Food, Exercise, or other Reports

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  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
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    @NovusDies: I hope you are feeling better!

    @bmeadows380: Have fun on the road trip and be safe! Enjoy the diet break, and those extra calories with all the yumminess :)

    @conniewilkins56: I think the Beck diet book really helped me with handling my mind around binges so far. I'd recommend it. I am in no way affiliated with the author, and don't make money from it. I've just read it recently and found it useful, especially once I got over the cheezy language like "thinking like a thin person" :neutral: But the strategies in the book are good.

    For example, one of the things from the book that worked for me was making "flash" cards and reading them or keeping them in sight. One of my cards has strategies for coping with hunger, the other has strategies for dealing with disappointment etc. Most of the strategies are pretty obvious, but there is something extra to seeing them written down into a program, and having a daily plan about how to implement them. That's really the mechanisms behind cognitive behavioral therapy (as far as I understand), it just makes implicit thoughts explicit, which allows us to deal with them in a more rational manner.

    On the other hand, I wanted to ask if you all keep track of your macros, in particular, your protein intake? What has been your experience with it? I am considering increasing the protein share of my diet from 20% to around 30% due to the benefits it brings for preventing muscle loss and decreasing hunger. But, to do so, I'd have to get some protein powder, which is really what's keeping me back. I try to avoid powders and bars and the like as much as possible...
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited May 2020
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    @cremorna1

    I have recently gone through the Beck Diet Solution book. There is a lot of helpful information in it. I did not really like the promises it made. Solutions have to be customized for the individual and it made the mistake of trying in some ways to be a universal answer. It also didn't deal with core beliefs enough. Basically some of it did not conform to my understanding of the CBT method which admittedly in far less than expert.

    I do think most of it is worth trying.
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
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    Yes, I agree that the book has its highs and lows. As you say, some of the info is useful. It was the first diet-CBT book that I read, so for me some of the stuff really helped. But it may very well be that there are better diet-CBT books out there.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    89f2qi9bwnrv.jpg

    And that is how you have an overfeed lol.

    35k steps yesterday, dug 7 holes for 3 and 4 gallon bushes, and I mowed most of the yard with the push mower. Biggest recorded exercise calorie day for me too.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited May 2020
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    Oh and other than some soreness I am feeling good today. My energy is high. I feel like I could take on the world - until I stand up. However, I did get up at 4:30a this morning and walk 5.5 miles.
  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    Oh and other than some soreness I am feeling good today. My energy is high. I feel like I could take on the world - until I stand up. However, I did get up at 4:30a this morning and walk 5.5 miles.

    That is great!...feeling better,eating and exercising!...very Much in awe of you!....I hate to get up in the morning...and after I get up, it takes me an hour to get going...I don’t know how I ever used to get kids ready for school and be at our stores by 8 a.m....I stay up until about 2 every morning....my husband is the opposite....a match made in heaven lol
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
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    Excellent numbers @NovusDies!!!
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    *yawn* I'm back but am very tired and not up to a long spiel tonight :) I recorded my weekly weigh in at a new low: 239.4 lbs on Thursday morning, but haven't weighed since as I was out of town. I drove 6+ hours on Thursday down to TN, but I did get my 12,000 steps in by going for a walk down at a local park.

    Friday I really have no idea because while my fitness tracker only shows about 5,000 steps for the day, it was not tracking all the loading and carrying and tugging we were doing in going through all the tools and lumber my aunt's husband had and getting it loaded into the U-haul trailer and the pickup. I was on my feet the entire time and was lifting heavy power tools, lumber, boxes, etc for several hours.

    I'm not 100% sure I hit maintenance on Thursday; I did eat about 2900 calories, which for me is the lightly active maintenance setting, but over 10,000 steps is likely active so I may have been under.

