I don't think I've ever gone this long without a post, but things have been hectic and I needed some room to breathe and time to collect and plan. I still need that, but it's time to resurface...
Last week I mentioned dropping my calories and the whole to-do around that. The weight started coming off immediately...was it stress or the calories? Hard to tell. Probably a combination of both. Friday I was 149.4 and by Wednesday I was down to 144.2. I actually took a rest day on Wednesday - I just did about 45 mins of light yoga.
Training on Thursday....deadlifts. Yum!
Started with Rack Pulls, then on to Bench, and then some Deads.
I REALLY needed that sort of totally aggressive physical/mental release of RAWRRRRR yesterday so when I was done with my training workout, I did
255 x 10:
Not technically a PR (best was 11 while doing 5-3-1 program ). However, that was after doing only 2 sets of 5. This was after all those rack pulls, alll that benching and db pressing, and then after the regular deadlifts. I say, crazy PR! ;)
My current program doesn't appear to go higher than 6 reps for any set, and most are around 2-4. Just LOTS of sets. It's also fairly light weight, I think I max at 85% and it never gets heavier. I dunno...I just REALLY needed that, it felt incredible. A great release.
But it wasted me. Wednesday night I had actually started to feel a little tired and a little hungry, but I didn't listen to it then. I still had an amazing workout on Thursday, but really by 9am I was ready to fall over.
I thought, "ok...I need to EAT." I decided I'd go out for dinner later..maybe a steak, or nice burger with fries...Nothing too crazy, but something with more calories than I would normally consume. I knew I *needed* it.
Iactually didn't even make it to last night, I went out at lunch with a coworker and had a cheeseburger (bun and all!) and some steak fries. I felt SO MUCH BETTER after that meal, Raphael commented that my color had returned (I didn't realize it was quite that bad), I could think and focus again, and I slept like a baby last night. I also wasn't stuffed from the meal nor did I feel that gross "insta-bloat" feeling, and I still felt hunger later in the day so my snacks and later meals remained the same (in the past I'd probably have skipped them). I also slept very well last night. And felt guilt free, there were no nasty words from that voice.
I hope with time that I'll be able to identify those signals (and trust them) a little sooner than I was able to this time, but that felt like a big step in the right direction. This morning my weight was the same as yesterday, which just reinforced the goodness.
*deep breath*
I can do this.
I still have some hormone issues to figure out...the Dr isn't on the agenda yet. Christie thinks (and I agree) that it will work itself out as i get this eating thing under control.
A ways to go, but getting there :)
I rested again today, just needed a little more...no cardio, no yoga, nada.
Should make for a strong squat day tomorrow :)
Sounds like you are ending the week STRONG in so many ways!
ReplyDeleteCan we do some math?
You say you lost 5 lbs in 5 days (Fri to Wed). You know it takes a calorie deficit of 3500 cals to lose 1 lb of fat. There is no possible way that you created that much of a calorie deficit in 5 days. That means that Friday's high weight wasn't a gain of "fat" but probably water due to who knows what. It also means that your lower calories didn't send the scale back down - just like that burger didn't send it soaring.
Your body - the energy you have for your workout, your ability to sleep, the natural "color" in your face - are much better signals than that lyin' cheatin' scale. :-)
~ Coco
Lol lyin' cheatin' scale :)
ReplyDeleteI know the math doesn't work. It didn't work for the "gain" either. That said, the stress of feeling like I had to force myself to eat all that food ALL the time, feeling hungry or not (mostly NOT - I never felt hungry on those calories) was real.
I think this is an easier approach for me...probably entirely psychological - will totally give you that. But...if I can stick with this (and not manipulate it into a plan or a routine, but really stay with the "listening" part) easier than I could with THAT (I have no interest in going back to that), then hopefully we're on to something.
I hope. And it should get easier with time. And I should recognize the cues sooner...with time :)
Thanks Coco :)
If eating when you are hungry gets you to a good calorie level that would be awesome. I know you make good choices - you must have needed a big dose of protein to crave that burger. :-)
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I hate about counting calories, is that I find myself finishing portions when I have had "enough" because otherwise I don't know how much to "count." Since I usually have an issue with too many calories, letting the process override my natural instincts is counter-productive. That's one reason I stopped counting cals - even though I found the most awsome iPhone app for it. The other being that it is a pain in the @$$ - even with that cool app.
If you can eat more intuitively, but still track your calories enough to make sure you aren't shorting yourself too much, you just may be able to cut free from these demons!
~ coco