Of refeeds and diet breaks
Replies
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Someone post some more cat/dog pics, stat!!
I shall unlurk (delurk?) to share this delightful picture of my 3.5 month old kitten.
Mine is 9 months and when I say he's a handful, I am downplaying it. I have dealt with many a kitten in my time, including his notorious predecessor Dave and nothing comes close to the chaos and carnage the ginger one wreaks.
I've adopted four adult or adolescent cats in a row, and not too long after number three died had the opportunity to go kitten for the first time in my adult life. She is a delight, but it really is a lot more work than I remember. Almost as if my mom handled the brunt of it back when I was 11...
Even my cat friends can't get over how wild he is. People have suggested I create him his own Facebook page. He breaks things all the time, swings off things, climbs things. It's like someone took your regular playful kitten and made him 100x that. I like to think Dave sent him and is having a jolly old laugh because I had the audacity to complain about him. Look who's laughing now eh Dave!
He is currently under the quilt trying to dig to somewhere only he knows.
Bear in mind, he's a kitten, this thing is heavy, 7.5kg of Dave didn't move this thing and yet, I hear a crash and get up to find...............broken stuff everywhere. Oh and you will notice to the right is the gym mat he's adopted.........
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I have no animal pictures to share - we're more dog than cat people, and don't have the right environment or time for the dog we'd love (Alaska malamute)....
I had terrible luck with kittens when I was younger - I had 3 at separate times, (willow, catkin and champagne)... They all ended up getting out and meeting their fate on the road. Champagne used to be our dogs best friend (a giant newfoundland called Nelson) - they would chase each other round the garden and sleep curled up together.
On topic.... Is it weird if I am getting antsy about still eating at maintenance? I just want to see how I react to deficit again! Haha. I shouldn't complain, I'm enjoying the extra carbs.
Nony, I'm with you on the heat - we've had a few days in the mid-30s. Urgh. Going outside is awful - I had been enjoying jogs/walks to the shops, but it's even too warm at 7/8am for that.2 -
The twins have FB pages, so Horatio can friend them when he gets his
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »The twins have FB pages, so Horatio can friend them when he gets his
I'm not sure I'm ready for the commitment, though it would probably be a blessing to some folks on my friends list who are sick of me talking about him!0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I have no animal pictures to share - we're more dog than cat people, and don't have the right environment or time for the dog we'd love (Alaska malamute)....
I had terrible luck with kittens when I was younger - I had 3 at separate times, (willow, catkin and champagne)... They all ended up getting out and meeting their fate on the road. Champagne used to be our dogs best friend (a giant newfoundland called Nelson) - they would chase each other round the garden and sleep curled up together.
On topic.... Is it weird if I am getting antsy about still eating at maintenance? I just want to see how I react to deficit again! Haha. I shouldn't complain, I'm enjoying the extra carbs.
Nony, I'm with you on the heat - we've had a few days in the mid-30s. Urgh. Going outside is awful - I had been enjoying jogs/walks to the shops, but it's even too warm at 7/8am for that.
Yeah, I'm wondering how long I can go trying to eat to TDEE every day before defaulting to more cals on weekends, which used to work, cos drinking, but I don't really drink anymore, so...and now because I'm not hungover I hike and burn a billion calories, which is hard enough to eat some days as it is let alone trying to go over! I also don't know how that affects recomp/muscle building, if I'm essentially at a deficit five days and surplus two.
This heat in January/Feb we'd be going 'well this is quite pleasant!', but we've had no time to acclimatise. And dry. So, so dry. We damn well better get that rain tomorrow.1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »The twins have FB pages, so Horatio can friend them when he gets his
I'm not sure I'm ready for the commitment, though it would probably be a blessing to some folks on my friends list who are sick of me talking about him!
If it helps, mine never even check theirs anymore. Mario's was actually set up by my friend when I moved to Aus (briefly) b/c she missed him. Got a PM one day with log in details for my cat's account 
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »The twins have FB pages, so Horatio can friend them when he gets his
I'm not sure I'm ready for the commitment, though it would probably be a blessing to some folks on my friends list who are sick of me talking about him!
