WATCH-ME'S Goal Seeking Journal

[btinc]

Originally Posted by WATCH-ME-SHRINK

THURS 3:23 PM

Wanted to post my observations while they're fresh on my mind.

Okay. I will have to say I'm hungrier today than yesterday. Not starving, but noticeable hunger. I can't attribute it to one single thing, but just noting this feeling for what it's worth.

My cals so far exceed yesterday's at this same time by only 140 cals.
Prot, same.
Carbs yesterday at this time 64, today, 54.
Fat yesterday, 41; today, 57.
Fiber pretty much even.

Yesterday I burned more cals in my morning workout than in today's morning workout. (So you'd think that yesterday I would have been hungrier than today.)

I ate less overall yesterday than I have for a while. So I theorize that it's likely my body is suddenly saying, Hey! Feed me, will ya! -- It being used to more calories in general.

So my "experiment" on hunger levels cannot be attributed to solely the macronutrients of these two days -- or for any given day -- but just my body's metabolism, adjusting, changing. Whatever it is that metabs do -- that scientific stuff I can never put into words. This proves I just need to listen to it, feed it when it's telling me to, and keep all macronutrients in check accordingly, depending upon my body's needs for that given day.

Bottom line: I can't expect to be locked at a set number of calories every single day, expecting the same energy levels, hunger levels, i.e., cookie-cutter daily menus. It will change day to day.

Thus the need to cycle.

There is no one better. You are beyond great.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

BTINC, Comments like that coming from YOU of all people validate every single ounce of effort I'm putting forth.

End of day....dinner is over, hunger subsided rather quickly as soon as I gave my body what it wanted...protein and fat. Go figure.

I ate 4.35 oz of lean grilled hamburger, slice of pepperjack cheese, a bit of SPINACH, and 1/2 cup of cole slaw, 1 T+ of mayo and jalepenos. I'm good. Feel happy and balanced and great.....and one peek in the mirror, dare I say....leaner? Tomorrow will tell.

TOTALS TODAY:

1745 CALS

PROT......167 GR....38%
CARBS.....63 GR....11%
FIBER......19 GR
FAT..........98 GR....50%

WORKOUTS:

1 Hour Super Callanetics 5:30 a.m.
18 mins AbJam after work
16 mins of HIIT after abs

I suspect I should go to VLC tomorrow, the day before refeed. I remember being afraid of a refeed....now I look forward to them.

I meet with the Y-Guy at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I'm gonna measure with my own calipers before I leave home, and then compare calcs.

Hoping the scale is kind to me tomorrow.

Going with Son 2 for final fitting for his tux for Saturday's prom. He had to order a Size 46 jacket -- the little tux man says, You play football, right?

Uh....YEAH! I love his traps....too handsome!

Off we go.

Later on.....

[hummingbird11]

Originally Posted by btinc

There is no one better. You are beyond great.

I fully concur! You are amazing.
I come here to get daily inspiration. No place better.

Why VLC on day before refeed? I ask because that's where I'm at today!

Tomorrow is Refeed Friday for me. You Refeed on Saturday?

TTYL
XO,
HB

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

HB,My understanding -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is that before a refeed you want your glycogen in depletion mode. It's probably even better to have two VLC before Refeed days. I didn't do that this week. I've experimented a bit, and it may bite me and it may not. Time will tell.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Weigh Day. Up 2 lbs.

Crap.

Obviously I've not gained fat. I know that. So the Q is, what is causing the retention? Lots of potential answers, so it's my job to solve the mystery.

Funny thing is, as I was leaving the house last night with my son, one last glance in the mirror told me....hey, good job!....I felt optimistic that I may receive good news from the scales. Go figure.

On a more positive note, the guy measured my BF today at the Y, and after playing around with formulas and scribbling a lot of stuff, Marty (the fitness manager) writes my bottom line: 20.7

So that means my personal calipers are about 1 off -- as I was getting consistent readings of 19.X this morning before I left home. I've forgotten what X is at the moment.

