Hi Ladies -
I def agree that a weekly thread is best!! Easier to keep up with!!

Lindy - Here is some willpower dust!!! Easier said than done I know but I just wanted to send some your way!!! One day of eating crappy will not kill you - work hard the next few days!! The one thing I found that helps me is seeing that initial weight loss - once I see that I work even harder!!!

Diva - Thanks again for the spreadsheet, I pulled it up to make sure it came across ok and will look into it later on tonight!!!

Today - 805 calories - need to get some more in a little later
BFast - Ritz Snack Mix (half the bag) 60
Snack - Mandarin Oranges - 70
Lunch - LC Mac & Cheese 290
Snack - 1 dark chocolate kiss 20 Triscuits 120
Dinner - Salad with hard boiled egg ff dressing - 225
Snack ????

I think my TOM is coming up - for some strange reason I am never hungry or crave anything when this happens!!

Anyway - have a great day ladies!!

I am assuming you mean the beans in the soup? 2 cups of soup would not be 2 cups of vegetables though. Not even close. There is all the liquid and other filler you need to think about! And since it is comercially prepared soup, it also has the high sodium and such.

But I do agree that I always wonder why you think your fat numbers are too high. 30% of calories from fat isn't that bad and that's where you usually seem to be. It could be better, yes. My main suggestion would be to cut out egg yolks, which you are planning on doing. You could also cut down to fat free dairy products.

AnAbsoluteDiva-1200-1300 calories is fine (low, but if you can stick with it, more power to you!!). I'm glad the lower day was a fluke! And beans are so good for you, I totally agree. I also think cycling through a variety of nutrients works well. After all, it is only in recent years that we have access to all those wonderful summer fruits and veggies in the winter and beautiful winter squash and things in the summer. I think our ancestors bodies definitely were able to store nutrients from one season to the next, so we should be able to go from one day to the next without getting them all each day! Glad to see you're keeping an eye on it!

Lindy

It was two cups of beans. I opened up two cans, drained the liquid, measured two cups of beans, and that's what I ate. Even in its original state, this soup has no broth to speak of.

Thirty percent of fat calories is higher than I want. Ideal number for me is 20 but I'll settle for 25.

;-)

Hi everyone! You are all doing a good job. Don't worry if you get off track one day! Just make the next one better!

Thursday: 1431 calories, 1005 deficit

Hi Lindy,

My BMR based on my age, height, weight, and lifestyle is 1952 calories a day.

Eating 1200 to 1300 calories a day creates a deficit of roughly 4900 to 5600 calories a week.

Add to that a weekly deficit of 1600 to 1800 calories from exercise, we're looking at a total deficit for the week of 6500 to 7400 calories a week.

3500 per week deficit equals one pound of fat loss.
7000 per week deficit equals two pounds of fat loss.

My calories are not too low.

They are within the guidelines that ensure fat loss without sacrificing muscle mass.

;-)

Diva - she didn't say they were TOO low, she just said they were low, as in, she couldn't/wouldn't want to eat that little. I agree; 1200 is hard for a lot of people. If it's working for you, that's awesome. I don't think she was criticizing your choice.

As for me, ladies, a 559 calorie deficit today. I had an offsite meeting today, conveniently at Starbucks, and managed to stick with just ordering the smallest size nonfat white chocolate mocha, and no baked goodies though I wanted something sooooo bad. When I felt like I was getting hungry and near temptation, I ordered a bottle of water to fill up on. My small little willpower victory of the day!

I managed to eat and keep myself full all day and stick to just under 1500 calories, so this number is working out really well for me. Now if I would just kick up the exercise a notch, I know I'd see some serious scale movement!

Day 2 Calories:

Breakfast: 2 banana protein bars (291)
Snack: Lean Cuisine chicken enchillada (270)
Snack: Almonds, apple (231)
Lunch: kashi golean cereal, 1 cup light vanilla soy milk, strawberries (273)
Dinner: "popcorn shrimp", sweet potato "fries", 162g green beans (338)

Calories: 1404
Exercise: rest day

I made popcorn shrimp from a recipe on hungry girl (at least I think that's where I saw it). Shrimp + fiber one + eggbeaters + oven except I used shrimp + allbran + egg whites + oven. IT TURNED OUT SOOO GOOD. I weighed all my ingredients too because I love to know exact calorie counts so I even recorded how much egg and how much allbran I actually used to bread the shrimp. hah It was very low calorie and excellent! I was skeptical, but to anyone who loves popcorn shrimp, try this out. My husband even said it was excellent.

Diva, Just came back on here and saw your response. I wanted to clarify my tone . I am TOTALLY supportive of you . You are working hard and doing great. You definitely do NOT need to defend yourself to me! It is hard enough for us "dieters" and all the ways we have to defend ourselves in "the real world", we should never have to defend ourselves here at 3FC!! I REALLY REALLY REALLY was not saying that 1200-1300 was/is TOO low, just that it IS low. I think it is so great that you are able to stick with it. I have frequently lost weight at 1200 calories/day. I am able to stick with it for as long as it takes to get the weight off (4-8 months usually). I just tend to regain the weight afterward. I don't know why. Emotional reasons? "Hunger"? Who knows? The thing is, that has nothing to do with you. Plus, I am thinking I might be a bit younger than you and possibly more active than you, which would definitely play into the difference in what each of our bodies needs. Anyhow, I'm thinking about going back to 1200 calories per day myself. We'll see. Nonetheless... I just want you to know that I am commending you for sticking with it, and losing weight. But don't drop much lower or you will put your body in jeopardy of not getting the nutrients it needs, right? (Which I think was how this whole dialogue got started... )

Lindy

SmartButt and Lindy,

I didn't take it as criticism. Did I sound grouchy, cranky, btchiy, not nice? Forgive me if I did... I didn't mean to.

