Wow, the year is really moving right along.
Hope everyone is on point with their eating and other goals. Maintenance is often harder than losing, so we are here to support each other in our efforts to keep off the weight we lost, the illnesses that have healed, and keep our spirits high.
Last time I stepped on a scale was 148.2 which is below my âscream weightâ 
of 150.
That was in late Feb so doesnât count for March but no access to a scale right now.
Jeans fit the same so still ok. I get a little âpoochyâ above my jeans waistband when I eat too many carbs (water) but a bit of fasting or strict keto melts it back off. My plan for next week, as it were.
@collaroygal, thanks for the welcome this month. Hope you are going well.
@Janie , yes the poochy waist is real isnât it? It is amazing how much bloat can happen and how quickly it can disappear by dropping more carbs. Congrats on your jeans fitting well.
Had a kick ass month here, ate food I loved and saw my fitness continue to improve. I ate to appetite, which on a few occasions in the month was huuuuge as I have been very active.
This month I am going to cease tracking everything I eat. I have maintained (or indeed lost) rather than gained for the last 9 or more months, it is time to try to just let this be a way of life instead of something I have to consciously work on. My husband has told me he thinks I will find it very hard to stop weighing and measuring all my food as he has seen how diligent I have been. I have gotten through one and a half days so far, although did find myself having a post night shift brunch date with my eldest son, mentally calculating my order before stopping myself 
I bought some fancy scales for home to help with staying where I want to be with my goals now that I am not tracking. I was only weighing myself at work previously . Strangely finding it useful to step on board every day and understand better how my body naturally fluctuates day to day. Weird to say that weighing everyday is making me *more * relaxed about the numbers I am seeing. I have a set point in mind of being between 61.5kg and 63.5kg, although I have ended up under that lower value at the moment. I figure if I see the scales drifting consistently up and over my top value, rather than just fluctuating , then it will be a prompt to think about my nutrition some more.
I stopped being tracking after a few months of being where I wanted to be. But I do pick a few days a month now and track just on those days. To make sure my serving sizes are what I need. Sometimes, I start eating less, others more. It helps me regain my balance. As long as I stay under my original goal weight, I donât worry about anything. I do have a scream weight just above it that signals I need to pay more attention or fast for a couple of days.
Nothing wrong with calculating in your head when eating somewhere or something that isnât part of your normal routine.
And fluctuation is normal and nothing to freak out about.
Just saying hi, or âhowdy, yâallâ Iâm still about where I was last month at the start, which is 10 pounds up from when I stopped struggling to lose those last five pounds.
When I injured my back two weeks ago (posted in Februaryâs thread) I knocked off my sorta-BBS workouts, resuming at 13 days. I started riding at 5 days and felt better after riding than anything else.
After hearing Dr. Ben Bo on Diet Doctor, I picked up his book and am trying to understand the differences between the workouts. Dr. McGuff has an interesting video called âSplit Body Studiesâ where they tested two different workouts on a handful of people, but they tested both workouts on the same person by doing one protocol on the left half of their body and the other on their right half. The thing is that some people put on more muscle mass and gained more than other people, but that was independent of their workouts.
In other words, the most important thing in muscle gain is genetics. Some people will gain more muscle no matter what they do. As I like to say, choose your parents carefully - itâs the most important decision youâll make.
This week has been hectic and will continue to be. Weâre having our central air conditioning replaced (itâs 15 years old). Itâs supposed to take two days, tomorrow and Thursday, but weâre mentally preparing for three days.
Interesting stuff @CFLBob. I wonder what sort of person would consent to be in such a study, I am iagining a bunch of study subjects looking like Popeye on one side of their body and weedy on the other 
When you say riding, what sort of riding? Horse or cycling?
I am a horserider, well a carriage driver more so the last decade or so, but recently gave it all up due to drought and the associated expense of feeding or indeed even being able to obtain feed. My trusty steed is now a Norco hardtail mountain bike. I did my first overnight camp with âhimâ last week. I am really enjoying cycling and seem to be averaging at least 100km most weeks.
@collaroygal that seems like a good strategy to track on a random day or two. I think that is a strategy I will adopt also, thanks! I have in the past retrospectively tracked a few days, where I would write down what I ate and then tally at the end of the day, that was encouraging for me as it allowed me to see I was still bang on where I needed to be. âScream weightâ is a term I have never heard of before but have seen a few times these past few days on the forum.
Hi, @JulesyMcJulesface (love that user name) ,
When I see a study like that, I figure itâs probably grad students, the cheapest and best lab animals you can find if you just give them free meals. Itâs also likely itâs a brief duration, like a month or two, so they donât look too much like Popeye and Olive Oyl. As for riding: itâs cycling on a road bike thatâs almost 15 years old. Itâs from a company called Airborne Bicycles that now seems to only make mountain bikes. There are no hills around here, and when you get off the road, itâs usually loose sand, so I stay on the roads.
My wife and I used to ride a lot, as in a hundred mile week was pretty routine. Back around '09 or '10, I guess we got tired of the same old things and knocked off. Then about a year and a half ago (end of August '08) I started getting the bug to ride again. Now I ride a few times a week. Usually an hour and about 13 miles (about 20 km?). Sometimes farther. Probably around 70km/wk.
Ugh, sand. Even on motorbikes sand is the pits, no wonder you stay on the roads! So great that you and your wife can share riding together. I think it is nice to have past times that you can enjoy with your significant other. My husband only likes to go downhill. Fast. I live in a rural area and do a lot of cycling on the quiet roads, but I genuinely think we have the most pot-holed road system in the state, so front suspension at a minimum is required for comfort.
Ah grad students, that makes total sense
Iâve ridden a mountain bike with front suspension only once, at a bike shop. It was nice. A front suspension and maybe a shock absorber on the seat post sound good for your area. I think if thereâs a new bike in my future, though, it might well be a recumbent or recumbent trike.
We live in relatively small city and being retired allows me to ride weekday mornings when thereâs very little traffic. So little that most days I wonât get passed by 10 cars in an hour of riding.
Cycling is nice, I do it together with my SO and feel sorry for him as I am slow and I need to stop a lot (heâs riding his bike every day and he has muscular legs, stamina, experience). Hopefully I get better this year, I even rode my bike in winter a bit! 
I prefer walking and hiking, though.
We have hills here, I probably would be very bored on a flat road. I can accelerate and glide there⌠But I like going uphill and downhill sometimes.
I live between two little villages, almost on the top of a little hill. Itâs not ideal for any vehicle, slopes, mud, stones⌠Rainwater severely eroding the dirt road, okay, I donât use that part (but it was interesting when I rode my little cruiser there all our bikes and car are for smoother roads but mileage is our priority and itâs only a short distance, we can handle it). I canât ride my bike all the way and I often need to go through my garden (it starts on the hilltop and ends in the valley but then there is uphill and too serious downhill before we reach a proper road). So if I use my bike, I prefer longer tours but itâs still tiny for the inexperienced me. I strain my arms even if I can go far in my top state in summer, I surely do something wrong. I go slow too but itâs fine for me and my bicycle has only 3 gears⌠Whatever, itâs still nice to go for a little ride sometimes 
I live in a place where the highest point is a bridge to the beach thatâs about 60â above sea level. The land itself is never more than 22â above sea level. Iâm a poor climber because of that. Aside from being too tall, too heavy and too old.
I think that in a hilly area like where you live your walking and day to day life has more impact on fitness than it does for someone here in the flat lands. Youâd be faster here.
But I enjoy riding more than weight lifting. Walking or hiking are better than weight lifting, too. I guess I prefer just about anything to weight lifting!
