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Hey guys… I’m new here, so this is a summary of what brought me here:
I have always been “a little bit overweight” from my young adult/teen years. I tried various things to keep myself in that healthy weight range. After having a baby 6 years ago in my 30s I seem to have never recovered physically. Over the past 6 years I have tried boot camp, weight watchers, training and running a half marathon, gym classes, bikram yoga etc. I also lost a 2nd baby a couple of years ago, and am keen to try again for another one, but am scared of falling pregnant at a high starting weight and gaining another whole stack of weight all over again.
For the first time since becoming a mum, about a year ago, I was able to reach my pre-pregnancy weight after completing a few months of the 12WBT program which is a 1200 cal per day, 6 x week training online program quite popular in Australia and run by one of the Australian “Biggest Loser” trainers. I lost 10kg over the course of a few months by cutting calories, and doing gym classes/yoga. It was great to fit back into clothes again and be back in a “healthy weight range” even though I was still at the upper end, and had more weight to lose.
I then started finding blogs/facebook groups online such as 180degreehealth, Go Kaleo, Eat The Food etc who are anti-diet and talk about not restricting calories etc. I tried to switch to a more “intuitive” eating approach, asking myself what I really felt like. For example after a workout I often really wanted eggs. I mostly ate unprocessed natural foods, but still ate pizza, cheese, wine, chocolate etc on occasion. I switched to doing CrossFit workouts about 3-4 times a week plus tried to increase walking etc. I feel that my metabolism is impaired as I do suffer from cold hands/feet and I am the kind of person who will gain weight if I even look at pizza, or go on a holiday etc. Over the course of the last year I have steadily gained back the 10kg I worked so hard to lose and am devastated. I think a small portion of that is muscle gain/recomposition as I have been doing heavy lifting and have seen strength gains, but I know it definitely is fat gain as well, as I can’t fit into clothes and I can see a visible increase in body fat.
I have read a few of Matt’s books now, and part of me says I still need to work on my metabolism and just give up on trying to lose weight, but the other part of me says that surely I don’t need to refeed as I have already been doing that for the last year. I haven’t eaten restrictively in the last 12 months and I have a 10kg weight gain to show for it. At what point do you say enough is enough?
I tried tracking cals for a month to see if I was actually just eating some stupidly high amount for my activity levels. I worked out my TDEE to be around 2200-2300 and found that unless I was truly deceived with portion sizes etc I was averaging an intake of around 1800 per day. During that month of tracking the scales still went up. I haven’t got on them since as I am scared they will just have gone up again. I don’t want to have to go back on a low calorie/restrictive diet ever again, but I also can’t handle staying at this weight forever.
Any advice? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Very confused!
Hi – you sound a little like me! I was never overweight as a teenager but once I gave up smoking in my late twenties & had a couple of kids, I put on about 30 pounds or so. Since then I got on the standard yo-yo dieting lark – low cal/low carb/ detoxing etc – losing some, gaining some more etc. I stumbled across Matt’s work about 8 months ago and it fascinated me. I read most of the books and have been more or less following his advice since. But its been hard. I’ve seen my weight increase to its highest level ever, and have been so tempted to start another diet. But I’ve stuck with it, bought some bigger clothes and tried to keep the faith. On the plus side, my health is definitely better – I used to be constantly cold, a poor sleeper etc and now that is all gone.
In the last month or so, I have finally began to lose a few pounds. My approach has been to really slow down and make time for my food. No more grabbing a quick snack while reading e-mails/facebook etc! When I eat, I eat very, very slowly – and try to really enjoy every mouthful. I try to pay real attention to my stomach to let me know when it’s full, and then I stop. Even if I’ve only eaten a little. Its actually pretty amazing how little you need for your stomach to feel full. If I find myself hungry again an hour later, I’ll eat again. Plus I try to decide what it is I really want. I used to be the kind of person who could never leave food on her plate but I’m trying to change that. There are still times when I eat too much, and it’s hard with a family, but I feel like I am getting some control back now.
The weight loss has been really slow – only about 3lbs in 3 weeks. But the interesting part, for me, is that when I do overeat, at weekends or a night out, that three pounds seems to go back on quickly, but a day or two later & its off again. I’m taking this as a sign that my metabolism is working better to stabilize my weight!
I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel. And I wish you well on your journey through it!
Hey ladies!
I too have struggled with being a little heavier than I’d like. Now I’m starting to realize that it’s all in my head. I’ve been super lean on a figure competitor’s diet for 6 months and it was miserable. Now I’m about 10-15 pounds over what I’d like and I feel great. I feel warm, muscular, energetic, and happy because I eat the food!
I’m going to roll with this a while and lift heavy weights because I want to. I’m also going to run outdoors tomorrow because it’s going to be warm, (what a miserable winter), because running revives me. I don’t have to log my workouts, or my food, or have a goal other than living the life I have. Let it go ladies and embrace the body you’ve been given!
Cheers,
Crystal
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