Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

My weight has been going down all week. Good? I'm not so sure and at this point I find it a bit baffling. I'm pretty thin and I don't need to be thinner. When I first started blogging I wrote this about my cousin and her badass physique. My fancy scale gave her a metabolic age of twelve.. she is 38. Yeah that is badass. At the time I still had a bit of weight to lose and it gave me a metabolic age of 27...I am 31. Well I'm sure you can see where this is going.. today I received the same reading... I too have a metabolic age of 12. And shit I probably weighed 110 when I was twelve for crying out loud!

So at this point my metabolism is through the roof and I am eating more than 2000 calories a day and even with taking 5 days off from exercise last week I still lost weight. This is my decision: And it is with some mixed feeling I say this but I am going to suspend my food diaries until I find my weight goes up above 113. I feel mixed because I am a huge proponent of keep a food diary and I truly believe it is something ANYONE can do EVERYDAY to keep themselves on track. I think it is a simple, free way to monitor your food intake. And I think for some people it may be motivating to see that I do this even on bad days and eventhough I no longer need to lose any weight. It is the number one reason I have steadily lost 1-2 lbs a week(48 lbs) for 8 straight months (no joke)... and remember that is not counting the 20 lbs I lost after having the baby in February.. this is just the weight that didn't come off on its own. Having said all that I am a very conscious eater and I think at this point in order to get to a place where I need to be calorie wise I need to eat more than I would if I was tracking it.

Right now I'm going to focus on enjoying the holidays and eating a balanced diet and eating what I need to eat to be satisfied. I think my trip to Disney was eye opening for me in that it made it pretty clear that with a certain level of activity food really isn't so much of an issue (for me). So my plan for December is to enjoy Christmas guilt free...not to eat like a pig... but not to obsess over exactly how many ounces are in each slice of cake either. I am, however, going to recommit to my fitness goals as I do believe that, for me, this is the much bigger indicator of whether or not I am going to be able to maintain my weight. For the next few weeks I'm going to strive to hit 3 long cardio workouts and start adding the pilates back in.

32 comments:

Mr Furious said...

Fine. I'll stop doing my food diaries too. And I'll also eat guilt-free this holiday season...

:-D

Erin said...

That is insane that you are burning so many calories...I am very, very jealous. Are you still breast feeding? I really didn't lose much weight until I stopped, but then other people I know lost weight LIKE CRAZY milk making machines. I agree completely with you about the food journal. I don't do it everyday, but have recently started to journal on the weekends - it keeps me from getting totally out of control.

Julie said...

hmmm....i don't know if i like you anymore:) Totally just kidding!! I wish I could take the month off and eat dozens of butter cookies guilt free, but I do NOT have the metabolism of a 12 year old...maybe a 112 year old (i am hypothyroid and 5 freaking feet tall...waah.)

Mrs Furious said...

Hey erin,
yeah I'm still b'feeding. With Kid I did not lose weight until I started dieting (at about 9 months post-partum)... and I never was this thin before Kid or after Kid I used to weigh about 118 in college and then 125-6 as a mom. I have the whole saga written out at the bottom of my main page... with Baby I gained 52 lbs and I started "watching" what I was eating and sticking within reasonable calorie limits right away as soon as the natural weight loss stopped (2 weeks postpartum). So this weight loss has got nothing to do with the b'feeding.. and everything to do with strict calorie counting and insane amounts of cardio.. averaging about 5-6 hours of cardio/week since July. Up until I started working out so much I was only eating 1600 calories a day while b'feeding and losing a pound a week... now I'm eating about 2200 and still losing about 1/2 lb a week while b'feeding but each cardio session I usually do about 70 minutes for close to a 500 calorie burn.

Mrs Furious said...

julie,
"maybe a 112 year old"
LOL

and I won't be eating dozens of cookies I assure you! :)

this is actually a little hard for me.. I just had a some crackers with sunbutter with Kid and I had to stop myself from looking up the calories on the box before I ate them....

Julie said...

