Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Weight and Calorie Update (176.6)

My weight is stable, and isn't dropping dramatically from day to day.  Contrary to what a dieter might think, this is a good thing. 

My body seems to be on a two week cycle.  I will lose 2-3 pounds, then maintain that for about two weeks, then lose another 2-3 pounds.  This is the same pattern I noticed when I lost weight in 2007.  As long as I'm keeping my food healthy and even and whole, then it's no big deal.  And as long as I know this is how my body works, then I can unhook my self worth from the scale reading.

Other than a couple of "blow up" days, I have been eating an average of ~1,500 calories a day since I started the "eat only whole foods" plan 2.5 weeks ago.  It is very hard to get in more food than that without feeling like I'm overeating.  I know that might sound a little nuts.  I just feel full and am not eating when I'm not hungry, so putting more food on the menu seems counter intuitive right now. 

I haven't been running much, because it's been so stinking hot, even in the mornings (when the heat index is 104 at 10:30 PM, you know a 5:30 am run is not going to happen if you are half way sane... there were people running in the afternoon when the heat index was 115-120. They are clearly not sane).  I got on the treadmill yesterday for 30 minutes, which isn't much at all but is better than zero. 

I am planning to run the October Half Marathon, which means I start a 12 week training program next week, so when my running increases, my food may increase some too.  I'm going to wait and see what my body needs and not automatically say "hey, I'm running 4 miles tomorrow, hand me a big plate of pasta!"  The Kay Sheppard plan (which I'm mostly doing, but not strictly) supports 45 minutes of cardio a day.  Unless I'm going longer than 3 miles, I won't need more calories. 

So that's that.  I am off to go have lunch and finish my work day.

11 comments:

E. Jane said...

I was interested in hearing that you are on the Kay Sheppard plan. I am too. Are you doing Kay's first plan (2 starches per day) or her updated plan with a starch at each meal. I love the plan--whole foods that are filling.

Vickie said...

remember all the bloggers you have read over the years who ran and gained weight (or didn't loose)?

there are those who swear that running and weight loss are not a good pair.

those are the people who increase their food, or eat the wrong proportions, because of their running. and some of them increase willy nilly. I am not sure if this is anxiety, an excuse waiting for a place to land, or what. but you see and read it all the time in weight loss blog land - people training for a race and then weight loss stalls or weight increases.

it isn't the running.

it is the food.

(my favorite memory from the biggest loser is someone trying to convince bob that their weight loss had stalled because they were running, he was having none of it)

My brother, running marathons and never going out of training, has to increase his food like an athlete. Most of the rest of us do not.

I have never understood that 45 minute thing with Kay. Because many of the people she works with should be moving their bodies many hours a day just to get their metabolisms moving (like for the first time in their lives, sedentary families). I realise it is hard for them, they are at the walking to the mailbox and back 20 times a day, one trip at a time, with a long rest in between, but that is where we start.

now, it takes me about 20-30 minutes to really get warmed up enough to get going in cardio. any less than an hour and i am not actually getting any cardio. that is part of why I do my hours together, so I am working already fatigued muscles and stay warmed.

Vickie said...

and most of those (kay) people (in my opinion, probably) aren't actually exerting themselves in exercise, they are just moving.

again, for anyone new reading, that is where we start, and over time we increasing intensity and decrease time, but in the beginning, in my opinion, it is a lot of time because there is very little intensity.

so, I can see that the 45 minute rule might apply if one talks about doing intense, interval type work for 45 minutes. (Not running at a regular pace, but yes full out balls to the wall interval sprints. or work like the tabatas which are on my side bar. Because that is true exercise.) And then does other things like pilates, yoga, resistance work and doesn't consider it exercise. which has been how I have always thought about it.

It might be that you have to adjust food a little or rearrange your schedule, but I would be very cautious that it is not the devil on your shoulder who has you thinking about increasing food immediately, or thinking about increasing food for 12 weeks immediately.

You listed off what you used to eat before you ran and said you dont eat that non-food any more. So it might be your mind is playing tricks with you.

One thing I can think to consider is splitting your breakfast so you eat half, run, eat the other half. another I can see is to eat one of your dairy/fruits in the morning.

most of my calories, for the whole day, are consumed by about 3pm. I am then not hungry later.

It might be that you eat a slightly bigger starch with lunch (like if I remember right, you are not eating any starch at dinner, so you might eat a starch and a half at lunch, and that would put you between kays two plans that E.Jane mentioned).

Although that 2 starch a day is REALLY OLD, the updated has been around for a long time, and E Jane was just writing about how tired she is, so it might be an issue for her. (should not be tired over kay food intake).

Protein is what holds, not starch, but the starch does have to do with not feeling tired. those who try to outsmart Kay and drop too low in carbs/calories, do feel tired.

the other thing that i have always kept in mind is that I am lighter every week (in weight loss). each week I can go a little further on the same amount of food intake, because there is less of me to move. I am not decreasing food. I am increasing intensity. your training might actually just be increasing intensity, changing from the 'just moving my body' crowd to the 'actually having sustained intervals of work' crowd.

Vickie said...

and when you are stuck with the treadmill, which I know is not your favorite, and you are stuck inside, which is not your favorite, then are you taking advantage of the systems available on the treadmill and doing intervals/sprints - ?

Because you can warm up, do major interval work/tabatas, and really get something done in (even) 30 minutes.

