Keeping It Lit

[Bejewelme]

I guess I can call the office and have them send me a copy, I will call today!

[inatic]

your keto question had good timing on one of my fitness boards:

My coached commented back to a poster

If you want to be on the short path to carb intolerance there's your ticket. Exposure to ketones over time impairs insulin sensitivity.

a few others well respected competitors came and and posted much the same.

I have tons of friends who have done keto and are now carb intolerant, like Erik is saying. They can not ever eat ice cream, have splenda, or even sweet potatoes. that's a sad life, if you ask me.

healthy fats are absolutely essential but that does not mean cut out carbs

You can add these fats and eat carbs just have to have right calories aand macros breakdown

Cutting out carbs is not necessary to get get lean

good discussion.

I missed that part. If she is saying zero carb up for a prep then yes, that is bad. The metabolism can become damaged. I would never recommend keto without the refeed.

[inatic]

just sharing part of the discussion. I think relevant since it a comptetiors board.

[inatic]

could be more attributed to the huge hormonal shift and stressors the diet and the high intensity training that went along with the prep that caused the most issue.

The interesting thing is that when the keto diet was first introduced it had nothing to do with fat loss and training, particularly the high intensity training that it's paired with for contest prep, dieting, etc etc. It's when you start bringing exercise into the equation, particularly at higher volumes, that's where the most problems arise. So the diet itself, when you really look at the research can be good for some in certain situations, but when you start talking contest prep, not always the wisest idea in most cases.

Coach posted this:

Originally Posted by Erik

You have the issues of insulin sensitivity/resistance as well as overall insulin secretion. The former has to do with how well your body, or how sensitive your body is to the 'message' of insulin. High insulin sensitivity = responsive target tissues (both fat and muscle). Low insulin sensitivity/higher insulin resistance = target tissues are not very responsive. In the latter case, you'll have higher baseline insulin levels (again due to the fact that the target tissues aren't very responsive, so more insulin needs to be produced to achieve the end goal).

Ideally, you'd want high insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue and high insulin resistance in fat cells; unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. You can't pick one to be resistant and the other to be sensitive - both will be the same. But this is one of the reasons GH can help with fat loss - it promotes insulin resistance.

The latter (overall secretion) will also vary from person to person - some people just secrete more insulin in response to a given meal than the next person.

You can get a rough idea of where you stand by assessing what happens to you after a high carb meal. This will generally give you an idea if you'd be better off on a lower carb diet or can get away with more carbs in your diet.

Do high carb meals make you sleepy, sluggish, do you crash, etc? Or do you have stable energy levels, feel good etc? The former? Hypersecreter. The latter? Probably a more normal insulin response.

Similarly, do you feel full and jacked (LOL) or just uncomfortable, bloated, etc? The former? Probably decent insulin sensitivity. The latter, not so much.

Good insulin sensitivity + normal insulin response will probably mean you can diet on more carbs.

The opposite - poor insulin sensitivity and a large insulin response/secretion to a meal will probably mean you'd fare better with a reduced carbohydrate approach.
__________________.

[Bejewelme]

One of the reasons I had switched to the BFFM was that I wanted to start incorporating healthy carbs and see if I can eat them, and I guess I am proving I can maintain weight but not lose weight, I think low carb is great is it great forever I dont know, ulitamley I would be happy eating 30%carbs, 30% fat and 40% protein, like for me that is a satisfying mix of nutrients. But I dont really lose on that either just maintain.

I am sure that my whole system is out of whack just last year I lost over 120 pounds in like 13 months that is a lot of shock to your system. But like I proved on my honeymoon, I cant eat junky carbs at all hence the 21 pound bloat in 10 days.

I am really wondering who I could see like a specialist to really look at my labs is that an endro or a GI doc? Currently my OB/GYN is the one that does all the blood work and stuff since I dont really have a family doc.

[inatic]

you need someone to run the right labs first and i want to see if they did.
I have some ideas for you area , i think.

[inatic]

what kind of carbs are you eating? have you tried cutting gluten? Have you tried cutting dairy?

[Bejewelme]

I eat the eziekel sprouted bread if I eat bread, and I eat a little FF dairy, milk and Greek yogurt not a lot, I was a huge milk drinker growing up and never had a problem with dairy. For starches I usually have brown rice, steel cut oats, sweet potato, quinoa, lentils, whole wheat pasta-very seldom like maybe once every 2-3 weeks, whole wheat cous cous. I have been eating 1/2 grapefruit and some berries or an apple as far as fruits. I do eat almonds almost everyday, but I use the 100 calories packs for portion control.

