1/2 stone that just won't shift!

2

Comments

  • Although cellulite can be improved visably with various methods and products, it is not something that will disappear completely. I have been working on this issue for 6 years now and I am just having to deal with it. If you would like to know the things that can improve it, let me know your price range, I will let you know the options x

    Weight? Well I have just resigned to putting my scaled in the loft. Since running, my appetite has grown, my weight is increasing, but looking and feeling better than ever, so goodbye scales.

    Legs. I read that heavier weights and less reps buids muscle. Smaller weights and more reps tone. While I was trying to slim down I only did aerobics and light weight work. Heavy weights will make you bulk up and if you turn to aerobic/cardio (like Cassbags said).

    I also use skin brushing, excellent for the blood flow x

    FP x
  • Thanks you two!

    I spoke to my friend tonight and have impressed upon him the need for lean and mean, so i think we will now have a change of plan in that respect. I'd love to run twice a day but time is against me there, as is all the skin brushing and stuff - all good theory i know, but how do you find the time to do it? I've always moisturised every day, so thats covered! I guess cellulite is one of those things to put up with - I know there is no miracle cure!!

    Finally - at the risk of sounding stupid - what is interval training exactly?
  • If you look on the beginners section on this site you will find a beginners schedule for interval training.

    Interval training is (as I understand it) where you confuse your body. You run for a few mins and walk a bit, run again, etc. You can do this on different inclines, different speeds, all set out to improve endurance and stamina.

    Personally, I love it! Keeps me interested. Also from what I understand it burns more calories and increases your metabolism.

    FP x
    Do I have that right peeps?

    FP x
  • Emma, I have found my cellulite has improved since starting running and I have only been running since the end of May, so hopefully it will improve further!! The weight issue is annoying, I am trying to lose a stone but nothing has shifted so far, but as FP says the toning is noticable, I am feeling great and my clothes look better, it has given me more confidence but if only I could forget about the scales!!! I am now only weighing once a week but even then I get fed up so now I am thinking of looking at Fairy Princesses option to put them in the loft! Good Luck!! Pinkfairy :)
  • Pink Fairy,

    My cellulire has improved too. I was just checking out my rear and it has just almost happened all of a sudden. Not completely of course, but slightly.

    I am going to my slimming world meeting tonight, and debating on wether to quit altogether. It only depresses me when I see the same weight or more. Think I should quit?

    But I must say, tummy flat (except when eaten) legs and arms looking better......

    Pink Fairy, is that you on your pic, or just a cool pic x

    FP x


  • Fairy Princess - ditch the diet club - you know muscle weighs more!!! I got to admit, by body shaoe has never been better since I've been running and, like all women, I'm sooooo critical of it!!!

    I'm going to try interval training next and also thinking of buying a bike (idea is to bike to the gym and bike home after - can you see me pulling that off!!!).

    Cool pics of both of you fairy types - I've no digital camera and haven't figured out to put piccy on - will do tho. Might change my name - having my own's a bit well, boring!!!

    Mx

    p.s. Ta for the support tho - makes such a difference!!
  • Well I'm starting to get real down about this - have gone froma size six prior to joining a running club almost to a size ten!!!!

    God knows what I'm doing wrong! I run 7-8 miles 2-4 times per week, cycle between 50-70 miles per week, weight traing three times per week (twice upper, once lower) and do aerobiking. Me thinks I'm doing too much!!

    I do need help getting it right though - have been struggling with an eating disorder for some years now. The only way I can suffice eating more is by exercising more. It does my head in!!!

    Any one else suffered
  • Cassbags, you're doing too much!! When is your recovery time in there - in an ideal world you should be alternating cardio/weights so the different muscle groups have around 24hrs to recover. I'm a bit of a b****r and train 6 times a week too, but I do give myself one day of rest - you really should try and schedule this in. If you feel guilty, treat it as a detox day. How tall are you? I'd guess size six is underweight but a size 10 is a good size - I think the crux for you here is the eating disorder - I'm no expert but do you think you may be replacing the food fixation with an exercise fixation? Be easy on yourself! I hope I don't sound patronising - I'm worried about you here, girl!! Anyway - thought for the day - At the height of her olympic career, Sharron Davies, at 5.7, weighed 10 stone and was a size 10. Thats what I'm aiming at.

