I got sick. It started last weekend with a persistent headache. Annoying and Tylenol didn't help. Then my chest felt a little tight while doing cardio. Monday my headache got worse but I powered through my lifting. Then I took a shower. I got out and felt horrible. Feverish. Ugh. That lasted a few days. My throat hurt. My voice went hoarse. I was hot and then cold and just miserable. Not much of an appetite. Nora wasn't feeling so hot either so we went to the doctor on Wednesday when Steve was able to work from home. Bronchitis for me, ear infection for her. The PA told me I could work out, but if I had a headache, exercise would increase my blood pressure and make my head hurt worse. I decided to give it a day or two. Then by the time I was mostly over the chest tightness and sore throat, it all moved to my head. I've been stuffed up, my nose is runny, I'm sneezing, and the head pressure is even worse. Seriously? So it's now Sunday and I haven't worked out since last Monday. I even had to cancel fit club. I had to take a sick WEEK.
I saw a new low on the scale - 142.4. But I wasn't happy. Because I've finally realized being healthy and fit and even thin isn't about the smallest number possible on the scale. And in order to see that new low number, I know I lost muscle. It frustrates me to know how much ground I'm losing by not exercising. I'm trying to keep in mind that fitness is a journey and it needs to be a life-long journey. I'm going to get sick now and then (hopefully VERY infrequently) and have to take a break. All is not lost. I may lose a little ground but it's okay. As long as I get back to it as soon as I can, I'm good. I'm not thrilled it'll be hard again for a while, but it's worth it.
Luckily Benadryl is helping with the head cold and I finished my Z-pack tonight, so all of this crud is hopefully on its way out. Nora is still on meds for another 5 days but seems to be feeling better too. Now if only we could all stay healthy without living in quarantine...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Too few calories?
I've been lifting heavy weights for six weeks now. I've heard you need to eat more to continue losing weight while lifting heavy. Muscle burns more calories than fat and you need to feed the muscle adequately. Otherwise you don't build muscle and you stop losing weight. So every so often I eat more and then I lose more weight. It's been nice. But it's hard to retrain my brain that it's okay to eat more. Usually the times I eat more and lose, it wasn't planned and I think I overate. Then the scale moves down. It appears I need to eat more.
For example, Saturday was a rest day because it was too busy to work out. I rearranged things and it was a scheduled rest. I had a bridal shower and then a coffee date. I ate WAY too much. Not healthy foods either. I had a croissant with pulled pork, potato chips, punch, and TWO pieces of cake at the shower. I kept eating candy at my parents' house. Dinner was cheesy broccoli soup and a small bowl of ice cream for dessert. And then I snacked more on the drive home. Needless to say, I was scared to see the number on the scale the next morning. The crazy thing? It was 143.0. The lowest number since Nora. Other than when I had the flu, it's the lowest I've seen since Ella was born, possibly the lightest I've been since Steve and I got married. In other words, I ate a ton of sweets and crap and the result was I was the lightest I've been in probably 6 years. Confusing, no? Guess my calories were a bit too low. I'll increase them but try to eat healthier than on Saturday. Some parts of weight loss really are counter-intuitive. I'm definitely not complaining though. :) Bring on the food!
