Black Team- A Team of Champions!

Good morning,
Fairly new to MyFitnessPal and came across your forum team and I must say I was inspired by your first posts. I am hoping I can join your team, (Not sure if guys are aloud... lol. seem to be a minority in here.=) ).

Sure, join in. We have a few guys but yes, mostly chicks around here. Welcome!

Thx, Always nice to be surrounded by ladies.

Well guess I should start in a bit about myself then hey? I'll be working on my specific goals shortly here but the larger picture is few years ago I blew out my right knee and put on 30 lbs in a month after I had my surgery due to going from playing/coaching volleyball around 5 times a week. I've not really ever lost that weight. Enter to present where I've torn my ACL in my left knee playing none other then volleyball and am currently waiting for surgery. I've given up the sport so am currently readjusting my exercise needs which is difficult to say the least. My ultimate goal is to get down to around the 210 lb range and to get more fit again especially with my first child on the way in August. This will require a combination of eating better, and exercising more and of course retraining myself to get back into the groove but know I can do it.

Ok done babbling, and will have some more specific goals to follow.

Just one thing you forgot to tell us... your name! But welcome and thanks for sharing. Andrew and Beth- both black team members have a baby on the way too, we'll have lots of babies to talk about!

My husband played volleyball for the Air Force for a lot of years and his body took quite the beating from it too. Knee surgeries, shoulder surgery. His knees still aren't right and I guess never will be again. You guys and your volleyball- you play hard! My husband found biking was his best exercise choice in dealing with the knee problems.

Can't wait to hear your specific goals!

Alright, I’ve been promising to share this info with you guys for a while. I have searched for a good article online and can’t find one, so here goes, I will summarize and I’m warning you now- it’s gonna be long and I won't be offended if you skip it!

You all know I like the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book I bought. I like it for many reasons. #1- I like Tom’s theories, they aren’t off the wall, they aren’t quick fixes, and they are real, hard work stuff. He even says at one point if you’re looking for quick and easy, look elsewhere. (Well, duh….There is NO quick and easy, we all know that…..otherwise we wouldn’t have been overweight for years and years!)

I was never a fan of fad diets, I have never been one willing to cut out major food groups. So therefore, I really like what he has to say and how he says it. When I read it, it makes so much sense to me. So here goes………..

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There are plenty of stories of obese people eating very little, yet still being overweight. Think of people who are prisoners of war and survive on very little food. If the 3500 calorie rule= a pound of loss always applied, they would shrivel up to nothing, but they don’t.

Our bodies have a way of adapting. It’s something that developed years and years ago in humans. It was survival. When we had to hunt and gather food, there were times of shortage, bodies learned to adapt to those times. Your body recognizes the food shortage and decreases energy expenditure to protect you. It all leads to the starvation response we all hear about. The starvation response evolved to ensure we survived!

When you decrease calories your metabolism slows down. Eat less, body burns less, eat more, body burns more. Your metabolic rate decreases by 20-30% on restricted calorie diets and therefore after long times of cutting calories you can eat very little and not lose weight, it is also why the last 10 pounds is so hard. Not to mention your body is not sure when it will get more food, so it produces less fat burning enzymes and more fat storing enzymes, so it will be easier to store fat in the future. (Grrrreat, huh?)

Here’s another problem, you eat less, you slow down your metabolism, then you get sick of restricting your calories so much and you eat more… well, you’ve now slowed down your metabolism, so the food you eat is gained right back and then some, thanks to your slower metabolism. It’s the yo-yo dieting we’ve all done. Each time you severely restrict calories, your metabolism becomes less and less efficient and you can get fatter and fatter while eating less. (Makes you feel great about all your yo-yo diets of the past? HUH?)

(Ok, now the good news, ways to lose fat without screwing up your body!)

First, it’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle change. ( I think we all know that part)

Second, build and maintain as much muscle as possible. Muscle burns fat. (Yippee!)

Third, use a small calorie deficit. Figure out your recommended calories for maintenance level and cut that by 15-20%.

Forth, use exercise to burn the fat rather than trying to starve it.

Fifth, eat frequently and never skip meals, eat every three hours, keep your body burning fuel all day long to boost your metabolism

Sixth, don’t stay in a negative calorie balance for too long, when you hit a plateau and you are already eating low calories, it’s impossible to cut them much further. Eat more for a few days or a few weeks, get your metabolism burning again, let your body know its not starving. Zig-zagging calories or calorie cycling can help with this.

Me again... no rambling... just the cool part......

I have a book that stores all my old school stuff and report cards. The last weight I entered was in 10th grade, I was 16.


How flipping cool is that?