Feeling like I'm cheating when I'm not, actually

emilysusana
emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all! Just need a little reassurance here. I started my weight loss journey 3 months ago and have lost about 14 lbs. At first I cut out sweets as a general rule, ate wonderful, delicious meals in small portions and kept to around 1250 calories per day (like most newbies, I set my loss rate at 2 lbs/month). For the first 2.5 months, I didn't even record exercise (which I do 6 days a week) and just thought of that as an extra boost to the weight loss.

Well, as will happen, I've gotten hungrier and, since I knew what I was doing wasn't longterm sustainable anyway, I've started recording my exercise calories, and lowered my loss rate to a pound a week. I allow myself to eat back between half and all of the calories. Occasionally I'll even go over by a few but my weekly net is the equivalent of me eating back about half the exercise calories. I err on the side of recording exercise conservatively, but usually I eat 1500-1600 calories a day.

This feels like cheating! The scale hasn't gone up yet, but I'm worried this pattern of eating more will open the floodgates. Especially now that I've had room in my calorie intake for the occasional Snickers bar.

Replies

  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
    edited October 2016
    If you get the recommended 150 (to maintain a good fitness level) to 300 (to reach a good fitness level) minutes of exercise per week, and eat a healthy well balanced diet, you should be able to reach and maintain a good fitness level & healthy body weight pretty easily (without even having to measure your food every day).

    Nothing wrong with a treat here and there as long as your main diet is healthy and well balanced.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    emilysusana wrote: »
    Hi all! Just need a little reassurance here. I started my weight loss journey 3 months ago and have lost about 14 lbs. At first I cut out sweets as a general rule, ate wonderful, delicious meals in small portions and kept to around 1250 calories per day (like most newbies, I set my loss rate at 2 lbs/month). For the first 2.5 months, I didn't even record exercise (which I do 6 days a week) and just thought of that as an extra boost to the weight loss.

    Well, as will happen, I've gotten hungrier and, since I knew what I was doing wasn't longterm sustainable anyway, I've started recording my exercise calories, and lowered my loss rate to a pound a week. I allow myself to eat back between half and all of the calories. Occasionally I'll even go over by a few but my weekly net is the equivalent of me eating back about half the exercise calories. I err on the side of recording exercise conservatively, but usually I eat 1500-1600 calories a day.

    This feels like cheating! The scale hasn't gone up yet, but I'm worried this pattern of eating more will open the floodgates. Especially now that I've had room in my calorie intake for the occasional Snickers bar.

    Just concentrated on eating whole nutritious foods and don't be afraid to through in some naughty stuff occasionally. This game is as much psychological as it is physiological. For me, cutting foods I loved was not worth it and caused me to binge which prevented me from getting into a deficit.

    Also, in case you haven't, you might want to pick up a food scale. This will increase accuracy of your calorie count, so you don't come back in a month and wonder why you haven't seen weight loss after you increased your calories.
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    I have a food scale and weigh everything! I'm pretty confident in my accuracy of recording... just nervous about eating more calories to lose at a slower rate.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Trust the science.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    emilysusana wrote: »
    I have a food scale and weigh everything! I'm pretty confident in my accuracy of recording... just nervous about eating more calories to lose at a slower rate.

    Cool. How long have you been at 1600 calories? And when did you start to exercise?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited October 2016
    Trust the method. After a month or so, you should be able to determine if the exercise calories are being overestimated and perhaps eating too many back hense slower weight loss than the 1 pound per week you are now projecting as your rate of loss.

    You are doing it right. But do not cave in before the 4 weeks mark, more food in gut (waste not eliminated, sorry tmi), carb intake, sodium, hydration or lack there of and add in female hormonal issues (twice a month where the scale will creep up as well) may all show on your scale in one form or another.

    Have you considered perhaps a weight trending app to help you with day to day or weekly fluctuations? Its not for everyone, but you can use it as a tool along with your body weight scale.. just a thought.
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    edited October 2016
    psuLemon wrote:
    Cool. How long have you been at 1600 calories? And when did you start to exercise?

    I've been exercising consistently for all three months. I'm not new to that part. I've only been recording the exercise for a couple of weeks though. I have been in the 1500-1600 range for about a week now. I get to the end of the day at about 1300 and then start snacking because I can... maybe that's why it feels like cheating.

    I've had a bump in my weight the past few days, but it's likely due to my cycle.

    I'll try to trust the system!
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Try to work on your mental mind-set. What does cheating mean to you? Cheating on a test or cheating in a relationship are concepts easy to understand. Personally I don't know how you can cheat on/with food. Food is not good. Food is not bad. Food is fuel. A means to an end.

    Try to think of your caloric needs more like your financial budget. If you pay your bills and have money left over, you can save it or spend it. If you spend some on 'wants' is that cheating? Your calorie deficit is your 'savings'. Its ok if you 'save' less some days. Its even ok if you don't have a deficit each and every day, as its the long term goal that matters. Sometimes eating at maintenance for a day can be a nice break!
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
    emilysusana wrote: »
    Hi all! Just need a little reassurance here. I started my weight loss journey 3 months ago and have lost about 14 lbs. At first I cut out sweets as a general rule, ate wonderful, delicious meals in small portions and kept to around 1250 calories per day (like most newbies, I set my loss rate at 2 lbs/month). For the first 2.5 months, I didn't even record exercise (which I do 6 days a week) and just thought of that as an extra boost to the weight loss.

    Well, as will happen, I've gotten hungrier and, since I knew what I was doing wasn't longterm sustainable anyway, I've started recording my exercise calories, and lowered my loss rate to a pound a week. I allow myself to eat back between half and all of the calories. Occasionally I'll even go over by a few but my weekly net is the equivalent of me eating back about half the exercise calories. I err on the side of recording exercise conservatively, but usually I eat 1500-1600 calories a day.

    This feels like cheating! The scale hasn't gone up yet, but I'm worried this pattern of eating more will open the floodgates. Especially now that I've had room in my calorie intake for the occasional Snickers bar.

    My stats are pretty close to yours! I started losing three months ago, and I'm almost 15 pounds down. My usual intake is between 1450 and 1650 calories, maybe a little more depending on exercise. I've even had a few really high days here and there (2500-3400), but still losing a steady 1 lb./week.

    I agree, it's pretty easy to do, especially since I also do intermittent fasting, so I don't eat until 1 PM. This condenses my intake to a smaller amount of time, so I'm able to eat more in a sitting, and I feel fuller when I do eat.

    Keep up what you're doing, and you should see results!
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Nope, it sounds like you're doing exactly what you should be doing.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    I've been on maintenance for a while now (a bit over 5 months) and still exercise 6 days a week for an average of 60-90 minutes a day. Because of that I tend to eat about 2700 calories a day or more. Some days I eat to the point I am full and go to bed before I reach 2700 calories and manage to lose weight that week lol. It's all good. You just need to learn to adjust your diet based on your exercise level (sounds like you're doing that right now). You may be doing 6 days a week now, but you won't do that forever (most people don't, and I don't expect to either). I feel like a bloated cow some days because I've learned to eat foods that are lower in calories (fresher, non-pre-packaged foods) so I eat a LOT (in volume) it seems to reach my 2700 calories. But, I don't gain weight. I either maintain or lose slightly from time to time. There are some additional fitness goals I want to reach in the next year, once I have done that I will probably drop back to 5 days a week, then to 4 and slowly adjust my diet to match it. That might take another year, who knows. But it sounds like the OP is on the right track.

Categories