Why You Don't Lose Weight

I did a funny post on this at my other blog, Footprints in the Mud, but now I'm going to deal with the real reasons why you might not be losing.

Weighing too often. It's true- you can vary in weight from day to day, depending on how much you drink, the humidity outside, and what you drink on a regular basis. One lady was weighing herself twice a day- she lost two pounds at one weigh-in (the night before), and the next morning she gained four! Here she drank a lot of water and coffee (caffeine can be a factor concerning this). Don't weigh yourself more than once a week, and weigh yourself at the same time every weigh-in. The results will be more consistent.

PMS. Some women bloat and retain a lot of water during this time, and it will show on the scale. Keep this in mind, especially if you've been on target with your diet and exercise regime!

Dehydration. Believe it or not, not getting enough water will make you gain weight through retention. Make sure you drink a lot of water on a regular basis- your body will react by getting rid of excess water when it gets enough regularly.

Weigh-in when you wake up, after a bathroom break. When you first wake up, your body is in elimination mode, so don't weigh yourself until you've gone to the bathroom at least twice. You've held a lot all night, and the first time you go will be getting rid of all that. Usually it takes about a half-hour for you to have to go again, so do your weigh-in after that. You'll be glad you did!

Clothing. Clothing really is a factor when weighing in. Try to wear similar clothing every time, for consistency. Sweat pants in the wintertime will make you weigh more than shorts in the summer, and weigh your footwear separately so you don't have to take your shoes off every time you weigh in. My sneakers weigh a pound and a half, so I know exactly what to deduct from the scale since I weigh myself at the gym and can't take off my shoes.

Gaining muscle. It's true- muscle does weigh more than fat. If you've gained and remained the same weight, but did everything right, you might have gained muscle! If you can, take a picture of yourself front, back and side views once a month so you can see that changes. Or you can take a tape measure and write down the measurements of your arms, legs, waist, hips and belly, then measure again when you hit a plateau. This will keep you from getting discouraged if you don't see results on the scale.

Food Allergies. Sometimes we follow a plan made for us, but it still doesn;t work. Maybe there's something in the diet itself you're reacting to, if on a small scale. For instance, I don't have Celiac disease, but I found I lost energy whenever I had something with wheat flour in it. So when I dropped that out of my diet, I started feeling better and lost more weight! Drop one thing out of your diet at a time for a week, and see if you react differently. If you don't react, put it back in and take something else out. You might be surprised by what you're sensitive to!

I hope some of these tips help you to stay with your weight-loss plans! May God Bless you, and have a great week!

Weight Lost!

Sorry I took so long in getting back here- the holiday weekend totally threw me off!

I am happy to report I am now under 310! I'm a svelte 308.5. WOOHOO!

I'm reading this book called Thin Within- it's not a diet, but a biblical way of looking at eating habits. So far I'm on day 5 (chapter 5) and found two interesting things that really struck me as ingenious:

One- Ever see thin people eating diet food? No. So why are WE? I tossed out the diet foods long ago and I'm glad I did! This just drove home the point I was doing the right thing. I eat REAL cheese, REAL ice cream, and all that good stuff like meat, fruit and veggies. I just am careful about how much I stick in my mouth!

Two- Your stomach is about the size of your fist. To be satisfied but not overly full, don't take more than a 'fistful' of foods at a meal. WOW! This really blew me away (I have tiny hands..lol!) Portion control was always an issue with me, because i could never tell just how much six ounces of this was, or four ounces of that was.
Now I can look at my own fist and see what I should be taking- in total, mind you, not a fist of meat and a fist of veggies. I can out my portion on a six-inch plate and know that is exactly what I should be eating, since I have no idea (yet) when I consider myself 'satisfied'.

I put this to the test the other day and had a 'fist' of dinner that included roast chicken with gravy, and buttered broccoli and carrots. When the plate was empty I was done (I usually go for seconds). My mouth wanted more, but I just sipped my drink while everyone else finished (first glass was homemade iced tea, the second was water). By the time everyone was done, I actually felt satisfied! If I had eaten more like I wanted to, I would have been too full. I was amazed!

So now I'm doing it for each meal, no matter what- and the scale is starting to show it!

The only down side this week is that I have a head cold, so I had to cut short two of my workouts this week due to a massive headache and weakness. But I still went, and I still tried- that's the important thing! I'll be resting today and drinking a lot of fluids. I want to get better fast so I can go back to the gym next week!

People are starting to notice I'm losing weight, and that my shape is changing for the better. When I don't lose, I use those comments to keep me going!

