Jenmovies journal - 5'2", vegetarian, AU
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jenmovies
Posts: 346 Member
Hi everyone, by way of introduction I am 36, short, have a sedentary job and this is my second time using MFP. The first time I was really overweight, but this time I have a lot less to lose. I mainly just enjoy the community, the logging and the daily encouragement. I'm also super keen to push this further into fitness territory, rather than just weight loss, eventually.
When I first used MFP, I had basically given up on life. But I just realised how miserable I was one day, and decided to do something. I started martial arts and running, and after a few years was really fit and happy. Then, I was injured, couldn't go back to it and moved countries. All excuses but depression set in and I was not motivated to do anything. I just stopped caring. Thankfully, I didn't come close to gaining back what I had lost previously.
This time, my goal was to lose about 55 lb/25 kg. So far I've lost 30 lb/14 kg and I'm finding it extremely tough to shift the last 10-12 kg. That's about 26 lb. It feels like it's all above my knees and below my ribs. UGH.
I exercise 5-6 times per week and have recently added skipping with a jump rope which has helped me lose an additional 3 kg since December 2015. I mainly do cardio and strength, and not much heavy lifting TBH, though I've been told I should. I'm also playing tennis once per week. I work out for 1-1.5 hrs. I make sure I sweat! I feel like I've been working out like an athlete for a year, but am still pudgy. Frustrating, but I keep going.
I'm a bit of a sugar addict and I love food. This is my main problem. I don't love food in the way that I eat pizza every day. More of a foodie, a person who can't resist a new cafe or restaurant. I want to try everything.
So hello! I'm hoping to potentially post in here more often as a way of journalling this process.
My fave thread on here is 'What's your most recent NSV' and I try to post in there regularly. NSV means non-scale victory so 'I can fit into my goal jeans!' etc.
TL/DR - This is my second time on MFP, am struggling to lose the last 10-12 kg /26 lb. Looking forward to gaining some support from this community.
When I first used MFP, I had basically given up on life. But I just realised how miserable I was one day, and decided to do something. I started martial arts and running, and after a few years was really fit and happy. Then, I was injured, couldn't go back to it and moved countries. All excuses but depression set in and I was not motivated to do anything. I just stopped caring. Thankfully, I didn't come close to gaining back what I had lost previously.
This time, my goal was to lose about 55 lb/25 kg. So far I've lost 30 lb/14 kg and I'm finding it extremely tough to shift the last 10-12 kg. That's about 26 lb. It feels like it's all above my knees and below my ribs. UGH.
I exercise 5-6 times per week and have recently added skipping with a jump rope which has helped me lose an additional 3 kg since December 2015. I mainly do cardio and strength, and not much heavy lifting TBH, though I've been told I should. I'm also playing tennis once per week. I work out for 1-1.5 hrs. I make sure I sweat! I feel like I've been working out like an athlete for a year, but am still pudgy. Frustrating, but I keep going.
I'm a bit of a sugar addict and I love food. This is my main problem. I don't love food in the way that I eat pizza every day. More of a foodie, a person who can't resist a new cafe or restaurant. I want to try everything.
So hello! I'm hoping to potentially post in here more often as a way of journalling this process.
My fave thread on here is 'What's your most recent NSV' and I try to post in there regularly. NSV means non-scale victory so 'I can fit into my goal jeans!' etc.
TL/DR - This is my second time on MFP, am struggling to lose the last 10-12 kg /26 lb. Looking forward to gaining some support from this community.
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It's been almost two weeks since my first journal entry. Nothing has changed on the scale, but my stomach is smaller, I'm getting more muscle definition each week and I'm starting to remember what helped me lose weight previously: heavy lifting and protein.
Tonight I'm doing a class at the gym that mixes weight lifting with cardio. I used to do it a while back but found that I could burn twice the kilojoules in half the time on my own. However, for some reason, lifting dropped off my regular exercise routine. I can't seem to do this on my own, and I used to do it with a personal trainer (PT) regularly. I think the class is a good balance since it's included in my membership, and includes lifting. I do miss having a PT, but the expense is not an option right now. Hopefully this class will give me some more confidence so that I can do more solo lifting.
I checked my measurements for the first time since May last year and found I had lost quite a few centimetres even though my weight has stagnated.
