katnoir1 Member

@fi_b do you check your BF% yourself, or do you get a professional to do it (DEXA, hydrostatic, etc)?

If you're going to do cardio and lift on the same day, some recommend that it is better to lift first. Reason being that your body needs some fuel in the tank for strength, so you have more energy for lifting when done first. Then once the tank is empty you do your cardio, which burns more energy in less time. There's some…

Haha if only I could plan the stress in my life as well as I can plan meals and workouts, wouldn't that be lovely. I've still got a couple of weeks of maintenance to go (4 at most), but I'll be sure to post progress. Thanks for all of the enormously helpful input!!

The fasting is on non-consecutive days, and generally goes from dinner to dinner, so it's not quite 24 hours. Generally it's from about 7:30pm to about 5:30pm the next night. I'm following the PHUL strength program which structures the week as: Day 1 upper power - 2000 Day 2 lower power - 2000 Day 3 rest (I usually do abs…

The fasting is for health reasons (I have a chronic bowel condition, so I let my system rest for a day). Lately I've even been doing up to 2 fasting days per week then compensating on other days, so I'm still maintaining. This means, as you say, almost bulk eating 5 days a week, which gives me quite an edge at the gym.…

A few people have said my TDEE seems low, but then I'm not a very big person, and aside from the workouts I have a desk Job and a fairly sedentary lifestyle. My workouts usually contain about 40-45mins of weights and 10-15mins if cardio. I can go over the numbers again though if you think I'm off. The fasting is usually on…

Well the eating patterns didn't improve much for the rest of the day, but fortunately I didn't suffer for it. Today is a new day though and the power to make better choices is all mine, so here's hoping!

I had a really similar experience when I first started at my current gym. My boyfriend and I both booked sessions with the trainer. The trainer gave us almost identical programs, except mine was all on the machines whereas my boyfriend's was all free weights, despite the fact that he was a complete gym novice and I had…

Best "detox" is for your kitchen - get all the junk food out of your house so there's less there to tempt you. Other than that, lots of fibre, protein, and water to fill you up. Might not nix the craving, but it will definitely make you full enough to make eating seem less appealing :)

Completely relate. Food has always just been a part of everything in my life. I miss sitting in front of the TV with some ridiculous snack. I miss the fried food and ice cream that always marked girls' night. It's hard to break those associations. I'm still trying. One thing I have found to help somewhat is calorie…

It can be incredibly difficult, especially if you've done a lot of restrictive dieting in the past. A couple of things I've found have helped me: 1) energy-dense foods - like nuts, avocado, bananas, seeds... anything with a high calorie count for a small amount of food. Helps you get more in without feeling so stuffed.…

Thanks all. I'll stick with it for what's left of the 8 weeks and hope for the best. @heybales I do have food sensitivities that I'm aware of and managing, but of course there's a good chance I may have more. There's so much going on with my health at the moment that it's hard to attribute a symptom with a cause....

@ambsnic17 I've been averaging around 1750 for the last 3-4 weeks, which is approximately my TDEE (according to the calculator anyway). My weight seems to go up in fits and starts, staying stable for a little while then suddenly jumping up. @Jennifer_Lynn_1982 I'm going to redo all of my TDEE calculations in the next week…

Sugar-free gum helps take the edge off sweet cravings sometimes. Or drink a whole lot of water to help you feel full. Won't stop the craving, but if you feel full enough the thought of going to go eat something probably won't be that appealing.

Good for you! Doesn't matter how long you've been off, as long as you get right back on that horse. Don't put too much stock in the scale. If you think it's probably only going to depress you, then don't do it. Get back on track for a week or so then weigh in. You don't want to get disheartened and give up.

The only supplements I take are a daily multivitamin and the odd protein shake. I am looking to lose fat + build muscle. I'll check out the website :) thanks!

Good for you :) keep it up!

I know it goes against all the stuff you see in the media, but something I find that helps me is carb-loading later in the day. I try and get in a decent portion of carbs at lunch and dinner, followed up with a carb snack like fruit or air-popped popcorn. I still get taste cravings, but I find they're less intense when…

You are definitely not eating enough. You're going to need to get in a bit more, but do it right. Start off gradually, maybe an extra 100 a week or so. Energy dense foods will probably be your friend here - things like nuts, avocados, seeds - that are high in nutrients and calories in small portions. A handful of almonds…

First of all, congrats on taking the first step! I've been using MFP for about a year and a half now, and I've dabbled in a lot of different things depending on my circumstances at that time. Best advice I can give based on my experiences: 1) Don't eat too little. MFP sometimes underestimates your calorie intake depending…

Your body needs carbs! Especially if you're active. Just make sure you're sticking to good quality carbs and not refined, overly processed stuff. I eat a lot of rice, but bread and pasta only very occassionally. I also eat potatoes - shock, horror! Keep the protein up and don't overdo it on the carbs and you should be OK

Thanks for sharing this! I've upped my intake and have to say, the belly pudge was quite disheartening. But you've given me hope that all will be well if I just stick with it :D

So just to be clear, you're doing the same routine twice a week? The exercises look pretty good to me. Not a whole lot of tricep work there - you could add in dips, skullcrushers, or tricep pulldowns. Depending on how you feel after bench press you could also add in a bit more chest work, like flys or incline bench. If…

You recognised the problem and managed to identify the cause - both huge achievements. And while you may have "binged" in a sense, you didn't give in to the food, which is what you were hoping to achieve. Just need to find some good habits to replace the old, bad ones :)

Planks. Start with forearm planks, and then move on to variations as you gain strength. Other good exercises: Russian twists, kettlebell swings, bicycle crunch... That said, you can turn pretty much any exercise into a core exercise by flexing your tummy to activate the muscles.

I'm not a big fan of steady-state cardio; I get bored pretty quickly. I do like my body shape and feel a lot more when I've been doing cardio though, so I try and get in at least 2-3 short sessions of HIIT a week, usually on the bike or treadmill. I also aim to average over 8,000 steps a day, so usually that means taking a…

There are loads of recipes out there for Palo/gluten free muffins using nut meals that are tasty and low carb. Check out Pinterest. Ive tried some banana nut muffins and chocolate zucchini muffins, both of which were delicious warm and served with a little butter

Definitely wait a bit longer before weighing in. If you indulged over the weekend, the extra carbs/salt/sugar are probably causing you to hold on to water, which can give you an inflated reading. Also extra food, regardless of the calorie content, has a certain volume and weight. On average it usually takes about 24 hours…

The amenorrhea could be down to a few things. Post-pill amenorrhea is quite common, as it can take your body some time to adjust to getting in a regular cycle on it's own again. This is exacerbated if you've been on it for a long time. If it goes on for longer than 6 months, then you will probably want to get it checked…

Yes, eating more when I move more. Some days I eat a little less than I'm supposed to, some days a little more, but over the course of the week the average stays fairly consistent. This is all really helpful guys. Much appreciated!!!