LauraMarie37 Member

I absolutely love how sane and logical most of the people on MFP are. +1,000,000

As someone who does insanity regularly in tiny hotel rooms and in an 8 by 10 room with furniture at home, I completely applaud your efforts! I also sometimes modify stuff to make the space easier - like for the suicides, instead of running back and forth I touch the floor, do like 5-7 quick steps underneath myself (like in…

I fought an ED for four years in high school/college. What really helped me was figuring out what messages were just wrong - you know, if a choreographer encouraged us to try an all-cabbage-soup diet, the old me would think, "ok, that might be a good idea, she's really good at something I'm really good at so I shouldn't…

There is a setting in MFP for your activity level - what did you select? If your target calories is 1200/day, it seems like you may have selected "sedentary", which probably isn't the case. =) I'd guess "moderately active" based on what you described?

This woman is correct. There is quite a bit of misinformation out there! Yes, you can gain/maintain muscle - mostly your aerobic muscles, ie slow-twitch - during calorie deficit. Your heart would be a good example - do you think the people on Biggest Loser have just as strong heart muscles when they arrive as when they…

Lots of people have good suggestions (you can't "spot reduce", increase your cardio, etc), but I'd also like to suggest stretching. If your hip flexors (front of your hip), iliacus muscle (lower back/pelvis), psoas muscle (hip-to-pelvis), or quadriceps (knee-to-front of hip) are tight, it causes your skeleton to be out of…

As a teacher in an urban area, I've gotten a lot of interesting names, including: Sparkle I'Adorher (pronounced "I adore her") Thursday Droffil-C Yamajesty And a friend of mine had a student when she was teaching in a really rural area in the south named Sexy Goddess. (Both as her first name...her middle name was Mary. I…

Yeah...that doesn't seem to have been that well thought through. I guess it's something like "zigzagging" your calories, but that doesn't seem like it would really be as healthy as, you know, doing the hard work of tracking what you eat, watching your nutrient and caloric intake every day, and exercise. I guess if you want…

I totally hear you. I've tried a lot of things and I seem stuck at the same weight (though my fitness is a lot better and people keep complimenting me on my weight loss, even though it's nonexistent...). Here's some thoughts after reading your post: Have you tried restricting for a short amount of time, then giving…

My understanding is long-term, long-distance, low-intensity athletic training is the least compatible with a low-carb diet. "The wall" is a symptom of the body's demand for more readily available carbs (more glycogen). For this reason, I believe you can hit the wall at any time, not just after three hours, because you may…

Bump - I'm thinking of getting it and I want to know what other people think!

It's such a huge shift when you stop viewing your body as an enemy that you must fight against and instead an ally that supports you and helps you express who you are. Then you start wanting it to perform better, and listening to what it's telling you (I'm hungry! I need a rest day! I need more strength training!), rather…

Remember HRMs are only accurate for exercise that is 100% cardio. As soon as you add any strength training (even things like lifting your own body weight, like push-ups or squats), then a HRM will give you a higher reading than what you actually burned. (The MFP user Azdak has a blog post going into the scientific reasons…

Remember, also, that different body types are valued in different cultures. "Big" may be a synonym for beautiful, powerful, sexy in some families - in mine, my mom calls me "big" when she thinks I am getting too fat but wants to be tactful about it. But one thing that doesn't change across cultures is your health, and what…

MFP sets a daily calorie deficit for you, so as long as you get to the number on your screen at the beginning of each day (and don't go over by more than 50 calories or so), you will see weight loss. Some of us exercise because it gives us "extra" calories to eat (in order to keep the deficit the same, you will have to eat…

I only enter it when I get to a "new low" - ie, I wouldn't enter 585 or the second 582, but wait until I was at 581. But I think MFP will only count it as a loss when your number gets lower than it's ever been before (so in your example, it would only say -3, not -6).

Azdak, I'm honored to get a reply from you - I'm a big fan of your blog. =) But I'm trying to figure out just that - what counts as recovery? Especially because I usually feel that if I'm going to do something, I may as well do it as fast/hard as possible (while not sacrificing good form, obviously). Also, Coach NYLA, yes,…

Yeah! Go you! That's awesome...I hope you are extraordinarily proud of yourself!!!

Weight? Lower in high school. Fitness? 110% better now! Back in high school I had an eating disorder, and I wasted so many years of training trying to be so thin. If only someone had explained starvation mode and that I would be a BETTER athlete (and probably just as thin!) if I had eaten enough to fuel all of hours of…

I don't know... I sort of get the OP's point. Obviously, it's not the entire MFP community - there are many of us on here who eat a healthy number of calories (and who discovered the very idea of what a healthy number of calories for an active adult truly means on this very site). But I have noticed a higher percentage of…

Me! Or, well, I just like working and seeing things get easier and easier for me (and then moving on to new challenges!). I have number goals, too, but I'm already a pretty low body fat percentage so the number goals happen very, very slooooooowly.

I agree with this. I've started doing higher protein/higher fat breakfasts and it has made a world of difference (either Greek yogurt, a third cup granola, and a quarter cup of frozen berries, or three eggs, a third cup of shredded cheese, and half a cup of spinach). Actually, I've increased my protein and fat in general…

My dad died when I was 14, exactly 12 years ago tomorrow. I STILL know that I will be in a rough emotional place tomorrow and will probably do some emotional eating - even now, 12 years later. I think it's just something you have to accept and not be angry at yourself for, because when you're angry at yourself, that leads…

I agree with this. The days I do distance swimming training (Ironman distances, so about the equivalent of training for a marathon), I eat around 2500-2800 calories and still lose weight.

I also eat "around" my sandwiches, burgers, pizza, etc so that I have the middle last! I've gotten some weird looks. When I have a cupcake or muffin, I unwrap it, tear off little chunks of the bottom (the part that was in the wrapper) and eat those bite by bite, then when just the top part is left, I eat it straight across…

I agree with people who say it may be time for a GI specialist and not just a regular doctor (if the doctor you're talking about isn't a specialist). I also agree with people that say exercise helps - maybe yoga and just don't do the positions that violate your hip replacement restrictions? You can certainly try both ends…

The alarm app on my cell phone (alarm clock xtreme, if you have an android phone) makes me do math problems before the alarm will shut off. Somehow waking up the "reason" side of my brain makes me also remember why I need to really get up. (Usually!) But some people are just not morning people...can you workout at night…

There are lots of ways to get good, healthy calories that will help repair your body and make you stronger that don't feel like stuffing yourself. A handful of walnuts, a scoop of peanut butter or almond butter, extra avocado...

When I was hiding food wrappers, it was because I had a serious eating disorder. I think being ashamed of your family finding out means mostly that you are ashamed of it yourself. I personally had to learn to accept myself after I ate "bad" food the same way as I did after I ate "good" food (and then I had to learn there…

Well remember you are going to get very different answers from people logged into a fitness website in the middle of the workday than from the average person. =) I would say - if you can't workout, do you get angry, irritable, or frustrated? If you gain a pound or two unexplectedly, does it affect your whole day and how…