I divided my measly calories/day into 3 meals and a snack and started measuring at breakfast. 300 calories for breakfast was satisfying, and I was amazed at how much more I was used to eating then. Then I went to the gym and stayed on the elliptical machine until 400 calories were burned. Only 37 minutes, compared to my usual 30 minutes. Not bad. By the time I got home at noon, I was starving and looking forward to lunch. My leftover chicken & rice dish had 350 calories, leaving me 50 more calories to consume in a few bites of veggies and fruit. So far so good.
About an hour later I was starving! It was going to be a long afternoon! I was preparing dinner in the slow cooker, and it’s always hard to be surrounded by food when you can’t eat! But then I remembered that I’d planned a snack into my day, so I only had to wait a couple hours until snack-time. I drank water; I chewed gum; I did anything I could to convince my stomach I wasn’t hungry. It didn’t help that I was planning meals, menus and grocery lists for the week! Finally, at 3:15 I decided to have my 100 calorie snack. But I was smart and thought about it: what would make me feel the most satisfied at 100 calories? Protein always makes people feel more satisfied, so I ate ½ cup cottage cheese. Mmm, creamy, cheesy, protein. I tried to eat slowly; I almost resorted to a kiddy spoon. I felt satisfied afterwards. Good. Half an hour later, I was starving again! When’s dinner?
I guess what it comes down to is that it’s supposed to be hard. I was doing it the easy way before and not seeing any results. (pep-talk to self:) I need to change my lifestyle if I want to see results. It’ll get easier in a few days as my body adjusts to the change. Besides, it’s designed to fail: Losing 10 lb. in a month is unrealistic; eating 1200 calories/day while exercising off 400 cal/day is extreme. The plan is designed with a cheating function: I can eat an extra 600 calories/day (that’s another meal!) and still lose the 5 lb. I actually want to lose.
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Difference Between Losing 5 lb. or 20 lb.
I think that it’s easier to lose 20+ lb. than 5-10 lb. If you need to lose 20+ lb. you know that you need to make major changes to your lifestyle. You need to exercise, and you need to eat less and healthier foods. Those are not at all easy things to do, but you know what you need to do. However, if you only need to lose 5-10 lb. you are already doing most things right. You are already exercising, and you are already eating pretty healthy. Your lifestyle just needs a little tweaking, but how? It’s hard to know what is keeping that little bit of weight on. At the same time, why bother losing so little weight? My answer is that I want my clothes to fit. (So, yes, if you have been following along this blog, you now know that I did not achieve my goal for October. I’m saddened by the fact that I have no more tricks up my sleeve, no more strategies to try.)
So my husband suggested I shoot for a big weight loss goal. Then, when I failed, I still would have lost some weight, rather than none. Hmm, interesting idea. . .
(First of all, let me say that I’m against the idea of losing lb. The number on the scale is meaningless, and I can always adjust my scale to say the number I want to see. My goals have always been abilities or frequencies or something more concrete than the number on the scale, which is affected by muscle mass, water weight, and body fat.)
. . . However, taking his advice as something new to try, I calculated how much of a calorie deficit I would need to lose 10 lb. in a month, instead of the 5 lb. that would make my clothes fit better and be a more realistic one month goal. Then, I figured out a combination of lower calorie consumption and additional calorie burning through exercise to meet that goal. The extra exercise is easy in the sense that the cardio machines at the gym tell me how many calories I’m burning, so I just need a few minutes more each time and continued consistency (20x this month).
The hard part is counting calories, which I hate! I don’t remember how many calories foods have. I looked online for a good calorie counter, and the ones I tried were not easy to use. I dug up a little pocket-sized calorie booklet that I used 20 years ago, which is easier for me to refer to. If you know of any good online ones, let me know! So I started keeping a food journal, awful! But by writing it down, I can refer back to things I eat often, like my daily coffee, 67 calories. I can check the packages for some other things, and my favorite cookbook has calorie counts for all the recipes! Helpful!
