Help: 49YO frmr WW, Paleo, VLCD wants to change
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IndyAngie0427
Posts: 2 Member
After having spent recent weeks reading everything I can find about EM2WL, I'm ready to commit to making changes, but would appreciate advice from the subject matter experts.
About me: 49 year old female, 5'3" currently at 158 lb but with long history of weight management issues dating back to young childhood. Three of the six children in my family took after mom - thin and willowy; three (including me) took after dad - stocky, muscular, with a tendency to overweight. My mother told me that it was my "destiny" to be fat. I believed her until I was about 35 years old.
After joining Weight Watchers and dropping from my highest weight of 205 lb to my lowest of 125 lb, I've now spent 10 years ping-ponging every few years between 185 and 130 - back and forth through 3 more rounds with Weight Watchers, more low fat, the Paleo diet, and VLC. After 12 months limiting my daily carbs (from all sources) to 30g, I snapped in late 2014 and decided to ditch the diets. Within 4 months, my weight shot up from 130 to 145, which was when I stopped weighing myself because it was entirely too depressing and I was having to buy new pants practically every month.
I had not weighed myself since January 2015 so when I visited my doctor last month for an exam and learned that I weighed 163, I was actually pleasantly surprised to find I wasn't "too far gone"! This gave me enough encouragement to try again - although I cannot go back to my former ways. I need something that's sustainable, and EM2WL seems like it might be the answer. I've done all of the reading and everything really does make perfect sense.
With my activity level selected at moderate (although I'm probably actually "very"), my TDEE is 2186. With a 15% cut, my daily calorie target is 1858. My macros are way off right now, but I will keep working on that. My issue is that due to previous rotator cuff injuries, a torn forearm in early 2015, and some other concerns, I'm really not able to "lift heavy" at this point, although I hope to be able to do so in the future. WILL THIS REALLY WORK if I"m not able to lift right now? Is there any merit whatsoever in just lifting "what I can", even if that means 8 lb bicep curls, etc.? The last thing I want is to suffer another injury (I tore the forearm while working with a personal trainer who, unfortunately, took the "no pain, no gain" approach) and the subsequent discouragement and derailment. I noted that in the past week, my scale weight dropped by 2 lb....but my BF went up 1.5%.
Due to life stressers, I do walk and jog daily (sometimes more than once) as I means to take the edge off and maintain my mood and sanity. This is not something I wish to give up, although I do understand that in order to meet my goals, I may need to moderate it. I honestly don't care what my scale weight is....but sure would be wonderful to fit back in to the closet-full of wonderful size 6 clothes (I'm currently size 12).
Advice appreciated on the lifting aspect of this journey. Thanks in advance!
~ Angela
About me: 49 year old female, 5'3" currently at 158 lb but with long history of weight management issues dating back to young childhood. Three of the six children in my family took after mom - thin and willowy; three (including me) took after dad - stocky, muscular, with a tendency to overweight. My mother told me that it was my "destiny" to be fat. I believed her until I was about 35 years old.
After joining Weight Watchers and dropping from my highest weight of 205 lb to my lowest of 125 lb, I've now spent 10 years ping-ponging every few years between 185 and 130 - back and forth through 3 more rounds with Weight Watchers, more low fat, the Paleo diet, and VLC. After 12 months limiting my daily carbs (from all sources) to 30g, I snapped in late 2014 and decided to ditch the diets. Within 4 months, my weight shot up from 130 to 145, which was when I stopped weighing myself because it was entirely too depressing and I was having to buy new pants practically every month.
I had not weighed myself since January 2015 so when I visited my doctor last month for an exam and learned that I weighed 163, I was actually pleasantly surprised to find I wasn't "too far gone"! This gave me enough encouragement to try again - although I cannot go back to my former ways. I need something that's sustainable, and EM2WL seems like it might be the answer. I've done all of the reading and everything really does make perfect sense.