For example, Saturday was a rest day because it was too busy to work out. I rearranged things and it was a scheduled rest. I had a bridal shower and then a coffee date. I ate WAY too much. Not healthy foods either. I had a croissant with pulled pork, potato chips, punch, and TWO pieces of cake at the shower. I kept eating candy at my parents' house. Dinner was cheesy broccoli soup and a small bowl of ice cream for dessert. And then I snacked more on the drive home. Needless to say, I was scared to see the number on the scale the next morning. The crazy thing? It was 143.0. The lowest number since Nora. Other than when I had the flu, it's the lowest I've seen since Ella was born, possibly the lightest I've been since Steve and I got married. In other words, I ate a ton of sweets and crap and the result was I was the lightest I've been in probably 6 years. Confusing, no? Guess my calories were a bit too low. I'll increase them but try to eat healthier than on Saturday. Some parts of weight loss really are counter-intuitive. I'm definitely not complaining though. :) Bring on the food!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Consistency
Anyone who has successfully lost weight knows consistency is key. And I am, probably 95% of the time. But this weekend was rough. Between small group, pizza, popcorn, and then the SuperBowl, I ate way more than I should have and was retaining a lot of water. I was pretty upset to see the scale was up almost 5 lbs, even if I did expect it. Convinced I royally screwed up, I pulled out my calipers and measured my BF again. That was the same as it was before the weekend. It might even be a little lower. BF measurements are consistent. The scale is not. I've decided the scale is a torture device. If we need to be consistent to lose weight, shouldn't the way we measure progress also be consistent? I didn't undo a month's worth of hard work in one weekend. The scale tried to convince me otherwise. My BF told the truth. Unless I stop consistently working out and eating well, my BF will stay consistent. The dang scale is all over the place though. Checking my BF was reassuring. Yes, I weigh 5 lbs more (well, did yesterday morning) but I didn't gain fat. It's water weight. But the scale can't tell me that. Don't believe the scale. It will tell you what you weigh, but that's tells you about as much about your health as your shoe size.
One person asked on my like page how much weight she needs to lose. She has a healthy BMI and a healthy BF %. I told her she doesn't need to lose weight per say. If she wants to slim down or weigh less, she needs to lose fat. She came back and said that she either needs to lose weight or buy a new wardrobe. No, not really. She could stay the same exact weight but add muscle and lose fat and everything will fit or get too big. But we're programmed to lose weight and weigh as little as possible. Body fat is where it's at, people. You don't need to lose weight, you need to lose body fat.
One person asked on my like page how much weight she needs to lose. She has a healthy BMI and a healthy BF %. I told her she doesn't need to lose weight per say. If she wants to slim down or weigh less, she needs to lose fat. She came back and said that she either needs to lose weight or buy a new wardrobe. No, not really. She could stay the same exact weight but add muscle and lose fat and everything will fit or get too big. But we're programmed to lose weight and weigh as little as possible. Body fat is where it's at, people. You don't need to lose weight, you need to lose body fat.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Validation
Okay, if you've read ANY of my previous posts, you know my feelings on BMI. But you also know I felt like I needed to fit that mold anyhow. The whole time I was saying that BMI is stupid and inaccurate, I wondered if it was as inaccurate as I was hoping. This week, I got my validation.
I've been right around 144 lately. According to BMI, that means I'm one pound from being overweight. Not cool. It also tells me that I could weigh 108 and be healthy. Uh, I don't think so. But BMI makes me doubt that this is a good weight for me. Maybe I should lose another 5-10 lbs.
I wear a size 8. That's pretty good. Single digits (well, mostly, but my 10s are a little big). (I just want to note here, double digit sizes aren't bad. But I know my body and know the size I am is good for me. If I was taller, 10 or 12 would probably be ideal.) But I'm definitely not a size 6 or 4. Size 0? Maybe if I was just skin and bones. So 8 is pretty good.
I assume my blood work would be good, since everything was good back in August when I was about 180and still considered obese. Since I've only gotten healthier since then, my blood sugar, cholesterol, hormones, etc. should only have improved.
I know my fitness level has improved, although that's harder to quantify. But if I have my HRM running before my WO, I've noticed my resting HR is pretty low. I've even seen it right around 50. My HR recovers more quickly too. And I feel so much better. I have more energy, I'm generally happier, I feel younger and less achy (my muscles are sore but that's because I work them).
My scale claims to measure body fat. It says I'm 26-27% BF. That seemed a little high. So then I used a website that takes measurements (with a tape measure) into account when estimating BF. That said about 25% and felt more accurate. So on Thursday when I got my BF calipers, I expected only slightly lower than that. Maybe 23%?