    But I'm pretty sure I hit yesterday or maybe even a surplus since my aunt made lasagna that evening, and I had a pretty large piece with salad and blackberry dumplings and ice cream for dessert. It was a pretty large slice of the lasagna and a large bowl of the dumplings, though I made sure to keep it to a small serving of ice cream (it was regular, though and not my usual halo top). That came to close to 3400 calories, which is a little over very active for me, but might have been right or might have been a little over - could make up for the slight deficit on Thursday, though.

    Today was spent driving 8 hours back home as I did all the driving and we were pulling a 12 ft U-haul loaded down not to mention the back of the truck full. My brother came over and we got it all unloaded tonight (what took us half a day to load we got unloaded in 45 minutes......) We just got pizza for supper and while got a personal pan for myself and kept the calories down, I still grabbed a slice of pepperoni and cheese as well then came home for a ice cream sandwich and found myself snacking on a few other things as well. ended up at 3,000 calories today, which is technically the active range for me, but my step count is just over 3,000 steps. But again, the fitness tracker doesn't track the activity of loading and unloading, not to mention the driving - my arms were sore by the time I got home from the steering wheel!

    We'll see what I'm up to tomorrow morning - will definitely be some water weight from lunch and dinner today, but since I'm diet breaking, I'd rather be over than under. Even if I gain as much as 2 lbs over the next week, I can easily get that back off after!


    The only thing I've got to say is: it is SO MUCH FOOD! I'm finding myself getting to the end of the day with over 1,000 calories left and thinking "what can I eat now?!!" It's going to be even more fun to come up with since I hope to get back to my exercise routine tomorrow with a nice long walk, and then Monday with a cardio session and then yard work and mowing grass on Monday. AND my state is allowing gyms to open, so the Jiu-jitsu academy is starting back up with a modified schedule (only for those students who are comfortable with coming in and only for members), so depending on what I can get done on Monday, I may do that then as well. We'll see!

    However, it doesn't take long in the evenings for fat brain to start wanting to snack badly. I"m done for tonight, but I'm having to be stern with glutton-self that there is to be no more. Since I'm getting ready to head to bed now, I should win that battle :)
  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
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    Glad you had a safe trip!
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    *scratches head* My body really hates being predictable, it seems.

    I'm on diet break meaning that I've been eating 1000+ calories more for the last 3 days to try to get to maintenance. My exercise routine is way off because I spent much of that time driving. there was some heavy work loading and unloading all that wood working equipment and lumber, but my aunt's lasagna is thick and extremely cheese and saucy, and I know I probably in reality ate 1,000 calories just in one slice on Friday, not to mention several hundred in those dumplings. Yesterday, we stopped at KFC for lunch; I had a grilled chicken snack wrap from a convenience store where we stopped for gas, and yesterday evening was pizza.

    So with the extra carbs being eaten and the extra food, then coupled with 2 restaurant meals yesterday, ones typically high in sodium, I was fully prepared for a jump in the scale this morning as its the first time I stepped on it since Thursday morning. The question was, how many pounds up was it going to be, and I was bracing myself for it even as I set the scale down, reminding the fearful part of me that it would be okay.

    Except the scale read 239.1 lbs.....or 0.3 lbs down from Thursday's weight........


    Now I know that 0.3 lbs is statistically more like nothing, so on the one hand - woohoo! I've maintained for 3 days! - on the other hand, shouldn't there have been a scale spike? Or did I really drop more than that 0.3 lbs, and the water weight is masking it?


    Oh well...

    Meanwhile, I'm sitting here after breakfast and am absolutely stuffed - and all I had was cashew milk in my coffee, 2 servings of old fashioned oats, with 1 Tbsp of whipped butter, 1 small box of raisins, and about 1/3 a serving of chopped walnuts. All in all that was a 400 calorie breakfast. I've had breakfasts that much even when in deficit, but they were usually like pancakes or waffles; but I'm very full today!

