Respawn and Refocus

[NobleAlyssum]

The Fall Out: I joined back in April and dropped off the face of the forum just a couple of weeks later. It's not surprising; my life became super busy. For May, I mostly kept to my plans of diet and exercise, but they didn't hold up when June arrived and I was completely burned out from traveling out of state every weekend the previous month. Since then, I waffled between watching what I was eating and exercising. By August, I gave it all up. I think I started out with too much change in a short period of time.

 

The Call to Change: For the past two weeks, I've just been focusing on my eating habits. They were always pretty abysmal, with hardly a green veggie in sight and snacking for every little problem I ran into. But now, I carefully monitor how I'm feeling: am I hungry or just bored? I also plan out my lunches and dinners. I successfully meal prepped my lunches for the past two weekends for the following work week. It's great to just grab and go in the mornings, not having to worry about time or be tempted to buy lunch on a whim. I also found out that I'm sensitive to dairy, since I'm not pounding my face with food so often I can't pinpoint what's exactly making my tummy upset.

This has made a significant change in my body. Last week, there was some serious distention in my abdomen and my pants would be tight. But this week, I actually, for a lack of better descriptor, "look skinny." My abs are not flat, but the distention is hardly noticeable (only after eating usually) and my pants fit comfortably; not digging into my belly. But not every day has been perfect; I still love cheese and milk, so on days where I have cheese on my sandwich and milk cooked into my oatmeal, I notice I feel "fuller" than the days I went without. I haven't had ice cream since I noticed my sensitivity; I miss it. lol.

 

Future Plans: I was going to just stick with eating well and keeping up the meal planning for the rest of September and then get into exercising starting October. I want to do bodyweight workouts to start with. They were challenging when I started them back in April!

Unrelated to fitness, per say, I am writing in my planner again and want to keep it up for the rest of the year (I stopped using it right when I fell through with my last diet and exercise plans). I think it helps me stay on track because I can reference it when I'm feeling overwhelmed and see the cute designs and encouraging words I wrote when I was feeling better. It's like a little pep talk from my past self. lol.

 

Question time! Obviously, my eating habits dictated what happened to my body and how I felt about it. Would keeping up this type of habit result in my abs getting flatter? Or do I need to exercise to see more change? Or is this a "every body is different" type of question and answer?

 

If you made it to the end, congratulations! I'm really humbled that you wanted to read my little story of getting back on track! I don't have much, but here is a cute puppy as a reward.

 

[The Ox King]

On ‎9‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 9:55 AM, NobleAlyssum said:

Question time! Obviously, my eating habits dictated what happened to my body and how I felt about it. Would keeping up this type of habit result in my abs getting flatter? Or do I need to exercise to see more change? Or is this a "every body is different" type of question and answer?

To see your abs more, you need to reduce your body fat content down to roughly 3%. It's not easy and, in my opinion, not healthy. If you are just looker for flatter abs, you need to work on controlling your gastrointestinal health which will require the right bacteria, the right roughage, supplements, etc. It takes a lot.

Do you need to exercise? Maybe. It's not an "every body is different" thing. It's just math.

If I eat 2000 kcal a day and my body regularly burns 2500 kcal a day, I'm at a 500 kcal deficit for the day, and I'm looking at losing a pound a week. If I then add a 250 kcal workout to each day (this is assuming that your body didn't just keep burning calories when you're done), then you are looking at a 750 kcal daily deficit and losing one and a half pounds a week. Just to be clear, though, between the exercise and the food, your net calories for the day should be, at the absolute bare minimum, 1200 kcal (on average). So, if you eat 1400 and do a 300 workout, you should eat an addition 1100 kcal. If not, then you will see additional fat on your body and your stomach will bloat (distension).

 

Anyways, how'd you do in the past week and a half?

[NobleAlyssum]

3 minutes ago, neomattlac said:

Do you need to exercise? Maybe. It's not an "every body is different" thing. It's just math.

 

Anyways, how'd you do in the past week and a half?

 

I find calorie counting to be hit and miss. I used to do it a lot and it does help in some ways, such as managing portions.

