I would like to take a moment to vent if I can please…
For the last 7 weeks I have been eating well and exercising 30 minutes a day during my lunch break at work. These exercise classes are pretty hard core most days (kickboxing, step class, high impact aerobics) and I burn 350 to 550 calories in these classes every day. On weekends I try to take Kendall for a walk or at the very least, not be a bum and sit on my butt all day.
Not only that, but I have been tracking everything I eat on www.livestrong.com. This website is made by Lance Armstrong, and you can do a lot of things for free! I can put in my own recipes, and it will spit out the amount of calories in the meal. I can set up meals that I eat often so that I don’t have to put each part of the meal in individually and save myself a lot of time. You can type in what you ate and go to a list of all the options of that one particular food item, pick the brand you have, and it will give you those particular nutrition facts. They even have most restaurants’ menus on the website with each menu item’s nutrition facts! I set a goal of losing 2 pounds a week in the website, and for the average person my height and weight, I should be eating 1500 calories a day to reach that goal. I love this website… can you tell?!? So every day I keep track of every little thing I eat, the exercise I do, and I’ve been waiting to see the pounds drop off.
Here is a typical day in the life of Carrie:
At work I drink at least 64 oz of water—more on most days
Breakfast: cereal and coffee for the long ride to work
Morning snack: banana
Exercise
Lunch:
1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
¼ cup frozen mixed berries (in the yogurt)
1 pear
10 pretzels (and yes, I count them out)
Supper:
4 oz of plain chicken breast (or less)
¼ cup frozen mixed vegetables with No-salt Italian seasoning on them
½ cup brown rice(also plain)
Some days I have a bowl of ice cream or a piece of cake after supper
Needless to say, that’s not a whole lot of food. I have only gone over my 1500 calories 3 days in 7 weeks. The first 2 weeks I lost 7 pounds. The last 5 weeks, I have lost 0 pounds. That’s right. ZERO. Nothing in over a month. And if I were the average person, I should have lost 10 more pounds by now. But no, my scale has not moved at all.
I’m at a loss of what to do about it. I don’t have time to work out more than I do now. Already I have a hard enough time working full time, driving 2.5 hours to and from work a day, working out over my lunch break so that I have to eat lunch while trying to work, and trying to take care of a 6 month old, a husband, four dogs, and a house without being completely exhausted. So maybe I’ll have to go down to 1000 calories a day, though I don’t know where those extra calories are going to come out of. I don’t feel deprived of food right now, but I know that by cutting back more, I will feel deprived and like I’m on a crappy diet. Sigh…
I started doing this so that I wouldn’t feel so fat and ugly. Now, even with my best efforts, I’m still fat and ugly. What is wrong with my metabolism? Why can’t my body for once just act like the average person? I’m feeling pretty discouraged and have thought about quitting since it makes no difference anyway. But I’ll keep trying for now—maybe someday something will change. At least I’m not gaining weight… trying to look on the bright side here people… :)
Well done, Carrie!! You are a strong, determined woman!
ReplyDeleteI cannot diet at all!!! My only answer is increasing my activity level – hence the 10 mile race.
Honestly, I’ve been wrestling with those same negative thoughts….. I can’t drop weight either.
Will I see you Easter weekend?? We should talk!
Yes, we will be in Waverly Saturday for sure over Easter weekend. So frustrating, but I guess kind of comforting to know that I'm not the only one. Look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!
ReplyDeleteEat 5 small meals a day instead of 3. and make sure you have 15-20oz of protein every time you eat. That's what the nutritionists are telling me. That includes breakfast...unfortunately, cereal is not the best breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThey also said that if you eat breakfast and aren't hungry until lunch, that means your body stored everything you ate (aka: converted it to fat). you should be hungry again 2-3 hours after eating, and then you know your body is meabolizing.
after 7 weeks of hour+workouts 4-6 times per week (including cardio and strength training), eating less, cutting carbs, etc., I had lost 1 pound, and the only place I lost any inches was on my chest. I did lose 2% body fat, but if my waist isn't any thinner, and my legs still don't fit in any pair of jeans (not even skinny jeans), does that really matter? We must be related. When I lost the weight it was eating 1000 calories per day.