Last 10lbs Group - GTKY

Mamakatspokane

Thanks for the welcome! Nice to know that I'm not alone in the last 10 being killer!:flowerforyou:

princesspurple

I did 3.5 on the treadmill yesterday-plan on doing 4 today. I have a long run planned for Sunday-my longest one ever=8 miles. I plan on weighing less on Tuesday.....I am trying so hard! How can you keep working so hard and nothing happen:)???

Mamakatspokane-I saw your pics and you have melted away! You look fantastic!

Mamakatspokane

I did 3.5 on the treadmill yesterday-plan on doing 4 today. I have a long run planned for Sunday-my longest one ever=8 miles. I plan on weighing less on Tuesday.....I am trying so hard! How can you keep working so hard and nothing happen:)???

Mamakatspokane-I saw your pics and you have melted away! You look fantastic!

Thanks for the compliment!:blushing: I feel much much better!!! I think that would be a good goal for me this weekend too! Drinking all my water this weekend! Thanks for the idea!

ellipse22

AHHHH I can't catch up now LOL

Congrats to all the weigh in losers today! Those that didn't...bad week...move forward!!!!

TOM is rearing it's ugly head and I'm in a bad mood today....I need chocolate or junk!! Maybe even a glass of wine UGH!!

On a better note, my shoes are in and my orthotics should be in next week which means I am that much closer to exercising..I'm excited for that!

We need to start coming up with challenges for March. Post your suggestions and majority will rule.

My suggestion:

Water challenge

Dom_m

Excellent, I just joined this group (I'm making the assumption the ticket is being in your last 10lbs). Sorry this is a bit long - turned into a life story! Hope its interesting anyway.

I haven't read everyone else's posts yet (3.45am - I'm up after 4 hours sleep cause I've got stuff due in 7 hours) but I will. Just can't resist writing this first.

So the short story: fat all my childhood (I don't blame my parents, I was very difficult). Went to boarding school and got fatter (they let you eat quite a bit, and none of it good for you). When I started uni at age 18 I was 108kg (put on 8kg over summer holidays I think). Most of the the next 2 years living in a catered residential college, I was around 100 +/- 1 or 2. Then I moved off campus.

I still remember the first time I went to supermarket
Me: "Ok, where's the steak?... WTF? $9? I can get three beers for $9!! Show me the rice!!!"
Enter 6 months of eating boiled white rice, baked beans, chilli, coffee and not much else (my parents would've supported me, but I didn't want to rely on them, so I had a $100/week budget after rent, and that was a 20:80 split on food:alcohol).
I now also had to walk / cycle 5-6km each way to get to uni. And I lived in the city for the first time in my life, so suddenly started traipsing all over it, getting to know the ins and outs. I lost about 10kg (22lbs) in a month, another 10kg over the next 3-6 months (can't quite remember the timing)... and then I was suddenly NOT FAT for the first time in my life (of course a lot of that weight was muscle since I did nothing but walking for exercise and ate very little protein, I still wasn't trim, but I was just a bit soft, not fat).

Then I started reading about ethics, morality, philosophy and after I realised what my own values were it was obvious that I needed to be vegan. That meant I started thinking about what I was eating A LOT. I became much more healthy in terms of nutritional intake. It was pretty easy for me since on the whole I hadn't eaten meat for 6 months when I decided to stop. It still took 6 more months to cut out cheese, eggs (stuff's in everything!) etc. Got quite trim, but never toned.

This lasted 2 years, then I lived in China for a year. Food is AWESOME in China, even for a vegan (takes a bit of convincing people that you actually DON'T want meat of any kind, at all, though. Best if you can speak Chinese, which I could after a couple of months of living there). Lost about 8kg by cutting rice out of my diet (ironic, huh?) because the food was soooo good and cheap, if I ate rice there was no room in my stomach for that second plate of awesome. Did a lot of running, mostly at fairly high altitudes and long distances (usually I ran for about 1 hour). For the first time in my life I enjoyed running. Places I lived meant after about 1 minute I was running through rice paddies, past lakes with mountains all around. Most beautiful places I've ever been, and that's what I see every time I run now Weighed in at 73kg (161 lb) which is light for 183cm (6'0") and male, age 23. This was the lightest I'd been since age 15, and at that time I bout a pair of jeans which were tight, but just fit and I now fit into again.

