Daily Maintenance Weigh In, Thursday, January 9, 2014

187.

I'm officially struggling to get back in Maintenance.  I believe this has to do with 

(a) time of year

(b) conflicting goals

(c) mental view

So what to do.... what to do... time for some rambling, public self-analysis...

(a) Time of year - Looking at my weight chart it's pretty clear that I was easily able to maintain during the warm months. I was outside cycling a few hundred miles/week, and when I was in Tucson recently, my weight went back down.  So winter sucks... at least here in Minnesota.  But this also ties into:

(b) conflicting goals - the easy answer is "back to basics" just protein, etc.  I'm resisting that for the moment, because I'm trying to use the winter to gain some leg strength for the upcoming season of cycling and racing.  I'm doing a lot of leg strength exercises (Monday was leg day - 100 Lunges, 50 squats, etc. - Thursday and I'm still sore). And that's combined with minimal cycling to burn calories this week... Strength gains take some extra food beyond protein.  Clearly I'm adding muscle  as I work on my strength.  The key will be "can I cut it back down when I need to" if I'm also adding some fat at the same time?  I'm keeping my net calories around 1200 to 1500/day, so I'm not gaining (or doing so very slowly).  

(c) Mental view - My BF% is still around 14% per my last BodPod, so things clearly aren't out of control, and maybe maintaining 10-11% BF year-round (per my summer "best" BF) isn't realistic.  I'm new to this sort of bodily manipulation so I'm not sure what to expect.  I guess a lot of people would be thrilled with 14% BF, so maybe I'm just unrealistic.  BUT I HATE TO THINK I'M RATIONALIZING weight gain... I just don't know what to expect as I fiddle around with athletic endeavors since I've been so minimally athletic my entire life.  

On the good side, despite being 7 lbs above my maintenance target, my shirts/pants still fit... My tightest jeans still are tight, but still wearable - even out of the wash. I can still count 3-4 ribs looking in the mirror... I do feel stronger, and I'll do another DEXA scan in a couple months.  Clearly things are happening slowly... and not all of them are bad.

PLAN:

I probably do need to up my water, and be more consistent with that.  

Trim 100 c/day out of the diet and see.

Focus on super clean eating.  Although I've been doing reasonably well here, there's always room for improvement.

147.4

Off to enjoy and attack this day!

I just read your post - didn't think I'd have time when I first posted. 

I'm wondering if you might want to think about going to measuring and stay away from the scale for awhile. Over the years, I've noticed that many athletes don't really go to the scale all that much. They tend to use measurements as goals. I wonder if this would work for you. 

It could be a tough mental adjustment, but it might be worth a try. 

The scale is only a half-truth, but we tend to give it more credit then we probably should. 

I've been thinking about stepping away from the scale for a month. See what happens. -Edelu just **** her pants reading that. :-)

I hear you and don't necessarily disagree in general - with cycling, weight is pretty important, so I want to keep track of it pretty closely.  I've had baaaad experiences in the past stepping away from the scale, so I'd rather worry a bit and track all my stuff.  If I could do a BF% more often that would probably help. 

I'm not panicking right now, even though my weight is up, because other things are looking ok.  But it definitely bears thinking about...  conflicting goals is the big issue.  If it's mostly muscle, i'm ok, and based on my workouts - i *think* that's what's going on. I'll just have to keep a very close eye on the trend.  It's definitely "up" in terms of weight in general.  But as you say, that's only part of the story.

155.  Ack.  My low is 140, my post maintenance high was 159 1/2, and I need to get back to the former, because I threw away all my fat pants, and I am NOT buying new ones.  So, going to start doing the maintenance board, see if public humiliation will help :)

Welcome!  Doesn't have to be humiliation - we're all in the same boat.... just accountability, advice, discussion.

jub- I agree with the scale thing- stepping away from daily accountability on the scale has been bad news for me in the past.  I may not like it- understand it, or agree with the damn metal monster, but we will shake hands and greet each other every morning.  I have "slim all their lives" friends that calmly state that they gain a little weight in the winter and it comes off just as easily come spring--amazes me!  Could this just be a normal happening?  Like the water-like the clean eating--bet that will take care of it!

145.8 same as yesterday.  I love consistency!

You are taking the first step by having a plan.  Now you just have to execute.  Mind over matter.

143.4 today

114.0 today.  My appetite is finally returning!

Tom, athetletic endeavours can be perplexing for us former fatties, that's for sure.  I've had conflicting goals in the past which didn't serve me well, so I'll be watching and learning from your experiences in this regard.

I hope to learn too!  My recent weight gain began in October when I was advised by my coach to take a month off of training.   I don't think I took my intake of calories down fast enough...