[inatic]

Those are all great choices

[Bejewelme]

The weekend parties do derail a bite here and there adds up and especially wine I think messes it all up!!! I do try to be pretty careful during the week! I do eat that MHP power pudding cause it doesnt have a lot of yucky ingredients, and it gets factored in, and of course the protein shakes I love.

[inatic]

protein shakes are dairy.. BLT's as we note to coach , all count though still your cals are on the low side.

[kmcentire]

Originally Posted by Bejewelme

T- I gathered that you are sort of modest, that is why I wondered how that was for you, OMG if I looked like you I swear I would be wearing that bikini everywhere!!! You would never get it off me! LOL

So as I sit here contemplating what is going to get me out of this stall, I see a bookmark from T's journal, the ketogenic diet, duh!!!!! I think that even switching between 1700 calories 3 days and 2000 one day is still maybe not enough calories given my workouts, and while I feel good right now eating more carbs it is not getting me where I want to be, I was thinking with going away this weekend maybe it would be a good time to try this for 12 days and see what happens? I think I am still very carb sensitive, I can maintain on 100-120 carbs but not lose weight, I do think I am losing some fat, as people keep telling me I look like I am losing, but I do want that scale to move in the worst way possible, and even being 5'10 and large framed I got plenty of fat to burn, so I better get to burning it!

I think my trainer has done a good job of helping me increase the weights and intensity of my workouts with her, I am so sore!!! I babied the knee this week and it is feeling better so I hope I can go back to running next week and more of her crazy plyometrics, cause man that is a workout. I am going to try to time the carbs like what do you suggest-- 30 min-1 hour pre-workout? I lost a ton of weight eating fat, I think I need more than 20% fat in my diet, and lets face it it is not that hard to get to almost 200 grams of fat in the form of oils and nuts, and it is very satisfying. I think my metabolism is still very much in distress from years of being obese and now this 15 months of diet and shocking the crap out of it with exercise, like my blood work was good but the insulin resistance indicators are better but still there, and she lowered my does of metformin by over 2/3. I am wondering if lowering that was a mistake, I go in March again and we need to discuss that.

Fat loss with ketogenic: cyclical & targeted ketogenic w/weight training

I thought maybe Kristi would be interested in this too, since I know she seems to still be in Atkins mode, and enjoys her fats, what do you girls think? I figure it can't hurt, nothing is really working some of this my own doing...ie...weekends! I do find it is easier to do LC over low fat when in social situations.

What do you think of adding a little more carbs, like it says you can eat less than 100 and be in ketosis, I doubt that, so I was thinking maybe 50 carbs max. I was also wondering if I could up the protein a bit too?

I will see what you girls say and I think that will be my plan and commit to a solid 2 weeks, of no cheating and really sticking to it. And continuing to kick up the workouts, there is a beautiful gym at this hotel so we plan to get 2 good workouts in, there is a state park with beautiful waterfalls nearby so I said we should go there on the way home Sunday and take a big hike so that will keep me moving!

Why are you taking metformin?

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by inatic

you need that rest!

what kind of break do you have coming up from work? Does the court take time off? Hubby usually takes the week of Christmas off, sometimes lucky enough to have gotten two.

What does your meals look like now? Are you still carb cycling? Are you doing any kind of building or working on anything in particular? How much cardio are you doing in maintenance now?

Im currently eating at maintenace but plan to bringing my BF up some and doing some strength/lite building phase work, hoping to try and add something to my shoulders. Stubborn buggers for me. Definitely not genetically inclined. Can I switch my calves for caps! LOL

Ileen, we have a break usually around mid month in December, so I'll probably have that last week before Christmas free, that is, no docket. I'll still be working on transcripts. I'm not complaining, even though it seems at times I do. I'm thankful to have a job in this econcomy, and I never want to take that blessing for granted.

As for my current "plan," nothing in particular. Just sort of cruising, trying to maintain my current weight and such. I'm thrilled to finally be at my DESIRED goal weight, after having struggled so long with the last 10 lbs, up and down and up and down and up and down.... So I'm trying to continue to train progressively. I've noticed a bit of strength gains lately. My emphasis for now is gonna be on my ass and hips/thighs area. (Your nemesis is shoulders, mine is hips/thighs.) I wanna really tighten it up, so my weekly splits lean heavier on those muscle groups. Diet is not nearly as strict, more dairy. Still doing carb rotations, just not as strict. I've been indulging in 1-2 squares of 80% Lindt daily lately. Yikes. Gotta watch things like this, because all of that, if we begin to take this bite and that nibble for granted, it can all catch up with us eventually. I watch cals more closely during the week and allow a little closer to maintenance on weekends.

