Today's thought: Find someone or something that really motivates and inspires you. It really helps to fuel the fire, to push a little harder. I was just checking in last night with someone who is very similar to me with wanting to be aggressive with her weightloss and it totally just pumped me up even more!
I was thinking..... I really would like to start having my last meal a little earlier on most days. I used to do a 3-hour rule between eating and sleeping. Slowly, I would like to get back to that on most days. Getting my mind/focus away from food is what I would like to do. Now, I can only do that to a certain point because when you are tracking everything you eat, your can't help but to think about food. However, thinking about keeping your body fueled is different than obsessing over the next meal or feeding emotional hunger.
I am also challenging myself to at least get back where I left off asap! The setback needs to be an official thing of the past!
I'm going to start making mini challenges for myself here and there to keep me pushing hard! (Also help me say no to the fruit monster at night! I'm still in bootcamp!)
So the Minigoal to speed this thing up:
Monday I saw 152 on the scale. Tuesday 151.
Today is Wednesday. By this Friday, I want to see 148 on the scale!
(So that would mean I would need to be letting go of a pound a day)
I am starting to get confused with what day I am on in the book.. LOL! I guess because I have wrote in all the journals inside the book, I am starting to get confused. Not to mention, a lot of the days are similar. I think I will have to tape a page over the old journals or something. Bookmarking isn't helping either. I think I'll start actually writing out my meals in my food journal that I carry in my purse, what day I'm on, etc... That way when I get up in the morning and I dont have access to the computer, I can just look in my purse journal.
No exercise this morning. Its nice outside and I am praying to get off from work ON TIME today, so I really want to go for a jog outside. I haven't done that in a loooong time so I want to see if I can do what I was doing last year. The areal that I have mapped out is 3 miles I think. I will drive it first to make sure. So that's the plan for tonight. Then, tomorrow's exercise will be back to the a.m..... maybe p.m as well if its a 2/day.
I may or may not continue to actually write the food out, because if I go by the book, it probably gets boring reading my meals over and over again. Its the same stuff. I may just list out everything or at least list out the total calories. I dont know, I havent decided how I'm going to journal it yet.
Havent ate breakfast yet, so I will journal that as soon as I throw something down the hatch. Its about 8:30 a.m., so I definitely need to start eating my first meal by 9.
The weather will be nice, I am thinking GREAT thoughts as far as my weight is concerned for this weekend. I just need to stick as much to plan as possible. I was thinking about everything and realized there is really no need to substitute things on this plan unless you really don't like something.. The calories are low and the exercise is high, so when its all said and done, you HAVE to lose! So, I'm not going to pressure myself with being scare of the 1 cup portion of brown rice because its 200 calories or any other thing on the plan. No matter what there is going to be a deficit and if you stick to the plan, there is just no way you won't lose!
Will be back!
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I got an idea! When I get home today, I plan to take an exact calorie count of a Cycle's worth of food to see how the calories work out on this plan. I am very interested in seeing WHY and HOW this plan actually works. I understand the calorie deficit is huge so naturally anyone should lose weight, but the more I know what exactly makes me lose weight the easier it would be for me to be able to plan my own meals and not just the same ole' stuff by the book. I love the book because it takes the guess work out of everything because everything is planned but if you are the type of person that will follow a plan (measure your food etc etc) then you would be a good person to be able to experiment with other healthy foods. I was thinking about this because I am used to eating "natural / clean" foods even before this plan.. so that's not a problem. But eating the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again can be a little irritating if you stay on for more than1 or 2 cycles. Nor do I truly think that Tuesday's 1 cup of brown rice with 2 servings of vegetables would make me lose any faster than having 1 small sweet potato & veggies or even egg white omelette with veggies. My point it - I think that as long as your calories are in check and your macros are similar... you'd still lose.. So if you have a day where you don't want to eat beans for fear of gas later in the evening.... you dont have to feel like you have failed the plan when you substitute the beans for something else.
Anyway... I want to do this to understand the plan a little better. I am going to tally up the meals as written in the book and check out the macros. I think it will be really interesting.
