I'm new to this forum, but not to 3FC. I've been completely focused on what I was eating for quite some time, like low-carb or low-fat or avoiding processed foods. In the last year, due to serious food sensitivities, I've had to switch to a Paleolithic-style diet. I eliminated all processed foods as well as anything with milled grains and legumes. Trying to eliminate all dairy, but I find myself seriously craving cheese, and I like half and half in my coffee.
I have been trying to lose weight since I was 16 (and I wasn't fat, just tall and not rail-thin) and gained nearly 200 lbs as a result. At 45, five years ago, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and told that if I couldn't control it with diet and exercise that I'd have to go on medication for it. And I HATE taking meds! So I did control it with diet and exercise. At first, by counting carbs. I lost a little weight that way. But when I stalled, I went to a weight loss spa for three weeks and lost even more through calorie reduction, a Paleo diet and lots and lots of exercise. I lost even more weight after I came home. But after a few months, I plateaued and then was stuck within a 10 lb range for nearly three years.
Just over a year ago, in the middle of a lot of family drama and lots of stress, I decided how much I weighed was the core of all my problems and resorted to Medifast. In the first week, I gained five pounds (and I was quite strict on the plan) and felt horrible. I had extreem lethargy and terrible muscle and joint issues. I had been experiencing this before (but not while I was at the health spa) but not to this degree. After a lot of reading and some fasting to test if I was sensitive to anything, I discovered I had a serious soy sensitivity. I proceeded to eliminate all things with soy from my diet.
It's taken me a year to get all the soy out, and only then did I start to lose weight again, but very, very slowly. And only about five pounds. I was exercising regularly, drinking plenty of water, eating all my veggies and lean proteins. Still stuck at 320 lbs. And then I discovered intermittent fasting. I tried it for a week and dropped another five pounds. And four weeks later, have lost a total of 16 lbs.
I've come to understand that in order to feel good, I have to really restrict what I eat. To feel strong and mobile, I have to exercise every day. To feel rested and energized, I have to sleep eight hours every night. But to actually lose weight, I have to cut calories. A lot! When I eat closer to my current weight's BMR (2080 calories), I don't lose weight. When I eat closer to my "ideal" weight's BMR (1515 calories), I lose weight. This seems to be true whether I exercise or not.
I don't like it! Some days I just want to eat! Some days I can't find satiety! Everyday, I wake up and tell myself that today is the day when I can really stick to the lower end of my caloric intake. And some days I can, but others I can't. I wish I were more consistent, because then I wouldn't be so wrapped up in this effort and I could actually get out and live my life free of this concern over how much I weigh and what I'm going to eat and how I'm going to exercise.
I guess my big dream goal is to live life free from worrying about being fat or losing weight. I often wonder what great things I'll accomplish when my head and heart are focused on something else. I don't want to come to the end of my life having only struggled with my weight.
So, what works for weight loss is calorie counting. And I'm committed to it because I want to, once and for all, be done with losing weight and move on to what I'm really supposed to be doing! Living!!!
Welcome to Calorie Counters! I also tried so many other 'diets' that worked, but only in the short-run. Seriously, I think only watching calories in and calories out is the only real solution.
Glad you are committed, and best of luck to you!!!!!!
Georgia - Welcome to calorie counting! I'm not active on this part of the forum (though probably should be!, but I am counting calories, with target nutrient levels (fat/protein/carb).
One thing I would tell you from my experience is that there are days when I DO need/want more calories. So I have a range than I try to stay within, with a weekly average as my target. I don't intentionally calorie cycle, but it happens for me naturally. I also do some cycling as I go through my menstrual cycle - right after, it is so easy to stay low on cal, the week heading into/of, not so much. So I'm also tracking on a 6week period basis.
For example, I try never to go below 1200 cal per day. I build into my basic meal plan for the week about 1300 cal. for breakfast/lunch/dinner, knowing that there are going to be unexpected situations that are going to cause me to go over (not the least of which are just NEEDING MORE FOOD, but also meals out with friends or related to work, cake for someone's birthday, etc).
My upper calorie end is my current baseline BMR (BMR*1.2 for sedentary lifestyle)-right now about 2350. I try very hard not to go above this on any given day, which means that I should never, over the long run, be gaining weight (and so far, I haven't - over the long run, that is).
Then, my real focus is keeping on track with average calories per day in the week - keeping that below 1800 (again, for now). This allows you to have some higher days, so long as you have at least 3-4 lower end days. This seems to be working for me.
As I posted in another thread, I struggle with weekend days, because they are less structured and the temptation to keep eating is there (which it is not at work).
Here is a pictue of calories/day of an on track week: Mon-1832, Tue-1503; Wed-1352; Thu-1677; Fri-1686; Sat-1372; Sun-2400 Average-1689. This included one day at an all afternoon party, dinner at a friend's house, a benefit luncheon with really good food, and lunch out with a colleague. Other than the all afternoon party, a pretty typical week. Also, 2500 calories burned through exercise.
Here's a picture of my birthday week (less on-track): Mon-1455, Tue-1325, Wed-1483, Thu-1703, Fri-2800, Sat-2632, Sun-2739, Ave-2020. 2000 calories burned through exercise.
Difference in loss rate between the two -first one (on-track)-2.25 pounds for the week; second one -1.35 pounds
As you might have guessed, I keep very detailed spreadsheets for tracking/predicting. That is just how I work, I realize it isn't for everyone.
I have been experimenting with caloric intake for the last year and have noticed trends. If I eat at my baseline BMR for my current weight, 2065 calories, I will gain weight. Just a little, but it'll slowly creep up. This didn't make sense to me. There were websites that told me that even if I were sedentary, I should be able to maintain my weight at 2470 calories. And when I eat that much, I definitely gain weight.
