Keep Your Eyes on Me

[brownbikerbabe]

[quote]Court wrote:
brownbikerbabe wrote:
Thank you Court, Dec 1 I weighed 160 and Feb 23rd I was 150 #. But now stuck and cannot get below 150…I know I know, smash the scale.

Are you saying I am NOT eating enough? Could that be why my body is holding on to the weight?

Is any one attending the FAME competition in Cobourg? I am going to watch my first ever competition, so excited about it.
I should mention I am taking the EAS Chocolate protein drink or the EAS Myoplex Shake as a meal replacement.

Also I picked up some CLA to take along with the Hydroxycut. What are your opinions on that?

These are my very unqualified opinions:

1. If you aren’t eating enough, your body is basically in starvation mode and holding onto your fat because it isn’t sure if you’re going to give it enough food to operate tomorrow.

I don’t disagree with your trainer’s limiting of your carbs to only the am. However, if you add in fish oil, it will increase your calories and it is very healthy fat. That, or when you cook your chicken, use some Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Speaking of chicken… are you only spicing it right now. Are you adding any sauces to it??

2. I used CLA back in January when I was dropping weight for my powerlifting meet. I WAS in a caloric deficit so I’m not really sure how much I can attribute to the CLA, but when I got my bf% done 3 weeks into that specific meal plan (which I followed 100%), my tummy pinch had decreased by the most.

3. I have never ever heard anything positive about hydroxycut. People who I know have used multiple kinds always prefer the one sold on this site - HOT-ROX. I’ve used HOT-ROX myself and enjoy it, however I haven’t used anything else. However, if you choose not to order the HOT-ROX because of shipping costs, etc, I’m still not sure if I would stick with Hydroxycut.

4. How much water are you drinking in a day? The more water you drink the less water your body will hold onto (confusing, I know). Aim for at least 3L a day. When I’m bahaving myself and taking my own advice, I walk around with a 1.5L water bottle and just keep filling it up.

As far as your weight actually goes, people do hit plateaus for any number of reasons. Has your stress level increased? Have you been sleeping regularly? Also, I just did a quick google search and if you’re using the EAS shake I looked at, they each have 24g of carbs.

That’s the same amount of carbs PER SHAKE that you are getting with your morning meal. Can you try bringing in a serving of ‘real food’ protein into your afternoon shake at least?

I like your attitude with the scale. Yes, it’s one measure but if you’re tracking with measurements and BF% then the scale doesn’t really matter. I’ve always said that personally I’d be okay if I was a size 6 and weighed 175lbs. Who cares. Just imagine the muscle on that frame :)[/quote]

I started the CLA today. see question above in last post.
I am taking the EAS myoplex light it had 20g of carbs I checked.
My attitude with the scale is like a love hate relationship, it is still hard for me to consider that the numbers don’t really mean much because all my life that is all I have looked at…so my mind is still in the training mode to think differently.

[sbmart2]

[quote]brownbikerbabe wrote:
that’s the reason I can’t figure it out…I am literally killing myself in the gym but to no great drops on the scale to show for it.
[/quote]

I say, if you have lost 2 dress sizes and little weight since you have been with your trainer, then he/she is a DAMN good trainer and you should stick with it. That means you are putting on quite a bit of well needed muscle.

Would you rather be an athletic 150 lb woman or a 130 pound waif? If you want to look athletic then give up on the scale. It IS NOT a good measure of conditioning. If you just want to lose weight then this is not a very good forum for you.

[mom_in_MD]

[quote]brownbikerbabe wrote:
Oh yeah, Mom in MD, I do cardio everyday 6 days a week and I change it up from elliptical HIIT 30 minutes and then I’ll go to seated bike for 30 minutes and I do abs on weight training days or to treadmill or I do aerobics classes ususally 2 back to back…I love the dance cardio, and did you ask if I sweat?..LOL…I feel like I am the only person in that gym with a puddle at my feet…even when lifting with my trainer…he is brutal and challenges me.

that’s the reason I can’t figure it out…I am literally killing myself in the gym but to no great drops on the scale to show for it.
[/quote]

Yes, but you LOST inches, and most likely body fat!!

To me, it sounds like you are on the right track then…you could take all this info and let it digest for a bit, and reevaluate in two weeks, maybe?

[Court1]

[quote]sbmart2 wrote:
brownbikerbabe wrote:
that’s the reason I can’t figure it out…I am literally killing myself in the gym but to no great drops on the scale to show for it.

I say, if you have lost 2 dress sizes and little weight since you have been with your trainer, then he/she is a DAMN good trainer and you should stick with it. That means you are putting on quite a bit of well needed muscle.

