my obsessions

March 4, 2006

Hi,

I tend to be obsessive with weight (especially when starting a new program or

method). AND I know all about the muscle weighs more than fat, etc, etc, etc, I

just

tend to forget about all that when I'm in one of my obsessive stages. And now

I'm

finding that I'm becoming just as obsessive with my tape measure. The really

bad

part of that is that if I don't lose, I get discouraged & don't keep following

the plan.

I've been noticing that it's starting to happen with this breathing so i've

decided to

only measure myself ONCE a month. I haven't been getting the kind of results I

was

expecting ( & you can bet that my expectations were too high anyway) but what I

am

noticing is that I'm starting to firm up & that is a great reason to keep going.

Also,

my digestion has improved & I feel better in general now that the

lightheadedness

seems to have passed.

I have a pair of size 10 pants that I use as my guide. When they are easy to do

up &

comfortable to move in. I'll be at my first real milestone. Right now i'm in

my size 12

(with stretch) & they are a bit snug. I have a little ways to go & I'll post in

when I get

to each point. I find if I make it public I'll be more likely to stick to it.

thanks for reading & being here for support,

marylene

March 4, 2006

lene,

I think that using a pair of pants and tracking their fit is probably a far

better measurement than the tape measure - at least I manage to stretch the tape

to yield the number I want! And I think a careful tracking of weight is really

important - unless you are really weight training, I doubt that your muscle mass

has changed that much (weight-wise).

For example, I reached my goal weight/size last spring. Recently I injured my

back and got lazy, stopped my daily weighing and stopped wearing tailored

clothing (stretch pants are far more comfortable!) - got a really rude awakening

a few days ago, my weight is up about 8 pounds - the tape measure shows the same

numbers, but my regular jeans are suddenly a bit snug.....back to tracking my

food (and my exercising is beginning to pick up again, thank goodness I never

had to stop my LL breathing through the injury-time!)....

I think that constant vigilance is needed to maintain a good weight - at least

for me!

Pat:

8 inches lost has got to be more than muscle change - that's a LOT! So I would

guess that you've also lost significant weight, too - why don't you weigh

yourself just to give yourself a benchmark to chart your progress from - ignore

the number if you must (maybe have a good friend look at it and record it if

you're really bothered by weighing or just go into your doctor's and have the

nurse weigh you and track it, it shouldn't cost anything), then do it each month

or so - eventually, you'll be so glad you did...

Bonnie

marylene <imhere4u1232000@...> wrote:

Hi,

I tend to be obsessive with weight (especially when starting a new program or

method). AND I know all about the muscle weighs more than fat, etc, etc, etc, I

just

tend to forget about all that when I'm in one of my obsessive stages. And now

I'm

finding that I'm becoming just as obsessive with my tape measure. The really

bad

part of that is that if I don't lose, I get discouraged & don't keep following

the plan.

I've been noticing that it's starting to happen with this breathing so i've

decided to

only measure myself ONCE a month. I haven't been getting the kind of results I

was

expecting ( & you can bet that my expectations were too high anyway) but what I

am

noticing is that I'm starting to firm up & that is a great reason to keep going.

Also,

my digestion has improved & I feel better in general now that the

lightheadedness

seems to have passed.

I have a pair of size 10 pants that I use as my guide. When they are easy to do

up &

comfortable to move in. I'll be at my first real milestone. Right now i'm in

my size 12

(with stretch) & they are a bit snug. I have a little ways to go & I'll post in

when I get

to each point. I find if I make it public I'll be more likely to stick to it.

thanks for reading & being here for support,

marylene

What can changing the way you breathe do for you? Everything!

See why tens of thousands agree, Life Lift is the best! http://www.oxygenzoo.com

March 4, 2006

lene,

I think we are all obsessive about certain things...don't you? Mine was

weighing myself every day! It drove my family and me crazy. If I didn't lose,

you could tell by my demeanor....if I did lose......you could tell by my

demeanor. It was really terrible.

I've learned to only weigh myself once a week and measure only once a month.

But trust me there are times when it drives me batty!

I have severe digestive problems and LL is the ONLY thing that seems to heal

them. The only thing I have noticed it hasn't helped in my indigestion. But my

IBS as well as other problems are basically no longer a part of my life.

If I use the Night magic they disappear completely. I've been out of that for a

bit, so I still get the cramps etc...but all I do is a dose of LL...usually

about 10 breaths and rub my tummy and it takes care of itself. It's a miracle

cure for sure.

I am most definitely rooting for you.

love,

Jenni

my obsessions

Hi,

I tend to be obsessive with weight (especially when starting a new program or

method). AND I know all about the muscle weighs more than fat, etc, etc, etc,

I just

tend to forget about all that when I'm in one of my obsessive stages. And now

I'm

finding that I'm becoming just as obsessive with my tape measure. The really

bad

part of that is that if I don't lose, I get discouraged & don't keep following

the plan.

I've been noticing that it's starting to happen with this breathing so i've

decided to

only measure myself ONCE a month. I haven't been getting the kind of results

I was

expecting ( & you can bet that my expectations were too high anyway) but what I

am

noticing is that I'm starting to firm up & that is a great reason to keep

going. Also,

my digestion has improved & I feel better in general now that the

lightheadedness

seems to have passed.