If it helps, mine never even check theirs anymore. Mario's was actually set up by my friend when I moved to Aus (briefly) b/c she missed him. Got a PM one day with log in details for my cat's account
It would be a page not a profile. If FB catches those profiles they get nuked (against T&Cs, people used to do it for businesses, a friend lost about 2000 contacts getting it nuked a couple years ago).0 -
With all of this maintenance talk, I'm thinking ahead to when I want to time my diet break. I'm not all too sure I want to time it precisely with Christmas itself. Or maybe I do. I was hoping to do Christmas as a one off day like I did with Thanksgiving and then go back to regular pattern, let the scale settle, and then do a diet break.
The thing is though, that it's been a while since diet break. I don't know. It's a bit hard for me to even pin down numbers at this point. I might just give it a whirl after all, but might not even come close to achieving a true diet break since my numbers seem to be off anyway.
Decisions, decisions.1 -
I'm going with 22nd to new year's eve. Maintenance mostly with two or three "free" days. But I am hanging for it. Probably because I do it every year I get all restless waiting for it. Same when I go on holiday (I don't log at all on holiday).1
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VintageFeline wrote: »I'm going with 22nd to new year's eve. Maintenance mostly with two or three "free" days. But I am hanging for it. Probably because I do it every year I get all restless waiting for it. Same when I go on holiday (I don't log at all on holiday).
I need the free day on Christmas. My problem with my free day is that I can really throw down. But then again, I did that on Thanksgiving and it doesn't seem to have done me any harm.
It's just the brain hamsters with the subsequent scale fall out, you know? After what I've dealt with the past year, I'm still a bit touchy in that area.
I know my husband and kids will get me some treats in my stocking, and it would be nice to just ease up a bit and eat to maintenance. Especially since my NEAT will likely increase.
I think I'll have a better feel for it as the holiday gets closer.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »The twins have FB pages, so Horatio can friend them when he gets his
I'm not sure I'm ready for the commitment, though it would probably be a blessing to some folks on my friends list who are sick of me talking about him!
If it helps, mine never even check theirs anymore. Mario's was actually set up by my friend when I moved to Aus (briefly) b/c she missed him. Got a PM one day with log in details for my cat's account
It would be a page not a profile. If FB catches those profiles they get nuked (against T&Cs, people used to do it for businesses, a friend lost about 2000 contacts getting it nuked a couple years ago).
Probably just as well they never check theirs then!0 -
I'm not even sure why I've been bothering to step on the scale atm! Force of habit, I guess.3
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I'm not sure how I'll go about the holidays either. I've never tracked during a holiday before, but that's because I've never stuck at logging my food for this long before! We'll be away for a couple of weeks, so I'm thinking I'll try to log something every day, even if it includes some quick adds, notes and guesstimates.
I think the hot weather will make it easier as I usually just feel like light meals anyway. As usual, it will be the snack foods that are my challenge, not so much the meals. That's why I think I should probably keep logging - it will help stop me mindlessly inhaling chips.2 -
Also, when the volume of food suddenly increases for one day the damage won't be nearly so bad as if it was over several days because you just can't process all of the excess. Or at least I think that's how it works. My having two free days is because I'm actually not at home alone stuffing myself into a coma this year. I eat less when at someone elses (not intentionally, just not the opportunity to keep picking). So I'll have my actual free day at some other point.3
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I'm not going to log Christmas day. And I'm actually in two minds about drinking, even though I keep talking about bubbles under a tree. I'm not sure alcohol really agrees with me anymore. I should maybe do a practice run...1
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I shall partake of a couple of hot buttered rums on my free days because delicious. I might get a wee small bottle or two of something fizzy but yeah, I won't be doing a lot of drinking. I'm driving to and from Christmas day so no drinking for me! Until I get home but it will likely be too late by then.2
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I'm still of the mind where daily maintenance/"gaintenance" goals are going to be a range depending on activity and random fluctuation, so I'm not too concerned with even trying to be accurate with TDEE. From one of Aadam Ali's articles, this example actually would be my range currently:
The Minimum Viable Diet Features:
1. Calorie Intake
Calories are going to be the first, and most important feature of the MVD, but depending on your goal will vary:
Fat Loss: set calories anywhere between 10 - 12 cals/lb
Gaintenance: set calories anywhere between 12 - 15 cals/lb
Muscle Gain: set calories anywhere between 14 - 17 cals/lb
Multiply by the lower end of the range if you are quite sedentary and currently don’t exercise, or maybe get in one session every other week.