He showed me the how-to's and how-not-to's of BF measurement -- enlightening. It was an informative/educational visit. He encouraged me to not pay much attention to scale weight and to measure with calipers and pay attention to nutrition and workouts. He said some of his clients will go anywhere from 12-26 weeks before they begin seeing a decrease on the SCALE. So he was helpful in his remarks.

I began this morning with a change in plan for workouts, and not wanting to waste any time, began with 25 mins of cardio, followed by about 10 mins of biceps with 15lbs.......Was gonna target other UB, went to look for my new 12 dumbbells I bought last night, couldn't find them....(WTH?)

Go outside to look in the car, and the air felt WONDERFUL, light rain....INVIGORATING....overcome with this huge temptation to run.

Screw the weights, Twyla, just run on this awesome morning...you have the world to yourself....go for it....so I began to run....I ran for ten minutes, a little faster than a jog, rain falling softly, SO AWESOME, that feeling.....then I knew I was outta time, needed to hurry and shower...I walked/recovered for one minute and headed to the shower.

God it felt incredible! Too bad I'm not supposed to run....I could SO get into running.....

I am not defeated. I move forward with more determination than ever before.

[lildragonfly]

You are a very wise woman Twyla!! Keep up the magnificent work!

[hummingbird11]

Hey Twyla!

Do you still look anything like this?
Or anything like your current Avatar?
If the answer YES ~ then why do you care what a silly, stupid, scale says?
It's just a number. Like age. Doesn't matter one bit. Refuse to be a statistic!

Honey, I would sell my soul to look like you. Enjoy & Appreicate your Fitness!
XO,
HB

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Marsha & HB....

I had a very long day yesterday at work, another expedited transcript to get out and FedExd by the end of the day. I've worked through every lunch hour this past week. I'd stop to go to the bathroom, drink water or tea, grab a bite, and just kept going. No options, had to get it done.

So when I got home last night, just needed to be left the heck alone and unwind. Exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally.

Today's a new day.

Yesterday kept carbs low, stopped tracking Fitday after lunch because I had NO TIME. So I'll try to go back and update it from memory today. Ate grilled ribeyes for dinner. Did okay with eats. Took a two hour nap after dinner. NEEDED.

Today is refeed day, and I happily, happily, happily munched away on my cereal and skim milk following my D-Workout.

How I've missed cereal! I adore cereal!

I could just eat cereal all day long on refeed days and be PERFECTLY happy.

If I lived alone, I'd be at my peak fitness. I'm low maintenance, but I have others to care for.

Upper body this morning for 40 straight minutes. (Found my 12#'s....) Felt awesome. I love that POWER.

Will update later today.

[hummingbird11]

Hey T,

I was actually wondering about you last night. I had "one of those days" (@ work) too; then a HUGE but FUN errand to run w/ DH that took waaay too long - then to pick up my new (to me) weight bench (!) more on that later - got home late, and of course, checked in here @ LCF before pizza & beer & survivor (my one TV show vice!) and I thought to myself: Wonder what T is up to tonight??

Enjoy your cereal today! I certainly enjoyed my coveted Grapenuts yesterday!

Man, we are two Gemini’s in a pod!
I bet you and me both could live off Cereal, Eggs, Spinach, Coleslaw, Steak and Pinot Noir !!!!!

Oh and chocolate!! What else do we need??

I am off to take my Border Collie (Murphy) for his first agility class! Might take my Giant Mini Collie too (Zeus). This ought to be fun.

I will post re: yesterday later today. Have a great day!

HB

PS: MARSHA! that 'woman running in the rain' pic was too purrrfect. I love your pics. where do you find such great stuff? plz keep 'em coming!

[hummingbird11]

Oh, this I did not know. VLC pre-refeed? I thought it was VLC post-refeed?

btinc?

Originally Posted by WATCH-ME-SHRINK

HB,My understanding -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is that before a refeed you want your glycogen in depletion mode. It's probably even better to have two VLC before Refeed days. I didn't do that this week. I've experimented a bit, and it may bite me and it may not. Time will tell.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

REFEED NOTES

Upper body, 40 mins. Done.
HIIT, 20 mins, elliptical. Done.


