I just don't know why... I feel hopeless

[needtofit]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your helpful input anf encouragement. I feel like I already feel much better now.

I think I definitely bloat the most after dinner, which is the meal I eat the most at. I will try to add some healthy proteins and fat. Before today, I thought fat was totally bad for me and just tried to eat carbs and vegetables. (and red meat since that's what my family usually eats...)

Now I think about it, I definitely have some pretty bad gestures... lying on the table; holding my face with one hand, putting my leg on the chair, etc.

My metabolism is very weird. If I don't do any activities, my metabolism is veeeryy slow. One thing I worry about is getting thicker thighs because of jogging... I want to love weight, but I'm kind of scared of getting thick thighs if I do it everyday... Also, how can I keep myself from being bored while exercising? I have a tredmill at home, but I can't do anything (watch TV, etc.) while running because of the loud noise from the machine.

Also, how do I know if I need to lose weight or it's time to maintain my weight? I think partly because I'm so used to eating about in the past 6 or so years (I had unlimited food everyday after school,) I don't know how much food is "enough." I also seem to have a very drastic change in shape (which I think is good in some ways since it makes me look skinnier) once I go under 110. I'd loved to maintain my weight at that level, but I've failed several times... (wore pretty clothes for maybe a week and then rebounce.) how should I maintain a healthy weight and body shape?

 

[ck2006]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your helpful input anf encouragement. I feel like I already feel much better now.

I think I definitely bloat the most after dinner, which is the meal I eat the most at. I will try to add some healthy proteins and fat. Before today, I thought fat was totally bad for me and just tried to eat carbs and vegetables. (and red meat since that's what my family usually eats...)

Now I think about it, I definitely have some pretty bad gestures... lying on the table; holding my face with one hand, putting my leg on the chair, etc.

My metabolism is very weird. If I don't do any activities, my metabolism is veeeryy slow. One thing I worry about is getting thicker thighs because of jogging... I want to love weight, but I'm kind of scared of getting thick thighs if I do it everyday... Also, how can I keep myself from being bored while exercising? I have a tredmill at home, but I can't do anything (watch TV, etc.) while running because of the loud noise from the machine.

Also, how do I know if I need to lose weight or it's time to maintain my weight? I think partly because I'm so used to eating about in the past 6 or so years (I had unlimited food everyday after school,) I don't know how much food is "enough." I also seem to have a very drastic change in shape (which I think is good in some ways since it makes me look skinnier) once I go under 110. I'd loved to maintain my weight at that level, but I've failed several times... (wore pretty clothes for maybe a week and then rebounce.) how should I maintain a healthy weight and body shape?

My thighs never went thicker running and doing weights at first, in fact I lost 4 inches, and the only reason I say at first is because I was on a specific program after to get them bigger.

 

[Sassy69]

First - DO NOT be scared of change in response to exercise. Think about how people look who do various types of activities in the extreme - if you do LOTS of jogging - what do endurance athletes look like - skinny! But they also actually have a surprisingly high bodyfat - not because they are fat but rather they don't have much muscle. Now think about what a sprinter looks like - lean but muscled legs. Not overly developed but beautiful lean definition.

So that gives you an idea of some other things to do besides "jog" - do intervals on your treadmill - e.g. 3-5 min warm up then sprint for 30 sec, then jog / "recover" for 60 sec, then sprint again and repeat the cycle 8-10 times and then a 3-5 min cool down. The total may end up being 20-30 min and you really don't have time to worry about watching tv or something. That approach to cardio will really kick your butt!

Another thing you can do is set the angle on the treadmill really steep w/ slow speed and do walkign lunges.

Usually if you start to "get big" from training it means you need to adjust your diet. You need to have some protein & carbs to provide you energy & stuff to build muscle with - but if you see that you're getting "thicker" then recheck your diet. Muscle can be the most beautiful thing on a lean body. Skinny / no muscle because you don't want to "get big" is just annoyign in my opinion (but that's just me). And finally you don't need to worry about "getting big" like a guy from lifting because a female body simply does not create enough natural testosterone to grow mass like that so don't be scared of it. You can make all sorts of changes in your body by training & dieting for your goals.

Some good guidelines for a diet are:

* Eat 10-12 x your body weight = total calories. Lean towards the higher number if you need to build some muscle mass.

