Good morning feathers!

I've had 2 good 1200 calorie days Monday/Tuesday, although I am beginning to wonder if I am eating about 100 more calories than I thought between gum, vitamins and calcium chews.

I always thought it was ridiculous to count these things, but I noticed last night that the calcium chews I eat each day are 40 calories and the vitamins are 15. I have also been chewing a ton of gum - maybe 10 sticks a day which I guess is 50 calories.

I always measure everything religiously but counting these things sounds anal / disordered to me. What do you all think? I suppose it means I can either eat a clementine for 40 calories or 2 calcium chews? That's crazy, I don't want to think like that!!!

Also of note, I am beginning to lose faith in my scale and need opinions. I live in a 100 year old apartment with rickity hard wood floors that are all slanty and uneven. I know that placing the scale where the heels of my feet are lower than the my toes always makes me weigh in at 5 pounds more. Swapping it around so my heels are higher than my toes gives me a reading closer to what it says if I move the scale sideways against the slant. LOL, this probably makes no sense as I am explaining it, but this morning i moved the scale around and saw 137.6 in one area, 138.8 in another, 143.5 in another. I am usually 138.X and was excited to see the 137 FINALLY but I noticed the scale was moved slightly from the last time I weighed so I shifted it and then 137 went away for good...

Thoughts? Opinions? Tell me I am losing it worrying about these things?

Wildflower the scale does seem to be affected by the floor! Can you weigh in at another location with another scale- doctor's office, friend's house, gym- to get a second or third opinion?

No idea the vitamin chews had that many calories! Is it Viactiv? Those are delicious. You're right that there could be a number of hidden calories in some of those things. Heck, I don't even count nibbles of my boyfriend's dinner or the splash of milk in my coffee, so I know I definitely forget to include things like vitamins, etc.

Dianne yay glad you popped in to say hi! To answer your question, the whole basis of intermittent fasting (which I think is different from ESE, I just fast for most of the day, not ever other day) is that it actually aids metabolism. I was really not okay with the idea of anything with the word 'fast' in it so I did a lot of research on reputable bodybuilding and health websites before I realized it made a lot of sense.

The concept behind it is that eating every 2-3 hours like the standard western diet suggests with small meals always keeps your insulin and other hormones in a "feeding" state- they are constantly elevated. Insulin suppresses hormones that burn subcutaneous fat and of course constant high levels of insulin cause all sorts of other problems (the most severe being diabetes). IF is built on the principle that being in a non-fed or fasted state for most of the time is better; digestive hormones including insulin subside and the body burns fat instead of the meal it just ate. It's true that metabolism is highest right after eating (which is why so many people support the "eat throughout the day philosophy) but during this high rate of metabolism you burn a higher rate of lean tissue versus fat. When you do eat one or two meals, or eat throughout a very limited window of time (perhaps 4-7 hours or so), your body burns the same amount of fuel (because your calories are supposed to be the same, you aren't starving yourself), but because it burns the meals in one quick window, the rest of the time it burns fat for fuel.

IF is NOT supposed to help you lose weight, it's supposed to help you burn a higher proportion of fat versus lean muscle tissue.

It also has added benefits for me- when I eat all throughout the day I'm never full and constantly thinking of my next meal. I nibble, graze, etc. With IF I KNOW I cannot eat until 2:30 or 4:30, whenever my 'window' happens to be for that day. It is so much easier to keep the calories down to 1200 on IF. I end up eating a big lunch (600-800 cals), some snacking (100-300), and then a smallish dinner (300-400). I end up very, very satisfied and I never waste calories on stupid things I don't even really want or need because I'm grazing ... only good nutritious food and treats I really enjoy.

