Committed to Tracking!

skinnyD2308

Hi All,

I've been a member for a while on and off, but recently made a committment to tracking my food intake for 365 days. I'm on day 94 and I've lost 17 pounds so far! Woot, woot!

I recently read the book: The Diet Fix by Dr. Yoni Feedhoff and found it quite interesting and inspiring. He runs obesity programs in Ontario Canada and the book is filled with great ideas based on his review of related medical/scientific literature and his own practice. I found the book very practical in both its advice and approach - he focuses on doing your best and makes recommendations on how to get started, how to manage hunger and satiety, tracking intake, being sensible and ultimately finding your own way towards a healthy lifestyle that can be maintained for life. I really enjoyed it and after reading the book committed to the following:

1. that I would track my food intake for 365 days and increasing my protein intake in both meals and snacks througout the day and ensure that there some type of calorie deficit more days than not.
2. Plan meals with a minimum of 300 calories and minimum of 20 grams of protein
3. Plan snacks with a minimum of 150 calories and minimum 7 grams of protein (with wiggle room on the protein requirement for the after dinner snack)
4. Eat every 3-4 hours

So far this plan is working even better than I hoped! I used to really struggle with binge eating, but since I re-purposed my snacks and breakfast and focus more on adding protein, this has almost been eliminated. The only time I still get a little bingey is in the few days leading up to my time of month. I've put a reminder in my calendar to plan for extra calories those days to see if it helps.

So, 94 days in and I've lot 17 pounds, I haven't been perfect, but even with vacations and summer BBQs I have tracked faithfully and I have discovered that I don't have to be perfect to lose weight, I just need to be mindful, I need to EAT (what a relief) and I don't have to be hungry. I have now decided to add some fitness goals to the above and started a 6 week strength training program on the weekend. I have committed to 4 days per week (lower body plus abdominal 2 days - saturday/tuesday and upper body plus abdominal 2 days-sundays and thrusdays) between now and thanksgiving. Will re-assess program at that point. I'm already half way their for this week and have scheduled my third workout for this evening. Am hoping the next 90 days will bring me as much success and knowledge as the first 90 days!

Would love some new friends to join me on my journey. I will support you in your goals if you support me in mine! I really feel that I am onto something that is finally something I can sustain for a lifetime - I truly hope that this year's journey will help be develop lifetime habits that will enable me to keep off anything I lose. I'm done with yo-yo dieting!

Here are some basic stats
-38 year old married woman with pre-schooler and wonderful, supportive husband
-starting weight 211 pounds (my highest ever!)
-current weight 194 pounds
-goal weight - not really determined - would like to hit about 165 before deciding on a final goal weight.

My goal is really to track for a year at a calorie deficit more days than not and gradually reducing calories as I drop weight without getting so hungry that I re-ignite the binge/restrict cycle that has been my pattern. Right now I'm eating between 1500 - 2100 calories per day. Would like to be eating consistantly between 1700 - 1800 net calories on average, as I think that would be sustainable for the rest of my life.

Cheers,
Dee

Kattarra

Wow Dee congrats on your progress! I've tracked the last 42 days in a row and am making some progress also. The book sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.

my_chrystal82

Congratulations on your loss & protein AHA moment! lol

I completed over half of Yoni's weight loss program in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While I didn't find the program ideal for me (budget restrictions, lack of communication) he did have great tips that I still use today. Binge eating was also a huge problem of mine, as well as under eating. Adding/increasing the protein intake has been a wonderful tool and knowledge piece and makes a huge difference with my constantly/moderately starving teenage boy.

Welcome to MFP and feel free to add me if you'd like.

AsaThorsWoman

Hello. Welcome back to MFP!