40+ Club

psilva78227

Protein is also necessary for building/rebuilding muscle. So when working out, it is a good idea to eat some lean protein or a protein shake afterwards.

singfree

Believe me, we are far from perfect here, Cardigirl! But we try awfully hard to do the right thing. It doesn't always work, but we admit our weakness and move on. Yes, there are a lot of nice people here, and they all treat me like family.

Good observation, Psilva!

cardigirl

I agree about the need for protein, I just want to be sure I'm keeping the calories in balance. I've been working with a trainer for about 7 months now, and the weight loss has slowed. Not sure if it's not eating cleanly enough, or not eating enough calories, etc, but I'm trying to change things up a bit in the hopes of getting the weight to start moving again. All I'm hoping for is 2-3lbs lost per month.

Good news is that I'm really building muscle though! Love that! ::bigsmile:

tron3002

You all seem to have done very well at the weight lose game so my question is this.... How long did it take you to see results? The very first week or does it take a few and then your body starts to lose on a steady basis?

singfree

I can only speak for myself, but weightloss seems to slow dramatically the closer you are to your perceived "goal" weight. I cannont say that I am a dieter, but I watch what I eat. I am much more aware of the total cals per day, ratios of carb, protein, & fat, etc...

If you list all of your food on MFP, at the bottom you can see how many grams of each you are eating. This can easily be calculated as a percentage. Total cals are most important as well as logging your exercise, so that you can keep a slight caloric deficit daily which you need for weightloss.

What types of exerciese are you doing with the trainer? Perhaps you could add a bit more cardio if you are doing primarily strength training. I lift a LOT. I need the cardio to shed the fat. Thankfully the weather is warming up in PA so I can do some biking. Today I will do treadmill cardio intervals and strength training at the gym, and this evening I will bike 15-20 miles. This equates to 1000+cals burned. Most days I take in around 1800-2000 cals.

Tron, the results I see are not really on the scale. Since I do a lot of strength training, my weight is fairly stable, but my body fat is reducing while my strength is increasing. This is EXACTLY what I am looking for. Don't be a slave to the scale. Measure yourself periodically. Try on some (formerly) tight clothing. Look in the mirror. Those things will tell you how successful you really are.

Alf, you are not going to believe this...I got on the scale last night. Pretty much as I suspected, 152 lbs.(I'm 5'8"). I guess my body fat % to be around 11-13%. Ultimately I would like to get it under 10% (vanity).

cardigirl

Singfree, I'm not sure what you would call the stuff I do with the trainer, circuit training maybe? We do a variety of muscle building exercises. Boxing warmups, burnout drills, usually one day is upper body and one day is lower body work. He has me do burpees, mountain climbers, jumping box squats, roundhouse kicks, front kicks, and yesterday he had me do bench hops! We always finish with core exercises on the mat, crunches, leg lifts, russian twists, etc. And the ever dreaded lower back extensions.

The other days I use the stairclimber for 10 minutes and the AMT machine for 30 and do a series of arm exercises on the Smith machine and the assisted dips and pullups machine. I try to increase the intensity of the time on the AMT and the stair climber every couple of weeks.

And as the weather gets warmer, I want to add some running into the mix.

I am building muscle, which is great! And the last body fat measurement the trainer did I had 27.88% which is in the healthy range for my age, but I would like to get it down under 25% if I can.

Just tough to never see that weight budge.

singfree

Looking at the hard core training you are doing, I can see why the scale is not moving much! This is a very good thing. You are becoming really fit and putting on beneficial muscle. You are going to find that your weight will drop slowly, but so will the body fat. Not to worry, you are becoming more compact with the increased muscle mass. As I stated earlier, my weight has not gone down very much in the past few months, but I am leaner and much stronger. Look in the mirror. If you like what you see, by all means, keep going!

cardigirl

Thanks Singfree, you sound like my trainer! :bigsmile: He assures me that I'm doing really well. It's a vanity thing, really, I wanna get into some smaller jeans by summer and thought I'd be further along. But yeah, I do like what I see happening to my body...my legs and arms are so much slimmer now. It's cool!


The best part is how much better I feel physically compared to last year. I have way more energy and generally just feel happier much of the time.

Exercise and a good diet are truly the best medicine ever!

singfree

Some of singfree's simple observations:

You know that you are on the right track when you can climb those flights of stairs without sucking wind. Now you can take them 2 at a time.

You now look forward to working out. Miss a day and you're bummed!

You carefully plan what you are going to eat at your favorite restaurant.

I will finally be happy to take my shirt off this summer!!!

I used to love pizza and Chinese places. Now I think about how I DO NOT miss the sodium, fat and MSG.

Is that the beginning of a six-pack I see? Wishful thinking...

StiringWendel

singfree, I so agree with your observations....except I'll be keeping my shirt on this summer. :bigsmile: And those are some impressive numbers, especially your body fat %!