OMG.....I feel like I'm on drugs.....SPEED!.....like, uh, an overdose of speed!

I'd love to watch a video, microscopic 3D views, of my inner body right now..........It would no doubt simulate one of those high velocity thrill-seeker rides at Disney World......! Hold on for your life, boys!

Good Lord!

My cheat/treat for today: 1 biscuit from Tudor's World. How many years has it been..........? Topped with two thin slices of lean turkey.

Back later for more updates.

[btinc]

Originally Posted by hummingbird11

Oh, this I did not know. VLC pre-refeed? I thought it was VLC post-refeed?

btinc?

It's a individual thing, it might work for one and not others, lot of variables, it's not a fit all umbrella. If you had low carb week, with 20-30 grams of carbs per day a depletion workout is all you need. Again not everyone does the same thing, work out the same, eat the same, so there are changes that some need to make.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

POST REFEED DAY - SUNDAY MAY 11

Refeed went well for the most part. I ended up eating more than I had planned, but that's the way it goes. I don't have Fitday glued to my hip, and ended up going out to dinner with friends late, then wanted popcorn REALLY REALLY badly afterwards while watching a movie (94% fat free).

I tried resurrecting my entries/totals this morning from memory of what I ate from 5:00 p.m. on, and these were my totals, although, truth be told, it's likely a few higher:

cals 2790

prot.......162 gr......22%
carbs......412gr......49%
fat............75........23%
alcohol......10gr.......3%

My fat was more than I intended, because I wanted to keep it under 20%. Carbs a few more, cals a few more. Those are estimations, however, due to being w/o Fitday late in the day.

I decided to weigh this morning after the refeed, strictly out of curiosity of how much my body would retain and so forth after eating large amounts of carbs and cals.
I was up one pound this morning from my last weigh in. I was expecting at least a 3 lb gain. Very, very strange.

Workouts: Same as mentioned in last post, good, hard, and intense. Explosive energy! Unreal. Add to that 15 mins of Super Callan leg work late in the afternoon.

Getting dressed to go out to dinner, I noticed my arms have begun to appear more cut/sculpted. I like what I see. I wore a black tank top as my "gold star" for effort. Compliments received later substantiated my observations.

Back to low carb today, cals to go where my hunger dictates, then low carb with strategizing cals the rest of the week.

[SummerSue]

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks for popping into my journal - you're input is always welcome.

I've looked at what you're doing with interest, with the re-feeding and such. I hope to move in that direction, but for right now I'm trying to keep to the Callanetics schedule. I'm working in the cardio every 3rd day, but think I'll have to do more than that, since it's really only working out to 2-3 times a week. I'm feeling so much stronger and less "sluggy" now so getting going on this stuff is so much easier.

I do have hand weights ranging from 3 - 15 lbs, and started working in some arm exercises. I think Evolution pays more attention to upper body, but it's still not like lifting. The sculpting is much more that way.

One question - you are refeeding prior to your upper body workout. Is that one bigger than other upper body workouts you do the rest of the week? Or do you only do one per week? Also, do you ever do lower body anymore, or is that just Callanetics?

I really do love the Callanetics - I was walking around yesterday and felt so toned and skinny, even though I'm not outside, but I KNOW I am getting that way inside! Starting that thread was a great idea - it's been such an inspiration to me and I know many others!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by SummerSue

One question - you are refeeding prior to your upper body workout. Is that one bigger than other upper body workouts you do the rest of the week? Or do you only do one per week? Also, do you ever do lower body anymore, or is that just Callanetics?

I really do love the Callanetics - I was walking around yesterday and felt so toned and skinny, even though I'm not outside, but I KNOW I am getting that way inside!

Susan,

I usually do upper body 3 x a week, lower body weights 1 or 2 x a week, in addition to Super Callanetics--which is my preferred/favorite way to work my lower body.

