Re: 4th week and gaining weight....ugh!!!

[Guest guest]

>

> I started this diet because of the free day...but maybe

> they are killing me as I took the author by his word that we could

> eat what we wanted on that day....It's not true is it?

>

You might want to post a sample menu for a day or two to see what

choices you are making.

I've also seen a few people who switch from low carb to higher carb

diets gain a few lbs in the transitions and then lose it again.

How are your measurements? Have you lost any inches?

Colleen

[Guest guest]

You have several different things happening at once:

going from a very low-carb diet to a moderate-carb diet

going from pretty seriously undereating for your activity level to

eating like an athlete

going from almost 2 hours of cardio a day to 20 minutes three times a week

and going from being very strict with your diet to eating whatever you

want on free day

Overall that means you've wrecked your calorie deficit. The

combination of increasing your food and cutting back your cardio means

you're now taking in a lot more calories than you're burning. That's

not necessarily a bad thing if you were undereating and overtraining

before. After a bit of an adjustment period, things should turn around

for you and you should be able to drop any extra fat, build some new

muscle, and continue improving without knocking yourself out to the

degree you were before. Check out my article on low-calorie dieting:

http://www.skwigg.com/id27.html .

I think you made the right choice switching to Body for Life because

it's something that you'll be able to keep doing for years. 1,200

calories, 2 hours of cardio, and 30g of carbs a day wouldn't have been

maintainable for a lifetime.

You can ease the transition though, by putting back in some moderate,

recreational cardio in addition to your 20 minutes of intense

intervals three times a week. It doesn't have to be your old daily

grind, it can be something new and fun like a kickboxing class or a

different machine. It can be something easy like a long walk most

days. It can be just adding a few minutes of moderate cardio after

your 20 minute solution. Try scaling your activity level back a little

more gradually than suddenly dropping 7 hours of cardio.

On the free day, if you really go nuts it's absolutely possible to

undo your calorie deficit for the week and stop your progress. That's

kind of self-regulating though. Most people really gross themselves

out the first few weeks or months and then they find that they don't

need it quite so much. Maybe they'll take a free meal or two instead

of a whole day. Maybe they'll take a full free day but have exactly

what they want instead of mindlessly stuffing themselves all day. You

can change free day each week based on your progress and how you're

feeling. Some weeks you might need to eat until you pass out, some

weeks you might be satisfied with one really killer piece of

cheesecake. The point of free day is you're free to eat however you

please. If you don't want to stuff yourself to the gills you don't

have to.

I can tell you that for my first couple of years of BFL, I averaged

4,000-5,000 calories a day on my free day and still had great results.

Maybe I would create a 2 pound deficit during the week and put 1 to

1.5 of those pounds back with a monster free day, but that meant that

I was still losing one pound to a half a pound a week and having a

whole lot of fun doing it. :-)

Definitely pay more attention to your measurements, the way your

clothes fit, and your body fat percentage than you do to the scale. If

you've been low-carbing forever, when you start to eat normally again

your glycogen stores will be replenished. That's the stored

carbohydrate in your muscles and liver. Fully loaded, that little

energy reserve weighs more than a pound and comes packaged with 3-4

pounds of water. You'll need that in order to train hard, so don't

fight it. Putting on a few pounds in the beginning doesn't necessarily

mean you're gaining fat. Once you turn things around, you'll be

smaller and leaner than you were before, even though the scale may

tell you you're heavier. It's all about how you look and how you feel,

not the numbers.

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:55:35 -0000, Loriann

<imaheavenbound1@...> wrote:

>

>

> Hello Gals,

> I am new to this group and was happy to find you all. I have been

> low carbing for about 5 years and went from 164 to 137. I had

> maintained 137ish for about 2 months. I ate about 1200 cals per day

> and kept my carbs to under 30. I also did aerobics 1 hour and 45

> minutes per day M-F.

>

> Well almost 4 weeks ago I started BFL....I started eating every 2

> hours from the time I got up to get my 6 meals in...my cals went from

> 1200 to about 1450 per day. My aerobics of course went down from

> almost 2 hours per day to 20 mins every other day as you all well

> know. The weight lifting has been awesome.....but I've put on 4

> pounds since starting BFL and eating early in the AM makes me hungry

> all day. I started this diet because of the free day...but maybe

> they are killing me as I took the author by his word that we could

> eat what we wanted on that day....It's not true is it?

>

> Well...going to close for now What do you guys think?

> Blessings,

> Zippety

[Guest guest]

I just want to add on top of everyone else's reply to you that you are NOT

alone!! This is

my second month following BFL, and I'm not even following it as a purist right

now. I'm

still doing it loosely, but overall I had no problems with my diet and nutrition

before--but

I did tend to have fast food more and ate large portions 3 times a day. Since

I've been on

BFL I've put on at least 5 lbs, but I know a portion of that is attributed to

muscle gain. The

other part... well, I don't really care cuz my pants feel better =). Well, some

of them do.

My stomach seems to have gotten rounder whereas my thighs are getting slimmer.

Strange. I'm predicting this week or next week the pounds will start to shed.

I do believe

I'm carrying extra water weight, even though I'm very hydrated everyday. My

body's still

going through an adjustment, partly because I've been following BFL loosely.

I'm done stressing over the scientifics of it--I know what to expect and what's

going to

happen. Just keep on truckin!! Good luck!

> On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:55:35 -0000, Loriann

> <imaheavenbound1@w...> wrote:

> >

> >

> > Hello Gals,

> > I am new to this group and was happy to find you all. I have been

> > low carbing for about 5 years and went from 164 to 137. I had

> > maintained 137ish for about 2 months. I ate about 1200 cals per day

> > and kept my carbs to under 30. I also did aerobics 1 hour and 45

> > minutes per day M-F.

> >

> > Well almost 4 weeks ago I started BFL....I started eating every 2

> > hours from the time I got up to get my 6 meals in...my cals went from

> > 1200 to about 1450 per day. My aerobics of course went down from

> > almost 2 hours per day to 20 mins every other day as you all well

> > know. The weight lifting has been awesome.....but I've put on 4

> > pounds since starting BFL and eating early in the AM makes me hungry

> > all day. I started this diet because of the free day...but maybe

> > they are killing me as I took the author by his word that we could

> > eat what we wanted on that day....It's not true is it?

> >

> > Well...going to close for now What do you guys think?

> > Blessings,

> > Zippety

[Guest guest]

Hi,

A good website for you to check out and read:

http://www.hussman.org/fitness/

A wealth of info about eating, free day, etc...

I would not waste a whole day ruining your hard work from the week

before.

Read the article it will give you a different perscpective.

> > >

> > >

> > > Hello Gals,

> > > I am new to this group and was happy to find you all. I have

been

> > > low carbing for about 5 years and went from 164 to 137. I had

> > > maintained 137ish for about 2 months. I ate about 1200 cals

per day

> > > and kept my carbs to under 30. I also did aerobics 1 hour and

45

> > > minutes per day M-F.

> > >

> > > Well almost 4 weeks ago I started BFL....I started eating

every 2

> > > hours from the time I got up to get my 6 meals in...my cals

went from

> > > 1200 to about 1450 per day. My aerobics of course went down

from

> > > almost 2 hours per day to 20 mins every other day as you all

well

> > > know. The weight lifting has been awesome.....but I've put on 4

> > > pounds since starting BFL and eating early in the AM makes me

hungry

> > > all day. I started this diet because of the free day...but

maybe

> > > they are killing me as I took the author by his word that we

could

> > > eat what we wanted on that day....It's not true is it?

> > >

> > > Well...going to close for now What do you guys think?

> > > Blessings,

> > > Zippety