I have a pair of size 10 pants that I use as my guide. When they are easy to

do up &

comfortable to move in. I'll be at my first real milestone. Right now i'm in

my size 12

(with stretch) & they are a bit snug. I have a little ways to go & I'll post

in when I get

to each point. I find if I make it public I'll be more likely to stick to it.

thanks for reading & being here for support,

marylene

What can changing the way you breathe do for you? Everything!

See why tens of thousands agree, Life Lift is the best!

http://www.oxygenzoo.com

March 4, 2006

Hi lene,

I am glad to hear about your progress, but not so glad to hear about

your obsessiveness about your weight, as I have been there and know how

much stress that obsessiveness is causing you!! I would like to suggest

to you that the stress you are subjecting yourself to as a consequence

of your weighing yourself, and or measuring yourself, no matter how

rarely you do it, might actually be slowing your metabolism down and

making it harder for you to lose weight and inches. Our emotions have

so much of an impact on our metabolisms that it is really incredible.

So, what I am suggesting is that you just do your LL breathing without

reference to your tape measure or your scale at all. Why don't you

consider throwing them both out of the window and wishing them good

riddance. Or, if you don't want to do that, and if you can stand the

sight of your tape measure and your scale WITHOUT having the temptation

to use them, why don't you make a firm decision to use them ONLY once a

year, like maybe on your birthday each year, or only on New Year's Day

or Christmas Day? You know, I used to weigh myself every day, but when

my scale battery died the second time since I had started weighing

myself, I decided to stop weighing myself altogether!!! It has been

well over a year since I stopped weighing myself, and you know what,

lene? I find that I am really enjoying NOT knowing what my NUMBER

is. I really like just looking at myself in the mirror and seeing

myself losing weight WITHOUT reference to a number or to inches lost

over a specific length of time!!! Why don't you take my advice and try

NOT weighing and measuring yourself all the time? Just start

concentrating on doing your LL breathing each day, at least 40 times a

day, and let nature take care of the rest????? See how you like doing

that for a change? Then, you can tell all of us your results next year

when you check them. I know that this must be a novel idea, but I think

you will find that your emotional and mental state will improve

tremendously, and that that in turn will help speed up your metabolism

as you do the LL breathing as much as possible each day!!!

Love always,

Pat

marylene wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I tend to be obsessive with weight (especially when starting a new

> program or

> method). AND I know all about the muscle weighs more than fat, etc,

> etc, etc, I just

> tend to forget about all that when I'm in one of my obsessive stages.

> And now I'm

> finding that I'm becoming just as obsessive with my tape measure. The

> really bad

> part of that is that if I don't lose, I get discouraged & don't keep

> following the plan.

> I've been noticing that it's starting to happen with this breathing so

> i've decided to

> only measure myself ONCE a month. I haven't been getting the kind of

> results I was

> expecting ( & you can bet that my expectations were too high anyway)

> but what I am

> noticing is that I'm starting to firm up & that is a great reason to

> keep going. Also,

> my digestion has improved & I feel better in general now that the

> lightheadedness

> seems to have passed.

> I have a pair of size 10 pants that I use as my guide. When they are

> easy to do up &

> comfortable to move in. I'll be at my first real milestone. Right

> now i'm in my size 12

> (with stretch) & they are a bit snug. I have a little ways to go &

> I'll post in when I get

> to each point. I find if I make it public I'll be more likely to stick

> to it.

>

> thanks for reading & being here for support,

>

> marylene

>

> What can changing the way you breathe do for you? Everything!

> See why tens of thousands agree, Life Lift is the best!

> http://www.oxygenzoo.com

>

March 5, 2006

>>>I would like to suggest

to you that the stress you are subjecting yourself to as a consequence

of your weighing yourself, and or measuring yourself, no matter how

rarely you do it, might actually be slowing your metabolism down and

making it harder for you to lose weight and inches. Our emotions have

so much of an impact on our metabolisms that it is really incredible.<<<<

Do you have an medical article to back this up? I know that stress can cause us

to eat which in itself can cause us to gain at the worst, or at the least not

lose, however I've never heard that weighing ourselves or measuring ourselves

will cause us to slow down our metabolism *smile* That's a new one on me.

Particularly if you are doing the LifeLift program. I happen to know that doing

the breaths speeds up our metabolism and lowers our stress, which in turn can

cause us to lose both pounds and inches.

If indeed you are following the program, I know without a doubt that my

metabolism neither slows or quickens if I am weighing and/or measuring myself.

In fact, I have found that it counteracts many things that normal exercise and

dieting do not deal well with,stress being one of the most obvious ones.

After doing several searches on the internet, I found this article (along with

many others) that encourage us to breath as well as to keep an eye on our pounds

and inches. No where did I find an article that said measuring or weighing

would slow down our metabolism.

