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Joeblackwell75 wrote: »@NovusDies I'm new to the forums, but reading through what your posts here. Thanks for sharing and helping the rest of us starting out on this journey. You've done an incredible job so far and I'm just beginning my journey again for the Nth time. Your insight is great to read and something I can apply to my journey as well. Thank you!
@Joeblackwell75
Hopefully you are still with us.
You are not actually beginning your journey again, and if you are, you might need to rethink it. Every past effort is a chapter in your story. You are in a new chapter but all that history is very important. It can help guide you towards the things that might work better for you and guide you away from things that definitely do not work. Weight loss is seldom a "one and done" situation. It usually takes several iterations to keep shifting you towards your last chapter.
One of my key points of failure for 3 decades was failing to learn from my mistakes. As soon as I stopped trying to create or engage in "smart" plans and started being an expert in how I fail that is when things turned around.
Lately I have hit a bump in my road when several of my organs decided they would try and murder me. It was not really something I planned for so I just rode it out and gained back a relatively small amount of weight. I haven't really cleared all the highs and lows yet but as soon as I do I will be trying to assess how to navigate those waters while staying more weight neutral. My primary system has a fail point because it actually requires that I feel good enough to prepare my high volume of food. Add additional hunger on top to fight infections and then surgical recovery and, well, weight gain. It was a few months of fail but it will provide some insight so ultimately it will be a valuable part of my education.7 -
Joeblackwell75 wrote: »@NovusDies I'm new to the forums, but reading through what your posts here. Thanks for sharing and helping the rest of us starting out on this journey. You've done an incredible job so far and I'm just beginning my journey again for the Nth time. Your insight is great to read and something I can apply to my journey as well. Thank you!
@Joeblackwell75
Hopefully you are still with us.
You are not actually beginning your journey again, and if you are, you might need to rethink it. Every past effort is a chapter in your story. You are in a new chapter but all that history is very important. It can help guide you towards the things that might work better for you and guide you away from things that definitely do not work. Weight loss is seldom a "one and done" situation. It usually takes several iterations to keep shifting you towards your last chapter.
One of my key points of failure for 3 decades was failing to learn from my mistakes. As soon as I stopped trying to create or engage in "smart" plans and started being an expert in how I fail that is when things turned around.
Lately I have hit a bump in my road when several of my organs decided they would try and murder me. It was not really something I planned for so I just rode it out and gained back a relatively small amount of weight. I haven't really cleared all the highs and lows yet but as soon as I do I will be trying to assess how to navigate those waters while staying more weight neutral. My primary system has a fail point because it actually requires that I feel good enough to prepare my high volume of food. Add additional hunger on top to fight infections and then surgical recovery and, well, weight gain. It was a few months of fail but it will provide some insight so ultimately it will be a valuable part of my education.
Thank you for you reaching out. Thank you for your insight. You're right that all of my fails in the past are a part of my story and and helping me with what I'm doing today. I also have some great accountability partners in my life through my men's group at church. I hope you can get through these difficult times and continue on your journey. I can't imagine what you've been through. Hang in there and thanks for sharing your journey to encourage others. :-)1 -
@Dante_80 - You are spot on. Very insightful. You might be giving @NovusDies a run for his money in the profound statement department.
@NovusDies - oh my, I didn't realize just how seriously ill you were! I'm so glad you survived and hope you make a full recovery.3 -
Joeblackwell75 wrote: »Joeblackwell75 wrote: »@NovusDies I'm new to the forums, but reading through what your posts here. Thanks for sharing and helping the rest of us starting out on this journey. You've done an incredible job so far and I'm just beginning my journey again for the Nth time. Your insight is great to read and something I can apply to my journey as well. Thank you!
@Joeblackwell75
Hopefully you are still with us.
You are not actually beginning your journey again, and if you are, you might need to rethink it. Every past effort is a chapter in your story. You are in a new chapter but all that history is very important. It can help guide you towards the things that might work better for you and guide you away from things that definitely do not work. Weight loss is seldom a "one and done" situation. It usually takes several iterations to keep shifting you towards your last chapter.
