spiriteagle99 Member

You have plenty of time to build up your fitness between now and the races. I wouldn't do a hard run race a week before a half, but 2 weeks before shouldn't be a problem as long as you have a good base. Get your weekly mileage up to 35 or more and you'll be good to go.

I log basics, as close as I can. But I don't worry about being exact or including every bite. For me, holiday excess is usually only a day or two, not frequent rounds of parties. I try to be mindful of what I eat, but I don't do full denial either. I may gain a pound or two, but then as soon as possible I go back to eating…

For me, two things made a difference. First, I got tested and discovered I had a thyroid deficiency. Very common to hit in mid to late 40s. Second, I became a lot more active. Besides that, paying attention to what you are eating and limiting the 'treats' whatever that means to you helps a lot. When I was working and…

With MFP, your activity level is based on what you do outside of deliberate exercise. It's your home and work activity. You log your exercise separately (or sync your tracker and let the app adjust). It looks like you are fairly sedentary or only lightly active apart from your walks and runs. In your first example, 6 miles…

Did you change your activity level or daily exercise? If not, you might try setting up your goal page from scratch with your age, weight, activity level etc. Kind of like rebooting the computer.

Don't expect to be at your previous fitness level any time soon. If you try to push yourself too hard in order to get back where you are, you will get injured. Consider yourself a beginner and build up your strength slowly. Be really cautious not to do too much too soon.

I've been on this site for over 10 years, but camping trips always end up breaking my streak. One of my 'friends' has been logging consistently for almost 3000 days.

Try eating something after your run like an apple or banana. Or run before a meal. Also make sure you are drinking enough, since dehydration can feel like hunger. Do eat back the calories you burn. You need to fuel your workouts so you have the energy to do them well.

Pulled pork in the crockpot is cheap and easy. I cook for two people and really like the Hormel foods in the meat section like roast pork, roast beef, and turkey. Not much fat and a good portion size. Add a baked/microwaved potato and veggies and you have dinner in just a few minutes.

It may depend on your activity level, as set in the Goals section. There is an assumption that you will move around a certain amount. You go to the grocery, clean the house, etc. all involving some steps. I'm not sure about the specific numbers, but something like 2000 steps for sedentary, 5000 for lightly active, 10000…

I agree with the above: keep on weighing yourself regularly. If you don't, the weight will creep back and you'll regain a fair amount before you notice it. I've been a yo-yo dieter my whole life, so I know what doesn't work for me: trying to return to 'normal' eating. For me, I do best if I continue to log my food. I don't…

Do eat back your exercise calories or you won't have the energy to fuel your practices. If you didn't, you would essentially only be eating only 700 calories on your workout days, and that has health risks, plus you are a lot less likely to sustain weight loss if you are starving. It can lead to binging, which isn't…

Did your doctor do a full thryoid work-up? You can have somewhat normal TSH and still be hypothyroid, which will affect your ability to lose weight. You are at the age where thyroid issues tend to appear.

MFP is set up so that you should eat back your exercise calories. As stated above, you can eat back all your exercise calories or only some of them, but if you are working out a significant amount, you definitely should eat some. The difficulty can lie in determining how many calories you are actually burning with…

I have the same kind of body. I don't, however, mind the bony upper body and I like doing regular exercise so the calorie level needed to sustain my weight loss isn't a burden for me. I look at myself in the mirror and really don't know whether I am too fat or too thin. Basically it doesn't matter since I've found a…

Why are you trying to lose weight? You are at a healthy weight now. Since you have little to lose, it becomes harder to lose weight. Small errors in calculating CI-CO can mean that your weight doesn't change.

When you are actively trying to lose weight, are you restricting yourself too much? A diet that has too few calories or that doesn't allow you to eat foods you really enjoy isn't sustainable for long. It is easy to get into the starvation then binge cycle where weight goes up and down and up and down. Also, how long are…

Before Obamacare I paid for my own insurance, then I got my insurance on the marketplace, now I get it through Medicare. I have always had a high deductible, which I have never met. I am generally healthy, so mostly it goes to a couple of annual visits or tests which I get free or reduced price thanks to the insurance.…

For losing or maintaining weight, it doesn't matter when you eat, just how many overall calories you are eating. Some people do well by restricting calories after dinner to avoid snacking or don't eat in the morning because they aren't really hungry then. Others eat whenever they are hungry, whether that is bedtime or the…

When I reached my goal weight, I also continued to lose, in part because I was increasing my exercise (marathon training), and partly because the goal MFP gave me was too low. I added 200 calories to my goal, and then another 200 later. I continued to log my food and exercise. I eat back all my exercise calories. Over time…

One more question: how often are you weighing yourself? Weight goes up and down significantly on a day to day basis, depending on how much salt we eat, how much water we are retaining to repair sore muscles, how much waste is in our system, etc. If you are only weighing yourself once a week, you may be missing the days…

I have been maintaining a 50+ lb. weight loss for about 10 years. I go over on calories fairly often. A restaurant meal will almost always put me over. I don't worry about it. I don't do anything drastic to cut my calories and I don't increase my exercise since I already do more than enough. I just start again at the next…

All of the major shoe manufacturers have shoes that will fit different kinds of feet and different needs. Try New Balance, Asics, Brooks, Hoka, etc. Which works best depends on your comfort level (some people like a thick cushion, others hate it) and the shape of your particular feet. (I can't wear some brands because they…

Where you can, buy in bulk and buy sale items. Our grocery will have sales on 3-5 lbs of chicken at $.99-2.99 a pound. Pork roast is often cheap. Eggs are cheap now. Buy the large family sized frozen vegetables. They don't have added salt and can be inexpensive. Make soups or stews.

I enter my exercises manually. Thus, I'll log: walking at 3 mph for 20 minutes, then running at 6 mph for 60 minutes, then calisthenics or yoga for 15 minutes. It isn't difficult. If you have a Garmin watch you could sync it with the app, but I find that my watch overcounts more than MFP does since it includes 'steps' that…

Have you chosen too aggressive a goal? Losing 2 lbs a week is too much for most people, but a lot of people assume they should be able to do that. That's a 1000 calorie deficit, which is huge. Better to choose a slower rate of loss and be able to continue for a while than to lose quickly but be unable to sustain it. That…

For me, walking in the neighborhood every day is easy: I have a large rescued lab who needs exercise. He gets walked 3 times a day. I get bored sometimes doing the same routes, so try to vary by taking him for hikes when I can, but because I love my dog, his need for exercise is a priority and he gets his walks every…

Years ago I read a book called, "Thin for Life" which was similar to my understanding of intuitive eating. It involved paying attention to your hunger cues and only eating when you were actually quite hungry, then halfway through the meal checking in again to see if you were still hungry or just eating because the food was…

I am too cheap to do a subscription service like ifit, though I have friends who enjoy running routes all over the world and that sounds like fun to me. My Nordictrack has a lot of programs, but I don't use most of them. If I do one of their programs, I usually end up modifying it. One issue I have is that their warm-up is…

Not frozen, but in the meat section I sometimes buy the Hormel prepared meat dishes and split one with my husband. The roast beef au jus (actually pot roast), roast pork, and roast turkey are always good. They heat up in 4 minutes in the microwave or you can cook them on the stovetop. (I take them camping.) There is also…