The Reset Button

P4 start of month 3
176.6lbs

So I continue to stay stable. I wonder about this, especially when I see so many people struggle to maintain. The only thing I can guess is that since I remain far above the the standard weight or BMI goal for my age and height category my body is not stressed about being at or below it's previous set point. I've decided against another round of HCG any time soon and have decided to focus on overall health and fitness rather than reaching a specific weight.

I weigh every day. I watch my weight go up and down by a couple of pounds on a regular basis without too much concern. the most it has gone up is about 3 pounds. I don't think the body was ever really meant to stay absolutely stable, day in and day out. We are organic.
I am following an eating plan designed for athletes to fuel the body for performance. This means I do a fair amount of balancing macros and keeping track of calories burned. If you had told me at 58 years old I would be burning upwards of 2200 calories a day I'd have said you were nuts. But what this tells me, is that last fall, when I was training for a mini sprint triathlon and cycling, running or swimming nearly everyday, I was grossly underfed. It is both explanation and redemption for me to know that I didn't eat myself into 20 extra pounds last winter because I lacked willpower or discipline but because I had been under eating and stressing my body.

So I've ordered a book called Secrets From the Eating Lab. Scientific studies on why people eat and the debunking of some diet myths. Haven't read it yet but am interested in research that sheds light on why weight loss diets are so unsuccessful. As someone who has lost and regained the same 60 pounds over the last 40 years I am interested in why this hasn't worked for me. The more reading I do around "dieting" the more I realize our culture of restricted eating and focus on numbers isn't doing us any favors.

I'm training for a 10k in October. Keeps me moving, and it's over The Neuse River Bridge in New Bern which should be awesome. So eating to my calorie burn is important so I don't under eat and stress my body and slow it's muscle/speed/endurance gains between now and then. So I won't be losing anything which is fine. The longer I stabilize, the less chance of back sliding into another 20lb winter weight gain. Attachment 16332

The way I am eating now can be a bit labor intensive, but working from home helps. It's regular food, nothing strange and as healthy as I wish to make it. On workout days a pre- work out meal of protein, slow (starch)carbs, low fat, a post workout meal of protein, fast(starchy) carbs and low fat. snacks and lunch from this point on are rather low in carbs and higher in fats until dinner when carbs are reintroduced. Last is a high carb evening snacks to calm the adrenals and relax it also makes sure the muscles have adequate glycogen load for a morning workout. Seems to be working okay. I have some days when I'm hungrier, usually a day or two after I've had to eat under carlorie burn. On those days I may have an extra carb snack. On non workout days I'm eating 200-400 calories less, this results in some fat burn. I'm not losing weight because I'm building muscle, and am still under eating because on some days my caloire burn is upward of 2600 calories and I can't possibly eat that much, at least not yet. I tend to go up in weight on workout days (muscle inflammation?) but the day after a rest day it drops back down......

So that's where I'm at and I'm hoping that will be where I stay. When I do decide to cut calories dropping 500 from 2200 is a lot easier than dropping it from 1500! But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.