Yael452's Accountability Journal

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Replies

  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    I have decided per @minigrrll and @newmeadow's advice I am going to have to suck things up and be meticulous about my calorie tracking, and set myself the challenge (albeit slightly OCD) to weigh every single thing I put in my mouth. And @wsandy8512 while I don't think I'm at any risk of severely undereating, I am going to cap my calories at 1500, which I feel is enough to sustain me and keep me full provided I make wise food choices, but not too little. If I naturally fall under that, I am not going to push myself to eat. I also think being meticulous about weighing and tracking my food will probably reveal that I am eating plenty.
    MyFitnessPal offers me the tools, I'm just not using them as I should.

    I plan to stay on OMAD for the time-being, but will reevaluate as I go.
    Thanks everybody
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    ol7sq75rodkx.jpg
    Banana-oat-PB2 smoothie while I waited for my sweet potato fries/chips to be done.

    egx14f5h0ff9.jpg
    Chicken and shiitake mushrooms, peas and corn, and sweet potato chips.
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    Yael452 wrote: »
    ol7sq75rodkx.jpg
    Banana-oat-PB2 smoothie while I waited for my sweet potato fries/chips to be done.

    egx14f5h0ff9.jpg
    Chicken and shiitake mushrooms, peas and corn, and sweet potato chips.

    YUMMY!!! I'm just about done with a 48 hour fast (5 more hourssssss!!!) so that is looking EXTRA SCRUMPTIOUS!!!! :) Nice and balanced too! :)
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    edited July 2017
    @mistymeadows2005 how do you find the 48hr fasts? I've considered something similar, but I've been advised against it.
    Do you just drink water? Or just any zero calorie drinks?
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    edited July 2017
    Yael452 wrote: »
    @mistymeadows2005 how do you find the 48hr fasts? I've considered something similar, but I've been advised against it.
    Do you just drink water? Or just any zero calorie drinks?

    To start: BEVERAGES! I do lots of water, tea or coffee with splenda, mio/crystal light (no cal drinks), and flavored hot tea at night (my current favorite is raspberry!).

    As far as your other question: I have done every form of extended fasting that I've seen at least once - they don't bother me PERSONALLY. but I could see how it could lead to some people feeling overly deprived and thus overcompensating after the fact, but I don't find this an issue for me.

    MOST weeks I do one of the following:
    - 1 72 hour fast from Sunday night to Weds night with my weigh in being Weds morning
    OR
    -2 48 hour fasts on non-consecutive days with the second one of the week being the day before my weigh in.


    This essentially means I only plan for 5 meals a week. Sometimes (like this week) on the fasting day that's NOT right before weigh in I'll do what I call a mini fast (in the style of 5:2) and have a small amount of calories...maybe 300 in things like bone broth, pickles, raw veggies, sugar free popsicles...I find this basically makes me "feel" like I'm eating a big meal. My problem with these is that it's often very salt heavy things and this week it came back to bite me in the a@@. I'm STILL retaining water from the salt in Monday's mini-fast food *sigh*.

    My reasoning for the extended fasts are VERY simple...I'm not trying to lose faster or anything of the sort I just find that A: I like the feeling of being fasted MOST of the time (even though obviously since I love food the evenings are tough sometimes) and B: I. LOVE. FOOD. and I'm greedy about it so I want to be able to have more calories on my normal days, so I "bank" them with extended fasts.

    I've done straight OMAD and it works just as well, this is just my personal preference and gives me extra wiggle room :) Hope this helps!
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    I think for me, one thing that makes me feel satisfied is that my meals take quite a long time to eat. I eat a lot of low calorie vegetables which take a while to ingest.

    I know (and keep in mind this is just me) that the meal you show above would not satisfy me. Not in a feeling full kind of way (though it actually looks small to me, yikes!) but more of a how long it would take (me) to eat it.

    Rather than the more high calorie peas and carrots, I probably would have had cauliflower and broccoli which you can have more of for the same calories and take way longer to eat - which, for me, equals satisfaction.

