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shannon1631
New Member
| Joined: | 11 August 2008 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 12 August 2008 06:10 pm |
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Hi
My name is Shannon. I am a 33 year old female with a medium bone structure and currently weigh 149 and am 5'8. I wear a size 6 or 8 depending on brand, but want to get comfortably into my jeans (size 28 is the smallest and they are tight). I have been following different diets out there since 04/09/2008 and have lost 12 lbs. I started with Fat Loss for Idiots, lost 7 lbs in 10 days then on the "cheat days" gained 4 lbs back. Then, I went to the plan I know (I used to work for LA Weightloss) and basically it gives you servings each day, 2 proteins, 3 vegetables, 3 fruits, a dairy, Fat, and 2 starches. I feel that this has been the most successful, however I am not sure if I am eating enough calories. On the weekends, I have had a couple of "cheat meals" and have probably consumed too much alcohol, but I figured it into my caloric intake or subsituted wine for my fruits and that has worked in the past. I work out 10 hours a week, 3 hours of that is weight training, the rest cardio whether it be walking, running, or biking. I have a heart rate monitor and try to stay within 125-140BPM to burn away the fat. I burn 3500-3700 calories each week in excersize alone, monitored on my heart rate monitor.
My clothes are definitely looser with the 12 lb loss, but I have stayed at this weight for 3 weeks now. I have not eaten any differently then I normally do. (including cheat weekends) I saw an ad on nutrient cycling, where you eat just protein for 3 meals, and then have a carb meal and wonder if this will work, or is it really just calories total or the day? I space my meals out like this, even on weekends:
Typical day for me:
Breakfast: 1 cup Go lean cereal, 1/4 cup blueberries, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk Coffee with 1 tbsp half and half-260 calories
Lunch: 2 cups lettuce with sliced turkey (3 oz) 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese, cliced tomatoes, cucumbers, 1 tbsp raisins, 2 tbsp lt ranch dressing diet soda, 330 calories
Snack: protein shakeand an apple 270 calories
Dinner: Either a frozen meal at 300 calories (8-10 g fat) or a meat with a vegetable, sometimes pisatcios or cashwes 1/4 cup-sometimes a glass of red wine 400-500 calories
snack: string cheese, fruit before bed- 100 calories
I calculated out my average calories per day and it's always bwteen 1400-1700 per day depending on teh day, cheat weekends I average around 2200 per day at most. For the amount of activity I am doing I feel like I should be losing more but I am not, any suggestions??? Should I look at more protein, less carbs? I also looked at protein grams per day and it's always around 100-113 which I think is correct for me.
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CrimsonAnimus
Moderator
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Posted: 12 August 2008 09:59 pm |
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Hi, Shannon!
Have you considered the fact that you might still be gaining muscle? I recommend you have your body fat tested, and monitor the changes over time.
According to your stats, your unadjusted RMR is 1429. This is how many calories your body burns daily just to survive. Based on your exercise level, 1400-1700 sounds like a good plan, especially since you spike them on weekends. Still, you might want to consider adding a little bit more if you plan to continue exercising as much as you do.
As far as your exercise goes...
Many people believe that you burn more fat during cardio at lower intensities. However, this is a myth, for three main reasons:
1.) During any workout session, you will burn fat. The lower the intensity, the higher percentage of fat calories you will burn. However, on higher intensities, even though the percentage of fat calories is lower, you still burn more calories overall.
2.) If you elect to have your body burn a higher percentage of fat during a workout (low intensity), your body will compensate by burning less fat later. Likewise, if you choose to have your body burn a lower percentage of fat (high intensity), your body will compensate by burning more fat later. This is the foundation of the calorie deficit concept.
3.) Higher intensity workouts boost your metabolism for a longer period after your workout, which is very important! Your body burns more calories when you are not exercising than when you are, so increased metabolism goes a very long way.
I have a heart rate monitor also, a Polar F-6, which also tells me how many calories I burn during a workout. I suspected that the numbers were inflated, so I sent an e-mail to Polar on this subject. In their response, they admitted that calorie burn is determined by different factors, not just heart rate.
An average treadmill workout for me burns 500-550 calories per hour, at an average overall speed of about 4.7. According to my heart rate monitor, however, it burns between 900-1000, which is greatly inflated. Rather than rely on the heart rate monitor, I would recommend that you use the calorie counter provided on your equipment, if applicable, or use the calculators here.
Do you monitor your sodium intake? It should be under 2400 mg per day, but the average American consumes almost twice this amount. It's very easy to go over unless you are watching it carefully, and frozen meals are notorious for having too much. Too much sodium causes your body to retain water, which is also reflected on the scale.
Diet soda has been shown to cause weight gain, also, just like its non-diet counterpart, so it's best to drink any kind of soda sparingly.
Best of luck!
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shannon1631
New Member
| Joined: | 11 August 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 13 August 2008 05:43 pm |
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| Thank you!!! This is great advice. I have not had my body fat tested recently, the last time I had it tested, 7 months ago it was with the caliper (sp?) fold method and I tested out at 31%, but I thought that seemed a bit high. I know my body fat has gone down because I can feel it. I will definitely cut out the diet sodas and artifical sweetners as well for a couple of weeks and see what that does. I wondered about that and how the body reacts to the "sweet" although there are 0 calories. I thought about the fact that i started out at 161 in April and now am at 149, with a couple of weeks of no dieting because of vacations, I still averaged out at about 1 lb a month which is not too shabby. I am willing to let it come off slow I guess as it took a year to gain the 18 lbs. I have 9 more lbs to go to get to my goal of 140. Thanks again!
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CrimsonAnimus
Moderator
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Posted: 13 August 2008 08:54 pm |
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I found an article which might interest you:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-fitness/2008/2/12/diet-soda-metabolic-syndrome-and-weight-loss.html
Last edited on 13 August 2008 08:57 pm by CrimsonAnimus
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cportwine
Senior Member
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Posted: 21 August 2008 09:44 pm |
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That was an interesting article. But, I am not sure it has convinced me to quit drinking my diet soda.
It's funny, cause when I first got on the diet train. I couldn't even drink diet soda. I thought it was disgusting. Then after the first year or so, I had a diet pepsi, I think it was vanilla, and that was all it took. I started buying all different kinds and found some I like.
After reading the article, I suppose I could break the diet soda thing, the same way I broke drinking the regular soda, if I wanted to.
I also thought, I wonder if that has anything to do with my cholesterol and thyroid problems, which in all reality started about the same time, I started drinking diet soda. But, then I thought wouldn't regular soda do the same.
Geeezzzz, this gave me way to many things to think about.  I like to keep things simple.
So, I am going to have to figure out what's more important to me, my health or my diet dew. 
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shannon1631
New Member
| Joined: | 11 August 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 21 August 2008 09:57 pm |
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Hi
Thanks for the response. I am switching to pellegrino italian sparkling mineral water as an experiement for the next month to see if anything happens, not just with weight but how I feel. I feel that the artificial stuff cannot be that good for me especially when I have been drinking deit sodas for 10 years! So far so good, the carbonation at least gives me that satisfaction so far, without all the artificial stuff.
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