Week 8 - That moment when...

So this weekend I went on a date with my husband and I wore an outfit that I had worn hundreds of times. It was a pre-pregnancy outfit.

Let's preface a little: I had my baby three months ago and have lost about 20 lbs so far. I have felt really good about the last few weeks with people commenting on my progress. So when I put on this outfit and looked in the mirror I felt completely deflated when I realized just how far from my goal I still am. I also realized that I was not going to reach my goal by January even if I had mostly perfect days until then (thanks to that break I took in week 3-4). I am still at least 35 lbs from where I want to be.

My feelings right now

It is always kind of depressing to realize that you have climbed so far to not even be half way to your destination. I have seen it with a lot of clients and in past attempts to get to a cosmetic goal. In this instance I may not have liked what I saw but I am actually kind of glad that I had the experience. 

I was getting to a point of complacence. I have seen many clients stop their programs right around this point in their progress because they think, "I've go this." But the reality is that, when you feel complacent, you are in the most danger of starting on the slippery slope back down the mountain. You may dismiss your support group (weight loss consultant, trainer, or other group - why pay the money if you have already gotten into a good routine?), you become okay with missing a few days of food logging or working out and slowly but surely your initial fire starts to die. You have a special occasion which causes a larger-than-usual splurge and then a bad weekend of eating out turns into; "I'll just get back on it when the holidays are over." 

So if you have lost some weight or body fat but are not quite to your goal yet, here are some reasons to stick it out with your method of accountability even if it costs money:

• The tools you have learned so far may not be enough to take you to your goal. Your body is a master of acclamation. Your metabolism will change as will your muscles with an eating and exercise program. You need to know how to follow the principal of overload to avoid plateaus. You will have to shake things up and a trainer or another form of accountability can help avoid the rut. 
• You may eventually get bored. Who hasn't eventually quit a workout program because it was boring or stopped an eating plan because you couldn't eat the same prepackaged meals one more day or you might smash your microwave? Your support system may help you to find fresh ways to stay interested in your program or simply help you suck it up and stick with it. 
• You may need to find more reasons to get to your goal. You were initially encouraged to start a program for a particular reason. Something sparked a flame of motivation. You found a program and the flame ignited. Within a few weeks, that flame might lose fuel and you may need to light another and someone else could give ideas of what and how to keep the fire alive.   

I'm going to have to thank my workout buddy right now for being at the gym EVERY time to support me because if she weren't there to keep me accountable, I would not have gotten my workouts in. I'll also have to thank you readers for giving me a reason to write every week. Thanks!

My Progress: 

Weight: 170.2 lbs 

Successes: I had a full week of calorie deficits! Not a single splurge! I also hit my steps taken (10,000 steps) goal tree times this week. 

Confession: My Basis armband's strap broke so I have three days without an accurate reading of calories burned. That may not be my fault but it is a setback (By the way, I contacted customer service and was blown away by how great they were. Fantastic product!). 

Week 7 - Food Part 1

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for... Let's talk food!

One of the most common questions I get when I tell people that I am a personal trainer is: what should I eat in order to lose weight? My most common response is: what do you want to eat? Apparently this frustrates a lot of people. They are looking for something a little bit more revolutionary. The reality is that the words 'revolutionary', 'new' and even 'scientific' and 'proven' are the biggest giveaways of a fad/ scam. The hard truth is that; if you eat less than you burn then you will lose weight. Period. End of story.

Yes, there are healthier foods than others. Yes, the macronutrients (proteins, carbs and fats) are important to body composition. Yes, you can lose weight by following some of those new trends that you see in this weeks issue of Self Magazine. But you just asked how to lose weight. To do that, you just need to know: A) How many calories does your body burn in a day  B) How many calories do you need to eat to create an appropriate deficit to get you to your goal by the time you would like to reach it and C) is that deficit realistic?

Fact: There are 3500 calories in one pound of body fat. Therefore, if you would like to lose 1 lb of body fat in a week, you would need have a 500 calorie deficit every day. For example, I burn about 2500 calories a day. I should eat 2000 calories a day if I would like to lose 1 lb a week. If I would like to lose 2 lbs a week, I would have to double my deficit meaning I would only eat 1500 calories a day.

