3 months - not nearly enough change

Deb said:

Well, here I am, back again. I started training in early Nov after a

3

Quoted message said:

year layoff, and dropped my calories in mid-January after the

exercise

Quoted message said:

alone had failed to make any significant change in my physique.

So you dropped your calories about 2 months ago.

Quoted message said:

So, since Jan, I've been doing 3 days of weights a week, 4-5 days of
cardio (HIIT, 30 minutes) and eating from 1500 to 1800 calories a day
instead of my previous 2000-2200.

You dropped your calories by a few hundred calories a day. Assuming
that the 2000-2200 was your maintenance, and that you're counting
correctly, then you should be expecting a loss of a pound a week at
most. That's perfectly reasonable, but you have to realize that you
probably won't see a change every week, because it'll get lost in the
noise of normal fluctuations.

Quoted message said:

What's changed? Little.

[censored].

Quoted message said:

I lost 6 pounds from my starting weight (in Jan) of 160. I lost

those

Quoted message said:

pounds in the first month. Since, then, NOTHING.

So you haven't seen the scale move for a few weeks. It happens. You may
have lost some fat, and you haven't seen it because of daily
fluctuations.

Quoted message said:

I'm STARVING all the time on as much as 1800 calories. It's really
starting to get annoying.

What are you eating?

Quoted message said:

My upper body looks a lot different.....shoulders broader, a better V
taper, muscles showing. People at the gym have commented on it.

I've

Quoted message said:

got an impressive set of callouses. I'm receiving a lot more

positive

Quoted message said:

attention from males in the gym.

And this is little change?

Quoted message said:

I'm a lot stronger on all my lifts. For example, top lifts went from
20 lb dumbbells in the bicep curl to 30 lb .. . my squat has

increased

Quoted message said:

from 85 lb to 145 lb.....my pulldowns have gone from 80 lb to 120 lb.

Again, little change? What have you been smoking, dear?

Quoted message said:

But so freakin' what? My only reason for lifting heavy like this is

to

Quoted message said:

increase my metabolism so I can lose body fat. And that doesn't seem
to be happening.

How fast are you expecting to lose weight?

Quoted message said:

I'm not really asking for advice.

I'm giving it to you anyway. My advice is to be patient.

I was expecting to see steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week, with
the goal of losing a total of 30 pounds by June 1. That was the
original goal. Now that's not a reasonable goal anymore, because I'd
have to lose over 2 pounds a week starting now, which would not be
healthy.

That was a big blunder of me to say 3 months when it really is two.
Dunno, perhaps it FEELS like 3 months in my head.

sorry, it's only been 2 months. Forgive my rantings. I think I'm just
[censored] today. I'll be back in a few months with another report.

Deb said:

I was expecting to see steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week, with
the goal of losing a total of 30 pounds by June 1. That was the
original goal. Now that's not a reasonable goal anymore, because I'd
have to lose over 2 pounds a week starting now, which would not be
healthy.

Take measurements. Dont fixate on the scale.

Quoted message said:

That was a big blunder of me to say 3 months when it really is two.
Dunno, perhaps it FEELS like 3 months in my head.

Two months...8weeks...lost 6 pounds...hmmmm...sounds more than
reasonable to me. Yes impatience rears its ugly head! We all want to
'see' immediate results, but what can be happening is on the inside and
not necessarily showing up yet on the outside layers. Just stay on
track. Maybe try zigzagging your weekly calories, and post a bit of
about what you eat per day. Sometimes changing a few food choices or
ratios makes all the difference when you have to make every calorie
count.

<<joni>>

(aka joanne, mom, and now grandmom)

joni wrote:

Maybe try zigzagging your weekly calories, and post a bit of

Quoted message said:

about what you eat per day. Sometimes changing a few food choices or
ratios makes all the difference when you have to make every calorie
count.

I actually did spend some time in a bookstore reading recently about
Hatfield's zig zag method and thought I'd give it a shot. It would be
a hell of a lot easier on the weekends, when I am often out and about
and I'm not logging calories into FitDay as I eat them (I do that
during the week) and therefore can't keep track as well of how many I
have left daily to play with. The weekend would be my time of
increased calorie intake, then.

