I’ve had a few questions lately about what I do, how much I eat, what
I weigh etc. So here is a quick rundown on what I did and how I go
about maintaining my weight loss and enjoy living my life (hint, it’s
not all about eat super healthy or low calories).
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind I am insanely short.
I also have a strange build with very short legs and narrow-ish hips.
If you are a of average height and/or build and can’t get your head
around my numbers, just ignore them… or multiply them by 1.5 ;) I have found that a lot of people who are even a just little bit taller
don’t quite understand the smaller numbers. But it’s all good – my
doctor is happy, I’m happy, and that’s all that matters.
At 4’9, I have a maintenance range between 39-40kg (85-89lbs), which is about a 19 bmi.
I got the wake-up call when I was creeping into the overweight range for
my height (I was too embarrassed to weigh properly, so I guess-timated)
and I lost a little over 10kg (22lb), which was about 20% of my
starting body weight.
When you get told you’re almost pre-diabetic, your
PCOS
is going ballistic, can’t walk up stairs without being out of breath
halfway, your ankles are always swollen and you need to wear a size of
clothes that makes you look like you’re wearing a tent…. yeah, that’s a
wakeup call. Regardless of that number on the scale being “so small” to
an average person.
When I found
MyFitnessPal
(MFP), a calorie counting site, I started with the usual 1200 calories
(0.5kg/week goal) that short people get, and didn’t enjoy that very much
lol
I upped it to 1300 and then discovered intermittent fasting, and did a variety of
5:2
& 16:8, which allowed me to ‘eat more’ which was important for me
psychologically (when following 5:2, you must eat your full TDEE on the
non-fast days – for me that was about 1500-1600 at the time).
Intermittent fasting
taught me how to recognize true hunger signals and realigned my
thinking of serving sizes to a more realistic view. Calorie counting was
also very beneficial with this too. Having to eat to maintenance on
‘off’ days, also taught me what a normal amount of food actually was.
Note, this was beneficial
to me personally.
Everyone is different.This just happened to slot in well with my
mindset and fitted my lifestyle really well. Therefore, it ‘worked’ for
me when I needed it to. I strongly encourage everyone to try different
things until they find something that works for them, and just because
something doesn’t/couldn’t fit your lifestyle, doesn’t mean it won’t for
someone else. Everyone has to find their own path.
In terms of exercising, I started off just walking and then jogging
with friends. I still walk a couple of times a week with those same
friends.
Then I bought some Jillian Michaels DVD’s (30 Day Shred & Ripped
in 30) and did those to get my base level of fitness up. They were a
really good re-introduction to working out and helped me to gradually
learn how to fit exercising back into my daily life. Any DVD or YouTube
workout that you enjoy doing will do that – you just need to find one
you like. My current favourite cardio videos are from
Fitness Blender which are available free on YouTube.
And then I started lifting weights (
New Rules of Lifting for Women)
just before I reached my goal weight (which was actually 45kg/99lb, but
I unintentionally kept losing while trying to figure out the
maintenance thing), and I’ve been lifting ever since. I started very
basic with little tiny dumbbells and bodyweight moves (
Nerd Fitness is a really great resource for beginners) in my lounge room and added more as my confidence grew.
Looking back, I’ve actually weighed less in my adult life, but I’ve
never been this small or fit. I can’t say enough about the benefits of
some form of resistance training. When used in conjunction with a
realistic calorie deficit, it literally shrinks everything and tightens
it all up! Once again, it doesn’t have to be free weights. Find what
works for you and what you enjoy and go for it.
Nowadays I have a weights set up in my garage and I lift 3x a week (following the
New Rules of Lifting Supercharged
program). I add in fun cardio at least 3x a week as well (at the moment
swimming or doing stuff with the kids). All up, I probably do about
6-ish hours of ‘scheduled’ exercise spread out over the week. But I also
make time to move throughout the day and am conscious of not sitting
too long.
I don’t count calories any more, as that was part of my plan – I
don’t want to have to do that for the rest of my life. For me, it was
too all-consuming. I have a perfectionist personality when it comes to
numbers and I can take it a little too far.
I also don’t follow a strict intermittent fasting lifestyle any more,
but I have found that some days it seems to sneak up on me. I don’t
freak out if something occurs and I don’t have time to eat
breakfast/lunch/dinner/whatever – I just acknowledge that life happens
and deal with it. My metabolism is just fine, thanks. Oh, and I’ve never
been stronger in my life, so I must be doing something right by myself.
I have taken all that I have learned over the last few years and
apply it every day. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s worth it
My TDEE based on my average exercise amount is a little under 1800
(being so short sucks), but I know that appetite is not linear, just as
weight loss is not. On any given day I may not be all that hungry, but
on another I may be ravenous. It all evens out in the end. I eat foods
that make me feel good, some days that means chicken and vegetables,
other days it may mean a small slice of cake and icecream.
And I make
the.best.muffins.ever.
The best thing I have ever learned in the last few years is this –
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
I also add,
And move.
And that’s what I stick to.
