Lydia's Guide to Everything
ltomanek
Posts: 53 Member
Let me start by saying 'Hi' and then take you on a journey that probably many of you can relate to in some fashion or another.
I was 12 when I first learned about what the word diet meant and when I put myself on one. Isn't that insane? That we live in a world where a 12-year old feels like they have to conform to some image this fallen world idolizes.
I am just under 5'5''. I have been the same hight since I was 12. I shot up super fast, quickly larger than my peers in both height and volume.
I vividly remember sharing a seat with girls my same age when I was younger than 12 and remembering my thighs equaling three of my friends. I can recall always sitting on the edge of seats so that my thighs would not flatten out and look larger. Or even hiding when I started getting stretch marks on my hips and thighs when I grew so much around 12.
Looking at me now, you'd either say I was average or pretty fit. You might even gawk at the idea of me ever having weight struggles. But pictures don't lie. At 12-years old, I was 5'5'', 160 pounds, inactive and eating a high processed diet perforated with Dr. Pepper and sweets.
I moved to Texas just before my 12th year, the new surroundings only increasing my unhealthy livestyle. As the second of five, and homeschooled, food was always within grasp. I snacked constantly. Bike rides around our relatively flat neighborhood left me breathless and so my parents enrolled me in club swim team.
For 9 years, through highschool and some of undergrad, I swam. After the first year or two the weight came off...down to around 130. The intensity of swim team forced me to give up soda and later chocolate due to wanting to improve. Here is the kicker, I don't know if you've ever seen about how much swimmers have to eat to maintain....for a female swimming 5-6 a week and then in highschool more, it grew to sometimes 6,000 calories a day. I was constantly eating! But while my love for biology and healthcare increased my understanding of health, my diet's content remaining relatively poor in nutrients.
For years I pushed harder or ate less. Trained more often, ate more filling food (like loafs of cornbread and huge bowls of pasta). I must have gain and lost aound 30 pounds around something like 4-5 times now.
See here is the issue with pushing yourself so hard. You can buckle down and grind out a few months with severe intentionality and strick diet's, and the weight will likely come off, usually with great speed...but it will come back the moment you let up.
What kind of life is that?! One where you are a slave to your body's cravings and punish yourself with short term goals.
I think it was 2013 when I joined My Fitness Pal (MFP). I had tried my fair share of diets and needed something simplified. Again, lost weight, gained weight. The last time I weighed 140 was 2013, after a few months of dieting on my own leading into 2013, and then realizing I needed more accountably if I was going to fit into my bridesmaid dress. I hit my 140 goal the day before the wedding. But it was only 3 months before I started to add more weight. Also, I had started a full-time job 10/2013, which left my active lifestyle (even after swimming) for a desk chair. The weight crept back on as I mostly gave up MFP.
Fast forward to 2016. I had crept up to 169. I could barely weigh myself and I mentally kicked myself for allowing my weight to come back more and my highest weight ever. I got back on track with MFP and developed a rough 3-year health plan.
Year 1: (Started August 2016) Cut manage/calories. I have mine set to 1300 calories per day. I had experimented both 1400 and 1600 in earlier years which did not allow me to properly maintain.
Year 2: (Started July 2017) 90% plant-based. This was a big push for me to tackle and issues upsetting my stomach and allow myself to eat more calories.
Year 3: Still to come! I have an idea of what I want to do, but it depends on my body.
Right now, I'm 140ish, I thank these last 12 pounds to purely being plant-based. Still 5'5''. Fit frame body type. About a size 4/5 depending on style. Eating more than 1300 calories most days. Still 90% plant-based. Working 9-10 hours a day at a desk in the healthcare industry. Working out when I have both time and energy.
I was 12 when I first learned about what the word diet meant and when I put myself on one. Isn't that insane? That we live in a world where a 12-year old feels like they have to conform to some image this fallen world idolizes.
I am just under 5'5''. I have been the same hight since I was 12. I shot up super fast, quickly larger than my peers in both height and volume.
I vividly remember sharing a seat with girls my same age when I was younger than 12 and remembering my thighs equaling three of my friends. I can recall always sitting on the edge of seats so that my thighs would not flatten out and look larger. Or even hiding when I started getting stretch marks on my hips and thighs when I grew so much around 12.
Looking at me now, you'd either say I was average or pretty fit. You might even gawk at the idea of me ever having weight struggles. But pictures don't lie. At 12-years old, I was 5'5'', 160 pounds, inactive and eating a high processed diet perforated with Dr. Pepper and sweets.