In article <[email hidden]>,
"Deb" <[email hidden]> writes:
[snip]

Quoted message said:

So, since Jan, I've been doing 3 days of weights a week, 4-5 days of
cardio (HIIT, 30 minutes) and eating from 1500 to 1800 calories a day
instead of my previous 2000-2200.

What's changed? Little.

I lost 6 pounds from my starting weight (in Jan) of 160. I lost those
pounds in the first month. Since, then, NOTHING.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I'm not really asking for advice.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Well, I'm going to make some observations, then 😉.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio workout is not a
fat-loss regimen. HIIT is for improving cardio fitness and
endurance. To burn fat, you need to establish your anaerobic
threshold and do your 30 minutes on treadmills, exercycles, rowing
machines, whatever, at (at least) slightly below your AT. (Note:
Some folks equate AT with LT [lactic threshold]. This is not
necessarily the case. It's distinctly possible, perhaps even
probable, that your AT is *significantly* below your LT.)

Next: What's your diet like? Many people make the mistake of
equating reduced fat intake with body fat loss. It ain't necessarily
so. In fact: There's evidence that reducing fat intake *too* far
will result in body fat *gain*. The reason is that your body uses
stored fat for long-term energy reserves. When it senses a reduction
in intake, it compensates by trying to store more--to the extent of
converting carbs and proteins, incl. stored glycogen and amino acids
(*if* I recall correctly), to fat. This is one reason "low fat"
diets get one only so far, then stop, and, when the "normal" diet is
resumed, it all comes back quickly.

Given that your regimens look like all strength and endurance
training, your weight measurements probably don't mean all that
much. Muscle gain, fat loss. I started working out more intensely
about three weeks ago. I'm losing an average of about 1/2 lb. per
week. But my pants legs are *way* loose on me now and I've been
bumping the weights on one-or-more machines by 10-20 lbs./week.
(Prior to this I dropped 20-25 lbs. over a two-year period with a
modest change in eating habits, light floor exercises at home three
times a week, and increased walking. Then I more-or-less "stalled."
So I long-ago lost most of the "easy" fat 😉.)

Lastly: You *do* realize that your body will use up "excess" fat
stores in the reverse order in which it saved them up, I hope? In
women, it's usually thighs first-on/last-off, is it not? One of my
goals is to get rid of the damn spare tire. But, being a guy, unless
I *really* work my legs, arms, chest and back, I'll look like a
collection of sticks long before that happens 😉.

Standard Disclaimer: I'm neither a health professional nor a fitness
expert. My comments merely reflect what I believe I've learned about
health and fitness lately. If I've got any of it wrong, hopefully
somebody more knowledgeable will be along shortly with corrections.

Good luck, Deb, and above all: Have *fun* with it!

--
Jim Seymour | "It is wrong always, everywhere and
WARNING: The "From:" address is a | for everyone to believe anything upon
spam trap. DON'T USE IT! Use: | insufficient evidence."
[email hidden] | - W. K. Clifford, ca. 1876

Deb said:

I was expecting to see steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week,

Eat less. You should have started with about 1600
calories a day.

--
Scott Johnson / scottjohnson at kc dot rr dot com

Runs With Knives said:

Well, I'm going to make some observations, then 😉.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio workout is not a
fat-loss regimen. HIIT is for improving cardio fitness and
endurance.

Jim, that is completely the opposite of what some people told me in
here when I first posted in January. At that time, I was doing 45 min
of cardio at a lower intensity....many advised HIIT because it was a
"great way to stimulate fat loss." I switched and found that it was
much more intense and certainly felt like I was working harder.

Quoted message said:

Next: What's your diet like? Many people make the mistake of
equating reduced fat intake with body fat loss.

I didn't reduce fat. I reduced total calories working off the straight
"calories in, calories out" principle. I use FitDay to track. Some
days, my diet is 50% fat! Most days it's a lower percentage than
that....I actually expressed some concern over the fat ratios that were
appearing in my diet and again, a number of people here said "who
cares? Calories in, calories out!"

