Tams Progress

[Tams]

Hi all. I very much like the idea of writing down my weigh-ins...things can get hazy over time, so I can start to 'rationalise' or 'partially remember' previous numbers. Now I'll KNOW! And because I'm more chatty, I think a personal progress thread will suit me well for both purposes.

Thanks to Blitz, over in the intro's, I really thought out my approach: Moderate food intake. Nutritional requirements being met before an 'extra' can be added. And really striving to keep up with my training (and rest) regime.

The 'caution' areas for me are not having R&R by overly relaxing my eating! So I get 1-2 'eat without guilt' meals a week...incorporating them so I also get the benefit of a date with my hubby and maybe a catch-up with someone.

So far, it's been going well, although I'm slightly flagging in motivation at present. Yesterday my body was too sore and restricted to train (dance), so I didn't, but I did do 1.5hrs pilates/weights/stretch, and then a 40min walk.

And finally...the figures...(I do an evening then a morning weigh in so I can better understand things)

week 1 pm: 64, am: 61.7
week 2 pm: 61.9, am: 60.4

[DD Diva]

And finally...the figures...(I do an evening then a morning weigh in so I can better understand things)

week 1 pm: 64, am: 61.7
week 2 pm: 61.9, am: 60.4

Wow Tams,

That's keen but don't you think it's a bit soul destroying to hop on the scales both morning and night? I mean, you will always weigh more in the evening and if you try to compare your weight to the morning's reading, it can make you feel awful especially if you do it before you actually go to bed because then you are likely to have a blow due to seeing a rise in the numbers?!

I must confess, like many others here, I'm a bit of scale junkie too and I do hop on them everyday BUT I try to keep it to just mornings otherwise I'd go nuts seeing the fluctuation between am and pm readings!

You're doing well, so keep up the good work, but.....

Be kind to yourself Tam, try to stick to once a day.

[Tams]

Lol DD Diva! I suppose it could be demoralising...but I'm so used to it, I know the morning and night ones will be different. It also helps me to (hopefully) understand some of my gastro health problems, because that can get REALLY demoralising! I also kinda view the morning one as 'cheating' because it's a figure that happens for a nanosecond (well, a bit longer than that, but no more than 30mins!), so that's not the person who goes through the day, or gets on the stage AT NIGHT - it's night time weight that is the 'real' one for me! (Not to say that the morning figures don't give me a boost though!) But all of those reasons are very specific to me, so I understand it won't work, or even apply, to others.

And by the way - Hi! I've read many of your posts and they are inspiring!

[Blitz]

"Thanks to Blitz"...Don't blame me - I'm just loitering with intent!

I have to agree with Diva. The evening weigh in is just meaningless. You are basically just weighing bowel and bladder content. The only place where that could be useful is in a forensic report! If you are worried about bowel and bladder, then may I suggest that you do what the famous diarist, Samuel Pepys did. Monitor and record your bladder and bowel movements for regularity.

No wonder you worried about putting on kilos in a day. You are comparing morning weight with night weight. That's like comparing chalk and cheese! The reason why you should use the morning weight only is because that is the baseline number. Your body has done all it is going to do with yesterday. It has dealt with your eating, activity and while you were asleep it has adjusted itself for the expected day ahead. This is the number for everything about yesterday. Your evening number isn't accounting for most of the work your body does to keep in control of the situation - it is a incomplete record and therefore useless.

Using the morning figure is not cheating. Your weight does change each nanosecond (literally) - all day and all night! If you want a worse case scenario weight - then why not the second you finish your main meal? I think that you can understand what a nonsense idea that is!

Another thing you must understand - WEIGHT OF FOOD DOES NOT EQUAL CALORIE OF FOOD. In the evening, you could weigh 3 kilos more than in the morning but not put on any more weight in real terms because most of the 3 kilos actually is water which has virtually no calories (which is units of energy...which the body can turn into fat). Whereas another time you could only weigh half a kilo more than your morning baseline only to discover that evening weigh in has completely mislead you because that half kilo was all chocolate and the calorie count on that is off the scale (too many units of energy for your body to deal with - so it stores most of it as fat!).

Kim

[DD Diva]

Lol DD Diva! I suppose it could be demoralising...but I'm so used to it, I know the morning and night ones will be different. It also helps me to (hopefully) understand some of my gastro health problems, because that can get REALLY demoralising! I also kinda view the morning one as 'cheating' because it's a figure that happens for a nanosecond (well, a bit longer than that, but no more than 30mins!), so that's not the person who goes through the day, or gets on the stage AT NIGHT - it's night time weight that is the 'real' one for me! (Not to say that the morning figures don't give me a boost though!) But all of those reasons are very specific to me, so I understand it won't work, or even apply, to others.

