dommylifts wrote: »

December 2
Exercised?: no. First time in a long time that I made no attempt to the gym.
Calories?: no. I ate half a Pizza Hut stuff crust pizza 😱 it was delicious!
Tracked?: yes. As much as I hated entering in the number, i did.

Back at it tomorrow!

@dommylifts. This is more important than you realise. So glad you did.

End of the day, it's all just data. It is used to work out what really does make a difference and what does not. If you don't track it you CANNOT know.

It's also part of being honest with yourself.

The interesting thing now it is to track what your weight does over the next few days. Don't share it with anyone else, its for your own reference only. Also, if you feel up to it, track your moods. This way you can find what feed makes you feel good both short term and long term.

I know for me, a high carb day adds about 1kg (just over 2lbs), but when I return to low carb, it goes away again.

If I have too much gluten (equivalent to 2 slices of bread - aka, your average sandwich), I get more lethargic and less willing to exercise. It then takes a day or two of non-gluten to get back to normal energy levels.

These I found through experimentation. Everyone is different. Unless you track, you cannot work out patterns that work (and don't work) for you. Ignorance is not bliss.

dommylifts wrote: »

LesIckaBod wrote: »

Our Sunday weighers are:
@Dommylifts -- way to go on being so close to your ultimate goal! Are you looking to make it this month?

I would love to make it to 140 by Dec 31st, however, my goal is to get around 143. If I get to 140 awesome, if I don’t it’s okay as long as I get to 143. If I get below 140 that would be THE BEST. I’ll have to set a new goal. My ultimate goal is maintaining around 140, but I would be happy between 138-140 as I don’t like when my weigh fluctuates above the number I want.

@dommylifts. 143 is doable and a fantastic goal for the month. It will be a lot of hard work (especially over the festive season).

140 is less doable. If you hit this, you are likely to lead the entire of TBL for the month. It is in the realms of possible, but likely to be a herculean effort. (There are some tricks to just drop weight for a final weigh-in, but they do not reflect a sustainable weight. You then bounce back up within a day or two. So in short don't do it).

For most women under 5"7' (170cm), 138-140 as a maintenance weight is entirely attainable (BMI 22). (For reference, I am 5'9" and 140lbs - BMI 20.9)

Just seeing this!!! That's so awesome!😁 I'm ready for December!!

Question of the week:-
1. Tracking BEFORE I eat. I don't always do this, but it makes the hugest difference
2. Love loud music on the treadmill - my headphones
3. My Fitbit. The numbers are not my friend right now, but I'm improving them. Would love to see my resting HR go down this month.

Question of the week:-
1. Eat healthy breakfast not skip it
2. Drink 64 oz of water
3. Goal of the week to achieve above 2

I can do this

Happy Monday, Gutbusters! Today's the Week 1 weigh-in day for our Monday weighers:

@amynew4u
@charmainekotze
@eevang
@heartofhearts
@michellelagle
@ryjar80
@westray16
@zimborunner

Please use this format to post:

Username:
December Week 1
Previous weight: (your starting weight, viewable on the December spreadsheet)
Current Weight:

Don't forget to share your answers to the Question of the Week, if you haven't already! I'd love to get to know more about what you're using, or would like to use, to meet your weight loss goals!

@LesIckaBod. Great question.

I need to answer this in the past tense as I have been in maintenance for over a year.

The things that helped me the most:

1. MFP forums and the amazing people here - particularly UAC and TBL (UAC is the Ultimate Accountability Challenge)
2. Forming the right habits - Tracking what I eat (MFP app makes that easy), daily exercise (MapMyWalk/Run/Ride/Fitness apps help track this), drinking plenty of water, prioritising sleep (etc...)
3. Online research (particularly pubmed and other scientific sites) - Understanding how the body works, how food is digested and metabolised, what different food do to the body, how the body's daily cycles work, what happens when you eat (and when you don't eat). How fat is stored and used. The effect of excess fat on the body. How metabolic adaption works. The effects of different types of exercise on the body. etc... I could then apply this knowledge with the tracking and experiment on myself to find out what works and does not work.

btw. When the evidence behind reversing type 2 diabetes becomes mainstream, there may be a few class action law suits against government health organisations for criminal negligence in the care of those they were supposed to support.

Stimpy56 wrote: »

Question of the week:-
1) Track everything I eat (Thanks MFP)
2) Eat smaller portions - or stop going back for seconds!
3) Eat small meals/snacks about every 3-4 hours with lots of water in-between.

@Stimpy56. Great list.

1) Definitely.
2) Definitely.
3) Mostly. Water is good.

The problem I had with lots of snacks/meals was that:

1. It gave WAY more opportunity to over eat.
2. It was harder to stay inside daily goals.
3. Much more had to be prepared to have lower calorie snacks that kept me full.
4. Most on-the go snack food is highly processed/high carb junk. It adds lots of calories without really stalling hunger.

One of the first experiments I did (that was so successful, it is habit now) was NO eating between meals. Also no calorie beverages between meals (water or black, unsweetened, tea). The benefits were:

1. I could have larger, more satisfying meals. I could even have dessert most evenings and was still losing weight.
2. Hunger/longing for food could be forestalled knowing that a good meal was coming.
3. Snack foods became completely unappealing.
4. My blood sugars would drop low enough to work on burning fat instead of carbohydrate.
5. Because my blood sugars dropped low many times a day, any insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) was replaced with insulin sensitivity.

I STRONGLY encourage FEWER larger meals a day (3 or less) over more small meals a day.

Our body has systems to store energy (insulin) and retrieve it (glucagon). It is either doing one or the other, but never both. Unless you are an elite athlete or a heavy manual labourer, 3-4 hourly eating generally too often.

Last point is during meals, eat foods that keep you full longer. This is fats, proteins and fibre. Carbohydrates do not trigger satiety. Processing carbohydrates generally strips the fibre which is exactly the stuff you need to keep you full (and slow down the absorption rate of the carbohydrate).