Mixed feelings

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Ileanak
Ileanak Posts: 343 Member
in Motivation and Support
Lets start with the frustrating feeling. I eat right. I buy organic and from farmers market, my diet is rich in veggies, lean meat and raw foods. I stay away from processed and fast food, and eat out once a week, and that is usually a sashimi meal. I don't drink sodas and I do get in my water. I eat my calories minus the recommended deficit for weight loss plus the calories I burn working out. and my indulgence is coffee in the morning with stevia and fat free milk. Aside from the once a month urge for dark chocolate, I remain pretty good about not indulging. I work out for an hour plus, 6 days a week to include jogging, biking, weightlifting and yoga. I am aware of my addiction to food, and have been able to keep it in check for years.

So why am I stuck, unable to lose the last 30 pounds to reach my goal? freak'in A!!!! Ugh!

Ok, the bright side. Even with arthritis in my hip, I am able to jog outside continuously for 28 minutes, which is the first time in my life that I have been able to do it (I usually only walk/shuffle). This summer I will complete my 4 and 5th sprint triathlons as well as the Urban Assault race. I can swim forever and bike for miles. I can lift more weight than many women in their 20's. I know, that even overweight, I am in better muscular and cardiovascular shape (cholesterol is 130) and I should count my blessings for that.

My husband will return after a year-long deployment in 5 weeks or so, and even though we will just miss our first anniversary (he left 3 weeks after the wedding), he will be home soon and that is all I care about.


So I have these mixed feelings. I know I should be really happy about everything, and let the emotional compulsion for reaching the goal drop away, but It tears me up inside every day. I hate feeling like this, and now the developing arthritis in my hip is causing another worry... what if I have to stop the running? Will I pack on the pounds? CRAP! I hate mental demons!!!

Ok, done ranting~

Today is a new day, as is tomorrow, right?

Replies

  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    It would be better if we could see your food diary. But, you mentioned you don't eat your exercise calories. You probably should - especially since you are getting so close to your goal. Once I hit the halfway mark my (about 30 lbs left) my weight loss just kind of stopped. So I have upped my calories and have been eating my exercise calories (because I wasn't diligent about eating all of them previously). Eat them so you can fuel your body and it should help you lose those pesky pounds! :smile:
  • Ileanak
    Ileanak Posts: 343 Member
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    No, I DO eat the exercise calories. I Use my BMR, subtract the recommended deficit amount for weight loss and add back in whatever I am burning that day for exercise. And I stay in the 40% protein, 30% carb and 20% fat ratios.
  • hanr
    hanr Posts: 20
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    I just have to say, congratulations! It seems to me that you are doing a great job of being healthy, and that is the best thing you can possibly do for yourself!

    I wasn't quite sure if you were eating your exercise calories from your post - if not, do!!!! Ditto what Stephanie said :) (Edit - good!)

    Maybe you aren't overweight for your body? Some people just aren't meant to be skinny, so if you're going by BMI alone consider your frame.. as silly as it sounds I actually think some people are big boned, and will never be tiny tiny people. I know that even if I had no fat on me I would still probably never fit into a size small.

    Also you might find that you aren't losing much weight because you are gaining muscle which weighs more than fat. Have you tried tracking your measurements instead?? Measure your waist, neck, arms and legs and see how much they are decreasing!

    It is frustrating when it seems nothing is happening but keep up the great work!!!! And chin up!! :)
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Okay. I just read it after the except. :tongue: Well you are getting a good amount of nutrients. Maybe change up your workout schedule - try to get more strength training?

    Sometimes the body just won't budge. Frustrating, I know. Just keep at it and see how it goes. Hopefully it budges soon. Or maybe adjust by zip zagging your calories (having the same calorie goal at the end of the week but some days eating more some eating less throughout the week).

    But, you're right, today is a new day! Sometimes we all just need to get the weight loss frustrations off our chest. Have you been measuring yourself? That says a lot more than the scale
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    I hope you really enjoy your time with your hubby when he returns too! :flowerforyou:
  • lt_mrcook
    lt_mrcook Posts: 389 Member
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    Well you could be over trained. Maybe give yourself 2 days off (off being yoga, stretching, etc...NO workout per se) per week and see if that helps. See if splitting your runs up into run and walk segments helps with yor hip at all. You can still manage the same overall pace, but it cuts down on the pounding a little. Is the hip genetic or injury related?
    Second, have you thought that some of the weight you might need to lose is muscle? When you lift, are you focusing on lighter weights and higher reps? I know personally to hit my goal weight of 180, I will have to lose some muscle since zero %BF isn't a realistic goal. So I'll need to lose 15-20 lbs of muscle too, especially as I approach my goal weight.
    Congrats on your accomplishment so far. Take pride in how healty you are, and your level of fitness. Don't rely on the scale, as it's not your friend. Good luck, and here's crossed fingers that your hip doesn't get worse.

