LINKS in MFP you want to read again (and again)

LosingIt4good

BUMPITY BUMP!

cmriverside

From Kerrilucko (Kerri) - Thanks Kerri - :flowerforyou:
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http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/48463-kerri-s-top-10-reasons-why-you-re-not-losing-weight

Ok, I'm not a doctor, I'm not even a nurse, all of these are from personal experience and observation. I have read a shocking amount of "I'm so frustrated, I've been here a week [or 3 days, or 2 weeks] and I havn't lost anything!" So I thought instead of replying to all those separate threads I decided to make my own. All you veterans, feel free to add to my list:

1. The number one reason you havn't lost weight is because you havn't given yourself TIME to lose weight. 3 days? (yes people have actually posted this) It is unlikely that you will see any noticeable changes in just 3 days and even if you do- yep, WATER weight. Be patient. If you are doing everything right (and nothing below applies to you) give it a month. Still nothing? Go see your doctor.

2. You're eating too much. No, I don't mean you should start striving for numbers BELOW 1200 cals a day. WHat I really mean is you're not being accurate in what you do eat. "A handful" of grapes does not always equal 1 cup. You should make an effort to weigh and/or measure everything you eat including fruits and vegetables and beverages. Calories add up.

3. You're not exercising. Yes, you can lose weight without exercise, but you are doing your body a major favour by doing it anyway. Increased muscle mass will speed up the rate at which your body burns calories so... more muscle= more fat loss.

4. You're not eating enough. It seems to make sense right- eat very little, lose weight. But it's not. The less you eat, the more difficult it becomes for your body to function properly. This causes what is sometimes called "starvation mode"- but here I'll call it a slowing of the metabolism. Basically your body slows all it's functions to a crawl in order to conserve energy. It really fights to hold onto the fat reserves it's got because, in essence, it is starving. If you eat to little over a long period of time you will develop serious health problems, if you continue the behavious anyway you will, simply put, starve to death. Not eating enough can seriously slow weight loss but what's even worse is what it does to your health so please, eat!

5. You can't put down the salt shaker. Sodium causes water retention, which causes the scale to read higher than what you actually weigh (that's called water weight) eating foods high in sodium is the culprit, and it doesn't HAVE to be salt that you've added. Most foods have sodium in them already, especially pre-packaged foods and sauces so be sure to monitor your sodium. You should be getting no more than 2500mg in a day.

6. You're weighing in at the wrong time. For this one I have 2 valid points- the first is- if you are a woman NEVER under ANY circumstances should you weigh during your time of the month. Most women pack on weight then due to water retention. It's just unfair to weigh yourself then. The second point is- don't weigh yourself after a hearty dinner- your tummy is full of food, and fluids from your day. Weigh instead in the morning after you've used the washroom. It's more accurate and please- once a week only.

7. You're eating the wrong foods. There are a lot of people that seem to have trouble losing weight with Carbs. I am luckily not one of them, but if you are you may look into (and I mean seriously look into, not just "oh ya, I'm gonna stop eating all carbs now") a low-carb lifestyle. There are many users here who can offer you advice on this but please also speak to your doctor about it first.

8. You don't have much to lose. When you only have say 10-15 lbs to lose, it is going to be a very slow process. You're fooling yourself if you think someone of that size can lose 2 lbs a week, or even 1 lb a week in some cases. Make reasonable goals of .5-1 lb a week and you'll have more success. I've said it before and I stand by it- be prepared for it to take a year to reach your goals. It is not unheard of for people to lose just 1 lb a month when they have very little to lose- but progress is still progress.

9. You're weighing inaccurately. Are you weighing with clothes on? Are you using different scales? Is your scale on a hard, flat surface? You should make an effore to weigh either nude or, if you're in a public place, in the same or similar clothes every time you weigh-in. Use the same scale everytime as each will weigh you differently and make sure the scale is flat. Some scales read differently if you so much as bend over, so stand up straight with your arms at your sides. Make certain your scale is accurate, try weighing a 10lb barbell and adjust it so the scale reads exactly 10lbs.

