Is it me or is it my body?
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Just to warn you, I once tried those and thought they were horrible -- slimy in texture and squeaky against the teeth. I managed to swallow, but then it just sat there in my stomach. Not worth the money, IMHO! Zoodles are much better.
I actually like them fine (although it probably varies by brand and preparation method). They're expensive, unfortunately, but so is buying prepared noodles made out of vegetables. (We have courgetti here, which I'm pretty sure is the same thing as zoodles, but we also have "noodles" made out of carrot or butternut squash - the butternut is my favourite.) I'd happily prepare my own, but I've got to buy a spiralizer before I can do that...
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Update:
My partner and I spoke to our doctor. He had his calorie allowance raised; I did not (because I'm so small in terms of frame size that raising it even a tiny bit has a disproportionate impact). We were both encouraged to eat back more exercise calories.
The doctor also said that we were probably doing enough exercise, but - on the advice of this thread, and because we wanted to - we decided to implement more strength training anyway. After trying a few things (NHS Strength & Flex, "You Are Your Own Gym"), we settled on a half-hour full-body strength workout based on the Sworkit app three days a week. (We also do three two-hour aikido classes a week on the other days, and the final day is usually spent walking anywhere from two to six hours.)
Progress will definitely be slower, and I'm not entirely sure I see how this will help get us off that plateau, but I guess we'll see what happens.0 -
I think it's important to see exercise as a part of your day, something you do naturally, not a chore. So for me walking, gardening, volunteering, cycling instead of driving - those are the 'forever' activities. At the weekends hiking, or swimming or kyacking might be fun. In the evenings go dancing or join a yoga class. These are all things that you should be able to fit into a normal social life.
[Calorie counting] That's the easy part; continuing to raise the activity levels when exercise is so time-consuming will be the hard part.
If your existing social life revolves around fast food and the pub, it might be time to widen your circle of friends.
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Vegplotter wrote: »I think it's important to see exercise as a part of your day, something you do naturally, not a chore. So for me walking, gardening, volunteering, cycling instead of driving - those are the 'forever' activities. At the weekends hiking, or swimming or kyacking might be fun. In the evenings go dancing or join a yoga class. These are all things that you should be able to fit into a normal social life.
If your existing social life revolves around fast food and the pub, it might be time to widen your circle of friends.
Very much the opposite. We're both non-drinkers with very little money, so fast food and the pub make poor bedfellows for us. Unfortunately, we both work full-time, have commutes we can't do actively (too far to walk and we don't own bicycles - which would also be a challenge - so we're stuck with public transit), and have creative sideline careers, so those things take up most of our days, not social activities.
We do as much lifestyle exercise as we can - three two-hour aikido classes per week, walking to all of our errands (groceries, appointments, etc.), and long weekend hikes (usually anywhere from two to six hours of walking to/from, not counting any walking we do at our destination, e.g. if we're running errands while there). Those are our "forever" activities - but that's also what I meant by "time-consuming," because six hours of walking is a lot of creative or busywork time to lose! We've just implemented a half-hour bodyweight strength training routine three mornings a week as well, but we'll have to see if we can get that to stick as well as the other things have.0 -
I love this thread topic. Who are we and what are our bodies? Where does one stop and one begin? Really makes you think.0
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Hi im Jake!
So your on 1200 calories a day? How does that break down into macros?
I dont want to sound a cliche but honestly your not eating enough.
I understand counting calories is a very useful tool but I wouldn't count them for the time being, Id count my carbs fats and proteins, which ultimately is more specific than calories.
1gram of carb is 4 kcal
1 gram of protein is 4 kcal
1 gram of fat is 9 kcal
But I never count mine, I usually sit around 2250 for weight loss which sounds very high compared to everyone else but the majority comes from protein and fats (which are what you need for weight loss)
Try dropping your carbs , raising your protein and raising your fats.
I'd say stay between 170-200g protein
80-100g of fat
and 80g of carbs
ultimately it does depend on your weight and height too.