My weight seems stuck at around 67kg.
March 2015: 67kg
April 2015: 65kg
June 2015 - December 2015 up to 69kg
January 2016 to now: 67kg.
However, my frame continues to shrink. Muscles are a wonderful thing.
The adjustments I'm making to restart my loss are:- Adjusting TDEE to reflect weight I've lost so far
- No dinner on non-exercise days, only food that fits & leaves a deficit (but no hunger!)
- More protein after workouts
- More fresh, raw snacks (fruit, veg)
- Move more throughout 9-5 sedentary job
- Lifting heavy weights, slowly upping them as I go
- Pushing harder during workouts
- Trying new things
Hopefully this will send a message to my body that I do not need those extra 10-12 kg!
Good luck to my fellow MFPers.0 -
Hey! I'm short too! I enjoyed reading your two entries and look forward to reading your future entries! You've got this!
Also, you know how you said you're a foodie? Well I'm what I call a reply-er where I literally want to respond to everything that is written which would make my response as long as your entries haha It can make it hard to comment on these things but I kept it short and sweet! Like us!
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Sounds like great progress on the recomposition. Hope the class was good.0
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Losing a few centimeters is really awesome, especially when you get so close to goal.0
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The scale knows
What a difference a scale makes! This weekend, I purchased a digital, programmable bathroom scale. It measures things like body fat percentage and BMI as well as goals for weight loss. It seems that the analog gym scale just wasn't telling me the truth. I'm lighter than I thought! However, my body fat is at 30% which is unacceptable.
I'm hoping this scale will help me have a more realistic view of my weight and help me keep track of my goals in a more detailed way. I plan on weighing myself once per week so watch this space to see if my plateau from MAY LAST YEAR is finally busted!
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Hey Jen i'm in Aus too and a little on the vertically challenged side at 5"4' . Sadly i'm also about 5foot wide too. I have 46kg to lose for my first goal. Like you i'm not seeing much movement on the scales but noticing it in the clothes. Have you ever thought of having a Body Compostion measurement done? I'm having one done on Wednesday and it will tell me stuff like my BMR and water/fat/ muscle comps. I love numbers and am most happy when i can see numbers changing.
YOu sound like you are all over this. I've heard that if you do the same thing over and over your body gets complacent so its important to change things up a bit just to remind it that it needs to work. I got a Fitbit Aria scale today. And while my weight was a bit lower than first thought my body fat % is at 39. That needs to change.
I look forward to hearing more of your journey0 -
Thank you! How did you go with this? The scale does estimate my body fat, which is helping. I will investigate the body composition measurement! I look forward to updates on how your body fat is doing, and I will share mine! Feel free to add me if you like. 46kg is not an easy task, but you also sound determined and on the right track. With this community, I truly believe you can reach your goal!
This also brings me to my new post...
Changing a habit with mindful eating
This weekend was my birthday! I had a fantastic, relaxing weekend with my boyfriend. Somewhere amongst the love-fest and shower of presents (Ok, exaggerating here but that's what it felt like!), he showed me a Ted talk which discussed breaking a habit simply by thinking deeply and intimately about the thing you were doing, and resetting the action-reward system in your brain. "A simple way to break a bad habit" by Judson Brewer.
Guess what? It works! I tried it today and realised I was full, I had stopped enjoying the taste and the action of eating this particular item and I put the food down. I'm sharing in hopes it will inspire someone else!
Oh and I smashed the plateau with another two kilos GONE FOREVER!
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Way to go with the plateau smashing. That is awesome. And mindfulness will definitely help you lose a few more of those kg. I definitely recommend the body comp scan. I posted a few of the results on my blog in here. Check them out. I'm looking forward to 6 weeks time when i have another one done to see the changes0
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Sounds like you had a great birthday. Smashing a plateau is BIG. Great job!!!!0
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The dreaded injury
Last Friday, I sprained my ankle towards the end of a weekly class I attend called 'Power Hour'. We had been going hard, bootcamp style, for about 45 minutes when I came down wrong off a box step. BOOM. CANKLE! Instantly I had this thought: "Oh no, I won't be able to eat anything for days!!!!!!!!" Not "What if it's broken?" or "Ow, this hurts a lot.". I was angry because I couldn't burn calories for about a week. Wow, do I love food!