WHAT exactly am I eating? My rule of thumb is to eat as many
unprocessed foods as I can, and count up the calories. So in the
morning, for example, I'll be having eggs, tomatoes, cheese, sausage
omelet....afternoon will be something like meat and two veg...all
cooked fresh. Sometimes I have pizza or a burger with a bun....but I
do try to keep those breads and processed carbs to a minimum....I also
eat steel cut oatmeal for breakfast sometimes. I have cut out all
drinks that have calories, so no more fruit juice or regular cola or
snapple.....I've increased my water intake. Most of the water I drink
gets ingested AT the gym. One 20 oz bottle while I lift, another 20 oz
bottle during the cardio session.

Quoted message said:

Lastly: You *do* realize that your body will use up "excess" fat
stores in the reverse order in which it saved them up, I hope? In
women, it's usually thighs first-on/last-off, is it not? One of my
goals is to get rid of the damn spare tire. But, being a guy, unless
I *really* work my legs, arms, chest and back, I'll look like a
collection of sticks long before that happens 😉.

This is making itself apparent with all the dramatic changes in my
upper body with seemingly nothing going on down below. I have noticed,
however, that 10 years ago, I could see the vein down my bicep very
clearly, now, however, it's not visible despite clearly increased
muscle size and definition. This means that there is certainly a
higher fat percentage on my body as a whole than there was back then.

Quoted message said:

Good luck, Deb, and above all: Have *fun* with it!

Thanks for your comments, Jim.

Deb said:

Well, here I am, back again. I started training in early Nov after a 3
year layoff, and dropped my calories in mid-January after the exercise
alone had failed to make any significant change in my physique.

So, since Jan, I've been doing 3 days of weights a week, 4-5 days of
cardio (HIIT, 30 minutes) and eating from 1500 to 1800 calories a day
instead of my previous 2000-2200.

What's changed? Little.

I lost 6 pounds from my starting weight (in Jan) of 160. I lost those
pounds in the first month. Since, then, NOTHING.

I still can't be seen in a pair of shorts. My lower half looks exactly
the same. I'm wearing the same pants size....and there's not even a
slight loosening. My boyfriend says he can't see an iota of
difference.

I'm STARVING all the time on as much as 1800 calories. It's really
starting to get annoying.

My upper body looks a lot different.....shoulders broader, a better V
taper, muscles showing. People at the gym have commented on it. I've
got an impressive set of callouses. I'm receiving a lot more positive
attention from males in the gym.

I'm a lot stronger on all my lifts. For example, top lifts went from
20 lb dumbbells in the bicep curl to 30 lb .. . my squat has increased
from 85 lb to 145 lb.....my pulldowns have gone from 80 lb to 120 lb.
But so freakin' what? My only reason for lifting heavy like this is to
increase my metabolism so I can lose body fat. And that doesn't seem
to be happening.

I'm very frustrated....I feel like I'm doing everything right....how
could I possibly go from being a couch potato eating all those
calories, to all this activity and calorie reduction, and still stay
the same size?

I'm not really asking for advice. I said I would report on what's
happening, and that's what's happening. I'm still going to the gym and
continuing with the plan. I don't intend to stop. It does seem to
have some benefits. But not the benefits that I really want.

Sounds like you lost fat and gained muscle, which is a good thing.
But because you're a woman, you have a congenital weakness in that you
can only see losing weight as progress, and not see improving your
body composition as progress.

-----------
Proton Soup

"And all this peace has been deceiving,
I need some wind to get me sailing"

"Deb" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1111773264.975108.237280
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Next: What's your diet like? Many people make the mistake of
equating reduced fat intake with body fat loss.

I didn't reduce fat. I reduced total calories working off the straight
"calories in, calories out" principle. I use FitDay to track. Some
days, my diet is 50% fat! Most days it's a lower percentage than
that....I actually expressed some concern over the fat ratios that were
appearing in my diet and again, a number of people here said "who
cares? Calories in, calories out!"

I don't think those numbers add up. 50% fat + 1500-1800 cal/day + at least
..8g protien/lb leaves less than nothing left over for carbs I bet.

Make sure you're getting enough protein. Won't make you lighter, but will be
good for you.

Hugh

--
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will attend no other.

Hugh Beyer wrote:>

Quoted message said:

Make sure you're getting enough protein. Won't make you lighter, but

will be

Quoted message said:

good for you.

