Staying Focused/Getting Back on Track

rebeccachobat

Hi everyone!

I'm Rebecca, I'm 23, 5'4", and I currently weigh just over 200 lbs. I haven't been overweight all of my life, only as an adult. Last year I did really well and I lost about 35 lbs going from 215, to around 180. Then I started school and I lost my focus. I maintained 180 for a long time until around May of this year when I went on vacation and gained back about 5 lbs, every since then I've been slowly gaining weight back, especially because in August I started a new job where I now am more sedentary sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day. I want to hold myself accountable with small attainable goals for 2016. I am looking to lose approximately 5 lbs per month for the year, so 60 lbs total by the end of the year. It seems reasonable I am just having trouble staying on track. It seems like someone at my office is always bringing in sweet treats (which I have trouble saying no to) and at least once a month we have a company luncheon. Any advice is always welcome.

As far as exercise goes, I like weight lifting, back in March I started following the free programs on the bodybuilding site which I really like. So I don't really need motivation to exercise, just motivation to keep on my diet.

What has worked best for you? Low calorie/low carb/IIFYM/etc?

fiddletime

Trying to lose over a pound a week at your height will probably have you eating around 1300 calories a day, plus the exercise calories of maybe 100 (hard to know for lifting). You can eat 1 or 2 pieces of candy daily and have good portion control meals and stay under.

I'm at 1200 calories plus 100 for lifting. It's hard to snack on candy and stay under. Prelog your once a month big meal out. Avoid the sweets. Or, fit them into your calories. I avoid them as eating a couple turns into 8 really quickly as I love candy. I don't eat cookies, cakes or bread (am gluten free). But candy - that's made it tough this month and I'm still trying to figure out moderation! You can do this. Just start logging- everything!

rebeccachobat

Thanks Fiddletime, Myfitnesspal estimated me to eat around 1590, So I will start off with that, I can always go down if I don't see results within the first month but I don't want to start out too low and struggle to stick with it. Eating super low calories has always led to me binge eating on the weekends where I struggle the most to track what I eat