One of my key points of failure for 3 decades was failing to learn from my mistakes. As soon as I stopped trying to create or engage in "smart" plans and started being an expert in how I fail that is when things turned around.
Lately I have hit a bump in my road when several of my organs decided they would try and murder me. It was not really something I planned for so I just rode it out and gained back a relatively small amount of weight. I haven't really cleared all the highs and lows yet but as soon as I do I will be trying to assess how to navigate those waters while staying more weight neutral. My primary system has a fail point because it actually requires that I feel good enough to prepare my high volume of food. Add additional hunger on top to fight infections and then surgical recovery and, well, weight gain. It was a few months of fail but it will provide some insight so ultimately it will be a valuable part of my education.
Thank you for you reaching out. Thank you for your insight. You're right that all of my fails in the past are a part of my story and and helping me with what I'm doing today. I also have some great accountability partners in my life through my men's group at church. I hope you can get through these difficult times and continue on your journey. I can't imagine what you've been through. Hang in there and thanks for sharing your journey to encourage others. :-)
@Joeblackwell75
Just make sure your group has a handle on process accountability and not focus too much on results accountability. As a church group they should understand the difference ie spiritual disciplines drive change in character and deeds. If the focus is only on the deeds you are stuck in religious legalism (been there, done that).
If they are only worrying about how much weight is being lost it can become problematic when the scale doesn't change for a few weeks even though you are still doing fine or you are not doing fine and you need to rework the system.
I love my men's group but I think it would be hard for me to explain to them how to manage me. I guess if I asked them to hold me accountable for weight change every 6 weeks it might not be too bad.1 -
@Dante_80 - You are spot on. Very insightful. You might be giving @NovusDies a run for his money in the profound statement department.
@NovusDies - oh my, I didn't realize just how seriously ill you were! I'm so glad you survived and hope you make a full recovery.
I just type a bunch of words and sometimes I get lucky and they make sense.6 -
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Got a question about the percentage for each meal. What’s the best set up usually? It automatically put it all at 30%. So not really sure.1
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Got a question about the percentage for each meal. What’s the best set up usually? It automatically put it all at 30%. So not really sure.
Depends on how you like to structure your eating throughout the day. For me, I'm not a big breakfast eater but I like a large, satisfying dinner so I set mine up to reflect that. Some people snack and others don't, some people do intermittent fasting so theirs will need to be set up differently. Ultimately, do what works for you! You can always try it one way and change it later if you find yourself getting hungry after dinner or too hungry by lunchtime or whatever!5 -
Got a question about the percentage for each meal. What’s the best set up usually? It automatically put it all at 30%. So not really sure.
There really isn't a "best" because every person is different. So what works best for me may not work for you. It comes down to what works to keep you satisfied and allows you to stick to the program. Now, this could take some trial and error and you will have days where things don't go as planned. You're not a machine. You are a living being so *kitten* will happen and you won't always be perfect. But that's okay.4 -
Got a question about the percentage for each meal. What’s the best set up usually? It automatically put it all at 30%. So not really sure.
How were you eating before you started? That is generally a good clue. For years I didn't eat breakfast and my biggest meal was lunch so that is how I started. With changes in weight and activity I now eat breakfast but that didn't start until after I had been losing for close to 2 years.5 -
I haven't been able to eat a heavy breakfast since I was pregnant, so my breakfast is invariably a toasted English muffin with jam (sugar-free, due to my fructose intolerance.) That usually gets me through to a 300-400 calorie lunch about 11:30 am. This may be a hamburger and chips or a chicken quesadilla. I often need another hundred calories so I can focus on making dinner, which is about 4-500 calories, which could be fettucini alfredo or, as tonight, crab cakes, wild rice pilaf, and asparagus. Sometimes I have from 1-200 calories left for an evening snack, if I want them.
