I weigh every morning. Helps keep me focused, but not obsessive.
My goal this week is to track calories every day. I have been sloppy with measuring my portions and that has to stop. So, that is my big goal -- to eat only what I think I am eating.
Trying to decide about weighing more often than weekly or just weekly . . . and thoughts on the merits/disadvantages of frequent weighins vs weekly? How often do you weigh?
I weigh myself several times a day, but every so often I ask dh to hide the scale. I hate being tied to that thing.
Great workout today - but bad insomnnia night - I know that's wrecking havoc on my metabolism.....I need to drink more water today
I cannot wait until we got our new computer (two weeks). Our old one is so slow that I end up not replying at times because it takes so long for pages to load up.
Snacking at night: I have the same problem. I keep telling myself I should start doing healthier snacks: air popped popcorn or fruit. But I only convince myself of that once in a while. I occasionally will decide I am done eating and will brush my teeth because then I won't eat so I don't have to brush them again (I'm big on clean teeth before bed).
Calorie intake: I see a lot of low calorie intakes around. I have a Biggest Loser book and their diet is around 1,200. I did a diet once that was 1,600 calories with a high energy workout and I saw steady weight loss on it. So I don't think less, less, less is necessarily the answer. I'm not tracking my calories right now. If I plateau, I will probably change my mind. I'm still nursing my 14 month old so I wouldn't want to kill my milk supply by cutting too many calories.
Weighing in: I tend to do it most days. I don't take the number too seriously (easier since I haven't had huge variations lately). I weigh myself nude in the morning - after peeing. I think if you can use your weight as motivation (yah, I'm doing good I should workout again today and oops it's a bit high, I should have salad on the side of dinner instead of bread) then there's no problem in it.
My workouts: Monday 40 minutes on elliptical, Tuesday a 20 minute ab video and today 45 minutes on elliptical.
I usually hit the gym 4 times a week and haven't gotten to go in over a week, so not feeling too great in that category. Hopefully I will get there on Friday.
My gym owner says to try for at least 1200-1500 calories a day, especially if you are working out. She has watched many clients workout and eat very little and their weight not budge as their body hangs onto it. Also, interval training has been giving me some good results lately. So a min of high intensity and then a min recovering, etc. This is good on the eliptical, treadmill, or bike. I also do a few youtube short workouts at night- butt, thigh, abs, etc. Nothing lasting more than 10 mins or so on each. I am hoping to see these last 10 pounds go during this 8 weeks, but they are always the hardest to lose, so fingers crossed! Good love lovelies!!!
Forgot who asked, but: For this tread, we weigh in once per week and it is on MONDAYS. There will be some folks starting to send in weights on Sunday because they are not in the US and so Monday morning is many hours ahead of us.
didn't do too well on the 20th since we had a family birthday with lots of icing on our home made cake and many sweets to decorate ...
on the other hand, resumed swimming after a hiatus of 5 months
today i did fine with food intake (was tinking of this thread as I served pasta to the children & only got myself half of what I used to eat ...)
workout was just walking with the children, but on Wednesdays, that'all i can fit in ...
tomorrow hoping to swim more than I did yesterday !
Did really well with diet and went on a two hour walk pushing all three kids yesterday so I expected good results on the scale this morning. Well got AF again in the middle of the night and gained 3 ounces since yesterday morning. Getting AF every week is starting to get on my nerves. I'm thinking about getting back on the mini pill that I hate.
Trekkinggirl - If I were dealing with what you are dealing with, I would definitely think about the bcp. I know it's not ideal, but sometimes there is just no choice. I took it for years when I was younger, because of problems with my uterus and endo, and other crap. There is definitely something to be said for being able to DECIDE when you get AF.
I'm seriously thinking about upping my calories for a few days to see how it goes. I've been around 12000 or just under, and my scale has not budged. We went for a long walk last night, and still nothing.
What's a good way to up the calories by say, 200ish without eating crap?? Any ideas?
Yes, weigh in is definitely MONDAY. Earlier if you won't be around for Monday. Or if you are ahead, like me.
Well done everyone for what you've done so far, and lots of check ins...
GO BLUE!