Speaking of Chinese (since you mentioned it), I'm eating at PF Changs for the first time tonight. It isn't really my choice, but that is where my husband wants to go for his birthday. Since he has been very patient with me and has agreed to no restaurant eating for the past three months, I think this is the least I can do. I've studied their menu, and I think I'm going to end up ordering vegetarian fried rice. While it is a little low on protein, it is also low in calories (okay, low is relative....if I were to each the entire dish, it would be 1000 calories) and sodium. I think it is ridiculous that any restaurant lists their food items as having multiple servings btw. In this case, they say this plate of food should be four servings. I don't go to a restaurant for four servings of food! I go for one. But, that aside, if I eat half of it, it will be about 500 calories, and I figure that's not too bad for restaurant food right now.

Saturday night, I think I'm going to a Mexican restaurant. I've done some research, and I think the best I'm going to be able to do there is with chicken tacos (soft shell) or chicken fajitas. Does anybody have any other healthy suggestions that I might find at a Mexican restaurant?

It has been a tough few weeks for me staying on track with the trip to Colorado, luncheons, Easter, my husband's birthday and, this weekend, family coming in for a couple of days (which is why we're eating out on Saturday). Thankfully it looks like I'll be able to spend the bulk of the next few weeks eating much cleaner and even though I'm not looking to lose any more weight, I'm looking forward to putting healthier foods into my body for a little while.

tron, it took my body three weeks to start responding to the diet. I think I might have lost a pound during those three weeks, but to be honest, I hadn't cut out all the crap during two of those weeks. Once I really started focusing on a clean diet, it took my body about a week to respond and then the weight loss was very steady over the next 2.5 months (which is how long it took me to reach my goal weight). But everybody is different, so give your body some time to adjust.

cardigirl, it sounds like you've got a terrific workout regime going on! That's some good stuff there.

Off to do 60 minutes of strength training and, if I can, I'm going to fit in some cardio to burn some calories in anticipation of tonight's dinner! Enjoy your day everybody. :flowerforyou:

Swissmiss

Good morning everyone. I haven't been here for awhile. I think that I was too embarassed:embarassed: I haven't even been recording my food. I guess I just got lazy.
singfree...I loved your list for how to know if you are on track. I will be looking for those things in myself.
I had my surgery six weeks ago today, so I am going to do some aerobics today. I will be going back to work on Monday so will not be here at all during the day. I will, however, be off for more surgery on May 18.
I have really missed all of you and really noticed it when I came to the site just now. So, please keep encouraging me so that I don't fall away again. I really find that I am receiving so much help here.
I have to get back to the Abs Diet. It was working for me. In it I am allowed one cheat meal per week. I went to a Chinese restaurant with a friend last week so that was my cheat.

singfree

I am taking my wife out for her birthday dinner. Her birthday was on Easter Day, and since we are both Church musicians, we decided to postpone the dinner until Saturday evening. I will have either a nice grilled salmon dish or filet mignon. I can't remember the last time I had a real steak!

Stiring, I wish I could help with the Mex food, but i think most of it is not the best nutrition...but I love it too.

psilva78227

when I do Mexican,I usually eat a taco salad with chicken -- minus the cheese and the sourcream, and don't eat the shell. It is still filling, but cuts down on a lot of the calories.

tron3002

ok so here's my next question.... Should I mainly stick with cardio to lose the fat and incorporate strength training later or does that really make much of a difference? I would like to get tone but I'm more interested in getting my stomach to a 33 or lower.
By the way... you all are great... So inspiring. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

duffyzmom

Stiring: I'm jealous I love PF Changs And actually their orders are usually so large that it isn't unusual to share. I've never checked out their calorie counts though so I'm sure you are making a good choice. As far as Mexican goes - it depends on the restaurant - we have a favorite mexican that always has some nice fish entrees and that is a good bet but if I'm at a Mexican restaurant my biggest obstacle would be the chips/salsa/guacamole.

Tron: You will be the best judge on where your focus needs to be. If you are the type of person that really needs some instant weight loss in order to maintain your motivation, then you would probably be better off sticking with cardio. If this is a lifestyle change goal for you and you are more long term focused, strength training will eventually give you the muscle that will help you lose weight more effectively and look great. I carry weight in my middle as well so I know how frustrating it can be to still have a larger waist than you want. Cardio and Ab work actually go really well together.

alf1163

Like alf, I think the thing that gets to me the most with junk food temptation is the aspect of social eating. When I'm at home, all is well. When I spent the weekend with my sister a couple of weeks ago, it took every ounce of self-control (and, quite frankly, some of her telling me to control myself) to not dig into the brownies with the rest of the family. I'm just glad she (and my husband) didn't encourage me to eat but did the exact opposite. But if I had stayed there more than a couple of days, I have no doubt that I would have been digging into the ice cream with her one night. I don't understand that at all, and I was actually pretty surprised to have that reaction.