    Really hope I've helped not hindered!

    Also - 'nother good tip - if you get the nibbles in the day, munch on pumpkin seeds - loads of eneregy in them, v little fat and general all round good egg of health food shops!! Remind me of the texture of cashew nuts and are really filling.
  • Emma,

    Nothing at all wrong with what you've said. I'm 5ft tall so a size 6 isn't that disasterous for someone my size.

    What you've said about replacing fitness with food is true, but it never seems as though I do enough. I'll try to remain sane during a rest day and see what that brings. Too many goals with too little time....

  • Stick with it Cassbags - its got to be worth it!!

    Also detox days make you feel really self rightous!!

    keep us posted how you are getting on - maybe see you at a race one day??!
  • Thanks Emma - much appreciated. Would be great. Where roughly are you located? I'm in Swindon, Wiltshire. Am happy to race up to 30 miles of home.
  • Blimey - I'm in North Wales - furthest I've travelled so far is the Great North - doing it again this year, so wish me luck!

    Tried Interval Training on Saturday - did it in the gym on the treadmill, alternating two mins jog and two mins running at speed. I managed 30 mins in total but blimey it was hard work!! Still, strangely enough, I feel thinner already? Also doing deep stretches - this helps elongate the muscle after strenuos exercise (can you tell I'm parrotting that from an expert?

    Anyway, onwards and forwards and all that..
  • May I ask...

    Fairyprincess, you say that you now have ae flat tummy. In a separate post I was seeking some advice as to how to rid myself of a wobbly tummy. I started running about 2 months ago and have been going to the gym consistently up to 4 times a week since April this year. I run 5 miles 6 times a week and am also doing yoga, light free weights (since 5 weeks ago) and pilates on the side. I am 5'5 and the weight has dropped from 51kg to 49kg. While the arms and legs have firmed up, I am starting to notice that my clothes are getting tighter!!! In fact I have this blob of flesh on my lower abdomen that juts out no matter what I do. Taking into account the fact I do eat quite a bit of carbohydrate nowadays (bagel for brekkie, at least 2 slices of thick bread for lunch plus whatever else and some form of carbohydrate for dinner) and I drink fizzy drinks, this sudden appearance of a blob is most perplexing. This is particularly so given I've always had a small lower abdomen even when I weighed 51kg.

    Any suggestions would be most warmly welcome... thanks guys! :)
  • I started running to lose weight and ended up having to lose weight to improve my running. The only thing that has worked for me is following the Atkins diet, despite all it's bad press i have plenty of energy for exercise, except for the first 5 or 6 days you are on it. I have struggled for much of the last 10yrs with an excess stone that i can't permanently shift and then 2 mons on Atkins not only have i kept it off but i feel much more energised. I do eat carbs but only good ones now ( no white bread, processed muck etc )- seems to have helped with the stomach probs i have when running as well ( touch wood!! )
  • Yogagirl,

    Does this blob on your lower abs extend all the way round your hips? I have suffered from something similar a number of times when over-training and not eating enough. I believe it's named "skinny-fat". This occurs when you eat too little, and your body then stores all fat around your most important organs - for us ladies the womb. The only way to rid of it is to eat more. Shocking I know, but that;s the facts. Is 49kg a healthy weight for your height? I'm 5ft, by no means overwweight, very toned and weigh the same. I have to admity that I don't eat enough either.
  • Cassbags - that's spot-on, I see only fat on lower abs and around the hips. It's not the first time over-training starvation has been mentioned to me.

    How do you know whether youa re over-training and under-eating? And how much is too much and how much is too little?!!

  • Some thing I read said to take your weight in kg and multpily this by 22. This gives you your resting calorie requirements. Then add about 20-25% if moderately active, or lower if sedentiary (i.e. desk job). I skipped this part as I sit all day. Then add the calories you burn through exercise and this is your daily requirement. You haven't considered the rise in metabolic rate after exercise either so this is a safe calculation. To lose weight successfully, you should reduce your intake by 10-20% of the total.

