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Old 09-20-2008, 09:46 PM   #1021
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I hope this is not too much information, but I need to join this thread.

I have rarely had a weight problem in my life. In high school I was a bit on the plump side. Then after college, when I first quit smoking, I packed on some weight.

Now, I've hit menopause (TMI?) at age 51. In two years, without changing my diet, I put on 20 - 25 pounds. Yikes!!!

I'm now down to 129 pounds (I'm 5'3" and small boned). I am working toward 120 pounds. I think that will be a good weight for me.

My partner and I moved into the city and gave up an hour commute each way. Now we ride bikes to work or walk to the bus stop. We are also closer to great hiking trails and have been either biking or hiking on weekends.

This winter we are going to sign up for pilates. We can retire in hopfully five years and want to be able to backpack our way through the PNW. It would really suck to finally have the weekdays to hit the deserted trails but not be fit enough to do it.
Sounds good. It wasn't TMI. I think it's great to recognize the problem so soon. Many people delude myself themselves for a long time, thinking they can change things anytime they want to, and not realizing that it takes patience, work, and time. Make sure you can do the things you want in retirement, that's what it's there for.

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I was very stressed over the last week (no electricity for 6 days) and I had great difficulty resisting the old patterns of stress eating.
As I've come to realize, it isn't what you do when you screw up that matters, it's whether you can get back on track afterwards. Just don't give up and in a few weeks the backslide won't matter at all. Good luck, and keep coming back.
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Old 09-20-2008, 09:57 PM   #1022
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Helen, menopause tends to slow down our metabolism, hence the weight gain. Staying active and eating right helps to kick up the metabolism. DH & I have booked a bike tour in Holland for next April. So, we just bought a couple of bikes, getting them geared to our liking, and this morning we had our first day of actual training (12 miles) after a couple of days of biking around our neighborhood. I also have an aquatics fitness class three times a week, and some core exercises during the week. Hopefully, by Christmas, I will be in much better shape...I am 50.

Sounds like you have a good activity schedule going. Good luck!
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Old 09-21-2008, 01:25 AM   #1023
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Helen, I ran into the same problem. When I became peri-menopausal in my late 30s I gained the spare tyre around my waist and it has been a major struggle to move it. Now that I am semi-retired I am working on getting rid of it.

BTW in Younger Next Year they state that gaining weight due to menopause is a myth. I am not sure that I agree with this statement as mine was definitely linked.
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Old 09-21-2008, 01:50 AM   #1024
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BTW in Younger Next Year they state that gaining weight due to menopause is a myth. I am not sure that I agree with this statement as mine was definitely linked.
The most casual look around would support that women do for the most part tend to gain weight around the middle after menopause. And why not? Isn't estrogen the main reason for the femal body fat distribution pattern?

Ha
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Old 09-21-2008, 09:53 AM   #1025
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My partner and I moved into the city and gave up an hour commute each way. Now we ride bikes to work or walk to the bus stop. We are also closer to great hiking trails and have been either biking or hiking on weekends.
TMI? Why are Merkins so afraid of their body functons?

Helen, have any luck finding better hiking socks/boots?
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Old 09-23-2008, 10:39 PM   #1026
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Something I have been noticing is that on a very low carb diet I don't really get hungry. If I go too long without eating, I just start feeling kind of beat and out of gas.

When I eat my energy is restored shortly. Yesterday I had a 4 small patties of country sausage and 2 eggs country style around 8 AM. Then I got busy and forgot lunch, except fopr 2 one oz. bags of almonds. Around 4:30 I was walking up a hill and I thought crap, I am really not doing well. Fortunately I was only a few blocks from Schultzy's Famous Sausage place on the Ave. A bratwurst and some saurkraut had me good to go soon after eating.

