Struggling Some

ChristinePechulis

Hi all,

What do you do when your are struggling? I did well with this before Christmas and then by following it lightly during the holiday, I maintained -- first time in my life probably -- but now I am struggling. I am following it, but find myself with more cravings than normal. Not sure exactly why.

I do exercise pretty heavily 6/7 days per week -- maybe I am just hungry? How do you adjust your calories for heavy exercise? I burn 300-600 calories per day. Should I up my calories and adjust that way?

Not sure exactly what to do and just looking for a few tips. Thanks! :-)

--Christine

WIChelle

I just started so I have no answer but i am going to pay very close attention to the answers you get for when I hit that point. I'm sure one of the more experiences peeps will have some advice.

babeinthemoon

Christine, I hear you!!!! Loud and clear!!!

At the end of October I was exhausted. It was a very emotional month for me... and I made some huge improvements in the whole "fitness" part of my life. So, in November, I decided to up my calories. I figured out my TDEE, and my BMR, and decided that an average of 1800 calories a day was right for me and my fitness level. I decided to try this for a month.

I did great on the plan during November.. it was freeing to eat more, and I found myself being more accurate with my diary as well. I lost some weight, and some inches. The emotional crap I'm going through was really stressful at the end of November, but I got through it. I was pretty brutally honest on my blog, so if you want to read about it feel free.

December was a whole different story. I started out the month still eating higher calories, but I found myself not exercising as much. The good news is that I for the most part, I hit a plateau. I ended up losing a pound, but then gained it back plus 2 more in the 2 weeks of Christmas and New Year. I'm looking forward to stepping on the scale on Friday to see how close to my lowest weight I've gotten myself back down to.

But I digress.

At first, I was just going to take a couple of days off, because life sucked. Then it stretched to "until Christmas." Then I opened my presents, and inhaled my chocolate orange & 8oz of truffles in 4 days. Okay, well, this was better than I would have done last year... as last year my chocolate orange, a handful of misc chocolates and a whole pound of truffles were probably eaten in 2 days. Sigh. Then I had the weekend that included "fun day" and we were at a friend's house for New Years Eve & Day, drinking and watching the rose bowl. It was not a low calorie 2 days.

The further along I went, the worse off I found myself getting. By the 2nd, I realized that I needed to get back on track. I kept pushing it off, because I really needed to get to the grocery store.. and I really wanted soup, but didn't have the ingredients to make the kinds I want that are lower in sodium than what I can buy at the store. All excuses.

In any case, I decided enough was enough. I've been back on board since Monday, and you are welcome to take a look at my diary to see how I've done. I'm not perfect, but who is. LOL.


This is how I look at it.

Last year (2011 - 2012) I gained about 20-30 pounds between September and June. I was not taking care of myself. Period. Food was my friend, and it was soothing. Sigh. In 2012 from June through November I lost 46 pounds! Awesome! And, I essentially maintained through December! Fabulous!

Yes, would it have been sweet to have blown through my goal and been really close to 200 instead of floating around 214 right now? Yes!. But you know what... I'm on a journey. I'm allowed to stop and smell the roses. If I am going to be so legalistic that I can't have a malibu & coke (real coke for the first time in probably 15 years) on New Years Eve, and a single beer from a Wisconsin brewery that is almost impossible to find in the Pacific Northwest on New Years Day during the game... then I'm not sure I want to be living.

Life should be fun.. at least parts of it should be. Yes we have our ups and downs.. but food is usually a part of it. I am learning how to make the right choices so that I don't fall back into bad habits permanently. But, I am not going to say that I'm "never" going to have a certain food or drink again, unless I find out that I'm allergic to it.

So, for January, I'm recommitting to Choose to Lose. I'm going back to basics. I've found that for me, 1200/1500 calories is a little too low, because I'm not always able to fit the appropriate portion sizes into those calorie ranges, and still get all my veggies or carbs/fats into the day. So, I'm losing it up a little bit. I'm going to focus on eating the right portion sizes 5x a day every 3 hours. I'm going to focus on getting my water in for the day. I'm going to allow my calories to be a range from what is in the book as a minimum, to what I ate in November to be on the high side. And I'm going to see what that does for me. After all, I am way more active than I was when I started the journey, so I want the nutrition to be solid, so that I can fuel my fitness goals. But I also want to be able to make progress on the weight loss front as well. ;-)


So, now that I've rambled for a bit, I'll try to answer your questions.


Maybe it is time to calculate your TDEE & BMR? You might find that these numbers are way higher than the 1300-1500/day average that you'd get from eating at the calorie levels suggested in the book. If so, maybe you should take a break for a week, of just a few days. What ever you feel most comfortable with. Eat every day like it was a HC day, with the added "smart fat" portion. Still structured, but different from what you are use to. Make sure that your calorie intake averages out to being at least what your BMR is, with the high end being your TDEE.

After you've taken your break (consider it a slingshot week), get back to it. Decide what calorie range you want to eat at for you. Maybe you'll decide that you are going to stay at the 1200/1500 calories, for the 5 meals, but will add in a 6th balanced meal or a protein shake or something if you are just ravenous at the end of the day. Honestly, I don't see a problem in that!

Gosh, I hope that this was helpful, and not boring. :blushing:

ChristinePechulis

Thanks very much! SO so, helpful. Helpful to know that I am not alone! And, I have figured out my TDEE and BMR in the past, but it could definitely use another look. I will do that today. :-)

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you sharing your story.

--Christine

Ssumner2001

Thank you so much for posting this. I have only recently heard about BMR and TDEE and I really had no idea what it was or how it affected me. Now I see and it sounds so simple. I too find that I don't get enough to eat during the day and I find myself "snacking" on everything from pretzels to chocolate to hard candy before the end of the workday. I am very anxious to give this a try and I will be passing this info on to my other friends who are floundering out there trying to lose weight but can't.

Again, thank you so much.