It came with a chart that uses just one measurement and your age. So I did it and referred back to the chart...and promptly measured again, thinking that I did it wrong. It said 19%, lean. 20-25% is considered ideal. I was shocked. Yes, I work out hard. Yes, you can start to see my upper obliques despite the loose skin. But I'm almost overweight. I'm an 8 or medium, not a tiny size or a small. So I went back to the same website, because you could get an accurate number using 3 caliper measurements. I had Ella pinch my tricep because Steve wasn't home to help and did the others myself. I plugged in the numbers and about fell off my chair. 15.93% BF! Low enough that the site warned about amenorrhea. As soon as Steve got home, I made him help me measure again, thinking maybe my 4 year old and I got it wrong somehow. Nope, same measurement. To give you a bit better idea of what this means, a woman's essential body fat is 9-10%, meaning if it gets that low or even too close to it, a woman's body assumes she can't support a pregnancy and stops menstruating. I'm not much above that. And BMI says I'm almost overweight. Hardly. So yes, I was right, BMI is wildly inaccurate for me. It must be accurate for some people but check other health indicators before assuming you're really overweight and therefore unhealthy. Weight alone is a poor indicator of health.
And this answers my question about whether or not I need to lose more weight. I don't. I'm going to keep working on my fitness but it wouldn't be healthy for me to lose more weight. Forget you, BMI. I'm sticking with BF measurements now. ChaLEAN Extreme is right!
I've been right around 144 lately. According to BMI, that means I'm one pound from being overweight. Not cool. It also tells me that I could weigh 108 and be healthy. Uh, I don't think so. But BMI makes me doubt that this is a good weight for me. Maybe I should lose another 5-10 lbs.
I wear a size 8. That's pretty good. Single digits (well, mostly, but my 10s are a little big). (I just want to note here, double digit sizes aren't bad. But I know my body and know the size I am is good for me. If I was taller, 10 or 12 would probably be ideal.) But I'm definitely not a size 6 or 4. Size 0? Maybe if I was just skin and bones. So 8 is pretty good.
I assume my blood work would be good, since everything was good back in August when I was about 180and still considered obese. Since I've only gotten healthier since then, my blood sugar, cholesterol, hormones, etc. should only have improved.
I know my fitness level has improved, although that's harder to quantify. But if I have my HRM running before my WO, I've noticed my resting HR is pretty low. I've even seen it right around 50. My HR recovers more quickly too. And I feel so much better. I have more energy, I'm generally happier, I feel younger and less achy (my muscles are sore but that's because I work them).
My scale claims to measure body fat. It says I'm 26-27% BF. That seemed a little high. So then I used a website that takes measurements (with a tape measure) into account when estimating BF. That said about 25% and felt more accurate. So on Thursday when I got my BF calipers, I expected only slightly lower than that. Maybe 23%?
It came with a chart that uses just one measurement and your age. So I did it and referred back to the chart...and promptly measured again, thinking that I did it wrong. It said 19%, lean. 20-25% is considered ideal. I was shocked. Yes, I work out hard. Yes, you can start to see my upper obliques despite the loose skin. But I'm almost overweight. I'm an 8 or medium, not a tiny size or a small. So I went back to the same website, because you could get an accurate number using 3 caliper measurements. I had Ella pinch my tricep because Steve wasn't home to help and did the others myself. I plugged in the numbers and about fell off my chair. 15.93% BF! Low enough that the site warned about amenorrhea. As soon as Steve got home, I made him help me measure again, thinking maybe my 4 year old and I got it wrong somehow. Nope, same measurement. To give you a bit better idea of what this means, a woman's essential body fat is 9-10%, meaning if it gets that low or even too close to it, a woman's body assumes she can't support a pregnancy and stops menstruating. I'm not much above that. And BMI says I'm almost overweight. Hardly. So yes, I was right, BMI is wildly inaccurate for me. It must be accurate for some people but check other health indicators before assuming you're really overweight and therefore unhealthy. Weight alone is a poor indicator of health.
