Every Gym’s Nightmare

Hi Kelly-
I have a question for you. I do Zumba and kickboxing 3-5 times per week and strength train twice weekly (with a trainer) and have been on this schedule since May 2009. I was eating 1300-1500 calories daily but switched to 1500 daily the beginning of October. I’m 5′2 and 176. The thing is this: I have not lost any weight. From May until now, I’ve only lost 6 pounds. My body fat percentage has gone down 8% during this time as well, but I’m really discouraged. I’ve been honest with myself and I know I’m right on with my eating and workouts. I’m just confused as to what is going on. I’m working out and eating right to be healthy, but at the same time I would like to lose some weight as I know that’s part of being healthy. I’ve talked to my trainer and she seems to be just as unsure about what is going on as I am. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much! By the way, I love your blog!
Bekah

Yeah, this is a hard one, because obviously your trainer has a better idea of what you are doin than I do, and if she’s stumped, Im probably not going to be much help.

To have your body fat go down 8% (which is huge- congrats!) and there be little weight loss is odd, but not unheard of (and definitly frustrating.) 6 pounds is still a loss, though. I’m not going to be able to give you definite answer, but your weight for your height is quite high, and being at that weight, for what I assume is an extended period of time cause do some damage to your body and your metabolism. It might just take a while for your body to adapt to the changes, or there might be something going on.

The only things I can think of are:

- Are you weighing at the same time everyday- on an empty stomach?

- The calories (as long as they are within reason) aren’t as important as what you are eating. If you are eating a lot of starchy carbs- those stick with you for a while, or salt, which can cause water retention (which is usually in processed foods as opposed to the salt you are putting on top of you food- but that has a big effect, too)

- If you have any medical conditions, those may be a factor

- If you are on any medications, those may be a factor

Like I said, 6 pounds is still a loss. Its only been since October that you have upped your calories to 1500 (good job, 1300 is pretty low) so perhaps the switch will kick up your weight loss a bit. It takes a while for your body to adjust to a calorie change, but I would expect you should see some results soon.

If you trust your trainer, (that’s not a dig at her, some people really don’t think their trainers know what they are talking about, but stay with them anyway) I would go see a doctor just to make sure their aren’t any problems, but if you think your routine might not be intense enough, or the focus you are looking for, then see a different trainer to look over your routine and diet to make sure that its the right program for you.

Don’t beat yourself up,- you are probably doing most everything right, and by picking up an exercises habit, you are already way ahead of the game. Be happy you are making improvements on your body and try and focus on the other positive things that are changing, even if it might not be the fast weight loss you are looking for. Sometimes it takes a while for your body to respond.

Hi, Kelly!

Marsha

Part One: Schedule

This one is hard. Most of the time, when people say they don;t have time to work out, its an excuse because they can make time to workout. I’m going to assume you aren’t exaggerating and that you really truly are that busy- for which, holy cow girl, you poor thing. first of DO NOT CUT DOWN ON YOUR CALORIES you aren’t eating very much as it is, and anything less will halt your progress even more.

So the first thing you need to do is see if there is anyway you can consolidate any of your activites- work and school you obviously have no control over, but are there random errands you do throughout the day that can all be done in one trip at the end of the week? Things you can put off until the weekend? Then, see if there is anything you can do while you workout. Study your textbook on the treadmill? Listen to lectures on your iPod while you walk or lift weights? I find I actually remember material better when I read it while working out- and its harder to get distracted. Next- since your weekend activites aren;t time sensitive, this is when you should be getting in your killer workouts. What you lack in frequency has to be made up with intensity, so find a gym, take some cardio and strength training classes, hire a personal trainer, something that will garantee you get your ass kicked.

Which leads to Part 2: Family

I don;t mean to sound critical, but you are an adult now and your parents have no control over you. This is something that it took me a LONG time to figure out, and actually had to have a counselor scream it in my face because I was always wracked with so much guilt over EVERYTHING when it came to them- even though, at the time, they were toxic for me (which is basically the stem of my past eating disorder and sounds like could be the root of your issues with binging.) Your parents actually sound quite nice, which trust me, even though they can seem overbearing, it could be WAY worse.

You parents raised you and from what I can tell they did a good job. You are responsible, hardworking and can take care of yourself. You do not need to change their habits in order to uphold your healthy ones. They actually sound pretty nice, and not too pressuring, although I know when they are your parents, its harder to stand up to them. Be polite, and just say no thank you. You are going to run into plenty of fituations where people are going to push food on you, and if you cant stand up to the people that love you and support you no matter what, you are going to have a tough time with the people that make fun of you, or roll their eyes.

Just say no. Politely. Say, “thanks mom, and I appreciate you making this food for me, but I’ve told you I am trying to take care of myself and eat better, so I am going to eat what I have prepared for myself.” Make it clear you arent trying to change them, so they shouldnt try and change you.