You're a good detective. Many days the protein ratio is too low. I'm
working on it.

Quoted message said:

I'm STARVING all the time on as much as 1800 calories. It's really
starting to get annoying.

You shouldn't be STARVING on 1800. and there's no need.
Eat more protein. 1gm/pound bodyweight is the figure quoted here most
often. Protein satisfies hunger better than fat and carbs.

Ray

--
2002 1.8i eternal red

Deb said:

So, since Jan, I've been doing 3 days of weights a week, 4-5 days of
cardio (HIIT, 30 minutes) and eating from 1500 to 1800 calories a day
instead of my previous 2000-2200.
I lost 6 pounds from my starting weight (in Jan) of 160. I lost

those

Quoted message said:

pounds in the first month. Since, then, NOTHING.

I'm STARVING all the time on as much as 1800 calories. It's really
starting to get annoying.

Hi Deb,

I'm replying because it was your messages (and the various responses)
back in January that inspired me to begin using fitday to track my
intake. I've been restricting calories along with working out since
then, and have been happily surprised at the results (I started at
~174, now I'm at 158, but with a lot more muscle). My workout regimen
sounds pretty similar to yours; I do 3 days of weights, 3 days of
30-minute HIIT, and 3 days of lower-impact cardio per week. I also
walk 2-3 miles a day to school and back. So I thought I would share
the experience of someone who's in a somewhat-similar situation, who
started restricting calories at the same time as you.

Eating 5-6 meals a day has been KEY for me in sticking to it. I'm
really not hungry, which is the only reason this has worked. I try to
keep around 1500-1600 calories a day (I'm a 5'6" woman). A typical
day's eating would look like:

8am: Smoothie with 20g whey protein, 1 TB flaxseed meal, and 1C of
various fruit. Yum. ~ 200cal

9:30am: Latte with skim/1% milk (my advisor keeps an espresso machine
at the lab to keep his students productive). ~100cal

11am: Lunch #1: Big spinach salad with cabbage, cubes of roasted
squash, 1/2 can of tuna, and vinaigrette containing 1TB olive oil.
~300cal

3pm: Lunch #2 (post-workout): Mypolex deluxe meal replacement bar (or
3/4 of one, since they're big), or leftover stir-fry from home. ~300
cal

7pm: Dinner - usually ~6oz of grilled/seared fish plus stir-fried
veggies, or a stir-fry with seitan/soy protein and veggies on brown
rice, and always, a glass (or more!) of red wine. ~450 cal

10pm: Snacks - sometimes a smoothie/protein shake, sometimes cheese on
crackers, usually <200cal.

It comes out to 1500-1600 calories on most days, and I try to keep
protein above 100g to help with building muscle mass. I feel like I'm
eating all the time, which is why it's been OK sticking to it. I also
let myself have at least a glass of wine every night, which keeps me
from feeling deprived. On weekends, I definitely have more calories,
but I concentrate on maintaining the deficit over the long haul.

I found it was important to log in fitday EVERY day, even weekends.
That was the only way I could get a sense of my overall caloric
deficit. I splurge on weekends, drink more beer, and I'm fine with
that. However, logging the splurges in fitday helps me ackowledge them
and how they fit into the overall picture.

Probably equally as helpful has been just lurking around this group,
trying to absorb the collective wisdom. I'm a science dork, so I see
this transformation as a project, which helps me a lot.

It sounds like you're on the right track, the deficit may just not be
large enough for the quicker results you were hoping for. Also, I'm
sure you already know this, but when you weigh yourself makes such a
difference - depending on my monthly cycle, I put on or lose several
pounds. It's funny to look at the fitday weight graph and see the
"waves".

Good luck!

--AD

Deb said:

I was expecting to see steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week,

It's pretty unusual for anyone to see steady weight loss at any rate
for any length of time anyway. But I don't think you have enough of a
deficit to get more than a pound a week. Remember that for each pound,
you have to have a deficit of 3500 calories. To lose 2 pounds a week,
you'd need to have a deficit of 1000 calories a day. There's always
some slop in calculating both intake and expenditure, so even if you
think you have that much of a deficit (and I doubt you do) then you
probably don't.

