Be Strong and Courageous

[Elastigirl]

I think sometimes it takes experimenting. Fitness tracker is nice because then you can look at it. Like you are doing right now. I like how you are looking at it, and instead of being all negative with yourself when you are struggling to hit the numbers, you are seeing what you can adjust. The biggest thing I'd recommend to focus on is protein.Aim for about 150 grams a day. That will help build satiety, and build muscle. I was low carb for a while, but then started struggling with low energy and plateau with my workouts, so I tried more carbs.  Right now I have protein at 35% , fat 30%, carbs at 30%. I'm at maintenance, so I don't try for an exact. If I aim trying to lose, I usually up the protein a bit, and then do more carbs on the days I work out, and less on non- work out days. 

[Ayrihn]

Thanks @Elastigirl!

 

Sorry I've been MIA. I haven't been able to find the time to post. I have been keeping up at the gym - but unfortunately I've been succumbing to the Santa Claus diet of eggnog and cookies more than I'd like to admit. Since I've incorporated more running into my routine, I've recalculated my macros. I’ll be following the IIFYM method for the next 12 weeks. Hopefully I can stick with them despite all the holiday nominess around!

 

 

I also found an app called WorldWalking that I'm going to use to track only my running just for fun between now and Jan 1. Doing a virtual run around Nepal. Then I'm going to attempt the trek to Mordor  

 

 

 

 

[Ayrihn]

On 12/13/2018 at 2:56 PM, Rubik'sCat said:

Great job cutting down on the sugar and increasing protein intake though. This sounds like my problem too. I'm what they call "skinny-fat". 

Fats contribute 9 kcal/g opposed to protein and carbs contributing 4 kcal/g, so cutting down on the foods with lots of the bad fats will cut your calories, so that's super great for weight loss for one thing. The ones you definitely don't want are saturated and trans fats.

The recommended ratio would be 45%, 35%, 20% (carbs, proteins, fats). That's just what popped up on Google but it's not one size fits all.

And by the way, it's 0.8 to 1.1 g / kg of body weight (1 kg = 2.2 lbs).

 

I hope this helps.

 

Good call out! I knew that. 

[Ayrihn]

Holy Snowballs, Batman! There hasn't been a new post on this thread in over 3 weeks!

 

 

My bad!

 

Christmas break hit and anything that fell into the "normal" routine disintegrated like a snowball hitting a brick wall.

 

As did any gains I made in the 3 months leading up to Christmas. Except pounds. Those definitely did not disintegrate.

 

Then I had to travel for work the same week that school started back up. Today's my first day back to quasi-normal.

 

So pretty much the last 3.5 (might as well round up to 4) weeks have been a disaster in the diet and fitness department.

 

Today's weigh-in tipped the scale at 162 lbs  That's a 7lb gain in the last month and no it's not muscle. It's also a 17 lb gain between September and now!! And I had maintained my pre-pregnancy weight so well for so long!! 

 

 

My bad!

 

The good news is, I can finally kick off the new year. Just going to take a few steps back and catch up to where I left off and then press on! 

 

In a nutshell, I'll be:

• Tracking AND POSTING my food diary and staying within my IIFYM macros
• Continuing my modified 5x5 strength program
• Training intentionally to participate as a Remote Runner in the 4.2 mile Pat's Run on April 27th, 2019
• Tracking activity for the Walk to Mordor and Back Again

It was a rough end to 2018 and a rough start to 2019. But I'm ready to get back into the groove and knock out these goals!

 

 

How did the Holidays go for everyone else?

[RubiksCat]

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. But you have 11 months now to hit back even harder! I love the Batman theme btw. Congratulations beginning the long climb that is "Walk to Mordor" just put the right attitude into it and you'll have loads of fun.

My holidays were semi-decent. I always get clothes, toys, or books or something like that. I never get what I truly want.

What is it that I want?

Real estate. 

 

Please tell me someone got that reference...but the holidays were decent, really. I hope you have a better December '19.

[Ayrihn]

On 1/11/2019 at 12:33 PM, Rubik'sCat said:

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. But you have 11 months now to hit back even harder! I love the Batman theme btw. Congratulations beginning the long climb that is "Walk to Mordor" just put the right attitude into it and you'll have loads of fun.

My holidays were semi-decent. I always get clothes, toys, or books or something like that. I never get what I truly want.

What is it that I want?

Real estate. 

