This morning my weight (today is the day I record it) was 125.0. Down a full pound from last week’s weigh-in day, but definitely still within the realm of my normal weight fluctuations. I don't think it was necessarily a "real" loss.
Last week was good, and taught me some lessons:
1. I don’t like eating 1650 calories a day. It feels like too much. I could do it easily (because I used to!) if I were eating chocolate and fast food and carbs, but that’s not an option. Eating that many calories of my healthy food just leaves me too full, and I don’t see the point in eating when I’m not hungry. Isn’t that one of the reasons I stayed fat for so long? I need to work on this when I enter maintenance for real.
2. The calories I was eating before (1100-1400 a day) really did leave me feeling deprived at times. Having those extra calories to play with was, at times, really nice!
3. I still want to lose. I thought maybe I was done, and I do think I’m close to being done, but these last 5 pounds have the potential to make a pretty big difference.
So, here’s the deal. This week, I’m going to aim for 1400-1500 a day. I should still be losing at this level, albeit slowly. I’m ok with slow right now. That’s the experiment for this week, so let’s see where it takes me.
I have to head to class – young minds to mold and all - but I’ll post today’s food and exercise plan during my lunch break.
suggestion to get you up over 1600/... add an ounce or half ounce of nuts to your greek yogurt and fiber one.......small handful, good at, calorically dense, i dont think youll even notice a difference (feeling full-w3ise i mean) and itll get you there to your numbers
just a thought. thats what id do in your sit.....
OR if you eat a salad, start having the full fat version of whatever dressing, or add chesse to it or something...... a couplr TBsp of reg ranch or italian dressing will add enough cals to bumpo you up
B - Egg muffin sandwich and orange - 424 cals
S - Raw veggies - 40 cals
L - Turkey wrap with hummus and spinach, soy and flax chips, strawberries - 350 cals
S - Homemade blueberry bran muffin, buffalo jerky ( I decided I liked it enough to include in the regular rotation. It's a plus that it doesn't need to be refrigerated.) - 160 cals
D - Chicken with roasted butternut squash, onion, asparagus, olive oil, frozen SF pudding in an ice cream cone - 505 cals
That puts me at around 1480 for the day.
Exercise - 45 mins cardio; Lower body and abs strength
suggestion to get you up over 1600/... add an ounce or half ounce of nuts to your greek yogurt and fiber one.......small handful, good at, calorically dense, i dont think youll even notice a difference (feeling full-w3ise i mean) and itll get you there to your numbers
just a thought. thats what id do in your sit.....
OR if you eat a salad, start having the full fat version of whatever dressing, or add chesse to it or something...... a couplr TBsp of reg ranch or italian dressing will add enough cals to bumpo you up
Thanks, and I absolutely agree. For the record, I never thought I'd be one of "those people" talking about how much the had to eat . . .
I didn't always write it in my food plan, but I definitely incorporated olive oil, avocado, and nuts/nut butters last week. I could certainly have done more, but my macronutrient ratios and fat grams were pretty much where I wanted them to be.
I know that when I enter maintenance for real this is going to be an area I'm going to have to experiment on. One thing I'm considering for long-term maintenance is eating 1400-1500 most days, with a couple of days up to 1800 (or so, once I figure out how much) to maintain. Still just thoughts, but I know some of the maintainers here do that.
No time to post tomorrow morning (although I should be able to hop on and add my weight) so I'm posting now. What? I'm working ahead? Don't tell my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Fried, who despaired over my "poor study habits."
Today was crazy! I was at the gym when we had a tornado warning and we all got moved into an interior dance studio. Luckily there were free weights in there and I was able to complete my planned strength routine, but ony did my 15 minutes of my warmup cardio.
We weren't allowed to leave until the all clear was given, so that got me home late. I wasn't excited about waiting for my veggies to roast, so I improvised. Dinner was a TJ's chile-lime chicken patty and garlic hummus on whole wheat bun with a yummy veggie slaw I threw together: green beans (mine were frozen and I nuked them for a minute to get rid of the chill), bagged broccoli slaw mix, and mushrooms. I added some choped cilantro, red wine vinegar, and a tablespoon of Newman's Own Lowfat Sesame dressings. It was great!
Then, after I finished toasting the hamburger bun, the dog nabbed the bottom half of the bun. So my calories are slightly lower than planned, but at 1434 still within my target.
ETA: This morning's weight was unchanged at 125.0.
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Tuesday's plan
B - Egg muffin sandwich (I eat this a lot, I know, but it WORKS for me and I rarly get tired of it); orange - 385 cals
S - Carrots and celery - 50 cals
L - Greek yogurt, oats, Fiber One, flax meal, and FRESH strawberries! They're back! 370 cals
S - broccoli and turkey - 90 cals
D - We're going to try this again. Chicken, roasted butternut squash, onion and asparagus with olive oil - 455 cals
That leaves me at 1351, which leaves room for dessert. I'll decide what I'm feeling like tomorrow.