I'm going to face some of my bigger 'food fears' this week as I'm eating out in restaurants for the first time since January both tomorrow and Saturday. But I've done my research and really just have to remember I don't have to eat everything on my plate, no matter what my mother told me as a child.

But, honestly, I'm doing well and holding my own in this maintenance mode I'm in right now. I feel really in control of my diet right now, and while my cravings are really bad sometimes, I am less and less tempted to give in to them. I think, for me, the biggest thing is that about a week ago, I really turned a corner with my fitness. I had been feeling for a while that my cardio was getting easier, but I was doing a really hard bootcamp type of workout recently, and I realized that I was jumping higher than I had in years. In so many ways, I feel like I'm 25 again (of course, I'm the weight I was when I was that old, so that might have something to do with it). And I'm absolutely loving the feeling right now and don't want to lose it. That's been a great motivator for me. I'm so prone to injury, I don't know how long this will last. (I hate being so negative, but negative sometimes is just realistic!), but it sure feels good right now.

Hope this finds everybody doing well!

You are doing a great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: :drinker: How was your meal at the restaurant today?? Maybe you have not eaten dinner yet. You will be fine. I have not really stopped going to restaurants at all. What I do is just select the healthiest meals on the menu, grilled chicken or fish, with veggies usually. If they serve bread I try one small piece and if it is not worth it I just don't eat anymore. I have to be careful with the bread or the chips if at a mexican restaurant!!! :noway: But like you I have been more in control when I go out to eat which is once or twice a week. :flowerforyou:

alf1163

Whew!!!! :noway: :noway: Soooooo many posts, I was reading for a while :laugh: :laugh: I needed to catch up...

Stiring, as Duffy said some mexican restaurants serve grilled fish, grilled chiken fajitas are a good choice as long as they are chicken breast. Choose corn tortillas instead of flour. Choose borracho or pinto beans instead of the refried beans. Control your portion of chips and guacamole. Best of all, enjoy your time with family!!!! :drinker:

Tron, it took me 8 months to lose 23 lbs. And I gained 9 in 3mos after that. Since Jan 09 I've lost about 6 out of the nine. As Singfree said the closer you get to your goal the slower the weight loss. You would have to make major changes in your lifestyle to lose it faster. I think 3lbs in a week are too many. Don't focus so much on the scale. I think if you focus on your nutrition and your workouts your body will start responding to it soon. I think it is very important to have a balanced workout, strength trng to include abs, cardio and flexibility. You can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be patient but be consistent!!

Singfree, you got on the scale?????????????? Wow!!! :laugh: :laugh: I did a body fat test using the calipers that I got with the ChaLean extreme program. I said I have 22.8% of body fat!!! I hope I did it right. I did it about twice one day and repeated it another day.

:flowerforyou:

singfree

Alf, I hope you were not in shock when you heard the news of my getting on the scale. We've both been here from the beginning and that was my first time on the scale since Jan. I sincerely think your body fat % is very good! Don't forget as we get older, we tend to carry a bit more fat around than when we were younger. I really think that Chalean will get you over the hump. You are at your goal weight, so the thing to work on is leaning out those last few lbs of body fat and adding a little more muscle. Your pix look great! But I know too well that we feel that we can improve..and yes we can!

Boy, did I bonk on my bike ride after work! I did not have enough fuel in my tank at the start and used up my glycogen reserves with about 3 miles to go. The last few miles are uphill so I was pretty wasted. I also did my usual workout routine at the gym at 5 am and noon. I biked around 22 miles and my HRM indicated 910 cals burned. No wonder I was out of gas!

alf1163

Singfree, you crack me up :noway: :laugh: :laugh: How can you exercise so much??? :noway:

According to the chart that came with the calipers I am in the lean category, below the ideal. The American Council on Exercise says that the acceptable range is up to 31% for women. I fall into the fitness category 21-24% Athlete range is 14-20% So it is pretty good for me. I am happy with it.

Swissmiss, glad to hear from you!!!! :drinker: We have not forgotten you. Hang in there girl!! You can do it!! :drinker: :drinker:

Cardigirl, welcome!!! I keep forgetting to reply to your post. Congrats on your accomplishments!!! You are exercising a lot!! How much are you eating? Make sure you eat enough. You could manually change the protein requirements so they reflect your ratio better. You are doing a great job!!

:flowerforyou:

tron3002

Thank you for all the advice. I guess I need to learn to be patient and quit looking for that "instant fix"... But if someone has it dont be afraid to throw it my way... Hahaha:laugh:

Singfree... 10% body fat? What is the normal range for a person your size? You seem to be in great shape.

Here's the one thing I am surprised about, is how many calories there actually are in the foods you eat. I never would have guessed that the salad I just ate could be 900+ calories!!!! No wonder why people gain so much weight...:noway: You think your eating some what healthy just because you order a salad but when I entered everything into my food journal, lets just say I was shocked....