 

Please tell me someone got that reference...but the holidays were decent, really. I hope you have a better December '19.

 

 

 

January is definitely going to be the "free trial month." New Year will start in February. HA!

 

Seriously, it's been a slow start. I don't want to go back to the gym because doing so will reveal how far back I've fallen. That's fear. I have to overcome myself. Ugh!!

 

On the plus side, I've lost 4 pounds of holiday weight! Woohoo!

[Jean]

There's this wise person who once said:

 

On 11/3/2018 at 12:02 AM, Ayrihn said:

Two steps forward, one step back. Two steps forward again.

 

I'm still inspired by this thread, and you're still on the horse. Count me tuned in for those next two steps.

 

Edit just because : Shakira - Try Everything.

[RubiksCat]

You've always got people here that can pray for you and listen. 

[Ayrihn]

Thank you @Jean and @Rubik'sCat!!! All right...time to put my money where my mouth is. Open dialogue welcome! This week's food diaries so far: 

 

 

 

[Ayrihn]

Hahahaha I just figured out how to change the labels for my meals! One of the things I definitely struggled with was not knowing how to adjust my macros while I wasn't working out...my caloric goal is about 1,615 with a breakdown of 121g protein, 196g carbs and 54g fat but that is factoring in 3 days of weight training and 2 days of running. What do I do when I go a week without exercise? Drop calories yes, but which type? Fat? Carbs? All of them proportionately? By how much?

 

[Jean]

I'd ask in the "Help me clean up my diet" subforum : https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/288-help-me-clean-up-my-diet/

 

If you're feeling pretty brazen, light on the Bat-Signal and call in @Defining. I haven't mustered the guts to say it out loud but this guy/gal is real amazing with science, and numbers, and general advice. If you were searching for the true Batman of nutrition, that is him/her. If Batman packed Superman's powers without the kryptonite liability on top of his outrageous wealth, toys and ninja training, that is.

 

[Ayrihn]

2 hours ago, Jean said:

I'd ask in the "Help me clean up my diet" subforum : https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/288-help-me-clean-up-my-diet/

 

If you're feeling pretty brazen, light on the Bat-Signal and call in @Defining. I haven't mustered the guts to say it out loud but this guy/gal is real amazing with science, and numbers, and general advice. If you were searching for the true Batman of nutrition, that is him/her. If Batman packed Superman's powers without the kryptonite liability on top of his outrageous wealth, toys and ninja training, that is.

 

 

 

[Ayrihn]

Mid-week motivation!!! Let's do this!!!

 

 

[Defining]

3 hours ago, Jean said:

If you're feeling pretty brazen, light on the Bat-Signal and call in @Defining. I haven't mustered the guts to say it out loud but this guy/gal is real amazing with science, and numbers, and general advice. If you were searching for the true Batman of nutrition, that is him/her. If Batman packed Superman's powers without the kryptonite liability on top of his outrageous wealth, toys and ninja training, that is.

Dude. That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me. Thank you!  Fair disclaimer though, I'm not a nutrition expert or healthcare professional, I just read too much and like to Google things.  

 

@Ayrihn are you seeing consistent fat loss with the ~1,600kcal/day when working out? If you are, then if you're only taking the occasional week off from exercise, you may decide that lowering your calories further is NOT necessary for those 'rest weeks'. If you stick to the same eating guidelines, your net caloric intake would only increase marginally (I'm guessing between 1,000-1,700kcal/week?) when you're not burning the extra energy during workouts, even if you're not actually eating more. But that's ok!

 

My reasoning here is along the lines of refeeding, or intermittent restriction - the idea is that giving your body a break from dieting can help prevent the extremes of reduction in non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and potential adaptive thermogenesis (aka 'starvation mode'). Some folks also think it can be advantageous for leptin/ghrelin levels, which are hormones that regulate appetite (but the science there is still pretty unclear). One of the most recent protocols tested was actually 2 weeks dieting/2 weeks maintenance - so quite frequent refeeds! Cliff notes: it could help prevent your body from 'slowing down' as quickly from caloric restriction.

 

While the research is early days, I personally prefer to give it some weight because I like the idea of cyclical goal setting, and giving ourselves more flex room to adapt to micro lifestyle changes. The downside to this approach is that on a linear chronological measurement, fat loss will be slower - but the flip side would be that it potentially mitigates some of the hormonal changes that could make maintenance more difficult later.