I'd aim to lose 2 lbs of FAT per week, not weight too
once you drop your carbs you'll see the results you deserve for your hard work, but remember keep fats and proteins high.
Oh and when you eat carbs eat them around exercise 1 hour before and straight after!
Message me or add me for any further help!1 -
Hi! Thanks for responding.
Very much the opposite. We're both non-drinkers with very little money, so fast food and the pub make poor bedfellows for us. Unfortunately, we both work full-time, have commutes we can't do actively (too far to walk and we don't own bicycles - which would also be a challenge - so we're stuck with public transit), and have creative sideline careers, so those things take up most of our days, not social activities.
We do as much lifestyle exercise as we can - three two-hour aikido classes per week, walking to all of our errands (groceries, appointments, etc.), and long weekend hikes (usually anywhere from two to six hours of walking to/from, not counting any walking we do at our destination, e.g. if we're running errands while there). Those are our "forever" activities - but that's also what I meant by "time-consuming," because six hours of walking is a lot of creative or busywork time to lose! We've just implemented a half-hour bodyweight strength training routine three mornings a week as well, but we'll have to see if we can get that to stick as well as the other things have.
I wonder whether it isn't time to increase calories (counterintuitive I know) and decrease exercise. Also cut out eating the exercise calories (if you are) You may be building muscle now, which is heavier than fat. (And you can have too much of a good thing muscle wise I'd say!)
Do it very gradually. The NHS here advise about 30mins exercise a day -as long as you do it regularly.
As long as your target weight is reasonable I'm guessing that you will eventually reach it, but very slowly. It's worth waiting for. And I'd say, the slower you make this transition from losing to maintenance the better.
It's really important to think about what your maintenance diet and exercise will be like, because you will be on it for the rest of your life.
I'm wondering if you'll be able to keep up what sounds like a punishing routine?
You mention the impossibility of walking to work.
Why not get off the transit a stop or two before your work stop and add that to your daily exercise? I don't know your ticketing system but by walking just a stop here in London you can really reduce commuting costs by walking into a cheaper zone.
Good luck. It sounds as though you are nearly there. My main advice. Be patient.
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jakefitzgerald93 wrote: »Hi im Jake!
So your on 1200 calories a day? How does that break down into macros?
I dont want to sound a cliche but honestly your not eating enough.
I understand counting calories is a very useful tool but I wouldn't count them for the time being, Id count my carbs fats and proteins, which ultimately is more specific than calories.
1gram of carb is 4 kcal
1 gram of protein is 4 kcal
1 gram of fat is 9 kcal
But I never count mine, I usually sit around 2250 for weight loss which sounds very high compared to everyone else but the majority comes from protein and fats (which are what you need for weight loss)
Try dropping your carbs , raising your protein and raising your fats.
I'd say stay between 170-200g protein
80-100g of fat
and 80g of carbs
ultimately it does depend on your weight and height too.
I'd aim to lose 2 lbs of FAT per week, not weight too once you drop your carbs you'll see the results you deserve for your hard work, but remember keep fats and proteins high.
Oh and when you eat carbs eat them around exercise 1 hour before and straight after!
Message me or add me for any further help!
Thanks, Jake! This is a lot of very useful information. Neither of us has a lot of fat to lose (my partner's trying to shake the last little bit, which in weight numbers seems to be about 5 lbs; I'd like to do about the same, but recognize that I might simply not have 5 lbs of pure fat left and don't want to drop muscle).
I'm on 1000 calories a day, but I'm extremely small and lightly built and that amount is doctor-verified/approved. (I just checked in with her again last week and she confirmed that I'm where I ought to be). I haven't been eating back exercise calories, but she said I ought to start doing that. I seem to be getting mixed messages about whether or not that's the right way to go, though!
My partner was on 1200 calories a day (trying to lose 1.5-2 lbs/week), but the doctor agreed with you and bumped him up to 1500 (on track to lose about 1 lb/week). We haven't been paying close attention to macros other than to see where we're going over (refined sugars are his problem; carbs are mine), but we'll start trying harder with those.