10. And finally, the one everyone loves to turn to- muscle mass. Muscle takes up less room that fat, so if you're gaining muscle the scale may show increases or no change in your weight even if you are losing fat. BUT don't fool yourself, you're not putting on 3 lbs of muscle in a week. If it's been a serious plateau however, and not just a week or two, pull out your handy tape-measurer and see if there are any changes where it really counts.

That is all, thanks for reading

cmriverside

I'm adding Tami's secrets to skinny, because I don't know if I did already, and I want to - so there.

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http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/44693-tami-s-secret-to-skinny

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All I ever add to these threads is my own personal experience.

But first of all, I know it sounds strange but when you think about it, you start to understand better.
You decide to lose weight. You lower your calories to a certain amount. You then exercise and burn MORE calories than those you are already excluding from your diet. So, eating some back....yes, you are eating more than 1500 calories but that isn't what your body is "bringing in" due to the exercise.

Anyway, for ME. Non-gym days, I ate 1400 calories. (I never ate below that). At the end, that was Mon, Wed, and Fri. On workout days, I got to the point where I was burning over 1,000 calories and I would eat around 1,900 calories on those days. (I ate about half the workout calories back). That was Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun.

On the days I didn't go to the gym, I would do some lunges and squats and things at home and just stuck to my 1400 at the end.

I rarely had a plateau and when I did, I didn't stay for more than a week or two. I lost 135 lbs in 16 months (so even with plateaus or better weeks, worse weeks, etc...that averages out to about 8-10 lbs a month).

So, in MY personal opinion and experience....eating plenty and exercising plenty is what worked for me. And I think by doing the almost every other day thing, my body was kept at a constant burn and HAPPY!

It is all about finding what will work for you. It can be a trial and error thing. But also, making sure the calories burned are accurate is important as well. I never used a heart rate monitor. I did read in a fitness article that a good way to get an accurate reading on a machine like an elliptical (Which I used a lot), is when it asks for your weight, enter in a weight about 5-10 lbs LESS than you are. And at the end, deduct about 15% from the final number it gives you. That is what I did and it worked for me and I never ate ALL of them back.


Good luck! Tami :drinker:

LaurenLibra

BUMP!

cmriverside

stillkristi

bump

cmriverside

The Banks Plan



http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/49690-the-banks-plan

cmriverside

Taking a vote, MFPers. Do you want me to add the entire (original) post on these links, like I did with "Tami's secrets to skinny." ?

Starting now of course.....I'll ask Banks if he cares if I do that with his....I don't think he will.

cmr.

cmriverside

THE BANKS PLAN (aka SHBoss1673)
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(go to the thread, there are questions and answers that may help you - below is his original post.)
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http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/49690-the-banks-plan?page=1#posts-541471

THE BANKS PLAN Written by SHBoss1673

I wrote up this plan. It's a general fitness and nutrition plan. It doesn't go into specifics but it gives a good general outline of how I got from obese to healthy to ripped (getting there). A lot of this plan depends on you taking the initiative, but if you follow it, and use common sense, it can work for you. It's nothing magical, it's just putting into words what I have done over the last year to lose the 55 lbs of fat, and get into the best shape of the last 10 years of my life. Here it is. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.




Obese to healthy nutrition and exercise plan I followed, and you can too.

NOTE: all calorie deficits here are NET calories, that means the deficit AFTER putting your exercise calories in.

Tools needed: A good Heart Rate monitor with a chest strap. Good, comfortable Cross training shoes. Workout clothes. A small, insulated, food container.

Stage one:
You are obese, or morbidly obese.

Nutrition:
No need to go crazy here, create a weekly nutrition plan, take into account exercise while making it up. get on a routine, don't just go willy nilly exercising. Routines make this easier. Start one, stick to it!

1) Balance is key. you should be able to keep a 800 to 1200 calorie a day deficit.

2) HAVE BREAKFAST! Make sure you get some good complex carbs, some protein, and a vegitable.

3) Space your food out through the day, try to eat meals that are between 200 and 450 calories at a time, eat about every 2 hours, and put your carb heavy foods closer to the morning, by evening, try to eat a very low carbohydrate level and a higher protein/good fat level.

