Why does it have to be rocket science????
BeachBobbie
Posts: 46
I am so sick of paying attention to calories and weight. I don't care how much I weigh and I don't want my life to revolve around working out and nutrition. I know it has to consume a small part, but why does it have to be so intense?
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Cutting out everything and constantly watching everything that goes in your mouth to make sure you're not eating too many calories. I sometimes hit almost 3000 on days I workout to Insanity or P90X. I am always sooo hungry. Their good food choices....organic lettuces with walnuts and homeade balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I eat skinless chicken breasts on the George Foreman and green beans or broccoli. I'm always eating fresh fruit and veggies for snacks and barely ever eat anything out of a box. I'm all about whole foods with a very minimal amount of processed garbage. I may have 3 or so alcaholic beverages a week and possible too much sugar when "Aunt Flo" is visiting, but I am happy with good foods....my point? Food isn't the issue, or is it?
I just want to work out, enjoy running, lifting weights for strength and eat what is good for me without the fear of calories or if its too much. If i'm hungry, I jsut want to eat.....
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Cutting out everything and constantly watching everything that goes in your mouth to make sure you're not eating too many calories. I sometimes hit almost 3000 on days I workout to Insanity or P90X. I am always sooo hungry. Their good food choices....organic lettuces with walnuts and homeade balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I eat skinless chicken breasts on the George Foreman and green beans or broccoli. I'm always eating fresh fruit and veggies for snacks and barely ever eat anything out of a box. I'm all about whole foods with a very minimal amount of processed garbage. I may have 3 or so alcaholic beverages a week and possible too much sugar when "Aunt Flo" is visiting, but I am happy with good foods....my point? Food isn't the issue, or is it?
I just want to work out, enjoy running, lifting weights for strength and eat what is good for me without the fear of calories or if its too much. If i'm hungry, I jsut want to eat.....
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
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Replies
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I just want to work out, enjoy running, lifting weights for strength and eat what is good for me without the fear of calories or if its too much. If i'm hungry, I jsut want to eat.....
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
Then do it. There's absolutely no reason why weight loss has to be complicated.0 -
It seems like it has to be though. Am I the only person who feels that pressure? It has to be an intense workout and you have to pay attention to everything you put into your mouth at all times.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST ENJOYING LIFE AND LOSING WEIGHT AND LOOKING GOOD NATURALLY?
It's stressing me out!0 -
It seems like it has to be though. Am I the only person who feels that pressure? It has to be an intense workout and you have to pay attention to everything you put into your mouth at all times.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST ENJOYING LIFE AND LOSING WEIGHT AND LOOKING GOOD NATURALLY?
It's stressing me out!
this kind of frustrates me too. i moved out in october and haven't purchased a scale. i am going to eat healthy and workout for most of the week and if i don't start to feel thinner then i guess it wasn't meant to be!!0 -
It makes perfect sense.... for YOU and probably a lot of people. Others need more motivation, more accountability, more concentration. Doesnt matter what you need as long as you achieve the desired results.0
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Honestly...I eat what I want. Pretty much WHATEVER I want, and just as long as I'm within my calorie range, I lose just fine. When I exercise, I get to eat more stuff lol
If I tried to think too much about making my macros perfect everyday, I'd go crazy! So I just eat the best I can (treats included) and go from there. I know I can't live the rest of my life only eating this or that, so I don't even try. I might make faster progress if I did pay more attention, but I didn't gain all of this in a week and I'm sure as hell not going to lose it in a week!
So take a breath, and try to make things a little more relaxed :-)
(to be clear, I track everything! I just try not to get all caught up in my macros)0 -
It's not rocket science and it doesn't have to be. I agree! I would personally ignore your macros if you feel well and are happy with your food quality overall. That's one big set of numbers out of the picture. And if you don't like the intense workouts, ditch them. You can get enough cardio for heart health by taking a 20 minute brisk walk 5 times a week. Up your activity by going to the mall more, it doesn't matter how it happens. You probably have a feel for how much you can eat without gaining weight, so just try going by your sense of appropriateness and listen to your body. If the pants get tight, track calories a few days and adjust. Then go back to eyeballing it. The more we make it into a big math problem and obsession, the more it becomes that way. I get sick of it, too. If half the energy women put into their appearance was put into something truly productive, the world would have no problems at all, I think.0
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That's kind of where I'm at right now. I know the in's and out's of nutrition and fitness. I could get figure competition fit if I wanted to and was pretty darn close a month and a half ago. But why? Is it worth taking up my whole day obsessing over food just to be a size 2 instead of a size 4? I think it comes down to doing what makes you happy. It's important to treat your body right and maintain a certain level of health and fitness, but does it have to be rocket science? I don't think so--only if you want it to be.
