Either food or coherent thoughts

These last few days I haven't been able to string together more than a sentence. Usually at this point my brain screams 'ok, that's 14 words, now give me food!' And so begins the down part of weight loss.

Other than to say that the body adjusts very, very quickly to things, I won't go further for fear of sounding silly and spreading misinformation.

It's like this; two weeks ago I started eating more on the recommendation of the trainer at the gym. Embarrassingly, for fear of eating too much I started logging kilojoules. Not only did I feel full - very full some meals - my pants felt looser, like almost wearable except for the sitting down part.

Then we were away and on the pretext of needing to eat more, I heartily dug into the wine, cheese and scones. Taking note of the fact that after those 5 days my pants still felt loose I continued to eat happily.

And then this week, I decided to do something stupid. I figured if the 28 degree days are anything to go by, then I won't have much hope of wearing my beloved pants at all this winter.

So knuckling down and getting serious I went back to eating the amount of food I was two weeks ago. Except what seemed like a feast then, now feels like the start of a massive famine. I'm hungry all the time.

And here's the bit I wanted to avoid writing because I don't know what I'm talking about. My knowledge is cobbled together from the glossy pages of magazines and numerous strolls through bloggyland - most notably Leigh Peele's blog.

Right, so I think have just done a re feed, by fooling my body into thinking that the famine was over and it had begun raining cheese again. Now that the sun has come out, my body is pleading for more cheese (and preferably some wine to go with) while working it's way through the spares it had put aside for a sunny, non-cheese raining day. Eventually it will work out that the cheese drought has started and it will become more efficient with the resources it has. Which is the point I started at two weeks ago.

Now, when I first read about re feeds I thought they sounded like an awesome idea especially created for gluttonous weekends full of cheese. But in fact, this is actually more painful than I had expected. There is one motivating factor however, which is the fit of those pants which I can now sit down in AND breath. Bargain. Just the small price of constant hunger to pay for it.

Myth busting exercise

If you are anything like me - a bit of a novice in this exercise business - then perhaps you are also confused. The confusion stems from the amount of 'helpful' articles written about the best times, activities and speeds of exercise to get you well on your to getting your ideal body or getting over the plateau. And far too often I've trusted those articles that have told me that my exercise programme isn't working because it's not before breakfast or it's not in the optimum fat burning intensity. I've trusted the experts because the more I've learnt about exercise and specifically fat loss, the more confused I've gotten. Forget the 'just do it', because there is a right time and a right place and I obviously don't know what they are otherwise I wouldn't have plateaued. Right? Wrong and Choice is here to de-myth all the things I have believed about exercise and not in a fitness magazine type way. Most of their articles are by subscription, but this little gem isn't so you can read the whole article here. So, lets get to myth busting - here are my favourites.

1. My favourite fact: Chocolate = 1250kJ. One hour walk = 1250kJ. Chocolate here I come. And that's how we all gain weight. Why? (Please someone tell me I wasn't the only one who didn't know this!) Because sitting writing blog post for one hour = 625kJ. So walking only constitutes an additional expenditure of 625kJ over the amount I normally expend.

2. My least favourite fact: The reason I walk is because I'm in the optimum fat burning zone. Yup, that's the reason. It's got nothing to do with being lazy. And it's true that low intensity exercise burns more fat as a percentage of energy burned, except that the total amount of energy is really more important. So increasing intensity and leaving the zone will not only get me fitter, but also use more overall energy.

3. Not justify my hunger fact: If I exercise in the morning my metabolism is increased all day long. Which explains why I'm always hungry after morning exercise. False! While after burn does happen (known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) it is generally overestimated. For a meaningful after burn you would have to work long and hard, so my increased hunger is probably unjustified as is exercising in the morning for the sake of the after burn if it doesn't fit well into my routine.

4. The myth that changed my routine: Exercising on an empty stomach burns more fat. You hear something enough times and you believe it. So during my plateau I figured that if I exercised before dinner instead of after breakfast I would be home and hosed. Again, it's true that after fasting you burn more fat, but the total amount of energy expended is more important that whether it's fat or carbohydrate. Which is wonderful, because now I don't have to feel guilty for not wanting to get up at 5am!

5. It's a shame it's almost winter fact: I've always heard that swimming is not helpful for fat loss, not that I ever understood why and spent countless laps trying to work it out. Anyway, it's false as long as you don't eat more because you just spent lots of time in cold water and you work hard enough.

How about you? Did you know all of these already? Got any more of your own?