Warning: There are some who may think that if a small deficit is good, then a large deficit must be better. Think again. Your body will learn to adjust its burn very quickly. You will begin to burn more muscle than fat.

So how do you know how many calories you should eat? Go back and read my post called 'Know your Burn' to find out how much you burn in a day and then decide on a deficit (please keep it less than 1000 calories/ day). Then follow one of these suggestions to make sure you stay within your range:

A) Log it 

Either find a website or app that allows you to log your food or write it in a food journal. Benefits include being able to plan your entire day with the flexibility of adding foods that you like. You can also be spontaneous and go out to eat. The downside is that it takes time and forethought. Apps with barcode scanners and a variety of restaurants make it easier. I highly recommend logging. I have had many clients reach there goal by changing virtually nothing else.

B) List it

Some of my clients have said to me, "I WILL not log! You can't make me!" Well, you are right. I can't make you. But we have to do SOMETHING. So we sit down for a few sessions and we go through the foods that they like and that they will eat and we make a list of at least five Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners and snacks that add up to their daily caloric goal. Every meal is about the same size so all they have to do is pick one of each from the list. The upside to this is that the choice is taken out. Many people join diet programs where a list is given to them. The downside is that it is difficult to plan unforeseen obstacles. It also gets REALLY boring to eat the same thing day after day so I recommend adding to the lists often.

I highly believe that the plan you follow to reach your goal should reflect as closely as possible to the plan you expect to follow to keep your goal (most of us forget to think about the maintenance phase). When deciding whether to list or to log, ask yourself, "In the future, will I likely eat the same foods every day and just need to know how much? or will I eat a variety and simply need to be aware of what I am eating?" If the answer is the former, list it. If it is the latter, log it. Whichever method you choose make sure you MEASURE your food. I cannot stress enough how important that is. You may think you know how big a cup is but you could be off by as much as 30% (I have had clients who were off by a LOT more). I'm not saying that you have to measure forever but I would definitely recommend it at least at first. I will be completely honest with all of you: I measure my food EVERY DAY that I log it.

Now this is where a lot of you are yelling at your computer, "Kerri, you are almost done with this post and you haven't said anything about WHAT I should eat!" Hold on. We'll talk about it later. I'll make some suggestions but please keep one thing in mind-

Many of us have gotten to where we are weight-wise because of stress. Drastically changing your diet is a major lifestyle change and is therefore a stresser whether you wish to admit it or not. If stress is what makes you turn to food, I would like to ask you one question: How on earth do you expect your trigger to be your cure? I know you want to be an overall healthy person. So would I. But when you stress yourself out by making a huge lifestyle change, you run the risk of sabotaging yourself before you even get started. Just eating less of the foods you eat now will be stressful enough. Give yourself time. Then, when you have developed the habit of eating less, add in one or two healthy eating habits at a time. But tune in next time when we talk about macronutrients.

My Progress: 

Weight: 181.6 lbs My deficit was 3641 calories based on my readings from my metabolic armband and my food log so I actually estimated about 1 lb fat loss (though the reading may be off due to breastfeeding).

Successes: I had a great week overall with logging food. YAY!

Confession: I set a goal to hit 500 calorie deficit every day (except my anniversary and Thanksgiving) for 90 days. If I can do that, I will be much more likely to reach my goal by New Years. Unfortunately I had that silly 'Eat, Drink and be Merry for Tomorrow we Diet!' Mentality and went a little crazy today. I will have to work extra hard this week to make up for it and may end up with another half pound loss for the week. 

Update

Alright everyone,

I just had my measurements this week and here are the results:

7/31-

Weight: 198 lbs
Body Fat %: 35.1
Lbs Body Fat: 69.5
Lbs Lean: 128.5


9/10-

Weight: 184.6 (-13.4)
Body Fat %: 33.5 (-1.6)
Lbs Body Fat: 61.8 (-7.7)
Lbs Lean: 122.8 (-5.7)

Total inches lost: 9.35

Here's where I started...

Here's where I am today

I would normally hope for 6-12% body fat drop by now but remember that two week hiatus I took? Regardless, 1.6% makes a difference! 

Successes: I decided that I needed a workout buddy and found someone WONDERFUL! She and I have only met three times so far but I think we are going to work really well together! If you are starting weight training for the first time, I workout buddy is REALLY helpful for keeping you motivated not to slack off. Speaking of weight training, I have two weeks of 4x/ week! 