With my activity level selected at moderate (although I'm probably actually "very"), my TDEE is 2186. With a 15% cut, my daily calorie target is 1858. My macros are way off right now, but I will keep working on that. My issue is that due to previous rotator cuff injuries, a torn forearm in early 2015, and some other concerns, I'm really not able to "lift heavy" at this point, although I hope to be able to do so in the future. WILL THIS REALLY WORK if I"m not able to lift right now? Is there any merit whatsoever in just lifting "what I can", even if that means 8 lb bicep curls, etc.? The last thing I want is to suffer another injury (I tore the forearm while working with a personal trainer who, unfortunately, took the "no pain, no gain" approach) and the subsequent discouragement and derailment. I noted that in the past week, my scale weight dropped by 2 lb....but my BF went up 1.5%.
Due to life stressers, I do walk and jog daily (sometimes more than once) as I means to take the edge off and maintain my mood and sanity. This is not something I wish to give up, although I do understand that in order to meet my goals, I may need to moderate it. I honestly don't care what my scale weight is....but sure would be wonderful to fit back in to the closet-full of wonderful size 6 clothes (I'm currently size 12).
Advice appreciated on the lifting aspect of this journey. Thanks in advance!
~ Angela
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Replies
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Hi Angela,
Glad you've found us!
I think lifting heavy for you is good! Definitely do so safely so you don't hurt yourself and you will eventually be able to lift heavier and heavier.
Have you tracked calories at all? If you haven't been, it may be helpful first to track what you are eating to see if you are over tdee. And also to test to see if you are moderate or very active. The more calories you start with means the more calories you keep
You seem to be in a great place to start the process- and probably did a metabolism reset without knowing it.
I will add as a friend.0 -
Welcome aboard.
First, make sure you are setting your activity level to the correct amount. You said you had it marked at moderate, but that you "should" be very active. Be honest with yourself. You MUST be at the correct level for your activity, otherwise, you are not getting in the correct amount of cals.
Since you are coming from a VLCD past you may want to track your intake at your TDEE level for a while to see what you are eating and making sure you are hitting the correct calorie amount needed. I wouldnt recommend a deficit in cals when you are just beginning. We encourage everyone coming in, especially from VLCD pasts, that your body has essentially "starved" for a long time.. so it will take a while for your body to "forgive" you and burn your fuel properly. So by eating at maintenance and doing a RESET, you are giving your body the fuel it needs and the time it needs to readjust to this new way of life. Since your past year has been all over the map, you may find just tracking what you are normally eating in your day might end up showing you are in fact eating at maintenance. In which case you would probably be ok to take your 15% cut. (Again be honest with your activity level though)
With your injury, there are ways you can work around it and not do any further damage while you work on healing. Two years ago I injured my shoulder and spent a year in therapy, while working out still.. It never fully healed and this past fall, I injured it again and had to repeat. This time I took a complete break from the iron for almost 3 months to heal and do therapy. And this past month I was able to get back to it. (also had a rotator cuff injury)
For me, I ended up with three months of leg work and cardio cause it was all I was able to do. Work with your therapist if you are seeing one to show which exercises you can still do with your shoulder and which to avoid. If its all upper body out of the way (was for me), then concentrate on your diary, eating your food, getting your macros down and workout in whatever capacity you can for a stress release and general well being.
"Lifting heavy" is what is heavy for YOU. So if 8 pounds weights is all you can do, then thats heavy for you. Dont compare your heavy to someone elses. The only thing to know is what things you can do without hurting the shoulder again.
Stress plays a major factor in weight "gains".. with injuries its hard not to stress out. I had a heck of a time staying calm.. I didnt want to derail my workouts and fall behind. In retrospect, had I given the gym a break completely and just worked on my cals and macros, Id probably wouldnt have had a second injury this past fall..
Hope this helps.0 -
Thanks, all, for the responses - they do help, yes. New to the MFP communities and participating in discussions so experiencing a bit of a learning curve with how to navigate. I'm specifically interested in participating in the EM2LW threads but can't for the life of me figure out how to get there! Guidance appreciated - thanks in advance!0
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