On your advice, I very slightly adjusted our macros so we're aiming for a little less carb and a little more protein. If we manage that, I'll try adjusting them even more. We aim to eat most of our complex carbs at breakfast (to burn throughout the day), but I'll try to start focusing them around exercise times as well.
Thank you for all of this extensive analysis; it's so helpful!0 -
Vegplotter wrote: »Hi! Thanks for responding.
I wonder whether it isn't time to increase calories (counterintuitive I know) and decrease exercise. Also cut out eating the exercise calories (if you are) You may be building muscle now, which is heavier than fat. (And you can have too much of a good thing muscle wise I'd say!)
Do it very gradually. The NHS here advise about 30mins exercise a day -as long as you do it regularly.
As long as your target weight is reasonable I'm guessing that you will eventually reach it, but very slowly. It's worth waiting for. And I'd say, the slower you make this transition from losing to maintenance the better.
It's really important to think about what your maintenance diet and exercise will be like, because you will be on it for the rest of your life.
I'm wondering if you'll be able to keep up what sounds like a punishing routine?
You mention the impossibility of walking to work.
Why not get off the transit a stop or two before your work stop and add that to your daily exercise? I don't know your ticketing system but by walking just a stop here in London you can really reduce commuting costs by walking into a cheaper zone.
Good luck. It sounds as though you are nearly there. My main advice. Be patient.
No, thank you for the advice!
I think you're right about the calorie increase, and the doctor agreed (kept me at 1000, but bumped my partner up to 1500). Unlike you, though, she recommended eating back exercise calories - perhaps as a result of our low baseline allowances? (I wonder which one we should be doing! Mixed messages are a common theme in any "healthy eating/exercise" plan, though. Presumably just because everyone's sucessful regimen looks slightly different...)
We've also changed our exercise regimen (replacing our former daily 5-10-minute cardio workout with a 3x/week half-hour strength workout). The aikido and hiking shouldn't be a problem to continue indefinitely, but the strength workout is the part I'm worried about keeping up after transitioning to maintenance, as you quite rightly warn! Perhaps we should consider decreasing the duration of that workout when we do the transition...
Unfortunately, getting off a stop early on our commutes doesn't work (I'm the middle man in a very tight carpool, and my partner would have to walk for more than an hour if he got off one stop earlier). I've begun taking a 20-minute walk at lunch whenever possible, though (and not adding it to my "exercise calorie count"), and I'll see if I can recommend something similar to him.
Thank you for all of your advice! I think you're absolutely right that "be patient" is a key one, too, but the closer the goal is, the harder that gets!0 -
jakefitzgerald93 wrote: »Hi im Jake!
So your on 1200 calories a day? How does that break down into macros?
I dont want to sound a cliche but honestly your not eating enough.
I understand counting calories is a very useful tool but I wouldn't count them for the time being, Id count my carbs fats and proteins, which ultimately is more specific than calories.
1gram of carb is 4 kcal
1 gram of protein is 4 kcal
1 gram of fat is 9 kcal
But I never count mine, I usually sit around 2250 for weight loss which sounds very high compared to everyone else but the majority comes from protein and fats (which are what you need for weight loss)
Try dropping your carbs , raising your protein and raising your fats.
I'd say stay between 170-200g protein
80-100g of fat
and 80g of carbs
ultimately it does depend on your weight and height too.
I'd aim to lose 2 lbs of FAT per week, not weight too once you drop your carbs you'll see the results you deserve for your hard work, but remember keep fats and proteins high.
Oh and when you eat carbs eat them around exercise 1 hour before and straight after!
Message me or add me for any further help!
So much nope in one reply.
Their calori goals are set by their doctor, you should not be recommending that they disregard their doctors advice.
Dropping carbs does not equate to weight loss/fat loss. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, that simple. When you eat carbs has no impact.3 -
Well the one good thing about all this is that you know what your maintenance level is likely to be!
Good luck.1
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