cafeaulait7 Member

It sounds like you are doing fine, really. But if your daily calorie goals this year and last both have a range of 300-400 calories a day difference, then the possible mixture of outcomes is pretty large. I'd average them each week to see how they compare.

OP, there really may be some common observation errors in the rules you have set up for yourself. Lowering carbs shouldn't make your weight loss stall, unless you substituted them with something high-calorie like a high amount of fats that put you over your calorie goal. So it wouldn't really be the carbs doing it.…

For most people, probably the season where they are out for hours doing things they enjoy. I burn a lot more calories during spring planting than any other time (and I love being out there so long). It gets really hot here in summer, so by the end of it I'm inside more than out. It gets so buggy by then, too, lol. But I do…

Yoga or Pilates, imho. I'd do yoga if you do them more slowly and Pilates if you are doing them more like reps.

It was probably me. Mine doesn't include any fat, and it's all ribs. I wore the same band size at 85 lbs. My point was that I'll never get into a size zero (not that I want to), even though plenty of girls my height wear smaller sizes naturally. It was more about variation in skeletons at the same height than my ribcage…

Mine are 12" and I'm shorter than you! But I only measure flexed, lol. Otherwise they are just 'not fat' as opposed to 'used to be pretty fluffy' ;) I don't know what measurement I'm looking for there, so I eyeball it. ETA: for me it's the low belly that likes to stick around longer than I like. I wouldn't mind the kind of…

How about do it to a reasonable comfort level and call that good until the stretching and strengthening kicks in (as it gets more comfortable as a result)? I swear, one physio had me pulling my shoulders back all day as a direction, and it actually acted my bad back pain up to flare-up level** and made me unable to keep…

Yeah, that's where I was going with it, too. OP, weight lifting acts on a bit of a continuum. It's the quickest way to turn under-used (flabby) muscles into firm muscles at their same size. It's way later on that they could get bigger (at your BMI). If firm is what you are looking for (and I use 'flabby' to describe my…

If your BMI is 16.8, it would take a really long, hard time to look thick with muscle. So go on and eat and lift and you'll get some muscle tone that you are looking for. Enjoy!

Right now your weight will be up from the extra food you ate, too. Like the food literally weighs more, lol. I'd guess that plus the muscle water weight from those 50 miles, yeah. It wasn't bad at all to eat more after that, but it won't digest quickly enough to not see it on the scale the next day or two. It's not real…

You also might want to do some glute activation tests to see if you are using your glutes like you should in your lifts. It's possible that you are using other muscles more than your glutes in your lifts.

To be clear, I didn't mean eat more on a consistent basis. I just mean avoid the 'prolonged' part of a (large) prolonged deficit by having higher days here and there.

It feels worse for you to stand up straight because of the imbalance. It makes it much more uncomfortable for you to make yourself stand straight. It won't always feel like that. Do strengthening exercises for the deep neck flexors, trapezius, and rhomboids and stretch your pecs, and it gets more and more comfortable. Use…

Eat some higher days here and there on purpose if you are concerned about it. That always helps keep me on track anyway :) Not binge days, though. Just like at maintenance, where you get to fit in more goodies every now and then.

I have to wear support on various joints and that works well for me most of the time. But yours sound like places that are hard (impossible?) to support. That sucks. The only additional things I can think of are: don't stretch beforehand at all, and maybe try your heavier lifts using a small range of motion. I do better…

You are going to want to get a really good assessment about all the scapular muscles. I have a very bad back problem that involves the trapezius and rhomboids, and it causes a big imbalance between parts. I do strengthen my lower traps and am having great success, but you need to know whether those on you are weak or…

For me it's too much estrogen normally that dips then, and the big drop causes the migraines. I take Prometrium progesterone to help it, and drinking a lot of soy those days before can help some, too. I can't workout with a migraine, so that's out lots of times. But I used to do kicks in the women's locker room jacuzzi. It…

Now in the fitness section she's stating that body shapes are also a myth. Apparently everyone the same height looks exactly the same after they lose weight. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10338532/exercise-for-hourglass-shape#latest These things she's bringing up are bound to raise a few eyebrows! Nobody…

Here's a great yogi on progressing for one of those tough asanas (the press handstand). He mentions the poses you have to get good at/strong enough for first, and many of those are hard themselves. It progresses that way, so if a pose gets easy for you, you need to advance it (if that fits your goals).…

Imagine 85!!! That was just awful. But as a now-middle-aged woman, I sit at 133 (in my avi, too). It's lighter than I expected considering my frame, but my limbs are all just quite long and thinning as they go. I'm only wide and sturdy in my short torso ;) Still, I could use more muscle. Working on it!

Because of the progressive part or the overload part? They tend to be held differently in yoga, so it's more of a time-under-tension thing than traditional reps, so that's true. But of the pictures I've seen from them (and Mark Lauren in general), I mean literally that some of the more impressive asanas are used for…

I avoid having the leftovers around. If I had a lovely big lasagna or tiramisu as a big treat, it will call my name the next day, too, so better that it's not nearby! I usually get my big treats at restaurants or buy in single servings.

What about You are Your Own Gym? Because that has a lot of yoga in it. Some of the asanas are built up to via strength progression is why I do think it can be strength training. There is an included flexibility element in most, but in many it's pure strength that limits who can do those things.

It depends on what you consider significant. The lowest weight I've been at 5'6" was after losing muscle and fat during an extended illness: down to 85 lbs. I still wore a size 12 shirt, because of shoulders, but they looked blousy everywhere but the top. My bra cup size reduced by several sizes, but the band size was the…

As far as whether you'll see a strength benefit doing yoga, it depends on where you start strength-wise and what you are doing in yoga. If the moves you think are strength for you are hard enough for you, then yes. If they don't feel difficult, it's just your regular old fitness routine, not strength. You'll have to ask…

Mine was an ulcer starting. Rx meds keep the acid down. I have various symptoms of it in spells. Sometimes my stomach hurts after I eat, sometimes I want to eat to help it, and sometimes it's heartburn. It's all still acid for me, just either refluxing or trying to burn a hole through, lol. It's mostly controllable, but I…

You won't want to lose any faster than you are in the long run, and even in the short run if you value not being too hungry ;) You are losing the maximum suggested for folks far larger than you. Just start pacing yourself and figuring out how many calories you'll have in maintenance. When you get there, that's what you'll…

My wrists and ankles are small, too :) And my arms are monkey long, with long legs. It's at the knees and elbows where I start getting sturdy and stocky. My lower half carries more weight than my top half, so the knee breadth may not be accurate. In studies they do all the breadth calculations using scans, so fat is not a…

I'm at the middle of the good BMI for my height, btw, and I certainly don't think I look too thin. Some women may prefer to not have ribs and shoulder bones showing, so they'd add 10 lbs on me, though. I have no problem with healthy-weight bones, so I don't mind it at all. But my point wasn't about how it affects weight.…