And this answers my question about whether or not I need to lose more weight. I don't. I'm going to keep working on my fitness but it wouldn't be healthy for me to lose more weight. Forget you, BMI. I'm sticking with BF measurements now. ChaLEAN Extreme is right!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Where to go from here
Alright, I made a decision. I'm going to keep working out and counting calories. I assume I'll keep losing for a while and I'll plateau at some point in the not-so-far future. If I had to guess a number, I'd say somewhere around 138. That'd be about 7 lbs lower than I am now and about 6-10 lbs more than I was in HS. Solidly in the healthy range. (Side note: Steve and I were talking about this and he said, "so you think BMI is BS but you're still going by it?" Um, yes. And no, I don't have a great reason why. The closest I could come up with is because some doctors go by it and I don't want to be happy with me just to have a doctor tell me I should lose a few lbs. I know, who cares? I do.) So that is my plan. Nice and ambiguous, lol.
Okay, week 4 is back to TF cardio! I'm sore but so happy. And then I looked at the schedule for the next few weeks...after this week, there's only one TF WO each week until week 9! Most of the cardio is Burn Intervals or Burn It Off. They work, they're effective, they're not my favorite. My wonderful friend Amy suggested subbing a Fire or HIIT WO for some of those, because she did CLX and it does get repetitive. Brilliant!
In other news, one pair of jeans that I wore at goal last summer are getting a bit loose. So are my favorite pj pants. Nora almost pantsed me this morning. This is exciting news! But I'm a little sad too, when I'm shrinking out of favorite clothes. Looks like I may need to go shopping again soon. Or at least pull more old clothes out of my closet to see what fits. Um, confession: I have clothes packed away from HS. I think one pair of jeans is even from 8th grade. I doubt I'll wear most of them now, but it'd be nice to see if they fit. I'm apparently looking younger now too. My baby sister is 22 and beautiful. She went to a girls' night out with me and people were asking if we were twins and which one of us is older! I'm 27, a full 5 years older than her, plus I've had 3 kids. Talk about an ego boost! Want to look younger? Eat healthy, work out, drink tons of water. I also recently started using face lotion consistently. I think it was a combo of getting older and dry winter skin, but I have this persistent line across my forehead that is getting deeper. The lotion seems to have helped a bit. But the biggest thing that makes me look younger is definitely that I'm much thinner and more confident now.
Go work out! It's an endorphin rush, burns calories, relieves stress, and so many other good things! And it just could make you look younger. ;)
Okay, week 4 is back to TF cardio! I'm sore but so happy. And then I looked at the schedule for the next few weeks...after this week, there's only one TF WO each week until week 9! Most of the cardio is Burn Intervals or Burn It Off. They work, they're effective, they're not my favorite. My wonderful friend Amy suggested subbing a Fire or HIIT WO for some of those, because she did CLX and it does get repetitive. Brilliant!
In other news, one pair of jeans that I wore at goal last summer are getting a bit loose. So are my favorite pj pants. Nora almost pantsed me this morning. This is exciting news! But I'm a little sad too, when I'm shrinking out of favorite clothes. Looks like I may need to go shopping again soon. Or at least pull more old clothes out of my closet to see what fits. Um, confession: I have clothes packed away from HS. I think one pair of jeans is even from 8th grade. I doubt I'll wear most of them now, but it'd be nice to see if they fit. I'm apparently looking younger now too. My baby sister is 22 and beautiful. She went to a girls' night out with me and people were asking if we were twins and which one of us is older! I'm 27, a full 5 years older than her, plus I've had 3 kids. Talk about an ego boost! Want to look younger? Eat healthy, work out, drink tons of water. I also recently started using face lotion consistently. I think it was a combo of getting older and dry winter skin, but I have this persistent line across my forehead that is getting deeper. The lotion seems to have helped a bit. But the biggest thing that makes me look younger is definitely that I'm much thinner and more confident now.
Go work out! It's an endorphin rush, burns calories, relieves stress, and so many other good things! And it just could make you look younger. ;)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Pre-pregnancy weight and healthy BMI!!!
Yesterday the scale said 145.2! I was so excited to be that close to 145.0 or below. But I did check my notebook and technically my pre-pregnancy weight was 145.8, so I did it! Not by 9 months, but by 9 months and 10 days. :)
Yesterday was a rest day. I did fine on my calories but honestly expected the scale to be up a bit today (sometimes it teases me with a pretty number and jumps up the next day). Plus I weighed myself earlier than normal (MOPS this morning), which sometimes means the number is slightly higher. To my shock and utter excitement, it said 144.8! Eeeeee!!! Let me explain. 145.0 or below means my BMI is healthy. You know how I feel about BMI. But it's still a victory to be "healthy" or "normal."