I moved to Texas just before my 12th year, the new surroundings only increasing my unhealthy livestyle. As the second of five, and homeschooled, food was always within grasp. I snacked constantly. Bike rides around our relatively flat neighborhood left me breathless and so my parents enrolled me in club swim team.
For 9 years, through highschool and some of undergrad, I swam. After the first year or two the weight came off...down to around 130. The intensity of swim team forced me to give up soda and later chocolate due to wanting to improve. Here is the kicker, I don't know if you've ever seen about how much swimmers have to eat to maintain....for a female swimming 5-6 a week and then in highschool more, it grew to sometimes 6,000 calories a day. I was constantly eating! But while my love for biology and healthcare increased my understanding of health, my diet's content remaining relatively poor in nutrients.
For years I pushed harder or ate less. Trained more often, ate more filling food (like loafs of cornbread and huge bowls of pasta). I must have gain and lost aound 30 pounds around something like 4-5 times now.
See here is the issue with pushing yourself so hard. You can buckle down and grind out a few months with severe intentionality and strick diet's, and the weight will likely come off, usually with great speed...but it will come back the moment you let up.
What kind of life is that?! One where you are a slave to your body's cravings and punish yourself with short term goals.
I think it was 2013 when I joined My Fitness Pal (MFP). I had tried my fair share of diets and needed something simplified. Again, lost weight, gained weight. The last time I weighed 140 was 2013, after a few months of dieting on my own leading into 2013, and then realizing I needed more accountably if I was going to fit into my bridesmaid dress. I hit my 140 goal the day before the wedding. But it was only 3 months before I started to add more weight. Also, I had started a full-time job 10/2013, which left my active lifestyle (even after swimming) for a desk chair. The weight crept back on as I mostly gave up MFP.
Fast forward to 2016. I had crept up to 169. I could barely weigh myself and I mentally kicked myself for allowing my weight to come back more and my highest weight ever. I got back on track with MFP and developed a rough 3-year health plan.
Year 1: (Started August 2016) Cut manage/calories. I have mine set to 1300 calories per day. I had experimented both 1400 and 1600 in earlier years which did not allow me to properly maintain.
Year 2: (Started July 2017) 90% plant-based. This was a big push for me to tackle and issues upsetting my stomach and allow myself to eat more calories.
Year 3: Still to come! I have an idea of what I want to do, but it depends on my body.
Right now, I'm 140ish, I thank these last 12 pounds to purely being plant-based. Still 5'5''. Fit frame body type. About a size 4/5 depending on style. Eating more than 1300 calories most days. Still 90% plant-based. Working 9-10 hours a day at a desk in the healthcare industry. Working out when I have both time and energy.
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Replies
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If you are wondering about the title "Lydia's Guide to Everything"...it's one of my goals for 2018. So putting it out there in the universe is my accountability.3
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Great story and cool video from Hawaii!1
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Hey this is inspiring wouldn’t mind being apart of your support team1
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3 month update:
Weight hasn't changed, 90% plant-based hasn't changed, MFP consistency hasn't changed, but do you know what has changed? My dedication to the gym.
I go 5-6 times a week now. I only have 2 days of the week always planned out...my Leg Days on Sunday and Wednesday. Other than that, I usually pair up two of the following: Back, Triceps, Biceps, Shoulders. Then I usually throw some stairmill and/or rowing in for cardio/warm up. And try to mix in some core on a few days.
Because of my consistency in the gym, I am finally able to start adding weight. I used to lift all the time as a competitive swimmer in highschool and into college. However, a shoulder injury prevented pushing further.
Since then, I have gone through phases of focusing on lifting vs. just giving up and running.
I am now in a place where I have been patient with my body allowing it time to heal from the muscle soreness that I used to ache for days from. Now I am barely sore, which means I can start really focusing on building some muscle to tone up!
What's your favorite way to split up your workouts in the week?0 -
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Steady as she goes! Working towards my health and fitness goals and making Plant-Based gains!2
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Whoa! How’d that happen!? It’s 2019!
Time for a recap of 2018 and some 2019 focus areas. How do you think I did from July to December?
From July to November I hit a plateau. I was still strong with consistency in both logging on MFP and my workouts. But I wasn’t wanting to challenge myself. I think everyone gets into those ruts, where they have trouble pushing themselves just a little harder. The spark of initial results or drive for the next level of health and fitness only lasts for so long. Eventually, you have to make a decision: either (1) Give yourself a break, or (2) Find something to renew your vigor.
If you don’t make a decision, as in actually plan out a break, or plan out the next challenge, you are sure to fail. Whichever you choose, you’ll end up seeing it as just one day off, and then one week…before you know it, two or three months will have gone by and you will feel totally defeated. The idea of starting again may feel insurmountable. I’ve been there. Many times. Having to start all over and wishing I never took the time off from making my long-term health a priority.