Quoted message said:

with
the goal of losing a total of 30 pounds by June 1. That was the
original goal. Now that's not a reasonable goal anymore, because I'd
have to lose over 2 pounds a week starting now, which would not be
healthy.

Any particular reason you picked that number and that date?

Quoted message said:

That was a big blunder of me to say 3 months when it really is two.
Dunno, perhaps it FEELS like 3 months in my head.

Heh. Yeah, 2 months of dieting can feel like 6.

Quoted message said:

Eating 5-6 meals a day has been KEY for me in sticking to it. I'm
really not hungry, which is the only reason this has worked. I try

to

Quoted message said:

keep around 1500-1600 calories a day (I'm a 5'6" woman). A typical
day's eating would look like:

8am: Smoothie with 20g whey protein, 1 TB flaxseed meal, and 1C of
various fruit. Yum. ~ 200cal

9:30am: Latte with skim/1% milk (my advisor keeps an espresso machine
at the lab to keep his students productive). ~100cal

11am: Lunch #1: Big spinach salad with cabbage, cubes of roasted
squash, 1/2 can of tuna, and vinaigrette containing 1TB olive oil.
~300cal

3pm: Lunch #2 (post-workout): Mypolex deluxe meal replacement bar (or
3/4 of one, since they're big), or leftover stir-fry from home. ~300
cal

7pm: Dinner - usually ~6oz of grilled/seared fish plus stir-fried
veggies, or a stir-fry with seitan/soy protein and veggies on brown
rice, and always, a glass (or more!) of red wine. ~450 cal

10pm: Snacks - sometimes a smoothie/protein shake, sometimes cheese

on

Quoted message said:

crackers, usually <200cal.

It comes out to 1500-1600 calories on most days, and I try to keep
protein above 100g to help with building muscle mass. I feel like

I'm

Quoted message said:

eating all the time, which is why it's been OK sticking to it. I

also

Quoted message said:

let myself have at least a glass of wine every night, which keeps me
from feeling deprived. On weekends, I definitely have more calories,
but I concentrate on maintaining the deficit over the long haul.

AD, you've got some good things to say here. It's becoming apparent to
me that I need more restriction and control in what I eat and when I
eat. I may have to regiment my foods and times a lot more the way you
do. Please tell me - what brand of whey protein and flaxseed meal are
you using? I have access to a Vitamin Shoppe right near my house.

I've been using Luna bars, Pria bars, and sometimes even SlimFast cans
when I "run out" of calories too early in the day and they are all I
have room for in my 1500 plan. . . I don't feel guilty about doing
this, but I'd like to have to do it a lot less often. Your method
seems to be a good way to prevent this scenario from happening too
often. Having room for wine is really good...I have cut that out
completely and sometimes on a weekend it sucks.

Starting on Monday, I'll try your method of eating more often.

I know what you mean about female cycles fluctuating weight. Three
weeks ago, I had an attack of PMS that lasted two full weeks and caused
me to gain back ALL the 6 pounds I had lost in a matter of 4 days. I
got my period and had a colonoscopy scheduled on the same day, which
you may or may not know, requires you to have a clear liquid diet for
24 hours and drink mass quantities of laxatives....right after the
colonoscopy I weighed myself and I had lost the 6 pounds plus an
additional 4.....of course I didn't enter that number into FitDay
because my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth and it was pretty
obvious that severe dehydration was the cause....I think I had consumed
only 400 calories the day of the clear liquid diet.

geek_girl said:

Quoted message said:

with
the goal of losing a total of 30 pounds by June 1. That was the
original goal. Now that's not a reasonable goal anymore, because

I'd

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

have to lose over 2 pounds a week starting now, which would not be
healthy.

Any particular reason you picked that number and that date?

At my peak of fitness, with muscle strength and lifts similar to what I
am doing now, I only weighed 130. I looked fantastic and wore a size
4. So I picked that number again. I picked that date because there
was a 20 year high school reunion that month, plus clothing starts
coming off in June...skirts, halters, shorts.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Sounds like you lost fat and gained muscle, which is a good thing.
But because you're a woman, you have a congenital weakness in that you
can only see losing weight as progress, and not see improving your
body composition as progress.