Go for the mid range if you are someone who exercises 2-3 times a week but are still quite sedentary outside of that.
And if you have a very active job (think construction worker) or your training programme is quite intensive (4-6 times a week, intense weight lifting) then go for the end range.
According to this formula, a 175lb man should be taking in about 1925-2800 calories per day, depending on his activity levels.
• Protein
If a caloric deficit is king when it comes to fat loss, think of protein as the prince.
Protein is the building block of muscle. Keeping protein intake high during a diet will help preserve muscle mass and also will help keep you feeling fuller for longer on fewer calories.
I like setting protein at 1-1.2g/lb of total body weight.
I’d rather err on the side of caution and have people eating a bit more, especially in a caloric deficit to preserve as much muscle as possible. Don’t stress over carb or fat intake.
Aim to consume an adequate amount of protein and then just focus on hitting your overall caloric intake.
Just make sure that dietary fat doesn’t dip lower than 15-25% of total calories for health reasons.
• Strategic Overfeeding
As you begin to get leaner and calories become lower, certain hormonal adaptation begin to take place. While short-term overfeeding hasn’t been shown to do much to reverse these adaptations, the benefits of introducing strategic overfeeding once or twice a week can help psychologically with adhering to the diet.
During strategic overfeeding you will have one or two days during the week where you increase calories back to maintenance or a slight surplus. If your energy is beginning to drop, and you are beginning to look ‘flat’ (due to glycogen depletion) overfeeding can boost mood and energy.
And that's basically what I'm gonna be doing for the next 3 months lol. Everything will be based on current bodyweight at the time if I need to readjust for a week or something.7 -
Well, by TDEE, I mean what the piece of plastic on my wrist says
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »Well, by TDEE, I mean what the piece of plastic on my wrist says
Same. I just need some more time with data crunching (and some less mental fatigue from whatever's going on with my health to actually sit down with the numbers and crunch them) to figure out the % difference between my real world data and the feedback I'm getting from what's strapped to my wrist.
At some point in the future, I'd ideally like to adjust my Fitbit stats so that the data I get from it gives me accurate numbers and I don't need to do any thinking.2 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Well, by TDEE, I mean what the piece of plastic on my wrist says
Lol we know how I don't trust the metal/plastic concoction on my wrist 2 -
Hi! This is Truman. Truman likes to air his flooff. Truman has no shame.
Damn it, where did Truman go?
OK, here he is.
Note: Truman is my daughter's cat. I want one just like him 11 -
I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.10 -
I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.
Ah, well, as you will have seen, my head decided to go for the lower weight, because I found it so much easier with utilising refeeds to actually stick to a deficit. But even at the start of the diet break that wasn't, I was already umming and ahhing about whether I really needed to lose the extra kg. Then late luteal increased bmr and eczema flare knocked off a chunk more. Obviously I don't know what's going on under the remaining water weight, we'll see in the next few days I guess, but I decided I'm done yesterday. Now, whether that holds is another matter!! Though, I'd really like to not have anymore new bras suddenly be too small a week after buying them. So, done.
Do you have another goal, such as recomp/strength building, that maybe knowing you need to be at maintenance for will help you stay there?4 -
Oh yeah, guess what I did this afternoon guys? Ahahahaha, I should go count and see how many that is now. Pretty sure I need to do some drawer reorganising (ie, find another place for socks to live, so pretty things can take over that drawer too).
Luckily, I have absolutely, definitively exhausted my choices at both outlet shops. Until they get that new shipment of Stella McCartney in...3 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.
Ah, well, as you will have seen, my head decided to go for the lower weight, because I found it so much easier with utilising refeeds to actually stick to a deficit. But even at the start of the diet break that wasn't, I was already umming and ahhing about whether I really needed to lose the extra kg. Then late luteal increased bmr and eczema flare knocked off a chunk more. Obviously I don't know what's going on under the remaining water weight, we'll see in the next few days I guess, but I decided I'm done yesterday. Now, whether that holds is another matter!! Though, I'd really like to not have anymore new bras suddenly be too small a week after buying them. So, done.
Do you have another goal, such as recomp/strength building, that maybe knowing you need to be at maintenance for will help you stay there?