Being the person at work, at a party, gathering, or family get-together who is what others may describe as “overly focused on their health” or “too strict” is not glamorous. I cannot tell you how many times I have been out with family and friends and had to stand my ground when they tried to convince me to have a “night off”. What they don’t see is all the work each day you’ve put in to become something more than someone swayed by temporary satisfaction. My time, my energy, my health is worth more.
I’m not saying you can’t enjoy yourself. I’m just planting the seed to understand your mind and body in greater detail; understanding your limits of self-control, and how they change, growing stronger or weaker over time.
If your healthy lifestyle isn’t your ACTUAL lifestyle yet, then you probably need to plan ahead. Plan for when you need a break, for when you need a night off.
So, what do you think I did? Even almost 2.5 years in, I didn’t just take a break and hope my healthy lifestyle habits are strong enough. Nope. I planned for my “break” the entire month of December.
From October to the end of November, I just kept trucking along. Stopped mostly with weighting myself. Just focused on getting a plan in place for December. The plan was this:
• Maintain calorie intake around fitness/activity.
• Eat more of the tasty stuff my mind had been missing (cake, cookies, fried food, eating out getting veggie burger and fries, all of it please)
• Only allow myself to eat that stuff if it did not blow my calories out of the water on any given day, and that it was in sync with days I worked out more (more fitness = allow more calories)
• Give myself some cleaner days eating; let’s call them big filling salad days. Low calorie, high volume.
• Pull back on my workouts. For the entire month of December, I switched from body part focus, to total body focused workouts. And I made everything 3 sets of 15 reps. Making it so the last 5 reps of the last set I might not be able to finish.
• Limit all cardio. Mainly 10-15 mins cardio sessions. Low intensity only with walking, Stairmill, or rowing.
That’s pretty much it. Everything else stayed the same. Still 90% plant-based, still lifting 5-6 times a week unless I needed more sleep. What would have happened if I had stopped there with my plan? I don’t want to know. I don’t need to know, I’ve been through it before.
I planned out my January also... to be successful, you have to plan your path to a break and your path back to stability, well before you attempt either. My goal with ending December was that I would feel like I didn’t miss out on any of the tasty food I was craving, that I didn’t weight myself and beat myself up mentally, and that I was mostly sick of processes sugar. Planning with those goals in mind made getting back on track with my January plan a breeze!
• Switch back to body part focused workouts.
• Only work 2 body parts max per workout.
• Make every workout 3 sets of 5 reps, heavy weights.
• Add back in variable days of longer low intensity cardio or shorter sessions of higher intensity.
• Cut out processed sugar. I’m only eating sugar from Honey, Dates, fruits, and my protein powder.
• Eat less processed “tasty” food. Baked, not fried. Prep it myself.
I’m not sure yet what challenge I should do. All I know is I enjoyed the holidays and now I’m ready to cook healthy meals, workout hard, and sleep well.2 -
Another 6 months in the books. How is it already July 2019?!? It flew by. Travel and work and family events, I had my ups and downs with regards to health and fitness. At 141.8 right now on my 5 foot 5 inch frame. I feel a ton stronger right now, but can feel I’m also holding back for fear of hurting myself.
A few months ago (April 2019), I decided to purchase an online program, MAPS AESTHETIC, by MindPump Fitness. Let’s just start by saying that even though it is a 3 phase, 10 week program, I was not able to stay consistent for 10 weeks. Life, ya know? But I just started Phase III last week and let me just tell you…the volume and supersets are killing me. I love it, but it’s totally a push for me.
I have a friend’s wedding coming up in a few weeks, so I am also going to add in some HIIT Ab workouts and some running again. It’s been over a year since I did any sort of cardio focus. But I have a bit of fat I’ve been chipping away at and its time to go into a deficit and give my body a little wake up call; lets call it ode to summer.
Here’s to plant-based protein sources, good sleep and banging gym sessions!0 -
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Hi everyone I sure could use some friends . I was on here but the app kept crashing but I’m here to give it another try0
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Jan 2nd, 2020:
Where did the last 6 months go?!?
August came and went and I lost all motivation between work and life to push myself to any difficult degree for the rest of 2019. It happens. I had been going strong for 3 years, everyone needs a break.
Now the difficult task of pushing myself to find some motivation in 2020.
Fitness Goals will include looking at the next 90 days (starting today) and trying to be 80% or better at being calorie focused. This in turn will make me food quality focused...something I ignored for the whole of November and December to give myself a break.
