accountability post

StargazerB

I ditched the scale in June but unfortunately I also ate like a jerk and the result was a weight gain of about 4 pounds. Over the last year I have put on about 7/8 pounds total, about 12 pounds in the last two years. In 2017 I got to my lowest weight of 115 lbs and maintained it for a year. It's time to reverse it and maintain again and stick with it this time. This post is to keep myself accountable. Here's my plan.

Reddit bodyweight fitness Recommended Routine: min 2x a week

Snacks should be whole foods

3 balanced meals a day

Coffee 2 cups only

One small sweet per day (after dinner if I ate well throughout the day)

No evening snacks

Walk or walk at home daily

Weight checkpoints:
7/1: 126.4 lbs
7/8:
7/15:
7/22:
7/29:
*Goal is to drop 5 pounds in the July*

cmriverside

Good luck!

LivingtheLeanDream

All the best

MadisonMolly2017

Sounds like a good plan...rooting for you!

briscogun

You did it before, you'll do it again. You got this!

StargazerB

My weight hasn't budged yet. But at least it didn't go up. I'm going to move to twice a week weigh ins. I'm going to keep eating the way I have been for this next week and if my weight still hasn't dropped then I will start a calorie count.

Weight checkpoints:
7/1: 126.4 lbs
7/8: 126.4 lbs
7/15:
7/22:
7/29:
*Goal is to drop 5 pounds in the July*

SummerSkier

And if your weight hasn't dropped then you know a good maintaining routine right? I think logging might be your best bet. I know it helps for me all the time because my guesstimator tends to run a little wrong all of the time.

StargazerB

SummerSkier wrote: »

And if your weight hasn't dropped then you know a good maintaining routine right? I think logging might be your best bet. I know it helps for me all the time because my guesstimator tends to run a little wrong all of the time.

Sometimes with logging I go overboard and then restrict too much. I'm trying to avoid it if I can but I'll go there if I need to.

mtaratoot

<opinion>

If you are "going overboard and restricting too much," you're missing the point! I try to stay within 10% of my calorie target each day. Over or under; it doesn't matter. I try to stay within 5% of my calorie target for the week. Again, it doesn't matter if it's over or under. Of course if it's consistently over, I tighten it up.

You can't manage what you don't measure.

I have found that as long as I mostly use my food scale, my powers of estimation stay better. I sometimes estimate and THEN weigh to help calibrate my eyeball. This is important when I would eat something out. Not that this happens much anymore. The other day I decided to just stand out by my blueberry bushes and graze. I had no way to know how much I ate, and I just guessed.

I presume you add things to your coffee. If not, there's no need to limit it to two cups. I typically have three 16-ounce "cups," so I log six. That's 14 calories.

A "balanced" meal could have 300 calories or 1800.

You have to measure it to manage it.

</opinion>

sardelsa

mtaratoot wrote: »

<opinion>

If you are "going overboard and restricting too much," you're missing the point! I try to stay within 10% of my calorie target each day. Over or under; it doesn't matter. I try to stay within 5% of my calorie target for the week. Again, it doesn't matter if it's over or under. Of course if it's consistently over, I tighten it up.

You can't manage what you don't measure.

I have found that as long as I mostly use my food scale, my powers of estimation stay better. I sometimes estimate and THEN weigh to help calibrate my eyeball. This is important when I would eat something out. Not that this happens much anymore. The other day I decided to just stand out by my blueberry bushes and graze. I had no way to know how much I ate, and I just guessed.

I presume you add things to your coffee. If not, there's no need to limit it to two cups. I typically have three 16-ounce "cups," so I log six. That's 14 calories.

A "balanced" meal could have 300 calories or 1800.

You have to measure it to manage it.

</opinion>

I am glad that logging works well for you, but it does not work well for everyone. Also I am not sure I agree with always having to measure something to manage it. I don't measure my food at all and I have great management over my weight and goals and it is way healthier for me personally. I found with a food scale and logging my intake it would cause me to be overly restricting regarding my food choices. I would actually choose certain foods that were easier to log and avoid anything that didn't fit in that category (for example I would chose a protein bar over having leftovers due to the complications of logging it, I didn't like that). Now I know that is not the case for everyone but for me it was not a healthy place.

