A moment of success and a moment of frustration....

francesmartinez06 · February 2012

Good Morning!

Trained last night with the trainer where he had me sprint a lap around the track and then did a series of exercises after each lap. After each lap I rotated between sets of 20 for the following exercises: air squats, push ups, body rows, situps, leg raises, burpees, and lunges. He then had me sprint two more laps. Considering the size of the track 9 laps equated to a mile. He then added up the total time and had to calculate it 3 times to make sure it was right. Turns out I sprinted the whole mile in 6:45!!! Though I would break to do the exercises in between it wasn't much of a rest period between laps. I haven't had a mile time like that since my college soccer playing days!!! Suffice to say I felt pretty proud. :-)

I will say that I felt my stomach become sour during the workout. When the trainer asked me about what I've been eating and I told him he told me I've been too restrictive and need to consume more carbs. This all seems counterintutive to me... but.... can it really be that simple to just eat more to lose more? I spent the better part of last night trying to calculate the number of calories I need and MFP says "1200" but when I calculated by AMR and BMR I ended up with a whopping 1900 calories. Can this be right?????? I'm 27, 198lbs, and 5'6".

I feel so lost with how much I should be eating... and where those calories should come from. As it stands now it's been like 50 percent protein (fish, chicken, beans, soy, organic/natural protein powder, nuts, nut butters) and 50 percent fruits and vegetables. With two weeks until my dress fitting I'm just reaching a point of frustration because I don't feel like I'm toning/losing as much as I'd like. The scale has stayed the same... though clothes are starting to fit differently (an old pair of jeans suddenly seem to fit again). There is just this psychological block I have where I feel like if the scale isn't moving then I'm not succeeding.

Any tips/advice? With two weeks to go until the fitting (and less than two months until our wedding) I'm wondering how much can I truly accomplish.

Lobsters25 · February 2012

Did he say to eat more carbs, or more cals? You wrote carbs, but then started talking about calorie intake, so I just want to be sure.

Either way, take a deep breath! Stress alone can have a major negative impact on weight loss, so relax.
Second, congratulations on an awesome workout!

Try to remember what seems to be the golden rule for any scale-bent dieter - that muscle weighs more than fat. If you're close are fitting better, and you're working out, then focus on that. Perhaps try to hide the scale for a bit and take your measurements once a month instead.

dumdumfroggie · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_a-moment-of-success-and-a-moment-of-frustration?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:d132d294-e099-4e0e-9ce2-497ff6979665Post:e4105909-5042-48f9-9246-a9ff8a27ce7b">A moment of success and a moment of frustration....</a>:
[QUOTE]Good Morning! Trained last night with the trainer where he had me sprint a lap around the track and then did a series of exercises after each lap. After each lap I rotated between sets of 20 for the following exercises: air squats, push ups, body rows, situps, leg raises, burpees, and lunges. He then had me sprint two more laps. Considering the size of the track 9 laps equated to a mile. He then added up the total time and had to calculate it 3 times to make sure it was right. Turns out I sprinted the whole mile in 6:45!!! Though I would break to do the exercises in between it wasn't much of a rest period between laps. I haven't had a mile time like that since my college soccer playing days!!! Suffice to say I felt pretty proud. :-) I will say that I felt my stomach become sour during the workout. When the trainer asked me about what I've been eating and I told him he told me I've been too restrictive and need to consume more carbs. This all seems counterintutive to me... but.... can it really be that simple to just eat more to lose more? I spent the better part of last night trying to calculate the number of calories I need and<strong> MFP says "1200" but when I calculated by AMR and BMR I ended up with a whopping 1900 calories. Can this be right?</strong>????? I'm 27, 198lbs, and 5'6". I feel so lost with how much I should be eating... and where those calories should come from. As it stands now it's been like 50 percent protein (fish, chicken, beans, soy, organic/natural protein powder, nuts, nut butters) and 50 percent fruits and vegetables. With two weeks until my dress fitting I'm just reaching a point of frustration because I don't feel like I'm toning/losing as much as I'd like. The scale has stayed the same... though clothes are starting to fit differently (an old pair of jeans suddenly seem to fit again). There is just this psychological block I have where I feel like if the scale isn't moving then I'm not succeeding. Any tips/advice? With two weeks to go until the fitting (and less than two months until our wedding) I'm wondering how much can I truly accomplish.
Posted by francesmartinez06[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Yep, from what I understand, MFP takes your BMR and then subtracts the amount of calories you would need eat in order to lose 1-2 pounds a week, or whatever you set as your goal. </div><div>
</div><div>In order to lose 1 pound a week, you would need to eat 500 calories less than your BMR (assuming you're not doing any additional exercise), so the difference between the MFP and BMR sounds about right to me.

