How committed are you??

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Would love to know how others do this....
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

What have your results been?
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Replies

  • RunnerGrl1982
    RunnerGrl1982 Posts: 412 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    What have your results been?

    1) Within a hundred calories or so. Sometimes a little more or less, dependent on whether I'm on a rest day or workout day. But I make sure to stay on target - it's never going to be exact.

    2) I always follow it, but if I'm hungry I may maneuver some of the pre-logged items I have to make sure what I'm eating will fill me up and still fit within my daily calorie allowance. Or, whatever I'm craving - make sure I portion it out appropriately.

    3) I always log. There are no missed days, even when busy. I set aside the time to do it. The more you do it, the more of a routine it becomes ingrained into your every day life. Whether it's pre-logging in the morning or doing it right before I go to bed to catch up on items I may not have had a chance to log, like dinner or snacks.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    I follow a weekly calorie goal whether I'm losing, bulking, or in maintenance. Some days are higher, some lower and they balance out over the week. The flexibility makes it much easier for me as some days I'm hungrier than others for various reasons. I do weigh and log everything I eat. It has become a habit that has given me a great deal of liberation with the whole process. I like knowing where I stand and it's become something I do every day without much thought.

    As for results, I lost 25 lbs about five years ago, ran a couple bulk/cut cycles and am currently in maintenance.
  • ee2368
    ee2368 Posts: 86 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    What have your results been?

    1. I stay within my calorie budget.
    2. I rarely go over my allowance.
    3. I don’t abandon it even when I’m busy. I may adjust my macros on busier days, but I stick with my calorie limits. My goals are super important to me, so I don’t let other aspects of my life (i.e., busyness, work, etc.) interfere with my plan.

    I’m starting again on my journey. Went through some pretty stressful things last year and gained back some of what I had lost.
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
    edited January 2019
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    I follow it 95% of the time. There are some days where I plan to go over or not count (special occasions) and others where I’m for some reason extra hungry at night and will grab a healthy snack before bed even if it means I’ll go over my calorie goal.

    I have the most success when I stick to my calorie goal. I know if I give myself too many days where I go over then I’m going to stop making progress toward my goal. And now that I’ve been doing this for 4 months it’s not hard to stick to, even when I have busy/stressful days.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,854 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    What have your results been?

    When I want to lose weight, I follow my calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time. And I lose weight.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?

    No. I look at it more as a weekly thing most of the time.
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?

    Yes. I'll also sometimes eat more if I'm coming up short on protein or fiber, assuming I don't feel full (i.e., if I'm in that "not really hungry, but I could eat" range).
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    I wouldn't say "abandon it when busy" but I accept that sometimes food works as a short-term substitute for rest and sleep when I'm stressed and overworked. Weight management is a priority, but it's not my only priority.
    What have your results been?

    I've been happy with them. Shot well past my initial health-based goal of losing 10% of my starting weight; maintained more than 10% below SW for more than four years, then it started creeping back up to that 10% in the past year, and I've been addressing that.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    I only go over "because I am hungry" if I have been undereating the previous days or getting a lot more exercise than usual.

    I sometimes go over because I am weak, though. Not often, lately.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,074 Member
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    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    - No, I allow myself days where I'm more relaxed. For example, NYE and New Year's Day, I knew I would be celebrating with friends. I didn't worry as much about calories, but also didn't overeat or drink too many empty calories. I had normal fluctuations after with my weight, and now I've gone back to normal half a week out. I would be miserable if I always followed it.

    I've also found that moderating cravings and pre-logging the next day helps me immensely, especially if I know I might want to be more relaxed with my calories for whatever reason. If I keep on track most of the time, it allows me to enjoy life within reason.


    Back a few years ago when I was at my lowest weight ever, I did *very* well in regards to following my deficit with the occasional breaks. Had I maintained my diet and gym routine as I had in 2014-2015, I would have been great! But, I didn't, and now I'm back, lol.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    What have your results been?

    No I don't follow the same allowance everyday, I go with a guestimated weekly one which I follow very loosely. If I'm actually hungry I eat.. I will try to find something filling, usually protein based. If I go over it's fine I likely will even it out another day. I eat more on weekends to give myself more flexibility to eat out, eat with family, etc.