Exercise - Upper body strength and 45 minutes cardio. Hopefully no tornado warnings will be interrupting me this time!
Plans were good until dinner. While making dinner, the "little voice" got to me again and I prepared less squash and onion than I planned. I still ate dessert (frozen pudding in an ice cream cone), bringing my calories for the day to 1402, which is within my 1400-1500 range for the week.
The little voice was rewarded this morning on the scale, as I weighed in at 124.2.
As a refresher, I don't feel like I'm eating in a disordered way, but I do think I occasionally have disordered thoughts about food. I'm not trying to stop a behavior with this experiment, I'm trying to stop thoughts and feelings of guilt when I eat toward the top of my calorie range. I'm trying to prove to myself that I won't gain back all my weight overnight if/when I have a high calorie day.
However, I am still trying to lose. A few posts above, I wrote that I was OK with a slow loss. I was, obviously, lying to myself. I want this weight gone yesterday. I've been losing now for over a year, and I'm so close to goal, and I don't want to go slow (screams the tantrum-y inner 3 year old)!
Ugh. I realize that to some, this might seem like I'm complaining about nothing - my biggest problem is that I'm losing weight and can't eat enough calories? But no, my problem is that I want my weight loss to be sustainable long-term, and I want to have a healthy, sane relationship with food.
All that said, dinner last night was filling and delicious and covered in heart healthy olive oil. Exercise was OP, with 50 minutes cardio (W1D1 of the C25K - I'm trying it again! - and 20 minutes on the AMT) plus upper body strength.
This morning's weight - 124.2
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Today's plan:
B - Whole wheat tortilla, banana, almond butter - 340 cals
S - Raw veggies - 40 cals
L - Turkey wrap with hummus and spinach, soy and flaxseed tortilla chips, and 2 small kiwi - 439 cals
S - Beef jerky and carrots - 105 cals
D - I'm meeting some friends for dinner tonight at a Mexican chain called Willy's - this is Mexican "fast" food, like Chipotle or Moe's. Their nutritional info, unfortunately, is NOT available online. I'm planning on getting a salad with marinated tofu and black beans, salsa as dressing. I have 575 cals to spend, so that should be more than enough. If I do a calorie estimate and have room, I'm planning on some strawberries at home for a snack later.
Hi Jen, I figured I should quit lurking and actually post on your thread. I've been reading and following along and I'm very much interested
I also have that nagging voice, lower must be better. During my weight loss, and even early maintenance, I was eating 1100-1300cal. 1400+ seemed gluttonous. Even during maintenance, I'd eat very low cal with a cheat meal once a week to offset the low cals during the week. I deal with some binge tendencies, and after a bad month of bingeing and then desperately trying to scramble back on the wagon, it led me to a pattern of binge/restrict. I ate 500-600 calories for a whole week...NOT healthy. I actually started feeding myself properly again (and surprise, that desperate need to eat eat eat (binge) went away when I wasn't starving). But even still, I feel guilty if I go above 1250ish. I'm not starving, but that's still not right. I know my body needs more fuel. Those 1250 calories are all very healthy balanced food choices that actually equal a lot of food. So, like you, the thought of adding more food seems surprisingly challenging.
Oh, and interesting note. After my bad month of binges, my weight had gone up from 124-125 to 128-129. Not a significant change, but as a maintainer, any gain means something needs to change. My very poor decision of trying to restrict to 500-600cal/day kept my weight at 131-132lbs for that whole week. It wasn't my TOM or anything. When I finally snapped myself out of it and started eating balanced whole meals again (albeit, still at 1100-1200...I should be eating more), my weight dropped to 127-128 almost immediately.
I certainly don't mean to hijack your thread, but I wanted to share my experience/thoughts. Your thread has been really inspiring to me, has convinced me that I just need to grow a chest hair and try eating 1500 or so for a couple days and see how I feel. My body would be thrilled, I'm sure.
So good on you for breaking out of the lower is better mindset. I'll definitely keep reading your updates
Hi Jen, I figured I should quit lurking and actually post on your thread. I've been reading and following along and I'm very much interested
I also have that nagging voice, lower must be better. During my weight loss, and even early maintenance, I was eating 1100-1300cal. 1400+ seemed gluttonous. Even during maintenance, I'd eat very low cal with a cheat meal once a week to offset the low cals during the week. I deal with some binge tendencies, and after a bad month of bingeing and then desperately trying to scramble back on the wagon, it led me to a pattern of binge/restrict. I ate 500-600 calories for a whole week...NOT healthy. I actually started feeding myself properly again (and surprise, that desperate need to eat eat eat (binge) went away when I wasn't starving). But even still, I feel guilty if I go above 1250ish. I'm not starving, but that's still not right. I know my body needs more fuel. Those 1250 calories are all very healthy balanced food choices that actually equal a lot of food. So, like you, the thought of adding more food seems surprisingly challenging.
