Is this gonna get me in trouble?
I aim for 1550 calories a day, eat whole foods, and try to avoid "the whites". I take fish oil capsules, a multi-vitamin, a glass of dark chocolate milk, and a small glass of red wine (nearly) every day. I don't "work-out" except for a 22 minute routine on the Wii I do every day (stretching and strength but it's the Wii so it's not like a serious work-out) but I do have a pretty active job and life.
I was losing about 8 pounds a month and was fine with that. I'd love all this weight gone gone gone but I'm in this for the long haul not the sprint.
This month, due to one thing or another, I've tended to only get 1300 a day. All healthy calories, no junk food (except for cinco de Mayo where I went up to 2000 that day). The pounds have just flown off. I mean flown. I got on the scale when I got up this afternoon (I work nights so 5pm is morning for me) and it read 239. I moved it and tried again and I'm not putting it on my ticker because I still don't believe it. That's like 16 pounds this month. 16 pounds! Like, Wow! I can't say I'm not totally psyched.
But here's my question. I've still got 100 pounds to lose. I plan on still keeping my target calories at 1550 a day but should I worry if I tend to dip down into the 1300 range for long periods. I'm never hungry, I'm eating well, I feel great, I never feel deprived. But I worry when I get down to 180, 170 that I'm going to have to cut back even more just to lose even a few pounds a month. I can handle the slower weight loss but I don't want to suddenly have to cut back on food so that I'm feeling "dang, I wish I could have more...". I think 1300 is very do-able for me most days. I suspect forcing myself into 1200 will result in binges and unhappiness.
I keep reading about how as you get closer to goal you'll need to cut back on calories just to keep losing anything at all but is that always true? Should I work hard to get my whole 1550 every day now so I have the easy 1300's to fall back on later or should I just eat healthy now, not fuss about the lower calorie days, and expect that with only 20 pounds to go I might only be losing a couple pounds a month?
Like I said, I can handle slow - at a couple pounds a month I'll look back fondly (oh so fondly) at my one 16 pound month but I can keep on keeping on. But if I have to "deprive" myself to lose even a single pound it's going to be very very tough going and I know it. So am I not-eating myself into a dieting corner right now?
Thanks in advance for the input. You guys all rock!
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