Yesterday it was actually hard for me to fall asleep because I was still hungry.
i have those days sometimes and i can always tell when i'm gonna have one bcuz i kno i ended the day below my range, i usually pop ONE tylenol pm and that helps me get to sleep.
it always makes me remember those days when i used to get over-full and fall asleep then wake up feeling bad about it.
over time it happens less but to me it doesn't get easier. last night i had a 'i wanna munch' episode and ended getting in the bed to prevent it and i wasn't even wanting anything specific i jus wanted to eat.
I have been counting calories for nearly 2 weeks now, and I was definitely hungry all the time at first. I promise you will get used to it, but don't starve yourself, either. What I do is, I plan out ALL my meals and snacks for the day, first thing in the morning. I use caloriecount.about.com to track my calories, and I just add in anything I think I might want to eat that day. That way, when I'm hungry, I know exactly what to reach for and there are no surprises. I try to eat 1300 cals when not working out, and 1500-1700 when I do work out, and I have been consistently losing.
Here's what I am eating today:
Breakfast: Steel-cut oatmeal that I made overnight in the crockpot and a Yoplait Light yogurt
Snack: Pita chips with homemade hummus
Lunch: Sandwich on whole wheat bread with low-cal mayo, turkey breast, bell pepper strips marinated in balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil; light string cheese
Snack: banana
Dinner: Chicken and roasted veggies with whole wheat pasta in alfredo sauce (home-made, under 300 cals) and a BIG salad with just romaine lettuce and light dressing
All this cost me a little over 1200 cals, so if I don't work out today, I have room for another Yoplait for dessert. All my grains are whole-wheat, and I try to add lots of veggies for extra fiber. You just have to tinker around with the foods you like to see how much you're able to eat, but pre-planning my meals has always worked for me.
Once you find a happy place with your calories, you can manually change them in sparkpeople so you can keep better track. I use sparkpeople and love it.
Thanks again everyone for the responses and sharing your own experiences! I've been thinking about this a lot. 2 days ago I did 2000 calories and I felt better. However, I feel that I'm not making the best choices while calorie counting (as in I was eating better food before starting calorie counting). So I was thinking about just counting calories on non-veggies and allowing myself unlimited number of veggies. Then I'd probably set my total number of calories lower. So if I get really hungry at night I can go ahead and eat some beans or carrots or whatever without worrying about calories.
That would be a lot easier for me in general because we travel so much that planning ahead is not really an option all the time (we have 4 big trips coming up before the end of this year).
i think that's a really good idea for you. we all have to fit the plans to our own life. although i wouldn't say 'all' veggies. certain ones can have alot of cals. starchy ones like potatoes, but i think you meant the lower carb ones. you might look up the index of foods. can't remember what it's called. glycomic or something. diabetics often use it too, but it's useful for all of us eating healthier. and once you get used to it, you'll remember how many cals are. things you eat most often.
2 days ago I did 2000 calories and I felt better. However, I feel that I'm not making the best choices while calorie counting (as in I was eating better food before starting calorie counting). So I was thinking about just counting calories on non-veggies and allowing myself unlimited number of veggies. Then I'd probably set my total number of calories lower. So if I get really hungry at night I can go ahead and eat some beans or carrots or whatever without worrying about calories.
I calorie count and I focus on protein first because it keeps me fuller longer.
The majority of my daily calories (1600 to 1800 calories for a 350 pound-plus, 49 year old menopausal women is what I picked) is protein. Then I allow myself 2 to 4 healthy fat servings daily and then the rest of my calories are veggies/fruit.....mainly veggies as I rarely eat fruit.
However last night, I did not feel like cooking dinner and had 2 slices of gluten-free pizza from the pizza place across the street from my home. First time in a couple of months I was craving pizza so I ate it and counted it into my daily calorie allotment., Not the *best* choice I could have made but sometimes we all need to have something we desire and not beat ourselves up over it. I did eat it with a green salad which I made here at home so my choice wasn't too bad though I was over my total by 150 calories yesterday.
