Hey ladies. I tried doing a little research online and couldn't find an answer to my question. I knew you ladies and gents are the place to come for help.
Quick background. I have lost some weight successfully simply watching what I ate and exercising. Of course I hit a plateau because I wasn't following a strict diet or counting calories religiously. I have remained at that plateau for oh so long and I feel my only way to get moving on is to join the calorie counters.
This will be my first attempt to really commit to tracking everything, and I know it’s the right way for me. I love to cook, and love to lighten recipes. And have found the software to calculate recipe calories and I have a great handy app right on my phone. So I feel prepared and ready to follow this method of losing weight.
Here is my issue. I am afraid of making a bad choice in how many calories I set as a goal.
I believe that slow and steady wins the race, but I have recently let about 7 of the 16 pounds I previously lost sneak their ugly heads back on. I am training for a race in a few months and know that these 7 pounds will be a huge issue in training. I really want to lose the first seven really quickly. Like 2-3 pounds a week quickly. I would like to be close to my previously settled at weight by February 1st. Fueling for training is very important, so I can’t restrict calories too crazy much when I am really pushing the training. I don’t have the energy for long runs if my body doesn’t have proper fuel. So once I get back down those seven pounds I am totally happy with 1/2 to 1 pound a week weight loss.
Anyways I am VERY tempted to go down to 1235 calories a day for the remainder of the month of January. That is what calorie calculators say I would need to eat a day to lose 2 lbs a week. Hopefully with exercise I can make it closer to 2.5 lbs a week or so and get back down those 7 lbs by the end of January.
Problem is I am deathly afraid that I will end up becoming settled at that low amount of calories and then have no place else to go. I am afraid I wont be able to add calories without gaining weight back. Also I know that you shouldn't eat less than 1200 calories in a day. So when I hit a plateau I fear I'd have no place to go.
I have never restricted calories to that low of a level before, at least not consistently. I may have had days I ate that low or less, but I have never consistently counted calories for more than a two week "journaling" period. And when I have tried to ballpark calorie count I had goals of 1500-1800 calories a day.
I apologize I am so long winded in this message. I really want to be sure I am not setting myself up for failure. But I am also feeling desperate to get these few pounds of quickly so I can be assured to be at least at my normal weight by the time I really start trainging for this race. Having extra pounds greatly hampers my running time. I have been heavier and lighter than this in the 6 years I have been running half marathons, and have seen the difference extra pounds make on my training and race time. And this race is important to me. I am starting training earlier than ever for it (hopefully feb 1st) and hope to get my best time.
Thanks again and any comments are greatly appreciated.