    A good way to ensure you're not overtraining is by using a heart rate monitor. If you go out for an easy run, and you're busting a gut to complete your distance, AND your heart rate is really high for the pace, you've overtrained and need a day off. On the alternate side, if you do a hard speed session or long distance and you heart rate is fairly low, you're spot on with your training. Another way is to make sure you're not suffering from strained muscles for more than two days, that no aches and pains are lingering, and just a general check on your emotions too - if anxious, depressed or real tired you're doing too much.

    I've experienced a lot of depression recently, slept for over 14 hours one night at the weekend, and strained to get out of bed after 12 hours of sleep the following night!

    The "skinny-fat" theory is often the case for most female athletes. We all know that fat evenly disperses itself from normal weight gain, so this defo applies.

    It is hard to just up your calories though, but give it a go.
  • Yogagirl,

    Cassbags is bang on with what she says - its hard to up your calorie intake but it does work, try eating more during the daye and nothing for minimum two hours before bedtime and defo not alchol on an evening!! (A tuffy I know!). I used to do the starvation thing until a personal trainer mate of mine told me this little tale about not eating - imagine you are really hungry and you can have a choice of nice lean meat or a lump of fat such as lard. You'd chose the meat right. Now imagine you are your body (daft but bear with me!) - you're starving hungary cos you haven't been fed - what you gonna go for - the fat we want to get rid of or the muscle we want to keep for that toned honed look? yep - you guessed it - we start to digest our muscle first!! So in other words, when we don't eat enough, we turn our bodies in to cannibals, Yummy yummy, eat my tummy. Put paid to my picking at rubbish and not eating "food" anyway"

    Also, don't forget it doesn;t matter how much you run, the ab muscle will not tone up unless you work on them as well - try some lower body crunches and leg raises for the lower abs. I've got a pretty good selection if you need some hints and remember - small controlled movements are the way forwrd!

    TTFN.

    ps Did anyone see Sharron Davies in the Daily Mail today - notwithstanding the good old airbrush (how I wish I hd one of those), boy did she look good!
  • Emma,
    Thanks for the advice. My biggest vice is that I LOVE sleeping on a full stomach. I'd often be eating Haggen-daaz strawberry yogurt ice cream at 10pm and sleeping by 10.30pm. Is that a big no-no?

    Has anybody tried wheat-free lifestyle? What can you consume as carbohydrates that is easy to cook?
  • Yogagirl,

    I am on a wheat-free diet as it bloats me bigtime. I tend to live off organic oats for breakfast, wheat-free bread (available from most leading superstores), and corn pasta. I do have to admit though that if I try to curb my carbs too much I crave wheat like a maniac and tend to get through a box full of wheat flakes in one sitting!!!
  • Yes, I live near a health food store (although no longer, as am moving in 2 weeks' time!) that sells wheat-free food. I will try it for a few months and let you all know how it goes.

    P.s. I did some quick calculation, and I am pretty sure that I consume on average about 1600 calories per day. Can I possibly be exercising so hard that I'm on the brink of starvation even on a 1600 calorie intake?
  • Yogagirl, not at all, but I did notice that of the carbs you are eating, they're likely to have a low GI (Glycaemic Index). The lower the GI, the quicker the energy is transported into your bloodstream, and therefore either used by your muscles, or stored as glycogen (thereby causing a sugar low). Bagels and white bread are renowned for this. Have you tried eating protein with your bagel and scooping out the majority of the dough? maybe try tuna and mayo with sweetcorn on a bagel - sounds gross for brekkie, but will keep you going way into lunchtime, and you can snack before hungry.

    How about also repalcing the bread with a jacket spud if you are able to? Or making some wholegrain rie the night before and chuck in some chopped veggies too - mushrooms, kidney beans, soya chunks, onions, carrots - that kind of thing. These foods are much more filling, and of lower GI - i.e. the energy is released slowly into your bloodstream, and it takes longer for you to feel hungry.

    Give it a go.