Anyway, with that said I think you should focus on protein first as it will keep you fuller longer and for someone who is breastfeeding AND running your calories should be at 2000 daily. Do you do a food journal? I write down everything I eat in a notebook and tally it up with a calorie counting book that someone here on these forums was kind enough to send me.(CalorieKing) I find that food journalling keeps me accountable to myself and not going off the deep end and binging by allowing myself to get too hungry.
i think that's a really good idea for you. we all have to fit the plans to our own life. although i wouldn't say 'all' veggies. certain ones can have alot of cals. starchy ones like potatoes, but i think you meant the lower carb ones. you might look up the index of foods. can't remember what it's called. glycomic or something. diabetics often use it too, but it's useful for all of us eating healthier. and once you get used to it, you'll remember how many cals are. things you eat most often.
Oh yeah, I guess I was considering potatoes as starches so even though they are technically veggies I would count them in the calories (because I can easily overeat sweet potatoes!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by canadianwoman
However last night, I did not feel like cooking dinner and had 2 slices of gluten-free pizza from the pizza place across the street from my home. First time in a couple of months I was craving pizza so I ate it and counted it into my daily calorie allotment., Not the *best* choice I could have made but sometimes we all need to have something we desire and not beat ourselves up over it. I did eat it with a green salad which I made here at home so my choice wasn't too bad though I was over my total by 150 calories yesterday.
Anyway, with that said I think you should focus on protein first as it will keep you fuller longer and for someone who is breastfeeding AND running your calories should be at 2000 daily. Do you do a food journal? I write down everything I eat in a notebook and tally it up with a calorie counting book that someone here on these forums was kind enough to send me.(CalorieKing) I find that food journalling keeps me accountable to myself and not going off the deep end and binging by allowing myself to get too hungry.
I agree. Protein is VERY important for me and something I struggle with. I'm not a big fan of meat (I actually was a vegetarian before I got pregnant and lost a ton of weight doing that but then pregnancy/nursing made me start craving meat again). However, I do eat a ton of black beans, avocados and eggs (and cheese to a lesser extent). When I was tracking everything (including the veggies) the last few days I seemed to be pretty pretty spot out with my calorie distribution between fat, carbs, and protein. But it could be that I do need more protein than what they suggest because of the extra exercise and nursing?
Oh, and just from experimenting today with counting everything but veggies I seem to be much more on plan and my calorie count is much more on tract (while feeling fuller). Maybe it's psychological because I get annoyed at look at portion sizes with veggies so then I eat less?
Calorie counting definitely takes some playing around to find what's right for you.
The first few weeks it took a lot of playing with meals to figure out what worked for me.
Mornings I'm never hungry but if I don't eat I will be starving later. so I'll have 1 package of instant oatmeal or 2 boiled eggs, or a simple Greek salad- just lettuce, feta, red pepper, onion and olives.
If I'm on the run I'll grab a whole grain raspberry muffin from Tim Horton's 400 calories but I feel good about the fiber.
Lunches again I'm not really hungry but I'll be starving later so I'll have, an avocado roll+miso soup Or A big Greek salad, Or a soup with lots of veg (most often soup) Or A ham/tuna sandwich.
Suppers used to be the only meal I ate, and it would be huge because I was starving! Now because I actually ate I will have a reasonable supper.
Rice/potatoes/noodles + chicken breast /tuna / shrimp + steamed veg.
in between I'll eat snacks when ever I'm hungry because my big problem was always eating nothing then binging. My snacks will be veg+ humus / yogurt / cheese cube / almonds / whole grain toast / roasted beans or zucchini
For me smaller frequent meals has really been the best method. I drink obscene amounts of coffee so I never really feel hungry until I'm starving and have a headache! So making myself eat through out the day really helps me feel better and eat reasonable amounts.