I get it. 0 -
I don't lose weight naturally lol... I bounce around between eating too little and eating WAY. TOO. MUCH. So I have to track... and there's a sweet spot. And when I'm in it, the weight comes off. When I'm not, it doesn't.
I have to be precise to see results. Sad, but true.0 -
Like all things, with experience it get much easier, especially if you try to simplify things.
I spend all of 1-2 minutes a day updating my diary, afterwards I know how much milk and/or protein powder I'll need ot meet my daily calorie and protein goals, simple as that. It wasn't always like this, but I've been at it now a long time so the process has become very efficient for me.0 -
Here's my take on the whole thing.
For me, there are 2 aspects:
1) Like Finance and managing your household income and debt and all that stuff, it's not taught to you. Most parents never discuss it, and it's not really taught in schools. Sure, you might have one class, but it's not a priority. So, you never really learn the importance of good nutrition and exercise. I never realized that PE and sports were exercise. So, when I got older and stopped all that, I didn't continue any of it. I didn't realize that I'm supposed to keep it up. For my kids, PE has been eliminated, so they are worse off because they don't even have that.
2) We live in a world where food is plentiful and the life of leisure is awesome. No one works 18 hours a day in hard manual labor, goes home to sleep and back at it again the next day. That doesn't exist much for anyone here on this site. So, your idea of "it's too much work" is really skewed. Humans used to spend all day hunting and gathering and making stuff and doing hard manual labor. They didn't have to think about anything. They just had to do it to survive. Eating wasn't for nutrition, it was to survive. You now live in a place where eating is more a luxury than a necessity.
It's an odd time we live in.
I think if a person just decides that they are going to eat reasonably well, workout 3 days a week, then that's fine. Just be happy with it and don't worry. No one is forcing anyone to count, and it's def not for everyone. I don't even tell anyone I do that because they think I'm crazy.
There's a happy healthy zone where maybe youre 10 to 20 lbs over where you'd like to be, but you're happy. Like I said, you don't log your food, but you do think about your choices and eat pretty good most of the time, you keep your exercise kind of simple and just do it a few times a week. And, that's all. I think that's very valid and I can see someone being that way by choice. As long as you don't get too over the top with it. Being overweight brings about problems, like high blood pressure and things like that, but as long as you get check-ups, eat well, exercise at a reasonable level - I think they say you only really need a few hours a week to stay healthy, then there is nothing wrong with that at all.0 -
It's hard at first but gets easier with time. There's a LOT of wiggle room in your macros, or we'd all have dropped dead years ago.
I'm starting to learn what foods give me what I need for a day. I'm tracking it in detail right now more to learn than to necessarily succeed or be perfect every single day. When I reach my goal weight, I will continue tracking food for a little while (a few weeks or so) and make sure my maintenance is working, then I'll apply those lessons to my eating, track occasionally when I feel like doing so, and back off weighing myself so frequently. But I will still step on the scale occasionally and if it looks like I'm moving in the wrong direction I'll start logging again to see what I'm doing wrong.
If you want the perfect body, it's hard. It you want to be in reasonable health, just do the things you want your body to support and it'll adapt.0 -
I am so sick of paying attention to calories and weight. I don't care how much I weigh and I don't want my life to revolve around working out and nutrition. I know it has to consume a small part, but why does it have to be so intense?
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
Because nothing good comes easy and keeping an eye on macronutrients and exercising is part of a healthy lifestyle. Strange how you don't care about calories or weight the launch a tirade about not eating enough protein.
You'll burn fats and carbohydrates before going catabolic and start using muscle as fuel.
You are running on too much, stop making excuses for not putting the effort in. Those who do see the benefits of their hard work and feel fitter, look better and are happier and certainly don't post about what a chore it is to keep an eye on what they eat.
The alternative is stay overweight, unhealthy and miserable. Your choice.0 -
I was reading about the "No S " diet yesterday........it might be something you'd like.
http://nosdiet.com/0 -
Happythermia and I agree. I eat anything I want. Sometimes it is definitely smaller amounts and try hard to stay in my calorie range. Now I do have a lot of weight to go before I reach my first goal. If you are healthy and progressing as you want go for it. I get frantic when I see these posts of people doing hour long intense workouts 2 times a day. I do exercise but there's no way I would stick to working out that hard for the rest of my life. Slower but still moving downward will have to do for me.0
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I hear ya, I hear ya. I too was over whelmed a month or so ago and decided to take some time off. I felt like logging every single morsel and calorie and minutes moving was just too much. I was reading all kinds of posts and articles about weight loss. Try this, you need this so this doesn't happen, etc. Got to be too much!
I'm back at it now after a month off. I'm trying hard not to "over think" everything and listen to my body when it comes to food and exercise.