_{In the spoiler is just more information about me and why I don't think calorie counting works too well for me, but I'm sure I have misunderstandings about it too that could be straightened out. But I folded it away in a spoiler as a note that no one has to read it and hear me whine. Haha.}

Spoiler

Here's me: 5 ft, 4 in (162.5 cm), 125 lbs (56.7 kg). According to bodybuilding's calorie calculator and my lifestyle (I work a 9-5 desk job [like most]), my calorie target is just over 1200. My basal metabolic rate from the same site is just over 1300 calories. So, when I get average advice (like the 1200 calorie minimum) I feel like it's a much slower process for me to lose weight at that rate compared to another person. When I want to lose at the same rate as them (a pound a week), so I need to cut out more calories. But that's dangerous and so counting seems super tedious for such a small gain at the end of the week.

 

The past week has been both good and bad, but I'm taking it as a win overall.

Family came in from out of town for the weekend, so they wanted to be entertained and to eat out (I tried to make the healthiest choice, but over did the portions). On the upside, I'm waking up really early to do yoga in the morning before work. Taking the time out for myself and finding focus before I get distracted has helped me be a little more positive and helps me with my body image issues. I'm still prepping my work lunches on Sunday (tuna egg salad sandwiches this week!) and I'm planning most dinners still.

[The Ox King]

22 hours ago, NobleAlyssum said:

 

 

 

It sounds like you understand what's up with your body. It may be that you actually need to eat more veggies and increase the exercise you do to counteract the extra calories. I normally would NOT advise that, but your situation seems somewhat unique. That said, my brother is the nutrition guru, not me. I just cook shit.

[NobleAlyssum]

On 9/20/2016 at 2:41 PM, neomattlac said:

It sounds like you understand what's up with your body. It may be that you actually need to eat more veggies and increase the exercise you do to counteract the extra calories. I normally would NOT advise that, but your situation seems somewhat unique. That said, my brother is the nutrition guru, not me. I just cook shit.

 

It's nice to get a little feedback like that. I sometimes think I'm doing something wrong, which is discouraging, which makes me sad and go back to bad habits. I do need to exercise more. Right now, it's just the walking to and from the bus stop for work and yoga. Thanks for your help!

[The Ox King]

On 9/22/2016 at 9:42 AM, NobleAlyssum said:

 

It's nice to get a little feedback like that. I sometimes think I'm doing something wrong, which is discouraging, which makes me sad and go back to bad habits. I do need to exercise more. Right now, it's just the walking to and from the bus stop for work and yoga. Thanks for your help!

Yoga is surprisingly good for you. It has stretching, bodyweight techniques, and meditation all tied into one. And walking is a great form of low-impact exercise. Are there any activities that you particularly enjoy, like swimming, golf, dancing, etc.?

[NobleAlyssum]

9 hours ago, neomattlac said:

Yoga is surprisingly good for you. It has stretching, bodyweight techniques, and meditation all tied into one. And walking is a great form of low-impact exercise. Are there any activities that you particularly enjoy, like swimming, golf, dancing, etc.?

 

I enjoy lots of activities! I like getting outdoors and doing something. Hiking, horseback riding, swimming, belly dancing; those are some of my favorites. But for health and fitness, I found that body weight exercises and yoga were most enjoyable. I don't do my "fun" stuff very regularly.

 

What have you been doing that is most satisfying for you?

[The Ox King]

Boxing. I love boxing.

[NobleAlyssum]

_{I wasn't sure where I should post something like this, but I felt that replying to my old thread was better than spamming a new one somewhere where it didn't belong.}

 

I had a really slow realization about my fitness and my goals, or perhaps, life more generally. I'm just walking down this path to the best of my ability. What I did or did not do yesterday is in the past; what's done is done. But it doesn't really affect me today. Last week, I didn't do any yoga (husband wanted to binge watch Penny Dreadful every weeknight, so we went to bed late). I didn't even prep my lunches before the week. But I don't feel bad about it today. I fell through the cracks, but one week of not sticking to my schedule didn't really set back my goals. I didn't lose flexibility and I didn't have cake and ice cream for lunch. I came out okay, even if I didn't meet my goals.

I'm doing better this week! I prepped lunches on Sunday and I did yoga both yesterday and today! I'm feeling a good streak!

 

TL;DR: We are our own worst enemies most of the time. That little failure we had yesterday? A very small hiccup in the grand scheme of life. We're human; we can't be perfect 100% of the time.