I’ve been through this. Not so much with unhealthy foods, but with life in general. If your parents are not healthy for you, and they do not help you make wise deicisons for yourself, or make you feel guilty- whether directly or indirectly, don’t see them as often. It didnt even occur to me that I could do that before, but my couselor taught me that you have to look out for number one, which is you, and if anyone, ANYONE, be it family friend or aquaintence, does anything that brings you down, or triggers you to make bad decisions you know you cant afford to make, remove yourself. And trust me, they learn quick. There were many times I would have to stop one of my parents mid sentyence during a visit and say “this situation is not good for me or my health right now and I need to leave. When you can remember to respect that, I’ll come back.” Do that a few times and those critical remarks, backhanded compliments and food pushes will stop quickly.

You need to take care of yourself. You are an adult and no one has control over your life but you. You need to make a change- both in your schedule if its running you ragged, and how you choose to spend your free time if its making you make bad decisions. That doesnt mean you cant see your family, but you may need to teach them that you are an adult and can control how you are treated.

Who’s Coming to Costa Rica With Me???

Hi Kelly,
I worked w/a trainer for about 6 months - saw SOME progress, but not as much as I would want/expect. I quit b/c I was buying a house & didn’t have the extra funds any more. BUT, I have gained about 10# since starting a new job so need to get back to it.
I struggle with time management. Like you, I am NOT a morning exercise person. I also don’t do well when left to my own schedule - I do better with scheduled classes, etc. HOWEVER, it seems like LIFE gets in the way & I miss more of those scheduled classes than I attend sometimes.
I let my gym membership expire but have been going to classes at a yoga studio (LOVE!) when I can. Of course it’s not enough at this point. I just turned 41, and I have at least 50# to lose overall.
Any suggestions on how to fit exercise into my already busy schedule?
Looking forward to reading more of your blog!

Thanks,
Jean Love

This is a harder question than I usually answer, because it has less to do with the science of how your body reacts to fitness and more to do with motivation, which is all in your head. Its not so much about finding the time (you know your daily schedule and if you had a random 2 hours of nothing to do you it would be obvious to you you could use that to work out) its about MAKING the time.

Life getting in the way is an excuse. Everyone has a life, and while they may very a bit, everyone is busy. I work 5:15-12:00 as a trainer, come home and write an average of 4 articles a day, blog, grocery shop for clients, which takes me to about 5 pm, sometimes later, so I basically work 12 hours a day. I don’t even consider myself on of the busiest: I have a short commute, and I don’t even have kids which are a huge a time suck- yet I work out almost every day. I know mommies that work out almost everyday while having families to take care of. Busy executives, people that work the night shift, double shifts- I know many of them that work out consistently. I know people that hold down full time jobs and have families still train hours a day for marathon s and triathlons. My point is, everyone has to deal with life- the difference is, these people make working out a priority. Its nonnegotiable. So how do you get to this point?

Dave Fannin has a great blog for his gym in Texas, and he writes about this kind of stuff a lot. He’s pretty no-nonsense/no excuses which is what is needed when it comes to motivation, so Im going to be linking to him a lot in the rest of my answer.

You need to make working out a priority. It needs to be a To Do item, and not a To Do If I Have Time item. The best way to do this is work out in the morning, and get it out of the way. You say you aren’t a morning exercise person, nor am I, but I have the luxury of not being one: I still fit in my workouts. If you don’t fit them in later, you have to become a morning exerciser. The good news is, you can totally do this. Here’s one of Dave’s articles on how to actually get up early, and here’s an article about freeing up more time within your day to exercise if you absolutely can’t.

So now you have the time, but a workout isn’t going to help you if you don’t actually go. The only way you are going to get out of the house and to your workout is if you love your workout. You love yoga, which gets you there more often than anything else, but you need weights and cardio. You said you work best with appointments, so if you have the funds, get another trainer that you really like. If that’s too expensive for you, get a gym membership that offers a lot of classes. Classes and group workouts are going to be more motivating for a lot of reasons.

You also need to set some clear goals. If you dont have a vision of what you want to do, there isn’t going to be anything that will pull you into the gym, even when you dont want to go (which is going to happen.) Here is a list of 50 reasons to never miss a workout, but you are also going to need to set concrete goals just for you. You want to lose 50 pounds, which is great, but thats not a very motivating goal, since its not specific. This post will teach you how to set realistic and motivating goals.

I know that’s a lot of reading, but that’s because motivation is something you have to teach yourself. No one is just naturally motivated to work out. Some people may seem that way, but its just because they know the importance of working out and how it makes them feel, so its a no brainer to take a break and get sweating. You can be one of those people, too, you just need to find a way to enjoy it.