Would you rather be an athletic 150 lb woman or a 130 pound waif? If you want to look athletic then give up on the scale. It IS NOT a good measure of conditioning. If you just want to lose weight then this is not a very good forum for you.
[/quote]

I just want to echo what Sarah says. When I first started my journey I was 5’7ish, 175. But I didn’t look good. I started with only diet and the people I was working with wanted me to lose about 2lbs a week and eventually see me at 135. The last time I saw 135 I was 17 and didn’t have boobs or hips yet. Anyways… my weight dropped for a while and once I hit around 155, my inches were still dropping like crazy but my weight stayed. Track your progress by bf and inches and it will make you much happier.

Now that I’m into serious weight training (and extremely limited cardio, I’ll be honest), my weight is in the 150-153 area, but as soon as I tighten my diet, I am a steady 150, but the inches drop.

If you want to look good, even if it’s as a 150lb strong and “leanish” woman, welcome. Stay, join the party. Track your training, your food, your bitching, whatever. If you are determined to hit a certain number on the scale and can’t get over what the scale says, you won’t find as many like-minded people here.

Oh and as for the CLA, I was taking it breakfast lunch and dinner only.

[brownbikerbabe]

[quote]sbmart2 wrote:
brownbikerbabe wrote:
that’s the reason I can’t figure it out…I am literally killing myself in the gym but to no great drops on the scale to show for it.

I say, if you have lost 2 dress sizes and little weight since you have been with your trainer, then he/she is a DAMN good trainer and you should stick with it. That means you are putting on quite a bit of well needed muscle.

Would you rather be an athletic 150 lb woman or a 130 pound waif? If you want to look athletic then give up on the scale. It IS NOT a good measure of conditioning. If you just want to lose weight then this is not a very good forum for you.
[/quote]

No I am in this to gain strength as well as lose the weight, but understand this…when you have been told by every marketing ploy out there to lose pounds…not inches…you are brain washed basically…that is what I am trying to do to myself…un-brain wash what has been drilled into our minds over the years…So, I AM in the right place! Otherwise I’d take my ass over to Jenny Craig, now wouldn’t I? Why would I bother spending money getting a trainer or even join a gym?

I came here to get advice and to learn and to figure out what’s what! But I get, if you are here to lose weight go somewhere else, is this the kind of support or help noobies are to expect?

[mom_in_MD]

I understand your frustration…

I never really learned about inches until I started lifting…almost ten years ago now(dang, I’m old!) I lost 50lbs in about 8 months…I did this by basically restricting cals(as per the trainer instructed) and was in the gym 7 days a week!

Oh, and I was taking ephedra back then too!

No one ever told me otherwise, so I continued on while the hubby was on his first 6 month deployment…had nothing else to do!

Makes me curious how many total inches I lost though…I went from 189 to 135! And on my 5’9" frame I looked anorexic…

I really don’t know what my whole point is, lol…but feel lucky that we have so many resources at our finger tips, and you can do this the healthy way!! I think your in the right place, and good gawd don’t go to weight watchers! LOL!

Have you been tracking inches at all? Like physically taking your measurements, and redoing them every two weeks or so?

[Court1]

[quote]brownbikerbabe wrote:
I came here to get advice and to learn and to figure out what’s what! But I get, if you are here to lose weight go somewhere else, is this the kind of support or help noobies are to expect?
[/quote]

Hey - I can’t speak for Sarah but I think you may have misunderstood what she meant. Especially in this forum, we train because we love it. Whether we are trying to get stronger to compete in a powerlifting meet, because we just love to train, or to look good naked, for the most part, we aren’t super concerned over the number on the scale. Measurements are truly a much better way to track your body composition. If you don’t lose any lbs, but have lost inches around your stomach, chest, butt, etc, chances are it’s fat and you’re putting on muscle which therefore cancels out the lbs of fat you have lost.

The way I read sbmart’s post was if you are so focused on weighing 115lb (or whatever), when you reach there you might be disappointed in what your body actually looks like. You would likely fall into the realm of “skinny-fat” - where yes, you are skinny, but you have no muscle ‘tone’ and therefore carry around a layer of fat. The women in this forum track progress by measurements (unless we’re trying to make weight for meets) and strength.

If you fit into a size 4 dress, but weighed 10lbs more than what you thought you wanted to or thought you should, would you be happy with that? If you can say yes, then you will find many women similar to you here who can offer advice along the way. If your answer is no, and you want to lose that last 10 lbs just to say you weight x weight, some of the not-so-noobs on this forum may not have as much to say.

On that note, lock your scale in the closet and use a cloth tape measurer to take some measurements and redo them every few weeks. At the end of the day, nobody needs to know what your scale weight is except you and your doctor

[sbmart2]

[quote]Court wrote:
brownbikerbabe wrote:
I came here to get advice and to learn and to figure out what’s what! But I get, if you are here to lose weight go somewhere else, is this the kind of support or help noobies are to expect?

