Lift, I only use the BF scale to see the trend. I know the numbers aren't accurate, but thought it would be ok to see the trend. The numbers seem to be reliable in that I can do the test multiple times and get the same results. I have a hand held unit, not the scale ones. Someone once told me it's the same one they use at Curves. Do you think they aren't even worth it to see the trend?

As far as my meals, you are right, I do eat non-whole foods more than I should. It's a matter of convenience. I do tend to eat better with whole foods in the winter. I am not much of a cook, so I'm not even sure if I was cooking all the time that it would be better for me. I can pay more attention to that to see what I can do to improve it.



I don't feel like I'm stalling. My weights hovering around the same amount, but I'm positive that's because I don't go low enough with calories. I'm working on bringing the calories down, but it's hard for me.

I'm lifting now 2 days per week, doing all exercises both times, about 45 minutes or so. I was doing it 3 days per week, but was feeling like my muscles weren't fully recovered after just one day's rest. Throughout June and July I was lifting 3 days per week. In June and July I was doing more cardio, 3-4 times per week, but I've dropped that back to 2-3 times per week lately. I didn't do any formal training in August, but got in a medium amount of cardio while getting rental property ready to sell.

I guess I am thinking that my metabolism isn't where it ought to be and that's why I posed the question about leptin. Considering all of the work I've done in the past few months it just seems odd that I'm not making a bit more progress. I know it goes slow, though, so am I expecting too much? I really do want to maintain my current muscle mass while I finish losing the bulk of the fat. Thanks for the advice.

Di, well cutting back on your weights may be the wrong approach for keeping muscle..personally I think you should go back to 3 days..maybe try something like a Mon upper, Tues-lower and then a friday a smaller full body workout on larger muscle groups like chest and back and legs...they can handle the additional work cause they are large muscle groups...and then the samller ones get some in direct work.

The key is to keep strong with the weights, and make sure your diet is in order....try cooking a handful of chicken breasts, or some steak eveyr 2-3 days and just keep it in the fridge and add condiments to it as you go. Tuna is another great high protein meal. If you need meal ideas that are quick and easy I am sure built and I can help you.

The cardio, I would say try to egt at least 30 mins 3 x a week, walking is great for this, on an incline treadmill even better if you can...but some sort will definitly help. I think you are not seeing progress because your body has adapted to your current level of fitness, and you are gonna have to step it up a notch to get things moving again....this happens alot which is why we try to cycle out workouts and diet, it helps keep that from happening.

I will see what Built thinks as well.

diemde,
I am by no means an expert, but I believe that it is perfectly natural for your metabolism to slow as you diet. The trick is to get it back up again without gaining weight. My weight loss has slowed over the past 1 1/2 months (1 pound loss over that time) and I tried several things. I tried chaning my workout first, then I tried lowering calories but not only did I detest eating that little, but it didnt help much. Keep in mind, I normally eat 2000-2200 calories and I lowered it to 1600-1800 calories, so it's not extremely low, but I like to eat!
So instead, I'm trying the Curves metabolic boost. Since I'm following the curves diet plan, it sounded like a good option for me.
I'm only on Day 3 so I have no results yet to report on whether it's working, but I have heard good things from others. For the past few days I've been eating 2500-2800 calories and I love the change. Since I was losing so little, it was getting easier to give in to temptation. I hadn't given in yet, so I started this metabolic boost before I would! Things are going more easily now.

If your working is going well, I would think in my very inexperienced opinion, that it might be easier to rev up your metabolism through diet instead of trying to change your workout drastically.

Maybe lift and built can expand on this and tell you if I'm full of fluff - they definately know what they're talking about.

Dianne, Liftnlady, Amzippity

The metabolic tuneup approach can indeed be helpful, IF you've been eating cleanly and training hard, and things STILL aren't moving.

I don't think Dianne is there yet.

Dianne, you know I love you, really I do , but I have to agree with Liftnlady's approach here - clean up your eating a bit, and lift more intensely in three separate sessions, and the cardio as suggested at least 3 times a week.
DOMS is NOT an indication that your muscles haven't recovered - you can train just fine with DOMS. But if you rotate your muscle groups, this shouldn't be a problem.

I think if you just do this bit of tweaking to your already strong base and good habits, you'll go far.

You're right! I agree completely. I hadn't thought of that.