Ha
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Old 09-24-2008, 06:30 AM   #1027
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124#. Started weight training (in addition to my cardio) and boy am I sore!
126#

I'd like to think it is muscle gain, but that isn't realistic since I just started weight training 2 wks ago. I think "feeding the monster" is the more likely culprit! I've given in to cravings a lot more lately

Well, it's back to weighing, measuring, and counting calories again for a while. I've worked too hard to take the weight off to let it creep back on.
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Old 09-24-2008, 11:32 AM   #1028
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1/23: 196.8 17.1% body fat.
(snip ...)
6/25: 193.0 16.0%
7/02: 191.4 15.8%
7/09: 196.0 16.5%
7/16: 193.2 15.9%
7/23: 194.8 16.0%
7/30: 191.8 16.0%
8/06: 190.0 16.0%
8/13: 192.0 15.8%
8/20: 192.6 16.4%
8/27: 194.6 16.2%
9/03: 195.4 17.1%
9/10: 195.6 16.2%
9/17: 195.2 16.7%
9/24: 194.6 16.4%

Goal: 190.0 15.3%

While it appears that I might be treading water weight-wise, I'm actually going in the right direction finally. I've gotten my exercise routine back in gear and I'm feeling good. We'll see how the next week goes.
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Old 09-24-2008, 02:02 PM   #1029
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[quote=DangerMouse;712153]22 July: 67.4 kg
27 Aug: 67.0 kg
3 Sept: 66.8kg
10 Sept: 66.1 kg
24 Sept: 65.9 kg

Target 1: 64.0 kg by 30 September 2008
Target 2: 61.0 kg by 31 December 2008

I would say with absolute certainty that I am not going to meet my first goal. I skipped last week as I was out of town. I guess I can't complain as I am heading in the right direction, however I do need to be more focussed on the exercise.
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Old 09-24-2008, 05:03 PM   #1030
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6' 1" Target range 170 - 175

7/31 - 174.5
8/6 - 177
8/13 - 176.5
8/20 - 177
8/27 - out of town
9/3 - 176
9/10 - 179
9/17 - 175.5
9/24 - 177

Quote:
Originally Posted by haha View Post
Something I have been noticing is that on a very low carb diet I don't really get hungry. If I go too long without eating, I just start feeling kind of beat and out of gas.
Interesting. I find that with my higher fiber low meat diet I feel full of gas


SG: Pleased to hear your determination to not let things slip. I do the same thing - my trigger is when I get to 180 I start writing down what I eat every day and counting points.

DM: Just keep going, you are still going down towards that first target.
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Old 09-24-2008, 05:58 PM   #1031
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Something I have been noticing is that on a very low carb diet I don't really get hungry. If I go too long without eating, I just start feeling kind of beat and out of gas.

When I eat my energy is restored shortly. Yesterday I had a 4 small patties of country sausage and 2 eggs country style around 8 AM. Then I got busy and forgot lunch, except fopr 2 one oz. bags of almonds. Around 4:30 I was walking up a hill and I thought crap, I am really not doing well. Fortunately I was only a few blocks from Schultzy's Famous Sausage place on the Ave. A bratwurst and some saurkraut had me good to go soon after eating.

Ha
I have noticed a similar pattern.

On the rare occasion that I do eat refined carb, I can feel the dropping blood sugar.
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Old 09-24-2008, 10:01 PM   #1032
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OK -I peek in here from time to time just to see how everyone is doing with their "weighty" issues, but rarely post my own. I got up to about 238 or 240 early this year, and started going to the gym. Weight moved down a little, but not much. Went away for a week, came back and was on my own in terms of feeding myself for about a month, and lost about 10#, down to 228# or so, even though I was too lazy to go to the gym for most of that time. Went on a two week vacation and came back at about 231# or so. Started back to they gym in earnest, 5 days a week most weeks and a long walk on at least one weekend day.