I'm obviously not a nutrition expert but after reading the science behind it for me it made a lot of intuitive sense. In practice it's been great too. There are a LOT of people who know a LOT more than I about IF, so check out the IF thread going on in Weight Loss Support for more details. There's also links to some of the major health blogs who support IF. There are also a lot of studies out there by the NIH and other gov't resources that show people on IF consuming the same number of calories as people not on IF have reduced BP, heart rate, and blood sugar levels because their bodies aren't in feeding mode 24/7. Google "intermittent fasting study" + .gov or something like that to find them. That more than anything is what convinced me

Interesting. I will look this up. I am a little confused though. YOu said you have snacks..I thought the IF is jst two meals? LIke can you give me a schedule of what you eat and the times? Sorry, I am a little out of it today I guess..

Sorry if I was confusing! It doesn't matter the number of meals you eat, it matters the eating "window." I eat generally between 2:30-8:30 PM, though if I can make it till 4:30 to start my "window" I try to do that from time to time. With that schedule I usually eat lunch at 2:30, a bit of snacking between 4-5 (I mean I'm still a grazer at heart!), and then dinner at 7ish with a small dessert or nibble later on. Alternatively you could eat 6 small meals, just squeezed into a smaller window, or 1 massive meal (though that seems a bit excessive). As long as it's in a smaller period of time, that's the point of IF.

Good point. I don't think I'm eating more carbs than normal exactly, but I switched to a high fiber flaxseed and whole grain bread. My calorie counter logs that kind of bread at one number but the number on the bread bag itself is different, and I don't know that I was adjusting my counter's number to accommodate that. I think I was kind of in denial, to be honest.

Oh wow! I think I could do this. My last meal is around 5:30 pm anyways. The only problem I would have is not eating when I get up! So basically you dont eat for 18 hours? Could I do my eating window from 10am to 6pm? Thats 16 hours of no eating..Or is the math specific with the hours?

Yeah, I don't trust the scale at the gym though because it's a non-digital doctor's type scale and the thing does not balance when noone is on it (as it should). I've tried adjusting it to get it to balance but it seems it's was meant to be done with a wrench or something because it's hard to move the balance. Maybe I'll jump on it anyway, but I think if it shows weight on it when noone was on it then you will weigh more than you really do? Not sure how that works.

I've noticed at friends houses I tend to weigh less than at the gym...haven't snuck on a friend's scale in awhile though.

While this is all probably a 5 lb range and really insignificant in the long run of weight loss (it's not like I am weighing 30 lbs off) I would just like to know how much I really weigh. Sigh.

And yes, those are viactiv chews - 20 cals a peice and you are supposed to eat 2 a day. I also take a daily gummy multivitamin and 2 are 15 calories.

haha I always used to deny little things like that when I was calorie counting. Thats why I would always round up for my calories of the day to sort of balance it out. LIke if my calories ended up at 1230 for the day, I would log it as a 1300 calorie day..

Dianne it sounds like you could do that, as long as you had a solid 16 hours of fasting. I would double-check with more knowledgeable sources though- leangains.com is the most well-known one, but if you do a little research you'll find other health blogs which support IF. That might be a better resource than me haha. From what I understand I think most people recommend a longer window, though 16 hour should be long enough to reap some benefits. And if it's breakfast you're worried about skipping I was totally in the same boat- I am not only hungry in the mornings but I have acid reflux issues in the AM that I wasn't sure how they'd react to no food. Turns out water and hot tea do wonders


Oh gosh, for feathers 5 lbs is a huge deal so I know what you mean! I get excited/upset over ever 1 lb. Could you take your scale out into the hallway, or even on the road for a more accurate measure? Or treat yourself to a new one

kat dianne Wildflower You guys are putting me to shame with your accurate counting- I have been REALLY slacking on counting literally everything I consume, so when you get down to 15 cal vitamins, oh gosh, I have some tightening up to do with my cc'ing

I haven't been doing IF lately, it started to feel like work and that's sort of counterproductive to my "just do what feels right" current campaign.

This morning I made breakfast for me and my mom, can't send her back to America on an empty stomach. 1 fried egg, piece of toast with jam, 1/2 banana for each of us. I went nuts and put milk in my coffee. Last night I thought I'd be real sad today so I made myself a super colorful lunch of chicken/pineapple/red pepper skewers and a gigantic salad. I'm not sad, but I'm loving that in anticipation of sadness I chose to pamper myself with something HEALTHY.