Hi Kelly,

Christina

I can tell by the tone of your email that you are freaking out about this, but remember you dont even know what it is. Go see your doctor. If its a strain, it should heal fairly quickly, so as long as you listen to what the doctor says and dont do anything to aggrevate it, it should heal in a couple weeks and you can go right back to what you were doing.

Endurance and muscle don’t go away over night- in fact, the average rate of losing muscle mass is about half the rate it took you to put it on. so however long it took you to gain that muscle it will take twice as long for it to start to atrophy. And even then, its not like it all dissappears at once- chances are you wont even notice it. You might be sore the first few workouts after healing up, but that happens anytime you take a break.

If you continue to workout the muscles you use when you run with weights, or other cardio activities, of course you won’t lose muscle mass. Chances are, you’ll see better results because you’ve mixed up your routine a bit, which everyone needs to do.

I always get clients that call in and say, “doctor said i cant use my knee for a while, so ill see you in two weeks,” to which i reply, “nice try- there are always ways to make modifications to workouts that no matter what your injury, you can work all your muscles. Get your ass in here.”

Unless your legs need to be amputated, Im quite sure you will run again. Breathe. Everyone gets injuries. Hell, avid runners break their legs sometimes, and get right back to running after they heal up. I realize you put a lot of work into your training, but put it into perspective: you don’t have to run constantly in order to stay in shape. I never run, and I’m in shape. Just find something else to do, like spinning, which you mentioned, until the doctor gives you the go ahead.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

This week’s Every Gym’s Nightmare is Mariposa from What Do I Eat Now?. She made a video for us!

Enjoy!

Hi Everyone!

If you guys like it enough- I’ll do more I promise! : )

OMG, everyone has to promise to do that sometime today right along with video. I already did. I’m not kidding.

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If you would like to share why you are every gym’s nightmare, email me your story at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com, and I will post your “I Am Every Gym’s Nightmare” here on the site.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

I have found that most people with food issues, no matter whether its bulimia, anorexia, binging, or anything in between, have the same personality trait in common: they need immediate gratification.

Ok, I can’t take credit for figuring that out on my own, my counselor shared that little pearl with me, but ever since he said it, its become very obvious to me, especially within myself.

Take food: those of us with eating issues always look at the “normies” and think how can they eat that and not think about it? Or not plan everything? or obsess? or count? I dont get how food isnt a big deal to them.

It’s because food isn’t filling a void for them. It’s not a I MUST HAVE THAT NOW kind of thing. To normies, hunger is a gentle nudge saying “hey, you are low on fuel, you should probably eat soon,” and they go about their merry way until its convenient to eat.

To people with food issues, hunger is either a screaming alarm telling you that if you dont eat right now and fill this void you aren’t going to be able to think about anything else until its taken care of, or a big high five saying, “great job, you are being strong, keep it up.” Either way, that stupid little hunger cue (which if you have ever had a past in binging, you know its not even hunger, simply not being full is enough to send you into a anxious food spiral.)

Its all about immediate gratification. People with food issues use food to fill some void, and when the slightest hint of a trigger arises, you need to fix it NOW.

THAT’S how you know if you have issues with food. If you need food so intensly at any given moment, out of no where, whether you are hungry, anxious, sad, lonely, happy- anything, and you cant think about anything else until you get it (or deprive yourself of it, in an anorexic’s case) you are abusing food. Its like a drug fix- you cant think of anything else until you get that hit.

It took me a while to figure out how to tell when I was genuinely hungry or not. I was always scared of being hungry, and at first I thought it was because I didnt want to engage in restriction patterns like I used to before bulimia put me in a choke hold (I dappled in starvation, but was never very good at it) but I later realized that was a lie I told myself to rationalize continueing to abuse food. I was actually scared of getting hungry because I would get anxious, and nervous, and I needed my fix. Eventually, with a lot of white knuckling I got through it, got used to it, and figured out my REAL hunger cues as opposed to my anxious hunger cues.

I discovered its ok to be hungry. I’m actually hungry right now but wanted to finish this post first. That’s not restricting, its not starving and as long as Im not about to pass out, its perfectly healthy. I don’t use food to fill voids anymore.

Except for the one that’s in my stomach, so I’m going to go eat now.

Healther D, of Heather Eats Almond Butter, is this week’s Every Gym’s Nightmare.

After years of daily exercise, the most important lesson I’ve learned is to focus on what my body can do rather than what it cannot. No matter how much I work out, my body will never be perfect. I will never have six-pack abs or run a 6-minute mile, but I do have legs that can take me on a beautiful trail run through the woods or support me as I flow into Downward Dog during a challenging yoga class. Don’t dwell on your weaknesses, but love your body for its strengths. -Heather D

To read more about Heather’s amazing weightloss journey, visit her blog, one of my fave’s, at www.heathereatsalmondbutter.com.

