kaqphin (Super Cat's) Mentor group - CLOSED (Page 8)

PAssing up dessert.... I would REALLY struggle too.. since we are sharing here is a bit of my story:

I originally put on a lot of weight in Uni - it was my first time out of home and I really didnt know how to handle it all so I ate for a lot of reasons and hunger wasnt a main one...

after 18 months I decided enough was enough and joined weight watchers, learnt how to eat properly and lost about 20kgs (44 pounds)

Then in early 2006 i was diagnosed with Ulcerative COlitis and put on Prednisolone (a form of steroids) and due to being to sick to exercise and train, as well as the side effects from the medications including weight gain, depression, carb sensitvity and a redistribution of body fat as well as insomnia, acne, hot flushes etc (I was on several) I ballooned right up gaining almost 30kgs (66 pounds) over the course of a year.

Since coming off the medication early this year I have lost about 20 pounds of the weight I gained but its not been easy as several injuries have limited my training and I am a bit of an all or nothing kind of girl... I eat well and train well together but when Im not training I find it hard to eat well...

So Ive helped friends loose weight and get active but found it harder to help myself... so thats why Im focusing on loosing the rest of the weight as I miss feeling like me! Plus being healthy has to be good for keeping my colitis in remission, and i need to do that so I dont end up back on the medication which got me in this mess in the first place!

Cat- Glad to see you've got your Colitis in remission.  My father has Krohn's so I know what a struggle dealing with angry intestines must be.

I think all of us will find that 2008 will make us lighter faster versions of ourselves.

Thanks if your dad has Crohns then you will know all about it... Im on the verge of a flare at the moment but I getting better at catching it early

How is your Dad doing?

When I was first diagnosed the support around from the IBD community (Inflammatory Bowel Disease - covers both Colitis and Crohns) online was good thankfully and I was lucky that I had a good GI who diagnosed it pretty quickly....  

shhh... don't tell anyone I misspelled it. I won't hear the end of it.

My dad's stubborn and never took any drugs and caught it to late to avoid surgery. He's been dealing with it over the last 20 years going into the hospital in serious condition several times. Still stubborn and no drugs, and still drinks way to much coffee. Last time was about 2 years ago and spent over three months in the hospital. But today he's doing great. They've removed so much of his intestines over the years that he never has to worry about ever gaining weight and he's realizing that he needs to eat a lot to keep his strength. He likes his new relationship with food. I'm jealous.

Take care of yourself.

And your amazing swims this week has totally motivated me to go to the pool tomorrow!

I figured out a while ago that my basal metabolic rate calorie needs are right around 2300 calories to maintain my weight, so 1800 is under cutting by 500.  That should mean about a pound a week just from reducing my calories.  The calories burned from exercise will be a bonus.   Experience also tells me that 1800 is a good amount of calories for me to eat.  I can eat enough that I don't feel deprived or feel like I'm starving.  With all my heavy exercising I may need to move that up a bit, but that's where I'm going to start off.

You can do it Dia! Positive healthy eating thoughts headed your way!

I find 1800 is also a good calorie goal for me to shoot for as well. Although if it's a longer bike riding day I'm usually starving by the end of the day so I up the calories. Still working on balancing those meals and snacks so that I have energy for the whole day and energy for my workouts.

Way to be a problem solver!    Glad you made it back home with the bike....

Hey Cat, guess what.....I have a channel called Fox Reality (some random cable channel) and the Biggest Loser Australia is on!  I am recording it. 

hehe i wonder which one it is.. the first or second season... new series starts here in the next month or so...

We had the US series finale on here last night! Im always amazed at the difference people can make! 

excited2tri - 2007-12-30 2:55 AM Unfortunately, my weight gain isn't due to injury, it is just my lack of exercise and eating horrible. The metabloism is starting to slow down and I just can't eat the way I used to be able to. I hope all who are injured are recovering nicely. My goal is to just get a handle on the healthy lifestyle now, so it won't be as hard later. That is the theory anyway.....LOL

Well I have some good news on that metabolism....exercise AND eating well (small meals/snack regularly, not skipping breakfast) will speed up the metabolism for ya! 

Thats all i was thinking... dont forget that if you are increasing your training you may need to eat a little more as not eating enough long term will slow your weightloss and progress and affect your training as well as having some not so fun side effects!

The not eating enough lesson is one I have learnt a few times...

Hiya,

Just a reminder that in the challenge forum for January there is a challenge where you chose your own focus going on. No Im not running it this time!!!

I know Kelley and Pam are already signed up but if anyone else is interested here is how it works:

You pick with swimming, biking or running for the month of January and declare a goal that you want to achieve in January... for example.. I want to swim 10000yards or I want to cycle for 10 hours... whatever yuo want..

You get put onto a team and its everyones job to inspire and motivate each other through your logs AND the team thread...

Its a really great way to meet some more BTers and get some added motivation.

There is generally a new challenge each month, some focused on specific sports... like a Run Challenge, some more like this months one. There is also a yoga challenge happening this month as well.

No pressure to sign up, a lot of people like to do there own thing too! But in case you havent wandered as far as the challenge forum yet, there is a heads up!

As always, any questions let me know! I will look at running another challenge later in the year...

Cat 

Nice... yes thats a pretty good bunch... well some of them!

Enjoy! 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!

 May 2008 be bigger and brighter than 2007.

ok, enough celebrating, time to put in some T.I.T.S so my bike odometer will be a nice round number for the new year. 

Happy New Year - time to get kicking!!!!

I finally crawled out of bed about midday, no I didnt have anything to drink but Im not good staying up past my bedtime!!!

So today is a public holiday before tomorrow where I...*GASP*... think I might go to the gym! 

Ok.  It's official.  I'm Nutts!!

Did the polar bear swim. Not the polar bear dip like most of the 2000 people who went out but my friend (he almost chickened out til I told him I would never let him live it down) and I did the 100 yard sprint.  We didn't know what was going on so started late and way off to the side so we did a 150 yard sprint.  Were still part of the first 15 people out there, I was the 4th girl! 50 people probably attempted it and 30 probably made it out that far.  So you swim to the boat and then you have to swim back to shore- so much harder!!!  It was fun, body parts were numb and I definitely wouldn't want to stay in the water any longer than we did.  Luckily we were prepared with lots of extra dry clothes so the chills weren't to bad.

Hope you all found an energizing, and probably less nutty way to start the new year!!