More than Just Pounds

It's been a wild past 6 months for me!  I have had a lot of setbacks with my health and low back.  I was attacked by a dog and suffered my 4th TBI, vision damaged, teeth, etc.  I did gain a few pounds in January from stress and eating junk but I have been working to get those few pounds off the past almost 2 weeks now and will continue to do so for at least 12 full weeks before I break for maintenance.

I have started an AB routine to hopefully build up my abdominal muscles better to support my low back issues and then I've also started some PT for my low back.  I had to go almost 3 weeks without hiking due to hiking in the snow causing hypermobility in my SI joints that locked my back up and I'm still hurting despite rest.  I'm hoping it fixes itself and I think maybe it is from all the stress too.  I have never had a back flare last this long.

I started tracking with the Carbon Diet Coach app again but I don't like that it won't let me go below 90g of protein.  I only need 72g of protein and need more carbs for hiking and I like to get a good amount of health fats as well, so it shows me "not compliant" a lot, which is annoying.  However, I like everything else about the app.

My goals going forward are to build strong abdominal and glute muscles to better to support my degenerative SI joints and low back.  I also want to eventually work towards less weight on my body in hopes it will help my joints/back.

Here are my stats for hiking for 2024.  I hiked the same number of days as 2023 but I did 13 more hours!

I had an incident happen last week and had to pause my challenge until my heart recovers.  I'm having issues with getting my heart rate and blood pressure up - something I have dealt with before but this time it is not recovering as quickly. (I have myocarditis, MVP, dysautonomia, etc.)

I hope to do a weight workout today and a hike if time permits but I am cautious as I return to normal.  My weight is up a little over a pound because I am retaining water big time, which also may happen to do with my heart but I can't go to my cardiologist at the moment - so, I am hoping this resolves soon.

I had a great Week 1 for my 6-week Challenge!  I met all my goals and was down -0.4 on my new scale to 168.6 and a pound on my old scale to 165 and lost -0.75 of an inch off my high hip and my face looks slimmer.

Exercise:

• 3 hikes (150 minutes)
• 3 strength training sessions (160 minutes - Upper body, lower body and back/abs)
• 3 dance sessions (45 minutes)

Food:

I finished a little over 4 weeks of bringing my body up to what my maintenance was before (2080) and then went even further and reached around 2275.  I only gained a total of 2 pounds, which is probably just the extra weight of the extra food, glycogen stores and water.  I'm now ready to challenge myself to lose that last little bit I mentioned before.  The doctor said lose only 3 pounds but I'm aiming for at least 10 and hoping I won't lose too much muscle.

I started a 6-week challenge today through August 24th.  My goals are to keep hiking 3-4 days a week but make sure I do my 2-3 days of weight lifting.  I have been slacking so bad to where weights hasn't been happening at all and I feel squishy!  I have to make it a priority and that's my goal, along with 20% calorie deficit and making sure to get my 64 oz. of water in a day.

The Carbon Diet Coach put me around 1680 calories range and that is what I was thinking too since my maintenance is 2080 because I haven't been doing weight lifting.  This will require me planning more to make sure I don't go over.  Here are my ranges for calories and macros:

I'm starting at 166 pounds on my old scale that I used since the beginning and then 169.0 on my new scale.  The old scale is a pain to get out, so I only do it occasionally.  The new scale is easy but a bit higher than the doctor's scale.  When people ask me what I weigh, I go by the old scale.  Sounds complicated but it's not because my main focus is measurements!  Those have increased in my hips and that happens when I'm not weight lifting consistently, so I really look forward to my body going back to where I was before inches-wise.  After all - it is MORE THAN JUST POUNDS!! 

I didn't track the past few months and because of that I fell to undereating again.  My scale weight was staying the same, so I thought all was well since I was maintaining but what was really happening is my metabolism was slowing down to accommodate what I was giving it.  I also struggled with debilitating fatigue!  Is it any wonder why!?  My body was trying to make me quit moving so much to conserve energy since I was barely giving it enough to survive each day.

I decided a few weeks ago to track and lose weight at 1500 calories (a very low deficit for me in the past).  I stuck to it all week and the scale didn't budge - and I realized I was actually eating about the same I had been doing when I wasn't tracking and then it occurred to me... I have been undereating for months.

So, here I go again repairing my metabolism by increasing my calories.  I'm up to 2000 calories a day and it was VERY hard to eat enough each day and I had to succumb to junk food several times to just make it happen because I had no appetite.  After a week, I FINALLY regained strength and the fatigue is fading thankfully.  I just can't go without tracking anymore because I have a great tendency to undereat.  I can't fathom eating more than 2000 calories a day right now and I need to eat at least 2100 and I'm working towards that.  