Maybe some time off is what you need too. Good luck!0 -
I feel you! but if I dont keep track of what i eat, I can so easily overeat *sigh*0
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For a lot of people - it does not need to be complicated - it's simple - eat less and exercises - I eat more healitly than most people, I'm smart, I understand nutrition. Then why have I not lost any weight in the last 5 years?
I've been in here for several weeks now, I've become obsessed with my weight, I probably spend a hour a day, uploading my fitbit data, uploading my HRM data, making graphs, looking at stats, reading posts, it has become rocket science for me.
OTOH - I've lost 10 pounds, I exercise at least 6 hours a week, way more than I used to. I've increased my walking pace for a mile from 19.5 minutes to 17:05,
If Rocket Science works - then go for it0 -
I am so sick of paying attention to calories and weight. I don't care how much I weigh and I don't want my life to revolve around working out and nutrition. I know it has to consume a small part, but why does it have to be so intense?
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Cutting out everything and constantly watching everything that goes in your mouth to make sure you're not eating too many calories. I sometimes hit almost 3000 on days I workout to Insanity or P90X. I am always sooo hungry. Their good food choices....organic lettuces with walnuts and homeade balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I eat skinless chicken breasts on the George Foreman and green beans or broccoli. I'm always eating fresh fruit and veggies for snacks and barely ever eat anything out of a box. I'm all about whole foods with a very minimal amount of processed garbage. I may have 3 or so alcaholic beverages a week and possible too much sugar when "Aunt Flo" is visiting, but I am happy with good foods....my point? Food isn't the issue, or is it?
I just want to work out, enjoy running, lifting weights for strength and eat what is good for me without the fear of calories or if its too much. If i'm hungry, I jsut want to eat.....
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
Just a couple other thoughts. Ignore the myths you see here. You don't really have to worry so much about your protein intake and your BMR and you for sure don't have to live off chicken breasts and green beans OR do P90X or Insanity. You can be healthy, probably moreso, by doing half what you're doing. Have some foods you miss now and then, lay off the Beachbody nutso over-the-top workouts (unless you enjoy them), take some walks instead, have some pizza. Just do it all in moderation. I have a tendency to be "whole hog" on plan or whole hog off, too. It's a tough skill to learn but you'll drive yourself nuts trying to micromanage every calorie and work out like a maniac all week.0 -
It seems like it has to be though. Am I the only person who feels that pressure? It has to be an intense workout and you have to pay attention to everything you put into your mouth at all times.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST ENJOYING LIFE AND LOSING WEIGHT AND LOOKING GOOD NATURALLY?
It's stressing me out!
I choose not to let it stress me out.
But I also am more inclined to accept myself as I am. That's not the same as the 'fat acceptance' thing people have been going on about. For me, it's about understanding my strengths and my weaknesses, changing what I can change, and accepting what I can't change with the understanding that one day maybe I'll have the power to change even those things that I can't change right now.
I'm still fat. I've lost almost 40 lbs. I'd love to lose more, but right now, I don't have the will power necessary to keep losing. I can either A) beat myself up over it, freak out, get stressed, feel like I have to do everything exactly right, or I can
do the things I can do like lift weights, make healthy choices most of the time, stop eating when I'm full most of the time, and relax and focus on being happy.
I choose B.
Would I like to be slender and attractive? Yup. Actually, I'd like to be muscular, slender, and attractive. However, it's not worth freaking out about. It's just not. So I'll focus on the good things about me and my body: I'm in better shape than I've ever been in my adult life even though I still am carrying an extra 50 to 60 lbs, I have killer-strong quads, I have biceps hiding out under a layer of fat that make me happy (the biceps, not the layer of fat), and... well... I've got plenty of non-physical attributes to be happy about too.
So I'm okay with not stressing out. I'm happy keeping the weight loss simple. I do what I can. I don't worry about the rest. I keep trying. One day, I'll reach my goals. It might be 100 years down the road... but... *shrug*0 -
Not 'rocket' science, it's 'bro' science. Somehow the ancient greeks managed to invent bodybuilding and the Olympics without counting their macros and calories. That's something to think about. If you can listen to your body to know how to eat properly, I would think that would be ideal. For me, I find it easy to lose control of portion sizes and things like that without measuring and counting. I guess it's like any other addiction, except you can't just stop eating like you can stop drinking alcohol or smoking.0
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Not 'rocket' science, it's 'bro' science. Somehow the ancient greeks managed to invent bodybuilding and the Olympics without counting their macros and calories. That's something to think about. If you can listen to your body to know how to eat properly, I would think that would be ideal. For me, I find it easy to lose control of portion sizes and things like that without measuring and counting. I guess it's like any other addiction, except you can't just stop eating like you can stop drinking alcohol or smoking.
