I am brand new to calorie counting, and could really use advice from those with more experience! Warning: this will be a little long-winded. I want to give you all an idea of my failures with “dieting” in the past so you wonderful ladies can give me advice to develop a healthy lifestyle for the future—and more specifically, this summer.
Through several months (almost a year and a half now) of being more weight conscious, I have managed to lose 25 pounds, which is great! However, this weight loss is a result of “sprint” dieting, where I managed to keep off 5 pounds of every 10 I lost. This approach has not helped me in developing habits that prepare me for a lifetime“marathon” of healthy eating. This conclusion has led me to the Calorie Counter's forum... I believe calorie counting will give me a better opportunity for longevity, and the freedom to have (planned) indulgences without undoing all my work in a month-long “cheat”.
If you're still reading (thank you!), here is my current predicament. I am currently on summer vacation after my junior year in college. Turning 21 this year gave me an ID to go to the bars with my girlfriends, and only having work obligations (rather than work, class, and sorority obligations like the rest of the year) has presented an opportunity to have the summer of my life—and I want to take full advantage! Keeping my scholarship to my university requires that I have a certain GPA each semester, leaving me in my room on weekend nights doing homework while all my friends get to head to the bars. But for these three months I can finally join! I know weight loss and alcohol have never been on good terms, but I'm hoping to make them at least civil in my lifestyle change. So ladies, is it possible that I consistently have (planned) cheats and still lose weight?
After researching my caloric needs for weight loss, I have determined that I can eat 1,500 calories per day to lose a pound a week. This limit is very doable Monday-Wednesday and on Saturday and Sunday. My only barriers are (Thirsty) Thursday and (Fun) Friday, the nights that my friends and I go to the bar! Though I have not gained any weight (yet) this summer, my sugary cocktails and 2am pizza will most certainly catch up to me on the scale. After googling nutrition information on cranberry and vodkas, Sex on the beach cocktails, and the post-bar pizza slices, I realized I could easily consume almost 1,000 calories in just a few hours!
I have developed a half-baked plan of my own and would love to get some feedback. I've determined that after considering my calories eaten and burned for each day, I can save 200 calories on the days that I do not go to the bars. This would leave me with 500 extra calories for those 2 nights. If I switch my usual sugary drinks for diet coke and rum, and have a lean cuisine rather than those huge slices of pizza, I believe this is very doable. Though the calories seem to add up, will it really allow me to lose a pound a week?
I've also looked up nutrition information on the calories in an ounce of hard liquors, and I have found that it is pretty consistently around 60 calories. Is that accurate?
Hi Katy - I've been calorie counting for a few months, and I admit I'm not a pro but I'll share my plan thus far.
I leave myself weekends (either Friday & Saturday OR Saturday & Sunday, depending on my schedule) to eat whatever I want. I write it all down and still count the calories, and I admit the alcohol is an absolute sabotage but at the same time, I don't plan on cutting out cocktails from the rest of my life. Switching it up with diet coke is a great idea, and I personally like a diet coke with root beer vodka. It's good that you're also planning to switch up the pizza with a lighter option.
Basically, when I've found out by having these 2 'cheat' days is that when I first started out, I would eat literally a TON of calories (easily over 2,500) because I felt like I had to stuff it all in. It impacted my weight loss a little between water retention from sodium and alcohol, but it didn't really reverse my loss. Gradually, I began to eat less on these cheat days and now I average around 2,000 or so (I have 1700 - 1800 on normal days). I think this is because I've really become more critical of everything I'm eating and the risk vs reward factor.
I generally think that having a cheat day or two is fine, but if you go way overboard consistently it might be an issue.
Location: Initial goal was 150ish. Kept adjusting down to 135. Recently set new goal to 125! BMI Normal Weight!
Posts: 42
S/C/G: 185.5 / 132 / 125
Height: 5 feet exactly
I've been calorie counting for 6 months, and I've found that as long as you're really good most of the time, if you have a cheat day, it doesn't matter much.