    Which was interesting with yesterday, too. I had 1 biscuit, 1 slice of bacon, a greek yogurt, and 2 eggs for breakfast yesterday and 1 cup of milk in my coffee. But you know, I wasn't really overly hungry all day? Even when we stopped for lunch and I did eat, I wasn't feeling all that hungry. Of course my brain was hungry - when is it not? - but my tummy was saying "meh, if you want to eat, that's fine, but I'm good either way".

    that's a really weird feeling!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    @bmeadows380

    One of the reasons to do this is to study yourself in these conditions. Hopefully you are building some confidence.

    You may not be at maintenance which would not be surprising considering your numbers are still young. If you are not fully able to restore your glycogen levels you will not see a full carb related spike on the scale. It is also possible you are crossing paths with unrealized losses which happens to some people during their first couple of days of a break. You are whooshing one set and retaining another.

  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    @bmeadows380

    One of the reasons to do this is to study yourself in these conditions. Hopefully you are building some confidence.

    You may not be at maintenance which would not be surprising considering your numbers are still young. If you are not fully able to restore your glycogen levels you will not see a full carb related spike on the scale. It is also possible you are crossing paths with unrealized losses which happens to some people during their first couple of days of a break. You are whooshing one set and retaining another.

    I'll keep going and we'll see where we are later in the week; if I'm still not at actual maintenance, then I'll up calories until I get there.

    Today was a completely sedentary day - I only got about 3,000 steps in. The stupid rain killed my chance at getting a walk in. I ate a little over the lightly active level, so hopefully for today at least, I was actually at my maintenance levels!

    tomorrow morning I hope to get up earlier and get my cardio video and walking out of the way - its been 4 days since my routine got disrupted and I need to make myself pick it up back; I know myself well enough to know that something as new as this exercise is for me is still fairly easy to slip back out of if I don't keep it routine!

    I've got a lot of yard work to do tomorrow, too, if the weather cooperates - mow grass, get my garden boxes ready, plant what I can get in the ground now, put up my fencing, and I'd like to get my house siding scrubbed down again since I got more cleaner. All this depends on the weather, though! If it doesn't work out, I need to do house work too.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    I knew I was probably in a surplus yesterday since my activity was way down, and the scale reflected it - or its finally catching up with me as it was up 0.9 lbs this morning.

    It feels really odd to be saying that a scale spike is actually what I was looking for and wanting......
  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
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    My scales were up this morning and it’s NOT what I was looking for lol.....I hate it when you ate right and those darn scales go the wrong way...oh well, it will be gone again soon....
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    *sigh*

    I never thought I'd ever see the day I'd be eating just to get my calories in and not because I wanted to eat.

    What would be the next category above very active again? Because I'm pretty sure I hit it today. I did a cardio session this morning, then went on a 5.8 mile walk. After that, I used the riding mower for the lawn and then pushmowed for another 45 minutes or so to edge. I took a break because I wanted to go to the clothing store that opened, and then stopped at Lowe's for a big air conditioner for my living room, then came home and gardened - meaning I used my hoe to loosen up my soil in my garden boxes, added in peat moss and compost and mixed, then planted seeds and plants, then put up my fence.

    When i came in and looked at my fitness tracker I had over 24,000 steps in today, and that doesn't even count the steps around Lowe's pushing the cart or part of the steps for push mowing!

    So I'm looking at needing to get 3800 calories in today - I think. I still need to eat dinner and I am having fried potatoes - fried in a skillet no less with actual oil! - and a 9 oz bone in pork chop and frozen vegetables. I dug out a piece of cake I had in the freezer to defrost and plan to have 2 servings of Halo Top ice cream, but I still have 250 calorie left after all that!

    I'm not going to get it in today. But tomorrow I have to drive north for work, so while I plan to do my cardio first thing, there won't be a lot of steps tomorrow because of driving as I don't know if I'll get back in time to take a walk or not, so I'll just bank those 250 calories until tomorrow.


