Elastigirl

Very cool that your son is encouraging you to go with him to the gym!

Pretty flowers! Thanks for the signs of spring. I've seen a few green buds popping out of the ground. Right now,it's colder than average, so not much is blooming.

Yes, that's what I've been doing. I guess I'm on the right track.

Great article. I love their end goal of the process of maintenance is to live a balanced life. I found their examples of how to do it very helpful. The reverse dieting is similar in that going from a cut to maintenance, the idea is to up it slowly. I've never done that before, so I'm interested to see how that works. I thought the suggestion to start out the first couple of weeks in maintenance with blander food was interesting. In cut, food is usually blander (sauces , fat, all up the calories) so I usually introduce treats and stuff right away. And then quicky go overboard.😃 Going to try this, and see if it helps me to balance out nutritional eating/ treat eating a little better. Another similarity between reverse dieting and this plan is the idea that yes, you will gain a little bit of weight when you first go back. Don't freak out , stay on plan. If the trend continues, then maybe you need to back off, but wait a couple of weeks to see. And something that made me go hmmm... Their chart for where we should be at maintenance is what I'm at for bulking . I think part of my issue may be that I restrict a bit too much, then overdo with treat stuff. And, maybe I just will need to do a cycle or two of cutting during the year. And like Harriet said, if we keep that as not super hard, then maybe it's longterm doable.

Enjoy your tea with your friend!

This sounds like a sensible and doable plan!

Yes,, all the stuff that's horrid for you.And the taste is pretty poor too. I still try occasionally because I just miss cheese so much; Not sure if it is available where you live, but I use SunWarrior, it's pea and hemp protein. It mixes into oatmeal fairly well, and makes a decent smoothie. Not as good as whey- once again I miss dairy.😉

I think it serves us well to find the right balance betwen pushing ourselves a bit, but not so hard we get frustrated. We were talking about that with diet, but I think exercise is similar. Finding something you can be consistent at is huge. When I started, I did something small every day. I found that super helpful to just get into the habit , and think I am a person who exercises. My problem is when I forget what my main goal is , and think I always have to do something the way I started. Despite my name, I'm not always flexible.😉 Being a routing person is great for consistency, but I can get stuck in ruts, and keep doing something, even when it is no longer the best choice. But, I'm learning and getting better at not doing that.

I agree with Everstorm.Love to hear from you, but no guilt needed. Maybe part of the issue is that without a job you don't have a regular routine? If things are part of the routine, I have a lot easier time remembering them.

I would really like to just be in maintenance. I'm not sure how realistic that is. If I don't track calories, I tend to trend toward small weight gain. I may keep tracking at maintenace , just to get a feel for it. Or, I could do The cut, bulk, maintenance cycle. I don't really want to track calories forever. I like the plan you suggested of checking in with yourself weekly to see how you feel about your diet. Maybe if I stop before I reach that " I hate this ' point I would be more willing to have a few cycles of bulk and cut yearly. Right now, I'm just in the experimenting stage. Committing to the reverse diet test for a year, and after that I'll see.

So the workout plan I am doing Anabolic , by Mindpump. calls for workouts only 2 days a week. They said if you were super advanced you could do 3. I figured it was a consistency thing. They wanted you to nail down the consistency of two days a week before you did 3. I figured, I've nailed the consistency, so I was doing 3. Well, I was listening to their podcast, and the reason is that they want you body to have time to completely repair itself, so that it will build more. Huh. Then you do their trigger sessions the others days. Very light resistance band work. So, I am doing that. Instead of a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday workout, I am doing a Monday and Friday. I did do a bit of core workout, because I feel the need to do something. Then mobility and a light rowing session. It was dumping down rain, so I did the rowing instead of walking. Really hard for me to not do three day a week workouts. I feel like I am so behind, as I didn't start working out until I was in my late forties, that I don't want to waste time. But, I am going to follow the workout as written and see. It's just for this phase, and the next phase is 3 times a week.

One of the things I've learned while exercising is to embrace the fact that I will suck at new things 😃Yeah, GMB has some interesting movements. But, it is good for balance, and to build smaller muscles that you don't always work on.

