December 9
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Thursday December 9
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Set my calorie and macro levels in consultation with my dietician. Each month she reviews my numbers and rate of loss. Perhaps we’ll be making some tweaks at the visit next week?
Julie3 -
12/9
Exercise: 35 minutes stationary bike, 30 minutes elliptical, 45 minutes stretching and PT exercises
Tracking: yes
Calories: under
Pass days used: 03 -
I'm feeling a bit better from being sick and I am up this morning so thought I'd try to answer the question.
When I started UAC I had set my calorie goal to 1400 a day (plus eating my exercise calories, which were about 150 per day). At 1400 a day I was losing very slowly. However, about once a week I got takeout and ate way more than 1400 calories. I also struggled to keep to my planned diet on the weekend while watching my kids. So the overall situation was that I was maintaining.
After consulting with some of you and reading about what you do, I realized that I could set different goals for different days of the week, and that it's the average that really mattered. Somehow that had never occurred to me. And I realized that of course averaging in the lower calorie days with the higher calorie days, my average calories per day for a week was far more than 1400!
I decided to accept my eating patterns rather than fight them, and go with it. I set my calories to 1200 a day M-Th, 2000 on Fri, and 1350 on Sat-Sun. I had about a month of doing that with a nice slow loss. Then I decided to take a "maintenance" break for Thanksgiving and the week after and that kind of derailed the whole thing. This was supposed to be my really back on track week but I have been sick and so not really getting back on track.
Two side effects I had noticed of that diet is that Mon and Tues I am super hungry and also I have to pee so much all the time. Probably because I am up 2 pounds every Saturday and then down those pounds by Tues or Weds because of the takeout day. Probably much of that is water.
I am not sure what I want to do with this information. Still musing about it. I started reading Metabolical at @ideas2 's recommendation and am also just thinking about the quality of the nutrition I am eating. I usually eat pretty nutritiously, other than my bedtime snack of a small cookie. A big part of the Thanksgiving break was playing around with fitting less healthy food into my diet, because I wanted to enjoy all the Thanksgiving treats. And my mouth did enjoy them but my body really did not, in many ways. And thinking about the "takeout Friday" regular break and wondering how much I really want that or enjoy that, actually, when I think about how it makes my body feel.
Another thing that I am noticing is that I have tried to lose weight before and 1200 calories is by far the lowest I have ever gone and it kind of sucks. Other weight loss attempts I have done fine losing weight at far more calories, even with "cheat days"/breaks/days off a week. And didn't have to feel hungry. I think it is that I am now within normal BMI (barely) and still trying to lose weight. And that I am older - 41. And maybe that I have an autoimmune thyroid condition? Those are the things that make me wonder if it's time to give up losing more weight and go on maintenance.
But, I just bought all these new clothes, and when I gained weight over Thanskgiving they didn't fit as well anymore. So I think I'd like to at least lose so that I stay comfortable in those clothes even with a 2 pound weight fluctuation. It's tricky, though, because at this point it does seem like I am gaining and losing weight only in my belly so any weight is a dramatic effect. I would really like the belly to be a bit smaller, if I'm being honest.
Sorry, this is all pretty boring, but it did help me to write!6 -
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~🎄~ 12 / 9 /2021~~ Waving Hi ~~🤶🏼~~ Welcome to December ~BLESSings ALLways ~💖~
Exercise for at least 20 minutes .................................... ✅ ... 230+ min.
Stay within my calorie budget for the day ...................... ✅ ... I am
Keep track of everything I ate and drank ....................... ✅ .... I did
STEPS......... 30,280+.......... 200 walking ........ 30 min. house cleaning....
How I chose my Healthy Calories Range...
at my age now... I know my metabolism is low or non existent, compared to
what it used to be... For me to lose weight I need to... Walk (exercise) a lot
& stay within 1000-1200 calories range... even when it says I earned more...
(on Holidays & special occasions I will add what they say & stay under)
I am looking forward to reaching my healthy goal range ... I am almost there
when I reach... to maintain... I plan to keep the healthy calories range, and
then cut back on my walks... & using some of that time for crafting....
Documenting My CONSISTANCY = For personal ACCOUNTABILITY
(if there is a P=instead of number its a Pass Day)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-
.4 -
Yes, yes and yes
Walking and a little stretching4 -
Yes to exercise, tracking and calories!
3 pass days used so far (I think). I will double check if I don’t need a 4th
I used loseit’s guide for my height and weight which gives me 1600 plus exercise3 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »Thank you for continuing with UAC and sharing your insights @SummerSkier I really wish I had found a community like this all those years ago. I started with "strict, unusual for me diet and lose 100 pounds within 1 year" as my literal goal 15 years ago. And thanks to the internet I can go back and read (and recall) that very mindset and see how ridiculous that was. I know so much more now, but could have sped it up by as much as 15 years had I found this first! 😂 Insights like yours and others here could have helped me so much. But I have always "learned the hard way".