Hey - I can’t speak for Sarah but I think you may have misunderstood what she meant. Especially in this forum, we train because we love it. Whether we are trying to get stronger to compete in a powerlifting meet, because we just love to train, or to look good naked, for the most part, we aren’t super concerned over the number on the scale. Measurements are truly a much better way to track your body composition. If you don’t lose any lbs, but have lost inches around your stomach, chest, butt, etc, chances are it’s fat and you’re putting on muscle which therefore cancels out the lbs of fat you have lost.

The way I read sbmart’s post was if you are so focused on weighing 115lb (or whatever), when you reach there you might be disappointed in what your body actually looks like. You would likely fall into the realm of “skinny-fat” - where yes, you are skinny, but you have no muscle ‘tone’ and therefore carry around a layer of fat. The women in this forum track progress by measurements (unless we’re trying to make weight for meets) and strength.

If you fit into a size 4 dress, but weighed 10lbs more than what you thought you wanted to or thought you should, would you be happy with that? If you can say yes, then you will find many women similar to you here who can offer advice along the way. If your answer is no, and you want to lose that last 10 lbs just to say you weight x weight, some of the not-so-noobs on this forum may not have as much to say.

On that note, lock your scale in the closet and use a cloth tape measurer to take some measurements and redo them every few weeks. At the end of the day, nobody needs to know what your scale weight is except you and your doctor :)[/quote]

This is DEFINITELY what I was trying to say!!! I think your progress is great and your hard work is showing. That kind of hard work and dedication is really appreciated here. And people are VERY willing to help you accomplish your goals. I can’t say enough about how much the advice on this forum has helped me in my training!!!

It is important to know that in order to get strong and fit you MUST have muscle, and that is what we talk about and celebrate here. Since a little bit of muscle weighs a whole lot of fat, there is no way around the weight! In fact if you look at some of the skinnier people on this forum they WANT to gain weight, because it means that they are putting on muscle.

I say… Please join us here and share what you can accomplish physically!

[debraD]

Hi brownbikerbabe

Just to echo what the others are saying, I’ve had a net loss of ~ten pounds but I’ve gone for a size 12 to a 4. Just to put the scale into perspective.

But I still weigh myself almost everyday but I think the pounds have an entirely different meaning to me now. I use the measuring tape and I pinch my suprailiac fold site to get an idea of my fat. I’ve been feeling that spot for long enough that I can tell if I’ve put on or lost fat now.

When I was stalling what I did to get out of it was to log everything (everything!, tic tacs, coffee, milk and sugar in my tea) into fitday, and also logged all my activities and my measurements. Doing this for a week allowed me to go back and see what was going on and adjust as I saw necessary. If my log was showing too many carbs (as was usually the case) then I’d work on that.

I also got rid of all those things that I couldn’t say I made myself for example all those little yogurts–I replaced them with greek style yogurt and added my own fresh fruit. My reasoning is that all these manufactured ‘diet’ items have hidden calores/carbs and their protein content is junk gelatin and such. Plus it is too easy to inhale 16 mini yogurts and not even make a dent in the appetite. I feel the same way about protein bars and actually any and all ‘diet’ food.

I added a large spinach salad with oil and vinegar and seasoning to every meal. Not salad dressing, but salt, pepper, some herbs and olive oil and cider/red win/balsamic vinegar blend. It really only takes minutes to throw together if you get those big tubs of washed spinach. I boil eggs about 6 at a time and and leave them in the fridge so when I get munchies I reach for those first.

Logging activities and keeping track of the estimates of calories burned gave me a better idea of what my needs were so I wouldn’t over or under eat. I found I was overestimating my work.

I also added in sprints which seemed to have the most dramatic effect on my body fat (but everyone will be different I think)

Good Luck!

[brownbikerbabe]

Thank you for all your explanations, I am embarrased to say I misunderstood or read more into things than I should have, I apologise for the frustrated post.

There is so much information out there and if you don’t know anything already it is so hard to pick and choose what is the correct thing to do, I guess it comes down to trial and error and figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t.

For now I am going to stop concentrating on weight numbers, I have purchased at fat loss scale. It also measures muscle mass.

The goal is to get to 20% for starters…that is what I will focus on. Weather its upping the cardio of what have you…and I will check out this Fitday website.

Thank you all again.
Eva

[ouroboro_s]

How did you make out on Fitday? I checked it out the same day it was recommended to you. I don’t pay a ton of attention to the minutiae of my diet but at least it confirmed what I had suspected.

I found it time consuming to use. I could be totally challenged though.