Now I feel a little fluffy in my body and not as quite as comfortable. So cleaning up my diet will definitely help. I also want to journal more, for myself, to see where my head is at in 2020. New decade is definitely a good place to take stock of your life.1 -
January 26, 2020
I am still on track with my 2020 focus of:
- 90 day calorie cycling
- 90 day calorie deficit
- 90 days of Maps Aesthetic
But even with all my good intentions and diligence, being a female with cyclical hormones gets in the way of week-to-week progress. It's about knowing what's coming and planning for it, making it part of the journey.
Sometimes when my energy is low and my hormones are tanked during the month, I take that time to listen. To ease back on my lifting for a few days, to take more rest, just taking more moments to be silent. And in those moments, I allow myself to just "Be Still".
By allowing my mind to rest from the thoughts of each day, my body to rest from the physical stress, and my soul to find rest in the only One who restores, I come out of those few days with a new fire.
Catch y'all in few days on the other side.0 -
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My goodness! Where has 2020 gone!?!?
I was doing so so good for the first 3 months of 2020. Had my goals. Was being super consistent and slowing seeing my goals come to fruition. And then 2 weeks before the end of my 90 day plan, COVID. A global pandemic sends everyone home and the gyms close.
I tried my best to complete that plan. And even in April I was fairly consistent, just more running and walking to pair with my resistance band workouts. But let me just tell you, I love to cook and bake, and I had some much more time to create lovely meals. And that also meant lovely food was everywhere. And for the month of May I let my calories go up 200-300 (some days more). I let myself be less active, I did heavily devote myself to my garden. And for all of it, I only went up about 2.5 lbs from my 90 day challenge. And have remained consistent there (cringing inside since I know I have lost muscle and therefore gained fat since my weight has stayed the same).
Therefore, I declare June 2020 the month to (finally) get back on track. I have a blended work from home and office schedule. My garden is established. I have reached my quota for baking. And my gym is open, even if I am too scared to go just yet...I will go soon.
Let's get after it...again!1 -
The last quarter of 2020.
Okay, let's do this. Make goals in this last quarter. I have plans, goals, hopes...and all of them I really want to come to fruition. So here it is a kick off of the last quarter. Best of luck everyone!1 -
Keep up the good work.1
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Are you still 90% plant based?0
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RetiredAndLovingIt wrote: »Are you still 90% plant based?
I actually added eggs back in for 2020. My goal was to add in Meat (Chicken/Beef), but with Covid, decided to take another year. Still avoid dairy, only think I have is a little butter if cooked into something, and feta cheese, because that doesn't hurt me. I eat a ton of fruits and veggies, and my staples are oatmeal and potatoes.0 -
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2021.
Back into MAPS Aesthetic I went.
I had goals. I finally after about 4 years, decided to add poultry back into my diet. This allowed me to really start focusing on protein. I still am only hitting 60-90 grams most days....work in progress. But the fact that I'm even getting that is a big step up from my 30-60 range before.
I weighted myself every day in January. So far in February I have really weighed myself. My weight fluctuates way too much with my cycle. For example, just because of my cycle, I gain 3-5 lbs of weight 2x a month. The same thing happens with certain foods, like rice and other grains. All this up and down just makes me stressed out watching the scale. So taking a break from weighing and then going to just count calories and try to focus more on lifting and protein. Once it gets a little warmer in North Texas, I plan to add in running and swimming. That will likely be more like March and April.
Right now, my biggest struggle is just moving. NEAT movement. When I get cold (which is often) I just don't move. I sit in bed or at my computer for work with a hot cup of tea. So my lifting is really all I am doing. Hence also why I'm not seeing any overall weight loss. I see strength gains, but my weight has been somewhat stuck. I just need that hot Texas sun to warm me up and get me moving!0 -
SEPTEMBER 2021.
Anyone else get covid this year? Between trying to travel in the US and get some hiking in, I guess it was statically fate. I only got a mild case thankfully, I cannot imagine what it must be like for others.
Fitness and health wise, between family time, travel, covid, and a crazy work schedule, this year has been more about maintaining. And how everything lined up, I ended up taking a month off of regular workouts. Just now feeling like I am getting strength back fully.
I decided I want to try to just continue to maintain for the majority of the rest of 2021. So no rigorous training program, or strick eating. I just want to enjoy right now. And if that means eating cookies for breakfast and cake for dinner, so be it. I'll workout and walk and eat salads and veggies when I feel like it.0 -
Yep - COVID got into our house a month IR so ago. All mild cases thanks to vaccination but the fatigue is only now stopping being an issue.
Like yourself - just nice to enjoy life. It gives you a refreshed perspective.1
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