I believe most of us have learned the hard way @WhatMeRunning Most of my yo yo ing over the years was pretty scary and I never ever had a plan about what to do if I met my goal. It was always just pretend I was "normal". Learning to count calories in 2011 was a huge eye opener for me when I joined here and I lost pretty successfully but again I had no plan so I ended up leaving and regaining. of course. So this time, I just hang out. The tools were really not easily available in the past so no need to beat yourself up or regret you did not learn things when you were younger. We can only move forward and let go and work to teach others.
@LazyBlondeChef I was reading your post from a couple days back. Shhh. Don't tell anyone but I set my cals at 1050 for the entire time I was losing and MFP screamed at me and when I first joined the forums I did not know how verbotten that was to say to the larger group. But older, shorter, etc it was the only way for me to lose a pound a week. And I never felt excessively deprived even running the C25K program. I think it must be very frustrating for petite women to get told they will die if they eat less than 1200 calories.
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@LazyBlondeChef - Sounds like you are dialing in to a sweet spot of exercise level and calories to avoid hunger but still be in a slight deficit. That's awesome!
Congrats on the great day @BMcC9
@Arc2Arc - You're doing fantastic, keep going!
Way to go getting all 3 @biketheworld
Very nice day @jmu1965
@ashleycarole86 - Very insightful of you to create that spreadsheet when your weight loss exceeded your MFP target! Absolutely fabulous results!
Maintaining beats gaining @seilidhe congrats!
Your approach is obviously working very well @slimtastesbetter Best wishes on your 5k this weekend!
...which reminds me... I hope your IT band issue is better @mshawski ahead of that race you had planned! Best wishes either way as you've done incredibly well working on your running these last few months and I hope that continues for you!
Woo-hoo @Mama530 that's a great looking day!
@jamcnewman I think that is fantastic how you have such a nice plan and routine with a dietician. I am especially impressed at how diligently you follow their advice! That is surely not something many actually do, but then again you're awesome 😎
Another fantastic day @calvin20874
@Caroline_slowandsteady that was a very insightful reply! I think at some point a lot of us have to really look inside our behaviors and what we eat as part of finding that path to healthy maintenance. I guess in the end, healthy maintenance is that...being regularly healthy, and not regularly having many unhealthy behaviors. You always seem to have a thoughtful and careful approach, which is certainly ideal for such required changes! I've always been a "let's do this" kind of character. Has made this a journey of starts and stops, but done so that I took two steps forward and one step back. It's crazy, I know.
I love your consistency @DebyS137
Fantastic day @znaoiec
Awesome day @bookieNJ
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Excellent job @enlightenme30
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Thanks, @WhatMeRunning! My fingers are crossed and I haven’t even had a panic attack about it yet 😂😂😂
I looked at the weather. It’s supposed to be 61 and raining. In New York. In December. What the actual *kitten*? Perhaps all my fretting over winter running apparel will be for naught this season 😑5 -
12/09
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? 👍🏻
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? 👍🏻
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? 👍🏻
Used 1 pass
2 passes left
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December goals
- Miracle Morning daily.
- yoga and strength training at least 3x weekly (Strength training WILL happen this month)
- TRY having ZERO pass days
- No LNS daily, ONLY fruits
- Daily journaling
These are my morning meditation sessions, Pete and Parker enjoy meditation too, lol
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✅ Exercise: 90 minute workout split between walking, rowing machine, elliptical, and swimming
✅ Calories
✅ Tracked
0 pass days used ( )
This topic is timely for me because I am in flux about my calorie goal as well as adjusting my ratio of macros. I met with a nutritionist for help with this last week-- she recommended a protein gram range and a carb range for me, and suggested I not allow myself more than a 500 per day calorie deficit. It appears I may have been undereating. I also just got myself a Fitbit which currently adds the exercise calories back in. So currently I have my budget set around my basal metabolism rate with the Fitbit adding extra to my goal for exercise. I am trying to come in very close to that 2-3 days a week, 500 below 2-3 days a week, and am doing 1-2 24 hour fasts per week (I fast from supper to supper, so on the days that I am only eating supper, I just make sure to get at least 500 calories, primarily good protein sources.)
I have only started the 24 hour fasts and have done only 2 days of it so far, but they were surprisingly easy as I am already ¨fat adapted¨ from the low carb dieting and shorter duration fasts that I do every day. I am extremely excited that my scale showed me I am already losing VISCERAL fat from those 24 hour fasts and my fasting blood sugar levels each morning are coming down into the normal range (which is my motivation for trying the fasting, due to what I have read about the benefits for metabolic syndrome, prediabetes and reversing fatty liver.)
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09/12/2021
Exercise – yes
Tracking – yes
Calories – yes
Pass days – 0
@WhatMeRunning – this is very well timed thought for today – I have been considering this very point over the last few days.
