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Originally Posted by Shadowman  Thanks again for all the replys. BSL, I hear ya on the diet side of things, I'm realizing more and more that the diet is going to be the key. |
Amen to that brother!
Diet is EVERYTHING. In fact, millions of people have lost tens and even hundreds of pounds with just diet alone! Before the core-group get too excited, I'm NOT suggesting exercise isn't part of a solid program, just saying that diet alone works and has worked for many people.
I've watched friends & neighbors just cut-down on calories and take a few walks...and wham: the pounds start melting off!
As my nutritionist says, it's easier to diet the fat off then to try to exercise it off. An hour of exercise may burn 1-1.5 ounces of fat...while cutting just 500 calories from your daily intake results in 2-ounces of fat burned.
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Originally Posted by Shadowman My downfall has always been having success! I know it sounds weird, but as soon as I start seeing progress, which I have definitely seen, I start to become lax on my plan and start eating things I shouldn't. I took a look back at my diet journal over the past week and aside from not maintaining it properly, I've realized that I am back to my old habits, thinking I can get away with it as long as I'm going to the gym. |
Dude....you & me both!!!!
It's easy to slip back....you work HARD, you feel you can enjoy yourself a bit and slowly but surely our daily intake slips up without our noticing.
What I'm convinced of is that your body strives for equillibrium...it doesn't want to lose weight. When you exercise, you burn both fat AND glycogen....you're body isn't stupid, it knows the glycogen is gone!
So check this out and really think about it: would you sleep if you didn't get tired? would you bother having sex if there wasn't a phenominal Big-O involved? Would you bother dating a girl if she didn't put-out?
My (obnoxiously made) point is: would you eat if you didn't feel hunger???? Or another way of looking at it is this: immediately after you have a HUGE meal...are you interested in eating more? No, you're even uncomfortable and all hormonal urges of true hunger (barring psychological) are entirely null.
In the end, we'd like to think we operate & behave based entirely on our own decisions...but we're not: we are slaves to our bodies needs...and our body manipulates us (YES, MANIPULATES) through our hormones and what-not. Day in and day out, we service & react to our bodies needs....and we don't even realize it. Some of it is involuntary, but our body manipulates.....
Bottom line, the body knows the glycogen has been burned/spent and it's going to hammer the crap out of you with divine & supreme TRUE hunger until, like the roving mouths that we are, we fulfill that need. So, you burn it up, your body strives to put it back. Sure, there are respiratory, circulatory and other health benefits derived from excercise....but in so far as burning calories....you can bet your bottom carbohydrate that your body will "encourage" you to replenish what you've burned...and that's our downfall. Because we exercised so hard and feel light n' lean....we tend to accidently feel entitled to eat a bit more...and food has more calories then we generally realize!
Go ahead, have that big salad, eat a bunch of vegetables and graze to your hearts content....try to convince your stomach it's full...but if you're like me, the body won't stop nagging until the blood-sugar comes up and some internal mechanism tells you you're content. Or maybe it takes a few hours before all that roughage (which is high-content in water) breaks down and you're again hungry. THERE IS NO FOOLING THE BODY.
Hey man....this morning I did 2 spin-classes and ran on the treadmill, then I swam a mile in the pool. My HR-Monitor recorded 4 hours and some 2,800 calories. I had some breakfast, a protein shake and Sharkey's Naked Chicken Tostada (420 calories) for lunch. I'm running a HUGE deficit right now...but dammit: I will not, WILL NOT lose any damn fat unless I endure this. Am I hungry? AM I HUNGRY? OH hell yes....but after a year+ it truly comes down to enduring hunger in order to make progress. All these people who say "you shouldn't be hungry when you're on a diet".....oh P-p-p-please!!! It's a calorie deficit....what part of deficit don't they get??
Anyways...I'm on another rant. Just know that what you are going through is pretty typical and I TOTALLY understand, empathize and relate. So my advice to you is...just make it happen, by any and all means. This is the time to look great and enjoy life....we'll have plenty of time to look baggy and fall apart when we hit our 80's...so until then, rip it up!