Right. I'm guessing you didn't have much muscle when you started so
you've been in the phase where you are trading fat for muscle but this
can be frustrating when looking at a scale because muscle weighs more
(you've still managed to lose 6 pounds which means you've lost more than
6 pounds of fat). You are doing it the right way, and you will reap the
rewards. You're adding fat burning muscle which will increase your
metabolism and work for you later to burn off your fat 24 hours a day.
People can initially lose weight quicker by doing a low cal diet with
little excercise but that way is a disaster for many reasons that I'm
sure you know -- kills your metabolism, weight comes right back, body
fat percentage goes up.

Regarding being hungry, you didn't mention how you were eating. 6 small
meals vs. 3 bigger meals is key to controlling hunger and has many
metabolic benefits too. Keep up the good work!

John Black

In article <[email hidden]>,

Deb said:

Runs With Knives said:

Well, I'm going to make some observations, then 😉.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio workout is not a
fat-loss regimen. HIIT is for improving cardio fitness and
endurance.

Jim, that is completely the opposite of what some people told me in
here when I first posted in January. At that time, I was doing 45 min
of cardio at a lower intensity....many advised HIIT because it was a
"great way to stimulate fat loss." I switched and found that it was
much more intense and certainly felt like I was working harder.

Well, yeah, it *is* much more intense. But you don't have to get
"intense" to burn fat. Do some web searches on "aerobic exercise,"
"anaerobic threshold" and the like. According to what I've recently
learned, as I said: Exercising over your AT is actually
counter-productive if fat-loss is your goal.

I work out three times a week. Each visit consists of an hour on
strength-training machines (sometimes more) and 30 minutes of
aerobics or cardio (cardio every 3rd visit), spread across three of
six machines I like, 10 minutes/machine. But I've three goals at
once: 1. Lose the fat, 2. Cardio/endurance improvement, 3. Body
shaping/toning and strength improvement. I may soon knock another
10 minutes off the strength training and add it to the aerobics,
given my #1 and #2 goals.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Next: What's your diet like? Many people make the mistake of
equating reduced fat intake with body fat loss.

I didn't reduce fat. I reduced total calories working off the straight
"calories in, calories out" principle. I use FitDay to track. Some
days, my diet is 50% fat! Most days it's a lower percentage than
that....I actually expressed some concern over the fat ratios that were
appearing in my diet and again, a number of people here said "who
cares? Calories in, calories out!"

[snip]

I'm not a nutritionist, but that doesn't sound right to me. It's my
understanding that, as a general rule-of-thumb: For good
cardiovascular health you want to keep the fats down to no more than
30% of calories derived from fat.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Lastly: You *do* realize that your body will use up "excess" fat
stores in the reverse order in which it saved them up, I hope?

[snip]

Quoted message said:

This is making itself apparent with all the dramatic changes in my
upper body with seemingly nothing going on down below.

[snip]

I've only been hanging-out here for a short while, and I don't really
have a good feel for this newsgroup's general perspective. One would
*think* it would be toward strength-training, muscle-building,
body-sculpting, etc. These goals may not be the same as yours. You
*might* be better-served in misc.fitness.aerobic or
misc.fitness.misc.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Good luck, Deb, and above all: Have *fun* with it!

Thanks for your comments, Jim.

You're quite welcome.

--
Jim Seymour | "It is wrong always, everywhere and
WARNING: The "From:" address is a | for everyone to believe anything upon
spam trap. DON'T USE IT! Use: | insufficient evidence."
[email hidden] | - W. K. Clifford, ca. 1876

Deb said:

AD, you've got some good things to say here. It's becoming apparent

to

Quoted message said:

me that I need more restriction and control in what I eat and when I
eat. I may have to regiment my foods and times a lot more the way

you

Quoted message said:

do. Please tell me - what brand of whey protein and flaxseed meal

are

Quoted message said:

you using? I have access to a Vitamin Shoppe right near my house.

