I agree on the stash! You should see mine! I haven't bought fabric for a while, and DON'T need to for more than that!
M
Quilter 8/23/03 4:55 P
I run a list for quilters called Stashbuster, on Yahoo groups. If you join stashbuster, you can see the quilt in my photos, which are easily accessed by following prompts. If you didn't want to stay with the group, you could just join long enough to look at the quilt.
The goal of the stashbuster group is to get people to work on using up what fabric they have, instead of buying more. Many quilters have way too much fabric! So we often share free patterns that use up stash, and so on. Sandra
MELISSAQF 8/22/03 9:01 A
Well done on the quilt! How very exciting. What are you going to do with it?
Do you work outside the home? Do you quilt a lot? As winter comes I'm thinking I have to do something different this year in terms of how I spend my time quilting. I need to make it a point to get up and do some sort of exercise. I can, and do quilt for hours at a stretch. Which results in stiff sore necks, and backs. But if I'ld just get up and even go for a short walk, I think it would be better.
Do you have a picture of your quilt? I'ld love to see it if you don't mind. My e-mail is QUILTINGFOOLWAUSA@YAHOO.COM
Have a good day... Melissa
Quilter 8/21/03 4:17 P
Hey Melissa--I just got a second place on a big hand appliqued quilt at the Minnesota State Fair! I am happy about that. Sandra
PS--thanks for the pat on the back
MELISSAQF 8/21/03 9:43 A
Good job Quilter! It's cool that you are getting out there and runnin around, and that you are looking forward to doing a bit more! Keep it up!
Are you working on a quilt at the moment? I'm just working on a couple of exchanges, nothing big.
Melissa (aka QUILTINGFOOLWAUSA)
Quilter 8/20/03 10:43 P
Dear Cyp--thanks for the thoughtful input. There is a lot of thought put into your reply. I will save it and think more about it! --Sandra
PS--I jogged around 3 sides of my block tonight. I was so surprised at myself! Next week it will be 4!
CYPRINODON 8/19/03 6:23 A
Don't change anything yet if what you are doing is working.
Some standard ballpark figures for how many calories an average person should eat is 15 or 16 x Body Weight = Maintenance Calories and 12 or 13 x Body Weight = Healthy Rate of Loss Calories.
As you can see, you may not need to automatically adjust your calorie intake down at this time as 12 x 175 = 2100 calories. If you found that you needed to be at 2000 calories for the loss you have achieved so far, and if you only lost a max of 2 pounds per week after the initial fast loss, and if you felt energetic and only mildly hungry at times, that calorie intake is probably a good number for you determined experimentally. As long as you are losing, don't start dropping your calories or you risk lowering your metabolic rate. One experiment you can try is to actually increase your calories to 2100 along with a good increase in your exercise intensity, frequency, and maybe even duration. Never stop doing the experimenting to find out what works for you; always be ready to tweak your program as needed.
I have wondered why we would need to adjust our caloric intake down as we lose fat since fat is a pretty easy tissue to maintain. What I came up with is that when you move, you are moving less body weight and thus your muscles are burning less calories to move that body weight. Also, you may be losing muscular size and strength as you lose weight because: (1) you have less weight to move around all day; and (2) you are operating in a calorie-deficit mode which often tends to cause a loss in musculature. Remember that the less muscle you have, the lower your calorie burn.
Things you can do to seriously increase your metabolic rate (such as eating properly with meals spread out through the day, weight training, intense anaerobic cardio work in an interval training program, increased exercise in general, and reaching a very low level of body fat/insulation which would increase the need for calories going to body heat production) won't necessarily stop or reverse the downward trend in your calorie needs but these things will at least slow that downward trend and keep it from dropping below a certain level.
All the stuff above is just trends and equations but the bottom line is: DON'T rely on formulas. DO rely on experimental results. I am a good example of how the 15 or 16 times body weight formula above doesn't work. I eat at least 20 times my body weight in order to maintain, sometimes more. I work out a lot, I work out at a high intensity level a few times a week, I spread my calories out through the day, and my surface-to-volume ratio gives me a clue that I put a lot of calorie burn toward body heat production. The muscle I have put on helps some but I really don't have much. As far as females go, I am still kind of a weakling. I am the only fit female in my office [OK so I can't influence them to work out :(] and I'm pretty sure I am also the one with the least amount of muscle. They are all stronger than I am and I come in last place in any goof-off arm wrestling competition.
Quilter 8/18/03 6:44 P
Please advise--I understand that when you are heavier, you can eat more calories and still lose weight because you are feeding a larger body. I started out at 190 pounds and can eat about 2000 calories to get to my goal. But now I am at 175, so I am wondering if I still can continue to eat 2000 calories. When the 2000 calorie plan was written, will that follow me all the way through to my goal of 140? At some point, does my body need a lower calorie adjustment to keep losing? My weight loss is slowing a bit now. Sandra