4) Step away from the scale, don't go weighing yourself every day, or even every week. It's not worth it. It will only make you crazy if the numbers don't go exactly your way. Weigh yourself once every 2 weeks to a month. If you make no progress after a month, then re-examine what your goals are and think about asking a professional.

Exercise: High cardio here, 1 day of resistance training should be all you need, keep the muscles guessing, but don't try to weight train 2 or 3 times a week, depending on your overall health, you want your heart rate as high as you can for as long as you can without feeling like you are in danger. That means OUTSIDE your comfort zone. You shouldn't feel comfortable, you SHOULD feel hot, sweaty, breathing heavy. MAKE SURE YOU DRINK YOUR WATER!!! You should drink 1 oz per every 10 minutes you do cardio. DON'T overtrain. Exercise is a good benefit, but your nutrition is what will ultimately make you lose the weight, cardio is just a catalyst, not the main tool. Cardio 3 to 4 times a week should be plenty.


Stage two:
Just barely obese, or just overweight.

Nutrition:
At this stage, you're getting the hang of it. Don't give up, encorporate a slightly more protein focused goal into your diet. Your muscles are starting to come alive again, feed them. Make sure you are getting the vitamins and minerals that you need. Keep in mind suppliments don't fully digest, so those veggies and complex carbs and healthy oils are important in your diet. IN MODERATION!!!!

1) Protein starts to become more important.

2) You should adjust your goals, you no longer should be able to maintain a 1000 calorie a day deficit. You should probably be between 500 and 800 calories a day NET deficit. Make sure you recalculate your goals based on new weight and activity levels.

Exercise: Cardio is still a major player.
1) You should probably be doing 2 days of weight training now. One day with weight or resistance plus weight, and one day of some other type of anaerobic training, like High Intensity Interval Training.
2)Don't do cardio and anaerobic training on the same day, give your muscles a chance to recover.
3) start mixing in other types of activities, don't stick to the same cardio type every day, if you used to do the elliptical, change to the treadmill, or the stair climber.
4) Your probably in good enough shape now to Up your cardio intensity. Add in 3 to 5 minutes of high heart rate, 80 to 85% sustained. The rest of your cardio should be averaging 72 to 78%. Make sure you warm up, and stretch when done. DON'T FORGET TO DRINK YOUR WATER!!!

Stage three:
Just overweight to just about healthy.

Nutrition:
Again, re-examine your protein levels, probably should be close to 25% protein now. By this point you should be able to stick to a food plan without even needing to make up a weekly schedule, but if you need it, keep making one up.
1) start tayloring your food based on your schedule for the day. If you are weight training, try to have protein and a carb within 2 hours after working out. If you are doing cardio, have a complex carb 2 to 4 hours before you work out.
2) Your deficit should be UNDER 500 by now. You're body doesn't have the fat reserves any more to sustain large weight loss (more than 1 lb per week). Don't get greedy, you've come very far, so be smart.
3) Forget the hype, re-examine your goals, are you really sure your goal weight is realistic? You should have enough body knowledge by now to know if your goal is real or a dream.

Exercise:
Lets be real, at this point in your journey, you aren't going to become "ripped" by lightly jogging and doing 15 pound dumbell curls. If your goal is to be defined and cut, you need to get a little mean with your body.

1) 3 days of resistance or weight training, find a trainer or somehow create a routine that hits ALL the major muscle groups, by that I mean Upper body (arms, chest, back), Core (Abs, obliques, lower back), and Lower body (gluts, quads, calf). Whether you do a full body workout 3 times a week, or split it up into days for each, give that muscle group enough recovery time. I.E. don't do legs heavy, then do cardio the next day.
2)STRETCH, after any routine, but especially after weight training, stretching elongates the muscles, reduces stiffness, improves blood flow, and keeps your joints and muscles flexable.
3) Cardio is still important, it improves VO2 Max, and endurance levels, and will still burn the calories you need to burn. 2 days of cardio should be plenty at this point, but the cardio you do should be hard cardio, gone should be the days where you walk or jog lightly on the treadmill. Your treadmill or elliptical routines should include minutes of High intensity, and cool down minutes. AGAIN I STRESS don't overtrain!!! Give yourself at least 1 day off a week, preferably 2 days.

