Trying To Start Again

sho0 · Post by **sho0** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:24 pm

I'm a female, 5'5, and 160lbs.

5 years ago I stopped exercising after the boxing gym I went to closed down and I lost motivation. I figured if I ate right I could keep the weight off (pshh...) Then, I was 128lbs.

So, here I am now, trying to lose weight all over again because of stubborness. lol.
However, I've found it to be quite distressing.

I hopped on the scale today after a week of exercising and found myself to weigh 170... so I was upset, didn't exercise today, and ate way more than I should've. LOL.
I did wash car for a few hours if that counts for anything

So here's what I've been doing...
I figured it'd be best to start out slow and gradually build up.
I ride bike 3-6 miles a day and occasionally I'll pick up the jump rope or a 10lb weight for arms.

I did this for about 3 weeks, then I took a two week break, and went back to it again this past week. (LOL, the "break" wasn't planned or intentional... I had 740 math problems -no joke- and two papers to do... excuses!)

I know I've gained muscle back... much more quickly than I expected (it DOES have memory!),
but I still have ALL of , if not MORE, fat. Maybe I haven't given it enough time yet, but today's scale result was a huge disappointment.

And what's even worse, is I have family coming over on Sunday to take me out to eat AT A BUFFET.
It's more of a Salad bar, but hell, I gain 5 lbs for eating three apples! (I hate genetics.)

...man, I miss those boxing days... I'd eat 3 slices of pizza and burned it all off in an hour at the gym... -sigh-

So anyway,
When I took boxing I had to take in a lot of sugar, but I'm not sure WHAT I should be eating now.
I feel like I've lost that portion of brain that knew everything about health, lol.

I tried Weight Watchers, but I kept -looking- for loopholes so that didn't work. (like they basically say popcorn is nothing...so I'd dine on popcorn 24/7...haha).

I've been trying to eat breakfast every morning like I used to, which usually consists of a cornbread muffin or something while I'm running out the door, Lol.

Other than that,
I don't have time for lunch so I usually skip (It's hard to find time + nutrition in college), and I eat a healthy dinner with all those specific serving sizes ( parents are freaks.)

But sometimes boyfriend pulls me out of the house where I eat a SECOND dinner. It's hard to restrain myself, he's 6'5 and so he's pretty much required to eat like 2500 calories, while I only need 1200.... so he eats all the yummy looking junk and AGGHHH
I'm tempted into it.

So does time of day really matter in what I eat? Like basically, parent's healthy dinner could be equal to a 5pm Lunch, and then when I go out to eat with S.O. (~8PM) It's dinner? LOL.
And breakfast, what if I eat it an hour after I wake up?

As for exercise,
bike isn't really racing heart the way I want it to (though it burns the hell out of legs), so what should I do?
I really hate running, it's so uncomfortable, but if you think it would be best, I'll give it a shot.

I tried to do some routine stuff I used to do in boxing, a couple months ago, but ended up rolling on the floor, in tears, and in some horrible lower-back pain, barely able to move, LOL. I think it was diagnosed as Sciatica or something like that.

I will never attempt to box again without a trainer! hahaha

Also,
I was wondering if drinking too much water maybe expands your stomach?
After I exercise I FEEL great, of course. But I'm horrified when I look in the mirror and see a gigantic pillow of a ...

And lastly,
What do I do about this restaurant thing?
I definitely don't want to turn it down, but I gain weight so easily... I saw something about how you can trick yourself by filling up a smaller plate so you think you ate more than you did?
Does that work?

The genetics on moms side are miserable. mom has to run 5 miles a day to MAINTAIN her weight (she's 5'3, 110lbs). She doesn't even eat much. All of her sisters are horribly overweight, despite their dieting. Then again, they don't do much for exercise.
(I have a sister whose 5'1, 89lbs, never exercises, has a blackhole for an appetite.... wish I got Dad's genes.)

Any Advice?

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:56 pm

here we go...

1 - all the exercise in the world won't do much if food isn't right

2 - females tend to lose fat and gain m uscle at the same rate duting the intial stages of training so although scale wt might not have changed, % might have...get a reading if you can

3 - i usually tell client's that if they go out to eat than eat just makes sure that you've been excellent for the previous 5 days of eating...also try doing a hard exercise session immedately before it so most iof the food goes to replenishment

4 - you can get same fat burning results as boxing with some bodyweight circuits doing push ups, chin ups, 1 leg squats etc

5 - ww is not good as they focus on low fat foods when the high carb foods make you just as fat if not fatter

6 - get uup early and have a proper breakfast..even if this is your only decent meal of the day for starter, it;s best to have a huge meal when you have all day to burn it off then to have it for tea (or 2 in your case)

7 - you need to prepare food to take with you..on a sunday cook up some chicken breasts, stews, casselroles, soups with added meat etc..tins of tuna and sardines are also good...sandwitches are easy..all these would take 5 - 10mins to eat...you need at leasst 6 meals a day everyday evenly spaced and evenly portioned