I’m posting this on Friday evening here – which means I get to read lots of earlier posts. When I post on the correct evening, I’m one of the early responses.
As a little old lady my BMR is very low and TDEE at “sedentary” is only just over 1200 calories. So, in order to lose weight while obeying the MFP rule of not setting a goal under 1200 I had to do significant amount of exercise. Like @SummerSkier I could not lose weight on 1200 cals per day – especially since that makes no allowance for meals out, special occasions etc. In fact, while losing my calories were so often under 1200 that I never tried to "Complete" my diary as MFP would just tell me off!
When I reached my goal (50 kg or approx. 110 lb) I recalculated the numbers. By setting my activity as “moderate” I got a figure still somewhat less than 1,500 calories. As I am retired I can achieve moderate activity quite easily most days.
So, I set my calories at 1,500 per day and I don’t add all my activity/exercise calories. I suppose my total calories average out at about 1,600 to 1,700 per day.
This approach has worked well over the last 2 ½ years, I gained a kg or two over the summer/early autumn when I had several holidays but am now down again just below 50kg. But something isn’t working now – my weight dipped below 50 kg 3 weeks ago and I have been leaving 200 + calories on the table every day over those 3 weeks but my weight is stuck at 49.8 kg. I’m waiting another week or so before I change anything but it is puzzling me. I guess I’m either under-estimating my calorie intake or over-estimating my exercise calorie burn.
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@mshawski rain is forecast for my 5K on Saturday too. Ugh, but at least they are saying it'll be a light rain... Glad I'm doing the 5K and not the 10K. Wish the temp was going to be 61 like yours, that would be wonderful! It's going to be 47 degrees (feels like 41) here in Seattle and 12 mph wind! Have a good race.
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Good luck @slimtastesbetter! 🍀🏃🏻♀️3
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SummerSkier wrote: »@LazyBlondeChef I was reading your post from a couple days back. Shhh. Don't tell anyone but I set my cals at 1050 for the entire time I was losing and MFP screamed at me and when I first joined the forums I did not know how verbotten that was to say to the larger group. But older, shorter, etc it was the only way for me to lose a pound a week. And I never felt excessively deprived even running the C25K program. I think it must be very frustrating for petite women to get told they will die if they eat less than 1200 calories.
Yeah I didn't say it but I'm pretty sure I barely ate 1000 calories per day on average all those years I weighed in the 100-105lb range (roughly from age 20-50). While I'm 5'3" my bones are quite small (my wrists are like a childs), my legs are slender, I have small hips and excess weight was always in waist/bust and now is primarily in the waist. A long haul to get rid of it. Now that I'm hovering at 120ish even eating at that < 1200 range I'll be lucky to lose .25lbs per week.
I was surprised at all the negativity I got once when I posted about 1200 calories in the broader forum. Now I always include height/age/body type when mentioning it. It can be frustrating when you see people talk about 2000 calorie diets. I would be completely obese at that level. My top weight was a temporary 145 after a week of vacation (with daily drinking and high cal meals) but otherwise hovering at 140 last year which I hated because I felt pretty awful and uncomfortable in lower back/waist.
Anyway it's nice to see that you and @lesdarts180 can relate to me. Many people can't.
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WhatMeRunning wrote: »
Another fantastic day @calvin20874
I know. Calvin has to be one of the most consistent posters here. I'm in awe.
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@slimtastesbetter and @mshawski Wishing you both all the best on your runs tomorrow! 📣📣📣1
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LazyBlondeChef wrote: »WhatMeRunning wrote: »
Another fantastic day @calvin20874
I know. Calvin has to be one of the most consistent posters here. I'm in awe.
Totally agree @LazyBlondeChef and @WhatMeRunning — way to go @calvin20874 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻0 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »@jamcnewman I think that is fantastic how you have such a nice plan and routine with a dietician. I am especially impressed at how diligently you follow their advice! That is surely not something many actually do, but then again you're awesome 😎
Chris - you are so kind, supportive, and encouraging, and I truly appreciate you. 🌟
Heather (my dietician) has said since the end of month one, “Julie, you are honestly the poster champion for how to do this”. She had suggested MFP to get me started at the beginning, and thank goodness for this team’s significant effort to post in the “groups and challenges” board as that is how I found UAC. Each month I share with her about how UAC is going and how it and everyone here helps me (and hopefully I am and can support others — such an important part of this for me). She is so glad that I found this group so early on this journey and thinks you/we are all marvellous! Special kudos to Teresa @Mrs_Hoffer 🙏🏻
Slow and steady for sure, and I have a really long road ahead and accept that I really can’t ever let up on this again.
The model set by so many people like you, @SummerSkier @MadisonMolly2017 @lesdarts180 and so many others have helped me to see that it is and it will be fine. You will never know how much that has meant to me. Thank you 🥰
Julie5