I've been doing strength training for about 5 months twice a week with a personal trainer, and have made some progress (yay, slightly visible muscles!). It's slow going because we're working around some injuries (repeated rotator cuff surgeries in my right shoulder, and triceps tendon repair in left elbow after tearing it off in a bike accident last Oct.) I really like the idea of recomp, but I don't have the confidence that I'm going to be able to get to the point where I can lift heavy enough weights to make that happen. It's a goal, for sure, but (excuses, excuses) my head wants me to get rid of the fat draped around my middle before we commit to a recomp. And of course, the point of a recomp is to get rid of the fat draped around my middle...
Maybe I'll give myself to the end of Dec. to just keep doing what I'm doing. Wherever I am at the beginning of Jan will be my starting maintenance number. Ok, and I could get a bod-pod type body fat estimate, and use that to set a body fat goal and work toward reducing that over the next year with the challenge being to hold my weight constant at the same time. You've got me thinking from a different perspective now, thanks! I've got some time to let this percolate.
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.
Ah, well, as you will have seen, my head decided to go for the lower weight, because I found it so much easier with utilising refeeds to actually stick to a deficit. But even at the start of the diet break that wasn't, I was already umming and ahhing about whether I really needed to lose the extra kg. Then late luteal increased bmr and eczema flare knocked off a chunk more. Obviously I don't know what's going on under the remaining water weight, we'll see in the next few days I guess, but I decided I'm done yesterday. Now, whether that holds is another matter!! Though, I'd really like to not have anymore new bras suddenly be too small a week after buying them. So, done.
Do you have another goal, such as recomp/strength building, that maybe knowing you need to be at maintenance for will help you stay there?
I've been doing strength training for about 5 months twice a week with a personal trainer, and have made some progress (yay, slightly visible muscles!). It's slow going because we're working around some injuries (repeated rotator cuff surgeries in my right shoulder, and triceps tendon repair in left elbow after tearing it off in a bike accident last Oct.) I really like the idea of recomp, but I don't have the confidence that I'm going to be able to get to the point where I can lift heavy enough weights to make that happen. It's a goal, for sure, but (excuses, excuses) my head wants me to get rid of the fat draped around my middle before we commit to a recomp. And of course, the point of a recomp is to get rid of the fat draped around my middle...
Maybe I'll give myself to the end of Dec. to just keep doing what I'm doing. Wherever I am at the beginning of Jan will be my starting maintenance number. Ok, and I could get a bod-pod type body fat estimate, and use that to set a body fat goal and work toward reducing that over the next year with the challenge being to hold my weight constant at the same time. You've got me thinking from a different perspective now, thanks! I've got some time to let this percolate.
You don't have to lift heavy for recomp, just heavy for you, ie work progressively, increasing weights when the current weight gets easy. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but so long as you are doing that, you will build muscle doing that if you are eating at maintenance.5 -
My Mario is MIA. I noticed he was limping badly late this morning, attempted inspection for injury but suspect his arthritis has flared suddenly and dramatically, rang vet to see if I could get him in today (couldn't), went to get cat to give pain meds, and he evaded capture, clambered over the fence, and hasn't been since. He will be curled up somewhere, but he is in pain, and I'd like him home where I can a) give him pain meds, and b) keep an eye on him. I've searched along the reserve strip behind my place, called and called.
'Come home Mario' vibes would be appreciated.6 -
Sending all the vibes
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.
Ah, well, as you will have seen, my head decided to go for the lower weight, because I found it so much easier with utilising refeeds to actually stick to a deficit. But even at the start of the diet break that wasn't, I was already umming and ahhing about whether I really needed to lose the extra kg. Then late luteal increased bmr and eczema flare knocked off a chunk more. Obviously I don't know what's going on under the remaining water weight, we'll see in the next few days I guess, but I decided I'm done yesterday. Now, whether that holds is another matter!! Though, I'd really like to not have anymore new bras suddenly be too small a week after buying them. So, done.
Do you have another goal, such as recomp/strength building, that maybe knowing you need to be at maintenance for will help you stay there?
I've been doing strength training for about 5 months twice a week with a personal trainer, and have made some progress (yay, slightly visible muscles!). It's slow going because we're working around some injuries (repeated rotator cuff surgeries in my right shoulder, and triceps tendon repair in left elbow after tearing it off in a bike accident last Oct.) I really like the idea of recomp, but I don't have the confidence that I'm going to be able to get to the point where I can lift heavy enough weights to make that happen. It's a goal, for sure, but (excuses, excuses) my head wants me to get rid of the fat draped around my middle before we commit to a recomp. And of course, the point of a recomp is to get rid of the fat draped around my middle...