So I met both goals. Now what? Well, I'm not going to quit working out or start eating fast food all the time or anything. I'll stick to my exercise schedule (which takes me through May 22). I'll still watch my calories. From there it gets a bit fuzzier. Do I want to try for a lower weight? If so, how much lower? One person has already told me if I get any thinner I'll blow away. I'm firmly in an 8 right now, so a healthy normal size. And I have a good amount of muscle. And I don't want to get too wrapped up in the scale and get obsessed. I know my body image issues still need work and if my goal is a number rather than health, I know I could be getting onto a slippery slope. I haven't decided yet if I'm good here or if I want to try to tone up a bit more (which will happen with CLX anyway) or what. Maybe I could be a size 6! Idk. If I focus on fitness, what's my goal? How do I measure it? Or do I try to maintain where I am? So much to consider. What I decide to do weight-wise will affect what I do as far as diet. If I'm maintaining, I'll probably keep counting calories for a bit, maybe slowly increase them so I know how many calories I need to maintain. I'll probably loosen my tracking a little but still try to make smart choices. I don't think it's sunk in yet that I met my goal. I'll let you know what I decide. Ah, decisions! ;)
Yesterday was a rest day. I did fine on my calories but honestly expected the scale to be up a bit today (sometimes it teases me with a pretty number and jumps up the next day). Plus I weighed myself earlier than normal (MOPS this morning), which sometimes means the number is slightly higher. To my shock and utter excitement, it said 144.8! Eeeeee!!! Let me explain. 145.0 or below means my BMI is healthy. You know how I feel about BMI. But it's still a victory to be "healthy" or "normal."
So I met both goals. Now what? Well, I'm not going to quit working out or start eating fast food all the time or anything. I'll stick to my exercise schedule (which takes me through May 22). I'll still watch my calories. From there it gets a bit fuzzier. Do I want to try for a lower weight? If so, how much lower? One person has already told me if I get any thinner I'll blow away. I'm firmly in an 8 right now, so a healthy normal size. And I have a good amount of muscle. And I don't want to get too wrapped up in the scale and get obsessed. I know my body image issues still need work and if my goal is a number rather than health, I know I could be getting onto a slippery slope. I haven't decided yet if I'm good here or if I want to try to tone up a bit more (which will happen with CLX anyway) or what. Maybe I could be a size 6! Idk. If I focus on fitness, what's my goal? How do I measure it? Or do I try to maintain where I am? So much to consider. What I decide to do weight-wise will affect what I do as far as diet. If I'm maintaining, I'll probably keep counting calories for a bit, maybe slowly increase them so I know how many calories I need to maintain. I'll probably loosen my tracking a little but still try to make smart choices. I don't think it's sunk in yet that I met my goal. I'll let you know what I decide. Ah, decisions! ;)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Week 3 TF/CLX
Yesterday started week 3. I bought new weights (yay!), which cut way down on my workout time. The old ones I was using were the threaded bolt kind (not sure if that's what they're really called but I think you know what I mean) and the nut didn't spin smoothly. Although it probably helped me burn way more calories, twisting those off and on between each set added a lot of time to my WO. The new set has the squeeze clamps, which are so much quicker. But the set came with 4-2.5 lb weights and 4-7.5 lb weights. Which only meant 5, 15, or 20 lbs using both dumbbells. Not real helpful for me. So I bought two sets. It was still less expensive than a bigger weight set with weight combinations better suited to me. But I bet I looked funny pushing a shopping cart with 80 lbs worth of weight sets around the store and parking lot. Think anyone thought they were actually for me? ;)
I also bought a pair of weight lifting gloves in medium. Uh, they're too big. I took them off before I got them sweaty and I need to exchange them for small. I'm realizing I am small. I also had to get my wedding rings resized. I was afraid I would lose them otherwise. That was unexpected, since I'm not much smaller now than I was when we got engaged and married. Apparently my ring size is now 5 1/4.