Cindy said...

Glad to see more about KS plan. Glad to see you have stability. I fondly remember the lose/maintain/lose pattern. I'd lose 5, adjust, lose 5 more when I was losing the bigger weight. Now I simply want to start losing and stop gaining it back each time! I had a great breakfast this morning, thanks to encouragement from you and Vickie. Congrats on setting a goal for October!

Laura N said...

E.Jane, I'm on the KS plan b/c of Vickie and it was your blog she linked to that made me decide to finally start her plan. I have done little with her website other than look at the Food Plan page and start there. I have adapted it as Vickie has--adding in walnuts to some of my dairy/fruit combinations. I have been hit or miss on the carb at night thing. At first I wasn't eating a carb at night, but then after Vickie commented that the goal is not to limit myself too strictly and get the weight off too fast, I decided to add back in the carb with dinner. I don't know if it will cause me to stall or not. I will find out in a couple of weeks, if I haven't lost anymore; then I'll drop the dinner starch and see if that helps.

Laura N said...

I have also read that training for a full marathon and trying to lose weight is a disaster. What I've read is people get too hungry b/c of all the miles, and they eat so much that they gain weight. As I think about it, it's probably that they are using the running as an excust to eat refined carbs. There's a huge market of products for runners to eat sugar foods to keep themselves fueled during a run. If you are eating 100+ calories for every 45 minutes you run (which is the recommendation) and if you are also carbing up to run, then yeah, you aren't going to lose weight!

I had great luck with running in 2007 and 2008, in losing weight and keeping it off. Running is a huge motivator for me--like yoga was for you, Vickie--to get weight off. I ran a 2:15:00 half marathon (10:22 min/mile avg pace) in 2008, and it was in no small part to the fact that I only weighed 146 pounds. For every 10 pounds, my pace goes up/down one minute. I want very much to be a fast runner. I want very much to be a long distance runner. It is extremely difficult to do both of those things if you are 30 pounds overweight, or even 10 pounds overweight. Plus, my legs and butt don't jiggle as much when I run when I'm thinner! I like wearing as little clothing as possible when I run--sleeveless & shorts/skort--but am not comfortable doing that when I'm this heavy.

So, for me, running isn't just about burning calories. It's a non-scale goal that keeps me moving towards a healthy weight.

Plus, running doesn't just work your legs (it does do wonders for them...I had great legs when I was running regularly). My arms also looked great when I ran, and my abs got tighter too. I concentrate on holding in my core when I run, because it makes you run stronger and longer. When my core sags, I know I am about finished because it starts to sag when I'm tired.

Laura N said...

the best combination for weight loss, for me, is running with weight training. I am somehow going to have to add weights back in. I did pushups and crunches Tuesday night, and that may be what I do for a while, until the nerve damage in my arm is healed and I can start lifting weights again. My arm is better, but not healed. It is still very hard for me to lift anything heavy (like our 5 gallon glass water bottles that we drink at home--they about kill my arm, and I used to be able to lift them like they were nothing). I can do lift heavy things, but it hurts, so I know the nerve is still healing. My PT said it could take 6+ months, IF I don't reinjure it, which means I shouldn't be lifting heavy things. But, it's either that or pay $5 more for 2.5 gallons less water, which I'm not doing. My husband can't lift them b/c of his lower back issues (and yes, he knows to lift from his quads, but he doesn't and almost always injurs his back if he puts in the water bottle--so I just do it to save his back).

And on the 45 minutes of workouts on KS's plan, she also says to avoid excessive exercise. That bugged me a bit--what is excessive? Is training for a half marathon excessive? I took what I needed and left the rest.

I agree that if my workouts aren't leaving me sweaty and breathless a good part of the time, they aren't enough. That's why I love running--I'm sweaty and breathless almost the whole time (well, not breathless, but I can barely talk). And intervals on the TM are the way I survive the TM. When I don't want to run anymore, I push myself to run faster so I get it overwith sooner. That pays off in more than one way--I'm finished sooner and I also get a better workout.

Somedays, like Tuesday night, it's a "I'm just moving my body" workout, because that's all I've got in me. I'd rather do that than not move my body and be thinking the "shoulda/coulda/woulda's" the whole time I'm not working out.

Vickie said...

Okay, it just so happens that one of the key weight loss blog land people, who has gone on and on over the years about not being able to loose weight while running, wrote a post this week that SUGAR might have a lot to do with why she has not been able to loose her weight in a zillion years of watching her calories.

So, yes, another person, like us, who has to be proportional, rather than just watching the total number of calories.

She did not talk about this in detail, so I am not sure how much she actually gets, and no, she is not someone that someone can just tell. She is someone that will either figure it out, or not, on her own.

But it was VERY interesting to see her little light bulb moment.

I always notice those light bulb moments. But I am no longer invested in them in any way.

Whether or not she actually applies this 'sugar' knowledge, is of course yet to be seen, just like it is for each of us every day.

Vickie said...

maybe that 45 minute exercise thing is simply for her own protection so someone doesn't have a heart attack.

It is important for us all to be smart in not injuring ourselves, but yes, you are right, we have to push it.

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOO understand about just plain needing a smaller body so there is less wear and tear and and impact and jiggle. I understand that 100%. That will serve you well in maintenance.

Vickie said...

i forgot to check the box, did it now.