Hi, Dedikayted - I'm also trying to figure out how the diet works. I do make substitutions sometimes, like I can't make smoothies at work during the day, so I switch meals. Also, tonight by the time I got home from work and the gym it was well after 8, so I missed my last meal - I'm usually in bed by 10 and up early(although how you make it to the gym at 4AM is beyond me - with the time change I'm struggling to get up at 6).
I've counted the calories and am coming in anywhere from 800-1300, not much lower than when I was trying to lose before. I think for me the key is spreading out the calories throughout the day. Before I would eat my main meal at lunch and would often eat 600 calories then(huge salad, grilled chicken, real olive oil, nuts). Now I am eating 5-6 times and rarely have more than 300 calories at a time - never more than 400. This seems to make the difference for me.
I'm back on track with my exercise, and am managing to get 30-40 minutes walking in at lunch with the gorgeous weather, plus the gym at night(tonight was zumba).
I got my run in last night outside at the park and it was nice. It was my first time jogging outside since last year and it was a b***** at first. I swear I wanted to quit after the first 3 minutes. My throat was hurting from breathing that outside air...but I pushed through it to see if it would stop hurting... and it DID! I guess you just gotta get your breathing right when you jog. I dont know. I ended up with about 40 minutes. I had to stop because I had to pee... but also I didn't want to overdo it my first day back. But all in all I think that was a great start.
Hip started hurting last night around midnite. I dont know if it was from the run ( I forgot to stretch afterward..) or if it was from the way I was laying on the couch. I quickly popped an anti-inflamm... This morning a little sore... but gym anyway. I'm so afraid of doing too much but I want the weight off fast! SO, I am just really confused when it comes to exercise.
Weight: 149.8
Ok. Did not make the goal of 148 today but it was a good push. I will let this weight settle a bit because I know when it comes off fast, it will slow down or end up fluctuating while your body settles a the new low weight... So I'll see what my body wants to do for the next couple of days before setting the next minigoal. Plus, I will see how my hip is treating me as far as completing exercise.... That will help me determmine the next minigoal I set!
I was calculating the calories out and its a real eye opener. If you are a
B-type person like myself - I have come up with around 900-1000 calories a day. I mean this is basically if you follow the plan exactly. Meaning you make absolute sure your snacks are 100 calories each and the protein shake or fruit is under 200. What was even more surprising -- the calories on the 2 -a- day were even less. God help you if you are a type-Y which I was thinking of switching to - so that I could move the weight a little faster. These poor people have to REALLY keep their appetites in check. I dont know if I could do it.. Well... let me take that back. I know it can be done but damn, I'm trying to figure out how miserable I would be. Maybe next week I will attempt to do just a couple of days at the Y caloric level to shake things up a bit. And I mean JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS! It just seems really really extreme! Not to mention the Y type people have more exercise to do. The more I type, the more I am thinking about it. Probably because I like a challenge. ..There goes my mind again! Moving faster than my poor body!
I'm going to still take some more time to actually chart out the macros and the exercise for both type-Y and type-B because this just really fascinates me.
I guess that's why this is a 3 week cycle... 21 days to be extreme and get it done!
Hi, Dedikayted - I'm also trying to figure out how the diet works. I do make substitutions sometimes, like I can't make smoothies at work during the day, so I switch meals. Also, tonight by the time I got home from work and the gym it was well after 8, so I missed my last meal - I'm usually in bed by 10 and up early(although how you make it to the gym at 4AM is beyond me - with the time change I'm struggling to get up at 6).
I've counted the calories and am coming in anywhere from 800-1300, not much lower than when I was trying to lose before. I think for me the key is spreading out the calories throughout the day. Before I would eat my main meal at lunch and would often eat 600 calories then(huge salad, grilled chicken, real olive oil, nuts). Now I am eating 5-6 times and rarely have more than 300 calories at a time - never more than 400. This seems to make the difference for me.
I'm back on track with my exercise, and am managing to get 30-40 minutes walking in at lunch with the gorgeous weather, plus the gym at night(tonight was zumba).