Seriously though, I am much better today after almost four days and am limping less and less. I'm going to try the elliptical tonight but I may have to take it easy. Last night I did push ups from knees, loads of abs, leg lifts from knees, and the hand-bike (resistance with water filled chamber). While I didn't burn much, I did manage to keep my food intake down. Let's not discuss the weekend... [pizza emoji]
I'm staying stable at 65 kilos at the moment, hoping to see things go down again once I've recovered from the injury. I have 8 more kilos to go! Home stretch!
I hope you are all staying motivated and caring for yourself by moving and eating healthy foods! 0 -
Sorry to hear that you are injured.0
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Ahhh Jen I feel your pain. I was doing step ups today and TWANG there goes my calf muscle. My first thought was oh no i wont be able to exercise at all. Not oh dear do I have a tear or rupture. I hope the ankle is starting to come good and you can get back into it. I understand the frustration is real. Keep up those core exercises you will be great0
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Fighting fit
Things are progressing well though not much in the middle of my body. I've been doing strength training twice per week and am starting to see real definition in my upper back and arms, and the top of my stomach. I have one set of abs you can almost see! haha
My main struggle, as always, is food. For a while I had dropped the ball and was just eating really poorly. However, I didn't really gain and am back on track now choosing healthy options. I wasn't going over my daily limits for the most part, just eating poor quality foods with low nutritional value.
I also started to loosen my grip on 'the rules'. My rules are:- No eating dinner Sun-Thurs (intermittent fasting, will have protein shake or small meal if needed)
- Especially do not eat dinner on no-exercise days apart from Saturday (have been trying to get a run in though)
- Limit portions of anything I want to eat, do not deprive but CONTROL
- Don't buy bread at the supermarket
- Don't keep trigger foods at home (bread, cheese, chips, dip, ice cream, certain cookies)
- Keep healthy, pre-made snacks at work
- Pre-prepare work lunches (have been doing again for two weeks)
- Shake up exercise routine every couple of months
- Get up and walk around more at work
- Log every single snack, sauce, etc - the little things add up
- Over log food, under log exercise by 20%
- Exercise the act of mindful eating - think about how it looks, what I feel, how it tastes, concentrate on only that
- Drink lots of 0 cal herbal teas during the day instead of multiple coffees
- Incorporate heavy lifting twice per week in exercise routine. (Currently Wed & Fri)
Note: I do not starve myself. I eat a really good breakfast, lunch and snack every day that I work out. I will have a protein drink after the gym sometimes to recover after particularly full-on workouts. If I am very hungry, I will eat something. Usually a bowl of steamed veggies with cayenne pepper. I'm an awful cook but I really am trying to prepare more interesting meals each week for my lunches.
Other than this, I'm looking forward to winter only due to one simple meal: SOUP. Guys, soup is such an easy way to get mega full, eat super healthy and eat very low calorie if you do it right. I am a huge fan of soup! I also start eating porridge or oats cooked hot with dried fruit and crunchy granola sprinkled in, which is also really delicious and filling.
Winter is also a great time to layer clothing, and hide fat rolls.
I'm not currently tracking super well with my next weight loss goal but I am becoming more focused on macros, so we'll see. I know that if all this gets too difficult and detailed, I probably won't be able to sustain it. Thus, I just do my best and take it slow. Always the tortoise, never the hare. #TORTOISESTYLE
Hope you're all doing really well. You got this!0 -
Goodness! How is your calf now? My ankle is still a bit munted but totally functional. Just looks weird and is a bit sore inside. I'm very grateful I can still work out!Ahhh Jen I feel your pain. I was doing step ups today and TWANG there goes my calf muscle. My first thought was oh no i wont be able to exercise at all. Not oh dear do I have a tear or rupture. I hope the ankle is starting to come good and you can get back into it. I understand the frustration is real. Keep up those core exercises you will be great0 -
Hey Jen the calf has pretty much healed. It gets a little narky every now and then and I just back off the exercises but all in all its good. I'm like you and looking forward to winter and SOUP. I just wish this endless summer would end. I'm not one for liking heat.
Keep doing the good stuff you'll rock this thing1 -
Glad you are both on the upswing! I am just coming out of soup season and looking forward to salad season soon. 1
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I love seeing how the different hemispheres have seasons of fitness too.
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