Last 20 lbs Series - STATS / Summer-Fall 2009

I keep several different weight logs.

This has this weight loss/maintenance journey and what exercise I was doing at each stage.

This is my master list that chronicles all the way back to college graduation in 1983.

If you want the short version,
my starting weight was 215 lbs.

I lost for two years (2005 and 2006)
and then had maintained at 150-155 lbs
(middle of the day, full weight)
for two years (2007 and 2008)


At the time this posting (chronicling my last twenty pounds, summer/fall 2009) was written, I was 48 years old and 5'6".

What was I eating for to lose these last 20 lbs? Macro - whole foods, carbing up down and around on different days. And we are mostly talking about whole foods carbs (squash, sweet potato, but there were a few processed, bread based things in there too on the carb up days). And the exercise I was doing during this last 20 lbs was CARDIO. I took step classes, Fitness mix classes, and LOTS of Zumba. I hit it hard for July, August, September, and October. I did 2-3 classes a day 5-6 days a week. But most of these classes were 45 minutes. So taking out warm up, warm down, I was actually getting 20-30 minutes of cardio per class.

How I think this all started was I attended a few Zumba classes in the spring of 2009. And once I got over the anxiety and started actually moving my butt and sweating, I had a couple pounds slide off of me. And I had days where I felt like I needed more carbs and days where I did not. I had been eating the same formula each day for the two previous years of maintenance. Then Helen started macro and was writing about it. And it seemed like good fit. And I realized that I could probably use the combination of the cardio and the macro carb cycling to drop my last twenty. And this will sound like the understatement of the century, but that is what I did.

This scale tracking starts with the Macro/carb cycling,
and I started weighing regularly at this time:
6/27/09 (start weight) 153 lbs BMI 24.7
7/4/09 (end of Week 1) 148.5 lbs BMI 24
7/11/09 (end of Week 2) 147.5 lbs BMI 23.8
7/18/09 (end of Week 3) 145.5 lbs BMI 23.5
7/25/09 (end of Week 4) 145.5 lbs BMI 23.5
8/1/09 (end of Week 5) 145.5 lbs BMI 23.5
8/8/09 (end of Week 6) 144.5 lbs BMI 23.3
8/15/09 (end of Week 7) 144 lbs (maintenance week) BMI 23.2
8/22/09 (end of Week 8) 143.5 lbs (maintenance week) BMI 23.2

8/29/09 (end of Week 9) 143.5 lbs BMI 23.2
(upped my food intake/back into cycle of carb up/down/baseline, but with one added carb meal EVERY day (new normal), no matter what kind of days it is, so (even for a carb down day) - I am eating two breakfasts that both contain carbs - first breakfast is oatmeal/egg white omelet - second breakfast (after exercise) is 2-3 pieces of fresh fruit and 1/2 cup lf cottage cheese - if you are wondering WHY I did this - look at the numbers for week 8 - I was eating at the maintenance level and still lost. I didn't know how hard the very last pounds were going to be to lose. I know that one has to eat to lose and I know that there has to be a CHANGE to lose. Sabrina commented that she wondered if my metabolism was responding to the changes in my IN and my OUT. So I decided to add more food so that I could take it away later (if the very last pounds were HARD) and have another 'change'. )

9/5/09 (end of Week 10) 143.5 - 144.5 lbs BMI 23.2
fluctuations all week
(week off exercise, intake still UP - this was scary - but I needed a rest and it was interesting to see that I could (mostly) hold with NO exercise. I have had two surgeries during this 5 year process - where NO exercise was allowed. The first one was during my first year of losing and I was not allowed any exercise at all from the first week in November until February - and I HELD my weight that whole time. And I was in the very beginning stages of understanding then. And I did not yet have many of my medical problems straightened out at that time. And I wasn't really exercising then - didn't know it at the time - but it was more learning how to find my body parts and handle myself - a bit of waving my body parts through the air - part of the learning curve. I have a lot of things wrong with me - I am always mentally READY to hold with no exercise - because it has happened and I am sure it will happen again.)

9/12/09 (end of Week 11) 143.5 lbs BMI 23.2
(new normal pace/intake still UP - full exercise resumed)

9/19/09 (end of Week 12) 142.5 lbs BMI 23
(new normal/ intake still up - full exercise PLUS added one baby running session that kicked my butt)

9/26/09 (end of Week 13) 142 lbs BMI 22.9
I have yet to see 141 (. anything) pop up on the scale. But 142 (. nothing) is very solid now. The .5 is clearly gone. And what a shock the 130 somethings are going to be. . .

10/3/09 (end of Week 14) 142 lbs BMI 22.9
Thought I would hit 141 lbs even this week - because it kept popping up during the week - but is not yet holding firm. My eating was interesting - I upped my exercise toward the end of the week - and so I did two base line days, followed by two carb up days, and now am doing two carb down days over the weekend. My Thurs/Friday carb UPS were because I did quite a bit of cardio on both of those days and did not want my body to sort of seize up and hang on for dear life.

