Medi Weight Loss Maintaince Phase

[txntv]

Originally Posted by eptexy

Good morning and happy Saturday! I love weekends...

Yesterday morning was my first official Wellness check-in and I was down 2.1 lbs overall and down 2.8 lbs in fat. The NP told me I could up my calories to 1500 - maybe even 1600 since I lost a couple. This summer, it has been so difficult to exercise on a consistent basis so I'm a little wary of upping it at all until I can get back in the gym.

They did tell me to relax a little though. lol

HAHA! Sounds just like me! While my last check before wellness showed no change in weight, but fat % drop over 1%. Happy about that -- after all, muscle weighs more than fat, so I was glad numbers didn't go up. Really pushing with the strength training now.

[eptexy]

YES I definitely not to tone up those muscles. Right now I'm 23.9% fat. I still hate my thighs and losing more weight isn't going to change that. I went bathing suit shopping last night and came home with nothing. Was definitely not a confidence booster.

[Fit2010]

Wow Erin! Your % fat is way down there! Mine is 35.4%, and that's with my BMI 25.2....I don't want to lose too much more up "top"....but I guess as I near wellness I'll be told how much % fat to aim for. The highest (while at 190 lbs) was 44.7% fat. Just now I'm told to aim for BMI less than 25...so I'm going for 24.

[Desert-Rose7]

Last check BMI was 22.2 and fat percentage was 19.4 but has played around a little as it has been 23.5 one month and 19.4 the next and back and forth. Have no idea what that is all about.


Jo

[Fit2010]

Yikes! Then I'm no where NEAR done yet?!

[Desert-Rose7]

Debbie, every person is different, and I have been atletic all my life and that makes my body composition different than someone who has begun to get more active later on in life. I have been active in sports since I was about 7 years old!

Jo

[tydreamer]

My BMI is at 22, but my fat % is really high - 31.1% as of last weigh in. It was 40 something tho, so at least it's down!! I'm building a lot of muscle now so hopefully it will go down some more. I don't want to be a third fat.

[eptexy]

Originally Posted by Fit2010

Wow Erin! Your % fat is way down there!

Tell that to all the cellulite I have on the back of my thighs.

[Fit2010]

Wish there was something SPOT reducing for that. Years ago my sister in law did body wraps for a living and people lost inches....I wonder if really dehydrated those fat cells for real? She had fibromyalgia and after bending/kneeling/wrapping people for 3 years had to stop doing it. Any ideas?

When I do my jog/walk I wear some Gold's Gym neoprene/polyester "shorts" I bought from the exercise isle of W mart. It may be psychological, but it also helps me to not jiggle as much when I jog! I'm thinking of focusing on thigh size as a goal more than weight pretty soon. I know muscle will take up less room....unless I just don't lose there and build muscle underneath the fat. Do you do specific leg exercises? Are you building muscle/leanness in you legs?

[txntv]

Originally Posted by Desert-Rose7

Debbie, every person is different, and I have been atletic all my life and that makes my body composition different than someone who has begun to get more active later on in life. I have been active in sports since I was about 7 years old!

Jo

My entire childhood consisted of playing sports and little else and I've always worked out (strength, too) no matter my weight. Yet, I never had low body fat. Genetics does play into that. Sure, you can get your body fat way down... if you workout for hours a day -- something few of us can do when we have jobs.

I weigh about 10 lbs more than my daughter (close to same height), she wears size 4s. I can only get into an 8 in about every 20 outfits I try on.

[SDC2]

According to the maintenance materials, you are supposed to weigh every day.

My BMI is 23.1 and my fat percent is 31.4% when using the standard setting, and 21.6% when using the athletic setting. I'm not sure which one is correct, but I do have very good muscle definition in my arms and abs. I go to the gym regularly and always have. I do cardio 3-4 times per week for 1 hr and lift for 30 minutes 3 times per week.

I am 5'7" and my size is 8/10. I would like to do the pod fat measurement or the submersion some time just so I know.

BTW... I have been doing acute phase this week to get the Italy weight off. I am already down 6 pounds. I just have a few more to go. It is amazing how well Medi works!

[Charlene4]

anybody know WHERE you can get the submersion fat test performed at? the cost? etc? What exactly is it called? I tried searching online but just came up with a bunch of the same old calculator thingys.

[SDC2]

I just took the body fat test at Home Body Fat Test and it resulted in 30%, which is consistant with the standard setting on the tanita scale.

[Desert-Rose7]

I just did that one now, Susie, and I came in at 23%.

I walk every day 4-6 miles beginning in the early morning due to my work schedule. When my schedule changes, I change my walk time to match. I will usually do a Buns of Steel video 3x a week after work, again depending on schedule. I am trying to learn to lift weights, gently but steadily.

At 5'11", I wear an 8/10 and I, too, fall back on Week 1 when the scales show me that I have overreached what I think I need! I really refuse to go back to the 262. On my next wellness visit, I will check that athletic setting to see what the difference is. Not sure which is right either, Susie!