You're right to a point. With leptin resistance, you don't have to be insulin resistant, but you're on the road to it. But if you're insulin resistant, you're definately leptin resistant.

Basically, when one is leptin resistant, the body thinks it's starving b/c of communication breakdown. The body slows down the metabolism b/c the brain doesn't perceive that there's enough fat stores on hand. At the same time, the brain tells the person to eat. So anyone with leptin problems is going to have some pretty erratic behavior around food. That's probably the biggest indicator. You can become a real diet schizophrenic b/c of the powerful survival urges of leptin. Bingers, purgers, eating out of control.... these people generally have leptin problems.

Another good indication is if you get hungry as the day goes on. Leptin is highest during the first few hours of sleep and falls to its lowest in the morning. Hunger and cravings before bed (at night) is a good indicator that leptin is not in good rhythm. Couple "out of control" eating after dinner, and you have serious leptin problems. Remember that leptin resistance and low leptin from malnutrition equal the same thing so chronic dieters eating too few calories will also experience this. It's not impossible that you have low leptin if you are eating too little.

The best way to control leptin resistance is to eat enough food, control insulin levels, not overeat at mealtime, and not eat 3 hours before bedtime. EFAs also help leptin resistance. The Rosedale diet is a high fat diet, but low saturated fat.

There's lots of books out there that deal with balancing hormones insulin and cortisol, but few have yet to pick up on leptin since it's just newly discovered. I think we're only scratching the surface so far as too how profound this hormone is. "Mastering Leptin" is good to learn about leptin, but not great for a "diet plan". The Rosedale Diet is good for a "diet plan" but gives little info about leptin. They're both at amazon.com. I haven't read Lyle's book yet. I thought I ordered it, but it was his older book I got instead that only addressed Ketogenic Diets, not leptin.

Having blabbed away, though, I'm with Built and Lift. A natural diet's the best way to go before finding other alternatives. It's healthier for your hormones too.

Amzippity, I'm very curious about your Curves metabolic tuneup. I've been stalking your journal to see your progress.

Wanda

Thanks everyone!

Wanda, based on your description of "eating out of control", then I don't think I'm leptin resistant. I may have been in the past, though. I'm in control now - just not always eating the right things. From your list, I probably need to focus on cutting out the late night snacks though. I thought I was doing well to have only one or two little pieces of a SF treat before bed. And compared to how I used to be at my heaviest, what I've been doing is much better. Now I just need to step it up to the next level.

So I'll focus on cleaning up my foods and going back to the 3 times per week lifting, using a split routine. Thanks again!

Uh Oh! I guess that means I'll have to keep a better journal!
If you have any questions, please feel free to post in my journal. I'd be happy to help, but I always forget to post my progress. I also dont usually post what I eat, but if you want to know what foods I'm eating, let me know and I'll make fitday public or post it to my journal.

You really do change from the inside out

JK posted this elsewhere, and I'm posting it here because it discusses something I've found has happened to me - as I have done heavier and heavier leg work, my pear-shaped body has become LESS and LESS pear shaped. I am starting to understand why: my muscles were marbled with fat, and I was ALSO holding subcutaneous fat. The marbling must have diminished, because my legs are STRONGER, but SMALLER. The subcutaneous fat is starting to go now too.

Thanks for the suggestion to come here Built

I have lots of reading to catch up on, but I will do it starting tomorrow. This stuff is just so amazing. I can't wait to understand and learn.

Have a good night everyone!

Good. Glad you found the thread.

I only conditionally agree with this statement. It depends on the degree of DOMS. Eccentrically induced muscle soreness results in transiently impaired muscle glucose tolerance and immune changes for example.

Okay, lemme see if my poor addled little brain is on for this one...

If the DOMS you get is due to heavy excentric (flexing while stretched, negatives) work, your muscles will have trouble bringing in glucose, and you may be more likely to get sick? Or did I totally get this one wrong?

Most muscle soreness is a result of the eccentric contraction as opposed to the concentric work. This soreness leads to impaired activity of the glycolytic enzymes. However, it's pretty much something we have to deal with, since soreness is a part of working out.

The take home message is simply that whether you hit the same muscle again or not depends on the degree of muscular soreness.

One way to speed recovery is to do a couple really high rep isolation/pumper sets as they increase blood flow which results in increased nutrient delivery to, and waste removal from, your muscles.

Coolios. Thanks bud.