My plan is : I'm following the reverse diet plan, which is similar, except you start with bulking and then go to cutting. Right now I'm bulking. My calories are just 50 calories a day short of my goal which is 2,300 calories a day. I'm going to up it to that, and keep it at that range through the month of March. I weigh myself 3 times a week, and take waist measurement. If I start seeing big increases, I'll adjust as needed. We have a mini vacation planned at the beginning of April, so my bulking/ cutting is timed around that. Ideally, I would like to start the cut earlier, but the timing didn't work. Mid April will start my 500 a day calorie deficit. By then hopefully, the weather will be nicer, and I will be gardening and going on long walks. My goal is to cut for 6 weeks. But, if at 4 weeks , I'm feeling fatigued, I might take a week break. After my cut, I will work slowly up to maintenance, and then do a short bulk before I do a new cut. The length depends on how long my cut was (aiming for it to be about equal time) I'm going to play that a bit by ear. The idea is to find the balance between moving forward on my goal, but not burning myself out. I will experiment with the timing. Pretend like I'm designing a game, it needs to be challenging enough to be fun, and like you've achieved something, but not so hard you just quit. I'm focusing on losing inches rather than weight. I want to lose about 4 inches around my belly. I'm guessing that is about 25 pounds. At a cycle of 6 week mini cuts- that might take 4-6 cycles, which if you include bulks, might take a year. That seems a long time. Also, on that schedule I end up cutting in October.Just as our weather is dark and cold. So, I might eventually take longer cuts. But, right now 12 weeks in a cut sounds daunting. And I want it to feel like a goal I can achieve. So, I'm giving the cut a shorter time frame. In my bulk so far, I haven't gained any weight. If I do gain weight in subsequent bulks,the plan is to keep it small.

My thoughts on this: It is actually really encouraging to hear that it isn't all about will power.Diet fatigue is a real thing. Also really helpful reading the steps to cure it. I was feeling slightly guilty that I have "wasted the last year" because I wasn't focused on losing the weight by tracking calories. But, I did a lot of the things that recommended. And I kept working out. I have focused on eating protein, and balanced meals. And now I'm ready to track calories, and in a much better head space about it all. I like the plan of tracking at least a couple of weeks after cutting.

Thanks for setting this up! I could so relate to your first post. I don't have time to read your notes, but I'll make time to do it sometime today. I"m currenttly doing reverse dieting. The plan is to slowly bulk , while lifting weights, and eating protein. This increases your metabolism. Then , when you are ready to cut it doesn't to be as drastic. I'm setting a date for how long I cut for. However, I'm also giving myself an escape route. If I start getting diet fatigued before the date, I can take a few days, a week, or two off and then go back. I'm trying to think long term. It may not get me to my goal as quickly, but hopefully I will avoid the diet backlash.

Gremlins

It was sort of rain/snowing this morning , and I'm done with the cold, so I opted to do indoor movement. I did one of the last videos of my GMB program, Literal Immortality. It's a mix of balance, mobility and strength . The strength is things you don't normally do. Today's strength was lunges using your toes. I did lousy at that😃 I enjoyed it. They are good. The problem with them is they aren't quite hard enough for regular strength workouts, but some of the strength stuff is hard enough I can't really consider it a rest day. So, I never quite know where to fit it . I wish they had a library of the movements I could just look up and do, but they do not.

Thanks.I don't like indoor walking near as much, but it gets the job done Get Fit With Rick and Sharona's Hill Youtube videos

Diet fatigue thread

Yes, exactly.That is what my logical brain tells me,. However, my illogical brain and emotions try to derail that . I always feel like I am a hungry caterpillar. Bulking has been very good mentally for me. I am able to eat as much as I want. I'm realizing that even in maintenance, I would try and limit food some. To have a goal to eat around 2,300 calories a day and actually feel full most of the time is amazing. I think , going forward, I will feel a little less guilty that I am a hungry catepillar!

My goal is to try and make it relaxed. It's a bit hard with the bulking, there's always the fear I'm going to eat to much and gain 50 lbs in a week.😃 So, maybe part of the relaxation comes with practice. As you do it more, you know how your body reacts and are able to trust the process a bit more.

Have a lovely birthday celebration next weekend!

Bible before screens;yes Workout clothes out: yes It was a gorgeous sunny day out, but there was a bit of hail on the ground, and it was cold, so I decided to wait a bit to go for a walk. Was busy doing other stuff, and was finally ready to go about 3:30. I look outside, and it's DARK outside, as in imminent bad weather dark. Then it thunders. 😄Should have known in February to not wait , or the weather would change. Skipped the walk, and did a video walk after dinner for about 20 minutes. I usually try for 30 minutes, but I was tired, and sometimes good enough is good enough.

Diet

That's great that the kettlebell ladders are improving your cardio!