I use something called "Jarrow formula" vanilla whey protein, but
that's only because it's the cheapest one they have at Whole Foods! I'm
a grad student, so money is an issue. Online sources may be cheaper,
and I suspect one brand is pretty similar to another--plain whey
protein might be nasty, though. 1 scoop has 100 calories and 18 g of
protein. You can also get flaxseed meal at natural foods stores and
well-stocked supermarkets - I use Bob's Red Mill brand. 1TB has 30
cals, 2g each of fat/carb/protein, and it's a good source of both
omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It has a rich, nutty taste.

A note about protein - I eat mostly vegetarian (fish only), and always
scoffed at those who said "make sure you get enough protein!". But now
I see their point. My old way of eating often didn't hit 40g of
protein a day; probably fine for a sedentary woman, definitely not fine
for someone working out and trying to add muscle. And I have to admit,
now that I aim for 100g+/day, I'm having much better luck balancing my
nutrition and staving off hunger. The protein has displaced refined
carbohydrates in my diet for the most part, and I think that has a big
impact on hunger levels. I'm not eating low-carb by any stretch,
'cause that's just not my style. I'm just trying to keep all the food
as unprocessed as I can and nutritionally dense.

A nice side benefit of cooking this way, and one that stunned the HECK
out of me, is the fact meal preparation takes less time. I love to
cook, and used to think nothing of fussing for hours over elaborate
vegetarian concoctions that were tasty, but generally fairly high-carb,
medium-fat, and low-protein. Now that I've shifted my emphasis to fish
and seitain/soy protein stir-fries, I find that dinner takes 30 minutes
or less most nights. Eureka - time and health! The salads and
leftovers for lunch are also fast, I use bagged baby spinach. At
$3/bag, it isn't cheap, but if it makes a week's worth of salads and
it's good for my health, it's worth it. And keep the olive oil in your
salad dressing if you like it - just measure it so you don't go
overboard! It's so much tastier than those fat-free dressings, and I
think it helps make you feel full for longer.

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I've been using Luna bars, Pria bars, and sometimes even SlimFast

cans

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when I "run out" of calories too early in the day and they are all I
have room for in my 1500 plan. . . I don't feel guilty about doing
this, but I'd like to have to do it a lot less often. Your method
seems to be a good way to prevent this scenario from happening too
often. Having room for wine is really good...I have cut that out
completely and sometimes on a weekend it sucks.

One thing that helped me was to really check the nutritional content of
the various "energy" bars. There is a HUGE amount of variation in how
they partition their macronutrients. Some have only 8g of protein and
30+g of carbohydrate. I'm not saying carbs are bad - but for me, I've
come to the realization that too many carbs end up displacing the other
stuff I need to get (protein). I've been using the EAS Myoplex bars,
which contain 25-30g of protein and roughly equal amounts of carbs in
250-350 calorie packages. The Deluxe bars are good for after workouts
(small amount of simple sugars to promote recovery), their Carb Control
bars are good for meal replacement anytime (low-glycemic-index carbs).
I bought them online at www.vitaglo.com and they came out to ~$1.25
each, much cheaper than retail.

Definitely make room for wine, or occasional chocolate if it's your
thing! I think one of the keys to long-term success is making room to
enjoy what you really love. So I don't beat myself up for going to a
brewpub once a week, I just make room for the beer it by eating lightly
(but concentrated in nutrition and protein). Other people have a
couple of small chocolates a day, or hit a buffet once a week --
moderation, not deprivation!

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Starting on Monday, I'll try your method of eating more often.

I know what you mean about female cycles fluctuating weight. Three
weeks ago, I had an attack of PMS that lasted two full weeks and

caused

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me to gain back ALL the 6 pounds I had lost in a matter of 4 days. I
got my period and had a colonoscopy scheduled on the same day, which
you may or may not know, requires you to have a clear liquid diet for
24 hours and drink mass quantities of laxatives....right after the
colonoscopy I weighed myself and I had lost the 6 pounds plus an
additional 4.....of course I didn't enter that number into FitDay
because my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth and it was pretty
obvious that severe dehydration was the cause....I think I had

consumed

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only 400 calories the day of the clear liquid diet.

Yikes! Yeah, those pounds don't sound like the kind you want to lose.
It is frustrating, all the fluctuations in weight - it's nice that
FitDay puts it into perspective for what it is (noise).

Good luck!

--AD