30 Day Challenge Part 2

singer201

For the past two weeks, I've been concentrating on keeping my net calories at just barely under 1200 by eating all my exercise calories. I'm following a Primal Blueprint food plan, aiming for 100g carbs and 100g protein per day. Most of the carbs come from many fresh vegetables, a few fruits and nuts, and milk/yogurt. I'm getting protein from milk, yogurt, eggs, beef, shrimp, salmon, and chicken. I keep hard-cooked eggs in the refrig for adding to salads; also, frozen shrimp tossed in the salad bowl thaw nicely in time for dinner at work, while keeping my salad cool.

kylakesgal

Sounds great singer. I need to focus on upping my protein intake. I have so much more energy when I eat the proper amount. All those are great sources of protein.

paigemang♥

Well, I am going to have to change something....maybe I am not eating enough...my weigh in this morning was 138 so I am 2 lbs heavier than I was last weigh in :sad:

I will be adding my cardio to change that.....anywho back to working hard!!! Staying motivated!!! :happy:

kylakesgal

Paige, it's very well possible you aren't eating enough calories. I see that you are doing the 30 day shred also so you are doing the work for sure! Also, when you get down closer to your goal weight like you are.....those last few pounds are harder to get off. When I had lost down to 142 about two yrs ago, I swear I could not get any smaller even though I was working out everyday and I was eating healthy. It could have been for me that I wasn't eating enough. You can do it. Try changing up your diet a bit. Eat smaller meals but include your snacks with lots of protein at each meal. You are most certainly building muscle. Good luck and keep us informed~

nikki8marie

What about having pick your challenge day/week, where everyone post what they wanted to work on and how they did. We could probably compile a pretty good list ahead of time if people want to pick from that.

As far as my calorie intake I usually take my BMR and minus 500. That 500 comes from a combination of eating few calories and exercise. I read (somewhere) that this approach works wells so I am giving it a shot. I'm also going to do a little research to see what is the healthiest way (yay research...I am such a nerd :glasses: )

aab1

For the past two weeks, I've been concentrating on keeping my net calories at just barely under 1200 by eating all my exercise calories. I'm following a Primal Blueprint food plan, aiming for 100g carbs and 100g protein per day. Most of the carbs come from many fresh vegetables, a few fruits and nuts, and milk/yogurt. I'm getting protein from milk, yogurt, eggs, beef, shrimp, salmon, and chicken. I keep hard-cooked eggs in the refrig for adding to salads; also, frozen shrimp tossed in the salad bowl thaw nicely in time for dinner at work, while keeping my salad cool.

@ Singer - holy cow. If I'm calculating correctly, have you lost 14lbs in 3 weeks? That is amazing and so impressive! Keep up the awesome work!!

singer201

@aab1--I'm pretty impressed, too, especially since I don't feel deprived AT ALL. I do have several things going in my favor--plenty of excess weight to lose, no one but me to cook for, take my dinner to work for the main meal of the day, and time to exercise outdoors during the day (trying to get 30 minutes/day). According to Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint, 75-100g of the right carbs/day = effortless weight loss. I have to say he's right. I have been watching sodium (<1500 mg most days), eating whole foods, not avoiding fats, and managing about 80/20 Primal, since I do eat dairy. MFP has made the challenge to change my eating habits much easier by being able to closely track nutrition factors.

oliviawink

the eating all my calories challenge couldn't come at a better time. I've been a bit low the last few days (just haven't been hungry enough to eat those last few cals at night) and I'm feeling it today. This happened to me last time I was on a weightloss track, my cals will be low for a few days, then I'll be hungrier and eat more for a day or two, and then restart the cycle. Seems normal for me, as I lost weight this way before, but does it happen to anyone else? I'm thinking it's prob the body's natural defense against "starvation mode" and also serving to keep my metabolism from getting too sluggish since every 2nd or 3rd day I'm eating more. Thoughts?

swtchrypie

Yeah I still have around 150 cals left and I am not too sure I am going to be able to get them in me. I earned near 600 with BF and working out. Now I am pondering what I can eat that is healthy and not going to be bad....like cookies.

singer201

@ olivia, you might be naturally zig-zagging daily calories while aiming for a weekly total, a technique some people follow, so your body never knows how much it's going to get every day. If it works for you, it works.

tatiana_13

I don't think there's anything wrong with a natural calorie "zig zag" effect. If you find that you just can't eat all your calories on Monday, but find your stomach rumbling on Tuesday and eat an extra snack, that seems like a fair trade. I think its only a problem if over or under eating becomes a pattern (you find you ALWAYS end up short at the end of the day, or find that the avocado you like to eat for breakfast "eats up" all your calories and leaves your stomach grumbling at the end of EVERY day) that you might have a problem. That's a clue that you need to change your plan...something needs to change.

We're not machines. "Calories in, calories out" is a good rule of thumb to help us learn better eating habits, but its not an iron-clad rule that we should use to make us force food down our throats when we're not hungry or to leave us genuinely hungry...its a rule we use to *plan* our meals so that, most of the time, neither situation actually happens.

clover5

I'm with ya. I had to ride my bike today, because the car wouldn't start. Where's the ice cream? Light, of course.

tatiana_13

On a personal note...I had been trying a new migraine medication for the past 3 weeks...which left me tired, lethargic, and with a never-going-away-I-just-keep-coming-back upper respiratory infection. Who knew a headache medicine could cause a cold as a side effect!? Needless to say, once I figured out what was causing what, I decided to GET OFF that medication! And felt like exercising for the first time in weeks. So, I did! Anyway...I'm back to the migraine drawing board, but at least I'm out of bed.

Sometimes the devil you know...