I have more intense upper body workouts following refeeds both intentionally and unintentionally:

a) because I want to push my body hard
b) because the explosion of energy as a result of the increased leptin and the refilling of glycogen levels that gives me that turbo boost

There is a complete explanation of the Targeted and Cyclical Ketogenic Diet and its theories on the "Other Plans" board under the TKD title/thread.

Happy Mother's Day to you to!

[lildragonfly]

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Happy Mother's Day to you too, Marsha! Rainy one here, but nice.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

SUN PM MAY 11

Today ended up being a hungrier day, as day's following refeeds go. That's why I knew not to assign a strict number of cals, but to let my body dictate what I ate. I didn't slip back into ketosis as easily as I'd hoped.

I've pushed myself very hard all week, not only with workouts, but with my work load at the office, family stuff, life. I know I've not gotten the rest I need. I HAVE to work on that. I'll pay the price otherwise.

I think sometimes I eat more when I'm tired BECAUSE I'm tired, not because I'm truly hungry. That may have been part of today's hunger, but certainly not all of it. I struggled with carb cravings a bit.

Today's totals:

cals 2025

PROT.....140 GR........29%
CARBS....28 GR........4%
FIBER.....10 GR........
FAT.........151 GR......66%

WORKOUTS:
10 mins cardio/elliptical 7:50 a.m.;

Afternoon:
26 mins Turbo Jam Cardio w/gloves
10 mins Turbo Sculpt legwork
200 AbRipper (P90)*
250 crunches after dinner

* Comparing the challenge factor of 200 AbRipper to Turbo Jam's Ab Jam segment, I find TJ to be far more challenging, but then, it's also a longer workout -- 18 mins, so that would make sense.

I love a good, slamming ab workout.

But then I just love to work out. I guess I just like FEELING like I've worked out when I'm done.

Tomorrow I'll start the week with Super C in the morning, and I'll add in 30 mins of cardio in the evening.

More proofreading to do...so here I go. Then hopefully some much needed shuteye.

[lisabinil]

Take it easy-stress eats up serontonin and low serontonin can cause migraines and hunger and/or binge eating in some. I can tell when my serontonin levels are low right before a migraine-I get crabby and just eat and search for just the right food to eat whether I'm hungry or not and just can't seem to find it. Take care of yourself and get plenty of sleep!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Thanks for that wise advice, Lisa...How true! We underestimate the rest we need. I've penciled in a 20-min power nap on my lunch hour........shut/lock the door, drag out my exercise mat/pillow, turn on soft jazz, close the blinds, close my eyes, and let the REST.....begin.

Off to do Super Callan.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

MON MAY 12

Well, that power nap didn't happen.

Off schedule all day with our docket, and it meant inhaling my lunch and back at it. Way too many clueless pro se litigants for a Monday morning...always a nice way to start the week...technical snafus to deal with....tech support calls, no thanks to them, snafus still pending....more transcripts to get out, afterwork errands to run, dinner to prepare.....whine, whine, whine.

But the AMAZING thing about this story: I would have thought that I'd be draggin my butt today, and that's why I intentionally planned the power nap. But here I am at 8:56 p.m., feeling like the frikkin Energizer Bunny....GO FIGURE.

Satiety levels good today, much better than yesterday, so I ate less overall. Energy great.

Eats today:

CALS 1681

PROT........157 GR.......37%
CARBS.......55 GR.......11%
FIBER........16 GR
FAT............94 GR.......50%

WORKOUTS:

5:30 a.m. 1 hour Super Callanetics
7:00 p.m.-ish 22 mins elliptical cardio -- 15 of that HIIT
100 pushups (5 sets of 20)
200 crunches

[hummingbird11]

Hola! Happy Tuesday! Have a GRRREAT Day! And here's to NO MORE tech snafu's!

So T, you have been doing TKD for what, approx 6+ weeks ?? Since 3/24/08 ??

(I thought I read that somewhere & it stuck w/ me as that's the day I started Atkins)

What were your Goals in doing TKD + do you feel that you are closer to those Goals now?

I'm curious. Thanks!
XO,
HB