Really.... I don't take anything as criticism.

I'll use more cartoons or something so that on days when sound heavy, the little carrot will lighten things up a bit!

Again, my apologies if I seemed curt!

See above post, Lindy. I didn't take offense. I just read my post... I guess I did sound like the nuns in grade school.

Anyway, the age difference does have an impact on BMR (it slows down as we age) but at 47, I'm no slouch!

Have a good one, Lindy. And really.... I wasn't put off by your statement for a minute!

;-)

Hi guys....

B: 4oz citrus C Monster juice, 1/2oz almonds & walnuts (running out the door!)

L: Munched on veggies while making lunch: cauliflower, orange pepper strips, carrots, mushrooms, 2.5oz chicken, 1/2cup pinto beans, 1/4cup green salsa verde, tomatoes, 1/2oz avocado

S: sf,nf,decaf vanilla latte

D: Burrito: Whole Wheat wrap, 1/2cup nf refried beans, 1/2oz cheese, spinach, tomatoes, green onions, lots of salsa

S: 4 dove dark chocolate squares (first time I've bought... YUM!)

About 1100 calories - Deficit 636
No exercise but ran around all day & cleaned the house for my mom's visit so I probably got my heart rate up quite a bit today.

It's 17 degrees out and supposed to snow (ice pellets they say) all weekend with a high of 8degrees. Time to dust off the treadmill. When I got on the other for the first time this week in forever I literally could blow the dust off.

You guys are all doing awesome. I love to read all of your highs/lows and what you're doing to work toward your goals. It makes mine easier and feels like I'm not alone on this crazy journey for health.

Take care!
Charlene

Total calories for today came in at 1104 with 43% coming from fat.

Calorie deficit for January - 4999 calories inspite of the fat.

Hello Everyone
Well my calorie count for yesterday was 1114 and fitdays was 1081. But I tend to go with what I have. Well I am back down to 174.5!! That makes me feel better. I am going to stick to trying to be around 1100 and 1300 at the min. And 1500 at the highest. I was very tempted yesterday to go to my old favorite fast food place for lunch but I fought it and had a grilled cheese instead!!! I am very proud of myself for doing that!!
Well better get back to work!!
TTYL,
Mary

Thursday's Journal:
!,108 calories and 28% Fat
Vitamins/Salmon Oil, etc...(13)
Fiber ONe (56)
Left-Over Elk Pizza (222)
Total Breakfast...291 calories

Turkey bologna Sandwich with
lettuce and spicy southwester mustard (128)
Blue Berry Cheesecake pudding w/FF cool whip (65)
Total Lunch...128

Supper: Tuna Salad Sandwich (298) This made a huge batch of tuna salad, I used the whole can of albacore tuna, celery, green pepper, onions, pickles and mayo and 3 slices of toast. I was so full after eating the whole thing I could hardly waddle out to the kitchen to do dishes.
FF Milk (80)
Total supper calories...378 This put me at only 797 calories for the day so I had to eat more.
Evening Snack:
1/2 cup FF cottage cheese (80)
Smoked Almonds (112) Thanks for the tip Saku!
I drank 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil (119)
Sakuya...We do eat a lot of wild game meat. My DH is a hunter and the last Elk he bagged brought home 800 pounds of meat. It's probably the leanest meat you can eat calories wise and I have to use oil to brown the burger because of so little fat in it. You're going to love the pizza's you can make out of Flat Outs and My DH loves them too! I love when some of you post your food menu's, that's where I picked up your tip of eating almonds. I ate some last night to get my calories closer to 1200. I actually purchased them for DH, which is why I bought the smoked almonds. Maybe I'd better stick with food coop kind that aren't salted. What kind do you eat?
Diva... Did I open up a can of worms or what when I asked you what you were eating! Have you tried the seasoned "Egg Beaters"? The have several seasoned ones, I like the Southwestern spicy one and no egg yolks. I buy Fat Free 1/2 and 1/2 for DH, it has only 20 calories in 2 Tablespoons and 0% Fat. I'm out of the block cheddar cheese I usually buy and can't think of the name of it but it's 1/2 the calories and very good.
Imenonelse... Did we scare you into not posting your calorie intake? I know you were always pretty low and have a hard time getting all your calories in like some of us.
Lindy... Some good advice that benefits all of us.
Fl-Mom, I think I'd starve on your last menu,(805)I'm sure you don't eat like that every day, somedays I have really low calories but try to eat some high calorie stuff before going to bed.
Valerie... 1431 for you, good!
SmartButt... 1500 for you and nice job at Starbucks!
Charlene... 1,100, great menu. Can you count avacodo as your healthy oil?
Speaking of healthy oils, I don't see anyone posting their oils!
Are you incorporating it into cooking your foods? I was on Weight Watchers for awhile and they really stressed the importance of 1 tablespoon of healthy oils daily. I think Olive oil is the best but not everyone likes the taste of it. Looks like I've gabbed enough for today, everyone eat healthy and get that Oil in today. It's 119 calories well spent!

Bobbi