Oh, and interesting note. After my bad month of binges, my weight had gone up from 124-125 to 128-129. Not a significant change, but as a maintainer, any gain means something needs to change. My very poor decision of trying to restrict to 500-600cal/day kept my weight at 131-132lbs for that whole week. It wasn't my TOM or anything. When I finally snapped myself out of it and started eating balanced whole meals again (albeit, still at 1100-1200...I should be eating more), my weight dropped to 127-128 almost immediately.
I certainly don't mean to hijack your thread, but I wanted to share my experience/thoughts. Your thread has been really inspiring to me, has convinced me that I just need to grow a chest hair and try eating 1500 or so for a couple days and see how I feel. My body would be thrilled, I'm sure.
So good on you for breaking out of the lower is better mindset. I'll definitely keep reading your updates
I've lurked on quite a few of your threads, too, Megan! I really appreciate your thoughts on this. Sometimes - well, most of the time, actually - I feel like weight loss is even more mental than it is physical. I don't mean in a "willpower" or "mind over matter" type way. I mean in a "how does my thinking affect my behavior" type way.
Please keep reading and feel free to share any insights or struggles you have. We're all in this together.
(Um, I just inadvertently quoted High School Musical. Oops!)
So, I've found the secret to eating all my allotted calories! Just tell me that I have a bunch of calories left over for the day, then put me near chocolate!
Yesterday was OP, food and exercise. Dinner was out with friends at a local fast food Mexican chain. I got a salad with black beans and tofu cubes (pretty good, actually) and used lots of salsa as dressing. I estimated and inputted everything into MyPlate, and was at 1350 cals.
Well, after dinner we went somewhere, so I didn't get home until after 9 and was pretty tired, but was only at 1350. So I decided to have an 80 cal Reese's cup. I could have stopped there, but then had a dark chocolate caramel wedge (from TJ's) for 30 more cals. Then realized I had enough cals left over for 1 more wedge, and so I ate it.
All that to say, my calorie total for the day was 1495, 140 of which were chocolate, which was kind of, sort of unplanned. But I was still in range so I'm calling it good.
Also (and this might be another thread) do any of you CC-ers have trouble NOT finishing all your allotted food? What I mean is, if you've counted and tracked it, do you feel like you have to eat it? Last night at dinner, the salad (mostly because of veggies) was pretty big, and after a while I could have stopped with some left on my plate. But I ate it all because I knew the calorie count and had already tracked it, and wouldn't know how to subtract if I stopped. So I finished the whole thing. Not damaging calorically, but it's not the first time I've done this and I'm wondering if I'm damaging my internal sense of intuitive eating, which was already pretty screwed up.
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This morning's weight - 124.4
Today's plan -
B - Egg muffin sandwich (out of English muffins, oh no! Made on a whole wheat hamburger bun, which was surprisingly tasty) - 355 cals
S - Raw veggies and LC wedge - 75 cals
L - Greek yogurt parfait. More fresh strawberries. - 364 cals
S - Beef jerky (not as good as the buffalo, I have to say) and carrots - 105 cals
D - Turkey wrap with spinach and hummus, flax chips, orange - 408 cals
I actually have all my food packed for the day, since I'm expecting to be at work pretty late. The above is 1306 cals, so I'll be having some dessert when I get home. Maybe I should plan that now?
Also, today at school (I'm a teacher) we're having a cake for some students who have "graduated" a special program. I'm NOT having cake. Just saying that here, for some accountability.
I was going to suggest cutting out the sugar free snacks and eating snacks with real sugar. Looks like you did that with the chocolate.
Easy ways to up calories without more volume is to eat full fat dairy, a few nuts and use a little extra oil in your meals. It doesn't take much to add up to a couple hundred calories.
I was going to suggest cutting out the sugar free snacks and eating snacks with real sugar. Looks like you did that with the chocolate.
Easy ways to up calories without more volume is to eat full fat dairy, a few nuts and use a little extra oil in your meals. It doesn't take much to add up to a couple hundred calories.
Good luck!
You know, seagirl, I was thinking about this sugar reaction. I don't know if it's hormonal (TOM and various current stresses) or what, but I feel like my sugar free puddings satisfy me more than last night's real sugar chocolate. I really think I would have stopped at one SF pudding, but the Reese's cup just made me want more. Now, I've never been one to be bothered by artificial sugar, and I understand it's a no no for many people, but I'm ok with it (especially if it means I crave LESS, not more). But, again, I don't know if this was a one time thing or if that would be true all the time. I do eat real sugar, but maybe last night was a bad night for it.
