I feel like today is a fitting time for me to talk about why I started this blog. On Saturday I stepped on the scale, something I do almost daily, and saw a number that I really didn’t like. I gained 4 pounds last week, despite the fact that I was using my Advocare products properly, eating real food at a calorie deficit, I was hitting my macros like a champ! I was working out regularly and drinking enough water. I did all the things I normally do and instead of seeing my weight drop, it went up.
For most people when they eat at a level where they truly are at a calorie deficit they will lose weight at a rate of approximately 1 pound for every 3,500 calories they are deficit. For some where weight loss is a little more difficult they may need to make other changes, perhaps change the source of calories or even add some calories back if they are eating at too low of a deficit. Some people may not need to change what they eat but may need to increase their activity level in order to encourage their body to burn fat. Most often these people are overestimating the number of calories they are burning during the day and/or underestimating the amount they eat.
In this case I was not doing any of those things. I track every bite of food I eat on myfitnesspal. I have used it for many years but am currently sitting on a 100+day streak of tracking and I have been diligent during the week (some weekends I slip a little and may miss a snack or meal but nothing life changing). Also I have a FitBit Charge HR, which has a fairly solid reputation for its accuracy in estimating daily calorie burn.
From Sunday 4/2 through Friday 4/7 I consumed 10,169 calories and burned 15,903 which should have meant I had a calorie deficit of 5,734, and should have lost 1.6 pounds during the week. Instead I GAINED 4 POUNDS.
There is really only one thing that would cause this kind of result, hormones.
Unfortunately part of the joy of PCOS is unpredictable hormonal responses to things. So after I got extremely pissed off for getting results that were in direct contrast with what I had expected to achieve (tears were shed, it wasn’t pretty) I decided that I needed to take even more control of the situation in order to stop myself from spinning out of control. So I sat down and recalculated my macros, I made plans to lower my calories by an additional 100 per day and I started revisiting my personal history and reaction to various food choices.
Then I started a blog—because I needed somewhere to talk about things.
I have two very good friends who know about my goal for 2017 of having abs or a baby on New Year’s Eve. During 2016 I had three IUI’s and despite the cycles of hormones that are famous for causing weight gain I managed to weigh 1 pound less on January 1, 2017 than I did on January 1, 2016. I considered that a minor win, however I expressed to these friends that I wanted to take control of something with my body because I felt like through this process I have had no control; I have simply been stuck at the whim of the doctors. So I told them I wanted to end the year with either abs or a baby, and one of them told me I needed to hashtag that on all of my workout FB posts. While I’m not at a point where I want to be that in-your-face about my goals with my friends and family I did think it would make a cute blog name and twitter handle. So here we are!
#absorababy
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