Over time my usual foods have gotten entered in (I eat hamburgers and chips for lunch every Wednesday, for example) and so now I can just click on the entry for "Hamburger and chips meal" and have it log it. That's much easier than having to track down the calories and such for the hamburger bun every week.3 -
You iz one VERY organized person Ms Alexandra!2
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You iz one VERY organized person Ms Alexandra!
I must admit that without the organization I would be standing there weeping with hunger and unable to figure out what I'm doing to fix the problem. I don't deal well with thinking when I am ravenous. Or, really, adulting in general. So the cure for this is to plan (I run on a five-week menu plan, which repeats lunches on a weekly schedule but has 40 different dinners) and have alarms set to tell me to start fixing lunch (my family work remotely so they eat at home) and start fixing dinner, and to remind me to pull the meat for tomorrow's meals out of the freezer.
And this way I don't wind up messed up because I don't know what's for dinner and I can't figure it out because I haven't eaten dinner on time.
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I’m going on travel for the first time since starting back eating healthy and exercising. I’m traveling to someplace with no gym where 12” of snow is expected, so even a walk outside is fairly out of the question. I’ll also have a very busy schedule and no place to cook or prepare meals. So.. this will be my first true test to see how well I do eating smaller portions and choosing healthier options when the options are crap (like pretty much all convenience store and fast food). Anyone else have experience trying to stay healthy while on travel in non-ideal circumstances?3
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Depends on if this is a vacation or work. And will you be in a hotel/motel or staying at someone’s home? Does the room have microwave, refrigerator or coffee maker? And of course how long will you be gone?
I’ve variously traveled with pouches of shelf stable tuna, packs of instant soups, multigrain crackers, Belvita crackers, beef jerky, granola bars etc. Cups of ramen require only hot water. Most convenience stores sell premade salads. Not the most ideal eating situation but you can do at least one or two meals in your room and get a hot meal out once a day.
With your own controllable food supply you can work around the calories.
Option two is just do the best you can with what’s available and recover when you get home.2 -
Depends on if this is a vacation or work. And will you be in a hotel/motel or staying at someone’s home? Does the room have microwave, refrigerator or coffee maker? And of course how long will you be gone?
Personal travel this time. Staying in a combination of someone’s home for the majority of the trip and a hotel for a few days. I should have access to a fridge and microwave the entire trip. I unfortunately don’t know how long I’ll be gone yet. My mother is very ill and I’m being told she may not make it 24-48 hours so I’m flying back to my hometown for an undetermined period of time.I’ve variously traveled with pouches of shelf stable tuna, packs of instant soups, multigrain crackers, Belvita crackers, beef jerky, granola bars etc. Cups of ramen require only hot water. Most convenience stores sell premade salads. Not the most ideal eating situation but you can do at least one or two meals in your room and get a hot meal out once a day.
With your own controllable food supply you can work around the calories.
Very good suggestions! I know my family and I know healthy eating is not in the vocabulary or on the menu. But that doesn’t mean I can’t bring my own food choices and try to stick to that as much as possible. I’m sure eating will end up being the last thing on my mind this week. Thanks again for the suggestions.4 -
Oh, DKR. What a trip this will be. I hope you manage some healthy eating, but this is one of the hardest experiences most people face, so be gentle with yourself. My thoughts are with you.3
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Here's a question for those who are deep into the science side of diet and exercise (Pav? lol)
My husband mentioned to a friend of his online yesterday about my having burned 800 calories according to MFP shoveling snow for an hour, and the guy responded with "too bad the body limits the expenditure to only 200 calories".
I told my husband I had never heard that theory before, and when I did a quick internet search, the only reference I could find was from men's magazine. I was wondering where this rumor might have come from and what's the real deal?