 

If you'd still prefer to reduce your kcal on 'rest weeks', you just need to experiment between which you feel better cutting - carbs vs fats vs combo (your protein should stay the same regardless). It generally comes down to the individual response/preference for which macro you choose to prioritise between pasta or butter.  

 

Another idea (sorry, I'll stop after this) would be to actually eat a bit MORE on your workout days (eg. an extra protein shake with some berries & half a banana) and then only aim for ~1,450kcal on any day that you're not explicitly exercising. This would be closer to carb cycling, and could be an interesting tool to use in adapting to daily changes in your life.

 

At the end of the day though, there is no 'one right answer' - you have the awesome opportunity to experiment and figure out which approach works best for YOU and your needs. 'Hope some of that helps, best of luck with your goals!

[Ayrihn]

@Defining WOW that is some incredible insight! I can’t express how grateful I am that you took the time to share 

 

It seems there’s always something new to learn...back when I was preparing to go into the army, I did it all wrong. Starvation mode 24x6 with Sunday’s being breakfast buffet days and even then my gorging consisted of a veggie omelette and fruit. For the day. Not good. Hopefully I didn’t do too much damage.

 

Then I went vegetarian. Then pescetarian. Then blood type diet. Then sporadic eat-too-much-then-starve-to-make-up-for-it. Then eat whatever I want because I’m pregnant ha! Then holy smokes I’m the same weight as the day before I gave birth except I’m not pregnant this time, which led to keto. That worked, lost 45 lbs. But I wasn’t exercising. NOW I’m strength training, which means more protein and carbs, AND just recently added running again for the first time in 6 years. So trying to avoid past mistakes and make progress in the weight loss department while figuring out how to adjust to all the variables.

 

I also have a terrible sweet tooth. Pretty sure all I had were sweet teeth over Christmas! And not exercising just exacerbated everything. I’m super excited to try out your recommendations! Hopefully the next “rest” period doesn’t last so long though! 

 

Many thanks again, and nice to meet you!

[Jean]

27 minutes ago, Defining said:

I'm not a nutrition expert or healthcare professional, I just read too much and like to Google things.   

 

While that may be true, I really like your no nonsense, down to earth, sensible way of handling nutrition situations. Like the display you just did, right there. No over restricting oneself, just going with what works, backed up with different readings while still trying to keep the implementation as easy as possible and providing a few chosen suggestions. Very pleasant to read. Thanks for dropping by.

[Ayrihn]

Ok last post of the day. Clearly I waited way too long to get back into gear because I did my strength workout for the day and by the end I felt a cold sweat coming on and there’s no way I’m gonna try and run. Hopefully it’s just all the toxins from the holidays getting sweated out. I’m counting my .5 mile warmup jog though!

[Ayrihn]

Ok. I need to kill my sweet tooth. Going low carb for a while! I used iifym to calculate TDEE with 3 days of exercise and then plugged the TDEE into the ruled.me calculator. I used the option to “gain muscle” but set the “gain” at 0%, hopefully that will give me enough protein while allowing me to lose this weight!

 

 

 

 

 

[Defining]

Bear in mind, women's weights will fluctuate with different levels of water retention depending on the 'time of the month'. Weight isn't a hugely reliable metric outside of long-term trends. You may enjoy adding in girth measurements for hips/waist?

 

Just a thought for you, if you want to try calculating out your own macros, it's pretty easy. If it were me, I'd definitely be focusing on getting enough protein, it can help with cravings and recovery time.

 

Protein = 1.6-3.3g/kg of bodyweight; I'd probably aim for ~2.2g/kg or 1g per lb of bodyweight, mostly because it looks like you're still undershooting your protein goal most days, so if you increase the goal to 150g but only get 100-120g, that's a better result than aiming for 120g and only getting in 80-90g

 

Carbs = if you like low carb, that's cool, but the really low numbers can limit how many veggies & fruit you can fit in! Outside of a ketogenic short term plan, many people find that 100g/day is a good ballpark figure to keep cravings down while still allowing enough wiggle room for flexible eating (ie. easier for long term planning).

 

Fat = I've seen some decent explanations suggesting  a minimum of 0.3g/lb of bodyweight (or of lean body mass, but that's a PIA to calculate)

 

For yourself, that could look like:

150g protein (600kcal)

100g carbs (400kcal)

50g fat (450kcal)

 

With a 'spare' 150-200kcal/day to swap around as needed (eg. higher fat on rest days, higher carb on workout days). Or even 50g of carbs on rest days and up to 100g on workout days with the rest in fat if you still like keeping those numbers down!

