Have put on weight...

[Cassie]

I'm very disappointed today... after one month of absolute compliance on vanilla NoS (after months of difficulties & ups & downs) I weighed myself & I've actually PUT ON 1 kilo in this month, and maybe even a bit more .

I know I'm a difficult case: years & years of yo-yo dieting have left their toll, plus the fact that I have polycystic ovaries. I loved reading that article about the difficulties of maintenance (it's on the NoS bulletin board somewhere) but it also filled me with dread about the difficult road ahead.

On the plus side, I've been enjoying vanilla NoS & I already feel much more sane with my decision that this is what I'm following for life. So I'm still continuing with vanilla NoS for now since I'm just a month in with full compliance (no reds), but I do know already that I have a problem on my hands:

first, because of 'S days gone wild'

second, because for my particular case it'll probably take something extra to actually lose weight (because of polycystic ovaries)

I thought the first thing I'd do, before making any modifications which I don't want to jump into quickly, is to add exercise into my daily routine. I thought I'd start modestly, with Reinhard's 14 days of anything a day, and see how I go. Last year, for at least 5 months, I did exercise & that made a big difference. One mistake I made though was rely on the gym to get my exercise. Once my schedule got busier, I couldn't sustain that.


Any suggestions for good exercise DVDs?

[sophiasapientia]

Hi Cassie -- Kudos to you for doing so well on habit! That's no small feat. I agree that starting to add some moderate exercise in sounds like a good idea.

I'm limited in how often I can do them due to a chronic pelvic pain condition but I really enjoy Chalene Johnson's Turbo Jam series. Very fun and very effective. I introduced some of my family -- including my sister who also has PCOS -- to these and turned few folks into TJ addicts.
I would put these into my routine on a regular basis again if it was a viable option for me.

Other exercise DVDs that are in my collection are several from Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds series (anyone can do these) and some old school -- like from the 1980s -- Firm workouts (effective but not something I enjoy doing as much as other things.)

Hope that you find some solutions that work for you!

[oliviamanda]

Turbo Jam is great! I only have Lower Ab Jam on DVD, and two on VHS. They are the best videos! My mother-in-law loves Walk Away the Pounds. I used to do that, but I go to a gym now and I take walks outdoors.

Don't be discouraged by gaining one pound. Just think of all the stuff you'd be eating if you were not doing No S. I was sort of discouraged this morning by the scale going up and I didn't even think I did S days gone wild. But I am coming off the weekend and I did eat a little more than usual. It's not No S's fault, it's my own.

[Cassie]

Thanks for the input. What feels really helpful is that I know very well, having done vanilla NoS with no slip ups where my problem areas are &, even more basically, what I've been doing in the last month. In the past (for example this last spring when I was on & off NoS with no consistency) I would maintain my weight or put on weight or even lose a bit of weight, but I had no idea what the reasons were.

Here's what I'm planning to do:

--adding moderate exercise daily (on N Days)
--cutting out butter from my morning toast & replacing with margarine or something similar
--keeping an eye on S days. Just 'observing' for now, that should do it, as I'm not eager to add any modifications yet.
--Lots of walking, in the urban ranger style. Already today I did 2 brisk walks of 25 mins each.
--and finally (this may be controversial). I've been weighing myself once a month for the last 3-4 months. That doesn't seem to be working. So for one month I'll experiment on weighing myself daily & logging that weight.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. If anyone has experience of putting ON weight while on vanilla NoS & then that trend reversed let me know...

[ShannahR]

As far as exercise DVDs go I'd just like to put in a vote for Denise Austin. I know, she's annoying in a peppy way. I also find she's obsessed with looks and it seems like she doesn't really care about health. However, the great thing about her work outs is the way they are set up. She has some where you pick 5 minute segments to put together your own work out. She also has alot that are in 10 and 20 minute segments. For me, this fits in perfectly with "14 minutes of anything" because you can easily put together a strength work out for as little as 5 minutes or as long as 1 hour using 1 DVD. When I did it regularly, I definately noticed I was getting stronger and my muscles were more defined. Unfortunately, I've slipped off track since then .

[kccc]

Here's what I'm planning to do:

--adding moderate exercise daily (on N Days)
--cutting out butter from my morning toast & replacing with margarine or something similar
--keeping an eye on S days. Just 'observing' for now, that should do it, as I'm not eager to add any modifications yet.
--Lots of walking, in the urban ranger style. Already today I did 2 brisk walks of 25 mins each.
--and finally (this may be controversial). I've been weighing myself once a month for the last 3-4 months. That doesn't seem to be working. So for one month I'll experiment on weighing myself daily & logging that weight.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. If anyone has experience of putting ON weight while on vanilla NoS & then that trend reversed let me know...

Cassie, I'm impressed that you're able to take a calm view of this, and not just chuck No-S because "it's not working."

I've had experience with putting on and having to tweak. No-S worked well for me for a good while. Then, about a year and a half ago, I changed jobs. My new job is more sedentary than my old one, plus I have two hours of driving a day, which is MORE sitting and cuts into exercise time. Plus, we have a lot of meetings-with-food. A few months ago, I realized my weight had very gradually drifted up as a result. Not a lot - 5 pounds or so - but I needed to reverse the trend.

I started wearing a pedometer, trying to fit in "more" steps even if I didn't make 10,000 per day, and took a look at typical meals to see where I could PAINLESSLY cut a few calories. About that time, someone posted that "people tend to eat the same things over and over," which was true for my breakfast/lunches in particular. A few substitutions helped there - none of them involving giving up things I LOVED or adding things I didn't. Just a little care.