  • Yes, I am definitely going to go off the bagels. It's just my gym has free bagels in the mornings. And they are addictive. I'll be moving away from the US and from the bagel-environment soon, so hopefully I'll get back to healthier eating.
    I'll definitely try eating higher GI food. Makes sense.
    P.s. jacket potatoes don't exist over here! Everything's fries, fries and more fries!
  • Thanks for this. I was wondering why I had got fatter over the last 2 weeks but am doing more exercise. It's cos I am not eating as I have changed ADs.
  • Interesting. I eat about 8oz of chicken a week, and one day a week I treat myself to an 8oz beef fillet - the rest is pulses and vegetables. Breakfast is a key meal I used to skip - now I have bran and sugar/salt free muesli. I now run 25 miles a week, but have only lost about a kilo or two since I started a year ago (when I struggled to run for a minute non-stop), but I've dropped 2-3 inches off my waist and I run faster and with less effort (and a lot more pleasure) - so the weight thing isn't the whole story. As someone earlier noted - you replace fat with muscle, your weight goes up, because muscle is more dense than fat. So I'd say do everything in moderation, unless you really want an Olympic placing. The real result I think is how you feel - and once I've done my first half marathon in 6 weeks time I'll let you know!
  • Another issue I have is midnight feasting!! I always get up to use the toilet in the middle of the nigth and have to pass thru the kitchen! Before I know it I've been munching on dried muesli for 10 mins!!! Has anyone else suffered from this? I know that it's probs due to low blood sugar levels during the night from not eating enough before bed, but a snack before sleep hasn't helped. Neither has putting post-it notes on the fridge and cupboards! If I can curb this I'll be well on my way to a better eating regime.
  • cassbags - eat enough during the day, not a snack before bed - if you keep your energy levels high throughout the day you won't get short at night - do you starve yourself in the day? If so your body will demand more food, and at night when your willpower is low you'll succumb to the snackies. Eat breakfast! I used not to, but snce I started doing a good breakfast I've lost weight - tests show if you put three groups pof people on the same calorie diet the ones who get most clories at breakfast lose weight, those who get it at lunch keep their weight, and those who eat in the evening gain weight - so shift the intake to the morning and you'll benefit - and you'll be able to do so much more during the day too.
  • Hey all,

    Just back from holidays where I didn't really work out much but was eating my normal amount of food, if not more (oh lovely steak...). Surprisingly I didn't pile on pounds. Am I a living testament to the skinny fat syndrome or what??!

    I'm also starting to consider going wheat-free given I do own a bread-maker and can substitute flour with rice flour etc... any suggestions as to websites that have wheat-free recipes?
  • Well I'm starting to get real down about this - have gone froma size six prior to joining a running club almost to a size ten!!!!
    quote cass:
    God knows what I'm doing wrong! I run 7-8 miles 2-4 times per week, cycle between 50-70 miles per week, weight traing three times per week (twice upper, once lower) and do aerobiking. Me thinks I'm doing too much!!

    I do need help getting it right though - have been struggling with an eating disorder for some years now. The only way I can suffice eating more is by exercising more. It does my head in!!!

    Any one else suffered '

    hmm didn:t know there was a brit version of runners world! cass i think im in the same boat and sooo frustrated! tho im totally overweight and so embarassed... im 5'5" and 11 st... or 154lbs... sigh... i work out like a maniac, eat as little as possible, but nothing is working! only the running seems to help somewhat, the faster and longer i run, the more weight i can lose on about 1400 cals a day...tho i feel sooo tired when i do this!

    my number one excuse to not run everyday is just being sooo tired! im still smoking tho and don:t get alot of sleep at the right times either, and am also in school (still) which limits time alot... i try to bike a few ski hills at least once a week, maybe 7 hr rides but very very easy, well except for the climbing...

    i went out tonite with a running club and they were sooo fast! im so depressed, gods men about twice my age where whipping past, potbellied runners you name it!

    let me know if you figure it out... the only thing that has ever lead to any gains for me is increasing time... try one really long 10 hr ride, or mountaineering is really good as well... tho i am hardly one to give advice good luck!!!
  • Yoga

    No expert, but 1600 calories seems very low to me.

    recommended intake for a woman is roughly 2000. So you are already consuming 2,800 calories less, than recommended per week.

    5 miles (approx 750 calories) 6 times per week a further burn of 3,750 calories a week.

    Total weekly calorie deficit 6,550.

    As i say, i'm no expert, and fully expect to be wrong on this :o), but looking at it simplisticly, itoes seem to be a huge calorie deficit, especially for someone so active.

    Dan
Sign In or Register to comment.