Hope the rest of your day was great,
Natamars,
Good job on getting the exercise in! Figuring out the program is kind of fun. I was realizing that those calories can fluctuate because on the days when we get salad, I have a lowfat dressing that has 70-100 cals for 2 tablespoons and I also have my Sugarfree Raspberry Vinagrette that only has 5 calories for 2 tablespoons! So I guess all the little things can really add up!
I am trying to figure out the right balance. I know that just cutting your calories way low with very little exercise works just as well. I also know that if your calories are down way low and you do modearate to heavy exercise - you can cause a stall. HOWEVER ON THIS DIET it would see that would not be the case because the Y people get very little calories and have to do ALOT of exercise! Finding what works for you is the hard part. Naturally I want to push myself more and more with exercising... but I have read and seen people who were on the same low calorie diet but the group that had the most success were the ones that only did light exercise. I guess the key is not putting your body at a stressed state so it will be willing to let go of the weight.
Maybe thats why I should start wearing my heart monitor again. He did mention in the book that you are supposed to stay at fat burning level... I know sometimes I am definitely in Aerobics Zone for my heart rate.
Sheesh! Kinda makes me
But what I keep telling myself is - ITS SUPPOSED TO BE 21-straight STRICT DAYS to get the most benefit! Especially if you have under 15 to lose like us..... That why I want to get it done! So with my current goal of 37 days left, there is just no reason why I shouldn't be at my goal by that date!
I meant to ask which TYPE were you following. I have been following the B. But maybe I need to switch to Y...
I don't know ???????????????????????
We can do this!
Last edited by DEDIKAYTED; 03-19-2010 at 09:12 AM.
I think B and Y are pretty similar. I always limit my beans and rice to half a cup, but when it says no veggie I ignore it - I will not limit veggies.
In terms of exercise, I don't follow it exactly. I do as much as I can on the days that I can. I'm trying to walk at lunch which is new this week since the weather's gotten so nice, and to get to the gym at least 5 days a week. When I'm there it's anywhere from 30 to 75 minutes - zumba once a week, body sculpting once or twice, occasionally spinning, and the rest on the elliptical or bike.
I think you're following much more precisely than I am, so you'll lose faster. I would be THRILLED with 2 lbs/week, because I have been losing so slowly. That would put me at goal by mid-May. I really need to up the strength training too - been focusing more on cardio but I think the muscle work is so important.
Are you feeling hungry much? I still am. Trying to stick to the plan, but will sometimes add in an extra yogurt or some soy milk when it gets too bad. Last night I did Zumba which burns about 500 calories - now today I am ravenous. I've only had 255 calories so far - the calories for today's foods look really low. Going to walk before I eat meal#2. Have already had one of my snacks.
First off, yay on getting below 150! That's huge..
I am thankful but at the same time,I know that I had no business being above 150 again. That period really messed me up and then I really screwed myself when i went off plan that weekend so that really set me back. Nevertheless I am thrilled to see the weight go back down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by natamars
I think B and Y are pretty similar. I always limit my beans and rice to half a cup, but when it says no veggie I ignore it - I will not limit veggies. ..
B and Y are very similar, but as much exercise as the plan requires, cutting out any more food is hard... LOL! Even if it is beans or rice! Hahaha! It actually makes me miss the freedom of the Original Fat Smash... I lost 9 pounds fast though I was eating at least 1 cup of beans and 1/2 cup to 1 cup of brown rice a day... and plenty of fruits! But I think that as I get closer, I would need more limits like EXTREME...sigh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by natamars
I really need to up the strength training too - been focusing more on cardio but I think the muscle work is so important. ..
I try to get some strength training in when I can because it is very important to shape the body and keep things tight. I am only doing this amount of crazy cardio because the plan requires it and I try my best to stick as close as possible so I can get what he promises in the book... 12 pounds in 3 weeks. And I was definitely on a roll in the beginning of this thread until my period came on, but what's done is done. Though I feel like I'm starting over. So to me... this starts the 3 week cycle that he promised me that I'd lose up to 12 pounds... and I'm hold the man to it! I just better hold myself to limiting my food! I think that's the hard part about the exercise/food. Its a lot easier to eat less when you aren't exercising as much. Of course if I do a lot of exercise today - tomorrow I am going to want to eat all the food on plan plus at least 6 of my fingers and my 2 big toes! That's why I am trying to not overdo the cardio or when I do it.. now I am trying to make sure that its not all in the Aerobic heart rate zone. I think he was on to something when he says to keep it in fat burning zone, which is still moderate, but not taxing on your central nervous system...making your body go haywire because you're overtraining and undereating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by natamars
Are you feeling hungry much? I still am. Trying to stick to the plan, but will sometimes add in an extra yogurt or some soy milk when it gets too bad. Last night I did Zumba which burns about 500 calories - now today I am ravenous. I've only had 255 calories so far - the calories for today's foods look really low. Going to walk before I eat meal#2. Have already had one of my snacks.