Jo

[eptexy]

I didn't know there were settings to the fat percentage? At my clinic, it has always just printed out the one number.

At 5'4, I'm 125 pounds and wear a true size 4 now in almost everything. I actually tried on a few dresses at Steinmart that were 2s as well. I told the np that I've only lost 5 pounds but I'm down a size - normally it would take 10 lbs for me and she said that the body shifts around as the weight stabilizes. Interesting.

[Fit2010]

Erin ~ I'm also 5'4" and this AM 144.6 lbs. After I worked on it post first baby I got down to 125 again and still wore size 10. A year after second baby and lots of fitness (pushed 70 lbs of both daughters in stroller while roller blading in CA) I got down to 108 lbs and was still in size 8 to 10. It's just the way I'm built. Of course, this was a little over 20 years ago and now with "vanity sizing" if I were to be in a 20 year ago size 8 that might equal a size 6 today. Interesting how the doc from The Biggest Loser says that people show up in his office saying (and wearing pants labeled) size 34 waist, but when he measures them they have 37 - 40" waists!

My goal is not a weight, or a BMI mark, or a size. But I do think a good healthy fat percentage # would be a goal. Interesting to think that Susie is measured at still 30% fat after all the exercise she does.

Susie, what does your clinic say to help folks know when they are at "goal" ~ which parameter?

[eptexy]

Just goes to show ya that all bodies are different.

My BMI is 21.5 which I'm happy with mainly because Wii Fit recommends a BMI of 22 for most people based on some kind of research/evidence of health. My waist is 24" according to Medi. (I need to get my own tape measure to do that test.)

Speaking of the whole size issue, found some different things on the web that are interesting. For instance, Michael Kors has a couple of different lines of clothing. His main line "Michael Kors" (expensive) for instance. Size 2 waist size is 23 1/2". The size 2 in his more affordable "Michael" line waist is 24".

Then according to Wikipedia, I found that there is a US standard clothing size chart that was developed from statistical data in the 1940s. That chart says that a size 2 person could have a waist anywhere from 22-24 1/2 so really, I'm not completely convinced of the whole vanity sizing thing.

P.S. Just tried on a size 6 dress I bought at least 15 years ago and it's loose on me.

[txntv]

Originally Posted by SDC2

According to the maintenance materials, you are supposed to weigh every day.

My BMI is 23.1 and my fat percent is 31.4% when using the standard setting, and 21.6% when using the athletic setting. I'm not sure which one is correct, but I do have very good muscle definition in my arms and abs. I go to the gym regularly and always have. I do cardio 3-4 times per week for 1 hr and lift for 30 minutes 3 times per week.

I am 5'7" and my size is 8/10. I would like to do the pod fat measurement or the submersion some time just so I know.

BTW... I have been doing acute phase this week to get the Italy weight off. I am already down 6 pounds. I just have a few more to go. It is amazing how well Medi works!

I asked about the athletic setting at MWL. They said it's for people who workout HOURS a day and have very little body fat. That doesn't apply to the majority of us.

[Fit2010]

Re: fat percentage

Just to help put things in perspective and share some body education: I've been reading in my Dr Bernstein's Diabetic Solution book that insulin, the hormone that breaks down our carbs for the body's use, is the hormone that causes us to store fat, particularly in insulin resistance (causing you not only to store MORE fat from unbroken down carbs/calories, but makes you also crave more carbs/calories). It thus makes more fat get stored in the belly area (where I've told you I've been losing alot while on Metformin with MWL). Dr Bernstein says that the lower the body fat percentage, the better use of insulin appropriately. He doesn't give an ideal body fat percentage, but I think that will be my target to know I'm at goal....I want to be well within the normal, nondiabetic, healthy range for body fat percentage. I see my personal doc in several weeks and I think we'll make a point to talk about that. I just know he's going to be ecstatic that I've lost nearly 45 lbs, when he last saw me I was down about 25 lbs! This accountability thread has been a total Godsend! Thank you LCFs!

[tydreamer]

Just a little FYI - My Medi print out shows me at 31% fat so I took that little test/quiz on the link that Susie posted and I'm at 21.2%. That's a huge difference and now I'm even more confused!!

[eptexy]

Originally Posted by tydreamer

Just a little FYI - My Medi print out shows me at 31% fat so I took that little test/quiz on the link that Susie posted and I'm at 21.2%. That's a huge difference and now I'm even more confused!!

Well that does it. I'm buying a tape measure. This is WAY confusing.

[Fit2010]

I'm with Lea....now I'm more confused too! Unlike Susie, my results by the Home Body Fat test were much different from the MWL Tanita scales:

Today per Home Body Fat test it determined I have 25% body fat; 36.3 lbs of fat; 108.7 lbs of lean (muscle, bone, body water). (My weight was 144.6 - 145 lbs this AM)

Recent MWL Tanita results at 147 lbs said I have 35.4% body fat; 52 lbs fat mass.