    Of course, most people probably can't hold as many veggies in their stomachs as I can! My partner says my salads are enough to feed a large pony... :'(:#

    Last night he ate an entire pizza and I still wasn't finished eating my giant (but only 500/600 calorie) meal... If fact, I probably kept chowing down for another 15-20 minutes after he was done. And I'm a super fast eater!
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    wsandy8512 wrote: »
    I may not be able to relate to how you feel about OMAD, but I will tell you this... you may actually not be eating enough calories for your TDEE and that's why you're feeling such anguish. I believe I've read from @blambo61, that he had a longer eating window, up to four hours? Is that right, Bob? Eat the majority of calories in one sitting and then have healthy snacks the rest of the window if still feeling hungry.

    The reason I say you may not be eating enough is this... your BMR is how many calories you need if comatose. Your TDEE is BMR plus your activity level--you are very, very active! If you have your MFP calculator set to sedentary, or lightly active, running as much as you do--you are not fueling yourself properly. MFP already sets you up for a deficit, but if you have your activity setup under your actual activity, you are creating a bigger deficit because 1) you are set up for too few calories and (2) you aren't eating back your exercise calories or your diary would never read "under their caloric goal". That's actually not a good thing. I've realized it's not good for myself either which is why I am going to up my caloric intake and that means I will have to expand my window. At this time, what you're doing is waiting for your car to get to E, then filling up to 1/4 of a tank. Yeah, it'll go for awhile, but if you filled it to full, you could travel a lot longer and more consistently and get to where you're going without so many stops. Kwim?

    Whether you do OMAD or not, I strongly encourage you to set your activity right. You want to be happy and healthy, not miserable and feeling deprived--those combos set you up for failure before you even get a few months in.

    Set MFP at maintenance and just shoot for on the average being under that. That helped me a lot doing that! I would count for awhile but what I'm suggesting will allow you to eat up to maintenance. Being too aggressive can derail us but so will being too lax. Fill up on good food 1st and save junk (high calorie) for last.
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    Yael452 wrote: »
    @mistymeadows2005 how do you find the 48hr fasts? I've considered something similar, but I've been advised against it.
    Do you just drink water? Or just any zero calorie drinks?

    To start: BEVERAGES! I do lots of water, tea or coffee with splenda, mio/crystal light (no cal drinks), and flavored hot tea at night (my current favorite is raspberry!).

    As far as your other question: I have done every form of extended fasting that I've seen at least once - they don't bother me PERSONALLY. but I could see how it could lead to some people feeling overly deprived and thus overcompensating after the fact, but I don't find this an issue for me.

    MOST weeks I do one of the following:
    - 1 72 hour fast from Sunday night to Weds night with my weigh in being Weds morning
    OR
    -2 48 hour fasts on non-consecutive days with the second one of the week being the day before my weigh in.


    This essentially means I only plan for 5 meals a week. Sometimes (like this week) on the fasting day that's NOT right before weigh in I'll do what I call a mini fast (in the style of 5:2) and have a small amount of calories...maybe 300 in things like bone broth, pickles, raw veggies, sugar free popsicles...I find this basically makes me "feel" like I'm eating a big meal. My problem with these is that it's often very salt heavy things and this week it came back to bite me in the a@@. I'm STILL retaining water from the salt in Monday's mini-fast food *sigh*.

    My reasoning for the extended fasts are VERY simple...I'm not trying to lose faster or anything of the sort I just find that A: I like the feeling of being fasted MOST of the time (even though obviously since I love food the evenings are tough sometimes) and B: I. LOVE. FOOD. and I'm greedy about it so I want to be able to have more calories on my normal days, so I "bank" them with extended fasts.

    I've done straight OMAD and it works just as well, this is just my personal preference and gives me extra wiggle room :) Hope this helps!

