The Reset Button

7/30/2015
178#

yep, it finally happened that I am up over my LIW 2 pound limit. Not just for one day but for 3 in a row. I'm not doing a correction day, though today will be a control day for me since I don't intend to exercise at all. I've pushed this week as far as exercise goes. 2 days of boot camp, 2 days of aerobic conditioning all in a row. On my control days the most I should be doing LISS, but after a couple of months with no exercise, it just feels so good to move, so I end up pushing harder than fat burning zone and am right up into the conditioning zone.

So last night was a low point for me in terms of mood and energy, a clear sign that I need a rest day. I am still struggling with ambivalence about food and food choices and so on my two aerobic days I feel I probably didn't eat enough. So the most exercise I will do today is house work and will eat to my control day limits. This means significantly less carbs, but plenty of protein and fats.....still love my fats!!

I am starting to notice a change in my performance at the gym now that I am nearly 4 weeks back in the swing of things. I upped my weights on most things by a significant amount this week. Also improving the number of push-ups and sit-ups I can do in a row. I've also noticed an improvement in my technique at work (massage therapist) It's not that I need the strength in my arms so much as I need really good core strength for stability and leverage...I'm enjoying my work much more now. Working while doing HCG was harder than I would have liked to admit at the time. Not just physically but from a mental standpoint as well. I realize in retrospect that my focus was lacking as was my strength and endurance at the table...makes for a an unpleasant session for me and probably a less than effective session for my client! But things are much better now.

I continue to weigh every day and should have a set of measurements done at the gym either next week or the week after. I had them done on the 2nd of July so would like it to be at least 4-6 weeks out before the next round. But what I am noticing is that my clothes continue to fit very well. In fact some of the clothes that I was "just" fitting into at the end of P3 are now much more comfortable.

I continue to eat whole foods, with an occasional foray into a cup of oat or rice cereal with a moderate amount of sugar (less than 9 grams per serving) this I use as a post work out recovery food when I get tired of rice. I was also using dates post recovery, but there was something about their intense sugary make-up that was leading to a blood sugar crash after just an hour, so I've cut those out.

So one of the advantages of being in your 50's is having enough years under your belt so that you can look back at trends and phases. It helps to put things in perspective. For instance, when I was in my 20's (the 1980's) we had a small personal computer in the house that we used primarily for the kids to play games on, and as a word processor. There was no easy access to the world wide web at that point. That didn't come until the 90's but in the mean time the diet industry/food industry/ and who ever else might benefit were pushing the "low fat" way of life on all fronts...actually I'm sure the government was doing the same. So that is when I really started dieting. There was information out there that said "eat this not that" to get thin and be healthy. All that misinformation included things like, eggs raise your cholesterol, saturated fat will kill you. Fiber is your friend and if you chose high fiber foods you could eat more of them! And I did! But these weren't things like beans and fiberous vegetables, it was more like...crackers, cookies, cereals and breads with added fiber. (cardboard sandwich anyone?) I'm sure I wasn't eating enough protein to stay satiated and so these were making up a large part of my diet.....along with Low Fat or Fat Free everything! So no fat to keep me satiated either! It's really a wonder that I never got heavier than I did.

In addition this leaves me skeptical about most measurements of my health as related to weight and even more so BMI. Pretty much BMI is a bogus measurement. Also in the bogus catagory....all these scales and machines that supposedly measure of body fat percentage.....they are notoriously unreliable and inaccurate as water in the body (or not ) can alter the reading significanlty..The only ways I know of to accurately measure body fat are BodPods and Dexa Scans neither of which I can afford to get.

A word about the BMI measurement - for those of us who are heavy boned, or are building muscle the BMI is a punishment. A way to drive as back to poor eating habits to achieve the unachievable. I'll put a link below to an article on it. I'm not trying to spoil anyone's game here but as hard as we all work on the HCG to take off extra weight, I wonder about those people who have trouble either getting it off or keeping it off. Anyway, just thinking about all these arbitrary measurements and thinking.....how do I decide what means healthy to me.....need to think on that.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=106268439