8 - no more 2nd dinners, plan so you only have 1...your boyfriend should understand (who wouldn't want a slim hot missus??)...if he's 6'5" he should be eating more than 2500cals

9 - technically it doesn't matter ehwn you eat as it's cals vs cal's out but to put yourself in the best position refer to point 7...breakfast should be as soon as you get...go to bed earlier and get up earlier

9 - increase the pedal resistanc eon yuor bike if not do sorints 2/week x 5 - 10 going as hard as you can...once speed starts to slow, rest 3 - 5mins and repeat...increase 1 sprint each week untill at 10 and then see where you are but probably decrease rest a little

10 - search up scaitica stretches, you'll need them (itb, glute stretch variations) and go and get it sorted at the doctors or get a med/physio student to look at you they're always looking for guinea pigs

11 - no to the water thing, too much food and weak abs / tranverse abdominis does

12 - eating off smaller plates is a great idea to lower portion sizes, just don't fill it up 2 - 3 times

13 - using genetics as an excuse is a cop out...do what you need to do and everyhting will fall in place

let me know what else you need

SarahPT · Post by **SarahPT** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:11 pm

Hi there,
your weight gain sounds pretty frustrating. You must eat more often. I know it's difficult in college, but it's important. Pack foods to take with you. Being on the run at college all day you may not be able to perfectly balance your meals, but do the best you can.

You might want to consider starting a regular strength training program. Change up your workouts often and work on increasing the difficulty of your cardio for a continued challenge.

Sarah

sho0 · Post by **sho0** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:57 pm

Wow! Thank you -so- much for the quick replies!

I already set alarm for 45 minutes earlier than I usually wake up, so I'm going to try this big breakfast thing and pack some stuff to eat @ school.
Maybe while I'm at it, i'll try to squeeze some more exercise in during that time.

Thank you for the advice!

If there's any more, feel free to let me in on it

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:12 pm

oh there's plenty more you let me know what you want to know

sho0 · Post by **sho0** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:56 am

How many calories should I be eating a day?
I weigh 160, and want to weigh 130.
Does that mean I should be eating ~1300? Sounds like that's more calories than I eat regularly (except for the nights I have 2nd dinners lol).
I'm starting to keep a log book with exercises and food intake.

Oh and I tried the sprints yesterday... Wow.
I'm definitely doing those again. LOL.

I got up to 4 light healthy meals yesterday (and it'll probably be the same today, looking at schedule). That seems to help a lot. It makes me feel full all day so I don't come home and eat everything in sight at the end of the day. Good idea.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:15 pm

- you will want to eat more to get matabolism going coupled with exercise obviously so you don't put on wt...this is the key to wt loss as the higher your metabolism is, the more fat you'll burn, even while you sleep...as for a calorie number it's hard to tell because it's all individual...track your food like you are for 1 week and take a wt reading (with % if you can) before you go to bed...then for 7 days just eat as normal without sever dieting or overeating...on ther night of thr 7th day take another wt and reading and compare...if you haven't lost or gained than that is your maintanence cal level...if you gained you've had excess and if you've lost it's probably where they should be to lose wt...that being said i would have you just focus on eating more for the moment going for 6 meals a day evenly spaced and portioned with something like this;

meals 1 and 2 - protein (lean red meat, lean chicken, eggs, low fat dairy, perotein powder) and fruit (any)
meals 3 and 4 - protein and veg (any gut spuds) and/or salad (any)
meals 5 and 6 - protein and healthy fats (walnuts/almonds/nuts all unsalted, avocaodoes, olive/safflower/flaxseed oil, fish oil supplements are mandatory)
as much water as you can handle..gradually work into this plan over a couple of weeks...the exercise will make you eatn more as you;ll need more cal's from expenditure

SarahPT · Post by **SarahPT** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:29 pm

Personally I don't believe in any quick formulas to determine the number of calories one should eat. If I ate what mathmatically calculations told me to I would starve to death, while for others those calculations can simply be too much.

It's important to find out how many calories you are eating now for a baseline. Eating more isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some people tend to undereat when trying to lose weight, which is detrimental to the weight loss process. However, if you do increase calories it needs to be done very gradually to avoid weight gain.

Hope that helps.

Sarah

sho0 · Post by **sho0** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:54 pm

What would you reccommend I do when I get sick?
I was sick last week and therefore unable to exercise, so I ended up gaining 5 lbs back out of the 10 I lost.

Also thought I'd mention that I signed up for two biking marathons!
One is in February and 50 miles, the next one is in March and 60 miles.

Last Sunday I rode 9 miles, and on Saturday I'm going to try for 18.

I did the 9 miles in about 45 minutes, but plan to pick up pace once I realize I can do 50 miles slow.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 11:34 pm

don't do anything just make food spot on...usually you eat less when you're sick...a 5pd gain inj a week is extreme in any case

leahvictoria · Post by **leahvictoria** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 11:48 am

How are you doing? I'd really like to know if this has been working for you! I'm in the same boat..gained weight and now im really trying to lose it. It's difficult!!