My problem is that I WOULD eat dozens of the cookies (not all in one sitting...over a few days maybe.)Hence, my thyroid and my height are not the only reason I packed on like 30 extra pounds over the last 2 years. I like to blame it on things like how stressed out I was when we were going to relocate to Seattle, etc, etc. But that was now about 2 years ago. I think it is time now for me to do the healing:)

I imagine it will be hard to not look up the calories, etc., but you're right, you don't want to get too thin health wise.

Mrs Furious said...

Hey Erin..
I hope that didn't sound harsh...

here's a pic of me if you want to see the difference.

I know the b'feeding debate and yes there are some people who will just lose FROM b'feeding and are back to pre-preg weight right away. In fact there are women who lose all their weight within weeks even when they aren't nursing! I told myself with Kid that my body was holding onto extra fat for b'feeding (which may be partly true, for my biological makeup, in that I wasn't burning calories just from b'feeding) but in reality I was eating like a goddamn pig (and enjoying every minute of it!) and not working out. So my point is more to be clear that I don't weight 110 because of b'feeding... it appears to account for about 300 calories a day burned... seriously. I b'fed Kid for YEARS and it didn't help me lose one pound.

Mrs Furious said...

Julie,

if you are wearing long & lean jeans you can't look that bad! ;)

what are you doing about your thyroid?

Seattle... we thought we might move there once...

Unknown said...

wow you are aweosme! I am practically addicted to using a food diary. I also think it is good idea for everyone too, especially if you want to examine what makes you feel good or bad after a few hours.

Mrs Furious said...

Cara
that is true... it was very helpful when I was doing a TED to see what foods were bothering the baby!

Julie said...

Mrs. F.,
You don't need to be Long and Lean to wear those jeans...trust me.

Thyroid=take a little pill every day for it. But the damage was done before I was taking the prescription and I put on an extra 20 pounds in just like 2 months. It was nuts. I don't know what else I am supposed to be doing, if anything. I have just been going to my regular doctor for it and he periodically checks my blood. I did not realize that I should really be seeing an Endicronologist for it because my Doc is so laid back and like whateva about everything. He's like "you look great" and I'm like , "dude, did you notice I gained 30 pounds from when I was last here?!"

Seattle...yeah, first I was stressed about the move just by the busyness of relocating, then when the move fell through, I was really bummed out and would eat a ton of ice cream to soothe myself. Around that time, my thyroid got screwed up so I went from kind of regular/slim weight small person to cute, but chubby small person who refuses to buy jeans in my proper size because I don't believe it so then I have to make sure my shirt does not show my muffing top over my Long and Lean jeans. And whenever I buy clothes, I still buy them in my old size and then they don't look good so I wear the same 3 things all the time. Jeans and some variation of a black top. See I still equate my weight gain and all my problems with that disappointing non-move to Seattle:)

Geez, I even talk a lot in these comments. Sorry to bore everyone!

Mrs Furious said...

"to cute, but chubby small person"

hey at least you are still cute Julie! ;)

More than once in the past few years we have thought we were moving (obviously right?) and it can be devastating (while still a bit of a relief) when it falls through. It is so easy to have mentally moved and so hard to let it go! At the end of my pregnancy with Baby I told Mr F enough was enough I couldn't handle that stress anymore.. so he stopped interviewing until just now.


interesting... anyone know what else you can do about Thyroid issues?

Mrs Furious said...

And I've got 2 sick kids home right now so feel free to post the long comments.. I'm just sitting here procrastinating anyway...

Heather said...

I'm torn between sending you a congrats vs. a kick in the head. The scale will NOT move for me. Though I am shedding inches galore and love the progress I'm making, the frigging scale will not move.

But back to you. Congrats and good for you for easing up a bit. Go YOU!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am jealous! But good for you! Enjoy every piece of fudge during the holidays. And now you've got me curious...how do you record all your calories? I think you mentioned a website at one point, but I can't find that posting. And does recording all your calories really stop you from popping all the extra stuff into your mouth??!! (It must -- you're living proof!)