Finding the right role model

I think I have come to terms with the fact that my thighs just aren’t going to look like those of the fitness magazine models. Now the fact that I actually compare my thighs to those of fitness models as opposed to catwalk models is a step in the right direction. It’s taken years for me to accept that very thin just isn’t going to happen and I began dreaming more of strong, hence the fitness models. Except I have hips and the aforementioned thighs which don’t grace the pages of the glossy magazines very often. A heavily pregnant friend said on the weekend that at this point she has come to accept her hips after hearing about the complications that her more petite friends suffered during natural childbirth. I can definitely see that at 8.5 months pregnant I would also accept my hips as a blessing rather than a curse! But what about now?

On Tuesday for the second consecutive week (pat on the back given) I went to the body balance class at the local gym. The usual trainer appeared but instead of yoga pants she wore a tiny tennis skirt with shorts underneath. At that point I thought of what the guys who think that body balance is ‘for girls’ were missing out on. Now this woman has muscles everywhere and these were emphasised like never before. Having realigned my thinking over the years to ‘strong is good’ I was impressed but figured that being a personal trainer she had probably always been into exercise hence the muscles.

After the class I went up and asked a question about technique and we eventually got chatting. It turned out that this trainer had joined the gym a few years prior overweight and desperate to get fit. At some point she got hooked and began working at the gym. Seeing her enthusiasm the staff suggested that she become a personal trainer. Fast forward a few years and we see a woman with unlimited enthusiasm for health and fitness. In my own experience of the last few months I can definitely see the spell that exercise and health can weave over your body. So I found her story inspiring on account of her transformation, which provides hope that a person can walk away from what they once were. But this is supposed to be about role models right? So despite the loftier ideas that can be taken away, I’m going to point out the more shallow ones – muscles.

A male colleague of mine was absolutely obsessed with muscle. He only had one problem, the fact that no matter how much he lifted he struggled to create the bulk that he dreamed of. His reasoning was that because his metabolism was so fast, he couldn’t store fat that is required for muscle bulk. By this reasoning, I am much more likely to end up with a pronounced muscular body which is the way it’s going. I have no trouble building muscle, hence the size of my thighs.

So how does this relate to the trainer? In what is an unfortunate reality, the trainer doesn’t have the physic that is so typical of fitness magazines, even though her strength is what I admired so much. For me, this highlighted the importance of finding the right role model that reflects what I can realistically achieve in a healthy way. As far as I can see this is the only way I can be happy with my body at the end of my own transformation. Finding the right physic to emulate can be very difficult because the ideal is so generic and my body, no matter how well trained will most likely lie outside of that ideal. I like that I now have a clearer picture in my mind that a strong muscular body can be beautiful while being outside of the ideal. I will probably always have bigger thighs than my husband but after that body balance class, I’m beginning to think that maybe that’s ok.

How about you, do you have great role models? Where did you find them? Or do you know anything further about the fat/muscle thing? I would love to know more.

Stoking my Metabolic Fire

At least I think that is what I’m doing! The highlight of my day is becoming the mid morning snack of colourful, crunchy veggies and fruit which also helps the metabolic burn. I definitely like this habit and it really isn’t difficult for me to keep up. Usually 3 hours or so after breakfast I get very hungry, to the point that I can’t think about anything but food. In the half hour leading up to lunch time I check the time every 2-3 minutes because my stomach can’t wait till lunch.

I have tried in the past not to snack, because apparently that was what contributed to not losing weight – just ask any ‘why you’re not losing weight’ article. By not snacking, the outcome for me is total distraction for the entire morning and that’s not very productive. I’ve tried eating healthy snacks like a piece of fruit which has made me really angry at fruit because I usually just felt frustrated because I feel even hungrier. And then a gym enthusiast friend suggested the 6 portions a day approach which he said would help speed up my metabolism. I’m not really a fan of breaking bigger meals into two and it doesn’t fit well with a regular day especially if eating leftovers or if you have specific lunch hours. But I have had great success with these plates of chopped veggies and fruit. They are sufficiently large to actually fill me up without a huge hit of dreaded calories; provide a big boost of vitamins; and ensure that I get enough veggies per day which I am the first to admit can be difficult. Just adding a big healthy snack like this without changing any other habits has led to weight loss in the past. I’ve always heard its because it speeds up your metabolism, but some studies show that there is no correlation. The thing I am learning about the weight loss process though, is it’s about my body and what works for me, regardless of the advice of the day. And besides, I’m really enjoying feasting my eyes on this tasty food too! Have you got any great snacks that you love?