Scale is up... but I'd be shocked if it wasn't.

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
With your increased muscle mass would you not be burning more calories?

I was thinking about this.

When I saw an RD a few years ago, she encouraged me to strength train to PRESERVE metabolism. I think that preserving/building lean tissue will help preserve metabolism... but won't necessarily boost it and set your metabolism on fire.

I've thought about this on and off too. What you are saying makes sense. I really want to preserve my muscle mass. I even did 8 extra girl push ups today!

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
With your increased muscle mass would you not be burning more calories?

I was thinking about this.

When I saw an RD a few years ago, she encouraged me to strength train to PRESERVE metabolism. I think that preserving/building lean tissue will help preserve metabolism... but won't necessarily boost it and set your metabolism on fire.

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
With your increased muscle mass would you not be burning more calories?

From what I've read, that is MOSTLY hype. You gain a pound of muscle... you burn a whopping 6 more calories a day. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...A26545-2005Apr4.html

I've seen this a couple of different places.

quote:

I am just thinking while I type. Wondering where the new "balance" is.

I don't know. I'm very off balance, right now.

I am waffling between, "OMG! Something is wrong! This is so WEIRD!!" And then after I posted this morning... I remembered that I was 131 the Monday after Father's day... and after 4th of July am 129, so I'm now thinking, "Oh... maybe everything is OK!"

But, I'm going to call and make an appt... if only for my mental health and perhaps some perspective and balance.

I have a question:

I understand that your HR is down and that means burning fewer calories.
(My HR and PB are also down.)

With your increased muscle mass would you not be burning more calories?

I am just thinking while I type. Wondering where the new "balance" is.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
With that said, get yourself to a doctor. This seems to really be bugging you so better to get it checked out than continue to have it bother you.

Yeah, I'm going to do that.

Actually, the thing that is bothering me is that I used to maintain REALLY well on the Dash Plan and if wanted to eat 4 servings of fruit and 5-7 1/2 cup servings of grains... I did. No problem. And I was really happy eating like that.

Now, I'm restricting myself to 2 fruits a day and 4-5 servings of grains or I start gaining. And I do feel like I'm restricted.

I'd like to just go back to eating off the DASH plan, like I was, and just let the scale number fall where it does. And just tell my doctor that maybe we need to check my cholesterol more than once every 5 years... and I just don't have the weight/scale control that I did in the past.

We hear so much about how gaining weight is "bad", in general. I honestly don't know if MY particular weight gain THIS year is bad for my cholesterol or not.

I think that I weighed 124 or 125 when I had my cholesterol checked in March. I know that I was 1-2 lbs over range... and was having trouble getting back in to range. Pretty much like now. But I just went, oh well.

quote:

I also think that if you are continuing to drop inches, you are building muscle and not gaining fat.

I was thinking about it. We live in a very scale centric world. It is easy and cheap to put somebody on a scale. And in a general population, scale numbers can tell you some things... like a general idea of what is a "healthy weight" for most people.

We very seldom hear of people or a person gaining weight and it being a positive thing... unless you are an Olsen Twin, or something.

I also seem to be gaining muscle (and/or fluid) at a rate that I and most everybody else seems to find unrealistic. And I don't know if it is less estrogen in my body than 3-4 years ago.

I think that's a reasonable drop in heart rate considering how fit you've become Denise. My pulse has dropped dramatically as well and it takes a lot of work for me to break a sweat these days.

I also think that if you are continuing to drop inches, you are building muscle and not gaining fat.


With that said, get yourself to a doctor. This seems to really be bugging you so better to get it checked out than continue to have it bother you.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
Denise - Did you have your HRM 3 years ago to compare or were you using standard calorie burned calculations from fitday/charts/machines?

I just bumped a thread from 2007. Back then, my HR went up to 110 walking to the store. Yesterday it was 95 walking there and 100ish walking back, carrying 20 pounds of fruits and vegs.

Watching TV, it was 58. Now it is 48-53.

You'll appreciate this, as a Sting fan. Nelson said, "Every step you take. Every breath you take. You are burning fewer calories."

Except, I sort of think that it is a drag.

I was standing up watching TV and rocking back and forth "slow dancing" and my HR went up to 58. We put the HRM on Nelson and his, "Sitting on the Couch, watching TV" HR is 85... standing up and watching TV and rocking back and forth, his is 115.

Don't know if I should worry about me, as mine seems unusually low. Or worry about him, as he seems so out of shape.

Weight is back up to 129. Some is water... from a couple of high calorie days. But usually, after tracking like this for 23 days, I would be down 3 pounds. And I started at 127.5 and when the water weight comes off... That is about what I will weigh. A year or two ago… I lost .75 lbs a week on an average of 2000 calories a day.

Although, I am losing inches. And just don't know what to make of this. And Nelson keeps saying, "OMG... you are getting even MORE muscular" (probably because of the lost inches, and less fat on top of muscles).

But I've always said, "I chose the life style I wanted to lead and the scale number found me". Except maintaining on losing calories isn't my idea of a great lifestyle.

I think that I'm going to ask Dr. for a referral to the RD I saw in Oct 2004. She suggested that I weigh 121... and I did hang in around there for 4 years.

I am sort of at a loss of what I should weigh… or if my metabolism really is really below average… or how many calories should I be eating.

Even putting my sleep into Fitday (which I never did before)… According to them, I should be maintaining on 2178 calories. And a year or two ago, I was maintaining on about 2400 calories, with this level of activity. Actually, I sat WAY more than I do now. I have the keyboard on a box and spend the whole day standing up.

Denise - Did you have your HRM 3 years ago to compare or were you using standard calorie burned calculations from fitday/charts/machines?

I'm glad that I was much less hungry today. I also got 9 solid hours of uninterrupted sleep and feel really good.

I'm having a great day. Should finish up the day eating 1512 calories and burning 1972 (according to Fitday).

Good day for me. 1550 calories, 1 1/2 hrs of activity.

Day 9 for me was good.
I was so hungry today. It started last night after my hot dog dinner. It was fun to eat, but when it was done eating I felt like I could have eaten dinner again. Then I was hungry most of last evening. Then I was hungry today.

Today I ate 1590 calories -
I got in my fruit and veggies and whole grains.

I did no exercise, though.

I just walked to the Farmers Market and, out of curiosity, threw on my heart rate monitor.

3 years ago, I used to burn 300 calories, walking for an hour.

According to Fitday.com, I should have burned about 200.

According to WW'ers calculations, I should have burned about 200 calories.

According to my HRM today... I burned 91 calories.

My resting HR has also dropped really low... like 48-53 BPM.

This can be a symptom of hypothyroid. Or can be a sign of being really fit.

I really do think that I'm burning less calories than a year or two ago.

So at any rate, I think I'm going to call my doctor and ask for a thyroid test.

Don't know if my metabolism has really slowed down, or if I'm, somehow, a victim of my own success and by bumping up my exercise in the last year... my prize is 400-500 fewer calories a day.