    Thanks for all the info! It's really insightful.
    It makes sense that you fast before weigh-ins, and frankly speaking, it's something I've seriously considered because seeing a lower number on the scale is incredibly motivating.
    So on your non-fasting days I'm assuming you OMAD?
    Btw, salt retention/water retention is a big deal for me too. Not necessarily because I consume a lot of salt (in the form of packaged/fast foods), but generally if I go over 2000mg, it shows pretty drastically. Recently (as in, the last two days) I've been trying to aim well under that amount of sodium. It's too bad most of the yummiest foods are also incredibly salt/sugar-laden.
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    minigrrll wrote: »
    I think for me, one thing that makes me feel satisfied is that my meals take quite a long time to eat. I eat a lot of low calorie vegetables which take a while to ingest.

    I know (and keep in mind this is just me) that the meal you show above would not satisfy me. Not in a feeling full kind of way (though it actually looks small to me, yikes!) but more of a how long it would take (me) to eat it.

    Rather than the more high calorie peas and carrots, I probably would have had cauliflower and broccoli which you can have more of for the same calories and take way longer to eat - which, for me, equals satisfaction.

    Of course, most people probably can't hold as many veggies in their stomachs as I can! My partner says my salads are enough to feed a large pony... :'(:#

    Last night he ate an entire pizza and I still wasn't finished eating my giant (but only 500/600 calorie) meal... If fact, I probably kept chowing down for another 15-20 minutes after he was done. And I'm a super fast eater!


    I am one of those for whom large quantities of greens and vegetables creates a ****storm of bloating and gas. For example, I really enjoy caulirice, and used to eat it regularly, but it always came with a price.
    As a child I detested vegetables, and there are still traces of that. I usually stick to carrots, broccoli, and green beans for cooked vegetables. I'm well aware peas and corn are essentially a legume and a grain - not exactly vegetables, but they were the only "veg" in the house, and I cooked them to fill me up more than anything.
    Unfortunately, I do not like salads. I can enjoy a salad like, say, a cobb salad - with egg, chicken, avo, nuts etc. to make it palatable, but leaves, raw tomato, cucumber... do not do it for me. In the past I have tried following the "big salad for lunch" routine, which was ridiculous considering I knew deep down inside that I wouldn't be able to sustain it given that I generally do not like salad.
    Baby spinach is probably my favourite green leafy vegetable; but I feel like (if you are a picky salad-eater like me) you have to use a lot of food items in a salad to make it tempting to me, at which point I'd rather cook up some frozen vegetables seasoned with a little salt.
    I find soup a good option if I'm still hungry, to eat before the main plate or after if I'm not satisfied. But I haven't had the time this week to make a batch of home-made soup, and it's been another English heat-wave so not entirely soup weather!

    I know I could definitely go for lower-density vegetables; and the sweet potato chips are pretty calorie dense, but then again I'd rather eat what I want and completely enjoy it than opt for a lower calorie alternative that isn't actually something I'll really enjoy.

  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    edited July 2017
    Yael452 wrote: »
    Yael452 wrote: »
    @mistymeadows2005 how do you find the 48hr fasts? I've considered something similar, but I've been advised against it.
    Do you just drink water? Or just any zero calorie drinks?

    To start: BEVERAGES! I do lots of water, tea or coffee with splenda, mio/crystal light (no cal drinks), and flavored hot tea at night (my current favorite is raspberry!).

    As far as your other question: I have done every form of extended fasting that I've seen at least once - they don't bother me PERSONALLY. but I could see how it could lead to some people feeling overly deprived and thus overcompensating after the fact, but I don't find this an issue for me.

    MOST weeks I do one of the following:
    - 1 72 hour fast from Sunday night to Weds night with my weigh in being Weds morning
    OR
    -2 48 hour fasts on non-consecutive days with the second one of the week being the day before my weigh in.


    This essentially means I only plan for 5 meals a week. Sometimes (like this week) on the fasting day that's NOT right before weigh in I'll do what I call a mini fast (in the style of 5:2) and have a small amount of calories...maybe 300 in things like bone broth, pickles, raw veggies, sugar free popsicles...I find this basically makes me "feel" like I'm eating a big meal. My problem with these is that it's often very salt heavy things and this week it came back to bite me in the a@@. I'm STILL retaining water from the salt in Monday's mini-fast food *sigh*.