I started reducing my calories to my BMR, sedentary, for my goal weight of 175 lbs. From a variety of websites that will do the calculations for me, I found a range of 1817 to 1515 calories/day. I found that at 1817 calories, I actually maintain weight. But at 1515 calories, I start to really lose weight.
I struggle with hunger a lot when I get below 1750 calories. But I'm still quite motivated to cut the calories. That's why I've resorted to intermittent fasting. I found that if I restricted eating to later in the day, between 1 pm and 8 pm, I would average a lower daily caloric intake. I'm not really hungry in the mornings, and I'm quite snacky in the afternoons and evenings. If I concentrate my calories during those hours, on average I eat less than if I were eating all day. When I throw in a 24-hour fast once a week, my daily average drops even more.
Eating like this has helped me to get past my old plateau. I have been accustomed to weighing every day. It's nothing but a motivational tool and helps me track how what I eat/drink every day affects my weight. But I only record my weight once a week, so I'm seeing the steady decline since cutting calories even more. Cutting the calories works!
On days when I'm hungrier, I have to accept that I won't be losing on that day if I eat more. There's no sense arguing the numbers in my head, or indulging a pity party and telling myself it's not fair. I can make the choice to eat more, and when my body is genuinely hungry, I feed it. But most of the time, it doesn't need as much as I used to think it needed. These days, a small hunger pang can be more easily ignored until it goes away. It'll come back as bonafied hunger at meal time. And I can eat slowly so that the limited amount of food I serve myself will be enough and I will reach genuine satiety.
There are foods over which I seem to be unable to prevent myself from controlling while I'm eating. Pizza and pasta are the two that come to mind. It doesn't mean I can't every have them again. I just have to serve them to myself within parameters. I buy smaller pizzas for my family these days. Had some last night. I ate one more slice than I had intended to. For me, that's a victory, because I would have had no problem eating a whole pizza by myself in the past. There's even leftover pizza in the refrigerator right now, and I don't feel compelled to eat it. There's also leftover pasta that's been in the refrigerator for a couple days. I still can't eat only 2 oz of pasta. Who eats only 2 oz of pasta?! But I can manage to eat just 4 oz. A drastic change from once eating the whole package by myself. I can have it with a sauce of lean meat and lots of vegetables, and a side salad, and be completely satisfied. So I can manage the portions and understand that when I eat that stuff, I'm going to see a gain the next day.
When I load up on vegetables and drink plenty of water, I can better manage the calories. So I tend to drink water before meals, then eat veggies, then lean protein. I keep carbs restricted to vegetable sources. And will only eat pizza and pasta once a month. I've been hearing about the zero net carb pasta and I bought some too, but haven't tried it yet. Maybe today is the day, just to see if I can control my appetite for it.
I'm going to keep tweaking and experimenting. Because it's fun!
I blew it royally last week (grieving the loss of my little dog) and gained back 7.5 lbs. I wasn't sleeping, then too tired to exercise and overcompensated with overeating of carbs. And I wasn't keeping up with water either, so there was a lot of bloating
So I know calorie cutting rules, because I got back on track and promptly dropped 3.5 lbs. since yesterday. Hoping to drop the rest of the regain by Friday and break below 300 by the end of the month.
I'm new to calorie counting but wanted to say the Paleo Diet is excellent. I haven't been able to convince myself to try it, but I subcontract for a neurosurgeon who recommends it to all his patients. He calls it "the original human diet". Apparently grains can cause inflammation in the brain and can be one of the mains causes for fatigue and headaches.
What is your average meal like on Paleo? I could never come up with ideas of what to eat! The fruits and vegetables were pretty easy (obviously), but I could never think of a "pure" way to eat meat that sounded remotely tasty.
Oh! I just googled Paleo Diet recipes and found this site: paleodietlifestyle.com. You can find the recipe section on the top bar. It has recipes and meal ideas. Very cool!
FlipFlop, I actually recently heard a presentation by a nephrologist that was supporting the paleo diet. She did some tests on a group of people and found everyone was feeling really good at the end of the study. They made sure the participants ate a lot of food because they didn't want them to lose any weight. They were only testing for non-weight related health benefits. Everyone saw a drop in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
A nutritionist spoke as well who said in our modern world it's really hard for us to stick to 100% Paleo, but also said that keeping 70% Paleo was highly beneficial too. They both said that the veggies and fruits were the most important part because they helped diminish the acidic effects of protein. Too much acid in the system reduces liver function, which affects us even more as we age. The greens add alkalai to the body and balance out the acids.
I keep to the wild-caught and organic grass-fed protein sources. I usually just grill, roast, steam or poach, but I also include tinned fish like wild-caught sardines/salmon/tuna in olive oil. I'll use a little oil to stir-fry or saute the really lean proteins and veggies sometimes. My favorite veggie lately is kale. I'll saute a little garlic in a deep pot, then toss in the kale, along with a cup of organic low-sodium chicken broth, and I let it braise down for about 10-15 minutes. Really rich flavors, nice as a side with grilled chicken or fish. I eat three to five vegetables at meals. Just have to in order to get enough fiber and nutrients. I'll add a sweet potato once or twice a week. I eat a wide variety of salad ingredients.
I keep my cooking really simple and fast, because that gets me out of the kitchen quickly. I keep lots of veggies in the refrigerator/freezer and lots of fruit in the bowl on the counter. I don't use much ground meat because it leads me to adding sauces and pasta and cheese.
It's taken me a long time to dial back how food-oriented I am. Food and cooking was always a huge part of my life culturally (my peeps are Greek), so I'm at odds with family over this. A lot of my life used to be about feeding people. Needed to refocus on other things.
Newly committed to calorie counting