Hope your day is going well.
Thats one reason that I like it when I start my first meal a little later in the day because then I probably can stay within my calorie limits and dont have to go to bed starving because I ran out of food/calories for the day! LOL! I also notice that once I get that first meal in for the day... my metabolism speeds up and I'm definitely ready to eat each and every meal and snack!
My plan is to really try to get these pounds off fast. I at least want to get back to the 146 so that I can erase that hellweek from my mind.. but right now, each and every time I look at the scale, I get a reminder that I am not supposed to be at this weight!
I dont think that eating extra veggies here and there will hurt. Also, don't forget about the "free" snacks. I didn't even realize the book had those! So maybe that will help us as well! Hang in there!
Last edited by DEDIKAYTED; 03-19-2010 at 12:37 PM.
OH! I know that I said that i wasn't going to make my next mini-goal yet.. but I at least can say that I definitely hope to attain the 148 from Friday's minigoal sometime in the next couple of days! So I guess for now, I will extend my 148 challenge to Monday!
I just totalled my calories for today and it looks like
990 cals
3 grams of fat
152 carbs
85 grams of protein
diet consisted of:
0% Greek yogurt
3 small apples & 1 banana
egg whites
oatmeal
Protein Powder
mushrooms & spinach
2 oz chicken breast
I ate my last meal around the 7oclock hour and I do not plan to eat anymore tonight. Switched my meals around and ate oatmeal for dinner because I know it sticks with me when I eat that with an apple. Its my way of tricking my body so I won't get the hungries tonight. So I will see how that works out.
I'm going to get some stretching and foam rolling in tonight as well. I want to jog again tomorrow so gotta be good to the body today
Still looking for that 148 this weekend!
Last edited by DEDIKAYTED; 03-19-2010 at 08:08 PM.
oh and just another reason why its good to just be aggressive and get the weight off as fast as possible:
Your social life has to suffer a tad when you are dieting. Like tonight... its March Madness and people have asked me to come out for a glass of wine (which I know I can have..but that's besides the point). If I decide to go out, it will be fine because I ate my last meal for tonight and my tummy is content so I would just be coming out to show my face. I guess that's ok but what I am trying to say is -- there is a lot of extra preparation when you are on a strict plan. Worrying about going off plan and all that jazz is the pitts. I'd rather just not go...and that's just sad. I'd rather be home and do some work then go out and socialize because I dont wanna wreck all my hard work today. THIS among other things is the reason why you want to get the weight off ASAP so that you can one day soon be in maintenance mode and not have to worry about jacking yourself up when you are in a "losing" mode.
Dediakyted, I know what you mean about social events. I have a few dinners out coming up and am trying to figure out how to incorporate those into plan. I eat out rarely - maybe once a month on average, so I like to enjoy myself when I go.
That doesn't look like a lot of food for you today. Were you hungry?
I ate:
egg white omelet with veggies
light string cheese with whole grain crackers
1/3 cup chicken, half cup brown rice, salad
1 cup soymilk
Plain greek yogurt w/ 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 t sugar, 1 T flax seed, 1 T walnuts(delicious)
shake with 1/2 cup frozen yogurt and 1 cup soy milk
4 oz wine
Have to double-check, but that puts me at 1100 or so. I walked half an hour at lunch and convinced my family to walk to the beach, about 3 miles round-trip.
Tomorrow is day 7 of cycle 1. Planning on some time on the elliptical and an hour sculpting class. Also going for my mani and pedi, which was my 15 lb. reward. Down 2.5 so far on EFS - very happy!!!