God Bless, and have a great week!

Watching Before You Eat!

To start things off, I gained two pounds. But I also know why.

I didn't overeat, which I tend to do when it's something yummy. But I also didn't drink enough water, and that always makes me gain. My body goes into dehydration mode, and I start conserving water like a dry sponge. But that was only one small factor.

We went out for Chinese food this weekend as a treat, and I ordered the house special lo mien, thinking it was rice noodles. Only after I started feeling a little bloaty did I ask what the noodles were made of. Surprise! They were made of wheat!

Well, crud. I had already eaten my fill and packed up the other half for my lunch for today. It was no shock to see an additional two pounds on the scale this morning. You live and learn!

And I've learned what not to order in a Chinese restaurant- unless I ask first! My daughter ordered chicken and broccoli, so maybe I'll convince her to switch with me. She's ten years old and needs those carbs to grow anyway.

This week I have the bike, and I prayed all this rainy morning that it wouldn't rain during my ride to and from the gym. God is good, and I stayed dry! Now it can rain all He wants- until Wednesday morning when I have to ride again! Prayer works!

So remember this little tip from me to you- watch what you eat before you eat it. You never know what's in it unless you ask! God Bless!

Was That a....Muscle??

I do believe I felt some payoff the other day.

I was lying in bed reading, and placed my hand against my leg. And I felt something odd. Something that didn't feel normal.

I stopped reading, staring aghast at my leg. There was....definition.

"Honey! Come look!" I cried, "I think I found a muscle!"

My husband came in and confirmed my discovery. The muscle just above my knee was firming up, and had caused a definitive dip as it curved into my hip. The workouts were actually working.

Huzzah!

I went into the gym on Monday to find I had also lost another half pound over the weekend! Life is definitely good!

Sorry about not posting all of this yesterday, but I'd been running around all over the place doing errands, and didn't even get a chance to think about the computer the entire day, no less post anything! I'm also noticing that I'm recovering faster energy-wise after I do too much. Not the workouts, but the everyday stuff that keeps me on my feet for hours at a time.

God bless, and may you find new muscles too!

It's Working!

It's almost like being on Biggest Loser when they step on the scale. You know you've worked out a lot, but sometimes the scale refuses to show it. Like I've been saying in the past few weeks, sometimes you lose the fat but gain muscle; and when you do, it hardly ever shows up on the scale.

But that was last week. This week I lost another three pounds! If you're keeping track, that's a grand total of nine pounds- maybe I should buy a bikini.

Nah. Maybe next week.

Even if this week didn't show weight loss, I can tell I'm getting more fit- there's some definite muscle toning going on in my legs, and when I rode my bike today, I made it all the way to the gym without stopping to walk! I also wasn't as tired either- and I can do a lot more than I used to without feeling that band of pain around my abdomen. It's nice to see a loss on the scale though! It's like icing on the ca- er...veggies on the chicken! (no cake...flour and sugar bad, meat and veggies good!)

One thing I'd noticed is when I have soup, I tend to lose better. Especially if that soup has a clear broth, not a creamy one. Not so much because of the fat content (though that is a small factor), but the fact I usually use flour to make the creamy soup thickener. Even if I use rice flour, I'm not sure of I should eat it- I'm still working that out. :)

There are only two or three exercises that I have to stop during my 30 rep runs to rest my muscles, and they are all arm related. Maybe I should make more bread doughs in the kitchen just for the workout they would give me! It would lower the food budget too- at least for the rest of the family, because I can make a loaf of bread for less than forty-five cents. It would taste better too! But I wouldn't know that because when I bake, I never eat. However, I am not responsible for when happens when I'm done baking- I just hope it gets eaten that night, so I'm not tempted!

There is nothing like fresh baked bread, toasted and well-buttered...Mmmmmm.

I think I need to eat lunch now. Without bread.

Lunch today will be a lovely bowl of stir-fry pork soup, which my daughter and I have dubbed Green Soup. It has carrots, spinach, rice and chicken in chicken broth, and is very yummy! We have enough left over that I can have it for lunch tomorrow too- if I can keep my daughter from eating it when she gets home. She loves that stuff.

I'm working on snacks as well- devilled eggs are on the list, as well as two spreads to make my baked corn tortilla chips more appetizing. The chips are in place of crackers, and have no wheat in them- they just give things a nice crunch that I miss sometimes. I can also put the spreads on celery too, which I have plenty of at the moment- at least until my daughter sees it- then I might not get any!