</div>

mbody · February 2012

Congrats on your awesome workout last night!!

Agree with PP, take measurements. Measurements, the way your clothes fit, and the way you feel are all great indicators of how far you've come. I used to put too much emphasis on the scale- now, I haven't been on a scale in about 6 weeks.

How often do you have workouts like the one you did last night? Your activity level plays a role into how many cals you should eat per day. I'm leaning towards you should be eating more than 1200 calories. 1200 calories is the minimum. Sometimes it's trial and error. How does your body respond to 1200 vs. 1500 vs. 1800? Do you have energy or are you sluggish?

francesmartinez06 · February 2012

@ Lobsters25: He said both because when I showed him the MFP app on my phone he scanned through what I had logged in. The first thing he noted was that I wasn't eating enough complex carbohydrates and advised if I'm eating veggies, chicken, mixed greens then I should also incorporate something like a small side of quinoa or sweet potato or even brown rice. Then he started looking at the caloric intake and saw I was bouncig around from 1050 to 1200 calories and said I should be eating more than that considering the heavy workouts I have been doing (swimming for an hour, lifting 3-4 x a week, cardio sessions, spin classes).

Thanks for the tips! You're so right... it's easy to forget that muscle does weigh more than fat. I think I will hide that scale for a while... I was getting into a nasty habit of weighing myself every day. :-) Hopefully these little changes will help a great deal!

@ dumdumfroggie: thanks for the clarification! That helps.

@mbody: I think I'm due for measurements with the trainer soon and I'm training with him again tomorrow so I'll ask. Maybe there are some big changes after all! I typically will have a session like that about 3 times a week. I'll train with the trainer 1-2x a week and then I'll workout out on my own. I'll swim about 4 times a week in the am for an hour. When I'm not training with trainer I'll do a pm session where it's a 30 minute circuit followed by a 30 minute cardio session. Those "on my own" sessions are happening 2x a week. Looking at my journal I'm logging in about 4-5 days with one or two sessions per day. With all those sessions I was still keeping it around 1050-1200. I have noticed recently within the past four days that I've felt sluggish in the am and have skipped out on my swims. At first I thought it was just PMS, but now that you mention it.... I might want try increasing my caloric intake to 1500 this week and see how it shakes out. Thanks for the tips!

Lobsters25 · February 2012

Now I'm hungry for quinoa or a baked sweet potato. I have some great (and easy) recipes for some complex carb dishes and sides if you need.

If you are training that much, I could certainly see you needing at least closer to 1500. Anywhere below 1200 will certainly not help you lose weight, as your body will running near/into starvation mode.

JW28 · February 2012

It sounds like your base diet of 1200 isn't too far off, but if you're not eating any extra to make up for the exercise you're doing then I think you're way under. I couldn't imagine eating only 1050 calories on a day where I work out. I just started using MFP and I always make sure to enter my exercise and eat the extra (though I think some of their calories burned estimations are a bit off). For example, swimming for an hour can easily burn 500 calories, more if you go hard or do intervals. If you don't eat those calories back, you won't be able to recover properly and your body will go into starvation mode.

mbody · February 2012

For the amount of training/working out you're doing, you definitely have to eat more than 1200 calories. My beef with MFP, is it tells *most* everyone to eat 1200. Up your calorie intake!

francesmartinez06 · February 2012

@ Lobsters25: I'd most definitely be interested in getting some more recipes! Feel free to send them my way! :-)

Thank you all so much for your advice and tips ladies! I'll keep posting updates of my progress. Scale's in the closet and I'll be upping the intake to 1500 and see how I feel. :-) Keep up the great work!

Lobsters25 · February 2012

You have a PM!

EastSideBlonde · March 2012

@ Lobsters25: Do you mind sending them my way too? i need to mix things up a lil and some new recipes might help!

A moment of success and a moment of frustration....

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