Progress report!

tatiana131

I just really feel the need to say that the weight is finally starting to budge - one month in. I'm on week 3 of Couch to 5K, and even though it's not getting any easier, at least I'm getting it done, and kind of look forward to it oddly enough.

Clean eating is fairly easy to stick to Monday to Friday, but weekends are really tough. I can eat a reasonable breakfast - lunch, but am Starving by supper and down the hatch go a large steak and scalloped potatoes. Perhaps it's okay all things considering? I figure I still run a weekly deficit even with the binge-like meals.

How's everyone else coming along? Anyone else running? My current program is C25K 3X/week, weight training 1X/week.

Leslie_artist

Am not a runner since I stopped playing soccer - have never been able to be motivated to run without a ball involved. :-) I salute anyone going for a distance run like you are!

You might try eating more small meals - my trainer has suggested that avoiding getting hungry makes it a lot easier to eat clean. That said, I try to indulge more on at least one weekend day - feel like the reward makes it easier to stay on target the rest of the time. My go-to snacks are an ounce of cashews or pistachios or a piece of fruit or a yogurt - protein is better than the sugar in fruit alone though - holds off starvation longer and keeps my blood sugar from dropping and making me feel crappy.

trail_seeker

I hit a plateau a while back, and then also started having an insatiable appetite. I'm similar to you in that I have a reasonable breakfast and lunch, but dinner and late night snacks get the best of me (and usually make up nearly 70% of my daily calories).

One small change that made for a huge improvement was to add low-calorie bulk to my diet. I started by adding one cup of steamed vegetables to all my lunches. Frozen veggie mixes, string beans, broccoli was easiest.

Over time, I realised I started replacing starches and processed carbs for these veggies and felt like I really was eating cleaner. It also got my over the plateau. I still let myself snack, but replaced Cheez-Its and late night bowls of cereal for full sized raw carrots (only 30 calories!), canned fruit salad, fresh oranges and dried prunes (one of my favorite dried fruits).

As a vegetarian, I also went through a slump trying to figure out how to get more protein in my diet to feel fuller. Bowls of pasts and lots of bread filled me up, but didn't quell hunger over the long term. I also didn't want to rely on processed soy products at each meal. So now my breakfast consists of a protein shake made with whey, I snack on cottage cheese or boiled eggs in the afternoon, and eat beans, fried eggs or tofu for dinner.

I should mention this plateau hit about month into a 10k training program which is sort of aggravating. But I got through it and went from being a slacker running just once or twice a week, to three or four times a week. I don't know about you, but when I up my activity, I find I want to eat healthier. It's all connected. You will start seeing results, but I would worry less about the scale (which is a ***** when I'm PMSing and retaining water) and check in more with how you feel.

One last thought - I've heard one suggestion that calls for taking the total number of calories per week and dividing them unequally to throw your body off (if your daily is 1600, do 1700 one day, 1500 another day, 1400 the next day, 1600 the next day, etc) . It sounds like this is a bit of what you're doing already. This is similar to Weight Watchers points program which gives you a daily amount plus an extra number of points for the entire week that you to choose how you want to eat.

brigittejt

I'm not really losing any weight, but I attribute that to the long runs (training for a half marathon) which make me STARVING. I have wonderfully muscled legs though, and my waist is thinning out.

Am trying to clean up my diet, but my willpower gives whenever I get hungry and I am all EAT ALL THE CARBS instead of stopping and taking a couple of minutes to gather fruit/veges etc. I must get back into the habit of keeping hardboiled eggs in the fridge.

DMStevens71

This is week eight of my restarted workout routine. I've been out of the gym for about three years but started again in February. I'm mostly sedentary but in the morning I can walk the kid to the bus, continue on to the gym just a few blocks away, and return home via the local coffee shop before starting work. It's a nice, new routine and it's working pretty good.

On MWF I run for 10 minutes then weight train for 20-30 minutes. I've been using the Android free app "Gym Book Demo" to track weight training. I liked it enough to upgrade to the paid ($3?) version.
On TR I run for 20 minutes and stretch.
On SS I take a "break" by working on house projects.

I work from home, so eating predictably (no, don't call it a rut!) is pretty easy. I cook on Sundays and usually eat some version of leftovers throughout the week. I log my recipes and then add them from the food diary without needing to look up many additional food items. Things that work well for me:
1. Making a lot of steel cut oatmeal on Monday and refrigerating for use throughout the week.
2. Making a big pot of soup: lentil, minestrone, or some other legume-based recipe, and eating that for lunch the rest of the week.
3. Stop eating after 7:00PM unless there's something special going on with food later in the evening.
4. Gum, minty, for when I feel like grazing in the kitchen (which can be easy to do).

GenXTomboy

I'm a gum fan, too! I hope to get better at a big, weekly cook to eat during the week, but spring/summer tends to be manageable with grilling, etc. Winter, however....

trail_seeker

Gum is a great thing to have for that anxious need to chew. I find when I stress eat, it's on something crunchy like chips or M&Ms. Gum fills the same need without the calories.