a note to a friend revealed...

chanstriste13

that i must be in this for the long haul, and i've learned a lot. does it make you a snob if you impress yourself? here's my note:

first off - well done for exercising so much! but do be careful not to go overboard - muscle spasms are no good. if you aren't used to woking out like crazy, you need to build up to it. balancing calories and madwoman style workouts is tricky business, mostly because of your metabolism, which is perfectly individualized to you. you'll probably have to play with it some, but here is my general rule of thumb: eat back at least half of your exercise calories, if not all of them. now, this could be totally different for you, but here is my reasoning:

your metabolism is similar to a bonfire. if you put too much wood (food) into the fire, it smothers and dies. if you put too little wood onto the fire, so it fizzles and dies. either way, your metabolism is going to go under the radar, and that is detrimental to weight loss. unfortunately, there is no magic number or blanket statement for this tricky business, and it's very frustrating to wait weeks or months to find out what works for you, but that's pretty much what you have to do. and be prepared that what works for you for a few months might stop working - then you have to go and sort it out all over again!

while that part of it is a bummer, the good part of it is that *yes*, you are gaining more stamina, and *yes*, you are upping your endurance, and *yes*, you are going to notice that everyday tasks like going up stairs or grabbing a bag of cat food or walking to pick up your mail are getting easier and easier. this may or may not translate into weight loss right away, but the important thing here is to take notice of how your energy level begins to increase and how you begin to feel more comfortable in your own skin - notice how sitting on a couch is becoming more comfortable, or how your posture is improving, and how a gallon of milk doesn't seem quite as heavy as it used to.

as for the muscle vs. fat weighing a pound business - it's basically true, but that is going to be the sort of thing to happen over time, not the course of four days. the core argument of this debate is, 'a pound weighs a pound no matter what'.

well, of course.

but, if you took an actual pound of fat and compared it to an actual pound of muscle, they would weigh the same, but the muscle would take up significantly less space, being that it is more dense. now, if you took a 3x3 cube of muscle and compared it to a 3x3 cube of fat, they would take up the same space, but the muscle would weigh more. it really depends on how you look at it.

as for not losing any weight on a first exercise week, that seems pretty normal. but it is probably due to water retention as your muscles work on healing themselves. drink extra water - consider upping your usual amount by 3 or 4 more glasses. this might help.

as for working out in general, your efforts *will* pay off. and your heart and lungs are already reaping the benefits, even if your fat stores are temporarily confused. i would definitely keep at it. i think i'm the only person in the challenge who currently weighs more than i did at the start! and *that* has been **really** frustrating for me. but i know that my body still appreciates all of the hard work, and hopefully soon, the scale will comply again.

so take care of yourself and stay the course! ~stacy

Debbe2

Brilliant! Love it : D