Finishing a good day here. I try to keep my calories around the 1600-1700 mark. Much lower than that and I get too cranky and irritable. Any more and my weight won't budge. 1650 is my sweet spot. I am nursing too, so that burns a ton of calories even if I am not getting a lot of exercise.
Today, I tallied 1671 with plenty of good food. Not hungry at all, though I always want sweets at night. Resisting the urge and going for a nice cup of tea or two.
Oh, and GO RED!!!!
Milk8shake - what about nuts? Almonds and cashews are super healthy and come in at about 150ish calories a serving.
Calories - I usually stay within 1000-1300 calories. It sounds like so little compared with what you all are eating, but my weight doesn't budge if I go much higher. I'm feeling good and I have plenty of energy, though, so it seems to work for me.
I mentioned on the last thread that I'm doing Slim in 6 and that I had taken my "before" pics when I started. Well, I'm a month into it now, and I took another series of pics today. HOLY CRAP. I've measured myself a few times since then, so I'd known I'd lost inches, but I didn't fully appreciate the difference until I was looking at the pictures side by side. That was great motivation to get off the couch and do my workout today! I also ordered two Ellen Barrett DVDs, and a Spibelt for when I start c25k (still need some decent running shoes).
How often (if at all) do you all allow yourselves "treats"? I've noticed that lately I've been sneaking in small amounts of sweets more and more often. I had a few small chunks of a chocolate bar today, and yesterday I had 3 WhoNu cookies, and the day before I don't even remember but I know it was something. I'm not sure if I should be trying to cut all of that out of my diet completely, or if a little bit is okay every day or almost every day. (I have a huge sweet tooth.) Thoughts?
Milk8shake - what about nuts? Almonds and cashews are super healthy and come in at about 150ish calories a serving.
Calories - I usually stay within 1000-1300 calories. It sounds like so little compared with what you all are eating, but my weight doesn't budge if I go much higher. I'm feeling good and I have plenty of energy, though, so it seems to work for me.
I mentioned on the last thread that I'm doing Slim in 6 and that I had taken my "before" pics when I started. Well, I'm a month into it now, and I took another series of pics today. HOLY CRAP. I've measured myself a few times since then, so I'd known I'd lost inches, but I didn't fully appreciate the difference until I was looking at the pictures side by side. That was great motivation to get off the couch and do my workout today! I also ordered two Ellen Barrett DVDs, and a Spibelt for when I start c25k (still need some decent running shoes).
How often (if at all) do you all allow yourselves "treats"? I've noticed that lately I've been sneaking in small amounts of sweets more and more often. I had a few small chunks of a chocolate bar today, and yesterday I had 3 WhoNu cookies, and the day before I don't even remember but I know it was something. I'm not sure if I should be trying to cut all of that out of my diet completely, or if a little bit is okay every day or almost every day. (I have a huge sweet tooth.) Thoughts?
one small treat in the morning after a protein rich breakfast. research supports this as a way to maintain weight loss!
i have a question for you calorie counters: how are you sure that your baked potato actually has X number of calories and no more or less? (to give an example.) and how are you sure that your exercise intensity on your power walk *really* burned X number of calories and not more or less?
this is one of the problems i have with counting calories. it seems to be so much "estimation." that and another problem i have is that i think it makes me more obsessed with feeding and exercising, whereas i prefer to just sort of wing it, try to eat only good foods, try to eat less of them, and try to exercise "more" in my regular, daily life. and not obsess about food or exercise. it's a priority, but not priority number 1.
any thoughts or advice?
Three miles again tonight on the track, ran every other lap. I got my knees taped today at the PT and it felt great.
i have a question for you calorie counters: how are you sure that your baked potato actually has X number of calories and no more or less? (to give an example.) and how are you sure that your exercise intensity on your power walk *really* burned X number of calories and not more or less?
this is one of the problems i have with counting calories. it seems to be so much "estimation." that and another problem i have is that i think it makes me more obsessed with feeding and exercising, whereas i prefer to just sort of wing it, try to eat only good foods, try to eat less of them, and try to exercise "more" in my regular, daily life. and not obsess about food or exercise. it's a priority, but not priority number 1.
any thoughts or advice?