MWL onset 12/28/09 Tanita results at 190 lbs said I had 44.7% body fat; 85 lbs fat mass.

Would have been interesting to see what the results of the home test were way back before the weight/fat loss! I think it will be a helpful tool to use from here on out though. And, as the directions said, healthy for me would be 22%. So I have a goal now!

[SDC2]

Hi fellow maintainers,

How is it going? We haven't heard from many of you in a while. Please check in and let us know how you are doing.

[eptexy]

Susie, how are you doing on losing after your vacation? I keep going out of town and gaining then losing it in about 2 days. Easy to do but the yo-yoing is getting on my nerves. I think we're staying put until Labor Day so I need to get back on track eating. I'm not exercising enough, drinking enough water, nor am I eating enough veggies.

[txntv]

Doing well. Staying on the lower side of calories in prep for my short vacation in a few weeks.

[SDC2]

Originally Posted by eptexy

Susie, how are you doing on losing after your vacation? I keep going out of town and gaining then losing it in about 2 days. Easy to do but the yo-yoing is getting on my nerves. I think we're staying put until Labor Day so I need to get back on track eating. I'm not exercising enough, drinking enough water, nor am I eating enough veggies.

Okay, I am going to be really honest here. I am half way there. I gained around 12 pounds (wholly moley) in 3 weeks :blush:, but some of that was most likely water. As of today I am down 6 of the 12 pounds. One thing that has thrown me for a loop though, (and guys this is probably TMI for you) I got my period again after 8 months of not having it. I lost 6 pounds right away, but when my period came I went up 2 pounds. Today it finally went down again.

The whole time we were in Italy my husband and I were just plain hungry. We attributed it to all the exercise we were getting, but now looking back it was probably because the breakfasts were so carb heavy. I knew this before going and accepted it along with the consequences. I wanted to enoy this vacation. A typical breakfast spread is cereal, yogurt, croisants, cakes, pastries, and juice. If you are lucky there are high fat lunchmeats (proscuito, ham, and salami) and occassionally hard boiled eggs. Most of our accomodations came with a free breakfast, so I felt obliged to have it. We ate heartely thinking that we would eat less the rest of the day whilst we would be paying out of our wallet. Instead the carb heavy breakfast fueled our apetites. We ordered a lot of fish, but looking back, the portions for the most part were pretty small. While it was all delicious, by the time you scraped the meat from the fish bones, there was not more than about 3 oz of fish left. After a big hike you are hungry!

I have no regrets and enjoyed my time there. I know what to do to get the last 6 pounds off. Next time I will try to get more protein and eat less carbs at breakfast. For me it was a bit of a walk on the dark side, but I'm back and feel really good about eating right again. Bread is once again a forbidden food. It is so nice to know this transformation is possilbe.

Today was my husband's birthday. We went to McCormick & Schmidts and had a lobster, crab, shrimp, Mahi-mahi grilled plate (after we combined and shared) with 2 side salads, and it was delicious.

[Fit2010]

Susie - I'm glad you're not beating yourself up after a wonderful vacation. I'm leaving for a week in the next couple of days and we will be with our daughters. I know they would freak if they knew I try to only eat 600 calories daily (one knows and I've explained the protein logic, etc). I plan to be careful to not indulge on breads and desserts, as you've mentioned, since I know it would be not good for me in so many other of my health issues (insulin resistance and allergies).

Your dinner out to McCormick & Schmidts sounds wonderful! (I've never heard of them.)

[lins]

Question about toning. I run 3-4 times a week, 4 miles each time. On days that it looks like rain, I will do 2 miles at a faster pace. I also do squats, pushups and crunches 3-4 times a week. But other than that I am not doing anything else to tone. Should I be? My legs are still on the bigger side. Other than the "I had 3 kids, and 1 c-section" putch, my tummy is pretty small, but my butt and thighs are still large, and it's fat not muscle. I can't wear shorts because my upper thights rub together when I walk, but I am wearing a size 6 shorts today. Any advice on what to do about the lower body fat. I want to lose another 10-15lbs still. Do you think that will be enough? HELP!

[Nick80]

nice to see everyone bantering here and the support.

Susie I am so glad you enjoyed your vacation. I understand the whole carb heavy meals as I find it next to impossible to get by when traveling resulting in huge weight swings. I am at my lowest now at 172 lbs which makes me look gaunt - i have not figured out to maintain I guess but I am avoiding the carbs that come from desserts (ok not always!).

My 1st big challenge is today with some not so good news from a biopsy I had, I am hoping this doesnt trigger my old ways of coping. All else is good in maintenance land though!

Keep up all the good work folks and try not beat up on yourself when you have a slip or two!

Cheers!

[Desert-Rose7]

~Nick~Sending some prayers and positive white healing light your way...take care..

~lins~I will always recommend the Original Buns of Steel for great lower body toning. It really works.


Jo