Weighing daily is not a problem as long as you don't get derailed emotionally by normal fluctuations. Look at some of the trend charts of people who track that - they are VERY jagged, even when there's a strong trend downward.

I think all of your changes are great, with the exception of the butter/margarine substitution. In terms of calories, they're identical, and margarine often has more trans-fats. Maybe you could just use a bit less, or cut elsewhere... or just not bother until you see if the exercise does it for you.

Good luck!!

[oolala53]

The only thing I don't understand is why you are replacing butter with margarine. If you do, please find a margarine that has no hydrogenated fats. They are worse for you than butter. Also, most margarines have the same calories as butter, so you are not going to eat fewer calories.

Could you experiment with using a little less butter, making sure it's soft before you spread it? Most people use less when it's easier to spread. However, I must say the few calories you save don't seem likely to make the difference. If you go from one tablespoon to one teaspoon, you've saved only 65 calories. At that rate, it would take 53 days to lose a pound. If you're using less butter to start, it will take even longer.

However, I will say that though it's strange, I actually like spreading spaghetti sauce on my toast some mornings. I still usually have some fat, though. I just enjoy the food more and I don't get as hungry later.

I think your added exercise is going to make the biggest difference.

I'll be interested to see how you do, as this is an issue for me, too. I still don't think I can do much about S days until something else gives, and I haven't been able to force myself to do exercise regularly, but I know those are the places I have to work with. My N Days are solid and already very moderate, I'd say.

[Cassie]

Well after your thoughts (thanks for taking the time to write them down) I've ditched the idea of using margarine & have kept on using butter. However, I've stopped having toast & butter & marmalade that often, & I now mostly have oatmeal for breakfast or muesli with yoghurt (both of which I love anyway). I figured they're both healthier options. And on the days I genuinely feel like having toast & butter, I go ahead & have it, but it's less often I find.

Generally I've been doing well, and since that day I wrote the initial post I've lost some weight & am still losing (more than it says on my signature!) The exercise is CERTAINLY helping even this soon after starting it!!

[clarinetgal]

I'm not sure what your fitness level is, but Tracey Mallett makes workout dvds that are all short segments. She has a series called the Quick Blast Series, that is two dvds with a bunch of six-minute segments that cover cardio, toning, abs, and yoga/pilates. I would say that they're higher intermediate level, but they're great workouts!

[sheepish]

I have polycystic ovary syndrome as well and I too found that I didn't really lose weight to begin with on No S. What I've done is: change my number of meals a day to 2 from 3 (usually lunch and dinner but sometimes breakfast and dinner and, much less frequently, breakfast and lunch) and add in a dinner to dinner fast once a week. These aren't technically "mods" because No S doesn't tell you how many meals to east.

I've also added in some weight bearing exercise - my doctor says that PCOS women can put on muscle more easily than other women and that's good for me partly just because it makes me physically stronger (I am otherwise quite weak and weedy and hurt myself doing quite basic things!) and partly because muscle uses up calories just sitting there.

I have certainly found that compared to my other female friends, I've managed to put on muscle faster. There's also a theory that building muscle helps with the hormone imbalance issues as well - I'm not sure I believe that but I do feel generally better lately so there may be something to it.

I use resistance bands, rather than free weights/weight machines on the advice of my doctor and I think they're fantastic.

[Cassie]

Clarinetgal: thanks for the suggestion. I'm actually a beginner to be honest in exercise (I've exercised in a limited way on & off through the years but never really managed to increase my fitness levels significantly to consider myself 'intermediate', since I have the tendency to give up quickly). Any suggestions for beginners' dvds with short sequences (ideal would be 14 mins ).

Sheepish: very good suggestion about weights, thanks. Makes sense what you say. Any other tips about PCOS?

I'm pleased to report that I've actually lost quite a bit of weight this last month just by adding the walking (not too much, just about 2 sets of 25 mins every day) & by trying to keep an eye in a general way on what I eat on my 3 meals a day without however depriving myself. So far things have been going well!

[clarinetgal]

Cassie, Leslie Sansone would be a great place to start. I know she's been mentioned a few times already. She has several workouts that clock in at about 15 minutes, even less, as you build up your fitness levels. Some of her 12-minute miles are pretty fast! Her newer dvds are VERY well chaptered, so it would be very easy to do one mile in appx. 15 minutes. Here's some of her dvds that come to mind, that have segments that are 15 minutes or less: 5 Day Slimdown (has 5 separate 12-15 minute segments), Fast and Firm 4 Really Big Miles, 5 Mile Walk (each mile is separately chaptered, some are slower but two are faster), her Fast Start series (there's a 1 and 2 mile walk, a 3 mile walk where each mile is separately chaptered, and a 4 mile walk). Those are a few that come to mind just off of the top of my head. These are a little bit more intermediate in terms of Leslie workouts. You can also just get her Walk Away the Pounds series to start. The one mile workout in that one is slightly longer (it clocks in at about 20 minutes), but it goes at a slower pace, and the cast of characters in that workout makes it really fun. You can always look on Amazon for more ideas. I'm always happy to answer more questions about Leslie Sansone. Her workouts make up the bulk of my exercise dvd collection.

[connorcream]

I too use WATP. They have been very effective in other activities. I have been hiking 2-6 miles/ day easily over high altitudes and some rough terrain. They also help with horse back riding. DH likes my shapely backside.