Been enjoying things like Fudge Bites and your yummy Protein Muffins (minis, made with Gaspari?). Me and my sweet tooth!

Heading to the gym later this morning. My son has been going with me most times that I go, and he's catching on pretty quickly. I gotta watch him. His form is not all that great on most things, but he tries to pay attention to what I've taught him and he's made a lot of improvement.

[inatic]

do a glute specialization OUCH lol..

Love when kids find the love of the iron. My 19yo wants to train but wont let me work with him. He's got this I wanna be strong.. Im like you got lift SOMETHING first lol. kids!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by inatic

do a glute specialization OUCH lol..

Love when kids find the love of the iron. My 19yo wants to train but wont let me work with him. He's got this I wanna be strong.. Im like you got lift SOMETHING first lol. kids!

[Bejewelme]

I read something today that was so great!

"You cant over exercise poor nutrition"

How true is that!!!

We are at the fancy Pocono resort it looks so beautiful with all the Christmas decorations! Didnt win a thing last night, so we are heading to breakfast then the gym and there is a big lake so a walk later!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Yes, Amber -- the diet has to have integrity
before any amount of exercise will do any good.



Enjoy the lake at The Poconos...sounds lovely.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Ivana singing Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) by Mariah...

[MargaretG]

Hi Twyla, so nice to found your journey, and you're such an inspiration ! I'm 44 years, 5'3", weight 136lbs, and would like to go down to 124-125lbs. Have read so many good reviews on weight training that would love to add to the exercises. Right now I'm working mainly cardio 4 times a week (45-60 mins per session) and a few simple exercises with dumbbell. Can you let me know is there any DVDs on weight training that is good for beginners like me??

In addition, I've entered my data into online calorie counter, and it state that I should eat no more than 1,200 cal in order to lose? what's your opinon on it?

Sorry for the long post and poor english, I'm from Italy.

Tks,
M

[inatic]

Originally Posted by Bejewelme

I read something today that was so great!

"You cant over exercise poor nutrition"

How true is that!!!

We are at the fancy Pocono resort it looks so beautiful with all the Christmas decorations! Didnt win a thing last night, so we are heading to breakfast then the gym and there is a big lake so a walk later!

or as cosgrove always says:
you cant out train a poor diet.


Margret, 1200 is WAY to low!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by MargaretG

Hi Twyla, so nice to found your journey, and you're such an inspiration ! I'm 44 years, 5'3", weight 136lbs, and would like to go down to 124-125lbs. Have read so many good reviews on weight training that would love to add to the exercises. Right now I'm working mainly cardio 4 times a week (45-60 mins per session) and a few simple exercises with dumbbell. Can you let me know is there any DVDs on weight training that is good for beginners like me??

In addition, I've entered my data into online calorie counter, and it state that I should eat no more than 1,200 cal in order to lose? what's your opinon on it?

Sorry for the long post and poor english, I'm from Italy.

Tks,
M

Hello, Margaret. I'm glad to meet you, and I appreciate your comments. I'm honored that I can serve as an inspiration to you.

As for your question regarding weight training DVD's, I can tell you that I started out training at home using DVD's also, as well as reading about specific kinds of exercises for each muscle group from various sources, namely Oxygen Magazine (my favorite, and I would highly recommend that you subscribe!), and New Rules of Lifting for Women. I also regularly used some of the BeachBody DVD's for weight lifting, and I find them to be motivational because of the great music and the contagious personality of Chalene Johnson. (You can google Beach Body and you'll see many offered at that site.)

Also, I know people who have personally had wonderful results with the P90X DVD's. (I think they're also on the Beach Body website.)

As for your question on calories, I would recommend that you begin a little on the high side so that you'll have somewhere to go. If you begin too low on cutting calories, it has the potential of slowing your metabolism down. You want to keep that furnace burning HOT , and that means giving your body ample, clean balanced meals (lots of protein), and adding weight lifting to your weekly exercise routine. Based on your stats, if I were you, I'd begin around 1400-1500 cals and not go lower more than once or twice a week. You may want to throw a high cal day in once a week as well, say at your maintenance level, which would be roughly your body weight times 15. (136 x 15, for example) Switching up your cals with a low day every now and then is a form of calorie cycling which serves the same purpose as carb cycling -- keeping our body from adapting to the same stimulus. Our bodies are smart machines, and if you do the same thing over and over again, our metabolism adapts and the stimulus becomes less and less effective.

