Getting Used to low cal

Sksieger

Hi all!

I just realized today that my body is finally used to my low calorie intake. I am not hungry in between meals. That is always the hardest part for me when I start dieting... is the going to bed hungry or always thinking about when the next meal is because I dont feel fool. Its a step closer to being able to keep my diet.

acrego

I have discovered, (maybe this isn't for everybody) when I really want to cut down on calories, rarely am I successful with a sudden drop. I have to sort of "wean" myself off gradually. I do this by constantly looking for ways to shave off calories, and being flexible and creative about finding lower calorie ways to stay satisfied.

For example, until recently I was a coffee person. I HAD to have several cups every morning, and unfortunately for calorie counting, I could NOT learn how to drink it without some sort of cream. I stopped using cream and whole milk years ago, and switched to fat free milk. Well, at the amounts I was drinking, that was adding somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 - 150 extra calories a day! So, I decided, for me, I have to replace coffee altogether since I can't learn how to drink it black. I started drinking energy drinks. That might be somewhat controversial, I have heard all the bad press about guarana & such, but it works for me! I feel SO much better after drinking one. I even tried drinking coffee again about a week ago when I ran out of energy drinks, and I felt bloated and horrible!

And I always remind myself that every day is a new day. Just because I caved & ate popcorn last night, does not mean that I can't find the restraint tonight, to allow my boyfriend to eat all the popcorn and be content drinking water! Every victory like that adds to my determination.

HTH!

Sksieger

Yeah I try and go slow to adjust. But I also sometimes just need to buckle down and do it! I have drunken black coffee for years now. For me its mostly ice cream, chocolate and cheese. My down falls every time. So high in calories, that even if I "say oh I will just have a little piece" its like saying "oh I will just have 250 calories of something that wont fill me or benefit me in anyway!"

I have been finding some good alternatives though. Like a small piece of dark chocolate is much more health and only has about 30 cals and it satisfies my sugar needs.

Now if only there were a great cheese that did that!

Being a foodie and dieting is a hard thing!

ColleenRoss50

I have found that in the last couple of weeks or so my calories consumed were starting to creep a little higher on some days than they did in the first few weeks I was logging so I am trying something a little different.

I am trying some intermittent fasting. I am doing a 36 hour water fast (includes coffee and tea) one day a week and adding the calories I saved by doing that onto the remaining six days. It doesn't change my weekly calorie goal but it does give me a little more wiggle room on the six days of the week I am not fasting. So far I have done that twice (the last two Fridays).

It is too early to tell if it will have any effect on my rate of weight loss and that was not my goal in making this change (just wanted a few extra calories to work with on my eating days). For the last few weeks I have been averaging a tad over a lb. a week in weight loss and have been satisfied with that. I'll keep you updated on how this new experiment is working for me.

sansouchi1050

For the last few weeks I have been averaging a tad over a lb. a week in weight loss and have been satisfied with that.

A loss of one pound a week is stellar- especially considering how close you are to goal weight.

Please keep us posted on how this is going for you, this is a really interesting way to manage your intake

ColleenRoss50

For the last few weeks I have been averaging a tad over a lb. a week in weight loss and have been satisfied with that.

A loss of one pound a week is stellar- especially considering how close you are to goal weight.

Please keep us posted on how this is going for you, this is a really interesting way to manage your intake

So far so good. I'm still losing at about the same rate and it is nice to have some extra wiggle room on my eating days. Some people might find going 32 to 36 hours without eating to be a bit too long a stretch but I like it for myself because it is a clean break having my last meal in the evening and going through the entire next day without food. Then the following day it is business as usual. I find that by about 8:00 in the evening of my fast day I start getting thoughts about wanting to eat something but I just remind myself that I will be able to eat in the morning and the feeling passes. By the next morning I find I am not even in a hurry to eat breakfast and usually don't eat anything until I am up for couple of hours. That's the way it is working for me.

There are many different variations of intermittent fasting if anyone is interested in trying it. I might start a new discussion thread on it in the next week or so if anyone wants to learn more or share their own thoughts and experiences, if any.

As for getting closer to my goal weight, I don't know yet if 130 will be my ultimate goal. I have a small frame and for most of my adult life till I got into about my mid-forties my natural weight was about 125 lbs. I don't know if 125 is still a good weight for me at my present age. I know that at my current weight I still need to lose more because I still have too much stubborn tummy fat that doesn't want to say goodbye yet --lol. My intention is to re-evaluate at 130 lbs. and also to bump up my calories at that point to a little under estimated maintenance and work harder on strength training exercises and work more slowly at losing the last five pounds if I decide at that point that I want to lose more. This way, I will hopefully gain some more lean body mass in the process.