moonbeam65

Has been going great. Walked to the park and did tai chi for an hour. Then did a boot camp class in the park for another 45 minutes. Then walked fast for about an hour. What a feeling I have in my body - joyful, happy, and silly. Right now I am making lunch - baked salmon, broccoli, green salad, whole wheat bread, and blueberries for dessert.

The weight has been going up this week. Two pounds of gain. Consequently, the trainer measured me and said that I lost 2 pounds of lean body mass. Meaning that when I am losing weight, it is in muscles instead of fat. Meaning that I am becoming weaker and the weight loss is going in a wrong way. She said that there could be two reasons: not eating enough food or not enough protein and not exercising enough. I exercise 2 hours every day so it’s not that. One of my buddies advised me to eat more and I upped daily calorie intake. I will weigh again on Monday to see if the weight gain stopped.

Shanna posted a wonderful comment on my blog and everything she said was true. I do have a curvy figure and excellent health, according to doctors. I don’t want to starve myself and lose shiny hair, white teeth, and damage my skin. I think I was heading to a dangerous zone of starvation eating only 1300 calories a day and burning 600-800 calories only by exercising. My BMR that measures the amount of calories that a person needs to just maintain the body functioning lying in bed and not moving, is 1450 according to fitday. com. Simple math shows that my body, after burning 600 calories in exercise and 1450 calories just by breathing and living, was starved if I ate only 1300 calories a day. Hence the loss of muscles and then weight gain.

I am so confused sometimes. I don’t know when I am really hungry or if it is a familiar pull to binge, to stuff the belly with food, and to feel pain. I think because of yo yoing for so many years, my hunger locator is screwed up. I am afraid that losing 12 pounds in three weeks was a result of starvation rather than stopping binges.

So much to learn about the way my body functions. So much to learn about patience and frustration and nurturing, rather than punishing myself.

Thanks to Sarah, Dara, Debbie, and Tina, my buddies on the binge thread for support and sage advise.

This is something worth watching and I cry every time I do. And then I smile and smile… all day long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Is 149 pounds. Last time I was 149 pounds was 8 years ago. I am a little bit nervous and unsure about my ability to reach this mini goal. It was okay to hover in 150s and 160s for so many years, just above the normal BMI. Can I go back to 140s? What would happen? The weight loss seems so easy this time and the weight is going down steadily. I just realized that I am only 6 pounds away from 149. Only two weeks away from reaching this mini goal.

My self-image though is still in the overweight range. There is a gap between the reality and my perception. What if this self-image of being an overweight woman wins and prevents me from getting the body I want and deserve?

Yesterday morning in the boot camp I compared myself to other women and discovered that I was the skinny one! It was such a shock. Usually I habitually resigned to being the large one in a group.

I am truly afraid of sabotaging the weight loss due to this inner image of a large woman forever struggling to lose fat and get toned.

BMI according to the site (24.5). I weigh 156 pounds and have well-developed muscles. As a matter of fact, I can see abs and love my toned legs. I am shooting for 140 as my goal.

This Hawaiian vacation was great. My girlfriend and I walked 3.5 miles and swam for an hour every morning at 6 AM. Then we did yoga DVD and tai chi. Then we usually would go snorkeling and swimming again. And another three miles of walking before the sunset.

What was really interesting to watch was that my tiny, teeny, “skinny” girlfriend was actually getting fat and losing muscles. She would eat sweets and have dessert after dinner, and then she would feel sick and tired next morning. She would stop eating completely next day to “cleanse and lose weight” only to get really hungry again in the evening and binge on carbs … again. She would promise to double her exercise next day but would be so weak and sleepy that I would go for a fast walk alone. And she had “bingeover” headaches. It was a pattern. She is still size 4 but her body was getting chubby… flab… jiggly… We talked a lot about healthy eating patterns and exercise and finally, by the end of a vacation, she started eating breakfast and refusing dessert in the evening. I am glad that she caught this early because she was well on a way to become overweight and weak, replacing muscles with fat cells. Even naturally skinny people can let themselves go as they age if they continue eat unhealthy and have no exercise habits.

I haven’t binged in 26 days as of today. I have been exercising every day. Even when I had to stop walking because of tendonitis I was doing a recumbent bike. The walking challenges and a great group of walkers have been incredible in motivating. The binge thread is a life saver, literally. Fitday.com is another tool that keeps me accountable.

I like the way I look and like the happy feeling in my body when I move. Gosh, my legs are so strong. My arms are toned and well defined.

Size 10 is friendly now although there is some loss in a chest department. Oh well. I am reluctant to buy new clothes… gotta wait until I hit at least 150 pounds.

Life is good.

This morning at 6 AM I went to a boot camp in the park. It was surprisingly easy.

How To Recover From An Episode Of Binge Eating

By Herve J. Duchemin – Advanced Personal Trainer
Being a binge-eater, is like being an alcoholic, except it involves food instead of alcohol. It is an addiction which affects people of all levels of fitness.

A lot of focus has been placed on anorexia-nervosa, and bulimia-nervosa, but it seems that compulsive overeating gets ignored, and/or lost in the shuffle. A common misconception is that binge eating occurs only with obese individuals.

I can tell you first hand however, that I know more binge-eaters that are actually in shape, than out of shape. The major reason for my writing this article is because I myself have personally suffered from the disorder, and have found it extremely detrimental to my fitness and overall well-being.

While the strategies presented in this article are in no way a cure to the disease (the actual cravings begin in one’s own MIND), they may be a helpful step toward curbing one’s desires, and substituting other actions in place of excessive eating.

Usually when one engages in an episodic binge, he or she has starved him or herself throughout the course of the entire day. When night time comes, the person’s hormones are out of whack, which will often lead to a sugar-craving (or salt/fat craving).

Since the binge-eating follows a regular pattern of “eat a bunch,” and then “starve yourself the following day due to guilt”, the cycle will continue, and will eventually prove to be very detrimental to one’s well-being, digestive system, and overall level of fitness.

Personally, when I speak of “recovering from a binge,” I am explaining how to make it so that if a binge does occur, you can reduce the guilt you feel, by acting in a proper manner the following day to reduce the harsh effects on your body.

When excessive eating of carbohydrates occurs, the carbohydrates are converted to a form called glycogen, and stored in the muscles, and liver.

If the liver and muscles are filled to their maximum capacity with glycogen, then any excess carbohydrates which are consumed, will be stored as fat. In order to keep your weight in check, you should completely avoid binge-eating altogether. But, if it does occur, here is a good way to recover:

1. If you overeat (particularly with carbohydrates), eliminate carbohydrates from your breakfast the following morning. You have to burn off some of that stored glycogen before you start to overflow your body with excess carbohydrates. You CAN eat the next morning, just make sure you eat the RIGHT food!
2. If your stomach is filled with a surplus of food from the day before, try to exercise in the morning before you eat anything, and go to the bathroom to unload some of the food in your digestive system before you start overloading your body with excess calories to be stored as fat.

If you eat anything at all, have some salad, fiber, or a small amount of protein (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites, fish, etc) instead of carbohydrates. Burn up some of that stored glycogen before you ingest unnecessary carbs.

Regards,

Herve J. Duchemin – Advanced Personal Trainer