Ho hummm

[californiacasey]

Ho Hummm, I have 106 pounds to lose to get to goal. 106 pounds..... that's 371,000 calories....how many office walking breaks would it take to get there....let's see, slow walking at 4 cal. per minute.....

okay, just kidding, I don't think I'll calculate that one. I'm soooo glad that I've got the metabolic edge on my side!!!! It makes weight loss more achievable.

I visited my great aunt on Sat. (She's 88!) and walks one mile a day and lifts weights 3 days a week. She still travels all the time and is very active.
She and I were talking and it lead to weight, she's recently lost some weight to help with her blood pressure and the doc took her off her medications! Anyway, she told me that "you should lose some weight". I told her that yes, I should and that I've lost 30 pounds through-out the year (I don't know if she noticed). She did congratulate me on losing the 30. Anyway, she's right, I still have a long way to go.

So here I go!!!!!

[Kate113]

Re: Ho hummm

Congrats on losing the 30 pounds! Way to go! I also need to lose 106 pounds (at the very least). I may want to lost an extra 20 pounds on top of that, but I want to see how I feel once I get to 165 first. It's been so long since I've been there that I can't remember. We're both going to do it this time. I just know it!

[divaindubai]

Re: Ho hummm

Make that three of us!! We should all keep in tabs with one another, I think our current weights are right around the same too...

[divaindubai]

Re: Ho hummm

Do you guys want to start up a buddies thread or something? that way we can post to one another on that thread and keep each other in tabs? kind of like a daily journal or something?

It was my 1 year anniversary here yesterday (Jan 9th) and its frustrating because I didn't really lose much at all...was really wasting time the whole year giving myself one excuse after another. I know that my emotions and getting depressed at times because of being stressed out with work and family life was getting to me, but that's no excuse. The working hours here are very long (8:30 a.m - 6 pm 5 days a week), but I do h ave a very supportive hubby, so I would always give the excuse that there is no time for exercise for example.

No more excuses for me. This weight has to come off. I'm sick of having this stupid spare tire around my waist, and other globs of fat in other parts of me.

sick of it! lol

[Elmark]

Re: Ho hummm

What I am really amazed at is, that even though your aunt commented on your need to lose weight, you didn't get all emotional and took it as a critique.....You just agreed and moved on! Way to go.....that's a huge mental step! I'm not even there yet....I can handle critique (positive and negative) from myself and other overweight people, but not skinny little things...I keep thinking, what do they know??? Even if they mean it in the best possible way!

So I'm really proud of you....congratulations!

[californiacasey]

Re: Ho hummm

Thanks Kate and Diva, we are in similar places and supporting each other would be great!

Elmark - Thank you! Yes, I did think it was pretty strong of me to take it like I did. But what she said was the truth and I really appreciated hearing the truth. So many times my weight can be like the elephant in the room that no one wants to actually mention, but during certain situations is obviously being thought about.

I know she meant to just be honest and helpful and she didn't say it in a mean or judgemental way.

And I'm on my way, After rocking my diet yesterday and taking 2 walking breaks at work and jog/walking 6 miles at the gym and doing crunchies on the ball AND drinking all of my water.....I had a nice little whooshie this morning : )

[Kate113]

Re: Ho hummm

Count me in. I need all the support I can get.

People have always told me that I need to lose weight and then they give me some sugary dessert. Now I can turn it down and that feels good for me. I'm not sure I'm understanding the whooshie yet, but I hope I get one. lol

[californiacasey]

Re: Ho hummm

This information was VERY helpful to me. It was originally posted here somewhere as a stickie. When the fat cells release the water.....THAT is a whooshie....

Read on...
WHY THE SCALES CAN LIE:

We’ve been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can’t resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can’t bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it’s readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.

Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it’s water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.

A biologist at Berkeley shared something very revealing on the low-carb BBS system about 4 years ago that helps us all through the erratic weight fluctuations you invariably encounter:

"Fat cells are resilient, stubborn little creatures that do not want to give up their actual cell volume. Over a period of weeks, maybe months of "proper dieting", each of your fat cells may have actually lost a good percentage of the actual fat contained in those cells. But the fat cells themselves, stubborn little guys, replace that lost fat with water to retain their size. That is, instead of shrinking to match the reduced amount of fat in the cell, they stay the same size! Result - you weigh the same, look the same, maybe even gained some scale weight, even though you have actually lost some serious fat."

This is what we have been telling folks. You lose inches but not pounds because your body plumps the fat cells. I tell them it is a complicated biochemical process that your body replaces the fat molecules with water and fluids until you exceed your bodies predetermined fluid level. Then your body will release a chemical that releases all this stored water and you get a sudden overnight loss of several pounds. Then the cycle starts over again with inches gone and the scales lag behind.

The good news is that this water replacement is temporary. It's a defensive measure to keep your body from changing too rapidly. It allows the fat cell to counter the rapid change in cell composition, allowing for a slow, gradual reduction in cell size. The problem is, most people are frustrated with their apparent lack of success, assume they have lost nothing, and stop dieting. However, if you give those fat cells some time, like 4-6 months, and ignore the scale weight fluctuations, your real weight/shape will slowly begin to show.

Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it’s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn’t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That’s why, when it comes to eating, it’s wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.

Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.

Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it’s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It’s the actual weight of everything you’ve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you’ve finished digesting it.

Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it’s not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it’s likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it’s only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it’s physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you’re really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.

This brings us to the scale’s sneakiest attribute. It doesn’t just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you’ve lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you’re just sitting around. That’s one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.

Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn’t differentiate between the two. It can’t tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.

If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don’t be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It’s a matter of mind over scale.

by Renee Cloe,
ACE Certified Personal Trainer

[goin2Bgood]

Re: Ho hummm

The time will fly by and you'll be at goal before you know it. Stay the course like you're doing and every month you'll be pleased

[Kate113]

Re: Ho hummm

Hmmm, maybe that's what happened to me yeaterday. I didn't drink that much water and the scales gave me an additional 4 pounds to fret over. (3 of it was gone this morning already). I'm drinking my water today, but I could be doing better. When I get back to my pc, I think I may print that out and stick it up on my fridge. Thanks for reposting it.

[californiacasey]

Re: Ho hummm

You're welcome! It really helped me be patient....
this was my favorite part:
"Fat cells are resilient, stubborn little creatures that do not want to give up their actual cell volume. Over a period of weeks, maybe months of "proper dieting", each of your fat cells may have actually lost a good percentage of the actual fat contained in those cells. But the fat cells themselves, stubborn little guys, replace that lost fat with water to retain their size. That is, instead of shrinking to match the reduced amount of fat in the cell, they stay the same size! Result - you weigh the same, look the same, maybe even gained some scale weight, even though you have actually lost some serious fat."

and

"However, if you give those fat cells some time, like 4-6 months, and ignore the scale weight fluctuations, your real weight/shape will slowly begin to show."

Wow 4-6 months!!!! Guess I need to be more patient : )

[Analog6]

Re: Ho hummm

Thanks, Casey. A very good article, I have saved it in my files. This explains why I consistently lose a couple of kgs then go 2-3 weeks before the next 2-3 drop off. It's very frustrating but I know I'm shrinking. An expert opinion to back it up is reassuring, though!