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If you would like to share why you are every gym’s nightmare, email me your story at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com, and I will post your “I Am Every Gym’s Nightmare” here on the site.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

This week, every gym’s nightmare is VeggieGirl- the ultimate foodie. While she seldom talks about fitness on her blog, her delicious and healthy recipes are the perfect addition to a healthy lifestyle- and great for the waistline, which has the gym industry shaking in their boots.

Here is VeggieGirl’s favorite dish: B-S-Cubed

“Inspired by a few meals from both Miss Gliding Calm and Miss Chickpea, I created a dish that packs a lot of warmth, spice, flavor, and nutrition - a dish that I (rather lamely) refer to as my B-S-Cubed Dish.

What on earth does “B-S-Cubed” stand for, you may be wondering? Well, it stands for each ingredient that is present in the dish (I know, I’m so clever): black beans, a sweet potato (the first “s”), sauteed spinach (the second “s”), and salsa (the third “s,” hence the “cubed” part of the title; and it is the extra hot & spicy kind of salsa - just how I like it). This dish is sensational - period; and I must thank Miss Gliding Calm and Miss Chickpea again for their inspiration, since they have cooked up similar dishes in the past that I basically combined to make my own creation :0)”

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If you would like to share why you are every gym’s nightmare, email me your story at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com, and I will post your “I Am Every Gym’s Nightmare” here on the site.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

www.toothpastefordinner.com

Guess what I’m doing today? Nothing. I worked a bit this morning, and have to go back at 6:00pm tonight for one more session. Normally, I would take the opportunity to do as many house chores and writing as I can get done, but I think I need a day just to myself. Im working a bit tomorrow, even though I don’t normally work on Fridays, to make some extra bucks, so I’m just going to veg.

Workout

Last night’s workout was really good. Normally, Wednesday isn’t a gym day, but Jerome was over so we decided to go anyway. We only did 35 minutes, but followed it up with a ton of heights.

From what I can remember, we did:

I think that’s all.

I also did some extra squats and lunges to get the lower body going a bit- even though my hip flexors are SO sore from doing plyos the other day.

Giveaways

I’m off to read Shape magazine and eat some bean dip and chips. Thursday is awesome.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

This weekend was nuts- really busy, but in a good way. I think things should calm down after today, but that may be wishful thinking.

The Boy’s First Workout

Well, gym workout, I should say. We went Saturday night. It was out “date night” which pretty much just means we decide we aren’t going to go out and do anything with anyone else. We headed to the gym around 8:00pm, and warmed up on the treadmill. We were originally only going to do 20 minutes, but Jerome wanted to go longer, so we ended up doing around 30. We raced the whole time-and I beat him to the mile marker (sucker). He stayed on a little bit longer to finish up a lap (the treadmill has a little screen with a picture of a track so you can see how many laps you’ve done. So basically, he pushed me to do more cardio, which is what I need.

After that we stretched, and started with the strength training.

For the most part, I had him to one exercise, then I would do a set while he rested and then we would repeat, then move onto a nother exercise.

From what I remember, we did:

I think that’s it. I did some weighted squats and calf raises, but we stuck to upper body and abs with Jerome.

He reported being sore, but not too bad, which is good. He said he wasn’t used to that jell-o armed feeling we all love so much, but didn’t hate it, so it was a success.

I LOVE working out with someone else. It’s more fun, and relaxing than just pounding through everything and leaving.

We are headed back to the gym tonight, which I think is going to interfere with watching The Bachelor season finale, so we will probably have to watch it online afterwards (so don’t ruin it for me:) )

Food

I’ve been eating like crap for the past week. Seriously. Too much food, and too much bad food. So this week I’m going to do my own version of Crap-free Week, which to me just means, don’t eat crap. I’m not good at rules or restricted foods, so I’m not setting any parmeters- I just need to cut out the junk for a while. I had that toxic bleeeeehhhh feeling.

Giveaway Alert

Those of you that normally get an email alert from me every Sunday about the weekly giveaway may have noticed it missing. I’ve got a lot of writing projects coming due pretty soon, which means I need to do a lot of emailing back and forth with my contracts to pan some stuff out. When I send out the email alert, it maxes out how many emails I can send in 24 hours, and I can’t send any until the 24 hours is up. So this week I didn’t send the alert to keep my email free. The giveaway is up, obviously, so go ahead and enter.

If you want to be added to giveaway email alert list, email me at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com with Giveaway Alert in the subject, and I’ll add ya.

and about the size thing: The things I giveaway are products companies donate. The Danskin items are the items I am sent to review, so I don’t really have any control over the sizing of them- sorry!

Tons of work to do! Back with more later! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,