I have to say I'm starting to enjoy CLX a bit more now. I did add two HIIT drills to last week's schedule and I'm not quite as sore now. I also began to wonder if I was building enough muscle that I need more food to fuel my metabolism. So I decided to eat at the upper end of my calorie range instead to staying in the lower end where I have been. Low and behold, I lost weight! I'm down to 146.6 now and eating more. Awesome! I love food. I'm trying to be smart and make sure I'm eating more good calories (fruits, veggies, not just sweets or junk). It's freaking awesome though that I can eat more and still lose weight.
Now, I need to address an issue. Obviously my take on the program so far has been contingent on what the scale says. That's not good. The scale is a poor indicator of anything other than body weight. It doesn't tell you if you're carrying extra water, if you gained muscle or lost fat, or if you've lost inches or increased your endurance or flexibility or anything. It's not good to be so hung up on the scale. This leads back to my rant over the BMI. Plugging just weight and height in doesn't really tell you much at all. Waist measurement or body fat measurement is so much more telling about your health. Yes, weigh yourself. But don't let that be the only thing you look at to measure your progress. I'm guilty of this. I discount all the other good I've done if the scale stays the same or goes up. It's something I'm trying to work on. Honestly, I'm currently 1 lb overweight. Once I'm down one more lb and in the normal range, I'll be happy. Or will I? Does that 1 lb really make a difference in my health? Probably not.
I'm challenging myself (and you) to celebrate how far I've come and how much I have accomplished rather than getting down on myself for not being 1 lb lighter. I'm much more healthy than I was 6 months ago. I feel better. I look a lot better. I like myself and am proud of myself again. I'll lose that lb. But it's more important that I take care of myself and love myself than it is to cross an arbitrary line. So look through old pictures or pull out old clothes and marvel at your progress. You're awesome and you're succeeding!
I also bought a pair of weight lifting gloves in medium. Uh, they're too big. I took them off before I got them sweaty and I need to exchange them for small. I'm realizing I am small. I also had to get my wedding rings resized. I was afraid I would lose them otherwise. That was unexpected, since I'm not much smaller now than I was when we got engaged and married. Apparently my ring size is now 5 1/4.
I have to say I'm starting to enjoy CLX a bit more now. I did add two HIIT drills to last week's schedule and I'm not quite as sore now. I also began to wonder if I was building enough muscle that I need more food to fuel my metabolism. So I decided to eat at the upper end of my calorie range instead to staying in the lower end where I have been. Low and behold, I lost weight! I'm down to 146.6 now and eating more. Awesome! I love food. I'm trying to be smart and make sure I'm eating more good calories (fruits, veggies, not just sweets or junk). It's freaking awesome though that I can eat more and still lose weight.
Now, I need to address an issue. Obviously my take on the program so far has been contingent on what the scale says. That's not good. The scale is a poor indicator of anything other than body weight. It doesn't tell you if you're carrying extra water, if you gained muscle or lost fat, or if you've lost inches or increased your endurance or flexibility or anything. It's not good to be so hung up on the scale. This leads back to my rant over the BMI. Plugging just weight and height in doesn't really tell you much at all. Waist measurement or body fat measurement is so much more telling about your health. Yes, weigh yourself. But don't let that be the only thing you look at to measure your progress. I'm guilty of this. I discount all the other good I've done if the scale stays the same or goes up. It's something I'm trying to work on. Honestly, I'm currently 1 lb overweight. Once I'm down one more lb and in the normal range, I'll be happy. Or will I? Does that 1 lb really make a difference in my health? Probably not.
I'm challenging myself (and you) to celebrate how far I've come and how much I have accomplished rather than getting down on myself for not being 1 lb lighter. I'm much more healthy than I was 6 months ago. I feel better. I look a lot better. I like myself and am proud of myself again. I'll lose that lb. But it's more important that I take care of myself and love myself than it is to cross an arbitrary line. So look through old pictures or pull out old clothes and marvel at your progress. You're awesome and you're succeeding!
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