Stage four:
Maintenance, or muscle building:

Not much to say here, you already know, by now, what your nutrition needs are, they should be similar to stage 3, but your calories in should MATCH your calories out.
Your exercise should be a weight training and hard resistance heavy program now. 1 to 2 days of cardio should be all you need, the rest should be focused on getting those problem muscle groups (we all have them) in line with the rest of your body. Ripping up may be what you want, if it is, focus on lighter weight more reps, if more definition and larger muscles is what you are looking for, higher weight, lower reps, working to technical failure is what you want.
There's no such thing as a "light" cardio day any more. If you do cardio, make it a good, hard cardio. Every day you work out, make it have a point, I.E. if you are running today, have a goal, like "shave 20 seconds off my 10K time", 99% of athletes have goals, it keeps you strong, gives you something to shoot for. Working out just to work out can quickly become boring, have a goal, hit it, then make a new goal. Remember, this is FOR LIFE. Plan that way, once you get here, you want to stay here!

(END quote by Banks.)


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cmriverside

SCROLL through this entire thread, the only way I can add-on is to post new ones as they come up.

cmriverside

So, songbyrdsweet just posted this on the banks plan thread.
She does a lot of lifting. Opposing point of view.

THE BANKS PLAN
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Hey Banks,

I love the plan and it's really nice of you to take the time to post something like that up for the new people.

But there are a couple things that I would suggest based on how the body adapts to exercise.

-Lifting one day a week, unfortunately, won't cause lasting adaptations. De-training occurs after about 3 days, so lifting once a week will give you 6 days of de-training. You won't garner any benefit because you won't be stressing your system frequently enough to cause neurological or physiological changes. It's akin to just running one day a week and not doing any other cardio. You won't be able to improve your time or oxygen consumption efficiency. Even beginners should lift 2-3 days per week. What changes in time is the duration and intensity, and then you can add days as well.

-The ACSM recommends that you actually perform 90 minutes of exercise 3-5 days per week to maintain, and only 60min 3-5 days per week to lose fat. So cutting way back on cardio really isn't necessary once you're at your goal. Plus, the same de-training occurs in cardiovascular activity, although not as quickly as resistance training. It's still important to get that aerobic training in 3-5 times a week to maintain your level of conditioning.

Granted, everyone works differently, but our bodies still follow the same blueprint, so these are guidelines that will work for beginners as well as highly trained individuals.

songbyrdsweet

stillkristi

B
U
M
P

stillkristi

:drinker:



:glasses:

blondie_girl14

...

blondie_girl14

...gjgjgj

LaurenLibra

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

:bigsmile:

cmriverside

- - - REALLY good debate about "Fat-Burning-Zone" and Heart rates on this thread. Good, educated, lively discussion. :happy:

(link below)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/51800-maximum-heart-rate



Thanks!

cmriverside

Why Am I Eating This?
A binge is a message--stop and listen to it.
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By Geneen Roth, Geneen Roth is the author of six books about emotional
eating, including " When Food Is Love. "


A few nights ago, I was walking to a party in Manhattan. Halfway
there, I stopped and bought a hot pretzel from a street vendor.

That should have been my first inkling that something was amiss.

Why? Oh, only two minor reasons: I don't like pretzels and I wasn't
hungry.

For someone who has devoted half her life to understanding the reasons
why people turn to food and binge eating when they're not hungry, this
last teeny fact--lack of hunger and eating anyway--is always a red
flag. Usually, when I want to eat and I'm not hungry, I take some
time--at least a couple of minutes--to ask myself what I am feeling.
Usually, I know that no matter what's going on, it's always better to
feel it than to use food to swallow it.

But that night I seemed determined to go unconscious. I pulled off a
hunk of the pretzel, slathered it with mustard, and took a bite. It
didn't taste good, so I took another bite just to make sure that I'd
tasted it right the first time. Still gluey, still bland. I asked the
next homeless person with a "Need Food" sign if he wanted the pretzel.
He told me he was allergic to wheat, so I gave him a few bucks, threw
out the pretzel, and continued on my way to the party.