Got back from China after a year, put on a bit, but not much. Mostly hung around 78-85kg for the next 6 years, sometimes fitter sometimes not depending on exercise commitment, lifestyle factors ect.

Found myself at 91kg last June (age 29) having done no exercise for 18 months. Started gym regularly. Lucked into group fitness and loved it in August. Started going to ALL the classes my gym offered (20 hours / week). For 5 months last year I spent about 15-20 hours / week at the gym, working hard! Lost about 4kg. I thought that was ok - definitely fitter, healthier, better flexibility, exercise wasn't a challenge again, lung capacity up, could run 14km in 75mins, but not much fat loss for all the effort I was putting in. Decided I needed to pay attention to the food side of the equation as well.

Found MFP on the iphone on Friday, 15 Jan (still age 29). Instantly loved it and showed all my friends, who thought it was ridiculous to go to so much effort.

Started tracking with a 1450 calorie target (85kg, 183cm, ~95-97cm naval circumference). By 5pm I'd eaten about 800 calories. I wasn't intending to eat the rest of the day. Oops! There's your problem: no metabolism. And guess what? Friday, 5pm is Beer o'clock. Oops! There's your calories! I really held back and drank lots of water between each beer and still passed my 1450 by a major margin. Welcome to giant red calorie numbers! That big red number meant I drank about 4 less beers than I likely would have.

I started eating more (almost constantly!). I regained my enthusiasm for macrobiotics. I started exercising less (about 10hrs / week). I started reading these forums, and other things online. I've been a bit obsessive about it really. After 1 week I could see my micro-nutrients weren't getting above 40%. Invested in multivitamins and extra effort to eat more variety.

1st week, lost 2kg, second week lost 1kg, started tracking my measurements (93cm naval down to 90cm in the second week) and started to notice my hair looked less receding. 3rd week, no weight change, and some measurements up 0.5cm, some down 0.5cm, but basically I felt good and enthusiastic. 4th week: 1kg, 1cm, people start commenting. 5th week: 3kg, 2cm.

That brings me to today. Over the last 5 weeks, I've eaten double what would have and done 30% less exercise than I was the past 6 months. I lost 7kg and 5cm (only measured this in the last 4 weeks). Have the best muscle definition I've ever had and my hair is about as thick as it was when I was 22 (almost, but it seems to be getting better each week).

I had a fitness assessment at the gym and they said I was the fittest person they'd had through for months. Had a blood test for general nutrition (I do this occasionally, since I've been vegan now for 10 years) and everything was good, except slightly elevated thyroxine (I think that was it). I have to have a second test next week to confirm this.

And now I'm up to THAT LAST 10LB.
Started HIIT training in a very moderate way last week. Will substitute this more and more over the next few weeks. University is in its o-week (just ending) and I live on campus in a graduate wing of a residential college. Decided I wanted to actually meet everyone this year, as opposed to last year, so I've been joining the festivities and meeting all the kiddies. Went on the first Inward Bound training on Wednesday (this is an orienteering race with divisions ranging from 30-100km runs to get home). Ran those kids into the ground: keeping the group together meant faster people had to run to the back of the group whenever they got more than 100m or so ahead. It was like an hour long rolling beep test!!!

Trying to get to grips with my new image as "the fit guy". Its really weird. I hated exercise all my life until I got to China (age 23)!! Wasn't ever as into it as I have been the past 7 months though. Feeling excellent and looking forward doing this last bit with you all, before getting to the maintenance stage

courtney_love2001

Hey guys! I like the water challenge...maybe mine should be cut down on the caffeine (coffee) because I drink over a gallon of water a day! We should also add get at least X number of workouts in per week. I have been struggling with this and haven't been in a week :frown: Maybe even just one workout a week would be good, though that would probably never get these last 10 off!