    My reasoning for the extended fasts are VERY simple...I'm not trying to lose faster or anything of the sort I just find that A: I like the feeling of being fasted MOST of the time (even though obviously since I love food the evenings are tough sometimes) and B: I. LOVE. FOOD. and I'm greedy about it so I want to be able to have more calories on my normal days, so I "bank" them with extended fasts.

    I've done straight OMAD and it works just as well, this is just my personal preference and gives me extra wiggle room :) Hope this helps!

    Thanks for all the info! It's really insightful.
    It makes sense that you fast before weigh-ins, and frankly speaking, it's something I've seriously considered because seeing a lower number on the scale is incredibly motivating.
    So on your non-fasting days I'm assuming you OMAD?
    Btw, salt retention/water retention is a big deal for me too. Not necessarily because I consume a lot of salt (in the form of packaged/fast foods), but generally if I go over 2000mg, it shows pretty drastically. Recently (as in, the last two days) I've been trying to aim well under that amount of sodium. It's too bad most of the yummiest foods are also incredibly salt/sugar-laden.

    Exactly - plus I need consistency...if I always weigh in after a fasting day i know my glycogen levels will be consistent across the board - no guess work LOL. I also realized (sorry if this is TMI) I recently went back on the birth control where you only have 4 periods a year...and right now is when I would "normally" be about to start, so I'm sure that's contributing - I figure it'll be all gone by tomorrow or Sunday and HOPEFULLY it'll help me show a big drop at Weds weigh in :) Here's hoping! :) And yes for the rest of the time I OMAD and I do dinner :) I could in theory do traditional OMAD 7 days a week but I REALLY like having BIG dinners on my eating days - it's worth the sacrifice for me, but I could totally see how it wouldn't work for others.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
    Exactly - plus I need consistency...if I always weigh in after a fasting day i know my glycogen levels will be consistent across the board - no guess work LOL.

    Wow Misty, I never thought about weighing after a fast day in those terms and it does make sense. I will be changing my official weigh day to Fridays now since my fast day is Thursday.

    Now I have to update my spreadsheet.

  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    Exactly - plus I need consistency...if I always weigh in after a fasting day i know my glycogen levels will be consistent across the board - no guess work LOL.

    Wow Misty, I never thought about weighing after a fast day in those terms and it does make sense. I will be changing my official weigh day to Fridays now since my fast day is Thursday.

    Now I have to update my spreadsheet.

    Glad I could help! I just like CONSISTENCY - there are enough variables in this journey without adding extra LOL
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    I did something I've *never* done before.
    Tonight was my last night with the house to myself, so I ordered a pizza! A gluten-free ham and mushroom pizza from Dominos.
    I researched the calories beforehand, 660 for the whole small pizza - and it was totally worth it! Once my pizza arrived I opened the ice cold Coke Zero that came with my order, and put on one of my favourite tv shows, "The Goldbergs".
    This turned out to be an immensely satisfying decision - no regrets!! Tomorrow is my birthday, so you could call this my incredibly introverted birthday celebration! :wink:

    8kw36y29vj96.jpg

  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    Replaced the scale's flat batteries yesterday, so I could weigh in today.