Anyhow here's a copy of the article from a personal trainer:

Dieting and Metabolism

by Cloe

ACE Certified Personal Trainer

Low calorie dieting slows your metabolism, making it progressively more

difficult to lose weight and keep it off. The failure rate of most diets is

astronomical, yet people continue to try one after another, always hoping that

each new scheme will provide the solution. If you're a veteran of the diet wars,

the one word answer to your dilemma may be muscle. Let's take a look at why

diets often fail and how strength training and a healthy appetite can rev up

your metabolism.

Dieting fails due to a combination of hormonal changes, muscle loss, and

flat out frustration. When faced with a shortage of calories, your body's

natural response is to conserve fat. This mechanism may have come in handy for

your distant ancestors trying to survive a famine, but the " starvation response "

and it's associated hormonal changes make life difficult for many a dieter.

If a dieter persists long enough with the self-imposed famine, the body

begins to break down muscle tissue for fuel. When protein is broken down, it

releases nitrogen. Your body will quickly wash away the nitrogen by releasing

water from tissue cells, causing an immediate reduction in water weight and a

noticeable drop on the scale. However, water and muscle loss is nothing to

celebrate. The water weight will be quickly regained as soon as you have

something to drink, and the missing muscle can wreak havoc on your metabolism

for a good long time.

Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. It requires a certain number of

calories each day to maintain itself. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the

more calories you burn even when you're just sitting around. As your muscle mass

drops, so does your daily calorie requirement. Suppose, for example, that a

dieter loses 10 pounds of muscle (along with maybe 20 lbs. of fat) on a strict

diet. Now suppose that each pound of muscle had been burning 50 calories a day

just sitting there. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500

calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500

fewer calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss.

However, we know that most dieters won't keep up the starvation routine

for long. They'll eventually return to their old eating habits. When this

happens, the weight inevitably comes piling back on. The kicker is that while

they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, what they put back was all fat.

So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now

have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. This

means that their metabolisms are slower and their calorie requirements are

lower. Even if they return to their pre-diet eating habits, they still require

500 fewer calories a day due to the muscle loss. That's one reason dieters are

prone to regaining all of the lost weight and then some.

The solution to this dilemma is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic

exercise, a solid weight training program, and a healthy diet. What is a healthy

diet you ask? A healthy diet is based around whole grains, fresh fruits and

vegetables, and lean protein. A healthy diet keeps your metabolism in high gear

with 4 to 6 small meals a day. It's flexible enough to allow for popcorn at the

movies or cake at a birthday party. No food is off-limits, but sweets and high

fat junk food are eaten less often and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is

realistic and permanent; not something you suffer through for a week or two and

then quit.

The goal is to consume as many calories as you can while still losing body

fat and maintaining or gaining lean muscle. If your calories are already below

normal, don't restrict them further. Instead stick with your current amount and

focus on becoming stronger and more active, so you can gradually increase your

calories to a normal healthy level. If your calorie intake is already in a

healthy range, decrease it only slightly, and only if necessary. A small

reduction of about 250 calories a day, or 10-15 percent less than usual, is more

likely to protect your lean muscle and less likely to trigger a slow-down in

your metabolism.

Following this type of routine, it's possible to gain about one pound of

muscle per week and lose about one pound of fat per week. The end result is that

the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. Your

clothes will get loser and your self-esteem will sky-rocket. Yet the number on

the scale won't budge!?!?! It's at this point that a lot of people will chuck

the weight training because they don't understand the physiology of what's

happening.

The truth is that when you're strength training it's possible to get

smaller and heavier at the same time. Muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. A

pound of muscle is like a little chunk of gold, while a pound of fat is like a

big fluffy bunch of feathers. The fat takes up more space on your body. At this

point, it's best to toss out the bathroom scale and rely on the way you look and

the way your clothes fit. The scale can be misleading and discourage you when

you're actually doing great.

The bottom line is that you want to make strong, healthy, positive changes

rather than punishing your body and your spirit with starvation. Your goal is

the sleek healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy what they eat.

You want to avoid at all costs the frail sagging body of a chronic dieter who

has to measure every morsel.

For more information on active lifestyles, strength training, and healthy

eating, check out the articles in the Fitness Library. In particular, you'll

want to look at:

Easy Ways to Boost Your Activity Level

Healthy Eating Based on the Food Guide Pyramid

I found this very encouraging.

warmly,

Jenni

March 5, 2006

Maybe I'm reading it differently, but I think what was saying that

stressing over weighing yourself *might* slow down the metabolism (if I'm

reading her post correctly.) I do know that too much cortisol, released in

response to stress can cause fat storage (don't know about the metabolism thing

- but I think fat storage and metabolism are all linked).

BTW, I weigh myself frequently. It helps me, although I know that it

discourages others.

Melinda )

Re: my obsessions

>>>I would like to suggest

to you that the stress you are subjecting yourself to as a consequence

of your weighing yourself, and or measuring yourself, no matter how

rarely you do it, might actually be slowing your metabolism down and

making it harder for you to lose weight and inches. Our emotions have

so much of an impact on our metabolisms that it is really incredible.<<<<

Do you have an medical article to back this up? I know that stress can cause

us to eat which in itself can cause us to gain at the worst, or at the least not