    You know, when I thought through all the problems I might encounter when taking a diet break, having difficulty actually eating all the calories I needed to eat was not one of them!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    I am up 8 pounds and really ready to see some of it fall off again. I took a chance to see if Chinese food would spike me as much as it always has and it was a 5 pound gain. I wouldn't care except my left knee began bothering me the morning after the food. I do not know if it is a coincidence. It doesn't seem like those 5 pounds should make that much difference when I am just doing my normal walking and wearing my knee supports.

    I have remained in what I believe to be a surplus. Because of this and the big overfeed day I plan to make this break the minimum 10 days instead of 14. I do not like that it was a forced break that I had not properly planned for. I have to take one every 6-8 weeks now so I may alternate between 10 and 14 day breaks.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
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    oh, and that push mowing included the neighbor's steep hill side that I have to push the mower straight up from the bottom for half, then go up top and pull it up and down from the top for the rest!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    I am not enjoying this much food either. My calories bumped 500 for maintenance and 250 for surplus.

    There is no level above very active which is another thing that made me question how I could be so high when I am not an athlete but whatever. You just have to adjust your multiplier or use MFP's NEAT system. I have the TDEE formula in my spreadsheet so I can compare both.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    oh, and that push mowing included the neighbor's steep hill side that I have to push the mower straight up from the bottom for half, then go up top and pull it up and down from the top for the rest!

    That would be an intense workout. Kind of like me pushing 75 pounds of dirt up the hill backyard in a wheel barrel the other day 7 times. That was part of my 2400 calorie burn day.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    edited May 2020
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    oh, and that push mowing included the neighbor's steep hill side that I have to push the mower straight up from the bottom for half, then go up top and pull it up and down from the top for the rest!

    That would be an intense workout. Kind of like me pushing 75 pounds of dirt up the hill backyard in a wheel barrel the other day 7 times. That was part of my 2400 calorie burn day.

    Don't I know it! That hill is entirely too steep to even think of riding mowing it - even a zero turn couldn't do it. I have to get a running start at the bottom to get it going up the hill, and then muscle as far up as I can get the mower, and I have to do it at a diagonal because the hill is steep enough that the mower will tip over if I'm not holding tight to hold it to the hillside. And I'm guessing I'm doing this for 20 to 30 ft or so lengthwise across the hill. Maybe more - I'm a horrible judge of distance.

    gotta love the state of WV! lol

    And pushing dirt up the hill sounds SO fun...... :grin:

    It's so hard to let myself count back over 1,000 calories in activity in a day when I keep seeing poster after poster respond in the forums doubting the calorie burn of OP's when asking about calorie estimates. there was one today where the person stated they did 30-40 minutes of cardio and then walked at least 2 miles a day and were estimating they were burning around what - 900 calories in a day? Everyone quickly pointed out that was highly unlikely. However, when I count back 75% of my calories doing 30 minutes cardio and walking 5 miles a day and perhaps 30 minutes on the elliptical, I easily burn 800 calories in a day - at 75% mind you - and was losing at 2 lbs a week or more while doing it!

    NovusDies wrote: »
    I am not enjoying this much food either. My calories bumped 500 for maintenance and 250 for surplus.

    There is no level above very active which is another thing that made me question how I could be so high when I am not an athlete but whatever. You just have to adjust your multiplier or use MFP's NEAT system. I have the TDEE formula in my spreadsheet so I can compare both.

    that's what I find so hard to accept too because I can't see myself as an athlete, either. I'm using the MFP NEAT system and have myself set for lightly active. I figure as long as I get a cardio session in and get a minimum of 5,000 steps in a day, I should have at least that much. If I find myself over 10,000 steps, then I start adding in some exercise to try to compensate to get me roughly to where a TDEE calculator says I should be for active and very active states. Today, however, no TDEE calculator was going to cover, so I'm taking a shot in the dark at the 3800 calories; I figure that if 3500 is the very active calorie goal for me to maintain, then 3800 should be somewhere in the ball park of what I actually did today.

    If I missed it and find myself at a lower weight on Thursday, then I'll just have to adjust my calorie intake up even further and keep pushing the break out until I can maintain for those 2 weeks.