I think in the end we each have to find what path works best for us and our goals.

SummerSkier

StargazerB wrote: »

SummerSkier wrote: »

And if your weight hasn't dropped then you know a good maintaining routine right? I think logging might be your best bet. I know it helps for me all the time because my guesstimator tends to run a little wrong all of the time.

Sometimes with logging I go overboard and then restrict too much. I'm trying to avoid it if I can but I'll go there if I need to.

Oh I completely understand. One of my main things in maintenance is trying to stay off that particular roller coaster because the ups and downs always seem to get bigger and bigger. Perhaps if you don't make any progress this week you can try logging for a week and making sure to meet the calorie goal you set. Just to get an idea of where you stand. Of course if that triggers you than another idea might be to just make some portion adjustments to what you are already doing. Sometimes that one small sweet after dinner can blow the entire day. Maybe use a substitute sweet like a frozen yogurt bar or a sugar free reeses or something which satisfies the sweet tooth for half the effect.

StargazerB

SummerSkier wrote: »

StargazerB wrote: »

SummerSkier wrote: »

And if your weight hasn't dropped then you know a good maintaining routine right? I think logging might be your best bet. I know it helps for me all the time because my guesstimator tends to run a little wrong all of the time.

Sometimes with logging I go overboard and then restrict too much. I'm trying to avoid it if I can but I'll go there if I need to.

Oh I completely understand. One of my main things in maintenance is trying to stay off that particular roller coaster because the ups and downs always seem to get bigger and bigger. Perhaps if you don't make any progress this week you can try logging for a week and making sure to meet the calorie goal you set. Just to get an idea of where you stand. Of course if that triggers you than another idea might be to just make some portion adjustments to what you are already doing. Sometimes that one small sweet after dinner can blow the entire day. Maybe use a substitute sweet like a frozen yogurt bar or a sugar free reeses or something which satisfies the sweet tooth for half the effect.

Yes, thank you. I think the small sweet needs to be reevaluated. Something with a sugar substitute could work. I'm trying to work on being mindful of my portions but I'm definitely not perfect. I do weigh my food especially if it something calorie dense like peanut butter. But I don't weigh vegetables. I love baking so when I do bake everything gets weighed.

StargazerB

mtaratoot wrote: »

<opinion>

If you are "going overboard and restricting too much," you're missing the point! I try to stay within 10% of my calorie target each day. Over or under; it doesn't matter. I try to stay within 5% of my calorie target for the week. Again, it doesn't matter if it's over or under. Of course if it's consistently over, I tighten it up.

You can't manage what you don't measure.

I have found that as long as I mostly use my food scale, my powers of estimation stay better. I sometimes estimate and THEN weigh to help calibrate my eyeball. This is important when I would eat something out. Not that this happens much anymore. The other day I decided to just stand out by my blueberry bushes and graze. I had no way to know how much I ate, and I just guessed.

I presume you add things to your coffee. If not, there's no need to limit it to two cups. I typically have three 16-ounce "cups," so I log six. That's 14 calories.

A "balanced" meal could have 300 calories or 1800.

You have to measure it to manage it.

</opinion>

I respect your opinion but we will have to agree to disagree. When I lost weight over three years ago I did it mostly with portion control and then I started calorie counting and would often restrict myself too much. I'm not missing the point it was a mental thing that I couldn't get out of. I drink most of my coffee black every now and then I may put a tablespoon of half and half in there, so we're talking 20ish calories. I'm wanting to reduce my coffee intake because usually if I have more than 2 to 3 cups I'm drinking it later in the day and then it effects my sleep. A balanced meal to me is something in the 300-500 calorie range but it's also balanced with protein, fat, and carbs. I've done enough calorie counting that I know how much a lot of what I eat contains. I do weigh a lot of my food especially things that are calorie dense like peanut butter. But I don't weigh my lettuce, I think that's excessive, at least for me. I'm trying to avoid calorie counting to avoid being obsessive and to learn how to mindfully eat. This can be done and I believe it is what will work for me long term. My issues are mostly with mindless snacking so making myself accountable to the types of snacks in eating will hopefully help me.