Dediakyted, I know what you mean about social events. I have a few dinners out coming up and am trying to figure out how to incorporate those into plan. I eat out rarely - maybe once a month on average, so I like to enjoy myself when I go.
That doesn't look like a lot of food for you today. Were you hungry?
I ate:
egg white omelet with veggies
light string cheese with whole grain crackers
1/3 cup chicken, half cup brown rice, salad
1 cup soymilk
Plain greek yogurt w/ 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 t sugar, 1 T flax seed, 1 T walnuts(delicious)
shake with 1/2 cup frozen yogurt and 1 cup soy milk
4 oz wine
Have to double-check, but that puts me at 1100 or so. I walked half an hour at lunch and convinced my family to walk to the beach, about 3 miles round-trip.
Tomorrow is day 7 of cycle 1. Planning on some time on the elliptical and an hour sculpting class. Also going for my mani and pedi, which was my 15 lb. reward. Down 2.5 so far on EFS - very happy!!!
Great job on getting that exercise in!!! Actually I wasn't hungry yesterday with my meals at all.. Thank God! Congratulations on the 2.5 pounds down! That's what I'm talking about!!!! Keep it up!!
I just want to say that I am very happy to be back in the 140’s and will do everything in my power to keep the scale moving downward. Yes, a few social occasions may just have to be put on the backburner, but it will be all worth it in the end.
I think I may have had an aha moment! I have been using natural sleeping aids to help me falls asleep. …Ones that have melatonin and a couple other ingredients. I am starting to think that on the nights when I take the pills, I wake up to go to the bathroom and then want to make a pit stop in the kitchen! I remembered reading about Ambien and prescription sleeping pills causing FOOD ZOMBIE syndrome or something like that. The only difference is that these people would wake up at night, eat like crazy, and then go back to sleep. …Only to wake up not remembering a thing! Anyway, thank God that I haven’t experienced that but I’m going to monitor the next couple of nights just to see if that’s what my night time hunger is coming from. I’m not going to take anything to help me sleep starting tonight. Because the funny thing about all of this is that I have not always been this way. Last night I woke up and went and broke off a piece of baked chicken ( just a bite)…as well as a spoon of lowfat cottage cheese. No real harm done, but that’s not the point. I should not want to eat in the middle of the night! Period. So I’ll update on that situation as the days go by.
Note to self: When dieting (especially when you are doing a low-calorie type of plan) you have to try to make the most filling foods using the least amount of calories… always keeping your daily totals in mind… Maybe I was doing this before..and now I am just remembering..but yesterday I made the best spinach omelette ever.. So filling and all for a measly 200 calories. I actually split it so it became 2 meals because I was full. But the point is --- I stretched the heck out my calories! Here’s what I did:
So…. I get the sliced canned mushrooms… drain and rinse… throw them in the pan
Cut up some onion – throw in the pan
Didn’t do this yesterday but.. today I added some frozen sliced peppers – in the pan
Take some worchestshire sauce and douse that in the pan and let the veggies cook.
Then I take all of that out of the pan and set it aside in a bowl.
((Note.. I do all this while getting dressed for work))
Get a half bag of the baby raw spinach out.. Put in a large skillet with a little water and cover. The spinach will cook down pretty fast. Don’t let it cook too long because it will turn into only a spoon full of spinach. So now you have the spinach covering the whole bottom of the skillet. Then spray the spinach with cooking spray and put 1 cup of eggbeaters / eggwhites in the pan right over the spinach and cover the pan… In a minute it will start fluff. Add the mushroom/onion mixture to the omelette and cover. If you want.. add ¼ cup of fat free shredded cheese (optional..its good with or without) and voila! Oh my.. If you cooked it in a large skillet its like a really good size and kinda like a pizza with toppings! Anyway. Its very filling.. but when you look at the totals here they are (approximate)
1 cup eggbeaters – 120 calories
½ bag of baby raw spinach – 20 calories or the whole bag for double.