I'm not a big calorie counter. I sort of know now how I have to eat/exercise to lose weight and if I'm consistent and stick to familiar foods I don't tend to go overboard.
However, when I first started altering my food intake I really had to take a good look at things in terms of fats, calories, and portion size. I used myfitnesspal off and on to give me an idea how much of my favorite foods and new foods I could eat. I know it's not exact by any means but over the course of the week the trend is down and I stick with it. I *think* that when I'm in a groove I'm eating 1300-1500 calories a day, and I'm not interested in following it more closely than that. I would be obsessed too if I thought too much about it.
I went to my 1/2 hour hockey class tonight. Took some advil beforehand and no problems with pain. I'm going to the rink tomorrow for an hour of stick practice. Lots of practicing shooting on goal and skating in gear.
I need to find a healthy snack for night time. I also struggle with a sweet tooth in the evenings.
This is how I do it and view it. Just a kind of mental check-in to start the day. Plus it gives me something to do while my freaking OPK is developing and my saliva is drying on my scope right now. :P
I'm kind of like Buzzer with the (not) calorie-counting. If I find that I think I should be losing and I'm not, then I'll go back to myfitnesspal and log a few days as a reality check. BUT like you said, tropicana, those are all just estimates. And I TOTALLY think the workout calore burns on mfp are full of shit--they totally overestimate how many calories are burned. DH and I did some comparisons between activities on it and what his mini-computer/wrist monitor (seriously, the thing is huge & I make fun of him for it, but he's training for a marathon & it has GPS too) and the Kinect workouts said. NO WONDER I wasn't losing weight as I "should" have been by replacing those workout calories with food when I was using mfp as my only guide--I didn't actually have that many calories to replace & ended up going over my calorie total for weight loss nearly every day when I went back and edited my calorie burn. :/
I am feeling a bit better in my barefoot shoes--did C25K week4, day1 tonight on the trail near me between rain showers. There was only standing water in one place on the trail, so not too bad. I started off my warmup wondering why my ankles weren't sore like yesterday, when I realized I'd taken 800mg ibuprofen a couple hours prior for residual root canal pain from Monday. :P I think I may do that while my feet/ankles/legs get used to working those muscles properly--take some anti-inflammatories before putting them through the wringer again. I've also been stretching and massaging like crazy, so hopefully it'll resolve soon. A couple of times my left foot in particular didn't want to support the weight as it should, so I ended up landing on my heel too much and it HURT, but by the end, my body had remembered proper barefoot running gait. (I bet I looked like an idiot during most of it, though!) I also did an ab workout once I came back to the hizzy.
I am determined to NOT be a liability this time, ladies! GO RED TEAM!
I have never, ever counted calories before. It's new to me. I've been researching.
My Basal Metabolic Rate is 1612.25
I used the formula to calculate the calories required for maintenance of my weight (I calculated at "sedentary" because that will give the smallest calorie result)
The result was 1934 calories required. Supposedly you should create a calorie deficit of 500 calories (minimum).
Currently, after exercise, I'm probably taking in somewhere around the 900-1000 calories a day. Which is a deficit of nearly 1000.
Don't get me wrong, I have weight to lose, but I'm only 11 kilos off the healthy weight range, so it's not a huge amount (IMO)
And it says that for women, calories should never drop below 1200, so I'm seriously wondering if this is where my issue is?
I've read quite a bit tonight about hitting plateaus, and having to kick start the metabolism, so I think I will give it a go.
Easier said than done though - even today, I'm still 300 calories out from what Calorie King thinks I should be eating!
I might try and give the nuts ago, although I'm not a huge fan of just eating nuts on their own. I like them in cooking though.
Re: accuracy of calorie counting, Google is my friend. I mapped out the walk that I do, and how long it took, worked out the speed, and put it in an online calculator with my weight, and it spits out calories burned. I'd say it's reasonably accurate. Also, Calorie King lets me search a food, enter a quantity, and it spits out the value. With packaged foods, it's very specific, and with things like vegetables, it is approximate. I do think that if you are "honest" about whether it is a big or medium potato, or 50 or 100g, for example, then it is also pretty close to accurate.
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