    Edit - As an endurance athlete (Triathlons, sprit or other wise) I think you may want to adjust your diet. Carbs are HUGELY important, and 30% isn't nearly enough. Switch to 40C/30P/20F and see if that helps.
  • marjaskow
    marjaskow Posts: 81
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    I totally understand your frustration. I've lost about 70 but still want to lose another 50. It really has slowed down no matter what I do. When I just got into being able to run/jog and realized I had arthritis in my knee. I also had to give up jump roping which I was really getting good at. Bought a 5 pound weighted rope and had to return it. I find a lot of other things I can do instead, but every once in awhile the pain slows me down. I take Glucosamine Chondroitin and it seems to help & it supposed to slow down the arthritis from getting worse. I didn't realize it was helping til I stopped using it for awhile. Before that I was taking anti inflammatory pills for the pain (nuproxin) I gained 4 pounds the first week. My dr didn't think it was from them but I researched it & it is a possible side effect. After a month of weight gains I went off it and lost 3 pounds the first week off. So if you are taking any meds at all, see if water retention or weight gain are possible effects.
    One other thing that was suggested and scared me to try was to stop or really cut back exercsie for one week. Obviously I only maintained, being very careful what I ate, But then the next week when I went back to normal I had a good loss again. I was told it as tricking my metabolism since it was used to my routine already. I don't do it often as I am afraid if I quit exercise too often I may not keep with it again.
    I'm always open for suggestions too as to how to keep the losses going since it has slowed down so much.
  • becca78
    becca78 Posts: 6
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    Not sure if this will help you any but I have a friend who is a personal trainer and a few years back I was a lot more fit then I am now. But I to was having trouble losing my last bit of weight. He switched up my work out routine and it helped out so much. Like if I was going to do weights at the gym. I would do three minutes free weights then three minutes cardio then three minutes machine then three minutes on leg lunges. This is just a example. I to always did yoga which I still do to this day but I also added aerobics classes a few days a week. I really think its good to switch up your work out completely as you loose more weight. I feel like its good to push your body in different ways of work outs. I feel like your body gets use to the same everyday work out routines. Hope this helps.
  • Ileanak
    Ileanak Posts: 343 Member
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    Well you could be over trained. Maybe give yourself 2 days off (off being yoga, stretching, etc...NO workout per se) per week and see if that helps. See if splitting your runs up into run and walk segments helps with yor hip at all. You can still manage the same overall pace, but it cuts down on the pounding a little. Is the hip genetic or injury related?
    Second, have you thought that some of the weight you might need to lose is muscle? When you lift, are you focusing on lighter weights and higher reps?
    Edit - As an endurance athlete (Triathlons, sprit or other wise) I think you may want to adjust your diet. Carbs are HUGELY important, and 30% isn't nearly enough. Switch to 40C/30P/20F and see if that helps.

    good advise, thanks. The his was injury induced. Dislocated them badly in HS, and was in a body cast. Then I spend 10+ years at 300lbs before losing 120. the last 30 are sucking hard! lol
    A few weeks ago I let back on the weights and added more cardio. Not only did I feel I was on a muscle plateau, but these are the months I train for the tri's and that means more endurance cardio. I think after 3 weeks of minimal weights, i am about to start up again, although I must keep the elevated endurance training. I have to say... stupid scale.... humph

    becca78: I have always advocated the switching up. People laugh at me becasue I do a little bit of everything, every week.... How do you "switch-up" an already switched up routine? LOL Thanks for the examples, though. I think I could encourporate some of that... Like interval sprints with core exercises between the runs.

    And thank you all for your support and ideas. I am sure it is just a frustrating morning!
  • rheston
    rheston Posts: 638
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    First of all, let me once again congratulate you for being a military wife. I spent 3 tours in Vietnam, I was in the first Desert War, Bosnia and many other places around the world and had it not been for my wife being there managing our lives from far away I don't think i would have survived some of the things I had to endure. It takes a very special person to be the spouse of a military member.

    Regarding your dilemma, there is another situation that may be taking place, one I personally experienced early on in my program, and that is the website may be double calculating some of the numbers you've entered. What this equates to is having you eat more calories than you should resulting in a "wall" effect in your weight loss effort or a gain in weight.

    Because the formula used by the website to calculate my calorie requirements was based on the activities I was doing at the time I enrolled I believe it then produced a recommended calorie intake for the exercise I did on a daily basis. However, and I believe it still holds true today, I found that the recommended calories I was supposed to eat before working out were already calculated so when when I worked out it seemed that I was given more to eat.

    I backed off the exercise bonus calories a little at a time by about 500 calories a day for the first week and increasing that number until I started to lose weight instead of holding steady or gaining weight. I approached this in a safe manner.

    I'm not suggesting that your situation is the same but I am suggesting that if you're not feeling hungry during the day then you could experiment, like I did, with gradually reducing your calorie intake to see how that affects your loss figures.

    There is one other thing to consider and that's your workout routine. Often times the body gets used to a routine and therefore anticipates the burn and compensates for the work out almost defeating your efforts. You should try to switch up your workout routine like a runner in training you could workout really intensely over a shorter period of time once each week to shock your system. When my legs were good enough to run I would do interval training which was basically running a portions of my daily 6 mile run (once a week) at nearly an all out pace. Half a mile as hard as I could, quarter mile, very relaxed, quarter mile at a moderate pace, one mile at a normal pace, etc until the six miles was up. I would then go to the gym and do strictly upper body workouts. The rest of the week I would keep my routine.

    Today I do what I can given the equipment I have and the time available but I still manage to get this type of interval training into my calendar once a week -- and I move the day of the week around so that I don't get into a routine that my body can anticipate.

    Just thoughts you may want to consider.

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