...Of course, like you do, mom and I got matching "Happy Doll" sundaes from Baskin Robbins last night. Only 230 calories!

hehe that is so cute... im sort of tempted to head to the kitchen right nwo to make myself one!

Feathers, I am almost on the verge of tears this morning. I'm back up to 120 from yesterday's 118! What the heck is going on?!?! I ran three miles last night! I was almost carb-free all day! I got in some lean protein! I was brutal with my calorie counting! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

I admit I did have one diet soda. ONE. Are you telling me the sodium from ONE calorie-free drink is enough to bloat me up two pounds overnight?

I'm feeling kind of hopeless. Usually, I am a very positive, upbeat person, but today I'm just not feeling that. Also, I know this isn't TOM bloat because I'm about mid-cycle, and that's not usually when I bloat up. I usually get a little puffy the few days right before, but I'm not due again until mid-April.

I feel like skipping lunch today or only eating a banana or something. *sigh*

I'm sorry to be so ridiculous, of course. This is silly. I know rationally that I can't have gained two pounds of fat overnight. Maybe this is just "salt puff." Maybe I'm mildly constipated (I had bran buds in my yogurt this morning, so if that's it, maybe that'll help). Maybe this is just the normal fluctuations-during-the-week sort of thing and I need to quit weighing every day. I don't know, but whatever it is, I know I'm being SO silly. I also know that taking a stroll for part of my lunch break would not be the worst idea ever. *heh*

kat *hug* I'm so sorry. That is infuriating. Easy for me to say from over here, but I wouldn't necessarily restrict my calories like crazy. You are totally right, it's not from 2lbs of fat, so cutting cals is probably not going to fix it. I don't know enough about the situation, plus our bodies are such complex machines there is so much always going on, so I won't try to guess what is happening... all I can say is that fluctuations DO happen. I would keep on your awesome diet and see what happens in a few days. Most likely you'll be back to your normal weight. If you're still up after a few days of on-plan eating, then perhaps you can reassess. But that's the problem with we who weigh ourselves every day (I'm one of them)- we see a slight spike due to some random thing and we get worked up over it. I do it ALL the time. So next week when I'm freaking out, feel free to just copy and paste this post

krampus That happy doll is freaking adorable!

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I'm definitely having a low day today... I'm in the waiting game of seeing which/if any job applications I've sent out contact me back. It could be a few more weeks, some are still accepting applications. Am in such a rut, all sorts of existential angst about how much time I'm wasting. urgh. Also just had a massive amount of half-cooked brownie batter (classy I know) and just ended up at 1230 for the day. It's only 7 PM. No more food for me at ALL. Good thing too, because my stomach feels so full and gross.

Indiblue Think Im going to try it today. I just ate for the first time at 10am (been up since 7) and I think I will have my last meal at 5pm! Oh this will be hard but its worth it! Thanks for all the info. And uhhhhh 1230 AND you had brownie batter..thats friggin awesome girl!!

krampus holy cow thats only 230 calories?!?! I want one!!

Kat That is the exact reason I stopped weighing and counting calories. The constant fluctuations would drive me nuts and the number on the scale in the morning would dictate my mood for the day. That is just NOT healthy - and this is about living a healthy lifestyle. Even though we KNOW that our body weight fluctuates all the time, we still hold so much power to that scale. Silly I know. I know it could be 209348923 things that casues a gain but it caught my attention when you said you are expecting TOM in two weeks. Two weeks before your period is when you ovulate and ovulating causes water retention and bloating! So it could very well be that also.

Ahhh crazy storms these past few days and today!!

Dianne you are so freakin' sweet and supportive. I regret wasting my precious calories on half-cooked brownie batter, would have been much more wisely spent on an apple or frozen banana or something. I'm still sick to my stomach. blahhhhhh. Admittedly jealous of your crazy storms... I love storms and we don't get any good ones here... just gross hot monsoons during one particular season.