* Break your meals into 5-6 small meals every 2-3 hrs over the course of the day. I try to keep a protein serving in each meal.

* A good baseline ratio of macronutrients is 40% protein /30% carbs / 30% fats.

I recommended the BODY FOR LIFE book earlier - this is a fantastic book that presents a very flexible diet program that meets very close to the above but helps explain how your body uses those nutrients and why you would do the recommended 5-6 meals, etc. You don't need to buy the EAS products but the point is that the book is a fantastic intro to how nutrition works and frankly, if you can get your mind around how it works (and get rid of all these myths & misconceptions that people have - like don't eat fats because they make you fat --- that is completely wrong!!!!!). Then you can get to the part of nutrition where you know how to tweak & adjust your diet for the goals you want instead of feeling completely confused and lost.

Also use a food counts program like www.fitday.com to build your meal plans and see what you are REALLY eatign as far as total calories and % protein / fat / carb.

 

[needtofit]

Thank you again for the great information! I will look for the Body for Life book in my local library or bookstore!

Another question I have is that whenver I exercise (for a week or so) I get really tired in the morning. For some reason, I just can't wake up. (Im usually not that good at waking up either, but whenever I exercise, I feel like I can't make my eyes open in the morning to wake up. This has also been a reason I couldn't keep up exercising...) Is this because I often run/jog at night? (9-10 pm)

 

[Sassy69]

How early do you wake up? I.e. do you get a full night sleep and is it good quality sleep?

Another thought I have is that you are 18 - from some of the stuff I've heard, your body has different sleep demands at different phases of life and the teenage years happened to be one when all you want to do is sleep in. Are you always tired even regardless of exercising the night before? I sleep pretty good and I usually train between 8-9 pm if not later.

 

[al420]

I love this part of EF - it's like getting e-hugs all post long. You are a special group of ladies - keep it up!

 

[needtofit]

I sleep at around 12 and wake up at 7. If I don't exercise, it take me probably around 5 minutes to wake up in the morning. If I exercise, it often takes me longer. I feel like I'm still "in dream." It feels like all my muscles are really tired and I JUst fell asleep or something...

 

[Sassy69]

Maybe that just means your body is responding to the physical exertion by putting you into a deeper sleep. I wouldn't consider that a bad thing. It does give you an idea of the importance of one of the factors that isn't so apparent but is so critical to "getting fit" -- recovery time. Some people think that just training all the time is how you get "fit", when really its a balance between diet, training/cardio and recovery time. Your body loves to get the exertion but as you're seeing, it also needs to the time to recover and prepare for the next round. If you do nothing (sedentary lifestyle) then your body really doesn't have those stimulations to respond in any way except sluggishly. Personally I think that also translates to poor quality sleep as well. It is a bit of conditioning to get past the 'really sore muscles' feeling but its such an amazingly good feeling - sort of reminds me that I'm still alive and all the parts still work!

 

[needtofit]

I see... that makes me less worried!

I have another question... it just happened yesterday afternoon and this morning, but I felt like I had low blood sugar. So what I did was I ate my lunch before lunch time and THen, bought another lunch (more fat and sauce) from the cafeteria because I still didn't feel full. Now I realize that I have eaten more calories than I should... How should I break this cycle? Should I eat more in the morning? (usually I eat one sandwich in the morning, and one sandwich and a fruit for lunch.)

Also, generally how much should I eat during lunch/snack to prevent low blood sugar and feeling like I am going to "sink down"?

 

[cindylou]

hmmm. try and balance your meals so your blood sugar stays STABLE all of the time. And cut out ALL sugar. All forms of it.

Example ; more meals throughout the day with all carbs being complex and mixed with protein to keep you full and blood sugar stable that way it wont drop.

When I'm feeling like that I up my protein to 50% of my cals so
it ends up being 50/30/20 (protein/carbs/fat) lower the carbs a little and keep them complex carbs ; no sugar.

I only do that for a while because thats ALOT of protein anyway to be trying to digest but you could lower it after awhile.

Just a suggestion ; but I've gotten pretty good at keeping mine pretty stable. I'm basically never hungry and can drop my cals pretty low and still feel sane. lol.