MimiMeirah's Notizen

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06 Februar 2014

Very slow process, but it is still a progress. Body fat percentage went down to 27.8%. I do not want to make more calorie restrictions, because it won't be beneficial for the long run. I am committed to my weekly four workouts, which are always changing due to the nature of Crossfit, so I need to make sure I eat enough to accomplish with my exercise too. It is an important day for me, I spent some time to revise my goals. Let me explain this whole thing.

I am using beyond the white board (it is a Crossfit log in system) to log my workouts and weight with body fat percentage measurements, and I am doing my logs over there quite a long time ago. I like to see their summary regarding to my strength progress and body composition changes.
Their summary states that in a year time I gained 20.8 lbs, my body fat went up with 3.4%, and my lean body mass increased with 9.1 lbs (my height is 5'10"). It is true approximately a year ago I was 173.0 lbs, my lean mass was 130.8 lbs, and my body fat percentage was 24.4%. Beyond the whiteboard states that I gained 20.8 lbs within a year. My highest weigh in was recorded at 199.2 lbs in September, 2013, because due to my weight gain I was really pissed of, and I did not record the highest point of my weight gain, which was 206 lbs on January 3, 2014, about the time, when I joined Fatsecret. Three days later I lost 4 lbs, which was pure water weight, due to my two days of extremely law carb consumption and I started my weight loss journey here.

I have had a rough year in 2013, full with stress and big changes in my life. Although, I kept going on with my workouts most of the time, I managed to gain quite a lot of weight due to my comfort eating and some muscles too, but until now I did not take this into consideration. After staying very committed to the Paleo diet for three months (it was the Lurong Paleo Challenge) at the end of 2012, and the beginning of 2013, I was 173 lbs, and I felt relatively weak. My workouts showed that I could not progress during my diet, so I thought that I need more carbs to get strong again. More or less, it felt normal to gain some weight with the process of reintroducing carbs into my diet again, but I did not pay enough attention for my alarming weight increase. In the middle of the summer of 2013, I left the USA and moved back to Europe, and after almost 3 months break of my Crossfit workouts, I joined a new Crossfit gym, here in The Netherlands. At that point my weight was around 198 lbs - 200 lbs. I was struggling with the workouts here, they seemed to be so much harder and heavier compared to my US Crossfit experience, and I was heavier and slower too. 3 or 4 months later although my weight was fluctuating only with 4-5 lbs, I started to become much stronger and faster and people realized that I looked different, although my weight did not change that much. People were always surprised to learn that I only lost 4 or 5 lbs, and I was surprised by them, because they kept telling me that I lost lots of weight. Now it makes sense, today I did the Math.

It is worth to take a look at all my numbers. Playing with the body fat percentage numbers, and all the gains and losses, I came to the conclusion I need to recalculate my goals, and need to be realistic with these numbers. When it comes to ideal weight, I do not like to use calculations based on BMI indexes. I prefer to use a formula, which takes into account my body fat percentage to calculate my ideal body weight. Using BMI, just about many people with athletic build - like almost every NFL player - is considered obese, even though most have very low body fat percentages. Conclusion from the other side you do not have to be overweight by the BMI Index to be considered “overfat” on a body fat basis. So I am happier to use this formula:

desired weight = lean weight / [1 - (desired body fat % / 100)]

Being realistic, as a female, I want to decrease my body fat percentage to 23% - 22%, and my lean weight is 139.9 lbs, therefore my desired weight is between 179.35 lbs to 181.68 lbs.

139.9 / [1 - (23% / 100)] = 181.68 lbs at 23% body fat
or
139.9 / [1 - (22% / 100)] = 179.35 lbs at 22% body fat

I had to realise that my earlier goal at 170 lbs, was not realistic and healthy at all. I am glad I did the Math to recalculate my goals.

Just to help with others here are some useful images on ideal body fat percentages with a great article:http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/

Gewicht:	Bisher verloren:	Still to go:	Diät befolgt:
87,9 kg	3,7 kg	6,7 kg	Recht gut

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29 Januar 2014

Body fat percentage was 28.1% today. I am trying to do more exercise to burn calories, then I do not need to go very low with my calorie intake. Slowly my weight is coming down, and I can see progress at this time. Luckily water retention is not an issue at the moment. Or at least it is mild, because I still able to see some progress.