10/11/09 (end of week 15) 140 lbs BMI 22.6
This was my original goal. And I came up with it, years ago, in a very unscientific way. I took my late 20's weight and added 10 pounds to it. That seemed realistic for being in my late 40's. So, I hit that weight/my old goal this week and really had NO bells and whistles go off in my brain. Very anticlimactic. It was more wondering if I was going to pass right over Mr. 141 and Mr. 140, because 139 and 138 showed up on the scale consistently all week (not yet holding). So that was what I was thinking all week - am I actually going to pass right by my original goal weight as if it wasn't even there - ??? I did not think it at all odd that I might drop several pounds in the same week. I stepped up my game and moved my butt. The last time my main instructor went on vacation, I took a break. This time I not only survived through all her subs - I SWEAT thrived. I did the same thing at my new trial Zumba place. THAT instructor was out of town, so I had subs at the new place too. I had 7 different instructors for classes this week. And that pushed me. Not to tears. But to sweat. I made myself suck it up and move - even though it was all new (and stressful). I moved my butt. And it showed on the scale. If you are wondering about food. I baselined most of the week, carbed up on Thursday and then continued baseline. I did not want to pass out in class with instructors that didn't know me (not that I pass on with the ones that do - but I think you know what I mean). And ironically - Saturday Zumba - someone had to sit out class because she saw stars after the first song. She said it was her own fault - had not eaten enough breakfast. And I took that as a 'you were right' from my little cardio angel. (I am carbing down Saturday and Sunday (yesterday and today).

10/17/09 (end of Week 17) 139.5 lbs BMI 22.5
Baseline 6 days, carb up 2 days, NO carb down days.
Week of LOTS of sleep problems.
Still doing 'double' exercise - foot still in old facilities and foot in new facility.

10/24/09 (end of Week 18) 138.5 lbs BMI 22.4
The most interesting/telling week yet. Youngest was home sick. I decided to go to ONE class per day and then picked the most cardio intense option. (Because of doctor's appointment - no class on Thursday, but 2 on Friday - so did average ONE per day). And I was afraid to be at all depleted (in case I ended up sick or had multiple people from my or my mom's house sick). So I did NO carb down and did carbs at 3 or 4 meals each day, all week. So it was more than a baseline but less than a carb up. And it was all whole foods. And I was mentally prepared to GAIN weight this week. And my weight still dropped. What does this tell me? I think that I have been wasting my time with some of my classes. And this knowledge could not come at a better time. Next week is the last week of the month. This information is giving me the courage to (re)drop my gym membership and my yoga studio membership and ONLY take my new Zumba classes - one a day Mon-Sat (two on Friday) at the dance studio. And keep my food at the higher level. And see what happens. (if you want to read another take on this exercise thing - here is Sandrelle).

10/31/09 (end of week 19) 138-139 lbs BMI 22.5
Sick. Yes, actually sick. And it is the first time in many years. I did two Zumba classes on Monday and Wednesday and one on Tuesday. And then took it easy the rest of the week and utterly on the weekend. It started with very tight chest (Thursday) and progressed from there. My worst time was actually from 6pm Saturday night until about noon on Sunday. Severe headache, body aches, very sore throat. I never did run a temperature. I felt slightly 'on the mend' by Monday (11/2/09) but am still taking it VERY easy. Was even more careful that normal about sodium, I am not 'trapping' anything in my body.

11/7/09 (end of week 20) 137 lbs BMI 22.1
This was the very sick week. No exercise. Ate base line all week - drank broth every day. Ate UBBER careful - lots and lots of veggies. Servings of fruit. A lot of lean protein. Mostly baked squash as my carbs (it was the only thing that really tasted good). Was super careful about sodium - so that my body could flush instead of retain/clog. I spent a good part of the week peeing - between the water, the broth, water that was IN the fresh produce, hot lemon herbal tea - really good output. I was a permanent fixture on the upstairs couch - with my thermos.

11/14/09 (end of week 21) 138-139 BMI 22.5
Still pretty sick this whole week. No exercise. I upped my food to regain and hold at 138-139 lbs because I did not want to put any more strain on my body.

11/21/09 (end of week 22) 136-7 lbs BMI 22.1
Started back to exercise - M-W-F to ease my body back into my normal, non-sick routine. Here is a posting on that topic. Carbed down a couple days, carbed up a couple days, based lined.

11/28/09 (end of week 23) 134-136 lbs BMI 21.6 to 22.
This is my goal range. Still tweeking it a bit so that 135 lbs is my HIGH for the week. Yes, I know, who else do you know that would get into their goal range during Thanksgiving week. . .
(if you are wondering about BMI, normal range is 19.1-25.8 for my height and age, and yes, it took all the way to the LOW end of normal to NOT be an apple).



Copied from my side bar:
"After two years of maintaining in the 150-155 lb range. I decided to drop a few more pounds and continue to work on tone. Those posts can be found starting late June 2009 and continue-ing on into November 2009. These postings are here, in my last 20 lbs label section. (The link puts the most recent posts on top. If you want to read them in order, start at the bottom)."