I know this is probably not the best plan. . .

actusreus73
actusreus73 Posts: 3 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
42 year old male, 6'4, currently 195 lbs.
So, I used to weight 235, about five years ago. I was forced onto the very effective divorce diet four and a half years ago, and dropped to 183 in about 2 months.

For the next three years, I stayed around 190, mostly by exercising about 30-60 minutes a day, and eating a very reduced diet, except on weekends, when I began to gorge, a little at first, and then more and more. (I'm talking 5-6k calories on a Sunday).

Well, the depression has run its course, and I'm back to my old appetite. Here's my question:

At the beginning of this year, realizing that if I ate like I used to, I'd get bigger than I want to be again, I made a resolution (which I've stuck to so far), that every month, at least once, I would look down at the scale and see 190lbs or less. The idea is being able to keep my ideal weight within striking distance in any given month. What's happened is that I basically eat like crap for between 24-27 days per month, and then starve myself for 2-6 days, hit my goal, and then start the process again.

During this process, I dropped recumbent biking (which I was doing for an hour, twice a week), and picked up three weight lifting days. I've notice muscle growth, but it's honestly seemed to make my starve period harder, and last a little longer, probably because muscle weighs more than fat.

So, I know everyone's going to say, eat reasonably everyday, and you'll maintain a good, healthy weight. I know that's true, but I honestly don't think that's in me. I love love eating, and just have a really hard time eating well throughout the month. Am I hurting my body with this plan? I've read a bunch suggesting fasting actually has a lot of benefits.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Zig-zag your calories for the weekend. There are plenty of people who have "cheat days." I put that in quotes because they are not cheating at all. They bank calories for the weekend.

    Check out intermittent fasting...that's not - not eating for 2-6 days. This is scheduled way of eating (a couple of forms)....or a scheduled way of dieting.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/49-intermittent-fasting

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    edited July 2015
    Deleted... think I misunderstood the post.
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    I secons intermittent fasting. You have to eat something daily to keep your body going. There are so many varieties of intermittent fasting to meet your eating style.
  • handyandy9x
    handyandy9x Posts: 93 Member
    Another vote for IF... couples of days of 600 calories a day then eat near normal for the remainder... pretty much what you are doing but you do it spread over a month rather than a week at a time
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    @actusreus73 - what's behind the gorging? I'm a foodie and I love to cook and eat, but I am eating less by eating more mindfully, slowing down, chewing more, being less distracted while I'm eating. I don't want to ruin a good meal by overeating and feeling physically awful afterwards.

    I've also overeaten for emotional reasons, and yoga helps with that.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    actusreus73 wrote: »
    I made a resolution (which I've stuck to so far), that every month, at least once, I would look down at the scale and see 190lbs or less.
    Thoughts?

    My thought is: change your resolution to look down at the scale every WEEK and see 190lbs or less. That will force you to balance out your calories in a healthier fashion.
  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
    What ever works for you man...from my meager weight loss experience, this is all just a big trial and error experiment...keep trying what you're trying, if you start to notice ill effects, try tweaking it??
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    Go on a weekly basis, not monthly. You're still going to need to cut calories, but there's no rule saying you have to do it all at once! What helped me was to log a couple of weeks without changes, just to get a baseline. Then I changed one thing at a time and gave myself time to get used to it. Doing so was slower, but it helped me break some bad habits and establish better ones. I still love food and I still work in treats, but just cutting the amount of food I was eating helped a lot!

    I personally couldn't do IF, but if done correctly, it does help some people. Do some research into it, maybe check out the groups on MFP (I'm sure there are some groups for IF here) and make sure you're doing it in a healthy way if that's the route you want to go. You don't have to, but the thing is, no one method works for everyone. You may have to try different things before you find a plan that works best for you.
  • SunnyPacheco
    SunnyPacheco Posts: 142 Member
    Would you be open to getting a food scale to weigh what you're eating now and log your calories? Even if all you're eating is pizza, cake, ice cream and burgers all day you can log it all and eat to maintenance instead of feeling the need to fast for a few days to get the scales down. At your height/weight/age your BMR is already 1950 cals so what with your regular daily activities and weight lifting you have a lot of room to play with. Also, with your new lifting program I would check your body comp every now and then to see if your body fat % has gone down over time. You might wind up being less concerned with the scale number when your newb gains keep going up.
  • actusreus73
    actusreus73 Posts: 3 Member
    thanks everyone for the great response. they were very helpful!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Definitely look into intermittent fasting.
  • actusreus73
    actusreus73 Posts: 3 Member
    Ridiculous postscript:

    Last night, on night 3 of fasting to get to 190, I was at 192. Woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, stood up, fainted, and cracked my head open on my night stand. Not horrible, but a big bloody mess. Um. . .I think I'll try intermittent fasting :)
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    actusreus73 wrote: »
    Ridiculous postscript:

    Last night, on night 3 of fasting to get to 190, I was at 192. Woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, stood up, fainted, and cracked my head open on my night stand. Not horrible, but a big bloody mess. Um. . .I think I'll try intermittent fasting :)

    Sorry to hear that. I hope you are ok :)
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