Frustrations & Disappointments

sandyeh

I have been at this healthy eating and weight loss thing for 15 + years now and have lost and kept off about 70 pounds. Even though I am down to my last 10 - 15 pounds, I still recognize the roller coaster of emotions that this balance can cause. However, I've learned enough to realize that the frustrations and disappointments can't define or derail me. Today I stepped on the scale after what I thought was a great and mindful weekend of eating and exercise only to find out that the scale was up instead of a more favorable number. I was disappointed but spent time processing the fact and concluded that it had to be water weight and an intensive strength training workout (muscle weighs more than fat unfortunately). The trick is to not let this frustration define my next steps and further sabotage my efforts. This is a journey - something that we need to realize. Diets are usually something we begin and end. Healthy eating and a great mindset are a lifetime fix. Here's to continually picking up the bootstraps and staying focused!

Sandy

AshaDidIt

Thanks for the pick-me-up!

hotpickles

Thank you for this! I think it can apply anywhere we experience frustrations. I really appreciated this!

L.

morganadk2_deleted

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits


please read this

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)

sandyeh

Thank you for this information and reminder. I am a firm advocate of not starving to lose weight. Ironically, weight loss is fairly easy if we eat enough of the right foods and stay away from the excess sugars and nutrient-poor foods - a hard thing to do at times. I've had friends go on these crash diets and found myself becoming very concerned since I understand the damage this can cause to our health, our body and our psychological well-being. Although we'd like this scale to move quicker, we realize this is a long and and, at many times, much slower process than we are comfortable.

Cheers to healthy and mindful eating and exercise!

Sandy