At the gym I have mainly been using the treadmill. I alternate days: 1) jogging for as much distance as I can, then brisk walk, then cool down, and 2) interval training - run one lap, walk one lap, but the run is at a higher speed than on my distance days. Each day, I typically get about 5-5.5 miles in (one mile pre-gym walking from the office to the gym and around the block until gym opens, and 4-4.5 miles at the gym). When jogging, I am up to about 3 miles jogging and 1.5 walking. When doing intervals, it is about 2mi run 2mi walk in total. My jogging pace is about 12min/mile. My running pace is about 8-8.5min/mile.

Here's the problem: I'm gaining weight, not losing. I'm back up to 235#. I am eating less in total caloric intake as well as carb intake than before. I'm eating much higher fiber since April. I rarely eat any sweets.

I did "full-blown Atkins" before and lost a lot, but I fell off the wagon and gained most of it back. That time I did zero exercise. This time, I have been trying to take a milder approach, i.e., less carbs, higher fiber, more exercise, better overall health and slower weight-loss...the problem is that the weight loss is not coming. I guess the good news is that my waist does seem to be shrinking a little (putting on some muscle while losing some fat, total weight still too high).

Does anyone suggest going on full-blown Atkins again, along with the exercise? If I do that, I really have to be careful to get enough fiber, or my other problems will come back...Any better suggestions? Target is good health and losing some weight to make sure that I am able to get health insurance in a year or two when I am ready to FIRE.

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Old 09-25-2008, 06:26 AM   #1033
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Rambler, are you sure your total caloric intake is low enough to create a deficit for weight loss? How many daily calories are you limiting yourself to? The only way I can lose weight is to absolutely weigh and measure everything I eat. It's amazing how many calories are in things and how quickly they add up. If you aren't weighing and measuring, counting calories, and writing it all down, I would try that for a week to see how it works. It's a pain, for sure, but it works for me...when I make myself do it. YMMV.

I'm not a big fan of full-blown Atkins, but I really like my carbs. I just try to limit my carbs and when I do have them, focusing on those that are healthier (ie. whole wheat, etc.)
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Old 09-25-2008, 09:03 PM   #1034
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I agree with SG about counting your calories. I'm afraid that is the only way I managed to lose weight, and then over the last few years I haven't had to count unless I gain too much which is very unusual fortunately.

Portion sizes are very deceptive. After a while your inceased muscle and fitness will increase your metabolism so that you burn more calories at rest.
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Old 09-25-2008, 09:04 PM   #1035
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I agree with SG about counting your calories. I'm afraid that is the only way I managed to lose weight, and then over the last few years I haven't had to count unless I gain too much which is very unusual fortunately.

Portion sizes are very deceptive. After a while your inceased muscle and fitness will increase your metabolism so that you burn more calories at rest.

I'm not a fan of Atkins either although I know it works for plenty of folks.
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Old 10-01-2008, 06:52 AM   #1036
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126#

I'd like to think it is muscle gain, but that isn't realistic since I just started weight training 2 wks ago. I think "feeding the monster" is the more likely culprit! I've given in to cravings a lot more lately

Well, it's back to weighing, measuring, and counting calories again for a while. I've worked too hard to take the weight off to let it creep back on.
125#. Doing better controlling my cravings to eat bad stuff, but I still broke down and had a few beers over the weekend.

I have been reading Younger Next Year and finally decided to go out and get a heart rate monitor. I've been having a lot of fun with it. I initially used the basic method for figuring out target heart rate for aerobic exercise, which is 220 - age = max heart rate, then take 60-85% of that. That came to a range of 108-153 bpm for me.

Well, I did my dance trance workout and kept setting off the monitor (going >85%) for a good bit of the workout. It's pretty intense, but I feel great during it and afterwards. So I did some more research and remembered there is a different formula that is more accurate for those of us who work out a lot - the Karvonen method. Here's a description/calculator: http://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm You have to get your resting heart rate. Mine is 60 bpm.

Via the Karvonen method, my new range for 60-85% is 132-162. I'm sure I will still be going >85% for a small portion of my work out, but that would be good high intensity interval training, IMO.