So my husband suggested I shoot for a big weight loss goal. Then, when I failed, I still would have lost some weight, rather than none. Hmm, interesting idea. . .
(First of all, let me say that I’m against the idea of losing lb. The number on the scale is meaningless, and I can always adjust my scale to say the number I want to see. My goals have always been abilities or frequencies or something more concrete than the number on the scale, which is affected by muscle mass, water weight, and body fat.)
. . . However, taking his advice as something new to try, I calculated how much of a calorie deficit I would need to lose 10 lb. in a month, instead of the 5 lb. that would make my clothes fit better and be a more realistic one month goal. Then, I figured out a combination of lower calorie consumption and additional calorie burning through exercise to meet that goal. The extra exercise is easy in the sense that the cardio machines at the gym tell me how many calories I’m burning, so I just need a few minutes more each time and continued consistency (20x this month).
The hard part is counting calories, which I hate! I don’t remember how many calories foods have. I looked online for a good calorie counter, and the ones I tried were not easy to use. I dug up a little pocket-sized calorie booklet that I used 20 years ago, which is easier for me to refer to. If you know of any good online ones, let me know! So I started keeping a food journal, awful! But by writing it down, I can refer back to things I eat often, like my daily coffee, 67 calories. I can check the packages for some other things, and my favorite cookbook has calorie counts for all the recipes! Helpful!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Diet Outlaw
I read this interesting article about the Diet Outlaw (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2008/10/01/FDQ212O9QU.DTL), who “accidentally” lost 150 lb! She didn’t follow any traditional diets, which is why she called herself the Diet Outlaw. The article reminded me of certain people and situations and their affect on weight.
The first was a couple of friends in high school. Diane was always stick thin, and Cindy became a little heavy. Then she lost weight; her secret? She just ate like Diane did. What do you know, eating like a thin person makes you thin!
The article also reminded me of two people from my freshman year of college: my roommate Bettina and my boyfriend Don. Both were naturally thin people who could eat anything they wanted and not gain weight. But, actually, they didn’t eat a lot. If they did eat one big meal, then they didn’t eat much for the next 24 hours. The fact was that, even though they could eat “anything they wanted”, they didn’t.
Then there was the time when I moved to Monterey and lost 10 lb. in the first month. How did that happen? I wasn’t trying to lose weight. Since I’d just moved from a different place and life, I’m sure my diet changed. Since fall in Monterey is so beautiful, I probably walked around more than I had been. The biggest change to me was that I was starting graduate school and I was very happy. I was happy with where I was living; I was happy to be back in school; I was happy to be meeting new people. Happiness seemed to make the pounds drop off.
I think of that even now, when the pounds creep back on, despite my eating and exercise habits: what’s making me unhappy? It must be something. Once I figure that out, the weight slips off again.
The first was a couple of friends in high school. Diane was always stick thin, and Cindy became a little heavy. Then she lost weight; her secret? She just ate like Diane did. What do you know, eating like a thin person makes you thin!
The article also reminded me of two people from my freshman year of college: my roommate Bettina and my boyfriend Don. Both were naturally thin people who could eat anything they wanted and not gain weight. But, actually, they didn’t eat a lot. If they did eat one big meal, then they didn’t eat much for the next 24 hours. The fact was that, even though they could eat “anything they wanted”, they didn’t.
Then there was the time when I moved to Monterey and lost 10 lb. in the first month. How did that happen? I wasn’t trying to lose weight. Since I’d just moved from a different place and life, I’m sure my diet changed. Since fall in Monterey is so beautiful, I probably walked around more than I had been. The biggest change to me was that I was starting graduate school and I was very happy. I was happy with where I was living; I was happy to be back in school; I was happy to be meeting new people. Happiness seemed to make the pounds drop off.
I think of that even now, when the pounds creep back on, despite my eating and exercise habits: what’s making me unhappy? It must be something. Once I figure that out, the weight slips off again.
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