And by the way - Hi! I've read many of your posts and they are inspiring!

Thanks Tam, that's kind of you, and if myself (or anyone here) can offer even the smallest amount of support/inspiration to help you along your journey, then that's fantastic!

I know what you're saying, but seriously, Blitz/Kim's right unless you're tracking the changes for bowel/bladder/digestive medical purposes, why put yourself through that? The a.m. weight is the correct weight and most accurate weight, because (as already clarified) it is the resting weight once your body has processed the meal from the day/night before!

Anyway, enough of that, you will do what you feel is right for you, and if checking both evening and morning weights is what makes you happy (who am I to tell you otherwise). Enjoy!

[Tams]

DD Diva, you nailed it:

unless you're tracking the changes for digestive medical purposes

. This is exactly why I do an evening and a morning weigh in! So don't worry, I don't compare evening and morning figures for weightloss (fat loss) ...that would truely be demoralising - and, as you say Blitz, inaccurate!

I compare morning with morning, and evening with evening, for TRENDS to indicate fatloss. Then I also look at those comparisons for medical understanding, plus the evening to morning comparison. My dietician explained lots of processes (when things malfunction) for me, and it can be useful info for them to see what predominant reactions my body is having. It isn't a 'food content' weight I am at all concerned about - it is how my body responds to certain foods, meds, and exercise situations, and how that may lead to clues for new health approaches. I am apparently intolerant to certain carbohydrates and sugars (in many grains, fruits, and veges)- and people can react in two main ways...one which will show in increased weight (among other symptoms) irrelevant to food intake/weight of food (and it also is why I have to drink H2O so much in comparison to 'normal' people). So the PM/AM tracking is very informative, medically, and I'm still getting to understand my body.

On a more interesting note, I was also able to get some help with feeling terrible after dancing for 2-3hrs at night, from this weight tracking. I was really surprised that the evening weigh-in after I come home from intense exercise was not low - it is consistently higher than my 'current -(whatever it is)' evening measurement by 2 kilos. You'd think I'd be lighter from all the sweat, ie, there'd be water loss. The dietician said it was actually water weight...from all the water I drink! I'm not actually absorbing it properly (and this apparently happens for people who do intense exercise for over 1 hr). Hence why I run a tendency for migraine and pain episodes after dancing for more than 1 hr...Her solution was a sports drink for the electrolytes as I need to get properly hydrated. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to test this hypothesis out, as shortly after this I was put on an allergy diet - no sports drinks permitted. But it was incredibly interesting, and something I will try out soon now that I'm weaning off that horrid diet (and when I actually feel well enough to go out and dance like that for pleasure).

[Blitz]

As I've said already; your evening weigh ins will not be helpful in tracking "fatloss".

You actually have given in your post a good example of why not. Water weight is not a bad thing...and your body will deal with it and use it to your benefit. Water is the lubricate of your body. Most of your blood is made up of water, for example.

The water you drank during and after dancing does a number of things. Yes, it replaces water lost via sweat - but that is not all. Your body, after the night out, says to itself "Hey, that was a tough night; we need to cover this activity"; so it uses the water to help make additional muscle and convert your fat reserves into available "on tap" energy. This is why after a heavy workout session your body holds onto all the water it can. Very little of it is wasted away to your bladder until it has used what it wants. Much of this activity happens while you are sleeping. That is why, after a heavy day you wake up next morning with sore muscles. While you were out like a light your body was tearing down old muscle and making new bigger muscles.

Your evening weigh in is only catching half of the story...the morning weigh in always gives a clearer picture.

Water is nothing but good. Drink lots of it guilt free...no matter what the scales say.

Kim

[Tams]

Right, well, let's get the confession over and done with...the moderate thing was going really well, but it ended today with me succumbing to the 'deprivation' of not having anything Eastery!

My body also reacted badly to some combination of food (think it might have been gluten-free pasta, as that was the 'new' thing I re-introduced in this weaning off the allergy diet phase), and meds (a lot of pain lately), so I'm in maternity clothes (sadly, I've never been pregnant, and never will, but still need maternity clothes because of this medical condition!). Scales are consistently up by 1.5kg, which is no surprise given my distended belly, and everything I eat is re-triggering my tummy.