My next thing to do is I am going to test my "recovery heart rate". That is supposed to really be a good indicator of your level of fitness and progression. According to Younger Next Year, here's what you are supposed to do: work out hard, say at 80% of your max (of course, don't do this if you aren't used to working out!). Then start working out easy. As soon as you see your heart rate drop one beat, start timing for one minute. If < 20 drops in that minute, not great. 30-40, really good. 50 or greater, wow, you are competing with Lance Armstrong, LOL. However, according to what I read on the web, normal drop is 15 to 25 bpm.

It's also predictive of mortality, according to this article: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/341/18/1351
Here's an easier article that describes it: http://www.webmd.com/news/20000919/researchers-find-heart-rate-worth-thousand-words

Hopefully you all found this interesting. I'm just having fun trying out my new monitor and finding ways to measure my fitness progression aside from weight.
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Old 10-01-2008, 07:41 AM   #1037
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1/23: 196.8 17.1% body fat.
(snip ...)
6/25: 193.0 16.0%
7/02: 191.4 15.8%
7/09: 196.0 16.5%
7/16: 193.2 15.9%
7/23: 194.8 16.0%
7/30: 191.8 16.0%
8/06: 190.0 16.0%
8/13: 192.0 15.8%
8/20: 192.6 16.4%
8/27: 194.6 16.2%
9/03: 195.4 17.1%
9/10: 195.6 16.2%
9/17: 195.2 16.7%
9/24: 194.6 16.4%
10/1: 195.8 15.6%

Goal: 190.0 15.3%

Weight went up, but fat percentage went down. Today was an outlying data point -- most of the week I've been in the 194-ish range. But I'm feeling good, and I do agree with the scale that I'm losing fat. If I multiply out this week vs last week, the scale tells me I've lost 1.36 pounds of fat since last week. I don't believe that, as it would imply that I burned nearly 700 calories per day than I consumed.

I'm random prediction for next week is 194.6 at 15.8%.
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Old 10-01-2008, 07:56 PM   #1038
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6' 1" Target range 170 - 175

7/31 - 174.5
8/6 - 177
8/13 - 176.5
8/20 - 177
8/27 - out of town
9/3 - 176
9/10 - 179
9/17 - 175.5
9/24 - 177
10/1 - 174.5

SG - great info and links to articles. Interesting when I use the Karvonen calculator I get an 85% level of 149 instead of the old method 142. (I'm age 53 and resting HR of 50). It's interesting because I hate it when I'm on the treadmill or elliptical as I have to work really hard to get to the higher levels, but I love it when I'm playing tennis because my HR gets into the 140's and 150's for long periods and so it's good to know that's normal.

I hope your enthusiasm for this continues because I believe the level of exercise called for in the book really works as advertised.

Over the weekend DW and I scanned into our PC a load of 35mm slides from the 70's and early 80's. We hadn't seen them in many years and were amazed at how skinny I looked, even though I know I am only a few pounds heavier (at most 7lb) than I was back then. However there are plenty of photos with me in swimming trunks etc and it is very obvious how much more muscle I have on my upper body today, (particularly my arms).

Back then I was very fit as I played a lot of soccer, badmington, and squash (racketball). These days, I include 2 hrs of weight lifting a week to strengthen my joints. I've had foot surgery, back surgery, knee surgery and shoulder surgery so these last 5 years since I've really got serious about weight training and flexibilty exercises such as yoga and pilates.
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Old 10-01-2008, 10:32 PM   #1039
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Just checking in. Been busy and on the road for the past couple of weeks, and haven't had a chance to weigh-in. But even with being away from home I'm managing the eating and blood sugar pretty well, so I feel good about it. No idea what my weight is, but I've moved in a couple inches on my belt recently. And my jeans are getting baggy.

I'll weigh myself next Wed. and see if I've managed to maintain.
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Old 10-02-2008, 03:07 PM   #1040
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End of week 22: down 1.6 lbs

Total Lost: 37.4 lbs

Haven't heard from you in awhile. How is your progress ?
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