I’m starting to think the answer to that question is ‘no.’ Not if you have a body bugg. Plateaus happen when you body doesn’t need as many calories to function [as in after losing some weight], so unless you up your activity level, you’ll end up taking in the same amount of calories you’re burning. Also, if you’re on a very restrictive plan already, your metabolism will eventually slow down so that you reach an equilibrium of sorts. But… it’ll be interesting to see if I run into this problem knowing how many calories I’m burning each day vs. what I’m taking in. I have a feeling the answer is ‘no’…
I eat anywhere from 1,500 to 2,200 calories a day, depending on the circumstances, my choices, and my appetite. But I also burn at least 1,000 calories more than I take in, so I’m always in a caloric deficit. If people pick an arbitrary number – like 1,200 calories and stick to that, eventually it’ll either be too much, or not enough, theoretically…
So, I’ll keep you posted on that aspect of using a body bugg – IF the dreaded plateau does strike. lol… so far, so good. I did have no weightloss for about 2 weeks, but I think it had more to do with my monthly cycle than anything else. Once my period was over, I dropped over 4lbs, seemingly overnight. That’s just how my body works, I guess. As long as it’s temporary and I immediately catch up to the pace I’m going for [2-2.5lbs/wk], I don’t care.
I took some measurements today and was pleasantly surprised. Especially when compared to my original measurements when I started this journey almost 2 years ago:
Here are my inches lost to date:
Chest: 7.5″
Waist: 10″
Hips: 10″
Thighs: 8″ [ea]
Calves: 2.5″ [ea]
Arms: 3.5″ [ea]
Neck: 3″
That last measurement blows me away – 3 inches off my neck! lol… I’ve lost 40lbs so far [40.2 if you want to get technical], and I’m shooting for another 55 lbs to get to my goal weight. At the pace I’m going now, if I can keep it up, I should get there by early to mid April, 2010 – a mere 5 months. That’s just amazing to me. I lost all of 7lbs all of last year because I wasn’t tracking what I was eating. I did drop a dress size from exercising and my body comp changing for the better, but then my weight just stayed the same for months and months until I got frustrated enough to look for something that would work for me – I found clean-eating, Tosca Reno, Oxygen Magazine and Chalene Johnson… and on Chalene’s recommendation – the body bugg. It’s been a slow but steady progression to figuring this all out for myself, but now that everything is clicking, it really does seem pretty easy. If you told me even 6 month ago that it could be this simple, I wouldn’t have believed you…
I’ve tried keeping a food journal in the past but I was always tracking too many things – carbs, fat grams, protein, etc. And then I’d judge myself, or if I wanted something ‘bad’, I didn’t want to write it down – because that would make it real, disturbing my delicate state of denial. So I’d give up. All I track now are calories, and I eat whatever I want, but because I track calories, and because I like how I feel when I make healthier choices, I tend to want healthier foods 9 times out of 10. I do have chocolate almost every day. I do have snacks like crackers and cheese. Trackign calories has helped me to understand portion sizes. I see what I eat now and compare it to how I WAS eating – even while ‘dieting’ – and it’s no wonder I either gained weight or didn’t lose anything. When they say a food journal is key for most people to reach their weightloss goals and to sustain them, they’re not joking.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get comfortable enough to intuitively know approximately what I’m taking in vs. burning each day after I get to my goal weight. I suspect I’ll continue to use a food journal… even if I stop using the body bug. It’s pretty easy to remember about how many calories you burn during certain activities… and I would think once I don’t have anymore fat to lose, as long as I burn what I’m taking in, I won’t gain anything back. I’ll either be able to eat more, or have less daily activity. Right now I shoot for an hour and a half of ‘activity’ and 10,000 steps, 3,000-3,250 calories burned… yesterday I beat all my targets and didn’t even workout – I tend to do more around the house because I have more energy [and because I know it burns calories] and by bouncing on my stability ball while watching TV. So I gave my body a break from weight lifting and the 45 minutes of cardio I usually do, and today I feel fantastic, and ready to tackle the 2-3 hours of raking and bagging leaves that we have to do.
Losing weight isn’t the rocket science the diet industry will have you believe. It’s in their best interest to give you a taste of success only to take it away, so you keep coming back for more – buying their books, products, ’systems’, etc… It’s such a sham. If your goal is to lose weight only, then you don’t care that the diet your on doesn’t make nutritional sense as long as the number on the scale moves down. If your goal is to get healthy and fit, nutrition is everything – it affects your performance in everything you do. Which sounds more intelligent? [It only took 25 years to become obvious for me]. ;)
This is beginning of week 5 for me with the body bugg, and I’m down 11 lbs. It does what it says it does if you track your calories. I’m finally a believer. After dieting and FAILING miserably for so many years, I finally feel like I’m going to do this and make it to my goals. It’s very new, very awesome sensation. lol…
I just got back from visiting my mother in Florida. She lost 25lbs and that was my bargain – for every 25lbs she lost, I’d go visit again. I’ve been there 3 times in the past year, which is a record. She’s doing well considering she had a stroke in March. Since then she’s completely changed her diet. Now, she eats fairly healthy, but in my opinion, she doesn’t eat enough – and definitely not enough protein. But I think the stroke and the subsequent Diabetes diagnosis has actually given her a fear of eating. Being around her just made me realize yet again why it’s so important I take care of myself now and forever and not get complacent about diet and exercise. But here I sit at 8:28pm trying to conjure up the motivation to go workout [since I wasn't able to this morning]. I guess I just really don’t like working out in the evenings. I much prefer mornings. I know once I go upstairs and start my warmup, I’ll be energized and I’ll have a great workout, and feel like a million bucks afterward. I’m even sitting in my workout gear. I’m thinking the disruption in my routine the past several weeks isn’t helping between travelling and my husband working crazy hours – he gets home late, we eat late, we stop watching TV late and get to bed WAY too late… part of me wants to be ’selfish’ by eating at a normal hour, watching TV on my own and going to bed at a reasonable hour – about the time he gets home, but the other part of me wants to be selfish and stay up and spend time with him because I miss him. Hence why I’m conflicted about every little thing lately. Someone moved my cheese…
I need to be more careful of typos when I post – my last post was chalk FULL of typos! I didn’t sleep much last night and I guess wasn’t paying as close attention as I normally do…
I haven’t written in a while – things have been busy. But as a quick update, I’ve been keeping up with my exercise program and have been making great progress in overall strength and endurance. I’m feeling so much stronger – and YOUNGER – thanks to consistantly lifting heavy weights during my resistance training sessions 3x per week. I can’t say enough about how big a difference it makes. If you don’t life weights for fear of bulking up [if you're a woman], or because you think the only way to burn fat is to do massive amounts of cardio – it just isn’t true. Most women I’ve read about that compete in figure competitions say they’d give up cardio in a heartbeat if they had to choose because they couldn’t stay ripped without weight training.
I’ve been struggling with what my ultimate goal is for weight, forgetting that I had found that Athletic BMI Calculator a while back and even posted on this blog on the left under ‘helpful tools’… I just checked it out and was pleased to see that after losing 30lbs I’ve dropped 4 points in BMI. I’m no longer considered ‘obese’ – I’m just ‘hefty.’ lol… Oddly, this week I feel like I’ve dropped more body fat, but the scale hasn’t budged. I haven’t been so great with eating and drinking enough water the past week due to catching a nasty cold and just being exhausted and lazy. So I’m hoping that after a week or two of eating better and getting more H2O, the scale will budge a bit.