But I've decided to make things more difficult for myself. I'll write out everything I have to eat here and then in the evening, change it to account for *everything* I ate. That way, I know I won't overeat because I'll have to tell you guys. :P
B - 1 cup skim milk
S - 1 banana
L - 1/4 cup brown rice + roasted indian veggie 1 8 oz container plain ff yogie
Sorry I am a little late joining in but here is my plan for the day.
B-kaski go lean crunch cereal w/skim milk
S-bananna
L-homemade vegetable soup, 8 pita chips and yogurt
S-cottage cheese and apple
D-ww past with marinara sauce, peas and salad
Onx, I have to agree w/the others. NOT eating is just no good. Even if you take along a yogurt, banana and some nuts, eat something. I am also up early (5:15am) and on days when I know I won't be around for lunch, I throw stuff in the car in an insulated lunch box. Nothing complicated, all portable. Even raisins and a tblspn. of peanut butter (yes, mixed together this is extremely tasty!) and buy some skim milk will keep you from getting too hungry. I find that once that blood sugar starts to dip, any willpower that's left dips right along with it! Good luck!
I ended up miscalculating by 100 (forgot to add another serving of bread) and ate a peanut chocolate protein bar (150 calories), bringing today's total to 2003 calories. I was truly starving until I ate the protein bar (and that was after 1850 calories of very healthy high fiber high protein food). I wonder if I should feel bad about eating when I'm truly hungry?
I'm in total agreement with everyone who thinks (knows) that no one can keep up a severely calorie restricted diet for too long (thankfully for our bodies' sake), and as soon as you start eating you will gain more than what you lost. A perfect example of this is when I started getting more serious about loosing weight (i.e. I began calorie counting, logging my food and exercising more), I was losing weight steadily yet very slowly because as you can all see I have a very large appetite and really can't get by on less than 1700 calories. At one point I got terrible food poisoning and didn't eat for 2 days. The next few days I slowly started eating more, with the first day at about 1000 calories and the next day at about 1300 and then probably staying around 1600 for a few days. So its not like I jumped in and started binging or anything BUT I immediately put on 2 pounds on the morning after I ate 1000 calories, and another few pounds each day until I actually had gained about 5 pounds. And this is on practically nothing for me as I normally range from 1700 to 2000 calories. Once I started eating regularly again and consuming more calories, I started losing again.
Hey, why make it hard on yourself by starving when that is simply not necessary to lose weight.
Mami - you have to remember that everyone is different. At an average of 1500 calories a day and 5 hours of exercising a week I lose about 1.2 pounds a week. If I were to up that, I wouldn't lose.
So yes I keep my calories around 1300-1600 a day, but if I ate 1700-1900 a day I would mantain - I don't feel I would gain. Yes I gained over christmas, but I was eating 2000+ calories a day and no exercise....
Everybody's body works very different However, I do think that going any lower then 1200 a day is very bad!!
Mami - you have to remember that everyone is different. At an average of 1500 calories a day and 5 hours of exercising a week I lose about 1.2 pounds a week. If I were to up that, I wouldn't lose.
I think she was referring to our new friend onxgoassamer who looks to only be eating about 500 calories for the whole day on Tuesday (and that's assuming about 300 calories for a tofu smoothie, which it may actually be less than that). She wasn't saying everyone needs 1700-2000 calories--just that no one needs to starve (like eat less than 1000 a day)
Thanks for clarifying Jill! That's exactly what I meant, and I also was expressing my envy with you all that can get by on 1200 to 1600 calories. If I could do that - and not feel like I want to punch someone (as I said I get quite nutty when hungry) - I would be losing about 2 to 3 pounds a week, rather than between .5 and 1.5. Luckies!
I figured that's who she meant I just wanted to post another side of the story for other people around here. I here, wish I would eat more and still lose a pound a week, haha. Id rather eat eat eat! lol I feel like I work too hard for that pound, but hey... whatever works I guess!
Courtnie, I think my weird metabolism has something to do with the strength training I've been doing on and off for over a decade. I don't look any more muscular in my clothing than anyone else, but I must admit I'm pretty strong for my size and I can flex my boobs (makes them look higher as gravity takes its toll from age and having a baby) and other body parts. I know I sound like a broken record with this weight lifting, but I really encourage everyone to get into it for life (to maintain your muscle for life, after you build up for about a year, it only really takes 2 30 minute sessions hitting each body part once per week for two sets of 12 for each exercise, but go as heavy as possible after you are experienced). I for one do not plan on having a flat butt like my mom does now as she obviously lost all of her muscle back there. But really, when I'm maintaining I can get away with probably over 2200 calories a day at 128 pounds. And mind you I've never been one to have a fast metabolism naturally like my slender sister who has NEVER dieted and NEVER exercised yet has always maintained a size 0 to 4 (while I have maintained a size 6 to 10 with lots of exercise and watching what I eat..GRRRRRRRR).