Handling Holidays and Restaurants?!

OMGeeeHorses

How do you guys keep yourself in check? It's like when the holiday is a few days away my body goes into HULK mode and I have to eat everything in sight! I try to tell myself its going to make me gain weight and be fatter and my mind and will power sort of just shrugs it off!! As well with a Restaurant, I think I am picking something healthy and come to find out its BAD with fat and calories...I feel like I don't know what I am doing anymore as for 2 1/2 months straight (minus this week, due to binge eating) I have stayed at 286.2 and not lost 1lb!! My exercise consists of 4 times a week ( or more) of walk/light jogging for 5 miles and every 2 weeks 1hr horse back riding is thrown in. I just want to rip my hair out!! I use a bodymedia armband so know my workout numbers are as accurate as I can get them..but I just keep getting frustrated with seeing everyone else doing AMAZING in losing a ton of weight from the starting point I had to seeing me only accomplish 45lbs. I am not saying that is not a TON of weight lost..but why do I keep plateauing!?!

Also anything you have to offer for information would be amazing!! I am 5'3 27years old at 286.2 my macros are 1510 calories, fat is 34g, carbs is 227 and protein is 76g. This is all what MFP says and I can match my BMA as they connect together, so I am always at 1,000 deficit or more..so am I doing something wrong with my body and or is this to low for someone of my weight? I have my setting at Sedentary even when I workout and I don't eat my calories back at all (unless I am hungry, which is rare). Just need some friend advice and help

gigglesinthesun

how accurate are you with your logging? The occasional meal out doesn't kill you, but missing 50 cals here or there throughout the day can easily lead to eating 500 calories more: for example my banana was according to length 89 calories, but according to weight it was 134 calories and since I don't just eat a banana ... in fact when I started here I used measuring cups and estimation and weighed only cheese (I am a vegetarian) and once I started weighing all my vegetables my daily calories went from 1100 to 1350 without extra food.

In restaurant you could try only eating half of your plate and taking the rest home for the next day. Chances are that you are binge eating because your overall calories are too low, but that is just a guess based on my personal experience and it could quite well be that there are other reasons behind your binges.

As for holidays ... if you are accurate in your daily logging, what you eat on holidays makes little difference (they comprise less then 2% of the total year). At most you gain a pound and even that is not that likely, because at your size with 1510 calories you are running at least a 500 calorie deficit, so your weekly deficit is 3500. In order to gain one pound that week you would need to eat your normal calories, your 3500 calorie deficit and the 3500 calories for that pound. Now clearly if you are undercounting your normal calories that is less, but if you are accurate then that is quite a bit of food and drink.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

SoDamnHungry

It sounds like your intake SHOULD be 1510 (with a deficit of 1000), but since you say you're consistently making bad choices at restaurants and occasionally binge eating without a change in weight, you're obviously eating at TDEE on average. At this point, maybe 1510 is too drastic a cut for you and triggering more eating. Figure out what calorie intake works for you, and STICK WITH IT. Give yourself a weekly goal rather than a daily goal and you can make up for overeating on other days by either cutting back the rest of the time or working out more.

walkdmc

Check out the restaurant menu online and make your selection BEFORE you ever enter the place. Visualize yourself ordering that meal, with whatever modifications you want, even practice saying it aloud, to yourself.

Don't sit near the bread/tortilla chips/peanuts...whatever.

Create some accountability. Tell someone, online or in person, that you're going to stay on target for your upcoming meal. Then, report back, regardless of how things went.

Don't show up hungry. Eat Greek yogurt, a light cheese stick, natural PB + apple, etc...some protein-filled snack and a tall glass of water, before you go out.

Getting one restaurant meal done and staying on plan is immensely satisfying. You'll feel so empowered as you exit the restaurant, if you stay OP. As a result, you'll feel inspired to stay OP for your next meal.

Finally, if you really have binge-eating disorder (BED), see a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. Talk to your doctor to determine if you meet the criteria for BED.

Greenrun99

Use a food scale, eat your allotted calories, don't eat back any exercise calories, and don't eat anything you don't prepare yourself.. If your scale starts moving then your eating too much or calculating your food wrong.
1 day of binge eating or going to a restaurant can wipe out your weekly deficit if your numbers aren't right.

waltcote

Sometimes when we are going out to eat and I know where we are going, I will look at the restaurants website and menu for their nutrition info. It helped me decide before hand what to order at P.F. Changs one night without taking forever to decide on what was healthier. I had a few choices in mind and even wrote down notes to take to the restaurant. Worked great for me. I know you can't always do that but if you can it helps. :bigsmile:

hoyalawya2003

Ditto previous posters on planning ahead for restaurants and for weighing/measuring everything! I love your avatar, btw, I just started back riding after losing 20 lbs--feel free to friend me for encouragement! My calorie counts/macros are similar to yours, and I have about 35-40 more lbs to lose.