PlumpKitten Member

Weight is not your issue right now. I am helping a friend through a long, terrible divorce from an abusive man. She's a lovely woman who hung onto that horrible marriage for years. I've learned more about abuse & family law than I ever wanted to. Abusive is abusive, and it will never change. Your husband is psychologically…

EJennings - How much did you weigh in the after pix?

As for recomp, it's happening to me, too - though slowly. I am at the same weight, but recently went from my 32" jeans to 30" jeans. (Though still a far cry from my old days!) It's not just the hips. I'm like you -- even when heavier, I could feel my hipbones. When you recomp, the whole shape of your waist, butt & belly…

A boy's size 14 is a 26-27 waist. That's what I was before kids. On a petite woman - I'm 5'1" - that's not unusually small.

Squats, squats, squats, squats. I know the 30-day squat challenge sounds like a gimmick, but it's not.

Thanks for the great advice. I'm just starting on weights. A friend sent me a program called Venus Factor, which are basically circuits using body weight (push-ups, etc) and hand weights. Before that, I had never once wandered in the weights area of the gym. I was using 5-12 lb handweights. (I didn't follow the VF diet,…

Thanks for the great advice. I'm just starting on weights. A friend sent me a program called Venus Factor, which are basically circuits using body weight (push-ups, etc) and hand weights. Before that, I had never once wandered in the weights area of the gym. I was using 5-12 lb handweights. (I didn't follow the VF diet,…

Thanks guys! I totally understand calories in = calories out. I've actually lost 20 lbs since my second pregnancy - and was tracking on MyFitnessPal pretty closely. So I know diet is more important than exercise for weight loss. This wasn't a weight loss question but a fitness one. If -- if --- my weight remains the same,…

But to answer your main Q - 1,400 might be high for someone only 4'7". I'm 5-feet -- and I lose steadily at 1,200 and maintain at 1,600. But, again, curing an eating disorder is more important right now than counting calories.

If you have an eating disorder, then you need more help than this website can provide. Is there a doctor, a nurse or someone at school you can talk to?

This is a strange thread. So there's no other food in your entire diet that provides iron instead of Cheerios? If this is such a huge deal, just eat Honey Nut Cheerios, plus a multivitamin with iron.

You can't add fat in specific places, but you can build up muscle in specific places - that muscle lies under the fat and shapes the body part. I found that working my pecs (chest muscles) with flyes helped, as well as general upper body work that improved my posture and helped me stand up straight w/ my shoulders back.…

Oh, I just re-read the OP more closely. "5lbs I have to play with in the last 12wks of pregnancy?" No, you should be gaining more than 5 lbs in the last 12 weeks of pregnancy. You can try to be careful with sugars, snacks, carbs - but you probably can't hold your body back at this point. The baby grows the most the last…

Also - just a warning. The weight gain takes off like a rocket the last trimester. (In my experience, so does the hunger). So you want to start being careful now. Once you're 6, 7 months into pregnancy and already gaining too much - it will be too late to stop that momentum. And it's not like you can compensate by crash…

As for advice, I think the only real way of doing it is tracking calories - the same you would when you are not pregnant. Just add an extra 200 calories a day - which isn't much. Eat a healthy balanced diet - and then add an extra yogurt, fruit, nuts and you're OK.

The old advice of "You're eating for two" is generations old. It apparently dates back to the post-WW2 era where people were smaller, diets were leaner and many women did ridiculous things to stay thin in pregnancy - like chain smoke, crash diet and take "water pills." It was also before the obesity epidemic. I had a great…

Because Venus Factor comes as PDFs, you can do it as many times as you want. I did it twice, over the course of about 5 months. Here are photos from before VF (not long after childbirth). Then after the first series, and after the second series.

To give a comparison, I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred after my first pregnancy, and Venus Factor after my second pregnancy. And I found VF more effective (no offense to Jillian). VF is more comprehensive, tougher, and longer at 12 weeks.

I actually did the Venus Factor. And, no, I am not a salesperson or anyone linked to the company. It was recommended by a friend who's a doctor. We all know that diet and exercise is about hard work. But various people use various tools to help them, like MFP, Weight Watchers, personal trainers, gym memberships, etc. So I…

1. 40 2. 5'1" 3. 135-140 4. Circuits 3 x / week 5. 1600 (I lose consistently at 1200)

Funnily enough, to get the ideal physique i'm after i'd actually have to put weight on! (in Muscle) Check the photo's below. I personally think the lady looks a lot better when she's at the heavier weights. (Which she achieved through weight training). [/quote] Thank you for that great photo! I dieted for quite a long time…

The National Health Service in Britain recommends 2,000 calories a day for women, 2,500 for men. The U.S. government recommends about 2,000 in general. That's 1,600-2,400 for women, and 2,000 to 3,000 for men. So you're right in the ballpark, especially as you are trying to gain weight. I'd ignore your doctor. The last…

Weight loss is not like a steady downward line on a graf. If you look at people who chart their weights over time, there are hills and valleys and plateaus - even if the general trend is a loss. So maybe it's just patience. Also, if you want to push a little hard, don't eat back your exercise calories. Good luck!

You're not going into starvation mode. Many people in Asia eat far fewer calories than people in the West - and they are not all in "starvation mode." I honestly think my Chinese mom probably eats 1,000 calories a day, and has never been on a diet. She just doesn't eat junk food, fast food or sweets, and doesn't have a big…

I am close to someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression for years. It sounds like your problems are deeper than being weight-related. And while you might not have money for therapy right now, do think about reaching out to a counseller, chaplain, parent, etc. Unusual fatigue, feelings of social isolation, lack…

1300-1400 calories a day won't "ruin your metabolism." The whole "starvation" thing is a bit of a myth. You have to be very, very low to go into "starvation mode." Simply put, if you want to lose, you simply have to take in fewer calories 1,300-1400 is on the lean side of a normal diet for a petite woman - but it's very…

By the way, thanks to everyone for all the positive relies and feedback! I hope my experiences help other people.

Hi there! For a long time, I was dieting quite strictly and keeping my calories quite low. Weight did come off -- this was several months after childbirth -- but it was very hard staying to such a lean diet. So I switched it up and ate more than I was before -- basically moving up to a maintainence level for an active…

That's not exactly what I said. I stopped dieting, but revved up exercise. So I stayed the same weight, but got fitter. Of course, this isn't surprising. But the point of these forums is to share our experiences. I wasn't sure how long it would take to see visible toning without weight loss. And, in my case, it took about…

A friend of mine -- who was NOT into dieting, NOT into changing habits and NOT depriving himself of food -- did one simple thing. He ate exactly what he used to -- only half the amount. His usual breakfast was cut down to one fried egg, one slice of bacon, one slice of bread. At restaurants, he'd have the waitress pack up…