{"id":29761,"date":"2013-01-15T08:14:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=29761"},"modified":"2013-01-15T08:14:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T16:14:24","slug":"faq-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=29761","title":{"rendered":"FAQ – Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you miss Part One of the FAQ? Check it out here<\/a>. This will be an ongoing series as I get emails and comments with questions from readers. If I haven’t answered something, just leave a comment below.<\/p>\n

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I just found your blog recently. Where should I start reading?<\/h3>\n

My blog has evolved a lot since it’s inception in 2010. In the beginning I didn’t really have a vision for this website, partly because I didn’t really think anyone would read it! As it grew, my style changed. I got away from the “This is What I Ate” type of posts. I was personally bored writing<\/em>\u00a0them, so I assumed readers were bored reading<\/em>\u00a0them. I do post recipes here and there. As a result of this evolution, I think a lot of my newer posts are probably better. Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n

My first Blog Post<\/a><\/p>\n

My Fat History<\/a>\u00a0– this is sort of an “About Me” type of page.<\/p>\n

How I Lost 110 Pounds<\/a>\u00a0– answers the basic questions about how I lost the weight.<\/p>\n

Best Of\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Wednesday \u2013 Why You Should Lose Weight Slowly<\/a><\/p>\n

Lap Swimming Etiquette<\/a><\/p>\n

Swimming Tips for Beginners<\/a><\/p>\n

Polar Heart Rate Monitor Tutorial<\/a><\/p>\n

Overcoming Exercise Obstacles<\/a><\/p>\n

My Thoughts on The Four Hour Body Week<\/a><\/p>\n

My 100 Pound Anniversary<\/a><\/p>\n

Fitness and Finding Love<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Break the Bank Getting in Shape<\/a><\/p>\n

I Can Barely Walk, But I Can Definitely Swim<\/a><\/p>\n

How to Plan Some Awesome Meals<\/a><\/p>\n

How often do you weigh in on the scale? Do you still record your weight and calories at myfitness pal?<\/h3>\n

I weigh myself once a month. I’m at the stage right now where I don’t fluctuate in my weight very much beyond a pound of water retention. I use the monthly weigh-in just to check in with myself. Even though I don’t see a change in the scale, I still want to be aware<\/em>. I went scale-free<\/a> last summer and it really helped me to not care about that number on the scale as much. It did wonders for my self-esteem!<\/p>\n

Yes, I still use MyFitnessPal to record my weight, my food intake and my exercise. I also track on the site Cronometer<\/a><\/strong>. It’s a great website to log foods and analyze trends in eating and nutrients.\u00a0Even though I am in maintenance mode and not trying to lose, I still have to do what worked to lose the weight<\/a><\/strong>. I will always count my calories. I may not be restricting in order to lose, but I still have to be accountable to myself.<\/p>\n

I may not talk about it much on my blog anymore since I don’t post my weigh-in or post my food as often, but I still do it. It’s a MUST. I have to be accountable if I’m going to keep the weight off long term.<\/p>\n

What do you do if you start seeing an upward trend on the scale? ( like a gradual, slow gain).<\/h3>\n

This doesn’t happen often anymore. Like I said above, I’m maintaining and my weight doesn’t change much. It may fluctuate a few pounds during that time of the month, but I don’t count that. Month in and month out I’ve been the same weight —somewhere in the 144’s (144.4, 144.6, etc).<\/p>\n

There was one time after I reached goal weight where I did gain weight. I started taking a medication that unfortunately caused weight gain<\/a>. Sadly, I didn’t put two and two together until almost a year had passed and I’d gained 15 pounds. As I saw those numbers tick up on the scale, I ignored them. I was running all the time, I was training for Hood to Coast<\/a>, and I blamed the numbers going up on that. It wasn’t until I realized that the drugs caused weight gain and that gaining 15 pounds<\/strong>\u00a0even though I was counting my calories AND exercising 5 days a week was NOT NORMAL, that I stopped the medication. I lost weight pretty quickly and it reaffirmed that the medication was packing on the pounds.<\/p>\n

Now, medication-free and doing all the “right” things, if I saw a gain I’d pay attention. First, I would measure my body and see if I was gaining muscle. Second, I’d start being more careful with measuring my food and not “eye-balling” it<\/a>. Lastly, I would pay attention to my sugar intake<\/a>. Am I drinking more alcohol more frequently? <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Am I digging into the Candy Room<\/a> at work more often? Am I having too much<\/em>\u00a0dessert <\/a>too often?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"dessert\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When you first started swimming how did you get into the swim suit? Were you embarrassed by your thighs or butt?<\/h3>\n

I knew that swimming was the right exercise for me as a way to lose weight. First, it was something I’d always loved doing as a kid and as a teen so I knew I’d stick with it. Second, swimming was a good activity for an obese person with sore joints.<\/p>\n

Getting into that swim suit was the only option. I had to<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0in order to lose the weight. I just knew it was something I had to overcome. No matter how embarrassing or uncomfortable it was, I had to do it. Something that helped was wearing a swim suit that had a skirt attached to it like this one:<\/p>\n

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The suit I had was nowhere near as cute as that one. But it had a skirt that covered some of my thigh region–the part I was most self-conscious about. That helped. And honestly, once I was in the pool it wasn’t even an issue because no one could see me under water. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

It looks like you like beer. Isn’t that high in calories?<\/h3>\n

Why yes it is! Especially if you like the IPAs that I drink almost exclusively. IPAs are often between 180-220 calories a pop. That’s quite a bit. I follow my “90\/10 Rule<\/a>“, which means I eat in a healthy way most of the time, but I splurge and indulge, too. It’s called enjoying everything in moderation! Even beer! If that means I only have 1 beer once in awhile, that’s okay by me. Because I’m not DENYING myself anything. I’m not on a diet. I made a lifestyle change.<\/p>\n

\"beers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What kind of camera do you have?<\/h3>\n

I have a Canon Rebel<\/a>\u00a0and I LOVE IT! It’s my “precious<\/a>.”\u00a0\u00a0I love my camera so much. It’s a great camera, takes wonderful pictures–while I am still learning how to use it. I took one camera class but for the most part I’ve been teaching myself with just practice, practice, practice. I use LightRoom to edit my photos.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

How often would you run when you trained for a race? Did you give yourself days off for rest? How many? Did you cross train during that time? I just started running and wondering if I could run more than 3x\/week.<\/h3>\n

Great questions! I was running 3 days a week on average when I was running a lot. In the beginning I had to give myself a few days in between my runs because my thighs would be really sore. But as I conditioned my body and got better at running, I could run two days in a row if I wanted to.<\/p>\n

I did a lot of cross-training simply because I’d always done it. I swam two days a week no matter what because swimming was how I lost my weight and I loved doing it. I tried to fit in a yoga class here and there as well. I also spent one day a week doing cardio at the gym (stair-master usually).<\/p>\n

If you’re just starting out with running, I really suggest following a plan for beginners. Increasing mileage, speed or frequency too much too soon<\/a> leads to injury or over-training<\/a>. While I did not follow a “program,” I have heard really good things about the Couch to 5k Program. It’s worth a try. Good luck!<\/p>\n

QUESTION: I love getting reader mail, so ask away if you have any questions!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you miss Part One of the FAQ? Check it out here. This will be an ongoing series as I get emails and comments with questions from readers. If I haven’t answered something, just leave a comment below. I just found your blog recently. Where should I start reading? My blog has evolved a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[55,5564,101,152,154,3610,224,267,298],"tags":[5588,8883,6187,6679,8662,6680,1670,8707,2735,3035,8758],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29761"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36396,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761\/revisions\/36396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}