love an avocado and salad dressing with my lunch salad. I can't seem to cut out the fat just yet.

tiffkittyw

I will have to try out my bottle of coconut oil soon

Db8688

tiffkittyw wrote: »

DB I am not perfect at this carb cycling thing so I leave my calories set to 1,200 and just eat more carbs on my high carb day and less on my low carb day. The thing I struggle with the most is not having fat on high carb days. I love an avocado and salad dressing with my lunch salad. I can't seem to cut out the fat just yet.

I'm thinking leaving the setting at 1200 may be easier for me too since I'll probably forget to change it every day anyway. I'm new to cycling too (dabbled with it here and there for a few weeks before "going live" this week) and I agree the fat thing is HARD! Fat is in almost everything and it adds up quickly! Even the lean chicken breast has about 2 g of fat for 1-2 ozs. When I ate salads for dinner my fat was higher even though I didn't use cheese and used light dressings. I understand the whole good fat bad fat thing. Like avocados vs bacon fat. I'm just not sure that I buy into the statement that "good fat doesn't make you fat".

tiffkittyw

True, all fats in excess will make you fat just like anything else. I also heard that if you eat too much fat not only is it higher in calories than carbs/protein but your body doesn't have to work as hard to store it since its fat. I don't know how true that is but I gained my weight eating a very high fat diet of fast food 1-2 times a day and I gained over 20 lbs in a year.

SpectacuLaura

Db8688 wrote: »

tiffkittyw wrote: »

DB I am not perfect at this carb cycling thing so I leave my calories set to 1,200 and just eat more carbs on my high carb day and less on my low carb day. The thing I struggle with the most is not having fat on high carb days. I love an avocado and salad dressing with my lunch salad. I can't seem to cut out the fat just yet.

I'm thinking leaving the setting at 1200 may be easier for me too since I'll probably forget to change it every day anyway. I'm new to cycling too (dabbled with it here and there for a few weeks before "going live" this week) and I agree the fat thing is HARD! Fat is in almost everything and it adds up quickly! Even the lean chicken breast has about 2 g of fat for 1-2 ozs. When I ate salads for dinner my fat was higher even though I didn't use cheese and used light dressings. I understand the whole good fat bad fat thing. Like avocados vs bacon fat. I'm just not sure that I buy into the statement that "good fat doesn't make you fat".

I'm with you guys- I just leave my MFP settings the same all the time. Since I meal prep every week and measure everything out for my meals to take with me to work it just seems easier to focus on the macros. And I'm also with you on the "good fat" struggle. I could eat avocado on everything! I'm doing ok with saving cheese for just my cheat meal each week but it's def hard...

tiffkittyw

Ok everyone I went and added all of my low carb recipes on the low carb Pinterest board. I have my crock pot chicken tacos recipe for the high carb board but you need to add me to it

Db8688

tiffkittyw wrote: »

Ok everyone I went and added all of my low carb recipes on the low carb Pinterest board. I have my crock pot chicken tacos recipe for the high carb board but you need to add me to it

I just checked the high carb board and it shows you're there. If you can't post I'll delete and re-invite you.

tiffkittyw

I was able to post to both boards. Thanks DB!

Db8688

You're welcome! Thank you for adding some great options! Keeping meals interesting is key to sticking with the cycling lifestyle!

tiffkittyw

I agree DB! I usually make the same meals over and over since they are quick and easy, but I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone else posts some quick and easy recipes I'm capable of cooking. I am not patient enough to cook elaborate meals.

Db8688

Me too! Since I no longer have to cook for several people, my favorite meal is a bag of frozen veggies and some precooked chicken breast. I'm done in 10 mins tops with no big mess to clean! With cooler weather coming crock pot recipes will be good too!

pwrfl1

Laura !!! What a fabulous NSV you had with your dress pants !!! That's really what it's all about- fitting into smaller clothes. It will be exciting to hear how many sizes you actually have dropped after your next shopping trip !!! WAY TO GO !

Tiff and DB - A big THANK YOU. For getting the Pinterest boards up .... I loved looking through the recipes, you guys are AWESOME !

Megan - I'm glad that your back pain is getting better. I too have a ton to lose....this group has been so helpful in keeping me focused !

Im struggling also with the posted calories for MFP ...I'm thinking about buying the upgraded version so I can preset the calories according to my high low days . Still debating whether it is worth the additional cost.

It's been a crazy stressful couple of days. I've been on the road both days putting in some long hours...I've been ok with the calories in and out, but the type of calories not so good. Will be working from home the next couple of days so things should be more in control now. I'm afraid to step on the scale today though !

tiffkittyw

Hi everyone, this week I've been eating off plan, but still less than my TDEE in order to add sodium (water weight) for this mornings weigh in. Today is day 1 of the 8 week weight loss contest at work. It was scary to see such a high number this morning (I also drank 3 bottles of water and a big breakfast before weighing in),but I know the large number on the scale was not actual weight so it will be interesting to see what my actual weight is on Saturday. I am going to have low carb days Thursday and Friday to try and flush out the water. Hopefully eating more for 2 days won't hurt my results too much.

pwrfl1

I'm going to weigh in twice a week on my high carb days.....

Db8688

pwrfl1 wrote: »

Laura !!! What a fabulous NSV you had with your dress pants !!! That's really what it's all about- fitting into smaller clothes. It will be exciting to hear how many sizes you actually have dropped after your next shopping trip !!! WAY TO GO !

Im struggling also with the posted calories for MFP ...I'm thinking about buying the upgraded version so I can preset the calories according to my high low days . Still debating whether it is worth the additional cost.

I'm keeping a written log as well. (Spiral notebook) That way I can refer back to it to quickly see what foods seem to work best for me. I know you can print out written reports with MFP but I seem to retain things more by writing them down. I have flags and post it notes in my Choose to Lose book and I'm constantly going back to review things.

Db8688

Good luck with the competition tiiff! You have your own personal support team on MFP!