If your a craving person you should scheduel fixes- a cup of hot chocolate for the coco-lovers. popcorn for the salt lover.
If your a portion problem you should use small plates and wait 20 minuets between refills. (this worked great for my SO, he's easily eating half what he did before!)
Exploring foods has helped me lots too. I'd never realized how much I like broccoli, or squash and now healthy foods are normal to me. I spent a week at a friends place up north and was violently ill from the amount of grease and fat we ate. My body just can't handle it anymore! The smell of fried food is becoming a turn off. I never thought I'd crave a salad!
Today I did the whole not counting veggies and I think it was a success! I ate 1500 calories on the dot + unlimited veggies (but I did count fruit and the sweet potato that I had). I don't feel starving right now and it makes me think this is doable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Number8
I never thought I'd crave a salad!
Oh, and I definitely crave salads even before loosing weight. I really do enjoy veggies but my big weakness before was sweets (hence me giving up all sugar/artificial sweeteners). Oh, and thanks for reminding me about greek salads.
Dont put your self on a calorie restriction like 1200!!!!
Figure out how many calories you are using up everyday and just try to make a deficit from that. If you are using up 3000 cals, then aim to only eat 2500. With your activity level you should be eating a lot more than 1200 cals.
Last edited by Boinkshiky; 10-26-2010 at 01:06 PM.
If you're hungry all the time, then you aren't gonna be able to stick to it. You're burning a TON of calories by running, and I see you already got your answer on nursing - you need more calories to support the milk and the little one. My new diet is as follows - eat when you're hungry, drink water instead of eating when you're just bored, and don't eat until you're "full"... eat until you're satisfied, and leave a little bit of food on your plate. Use self-control so you don't eat too much, but yeah... don't starve yourself, or you're just gonna end up quitting your "diet" and putting the weight back on. Good luck! And WOW, great job on all that running! I wish I could run like that! I love running, but I make it about 10 minutes and then I'm done... Ten... very... slooowwww ... minutes... hahaha
I'm not trying to feed myself and a small child also, but here's a pretty low cal day for me, and look at all the food I can have. I find I do best if I eat at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm. If I'm hungry earlier I have room for something small to tide me over, but I am most def. not a breakfast person. I *may* get my lazy butt up and go to the store and find something else to add to my dinner, like a whole grain roll or something. I have found that this kind of "diet" eating helps me stay less hungry, though in all honesty, I am never completely satiated. I'm not sure there were any promises about never feeling hungry when I got on board this ride, though. And somewhere I read about knowin if you are truly hungry or just want to eat: hungry will eat veggies or whatever, wanting to eat will just grab and stuff into the mouth. I can use that togauge pretty accurately for myself. If I'm willig to eat a pile of veg, then yes, I am hungry. If not, then I can wait until a planned meal/snack.
I know about the out of town stuff. I just finished the first weekend away for craft shows of 5. I was fine until I decided it was okay to eat ice cream. BUT. I actually planned out my meals and packed each thing in a small plastic container....looked like a toddler was travelling with us. I even weighed out my turkey for turkey and pits and put it into baggies and put several baggies in a small plastic tupperware kind of thingy. I too pre-measured hot 7-grain cereal in plastic and then could use the microwave to heat water.
I was surprised how well it worked with a little pre-planning. One of our guests over the summer was a man who lost over 200 lbs. and I can tell you, I was IMPRESSED. I was able to serve him proper food due to my own plan, but if not, he had all these little plastic containers...just like me...and it made it seem possible for me to do it too.
Anyhow, here is my meal plan for one day, on a really low day. Maybe it will help.
milk 2 C 244
hot cereal 130
raspberries 35
almond milk 30
pita 90
3 oz. turkey 75
eggbeaters 120
feta 70
devin spag no pasta 200
spaghetti squash/ 8oz.
cooked 64
greens 30
dressing 50
1138
You have officially made my day!! I joke all the time about needing to get some use out of them, having to tote them around all your life. . .