Of course, I have put on a few pounds as the glycogen stores, water and extra weight of the increased food is settling out.  Once I have repaired my metabolism and my weight stabilizes for a while, I'm going to do a deficit to try and lose the last of my weight.  I have noticed whenever I have switched to maintenance in the past, I gain 3-6 pounds initially before it settles and maintains.

I came across a great explanation online from a commenter that put the maintenance initial gains into words better than I could:

My doctor asked me why I wanted to lose more weight, he said: "I'm looking at you right now and you are small!"  He also said if I lost too much more weight, I'd look anorexic.  I had a hard time accepting this because I still see my abdominal/back fat that I want to lose but he kept telling me how small I was.  It is true, I'm a size 6 but I really wanted a smaller waist.  He said if I kept losing, I'd have to lose muscle and I would be in a bad position health-wise all for what?  A smaller abdomen?  My doctor also said the small amount of fat around my abdomen and back is probably genetic or from menopause (I had a hysterectomy in 2016).  I'm very healthy right now and so he wrote a letter for me to give to Weight Watchers telling them that 165 (on the doctor's scale with clothing on) was where I should be and not lower.

It's hard for me to accept this but I decided to and declared myself at goal.  It wasn't a huge deal because I have maintained around this weight for 19 months now.  I did finally buy my summer clothes since I was unable to last summer because of no income due to my husband's layoff.  I had a very exhilarating time buying my new wardrobe that actually FIT!  No more baggy clothes and feeling lackluster in summer.

He did say he'd allow me to lose a few more pounds to satisfy my desire to do so - I want to try and work on losing about 10 pounds (he recommended 3 lol).  I am however maintaining right now with no tracking and have been doing so for over a month easily.

By the way, WW didn't even want my doctor's letter when I called.  They wanted me to pay more each month and then go to meetings for a while to be able to make goal and get lifetime.  I decided I was done with the whole WW number-on-the-scale game and decided not to and just use the community as I enjoy my new life at goal.

I haven't been consistent but I have had some good days and I'm down about 4 pounds in 4 weeks, which is what I hoped for.  

I am going to try to be consistent this week for week 5.  I also have been slacking at getting my weight lifting in.  I have been leaning more to the Carbon app and not doing points every day because sometimes I just want a 160-calorie cashew bar and WW charges 6 points for it!  I always seem to come back to calories BUT points helps me eat more vegetables and fruits.

I got in 275 minutes of exercise this week with hiking mostly but also a day that I danced, rowed and did the recumbent bike.  I want to get at least 350 minutes of exercise a week, so I need to focus on that also this week and weight lifting will definitely help me reach that.

I decided to do WW as I work on losing the last of my weight.  2023 was a rough year but thankfully I was able to maintain my weight loss within the 6 pounds maintenance allowance.  I feel that I have a space of time now that is great for working to lose that last 15-20 pounds!

I started 2 weeks ago with WW tracking and I'm also tracking with the Carbon app just to make sure I'm eating enough food.

Here was my 1st week data of points vs. calories:

Thur. - 26 points; 1555 calories
Fri. - 23 points; 1526 calories
Sat. - 24 points; 1287 calories
Sun. - 26 points; 1431 calories
Mon. - 40 points; 1719 calories
Tues. - 37 points; 1577 calories
Wed. - 38 points; 1745 calories
Since I'm not necessarily reaching the Carbon Diet Coach ranges for calories and protein, I just mark non-compliant each week.  I'm merely using it right now as a guide, not the master and it helps a lot to see weekly averages.  I will return to using the Carbon app exclusively when I'm back to maintaining.

I decided to try the Reverse Dieting on the Carbon Diet Coach app for 3 weeks and my weight did go up a couple of pounds from the extra food and probably also because with life increasingly busier, I lessened my exercise for Jan/Feb.  I'm only doing 3 hikes a week and 1-2 days of strength training with 10-15 minutes of dancing beforehand - about 5-6 hours a week; which is way less than the 6-9 hours I was doing.

The Carbon Diet Coach has my current maintenance at 2086 after my 3 weeks of reverse dieting and less exercise.  I am ok with this and I know if I eventually return to my 6-9 hours of exercise later, I can be back up to around 2300 calories again for maintenance but at this time in my life, this is all I can do right now.

Then, I decided to do a mini-cut for 2 weeks before I take a week off tracking and weighing for spring break (I'll still be exercising).  For my mini-cut, it puts me around 1690 to lose a pound a week and here are the calorie and macro ranges I need to stay in:

I'm really liking the app and use it exclusively now for my tracking.  I also really want to lose the last of my weight that I have put off losing and hopefully I will accomplish that this year using the Carbon Diet Coach.  Most importantly, I want to KEEP OFF the weight I've already lost and this app can also help me do that.  It's such a relief to have something else do the math for me and adjust as needed week by week.

I compiled a few pictures from each month of my 165 hikes in 2023, enjoy!