I realize that it doesn't seem to ring very true, from personal experience. In 2020, I was walking 1 1/2 hours a day at a rate of around 3.25 - 3.4 mph. And I was adding in some cardio while I was at it. I started eating back only half the calories I would burn with that amount of exercise, but at my weight at the time, that was still adding back 300-400 calories a day. I actually had to increase the count back up to 3/4's of my actual time and add back around 400-500 calories a day after a while because I was losing weight too fast. If the guy's comment was true that the human body only burns 200 calories in an hour of exercise, then I shouldn't have been able to add back 400 calories to my daily deficit and still lose at a rapid pace, right?
I'm doubtful, obviously, of the guy's claim, but at the same time, I'm curious as to where that rumor came from and what the real science is. Does it have to do with adaptive thermogenesis? Or is it possible the guy isn't taking into account that body size and activity level does make a difference?
I had read in another place that the human body does have its limits into the amount of fuel it can burn in a day, which of course makes sense, but the study I saw had that number at something like 4.5 times resting metabolic rate. I would think too, that the body would give out before it hit that point as well - but what's the science behind this?
Curious mind wants to know!
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@bmeadows380 have a look at the stuff Dalon wrote about the Hansa etc in the "how fast should Bella go" discussion
I believe you and the friend and hubby are a bit lost in translation.
There is a difference between the statement "there is a MAXIMUM 200 Cal human beings can burn in an hour" vs the statement of "I don't quite believe your wife burned net 800 Cal shoveling snow for an hour". Which for human interaction reasons might become "humans don't burn 800 Cal in an hour".
Of COURSE humans burn more than 200 Cal in an hour. If nothing else you and keto hubby should be somewhat familiar with glycogen. Given that glycogen reserves using broad averages can provide 2000 Cal and be depleted in as little as 80 minutes... I would consider any burn of up to 1500 Cal (even 2000 Cal) an hour as PHYSIOLOGICALLY possible. Not necessarily plausible. But I would not bother playing the card of physiological impossibility till these values are exceeded. And well before that I would be playing the card of whether the person could maintain that level of intensity unless they are an elite calibre athlete.
Beyond that and for your burn. As you know MFP is already pre-assigning at the very least BMR * 1.25 for your time. So when considering your net burn from an activity you have to deduct at the very least the MFP assigned value (1.4x BMR if you're set as lightly active) otherwise you're double counting the calories in question.
An estimate of snow shoveling can be derived for the time that you were actually shoveling the snow and multiplying the minutes by 5.2x BRM calories. Using the compendium of physical activities values for hand shoveling (not sweeping) snow at a moderate effort.
So a quick back of the napkin calculation for your net burn and assuming you're setup as sedentary on MFP would be 3.95*BRM*minutes.
That said, yes, as little as two or three hours of moderate+ activity seem to be generating increased burns but at diminishing returns. I can most certainly see it myself when I put my feet up and stop moving after coming back from a 2 hour hike with the dog... but not quite having the same reaction when coming back from a 2 hour shopping expedition! Ain't it great that us humans are such efficient little *kittens*
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Hello everyone. I just started my weight loss journey (again) on January 1st and as of today I’m 10 lbs down. I know the first month always shows more weight loss as your body loses water weight and adjusts to the new norms, but I’m pretty happy with my first 10 lb loss.
I don’t have too many issues with the foods I eat or the calories I consume. Every now and then I’ll get a craving for something bad but for the most part I’ve been doing pretty good managing food. It is the exercise I have trouble with.
Ready to hear my excuses now?
I have severe arthritis in my knees and a partially torn rotator cuff. The doctors tell me not to climb stairs or do anything that puts pressure on my knees like squatting or lunges. My shoulder isn’t torn enough for surgery but is too torn for PT to work apparently so the doctors say “just take it easy”. Well… I used to be a kickboxer and I’m the kind of person that when I start something (like working out) I want to do my best and be the best. Lift more, walk longer, beat my own records kinda gal. But for the last couple years I just feel like any exercise I attempt defeats me. I know I’ll feel better when I have more of this weight off, but exercising to help get it off is becoming a major challenge. Any suggestions?
Highest ever weight (1/2021): 244.0
Starting-over weight (1/1/22): 230.6
Current weight: 220.7
Goal weight: 150.02