StargazerB

sardelsa wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

<opinion>

If you are "going overboard and restricting too much," you're missing the point! I try to stay within 10% of my calorie target each day. Over or under; it doesn't matter. I try to stay within 5% of my calorie target for the week. Again, it doesn't matter if it's over or under. Of course if it's consistently over, I tighten it up.

You can't manage what you don't measure.

I have found that as long as I mostly use my food scale, my powers of estimation stay better. I sometimes estimate and THEN weigh to help calibrate my eyeball. This is important when I would eat something out. Not that this happens much anymore. The other day I decided to just stand out by my blueberry bushes and graze. I had no way to know how much I ate, and I just guessed.

I presume you add things to your coffee. If not, there's no need to limit it to two cups. I typically have three 16-ounce "cups," so I log six. That's 14 calories.

A "balanced" meal could have 300 calories or 1800.

You have to measure it to manage it.

</opinion>

I am glad that logging works well for you, but it does not work well for everyone. Also I am not sure I agree with always having to measure something to manage it. I don't measure my food at all and I have great management over my weight and goals and it is way healthier for me personally. I found with a food scale and logging my intake it would cause me to be overly restricting regarding my food choices. I would actually choose certain foods that were easier to log and avoid anything that didn't fit in that category (for example I would chose a protein bar over having leftovers due to the complications of logging it, I didn't like that). Now I know that is not the case for everyone but for me it was not a healthy place.

I think in the end we each have to find what path works best for us and our goals.

Sometimes I would stress over my homemade meals and trying to accurately log them as well. I believe that people can achieve their nutrition goals with mindfulness, it just takes practice and persistence. I would much rather be able to mindfully eat then to count all the calories.

mtaratoot

To me, "portion control" actually IS calorie counting. Most people are pretty bad at ~estimating~ portions. If you aren't, that's awesome. I wish you success on your journey.

I'm a recovering scientist. I like data. Measuring things makes sense to me. If I estimate a portion and then weigh it, I get feedback on my estimate. If I'm close, then I feel more comfortable making other estimates. But I like to keep the estimator calibrated.

StargazerB

I did not meet my weight loss goal. I did lose about 1.5 pounds over the month of July and I guess that's just going to have to be ok. I'm going to take it as a win considering in June I was on a weight gain track. My goal is still to drop about 5 more pounds bringing me to 120lbs and then I want to maintain from there. I'm going to extend my timeframe to labor day but I'm realistic that it may take longer than that. I did start calorie counting and I'm trying not to be obsessive about food. But, at this time I'm not able to eat mindfully without counting, maybe I'll get there in the future maybe not.

SummerSkier

Sounds like July WAS a win for you. Esp because you have successfully turned around a gain streak. To me calorie counting is sort of fun. A lot of times I will prelog the day and realize HEY - I need to add something for a snack. WIN WIN.. Best of luck and to me it sounds like you are well on your way to 120 again.

StargazerB

SummerSkier wrote: »

Sounds like July WAS a win for you. Esp because you have successfully turned around a gain streak. To me calorie counting is sort of fun. A lot of times I will prelog the day and realize HEY - I need to add something for a snack. WIN WIN.. Best of luck and to me it sounds like you are well on your way to 120 again.

Thank you. I've been pre-logging this week and it's been helping.

swim777

Pre-logging really helps me. Sometimes I change things, but it’s relieves a lot of stress knowing I have a plan for the week of things I like, and that fit in my calories.

StargazerB

swim777 wrote: »

Pre-logging really helps me. Sometimes I change things, but it’s relieves a lot of stress knowing I have a plan for the week of things I like, and that fit in my calories.

I usually menu plan dinners for the week so this is just taking it one step further. So far so good.