I also had my best logging week so far this week. Working out sometimes does wonders for nutrition simply because you don't want to waist all your hard work by eating a bunch of garbage. Just like unhealthy behaviors are a vicious cycle (eating poorly leads to inactivity, which leads to more poor eating choices, etc.) healthy living can also be a cycle (though if you stop the ball rolling it is much easier to go backward).

Confessions: If I needed to confess anything it would be that I have been having a hard time waking up early enough in the mornings to get myself and the baby out of the house in a timely manner. I had set a goal to walk to the gym which is less than a mile from my home to get some added cardio. One of my obstacles is that Lizzie never learned to latch when feeding so I have been exclusively pumping. It is working very well and I am happy to be able to burn an extra few hundred calories a day but it does mean an extra 1/2 hour in the morning that I could be sleeping. Even though I know it is coming, it still seems to be a surprise every morning when I have to get up. Weird how that happens. 

Thanks for the support! This month's goal is to be under 31% by Oct. 9th. If I can do that, I get to buy a rug for my entryway... and I get to make my family's secret recipe cookies. 

Week 5 - Know your burn

So far I have mainly talked about how to think about weight loss. I haven't yet touched on how to actually get started. So today I would like to talk about the first step in actually getting to your goal. 

Most of the time when I hear people talking about a weight loss goal they first talk about how much they think they should eat. While that is very important, they forget to mention what comes first: knowing how much their body burns. Why do we care? Remember that your goal is not actually WEIGHT loss it's FAT loss. If you put yourself at too high of a calorie deficit or force your body into ketosis (like in low-carb diets) you will likely lose a higher percentage of lean body mass. That's the good stuff like muscle that burns calories just by existing. If you really want to maximize your FAT loss, knowing what your body burns in a given day is vital to knowing how many calories you should actually eat in a day.

It is also important to know when it changes. As you lose fat, your body will likely (though not always) need less calories to maintain it's mass than before. In some cases (like in the case of some individuals who increase their metabolism by significant daily physical activity), they may need more to maintain a proper deficit. 

So how can you tell what your body burns?:

Guess:

• Most weight loss programs out there take a few indicators (BMI, age and gender) and assign people to 1200, 1500 or 1800 calories a day. Though most people will lose weight at these levels, it is a cookie cutter approach that is meant for everyone to lose weight. Since it is also based on BMI, it does not take lean body mass into consideration. The upsides, however, are that it is easy and you will likely lose weight. The downsides are that you don't know whether it is fat or muscle that you are losing. 

Estimate:

• The difference between guessing and estimating is all a matter of information. You can use nutritionist certified software, a nutritionist, or a series of complicated formulas to more accurately  estimate your basal metabolic rate. Usually you will have to include body fat percentage, overall health, and lifestyle. The upsides are that you will have a more individualized program and likely be able to eat more than if you had a generic guess. You can also update your estimation based on lifestyle changes to make sure you are anticipating changes to your metabolism. The downside is that it is more work and may or may not cost money.

Measure:

• There are many devices out there on the market to measure your caloric expenditure. They range from the very basic pedometer which simply measures steps taken to very accurate metabolic armbands which include sleep monitors, heart rate, sweat output, body temperature, and acceleration. The upside is that they can be very accurate and give you data from day to day. No one burns the same amount of calories every day and therefore needs exactly the same amount every day. The downside is that, in order to get the data it needs to be worn. The best data comes if you wear it as close to 24hrs as you can. They can also get pretty expensive if you go for a more accurate model (I personally think it is a great investment and use a metabolic armband every day). 

Whichever method you choose, set a goal calorie intake based on your daily output. I'll be writing about that next week. 

My Progress: 

Weight: 185.1. I will be asking my trainer to give me measurements this week so we will see how much of that is actually fat. Wish me luck!

Successes: I FINALLY got to the weight room this week! I ended up doing four days in a row which was awesome! I am extremely sore and will probably give myself more breaks between sessions in the future but I really wanted to hit my goal of four times a week. 

Confession: I had two days of no deficit with the holiday on Monday and had a hard time reaching my 500 calorie deficit goal the rest of the week but it was still overall a week of progress.