I took some pictures of myself when I was starting at the gym, and I was thinking of taking more- sort of a monthly visual update, so I can keep track of progress and body shape changes. As soon as I get them loaded into the computer, I will be happy to share them with you!

If you're working out with me and not seeing results, give it time- you might just be building muscle! And if you lost? Congratulations! You're on your way to a fitter you!

God Bless!

ReComputing!

Good morning!

This week I have the car, so I decided to clock my biking route to see just how far I really went last week. Of course I had overestimated, but not by much. It was a total of 1.5 miles from the school to the gym, not 2 like I had originally thought.

So take last week's tally and deduct a mile of biking from it. I still think I did pretty awesome for a fat chick!

I'm now into week five and things are going well, though I think I need to tweak my program a bit. Not so much the gym part, but the eating part. My weight has been maintaining, and thanks to Mother Nature, I am now getting rid of a lot of bloating, so that might be a part of the reason I didn't lose anything. Maybe next week I'll lose, though that's not the only goal.

Portion control is a big issue, and I've tried to switch to having most of my meals on a small plate (about 6") instead of a big one (about 12"). I'm less inclined to overfill it (less inclined my foot- it's darn near impossible to overfill it!) and it allows me to check myself for hunger if I go for helping #2. If I still feel hungry I'll have a little more (1/2 a plate), but that's it. Unfortunately I forget to use the smaller plate a lot, and I wind up eating too much. This includes going out to eat as well- I order too much because I'm way too hungry, then I eat everything, instead of halving it and putting the rest away. This is another thing I'm working on- just because I'm out doesn't mean I should pig out! Besides, halving it means I get to have two great meals instead of one!

One thing I did do that was really smart was I went out the day after Easter and bought myself some of those fun size candy bars at half off. Now don't you look at me like that- I did it for a good reason! I told you from the beginning that I wasn't going to give up having goodies, just cutting way, way, way down on them. And those fun sizes might be a bite or two- but it gives me just a taste of chocolate that I love, but not so much that I have to eat an entire full-size candy bar.

Seriously- have you ever tried to take one bite of a full-sized bar and put it away? I can't do it. It's worse than potato chips- and I can't just take a handful of those either. At least this way there's some degree of portion control. And I'll only allow myself one a day- if that. I put them away where neither I nor the kids can see, and try to forget about them until I get a craving.

As for the gym, I'm still doing the 30 reps on each machine and three times that many in intervals on the 'crunch' machine to make my core stronger. I've stopped using the 30 pound weights and have upped them to 50 for the arm machines, and the crunch now is set at 110 pounds for both front and back crunches. It was 90. And I'm starting to really feel it now! The leg press (when I'm not biking) was set at 110 pounds, but I think I can now handle 130 pounds. So I'll be doing that next time.

I'll keep doing things at this rate until I can do 30 reps without stopping (for my arms), then I'll increase the reps to 40 before I go any further. Remember now, I'm not trying to bulge up, I want to tone and shape- and doing slow reps at lighter weights is better for doing that. Arnold Schwartzenegger I ain't!

The focus this week will be better menu choices and portion control. I might even ask the kids to remind me not to have a second helping at dinner (to which they will gleefully agree to- they love to tell me what to do), just so I can stay on track. That's how desperately I want this! :)

God Bless, and may your days be filled with God's blessings!

Week Four- Feeling the Burn!

After yesterday's workout, I didn't think I was really doing that much. Sure, I was toning, and I ached (which showed I was actually using my muscles!), but was I really accomplishing anything significant? I decided to take a good long look at what I had done, to see.

This week was my biking week, and this was what I did yesterday:
1/2 mile walk to school
2 miles to the gym on my bike (uphill, both ways- it's true!)
45 minute workout- 30 reps on each machine- some used twice
1-1/2 miles biking back home
1 mile round trip to pick up my child at school

So that means I did a grand total of 1.5 miles walking, 3.5 miles biking, and a 45 minute workout. For a 314 pound person, that is pretty darned awesome! Now I don't feel like a slacker!

I lost a pound over the past two weeks, and even though I wasn't bummed about it, it did bother me a little. I knew I would be gaining some muscle, which is true- my clothes are a bit more loose than before! And I feel thinner- which is also very important to me. It's hard to feel good about yourself when you feel like an over-sized elephant! To feel good is to look good- not the other way around. Sorry Billy Crystal- your SNL character was wrong.

So if you're working out and dieting ('diet' meant as a dietary change for healthier eating, not that four letter word 'diet' meaning 'starvation) and don't see any weight loss, take a look at what you're doing- you might be accomplishing more than you realize. And if not, then tweak your program so you are!

God Bless!