But GoBe gives me data. And data gives my brain something to fixate on other than the scale. I have multiple tabs in my weightloss spreadsheet designated for different GoBe things. My weekly bank - gets a tab. My daily results - gets a tab. My daily results also get graphed and the graphs are then correlated to my actual scale numbers.
Yep. It's data. Data makes me calm.
hehehehe...
(according to unwritten etiquette, LOL is to be used in cases where hehehe exceeds five. It is capitalized when the "hehe"s exceed six. My husband saw a tweet about it so it must be true!)
Well...turns out babymaking is same. BBT, to me, is data. Data, to me, is calm. I love data. BBT is making me a sane and rational person. (Me loves me some babymaking!)
Anywho, BBT at least helps me not beany crazier than I already am.
So I am learning this about myself. That when I have data....I can approach everything methodically, objectively...I can be rational. I can talk myself off ledges and I can make myself appreciate the journey. I can make sense of hormone surges and the resultant fire breathing personality and it's affect on my weight. I can make sense of illogical things!
Take the data away and freak out commences. Restore data...Lori is good. Take data away, Lori will scratch and claw her way back to data.
Am I a scientist, or what? Now I understand why I got the degree I got, why I took the electives I took, why I'm in the profession I am. Who knew that weightloss tracking would help me understand my quirky brain better!
So there I was, yesterday, crawling in the shower thinking how nuts I must be that I must have data.
And it occurred to me. All this experimenting I'm doing - you know, creating data - has led me to realize
I can't screw this up!
I mean I just purposefully spent a month doing everything wrong on purpose. And I didn't screw up my progress. I didn't really make any progress (I did lose three pounds but that would have been better if I hadn't been experimenting). But more importantly, I didn't undo the progress I have currently made. I can't screw it up! If I follow reasonable portion sizes and even remotely moderate exercise, I make progress. If I don't, I can't screw it up!
What a great thing to realize.
I just spent a month doing what I've always done to gain weight back (never on purpose, just one of those life things, in the past) and I didn't gain weight back this time.
I'm sure I could figure out how to screw it up if I really tried, but doing what I've done in the past to screw it up doesn't do it anymore. And I don't want to screw it up - so I won't spend the time or energy on figuring it out.
Now for a soapbox discussion.
I also am realizing the importance of muscle. This is something for a friend...she's lost 103 pounds and completely stalled out. I was showing some of my exercises that I am doing as she and another friend wanted to see some things that can help with triceps and quads. So here we are in my gym and I pick up a light weight for me (10 lbs) and show the exercises. And my friend wants to feel the movement so she grabs the 10lb weight and she can't do it. Grabs a 5lb and it was a lot of effort to make it happen, but she did do it.
And I realized...when she was carrying that 103 extra pounds, that muscle probably did exist. But as she's lost weight and her muscles haven't had to work so hard to sustain her frame, the muscle has disappeared. Along with it, the metabolism has dropped significantly, too.
The successful bandsters who are at goal, by and large, have built muscle the entire duration of this process. As we weigh less, muscle becomes even more important. We used to have it in there, hidden in fat, to make our bodies carry the excess. Take away the excess and if you don't feed the muscle, as I am now calling it, it is going to disappear.
If you haven't considered weightlifting, please do. I am one of those people that doesn't think that cardio can be your saving grace. Cardio will only take you so far. A mix of cardio and weights - anaerobic and aerobic - that will take you the distance.
Ok, off my soapbox.
Now give me data....
Have a great week, y'all! And welcome back BOOBs. I missed you all and am so happy that everyone had a great time!
When my sister was trying to conceive, she got that Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor. It's kind of expensive, but it worked for her! lol
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with you when you say that weightlifting is so important. That is why I got a personal trainer. All we do is weight lift and stretch. My homework is to do cardio. Personal trainers are expensive, but if you don't mind it, then get one! I would suggest that to your friend.
There are days when I eat poorly. For example, I think I overdosed on ice cream sandwiches one day. However, I ended up losing 3 pounds that week. I think my metabolism has increased a lot. Exercise is just important period. Even skinny people need to exercise. Just because they're skinny, doesn't mean they have a healthy heart. (At work I get, "I'm glad I don't have to exercise" from skinny coworkers. UGH!)
You're doing great. Keep up the good work!
I am a data junkie too. My own Go Wear Fit feeds my need, but after 8 months of wearing it I am not as motivated on a day to day basis. In the beginning I checked it several times a day and went out to walk if I was real low. I don't really do that any more.
ReplyDeleteBUT, it still helps me greatly. If my calorie burn is down over several weeks I know I need to change something up. I can see when the same activity has gotten too easy (I used to be able to burn a ton of calories shopping when I carried an extra 50 pounds - now not so much). I also use as part of my half marathon training to know how many calories I need to eat to be "calorie neutral" during a race week. It is mroe the big picture and trends that really help not the day to day monitoring.
I also agree with the weight training - or at least some form of anaerobic exericse. Some times that is lifting weights with the trainer and some times it is running long slow distances - for me. (I learned that running over 40 minutes at a low intensity is also a anaerobic exercise).
During the last month of intense training I didn't do any weight training, but when I started again last week I was surprised at how easy it was to get back in the grove. My perfect mix would be a little of both, but strangely enough doing all weights, all lsd running, or a little of both seems to yeild me the same loss of body fat each month.
My question to you is do you track your lean body weight and body fat%? And if you do what % of lean body weight are you losing each month? Every is telling me that it just isn't possible to not loss lean body mass during this phase and the goal is just to minimize the loss and tone what is remaining. I guess I agree, but I haven't found anyone who actually tracks it to figure out what loss is normal.
Great post-- I heart data and agree with you about muscle!! Viva the intellectual bloggers (like you) who make me think!!
ReplyDelete