Oh and I also wanted to ask you guys what you think about maintenance? I see that mamakat mentioned it, and I am kind of worried about it too. I don't want to be counting calories my whole life, and I don't want to lose anymore when I get to goal. I feel like I could overcompensate and not eat enough unless I am seeing the numbers every day. I know I have learned the correct way to eat here at MFP, I'm just scared a little I guess. Won't have my safety blanket anymore. UGH why is so easy to gain and so hard for everything else?!

girlygirl82

Last week: 160.2lbs
This week: 158.0lbs

Next weeks goal: 157.0lbs

Woo Hoo!! Way to go! : )

ellipse22

Excellent, I just joined this group (I'm making the assumption the ticket is being in your last 10lbs). Sorry this is a bit long - turned into a life story! Hope its interesting anyway.

I haven't read everyone else's posts yet (3.45am - I'm up after 4 hours sleep cause I've got stuff due in 7 hours) but I will. Just can't resist writing this first.

So the short story: fat all my childhood (I don't blame my parents, I was very difficult). Went to boarding school and got fatter (they let you eat quite a bit, and none of it good for you). When I started uni at age 18 I was 108kg (put on 8kg over summer holidays I think). Most of the the next 2 years living in a catered residential college, I was around 100 +/- 1 or 2. Then I moved off campus.

I still remember the first time I went to supermarket
Me: "Ok, where's the steak?... WTF? $9? I can get three beers for $9!! Show me the rice!!!"
Enter 6 months of eating boiled white rice, baked beans, chilli, coffee and not much else (my parents would've supported me, but I didn't want to rely on them, so I had a $100/week budget after rent, and that was a 20:80 split on food:alcohol).
I now also had to walk / cycle 5-6km each way to get to uni. And I lived in the city for the first time in my life, so suddenly started traipsing all over it, getting to know the ins and outs. I lost about 10kg (22lbs) in a month, another 10kg over the next 3-6 months (can't quite remember the timing)... and then I was suddenly NOT FAT for the first time in my life (of course a lot of that weight was muscle since I did nothing but walking for exercise and ate very little protein, I still wasn't trim, but I was just a bit soft, not fat).

Then I started reading about ethics, morality, philosophy and after I realised what my own values were it was obvious that I needed to be vegan. That meant I started thinking about what I was eating A LOT. I became much more healthy in terms of nutritional intake. It was pretty easy for me since on the whole I hadn't eaten meat for 6 months when I decided to stop. It still took 6 more months to cut out cheese, eggs (stuff's in everything!) etc. Got quite trim, but never toned.

This lasted 2 years, then I lived in China for a year. Food is AWESOME in China, even for a vegan (takes a bit of convincing people that you actually DON'T want meat of any kind, at all, though. Best if you can speak Chinese, which I could after a couple of months of living there). Lost about 8kg by cutting rice out of my diet (ironic, huh?) because the food was soooo good and cheap, if I ate rice there was no room in my stomach for that second plate of awesome. Did a lot of running, mostly at fairly high altitudes and long distances (usually I ran for about 1 hour). For the first time in my life I enjoyed running. Places I lived meant after about 1 minute I was running through rice paddies, past lakes with mountains all around. Most beautiful places I've ever been, and that's what I see every time I run now Weighed in at 73kg (161 lb) which is light for 183cm (6'0") and male, age 23. This was the lightest I'd been since age 15, and at that time I bout a pair of jeans which were tight, but just fit and I now fit into again.

Got back from China after a year, put on a bit, but not much. Mostly hung around 78-85kg for the next 6 years, sometimes fitter sometimes not depending on exercise commitment, lifestyle factors ect.