    As a result I can adhere to my deficit easily, lose weight slow and steady and have no issues around events or family functions. This has worked well for me.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    While losing, I was over 95% compliant. Even when I wasn't, I usually still had a deficit After losing ~65 pounds and going into maintenance, I am less compliant, but I have not gone out of my maintenance range even once in 10 months. If I get near the top, I go back into full on weight loss mode and nearly 100% compliant. I always log every day, all the way through the loss and every day of maintenance.
  • RunnerGrl1982
    RunnerGrl1982 Posts: 412 Member
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    ...my response was flagged? Did I say something wrong? 0_o
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
    edited January 2019
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    ...my response was flagged? Did I say something wrong? 0_o

    No, you didn’t. Probably an accidental flag. I’ve done it before on my phone.
  • RunnerGrl1982
    RunnerGrl1982 Posts: 412 Member
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    kami3006 wrote: »
    ...my response was flagged? Did I say something wrong? 0_o

    No, you didn’t. Probably am accidental flag. I’ve done it before on my phone.

    Ah. Thank you, this helps clarify. :smile: I hadn't thought of that, since I mainly use a web browser. Appreciate the response.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,102 Member
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    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?

    While losing, I did so the overwhelming majority of days. I ignored the allowance for true special occasions (e.g., my birthday, major food-focused holidays).

    In maintenance, I calorie bank (eat under maintenance) most days, to have calories available for special restaurant meals or other higher-consumption occasions that happen with fair regularity.

    I'm not religious about anything.

    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?

    If I'm quite short on protein, and can materially improve the situation without huge calorie overage, I will. (Now, the banked calories can easily cover some of this.)

    In maintenance, I'm rarely hungry and out of calories on normal days. I guess that was true while losing, too, once I got the in the swing of it: I'm pretty good at managing satiation at this point.

    BTW, I don't think of foods as healthy or unhealthy individually; I do think about whether they contribute positively to my nutritional needs at that moment.

    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    I'm retired. What is this "stressful days" and "busy" of which you speak? ;)

    Seriously: There are days when I go over my usual daily goal . . . sometimes way over my goal. That's what part of the calorie banking strategy is about: I like the occasional indulgence, for whatever reason.

    What have your results been?

    Just under one year to lose about 50 pounds, at age 59-60, while hypothroid if it matters (it doesn't, IMO), without particularly changing my exercise activity (I was already quite active). I've been maintaining for about 3 years since then, not perfectly: I have a bit of weight creep. Still at a healthy weight, age 63, 5'5", 136-point-something this morning, post-holidays; still pretty active. From obese to healthy weight, there was massive improvement in my health markers (cholesterol/triglycerides went from high to solidly normal; blood pressure from high to low normal; much less pain from my (minor) osteoarthritis and torn meniscus, better spryness overall.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Would love to know how others do this....
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
    Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    What have your results been?

    1. More or less - with reservations which I will explain
    2. On occasion, I rarely find myself in that situation
    3. No

    Because I don't weight a lot (most) of the food I eat, I'm going off of gross estimations when all is said and done. My calorie allowance is set at 1,600 calories (I'm 5' 8"). I suspect that if I didn't exercise as much as I do, it would be a lot harder for me to lose weight. Historically weighing all of my food has lead to me staring a potential eating disorder in the face and thus, I don't weigh most of my food. I do cook a lot of what I eat from scratch and will weigh ingredients, but I will eyeball individual servings. I typically won't eat back all of my exercise calories in order to take into account my lack of weigh food.

    So far this approach has worked very well. I've lost 1-1.5 lbs a week over the past 6 months and typically I'm not feeling fatigued, exercise wise - or at least I'm not in ways that one could contribute to diet. The one time when it was clear that I wasn't eating enough, I simply at more food and it corrected itself within a week and a half.
  • vetvicki
    vetvicki Posts: 62 Member
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    I'm really impressed by everyone's commitment here! I only started on Tuesday and today has been my first difficult day where I have really over-eaten. It seemed to go downhill as I just got too hungry before lunch and it set off an ongoing eating frenzy. Back on the wagon now for me, thanks for the motivation 😊
  • vetvicki
    vetvicki Posts: 62 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?

    If I'm quite short on protein, and can materially improve the situation without huge calorie overage, I will. (Now, the banked calories can easily cover some of this.)

    In maintenance, I'm rarely hungry and out of calories on normal days. I guess that was true while losing, too, once I got the in the swing of it: I'm pretty good at managing satiation at this point.


    I'm retired. What is this "stressful days" and "busy" of which you speak? ;)

    Thanks @AnnPT77 I found this very interesting!
    So do you just make sure you're eating regularly to avoid getting hungry? What would you typically eat as a filling but nutritious (lower calorie) snack? Today I got ravenous whilst waiting for lunch and it set off a few hours of overeating.
    Ahh retirement, I work part-time and have a 4yo and 2yo twins.... Maybe I need to lower my expectations of myself 😂😂
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,854 Member
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    vetvicki wrote: »
    Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?

    I tend to eat less on stressful days or when I'm busy. Those are the days I forget to eat or am that stressed out I don't feel like eating.