@Singer, I'm a primal-minded person myself...and similar to you, I also eat dairy. A slightly higher fat diet works really well for me. I just feel better. Although I'm agnostic about diets---I've lived long enough to believe that different things work for different folks. But I think that the best thing anyone can do when losing weight is to experiment, and to take note of what works for them. Because one of these days, they're (hopefully) going to be trying to maintain. And if they haven't taken the time to figure out what works for them (not what works for Anne or Sue or Joe, but for them) and what habits they and their bodies can sustain over the long haul, then they're going to be in trouble...

jessicamarie81

What about having pick your challenge day/week, where everyone post what they wanted to work on and how they did. We could probably compile a pretty good list ahead of time if people want to pick from that.

Sounds good!!

jessicamarie81

the eating all my calories challenge couldn't come at a better time. I've been a bit low the last few days (just haven't been hungry enough to eat those last few cals at night) and I'm feeling it today. This happened to me last time I was on a weightloss track, my cals will be low for a few days, then I'll be hungrier and eat more for a day or two, and then restart the cycle. Seems normal for me, as I lost weight this way before, but does it happen to anyone else? I'm thinking it's prob the body's natural defense against "starvation mode" and also serving to keep my metabolism from getting too sluggish since every 2nd or 3rd day I'm eating more. Thoughts?

I do find myself doing the same with my eating!

kylakesgal

Good evening ladies~
I'm a little late getting on here tonight. Seems most of us have been working on eating your calorie goals. With some it's a struggle to not eat over but we are all unique and different so you just have to find what works best for you. For me, I've been doing better with reaching mine and actually since working out harder, I am hungrier so I allow myself an extra snack if I need it. It's too bad that one formula doesn't work for all of us but it doesn't. If whatever you are doing, is allowing you to lose weight, stick with it. May have to tweak it here and there, throwing in different types of exercises or foods but we are all doing great and don't sweat it if you are say just a 100 calories down for the day. If you aren't hungry, then I'm sure that will be fine. Your body has a way of telling you when it's hungry,, I know mine does! For tomorrow it is more of a group topic than a challenge but would like to see everyone get involved with this.

********Thursdays Topic of discussion********
What is your guilty pleasure? Chocolate? Cake? Cookies? Bread? Pasta? Potatoes? Fried foods? I would like everyone to talk about what one food is the hardest to stay away from. Also how do you overcome it? Do you give in? Have a little? Enjoy and then exercise more? Have none at all?

I know everyone single one of us has our one weakness that is our biggest temptation. So be thinking about it and be sure to post tomorrow. I think it will be an interesting topic:)

daphne_gets_fit

Honestly, I don't do anything as far as cardio on the weekends, I try not eat things that I shouldn't but sometimes I do, I just go 110% during the week to kinda make up for the weekend because it's hard for me to stay on track, so I try to get extra workouts in during the week. Not sure if this helps you any, I just felt like I could relate.

ceejay000

I'm 11 calories under my goal today, which I will consider meeting my goal. I try to get close to this almost every day (I'm usually slightly further from the goal). If I exercise, sometimes I'm a few more calories under, but I do generally eat most of my calories. Planning my meals has really helped me stay healthy, and I think it's working. I'm not losing as quickly as a lot of other people, but I feel a lot better than I used to. Someone actually told me today (unprompted) that they could tell that I'd lost weight, which surprised me given that I've lost very little, but I'll definitely take it!

For some of you who were wondering how to get those last hundred or so calories in, one easy way to do it is a few nuts. An ounce of roasted, unsalted almonds is about 170 calories. It's a very small volume, and pretty healthy.

oliviawink

thanks everyone for your input. I'm thinking that it's normal, in that I'm never starving or too stuffed, and it's not drastic, it's always within a a couple-hundred calories, and most of the time the high is just over my cal limit (with exercise) and the low less than 200 under.

I modified today's challenge, and because of this, I am going to take it on again tomorrow. I DID eat all my calories, but 50 extra (which is only a small amount over, so I'm ok with it) BUT, it wasn't healthy. Since having my daughter I haven't been able to join my friends at the local pub for our weekly trivia night. I gave myself some freedom to enjoy tonite, but planned it, so that it didn't "break the bank". I had 2 beers and a piece of chocolate cream pie (birthday celebration pie). I recognize that all of those things are empty calories, but life is for living and there are times where you just need to let go and enjoy. I am celebrating the change in myself in that I didn't have 2 beers and pie on top of everything else, but I made room for the extra calories by eating a lighter dinner and working out before I went. And tomorrow I will make up for the 2nd 1/2 of today's challenge by doing both parts proper!

ceejay000

Since having my daughter I haven't been able to join my friends at the local pub for our weekly trivia night. I gave myself some freedom to enjoy tonite, but planned it, so that it didn't "break the bank". I had 2 beers and a piece of chocolate cream pie (birthday celebration pie). I recognize that all of those things are empty calories, but life is for living and there are times where you just need to let go and enjoy. I am celebrating the change in myself in that I didn't have 2 beers and pie on top of everything else, but I made room for the extra calories by eating a lighter dinner and working out before I went. And tomorrow I will make up for the 2nd 1/2 of today's challenge by doing both parts proper!

I, too, joined my friends for trivia night at a bar tonight. It's hard to be there without getting at least one drink, but that's all I had. I ate dinner right before I went, so I wasn't hungry and tempted to eat all the fried bar food, and I made sure I had enough calories to fit the drink within my goal.

I think that we all need to fit these "normal" activities into our lives even when we're trying to lose weight because that's what we're going to be doing after we're down to our goal weights. Also, my whole goal is to be happier and healthier, and if I don't get to enjoy time with my friends, I think it kind of defeats the purpose.

A few allowances here and there are almost necessary, and you can always make up for them before or after. It's more important to make sure that you're happy and still enjoying life while trying to make this lifestyle change. That's just my two cents.