Found myself at 91kg last June (age 29) having done no exercise for 18 months. Started gym regularly. Lucked into group fitness and loved it in August. Started going to ALL the classes my gym offered (20 hours / week). For 5 months last year I spent about 15-20 hours / week at the gym, working hard! Lost about 4kg. I thought that was ok - definitely fitter, healthier, better flexibility, exercise wasn't a challenge again, lung capacity up, could run 14km in 75mins, but not much fat loss for all the effort I was putting in. Decided I needed to pay attention to the food side of the equation as well.

Found MFP on the iphone on Friday, 15 Jan (still age 29). Instantly loved it and showed all my friends, who thought it was ridiculous to go to so much effort.

Started tracking with a 1450 calorie target (85kg, 183cm, ~95-97cm naval circumference). By 5pm I'd eaten about 800 calories. I wasn't intending to eat the rest of the day. Oops! There's your problem: no metabolism. And guess what? Friday, 5pm is Beer o'clock. Oops! There's your calories! I really held back and drank lots of water between each beer and still passed my 1450 by a major margin. Welcome to giant red calorie numbers! That big red number meant I drank about 4 less beers than I likely would have.

I started eating more (almost constantly!). I regained my enthusiasm for macrobiotics. I started exercising less (about 10hrs / week). I started reading these forums, and other things online. I've been a bit obsessive about it really. After 1 week I could see my micro-nutrients weren't getting above 40%. Invested in multivitamins and extra effort to eat more variety.

1st week, lost 2kg, second week lost 1kg, started tracking my measurements (93cm naval down to 90cm in the second week) and started to notice my hair looked less receding. 3rd week, no weight change, and some measurements up 0.5cm, some down 0.5cm, but basically I felt good and enthusiastic. 4th week: 1kg, 1cm, people start commenting. 5th week: 3kg, 2cm.

That brings me to today. Over the last 5 weeks, I've eaten double what would have and done 30% less exercise than I was the past 6 months. I lost 7kg and 5cm (only measured this in the last 4 weeks). Have the best muscle definition I've ever had and my hair is about as thick as it was when I was 22 (almost, but it seems to be getting better each week).

I had a fitness assessment at the gym and they said I was the fittest person they'd had through for months. Had a blood test for general nutrition (I do this occasionally, since I've been vegan now for 10 years) and everything was good, except slightly elevated thyroxine (I think that was it). I have to have a second test next week to confirm this.

And now I'm up to THAT LAST 10LB.
Started HIIT training in a very moderate way last week. Will substitute this more and more over the next few weeks. University is in its o-week (just ending) and I live on campus in a graduate wing of a residential college. Decided I wanted to actually meet everyone this year, as opposed to last year, so I've been joining the festivities and meeting all the kiddies. Went on the first Inward Bound training on Wednesday (this is an orienteering race with divisions ranging from 30-100km runs to get home). Ran those kids into the ground: keeping the group together meant faster people had to run to the back of the group whenever they got more than 100m or so ahead. It was like an hour long rolling beep test!!!

Trying to get to grips with my new image as "the fit guy". Its really weird. I hated exercise all my life until I got to China (age 23)!! Wasn't ever as into it as I have been the past 7 months though. Feeling excellent and looking forward doing this last bit with you all, before getting to the maintenance stage

What an amazing story! I'm not clear on the whole kg's etc but it sounds like you've done really well!!

Welcome

ellipse22

Hey guys! I like the water challenge...maybe mine should be cut down on the caffeine (coffee) because I drink over a gallon of water a day! We should also add get at least X number of workouts in per week. I have been struggling with this and haven't been in a week :frown: Maybe even just one workout a week would be good, though that would probably never get these last 10 off!

I like the caffeine challenge as well. I have 1 tea at home in the morning and then a medium coffee for when I first go to work. My shift changes on occasion so sometimes it's only 1 coffee or tea a day as of late. I've struggled with this but it's getting better!!