½ cup sliced mushrooms – 30 calories
Peppers & onions – 30
!!!OH yes.. all of that for just 200 calories.. and if you add the fat free cheese.. just add 45 more calories for ¼ cup…
Its light bulb moments like this that make a diet not-so-much a diet anymore because you are not sitting there hungry, testing your willpower all damn day long. I’m not going to lie - when I first started doing this, if the book said ½ cup egg beaters, I’d just cook up the half cup..maybe have a little spinach on the side and then be done with it.. ****, sometimes I just throw the egg beaters in the microwave and scramble. BUT just a tad bit more preparation made the world of difference.
Why should I just sit here and eat 1 cup of 120 calorie egg beaters by itself and still sit there hungry (probably emotional hunger from not being satisfied with what I ate) when if I make it into an omelette its the same damn calories but it fills my stomach differently!… and I can be content for a lot longer.. I made an omelet this morning.. So the whole thing was about 220 calories. I ate half on my way to work today along with a peach and I am more than satisfied. Now technically I could have eaten the whole thing for the same 220 calories with no guilt but I was full! I think its wonderful to be able to spread those calories out and not be hungry.
So…. I just realized that I have to start thinking more about WHAT I eat.. the volume of it and eating things that make me satisfied. For instance, on the plan…depending on what day it is I can have ½ cup to 1 cup of brown rice.. so this means either 100-200 calories worth of brown rice. Great.. BUT rice does not give my stomach the full feeling whatsoever. For the same 200 calories I could have had one of my great omelettes or even a ½ cup to ¾ cup of my tasty Multigrain Oatmeal from Trader Joes that I love so so much AND MAKES ME FULL!
The key to not feeling stressed on a “diet” is to not overstuff yourself with the lowest calorie foods..but to feel satisfied. No, I do not want a full/tight stomach every time I eat cause I want my stomach to shrink and I don’t like to feel bloated… but I do not want to eat something and then feel sad because my next meal is not for another 3 hours.
I’m not saying to stray too far from plan either! As a matter of fact, a good thing to do is still use the foods that the book uses because they are good, clean foods. What I AM saying is – make the plan work for you! If you have an understanding of how the plan works, you can work the **** out of the plan! So, the exercise is pretty much a no brainer. You know you gotta do it.. And if you can’t do it all.. Do as much as you can.
As for the food… I have been calculating different days to understand the caloric totals. Its not really rocket science. Eat every couple of hours. (For this plan EXTREME) stay within 800-1200 + /- calories a day eating the clean foods that are in the book and you are GOLDEN! The great thing about the book is it takes the guesswork out of planning meals for people who want life as simple as possible and need someone to tell them what to eat. I like that, I do.. but if you find yourself getting bored or not wanting to eat certain things on certain days or not feeling full…..or having to repeat cycles because you aren’t at y our goal weight… DONT QUIT THE PLAN… DON’T QUIT THE PLAN!!!!
Just because you aren’t doing every single thing down to the letter doesn’t mean that you are not doing the plan. Do not allow yourself to get into that mindset because then you feel like…..ok.. I need to find something else to do. And you go searching for yet ANOTHER PLAN because you feel like you can’t do this one PERFECTLY. There is no being perfect when it comes down to it. Everyone is different.
If you are a person that despises beans…would I tell you that you that you can’t do FAT SMASH because on half of the damn days the meals list beans… ??? No, I would NEVER say that! The plan is your own and you can make it happen! Like I said, pick another CLEAN food and substitute the friggin beans! Measure your food. Feel confident that what you are eating is low calorie, filling, and within your requirements for today. If you feel hungry every time you eat something that’s in the book.. Well don’t eat that item! I mean..why do that to yourself? Just like the rice situation that I mentioned above.. I don’t mind having it but I’d rather spend my calories on something else probably even more nutritious and more filling! Whatever you situation may be - you can still work the plan as I have outlined above. You have to make the plan work for you! Plain and simple.
Never give up.
One love.
Last edited by DEDIKAYTED; 03-20-2010 at 11:33 AM.
38 days and counting. Wednesday March 17th
I guess you just gotta get your breathing right when you jog. I dont know. I ended up with about 40 minutes. I had to stop because I had to pee... but also I didn't want to overdo it my first day back. But all in all I think that was a great start.