I do not want to lose weight too fast, I am trying to concentrate on losing fat, and keeping my lean body mass on the same level.

I realized that there certain periods in my life, when I crave more carbs, which is OK, but I have to go with better choices. The worst combination for me to eat sugary and fatty food together, they are like cocaine to my brain, really addictive and very toxic. I am still experiencing how I should make my macros for long term, and for different hormonal periods. I need some carbs to be able to succeed with my heavy workouts, but I do not want to go over with them.

Gewicht:	Bisher verloren:	Still to go:	Diät befolgt:
88,3 kg	3,4 kg	7,1 kg	Recht gut

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28 Januar 2014

Gewicht:	Bisher verloren:	Still to go:	Diät befolgt:
88,6 kg	3,0 kg	7,4 kg	Recht gut

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21 Januar 2014

These days are not the easiest for me. Due to normal hormonal changes, I am craving carbs, and my body retains more water as usual. Physically more or less I got used to it, and it is not a big deal, because I recognized the exact same problem before. But mentally, when I am counting calories and trying to do my best to lose fat it is a pressure on me. I am trying to keep my carb numbers relatively low (usually under 150 grams per day) and my protein and fat intake higher, but these days I just cannot make it. Tried to look up for some answers, just to convince myself what I feel, how I react is normal, both ways physically and mentally too. I found this:

"During menstruation, a woman’s serotonin levels are at their lowest. And because carbohydrates (via insulin) increase the availability of the premier amino acid precursor to serotonin (tryptophan), craving carbs during your period is totally natural. It probably just means that you are low in serotonin (which, according to the research, you likely are) and your body wants to make more of it.

As for whether or not this is problematic, sports science offers another clue: during the mid-luteal phase (the two weeks leading up to menstruation) when estrogen dominates, the potential for glycogen storage is maximized. What that means is that for two weeks before your period rolls around, your muscles are primed to accept and store carbohydrate as energy (rather than as fat)."

OK, so I am still at the right place, it looks like I am not lost. I am ding what I supposed to do (even if my carb consumption increased in the last couple of days, and of course my calorie intake too), I am still within my RDI range. I cannot wait for the normal days, just to see more progress.

Today my body fat percentage is 28,4%, and my weight is 196 lbs. I know measuring my body fat percentage with an OMRON body fat monitor cannot be accurate, although I test myself under the same conditions each and every time. The more readings I do at the same time, the more different numbers I get. It is not so great and really confusing, because I get very different readings within the same minute. In the past I used a Tanita digital scale, and I had the same problem with it. I don’t really like their method either, as I find the numbers that both spit out to be horribly inaccurate; because they send an electrical current through my body, the amount of water I am carrying can drastically adjust this number.

I might need to get a fat caliper too, but they are not so accurate either. Some of my friends told me that in their experience it under estimated their body fat percentage with 2-3%. There are more accurate options out there, but they are pretty expensive and hardly accessible, plus they cost around $75 to $250 per testing session. Maybe I need to take multiple tests with my preferred methods and understand that even then it might be off by 1-3% in either direction.

Gewicht:	Bisher verloren:	Still to go:	Diät befolgt:
88,9 kg	2,7 kg	7,7 kg	Recht gut

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17 Januar 2014

Yesterday, I was not hungry and I only ate 62% of my RDI. I am not proud of it. It is a kind of insult to my body, I do not want to slow down my metabolism. So it is better to eat more. Maybe 75-80% of the RDI should be fine. I do not know, I am still not sure if my RDI number is right. It seems to be too high, but with 4-5 exercises per week I definitely need more food.

Yesterday, I had an Olympic Weightlifting practice, which was great. I really enjoyed it, it was a different type of effort from my part. I was really sweating a lot. Today, due to my not so great time management I decided to stay at home, I am not going to the gym. Well deserved rest day. It feels very good to be able to relax and to take it easy. Maybe I will go back tomorrow or Sunday morning.

I am thinking about to get a Fitbit Force monitor, it might be useful to track my burned calories, and adjust my food intake to the burned calories. Others are using the earlier edition, and they seem to be pleased with it. Having the same problem with fat monitors, and body fat scales too, they just do not seem to be accurate. Sometimes in a minute time I can read totally different results. It is a little bit confusing.

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