Losing Again!

Not even sure where to start today.  There is so much to tell you!

I went through the 5 day cleanse and did very well; lost six of the pounds I had gained with my travel and non-activity, getting back down to 189.2.  I eased back into my normal eating and activity again.  The scale was up and down and up and down again.  I sought out the Body Bugg Facebook page to see what others were saying on the topic and read some interesting ideas but was not convinced.  In a moment of frustration, I placed this post on the Facebook wall for Body Bugg users hoping for some sage advice. 

"...been working on closing the gap on my too high deficit days - on Mon/Weds I end up burning over 3000 cals with my workouts plus BMR, so my typical 1500 cals leaves me with too large a deficit based on all I'm reading here. Have been closing that gap to be 1000 and hoping for the best; it just feels weird to eat more when I don't really feel like I need more...thoughts? oh - I'm going for 1000 deficit/day as doing 1500 one day and 500 next day are not getting me results."

Almost immediately I had several messages from more experienced Body Buggers telling me my deficit was too high and I needed to lower it to 750/day.  {The deficit is the difference between calories burned and calories eaten - you are shooting to burn more than you eat.} 

That means on my heavy exercise days, like Monday/Wednesday/Saturday, I would need to eat 2300-2600 calories that day.


I needed to take a moment. I took a few moments when I read those suggestions.  I questioned them...wow, I'm trying to lose weight here, and you're telling me to eat more food?  

I was incredibly skeptical, but what did I have to lose?


This 7 month plateau wasn't going anywhere. I'm SO SO SO sick of weighing in the 180s.


So this week I gave it a try.  I watched my calorie burn closely each day and kept my deficit to 800 or a little under.  This means I was constantly eating.  I really wondered what would happen.  I ate as much as 2695 calories one day!  I was sure I was not going to lose.


The 2nd day I was down a pound.  

As of today I'm down a total of 4 pounds, and 1% body fat.


Whoa.


By eating more food.


In researching this a little bit, I found that if you eat less than your BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) then your body may go into starvation mode.  Add one of my crazy workouts to it (to the tune of 1200 calories burned) and I'm seriously holding on to fat.  My BMR is around 1850 according to my body bugg measurements.  So if I lay around all day, I will burn 1850 calories.


I was eating 1500/calories day.  I didn't necessarily feel hungry, or bad, so I don't know if I would have figured it out had I not asked the question.  PLEASE realize I have not done this on purpose!  If you've followed my blog at all, you know that I'm all about a healthy lifestyle, NOT starvation, NOT dieting, etc.  I truly thought 1500 calories/day was healthy for me.  And it would be.  If I laid around all day. :)

I was literally, inadvertently starving myself.  I just cannot get over this.  Doesn't it go against everything in the world to be "dieting" but eating plenty?  The difference between before and now is that I'm an athlete now.  I need to feed the athlete!


Part of me is ecstatic.  The other part really frustrated that it took me this long to figure it out!  I'm going to focus on the ecstatic for now.

Honestly, not losing consistently was getting frustrating.  I was sure I was doing something not perfectly, but would never have guessed it was that I wasn't eating enough.


Now, I can actually see how this healthy eating lifestyle is going to work - forever.  I can see this last 20 pounds coming off and reaching my goal in the next 6 months or so.  I can see myself no longer stressing trying to fit only 1500 calories into my day - do you know how hard that is?  I can finally see myself being, well, normal.


Though I must admit its also been difficult to find 2000 calories of healthy food to eat.  I find myself eating 300 calorie snacks now - so my Larabar with an apple.  Or a cheese stick and a protein bar before a workout.


Yes, I'm elated.  And hoping to continue to report on this awesome downward trend here.  Maybe I will ditch the 180s soon! 


When I first got the Body Bugg I was interested in how it would work.  A few people asked me what I thought and while I liked the program, the device, etc., it has taken me 7 months to figure out how to REALLY use it.  My fault for not asking my question sooner!  Really, for me, I would have had to play with my calories to figure out how to find the perfect balance.  I absolutely know now that the Body Bugg is going to do its thing for me and take me on to my goal weight and athletic/strength goals.


Please keep in mind that not everyone should eat 2000-2500 calories a day.  I don't want a bunch of emails and comments from the peanut gallery that they listened to Clara, upped their calorie intake and gained 10 pounds, ok?  You have to match your activity to your eating and not overdo it.  If you seem to hit a plateau, try to eat a little bit more and see what happens!  Everyone is different. 

A few random things:


If you are interested in a Body Bugg, I wanted to share that they are on sale right now.  (I don't use my blog to make money so don't worry, I'm not making anything off of sharing this with you).  Typically it is $298.95 for the whole system, but its on sale right now for $188 which is less than I paid last year!  This set includes the Body Bugg, digital display watch (very handy for tracking your burn throughout the day) and 6 months online subscription to their program.  The program is where you log everything in and sync up your bugg.  Once the subscription runs out, its still affordable, I just paid $50 for a year renewal (there are coupon codes out there constantly on the facebook page).  Click here for more info!


I had someone ask me once how to eat healthy at a Mexican restaurant.  Well I'm lucky enough to have one that serves this:

That is a grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli and a side of guacamole and jalapenos.  Yeah, I ate a few chips too, and put a few tablespoons of cheese sauce on my chicken.  I don't recommend the chips on a regular basis because they are fried, but a few won't usually put you over the edge.  This was SO good!


And I'll leave you with a recipe here.  It's super simple and forgive me for not measuring, but its just how I roll when it comes to these types of things.


Skillet Zucchini
3 small to medium zucchini squashes
2 tsp olive oil
smoked paprika
sea salt
curry
white pepper
chili powder


Heat olive oil in a non stick pan.  Slice the zucchini into rounds, halve them if it is a fatter squash.  Sprinkle all spices and mix.

Sautee on medium high heat just until they are lightly browned.  If you overcook them, they will get mushy!  You want them slightly crispy still.

SO yummy!  And very good for you.  1 cup equals 43 calories, 1.8 g fat (1.3 of that being the good, monounsaturated fat), 455 g potassium, 7.1 g carbs, 2.5 g dietary fiber and 3.0 g sugar, with 1.2 g protein.  You also get almost half of your Vitamin A need for the day met with just 1 serving!


Hope you enjoy - I do a very similar sautee with asparagus and it is ALWAYS a hit!  My husband prefers my sauteed asparagus to french fries.  That says alot.


Have a great week everyone! Thanks for all of your support. It means a ton.


~Clara