That's what i'm doing now
no more calorie counting for me. I eat when I'm hungry and workout everyday. It obviously works
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I am so sick of paying attention to calories and weight. I don't care how much I weigh and I don't want my life to revolve around working out and nutrition. I know it has to consume a small part, but why does it have to be so intense?
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
Because nothing good comes easy and keeping an eye on macronutrients and exercising is part of a healthy lifestyle. Strange how you don't care about calories or weight the launch a tirade about not eating enough protein.
You'll burn fats and carbohydrates before going catabolic and start using muscle as fuel.
You are running on too much, stop making excuses for not putting the effort in. Those who do see the benefits of their hard work and feel fitter, look better and are happier and certainly don't post about what a chore it is to keep an eye on what they eat.
The alternative is stay overweight, unhealthy and miserable. Your choice.
Awww....ur so sweet. thanks for taking time out of your day to say absolutely nothing worth me listening to. Have a great one 0 -
I am so sick of paying attention to calories and weight. I don't care how much I weigh and I don't want my life to revolve around working out and nutrition. I know it has to consume a small part, but why does it have to be so intense?
For instance....if you don't eat enough protein, your body starts to burn the muscle.
Cutting out everything and constantly watching everything that goes in your mouth to make sure you're not eating too many calories. I sometimes hit almost 3000 on days I workout to Insanity or P90X. I am always sooo hungry. Their good food choices....organic lettuces with walnuts and homeade balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I eat skinless chicken breasts on the George Foreman and green beans or broccoli. I'm always eating fresh fruit and veggies for snacks and barely ever eat anything out of a box. I'm all about whole foods with a very minimal amount of processed garbage. I may have 3 or so alcaholic beverages a week and possible too much sugar when "Aunt Flo" is visiting, but I am happy with good foods....my point? Food isn't the issue, or is it?
I just want to work out, enjoy running, lifting weights for strength and eat what is good for me without the fear of calories or if its too much. If i'm hungry, I jsut want to eat.....
Is this making sense or am I running on too much?????
Just a couple other thoughts. Ignore the myths you see here. You don't really have to worry so much about your protein intake and your BMR and you for sure don't have to live off chicken breasts and green beans OR do P90X or Insanity. You can be healthy, probably moreso, by doing half what you're doing. Have some foods you miss now and then, lay off the Beachbody nutso over-the-top workouts (unless you enjoy them), take some walks instead, have some pizza. Just do it all in moderation. I have a tendency to be "whole hog" on plan or whole hog off, too. It's a tough skill to learn but you'll drive yourself nuts trying to micromanage every calorie and work out like a maniac all week.
Yes, you are absolutely correct. I love to change it up. So, that's what i've been doing lately. It's much more fun and I'm enjoying my life a little more instead of this being my entire life. Thanks for the feedback 0 -
what happened is that our society changed faster than our evolutionary adaptation to our environment did.
In other words, if you lived in the pioneer days, when you had to go chop firewood, and build a fire to make breakfast and tend a garden and hunt for meat, etc., you could "just live" most likely. However, in today's society, where we drive everywhere, food is too convenient and calorie rich, and we sit at desks all day, you have to watch your fitness and intake.
Its pretty much that simple. Our lives are (physically) too easy for our bodies.0 -
Personally, I have found it to be a challenge each day to stay under goal, try to get enough water and such, and a bit of exercise..........but I DO NOT like being obsessive about it. I like the logging, because it keeps me accountable (but I will admit to getting a little upset when I DO go over.)
I've adjusted my goals based on a number of posters here, and gone up and down and back and forth..............lost regularly for about 8 months, and hit a dead standstill in mid-March, so tried the upping of cals and blahblahblah..........got discouraged and thought: You are 57 yrs old. You are healthy - no meds to take, no high blood pressure, good cholesterol, strong bones, good heart........WHAT THE HELL AM I WORRIED ABOUT???
So, I decided to calm down, enjoy life, get OUT there, eat what I like (within reason), and move on. Sooner or later, the lbs will start to fall off again, because I AM living differently, and I AM doing better things than I have for quite some time. I need to stop worrying, and get ON with my life........cuz, hell, I ain't gonna live forever :smokin: :smokin:
Enjoy the Day, my MFP pals!!!0 -
It seems like it has to be though. Am I the only person who feels that pressure? It has to be an intense workout and you have to pay attention to everything you put into your mouth at all times.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST ENJOYING LIFE AND LOSING WEIGHT AND LOOKING GOOD NATURALLY?
It's stressing me out!
Ive got to the point when I hit the gym when I want and eat as many dominos as i want! hahaha!
As long as your happy with the results you're seeing then who the hell can judge!
Get the pizza down ya lass!
xx0
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