 

 

Then again, it looks like you've done keto and very low carb before, so if that's the best solution for you to deal with cravings, just ignore me. I find that some plain cocoa powder in hot water (like bitter hot chocolate) can help with sweet cravings. Keeping a mood/food journal could also maybe help you figure out if you're physically craving sweet, or if there are behavioural/environmental cues that are suggesting to you 'time to eat sweet stuff'. Kind of like hunger, our brain can sometimes trick us into thinking we 'need' something rather than just are used to having it in a certain context.

 

I'll butt out now, this is YOUR accountability thread. Looks like you're rocking it, no matter which strategy you use!

[Ayrihn]

1 hour ago, Defining said:

Bear in mind, women's weights will fluctuate with different levels of water retention depending on the 'time of the month'. Weight isn't a hugely reliable metric outside of long-term trends. You may enjoy adding in girth measurements for hips/waist?

 

 

YES! I touched on, um, biological nuances briefly early on. There are just so many variables since I haven't been consistent and I haven't been able to establish any reliable trends so I can effectively predict when I need to adjust my nutrients or allow a little chocolate treat  But right now I know I have a sugar addiction problem, so I need to just drop it all cold turkey. Yesterday's diary is a good example. The one cupcake was allowable within my macros, but then there were girl scout cookies. And I should have added some chicken at some point to get that protein in but no, I went for the cookies.

 

*I found a mini twix from my business trip while digging through my backpack yesterday, so I ate it. Without thinking. Don't judge me  

 

This keto effort is intentionally short-term. Partly because I have a trooping event next weekend and I can't be pooching out of my dress. I might not even go into full ketosis, I just know I need to kick the carbs to the curb for a bit. Well, the sugar. Corporate punishment. One type of carb messes me up, every carb pays!! BUAHAHAHA!

 

I like the idea of calculating my own macros. That might even be better - straight up numbers because numbers don't lie! There are so many calculators out there - IIFYM, ruled.me, bodybuilding.com...but they don't KNOW me! LOL!

 

Speaking of calculators, bodybuilding.com has a Lean Body Mass calculator...just an estimate there on BFP but I'd be confident enough in that number to calculate my macros! Thank you @Defining!

 

 

 

 

[Defining]

27 minutes ago, Ayrihn said:

Speaking of calculators, bodybuilding.com has a Lean Body Mass calculator...just an estimate there on BFP but I'd be confident enough in that number to calculate my macros! Thank you @Defining!

Very cool. I'd probably still stick to the 0.3g of fat per lb of total bodyweight minimum for the fat intake though - unfortunately, women's bodies tend to be pretty sensitive to restricting macros to any kind of extreme, more so than men's bodies. Calculators are awesome tools, but also try not to make yourself too crazy about hitting perfect numbers all the time - we need to leave room for life's foibles.

 

29 minutes ago, Ayrihn said:

*I found a mini twix from my business trip while digging through my backpack yesterday, so I ate it. Without thinking. Don't judge me  

There's never judgement. We've all done it, and that's not actually a problem. Like I said - flexibility and giving yourself the room/permission to have blips in your day-to-day life.

 

I've done a 'food diary' via taking pictures on my phone of everything I eat, before eating it, and that small amount of accountability (ie. seeing the gallery of the last thing I ate) helped to remind me to eg. choose to just have the cupcake and save the girl guide cookies for tomorrow. A different tracking option that may carry less emotion/judgement associated with it for you!

[Ayrihn]

Yuck!

 

First mile was 11:09.

 

It’s going to be a long road to Pat’s Run. I’d love to get enough endurance to go the whole 4.2 miles without walking. 

 

 

[Ayrihn]

Well I hit protein goal! Not that concerned about overdoing the carbs (it was a “sweet kale salad” from Costco anyways) because ultimately the goal is to get away from the refined sugars and whatnot. No Girl Scout cookies for me tonight!!! Buahahahahaha!!

 

Me: 1 

Sugar: 0

 

 

 

[RubiksCat]

That's fantastic news you're not giving in to temptation. You're army of followers are right alongside you helping to keep you in between the lines. I wonder how many real girl scouts are ground up and served within the cookie dough anyway.

[Jean]

1 hour ago, Ayrihn said:

Me: 1 

Sugar: 0

 

You show him!