I have added oils and healthy fats for more calories, but I feel like my fat grams and macronutrient ratios are right where I want them to be (where I've been successful over my weight loss, around 40/30/30). So upping cals via fat skews that somewhat. As I mentioned to mkroyer above, I'll do more figuring out for this over the long-term of maintenance.
Yesterday afternoon was one of those "bottomless pit" times. You know, when it seems like NOTHING will get you full/satisfied? I know a lot of this right now is stress and hormone induced, but knowing that in my head doesn't always equate to feeling less hunger, right?
In any case, I'm glad I had some calorie cushion yesterday in my plan. I ended up eating my planned snack, then moving my orange from dinner to an additional snack, then finally broke down and had a Luna mini bar (80 cals, I keep these in my purse for emergencies when I'm on the road) and a Coke Zero. That finally did the trick. I got through my afternoon workout, had dinner, and came home to a 1/4 cup Edy's Slow Churned ice cream in a cone (why yes, I DO put many of my desserts in ice cream cones ).
Total cals for yesterday - 1473. Food and exercise on plan.
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This morning's weight: 124.4
Today's plan:
B: Egg muffin - Due to lack of English muffins (and no grocery shopping til Sunday!) this was instead an egg wrap in a whole wheat tortilla. See how I'm mixing it up? - 270 cals
S: Luna mini bar - Today is a weird day, and I'm going to have to eat my snack in class while the students are watching a movie. My normal raw veggies would crunch much too loudly. - 80 cals
L: Turkey wrap with hummus, cole slaw, raw veggies, flax chips, strawberries - 427 cals
S: Homemade blueberry bran muffin and beef jerky - 167 cals
D: Um, I don't know? It's the end of the world's longest week, and right now going to bed as soon as I get home sounds good. Tentative plan is a repeat of Tuesday night's dinner - chicken, butternut squash, onion, asparagus, olive oil. That would be 433 cals, taking me to 1377 for the day, leaving room for hot chocolate or something else if I want it.
Last night I slept for over 10 hours. It was GLORIOUS. I woke up this morning, ate my breakfast, and went to the gym. I never work out in the morning because of time, but this morning had a really good workout. I'm attributing that to the sleep and the the effect of my usual morning coffee.
Yesterday was a really good food day. For dinner, I followed my tentative plan, but reazlied I had a ripe avocado waiting to be used, so I lowered the olive oil and added in some homemade guacamole. Despite how strange that sounds (roasted squash and guac?) the flavors went really well together for some reason, and it was yummy. I let myself "rest" after eating dinner, and didn't end up wanting dessert except in a vague, "I'm entitled to it" way, so I didn't have anything sweet.
Calories were within range at 1424 with a good macronutrient ratio. Exercise was on plan, if a little lackluster because I was tired.
This morning's weight was 124.0. If that trend holds, I will show a loss at weigh-in on Monday, which means I will have lost weight eating up! I'm not counting my chickens, but that would be nice.
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Today's plan
B - English muffin (went shopping for a few things last night) with turkey, LC wedge, and spinach; orange - 305 cals
S - Kashi granola bar on the way home from gym - 130 cals
L - Salmon, avocado, veggie slaw, small whole wheat tortilla - 465 cals
S - carrots and jerky - 105 cals
D - I'm shopping with friends this afternoon/evening. I'm thinking Chick-fil-A will be where we end up for dinner, so I'm planning a chicken salad and dressing - 310 cals
That leaves me at 1315, but dinner is tentative at the moment, plus I wouldn't mind coming home and having some strawberries.
Exercise was 35 minutes on the treadmill (C25K W1D3) and LB strength.
Yesterday was on plan. Dinner ended up being at Panera after the shopping trip - I got the black bean soup (which I've always loved) and came home and ate it with a dollop of Greek yogurt for some additional protein. Yummy. That left a bunch of calories for dessert, so I had a sheet of graham crackers (60 cals) with a SF pudding and a cup of strawberries. More yummy.
Total calories for yesterday - 1440.
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This morning's weight - 124.0.
Today's plan
B - Greek yogurt parfait - 408 cals
L - Turkey wrap with avocado, spinach, and pepper strips; flax chips; orange - 508 cals
S - Cole slaw with red wine vinegar - 25 cals
D - Progresso chicken tortilla soup (it's raining here, and I'm in a soup mood) with added artichoke hearts - 300 cals
Dessert - Edy's in a cone - 200 cals
Total for the day - 1441 cals
Exercise - Rest day
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Is anyone reading this? I need advice for next week - do I
A. Stick with m 1400-1500 calorie range
B. Go to 1350-1500 (possibly letting me lose more quickly, and I still do want to lose about 5 pounds or so)
C. Something else
Any thoughts or advice? I may not take it, but I'll at least think about it.
- but I’ll post today’s food and exercise plan during my lunch break.
So my calories are slightly lower than planned, but at 1434 still within my target. 
). 