Anonymous said...

i haven't even read the post yet, but the weird thing is that as soon as i opened your page up the song line "cha cha cha cha changes" played on the radio.. it was odd, just thought i'd share :)

eurydice said...

I want a scale like yours so badly! But, I don't want to pay for it - it sounds really fun to know all those things about your body. It baffles my mind how the scale (that you stand on) can figure it all out though.

Congrats on your weight loss!

HC said...

You sooooo deserve a month of eating without math being involved. After all the work you've done, it's great that your time to figure out how to maintain and not go to low falls over the holidays. I can't wait to get where you are (although I doubt I'll ever anywhere near TOO thin) -- maybe next December!

I totally understand what you mean, though, about finding it hard to stop keeping track. When I can't calculate calories I get more than a little antsy. Control freaks unite!

BTW, I just posted the easiest homemade dog biscuits ever over at adamsrib if you want to treat Canine Furious...even if he is kind of an a#@$hole.

Mrs Furious said...

Heather,

hmm.. something is up.. have you gotten your period this month?

email me details

Mrs Furious said...

mary,

when I can't get the calorie counts off the box I go to Calorie Count Plus, they also are great for tracking your weight and finding out your calorie limits. If we eat out I try and look up the nutritional stuff online at the restaurants sites too. But honestly during most of the weight loss phase we didn't eat out.
I do weigh my food, it is just what I do, that way I know for sure how many calories there are. I really don't guess.
And as for does recording the calories keep you from putting food in your mouth question.. absolutely. Once you know snicker blizzards are 750 calories it is hard to forget...
You should try it. I have found that most everyone who starts automatically cuts down their intake just from writing it down.
HTH

Mrs Furious said...

linds,
now that is badass!
I love stuff like that

Mrs Furious said...

eurydice,

who knows?.. I don't question the magic...

ask for one for christmas... I really do love it

Mrs Furious said...

haley,

lol... it is absolutely the control freak thing!
I've been fighting myself all day.. I was just thinking "well I could just add it up to see where I'm at..."

Kid would enjoy making Canine some biscuits.. even though he is a jerk and has been eating all of Baby's organic teething cookies!

michelline said...

And I'll also eat guilt-free this holiday season...

Hey that's my plan too, that and buying bigger pants.

Anonymous said...

Hey that's my plan too, that and buying bigger pants.

Wasn't shopping for pants on the ticket for tomorrow night? After all, you'll need larger pants when we get back from our cruise!

Seriously, congrats Mrs. F. I'm in awe of you and your willpower. By taking the month off and enjoying the holidays, you can east some of the cookies you're sending me :)

Mrs Furious said...

Chris,
lol


Michelline,
you can east some of the cookies you're sending me

oh I intend to

Anonymous said...

Mr F, I'm lol, you are funny! We love your comment!
ML and L

Erin said...

I totally didn't think that you were harsh! Lol, I was just curious if you attributed any of your loss to the bfeeding. I know for me, it made no difference - I didn't lose much weight until a few months after I stopped bfeeding. But like you said, this was when I actually began to be conscious of what I was putting in my mouth and began walking everyday. You have done SUCH a fabulous job, and are obviously really dedicated!

Mrs Furious said...

ML
aren't you glad I wrote about you AGAIN?!?




Erin,
oh good! :)

Anonymous said...

Mrs F, sadly, I never knew you wrote about me before, so when I read it tonight, I was very excited, thank you! Love, being the badass that I am! My new scale says my body fat is going up as I'm losing weight, I'm wondering about your theory about me! Not like leaps and bounds up, just tad bits, and it stays within a range. So, I'm still getting used to the scale too, maybe it just fluctuates, the body fat that is?? ML

Mrs Furious said...

it absolutely fluctuates... both throughout the day and with your cycle. I can't be bothered with all that so I just test it in the morning and go with that knowing it is probably a little lower but either way I'm having a consistent measure.

Anonymous said...

ML,

I think the materials that came with our original body fat scale said something about the % numbers for women fluctuating wildly based on water retention and your cycle...

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