Maybe I'll give myself to the end of Dec. to just keep doing what I'm doing. Wherever I am at the beginning of Jan will be my starting maintenance number. Ok, and I could get a bod-pod type body fat estimate, and use that to set a body fat goal and work toward reducing that over the next year with the challenge being to hold my weight constant at the same time. You've got me thinking from a different perspective now, thanks! I've got some time to let this percolate.
You don't have to lift heavy for recomp, just heavy for you, ie work progressively, increasing weights when the current weight gets easy. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but so long as you are doing that, you will build muscle doing that if you are eating at maintenance.
Hmm didn't realize that. I am lifting progressively, just increasing very slowly (but miraculously injury free) so that's really encouraging.5 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »I've been following the thread, sort of going back and forth on whether I'm ready to post. I think it's time, I probably need a little help.
I've been losing weight slowly but steadily for a little more than 18 months, like I'm down to about a lb. a month now. I've lost about 45 lbs and weigh between 106 and 108 (5'3", 67 yrs old female). I know I need to stop and maintain, and I can't. My head wants me to weigh 105 lbs, and it also wants me to drop to 104 so maintenance won't go over 105. It's not an eating disorder thing, it's a self image (and I think control) issue.
I keep saying I'm taking a maintenance break during Dec., and I keep panicking when I gain anything a day after eating more than my weight loss calories (which is typical because I usually eat more carbs and carry a little more water). I had no problems with even big fluctuations while in weight loss mode, but I'm over-reacting now and cutting calories until I get back to 106 where apparently my head thinks it's OK to sit for a month. Then my head thinks we're going to lose that last couple of lbs. and live happily ever after underweight.
I think I'm really worried about losing control once I'm no longer in active weight loss mode. I've never set a weight goal before, got to the goal and increased calories just enough to stay there. It's always been weight loss mode with no goal until something changes in my life and I abandon all hope and eat my way back up. I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.
I've never tried actually talking out my concerns about how to manage maintenance, and never really considered that I might have some issues with body image and possibly control issues. Thank you all for providing a safe place to talk about these things.
Ah, well, as you will have seen, my head decided to go for the lower weight, because I found it so much easier with utilising refeeds to actually stick to a deficit. But even at the start of the diet break that wasn't, I was already umming and ahhing about whether I really needed to lose the extra kg. Then late luteal increased bmr and eczema flare knocked off a chunk more. Obviously I don't know what's going on under the remaining water weight, we'll see in the next few days I guess, but I decided I'm done yesterday. Now, whether that holds is another matter!! Though, I'd really like to not have anymore new bras suddenly be too small a week after buying them. So, done.
Do you have another goal, such as recomp/strength building, that maybe knowing you need to be at maintenance for will help you stay there?
I've been doing strength training for about 5 months twice a week with a personal trainer, and have made some progress (yay, slightly visible muscles!). It's slow going because we're working around some injuries (repeated rotator cuff surgeries in my right shoulder, and triceps tendon repair in left elbow after tearing it off in a bike accident last Oct.) I really like the idea of recomp, but I don't have the confidence that I'm going to be able to get to the point where I can lift heavy enough weights to make that happen. It's a goal, for sure, but (excuses, excuses) my head wants me to get rid of the fat draped around my middle before we commit to a recomp. And of course, the point of a recomp is to get rid of the fat draped around my middle...
Maybe I'll give myself to the end of Dec. to just keep doing what I'm doing. Wherever I am at the beginning of Jan will be my starting maintenance number. Ok, and I could get a bod-pod type body fat estimate, and use that to set a body fat goal and work toward reducing that over the next year with the challenge being to hold my weight constant at the same time. You've got me thinking from a different perspective now, thanks! I've got some time to let this percolate.
You don't have to lift heavy for recomp, just heavy for you, ie work progressively, increasing weights when the current weight gets easy. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but so long as you are doing that, you will build muscle doing that if you are eating at maintenance.
Hmm didn't realize that. I am lifting progressively, just increasing very slowly (but miraculously injury free) so that's really encouraging.
There you go then
And thank you for Mario vibes.0
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