Halfway there -- lost 20lb (self eval, welcome sugestions)

rapat

I started at ~204 8 weeks ago. I'm currently at ~182. My goal was to get to 160. Once I get there, I'll re-eval and come up with new goals.

For reference, here's my introduce yourself post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/786478-hello-my-story-this-time-is-different-hopefully

This is my general breakdown:
Week Ending / Avg Daily Calories / Lbs lost
10-27........2177........5
11-03........1841........4
11-10........1517........4
11-17........2048........2
11-24........2700........-1 (let myself go during thanksgiving weekend)
12-01........2100........1
12-08........1716........3
12-15........1530........3 (an estimate if I stick to my plan for today)

So its interesting to see the trends from and the correlation between calories and weight loss -- not a surprise but its nice motivation to me to continue striving for less calories.


Trouble areas:
There's free candy (chocolate, reeces peanut butter cups), as well as chips, fruit, soda, teas, milk, cereal. There's been multiple occasions where I've indulged (sometimes 600 cal in a day) of candy. There's other days where I pass the candy and I have no interest in eating it. And there's days where I have an interest but then choose not to. The biggest issue is I say 'only 1' then end up eating 4. I've noticed a general trend where its easier for me to not eat something unhealthy than to stop myself after a small amount

Dinner binging: I actually haven't done it this week, so I'm hoping I can maintain that, but there's been a lot of days where I eat fine during the day, then binge in the evening. I think I just need to do a better job at spacing out dinner so my stomach has a chance to send its 'full' signals to my brain.


Exercise:
I've had a couple of injuries that slowed me down the last 2 weeks, but I've generally done a better job with moderate/intense cardio then I've done in the past.
The Couch To 5K program has really helped as it basically pushes me to run harder than I would if I wasn't using any program.
I need to do a better job at forcing myself to wake up earlier though so I have more time for weight training as sometimes I end up skipping it if I wake up late.

General findings:
I only do it occasionally, but its definitely easier to eat healthy if I preplan all my meals and don't let myself deviate until I finish all the planned eating.

I tried fasting -- 1 36 hour, 3 24 hour fasts. I've concluded its not for me as its tough to maintain energy / focus thru the day. But I did notice it got easier each time, and it's lead me to tolerate / not be bothered by daytime hunger much better.

So in terms of eating, the following two seem like the best way of me achieving my calorie goals:
Eating a decent breakfast, then staying low cal thru the day (coffee, salad), then having a normal (6-800cal) dinner -- I don't think I could've done this prior to the Fasting expiriments
Or eating small meals/snacks every couple of hours -- which seems to leave me 'satisfied' thru the day

Whereas what doesn't seem to work for me is:
eating a large lunch then trying to limit my dinner calories.
For whatever reason its just easier for me to limit morning/daytime calories and go to bed feeling well fed then it is to feel full thru out the day and limit dinner.

Also in the past I've tended to eat way too many calories late night prior to bed. I still get urges to eat, and I've had multiple late night / ice cream binges during the past 2 months. But in the last 2 weeks I've switched to drinking chai -- like 16 ounces of it instead when I get those urges. And it seems to work -- gets my hunger level down and its only about 60-70 calories of milk..

And I think logging food / exercise, and just reading myfitnesspal forums daily helps me keep mentally focused on the goal.

Summary / Looking Forward:
There's been ups & downs, and I'm definitely happy with my eating over the past 10 days -- as eating healthier has just been mentally easier the past 10 days as it was before -- So I'm hoping this is a trend/change that will continue.

And I should probably spend more effort weight lifting without sacrificing any cardio effort.

I'm hoping I can maintain this pace -- lose the next 20lb over the next 6-8 weeks. If I can just reduce the frequency of bad days / choices, it should be possible.

My diary is open, so if any one has suggestions / tips on how they handled lbs 20-40 / months 3-4, or comments about my past 2 months I'd welcome them.

Thanks!

Gerald_King

Sounds like you're doing greatt well done

missabeez

I love how analytical you are in your post. Very fact based and structured. I'm totally friending you.

My only suggestion would be to keep analysing your total calorie needs as you lose weight. Based on your numbers it looks like you are following bmr/tdee guidelines? You may find that you don't need to eat as much as you did previously.

It was a long post. I can't remember if you said you took progress pics or not. I would do it so you can remember the inches lost and not just the scale weight.

I've also heard you can lift more and decrease your cardio a bit if you don't want to spend too much more time.


Way to go!! Keep things positive and in no time you will see your goal

rapat

Thanks for the comments.

Outside of MyFitnessPal, in a table in OneNote (you can use excel or google docs or whatever, but I love OneNote), I also keep track of weekly summaries -- avg calories, minutes / calories burned of low intensity cardio, moderate/high intensity cardio, and # strength sessions, and weekly reflection comments.

I don't do much with the numbers, other than look at them, but I think just knowing that I'm calculating them motivates me a bit more on some days.

I saw a Nutritionist / had my RMR calculated (1860 at the time), and she suggested not going to far under it, so my target is 1500-1800. So ya, I might need to gradually lower it as I progress.

I've not taken any progress pics. I probably should've at the onset -- maybe I will today although I've only got my phone camera on me.