So, with all this going on, plus the Easter goodiness that I wasn't having, I CAVED. And boy am I in a blissed out zone right now! MMMMMmmmm. 100g of dark choc covered orange slices by Koko Black - the very best. I'm not supposed to have these because of the fructose (I malabsorb), but with everything stuffed anyway, I had them...first in over 1year. Bliss.

Back with the programme now. I wonder how long it will take my body to recover medically this time? Won't be able to tell about the fat loss thing until it does, but hey, I always knew it was a long term trend thing I'd have to be tracking. So whatever the result this Wed, I will record it!

[Blitz]

When one sticks a fence around a food and sticks a sign on it with the word "FORBIDDEN". One sure thing will happen - that fence is going to be jumped over sometime and a pig out session is going to happen big time.

Are you sure your 1.5kg and distended belly isn't just constipation? Not eating a balanced diet of food will do that to you.

Kim

[Tams]

Ha,ha, no, not simply constipation.

On the up side, today I trained for 2 hrs with dance, hardcore. Did have a panadol beforehand, and felt good - the past week has been really harsh with pain. Crashed out with migraine meds tonight though.

Interestingly, yesterday's massive choc calories seem to have made me get through today with barely a hunger pang - normally after an hour training, I'm feeling weak and distracted with hunger. Today I even got to lunch (only fit in by eating in the car!), without griping hunger, and my car lunch lasted me through til dinner (when I was feeling it!)

I am expecting to pay for Monday's sugar indulgence with a return of addiction, and at least 3 days of terrible cravings...

[Tams]

Nothing to say, here's the numbers:

week 0 pm: 64, am: 61.7
week 1 pm: 61.9, am: 60.4
week 2 pm: 63.2 am: 62.1

[Blitz]

Those AM baseline numbers are pretty steady (as I have said before those PM numbers are pretty meaningless).
Only a 1.7kg variation and far more importantly only 0.4kg gain from week start to week two. Which is nothing in the scheme of things.

There are lots of things in your posts that hint to me that you are not eating enough nor properly.

In weight loss it is normal to feel SOME hunger. That is to be expected since most overweight people have conditioned themselves into believing that they are starving themselves to death if they hadn't had anything down their gullets in the last ten minutes or their meal isn't at least the size of a whole chicken (with skin - how else?)! Much of that hunger passes as the stomach of the overweight person shrinks and learns to eat proper portions. But if you are feeling ravenous - weak and distracted with hunger then that is a real sign that you are not eating healthily. There is a very real chance that your migraine is also linked to this. If your body is working with bare bones, it has no reserves to call into play. So a two hour dance hardcore will wipe it out...I would be surprised if you DIDN'T have a migraine in those circumstances. The sugar hit from your "choc calories" helped because it finally gave your body a little bit of reserve to use.

Always listen to your body...those that don't...fail.

Kim

[Tams]

You're right, I do need to always listen to my body - it's a bit hard deciphering it's messages sometimes however!

I'm pretty sure I'm eating a good diet now (now that I can have more fruit and veg...but maybe that's why I'm getting migraines more now, now that I'm fully off the allergy diet?? who knows). Anyway, it is balanced. And so long as I eat on schedule, it's enough quantity wise (I'm pretty sure!). The intense hunger where I get weak and distracted always comes after/during Tues training, which happens to start at 11am - and it's intense and before lunch, so that's understandable. Maybe I'll put in a snack beforehand...

[Blitz]

An apple or banana before hand is a really great idea.

Kim

[Tams]

I've just finished my dress fitting...and it was GOOD! I didn't look fat woohoo! I'm so pleased my design is doing what I hoped it would do for my figure, and it's so nice someone else is making it (usually I do). I could even wiggle and jiggle and the bits that 'shouldn't' wobble were ok (there's quite a bit of intentional 'shaking-it' in my routine, but I didnt want unintentional wobbles to join in!!).

Yay! Big sigh of relief. Now I just have to keep plugging away at (actually, get back on the wagon of) sensible eating and not celebrate with relief by bingeing. (And also not lose too much weight either; can't spend all this money on a costume to have it not fit!) So moderate eating, getting in my rehearsals, and 'smoothing out' a bit is the goal - no more than 2 kilos loss would be about right, then after my comp I can see if I want to try for more.

I'm also feeling much better today - last week was another hard week of migraine, illness, and pain. So hopefully I can have a good week of rehearsals, no more meds!!, and eat sensibly instead of using food to try to cope with pain/illness. (The past week had a few days of ridiculous eating ).