THat's why it's also imp to switch up your exercise agenda. I have found that we need a good balance of both weight training and cardio to keep our body's furnace burning effciently. Too much cardio will serve only to burn the precious muscle that we build from our training, so unless you're training for a competition, you really only need to do 30 mins of cardio on a given day, and probably no more than 3-4 days a week in addition to your weight training.

Hope this helps a little. These are what I have found to be effective ways to get to my goal weight while strategically and successfully adding lean body mass. Let me know if I can be of any other help to you.

And by the way, you write English very well! You're from Italy? How cool! Italy is on my WISH LIST for places I want to visit. Number one, in fact. So nice to meet you, Margaret.

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oops...double post.

[MargaretG]

Thanks Twyla for the super fast reply Yes, I'm from Italy and, I'm proud to say that we have a beautiful country here, heee...heee.

Will google the net and see if UK amazon carry the beachbody workout as you've mentioned. (as buying DVD/books directly from US, those handling and shipping charges are real high !!)

I'll up the calories to 1400/1500 for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Keep you posted, and thanks again.

Ciao,
Margaret

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by MargaretG

Thanks Twyla for the super fast reply Yes, I'm from Italy and, I'm proud to say that we have a beautiful country here, heee...heee.

Will google the net and see if UK amazon carry the beachbody workout as you've mentioned. (as buying DVD/books directly from US, those handling and shipping charges are real high !!)

I'll up the calories to 1400/1500 for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Keep you posted, and thanks again.

Ciao,
Margaret

Please do. Wishing you wonderful progress.

(PS, my son is employed with Amazon. I love ordering from them -- so extensive, the selection and great prices/shipping.)

[Bejewelme]

Hey T- checking in on you!!! Wonder woman is busy, LOL What fun another new journal!

Margaret- Italy has to be the worst place to LC, all that yummy food, Italy was by far the best place I ever visited!! I was in Venice and drove around Northern Italy, Portofino was a fav too, you live in a great place!!

T is the best!!! She got it figured out the hard way and look how awesome she is!!!! Best of luck to you!!!!

[inatic]

T is Micheal Buble your 'style' ?

Not mine persay but he had a great holiday special on last night ( did you catch it??) that was nice.. Very relaxing for my horrendous headache that still plagues me this am.

[Bejewelme]

Ileen I was all ready for Biggest Loser and caught his special, I love his voice,!!! It was a very nice special we enjoyed it!

Biggest Loser last night was probably the most inspiring episode ever!! They ran the marathon, 26.2 miles, the two people in their 60's finished the race together, took them 10 hours but they did it, I cried a river!!!! Can you belive that someone can lose 178 pounds in 12 weeks, that is just crazy, crazy crazy, I cant imagine the workouts to lose that much, the people look amazing and the level of fitness they can bring in 3 months, that show really gets to me, I love that Dolvett the new trainer, he is so inspiring with that big smile, I want him to train me, LOL

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by inatic

T is Micheal Buble your 'style' ?

Not mine persay but he had a great holiday special on last night ( did you catch it??) that was nice.. Very relaxing for my horrendous headache that still plagues me this am.

Ileen, you know what, you'd think that being a jazz fan I'd like Michael Buble, but I actually don't like him. Go figure. I know a lot of people who do, but for some reason he doesn't do it for me. So we agree on that.

But I do love a good holiday music/program. Sounds like I missed a good one. I spent the evening decorating the tree with family instead...Christmas jazz playing in the background, of course! Lots of bold red this year...makes me smile.

Hope your headache is better. I've had a nasty sore throat the past couple of days which plagues me also. It hurts to swallow, and that's interfering with my usual water consumption. Can't have THAT!

Cold, rainy, dreary here today...so that doesn't help any. Hoping you have a good evening and feel like yourself again soon.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by Bejewelme

Hey T- checking in on you!!! Wonder woman is busy, LOL What fun another new journal!

Margaret- Italy has to be the worst place to LC, all that yummy food, Italy was by far the best place I ever visited!! I was in Venice and drove around Northern Italy, Portofino was a fav too, you live in a great place!!

T is the best!!! She got it figured out the hard way and look how awesome she is!!!! Best of luck to you!!!!

I'm envious of you, Amber...You've been to Venice! Argh!

My son's girlfriend's great-grandfather still lives in Italy, and her grandparents go visit him frequently. They've shared fun stories with me.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Today has been a better day for me.

Emotions this time of year do me in. Enough said.

Today is much better, and that's what I'm focusing on.

Headed to have my hair trimmed in a few minutes. Maybe a pedicure or some pampering would help lift my spirits. Pretty bold/deep red ... that should do it for a Christmas touch----toes, of course. Not the hair.