The moment I arrived, I headed straight for the food. It wasn't
exactly a binge eating paradise--sesame shrimp, polenta cakes, Swedish
meatballs (none of those yummy, deep-fried, trans-fat, or
insulin-hysterical foods), but I made do. Every time a tray came past,
I took what was offered. Then I started following the trays around,
after which I stationed myself in the kitchen and greeted the trays as
they were taken from the oven. I felt like an overstuffed sausage. As
I waddled from room to room, my belly preceded me.

On my way back to my hotel that night, I realized that this was my
first bout of binge eating in 5 or 6 years. If my husband, Matt, had
been around, he would have eyed me and said, "A coupla polenta cakes,
some shrimp, and six bites of cookies hardly doth a binge make..." But
then I would've had to remind him that binge eating is not defined by
the amount of food you eat but by the way you eat it. Two cookies can
be a binge if you eat them with urgency, desperation, and the pressing
need for an altered state. Food is a drug of choice, and when you
binge, you are using your preferred substance to deny, swallow, or
escape your feelings.

I tell my retreat and workshop students that kindness and curiosity
after binge eating are crucial. And so, the next morning, I was kind
to myself.

I was curious. I wanted to know what was going on. Why food had
suddenly seemed like my only salvation.

And here's what I discovered:

I was tired. I was feeling raw and vulnerable from having spent the
day with a dying friend. I wanted to be alone, but I didn't feel like
I had a choice about going to the party, because I'd already agreed to
meet a friend there.

I made a quick decision to go, except, of course, that because I was
binge eating, I didn't really show up at the party. I was preoccupied,
edgy, self-absorbed, and then numb. Not your ideal companion.

What If You Didn't Eat?
Recently, a student of mine--let's call her Rita--had a daughter, her
third child in 6 years. I met her when the baby was a year old. Rita
told me she spends every night binge eating. I asked her why. She
said, "I want to get my own needs met, have someone take care of me.

Sometimes I think I'm going to go crazy and throw my kids out in the
rain just so they'll leave me alone. I feel so awful about myself when
I think these thoughts, but then I remember that I can microwave some
popcorn, pour half a cup of butter on it, and sit in front of the TV
and eat. I remember I have food. That calms me down."

I asked her what would happen if she didn't eat. She said, "I'd end up
feeling awful about myself for having these feelings about my kids." I
said, "Seems like you end up feeling awful about yourself anyway."

"Yeah," she said. "But at least it's for eating and not for being a
terrible mother."

"Who says you're a terrible mother for wanting to leave your kids out
in the rain? Wanting to do it and doing it are different universes," I
said. "What if you let yourself have the full range of your feelings
without judging them or believing that having feelings means acting on
them? What if when your kids went to sleep, instead of eating popcorn,
you sat on the couch with a blanket and just stared into space? Did
nothing for a while? Gave yourself some kindness that didn't also hurt
you at the same time?"

That was 3 months ago. She's had a few binges since then, but she's
also had evenings of letting herself be exhausted without eating,
temporarily hating her kids without having to hurt herself (or them)
for it. She's realized that when she wants to turn to binge eating,
it's a sign she needs to slow down, take some time for herself--even
if it's only 3 minutes--and pay attention to what's actually going on.

Wanting to binge means: Stop, slow down, be curious about why food
seems to be the answer to everything. Wanting to binge is a way to get
your own attention. When you want to binge, it's as if you were
jumping up and down with a banner that says, "I need you to notice me
now!"

So go ahead. Notice yourself. Be kind. Be tender. Be curious. You'll
be surprised at what happens.

Trust me--it'll be good.)
Three-Minute Warning
The next time you want to succumb to binge eating, tell yourself that
you're going to take 3 minutes--only 3--to be with yourself before you
eat. Then, sit down, breathe a few times, and with as much kindness as
you can muster, ask yourself gently what is going on. What do you
need? Whom do you need it from? What would be the kindest thing you
could do for yourself now?

If you still want to eat after you've done this, notice how the food
tastes in your mouth. Notice how you feel after you've eaten. Ask
yourself if eating felt kind.

indianagranny

bump

Phoenix_Rising

bump