I think the logic behind this is, I only eat 1300-1400 calories every day anyway, so on days where I cheated, I'd barely make it to 2000 even if I was really bad. Those weeks I lose the same amount generally as I do on the weeks where I didn't cheat for many weeks in a row.
Seems like when my weight loss stalls, it stalls either way, and when it's going down, it's going down either way. I think this is because weight loss probably doesn't occur on a "day to day" basis like I measure it. (i.e. my daily weigh ins) But instead, it occurs over longer periods of time.
The people here have helped me to understand water weight and normal daily weight fluctuations also, which aren't a result of caloric intake, but of other factors usually.
I've been through college, and think you should have your cheat nights. Because, even if you reach your goals, life wouldn't really be as great as if you'd gotten all you could out of it. If you deprive yourself and become thin and healthy, you won half the battle. But the other half was the life you could be leading, and enjoying. I hope that doesn't sound to cynical.
I get discouraged sometimes and blame it on the calories, etc. but in the end, as long as you keep counting, you will lose.
I had a road block a couple weeks ago, and over came it, mostly from help I got here. yay!
It is possible to plan in higher calorie food and alcohol and still lose weight.
I don't know if it will allow a pound a week. After all, every body is individual and reacts differently to various calorie levels and food/drink choices.
Here's what I do know. This "marathon" is about allowing ourselves to live and have a little fun. Sometimes fun includes alcohol or higher calorie foods. There are times we can go out and avoid those things, but there are going to be times when we want to plan for them.
Sounds like you're already trying to plan to incorporate them without going overboard, and I think that's splendid! It's going to require a little trial and error for you. Try your plan for two weeks, and see how you feel.
Remember you don't have to drink constantly to have fun out at the bar. Drink slowly. You can even have a glass of water inbetween each drink order to stretch out the fun and keep yourself hydrated.
Post bar pizza - Make sure that you plan your food ahead of time each time you go out. I've read a number of posts saying that people get a little "liberated" about food when they're buzzed or drunk. So if you really want to stay in control of the food, then either make a "no food" rule after a night at the bar, or have it planned out specifically so you won't be tempted to stray.
I think you have a pretty solid idea about making compromises. Try it out. And continue to tweak the plan if you see where there could be improvements as you go along.
When you go out, will you be dancing or doing a lot of walking between bars? I would think this would help burn some of the calories that you're consuming. Are you keeping track of your exercise? When I line-danced or danced w/a partner (I don't drink), I burned some serious calories.
Maybe you can adjust what you have on your cheat days? I switched to high end vodka with soda & a twist of lemon & lime. Took a while but I actually prefer that to sweet cocktails now. You could also do diet soda & something. Also ONE piece of pizza won't kill your diet but if you can't stick to that then maybe you need to find something else like baked wings you can have while your friends have pizza.
My main concern is that students normalise binge drinking to a frightening degree. Most student drinking is way outside the healthy limits, and as it's so common, people think you're crazy if you point out the official definitions of unhealthy drinking. So it may be very hard to stick to an alcohol budget, and you shouldn't assume it'll be easy.
I'd think about solid ways of planning to limit your alcohol intake before you go out. For instance, could you just go out with a small amount of cash? Stay out of situations where you're buying each other drinks? How about starting with smaller number of drinks, such as only one per evening, giving that a few weeks to settle down and get used to the diet plan, then raising it to two, and monitoring your progress slowly? I think that starting with heavy drinking with the idea that you can always reduce it later will lead to disaster, especially since you have a history of start-stop dieting. I went through all of university without ever having a single drink, so trust me, it is perfectly possible to have a fabulous time without getting hammered. I get giggly enough from the general atmosphere at parties and the like that people often refuse to believe that I haven't had any alcohol at all. The "it's not possible to have fun unless I drink as much as my friends" mentality can be extremely damaging, as I've seen in a lot of people.
Cheating with Accountability?