I like the workout challenges but wont' be able to participate just yet as I am waiting for my stuff to come in and then I actually have to join a gym. I am hoping to join by mid March.

ellipse22

Hey guys! I like the water challenge...maybe mine should be cut down on the caffeine (coffee) because I drink over a gallon of water a day! We should also add get at least X number of workouts in per week. I have been struggling with this and haven't been in a week :frown: Maybe even just one workout a week would be good, though that would probably never get these last 10 off!

Oh and I also wanted to ask you guys what you think about maintenance? I see that mamakat mentioned it, and I am kind of worried about it too. I don't want to be counting calories my whole life, and I don't want to lose anymore when I get to goal. I feel like I could overcompensate and not eat enough unless I am seeing the numbers every day. I know I have learned the correct way to eat here at MFP, I'm just scared a little I guess. Won't have my safety blanket anymore. UGH why is so easy to gain and so hard for everything else?!

I think I will use this site for quite some time while I am maintaining. So far I've already learned alot about calorie intake and what to eat and not to eat..but it's still a learning process.

I think we will all get to a point in which we will feel comfortable enough to let go of the security blanket..I'm not there yet but I know I am maintain..I did it for 6 years. I also know what i've done to gain the weight back so it's a matter of making sure that doesn't happen again!!

girlygirl82

I like the water challenge.... I think sometimes we forget how important our water consumptuion is.

So there you have it... my vote is water!

SarahJoy_79

Water challenge sounds good to me! Some days I do great getting all my water in and others (especially weekends) I drink MAYBE 1 glass of water a day....Yikes!

ATXrunner

So my question to you girls is how to get an idea of a realistic goal weight, especially for someone with an athletic build. I run 25-30 miles per week on top of strength training/cardio (I love Jillian Michaels!) and eat well but my progress has ground to a halt. Anyone else dealing with a plateau?

I'm not really sure how to set a realistic goal weight. I figure if its in the "range" for your height than your ok. I've set a body fat % goal though. I am currently at 26% and I'd like to get down to 24%. I'm not muscular at all and I'm not interested in being under 20% - so 24% should do.

Also, about the plateau... I haven't really experienced a full on plateau yet. But I would suggest playing with your macro-nutrients (carbs, fat, protein, etc). I recently set mine to 40%, 30%, 30% (carbs, fat, protein) within MFP and do my best to meet those percents daily. Just a thought.

Thanks for the advice on macronutrients. After reading a bit about my body type, I think I'll try a 30% 30% 40% (carbs, fat, protein). Setting a goal for lower body fat rather than weight or even measurements is a great idea. Thanks!

ellipse22

Water is winning!

We can do weekly or bi-weekly challenges if that works for everyone.

I will start a new thread soon to discuss challenges as this one is getting long...but I'll wait till later this afternoon!

francis_adriro

Hello Everyone! I'm Francis, 23 years old and would love to join this group. My goal is 10 lbs! I'm weighing in today.

Feb. 18th - 131 lbs

lose2cruise

I've been sooooo good drinking my water lately!!!:drinker:

Dom_m

What an amazing story! I'm not clear on the whole kg's etc but it sounds like you've done really well!!

Welcome

Thanks!!

As for kg's, just double them then add a bit:
1kg = 2.2lb
108kg = 238lb (peak weight, age 18)
87kg = 191lb (found MFP, 5 weeks ago)
80kg = 176lb (current)
77kg = 170lb (approximate target)

cm to inch, halve and take off a bit:
1cm = 0.4"
93cm = 36.6" (found MFP - widest part around naval)
87.5cm = 34.4" (current)
85cm = 33.4" (approximate target)

As for water, I've been getting about 12-14 cups / day, but supposedly (according to the gym's electrical impedance gizmo) I'm full of retained water, so I'm all for using this as a goal in combination with lower sodium (gotta find a better way to cook Chinese style)

ellipse22

I've been sooooo good drinking my water lately!!!:drinker:

AWESOME!!

lose2cruise

Just spilled a glass all over my desk! Arghhhh!:mad:

ellipse22

Go figure!

I haven't had much water today. I'm having a bad day and probably not going to get much more in. I need an early bedtime!