    Start weight:162.9
    Sunday 28/05/17: 161.3 (-1.6)
    Sunday 4/06/17: 160.7 (-0.6)
    Changed weigh-in day to Thursday
    Thursday 8/06/17: 158.9 (-1.8)
    Thursday 15/06/17: 162.2 (+3.3)
    Thursday 22/06/17: 157.6 (-4.6)
    Thursday 29/06/27: 160.9 (+3.3)
    Friday 7/7/2017: 160.2 (-0.7)
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    Yael452 wrote: »
    I did something I've *never* done before.
    Tonight was my last night with the house to myself, so I ordered a pizza! A gluten-free ham and mushroom pizza from Dominos.
    I researched the calories beforehand, 660 for the whole small pizza - and it was totally worth it! Once my pizza arrived I opened the ice cold Coke Zero that came with my order, and put on one of my favourite tv shows, "The Goldbergs".
    This turned out to be an immensely satisfying decision - no regrets!! Tomorrow is my birthday, so you could call this my incredibly introverted birthday celebration! :wink:

    8kw36y29vj96.jpg

    I hope you had something else WITH that pizza!!! 660 calories on an "eating" day for me would mean I'm DYING OF HUNGER lol - is this a normal calorie amount for you for the day?
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    edited July 2017
    Yael452 wrote: »
    I did something I've *never* done before.
    Tonight was my last night with the house to myself, so I ordered a pizza! A gluten-free ham and mushroom pizza from Dominos.
    I researched the calories beforehand, 660 for the whole small pizza - and it was totally worth it! Once my pizza arrived I opened the ice cold Coke Zero that came with my order, and put on one of my favourite tv shows, "The Goldbergs".
    This turned out to be an immensely satisfying decision - no regrets!! Tomorrow is my birthday, so you could call this my incredibly introverted birthday celebration! :wink:

    8kw36y29vj96.jpg

    I hope you had something else WITH that pizza!!! 660 calories on an "eating" day for me would mean I'm DYING OF HUNGER lol - is this a normal calorie amount for you for the day?

    Oh no! I usually do a minimum of 1,200. I had an ice-cream cone (from a box) and some peanut butter & dark chocolate to bulk out my calories. Plus I had some of the garlic and herb dip with the pizza, which is about 87 calories for a small pot.
    Yesterday I ate about 1,800 calories - my calories are usually between 1,200 and 1,800.
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    Yael452 wrote: »
    Yael452 wrote: »
    I did something I've *never* done before.
    Tonight was my last night with the house to myself, so I ordered a pizza! A gluten-free ham and mushroom pizza from Dominos.
    I researched the calories beforehand, 660 for the whole small pizza - and it was totally worth it! Once my pizza arrived I opened the ice cold Coke Zero that came with my order, and put on one of my favourite tv shows, "The Goldbergs".
    This turned out to be an immensely satisfying decision - no regrets!! Tomorrow is my birthday, so you could call this my incredibly introverted birthday celebration! :wink:

    8kw36y29vj96.jpg

    I hope you had something else WITH that pizza!!! 660 calories on an "eating" day for me would mean I'm DYING OF HUNGER lol - is this a normal calorie amount for you for the day?

    Oh no! I usually do a minimum of 1,200. I had an ice-cream cone (from a box) and some peanut butter & dark chocolate to bulk out my calories. Plus I had some of the garlic and herb dip with the pizza, which is about 87 calories for a small pot.
    Yesterday I ate about 1,800 calories - my calories are usually between 1,200 and 1,800.

    Now THAT sounds like a GLORIOUS OMAD!!!!! Pizza, dark chocolate, peanut butter, DIP, and ice cream. THIS is why I love OMAD <3<3<3
  • wsandy8512
    wsandy8512 Posts: 1,897 Member
    Congratulations on the loss and that pizza looks delicious! The PB and dark chocolate... yum!
  • Brendalea69
    Brendalea69 Posts: 3,863 Member
    For me I used to do a water fast the day before my weigh in, I tried doing 2 water fasts days in a row and that was way too much for me...Now that I'm in maintenance I've only had one water fast day and I don't miss them at all :)
  • Yael452
    Yael452 Posts: 82 Member
    wsandy8512 wrote: »
    Congratulations on the loss and that pizza looks delicious! The PB and dark chocolate... yum!

    It's good to see the scale going back down a bit. It's pretty clear that I gain (likely water) and lose quite drastically, and as nice as that is when the scale suddenly drops, it does mean the bounce back up can be somewhat demoralising!

    This is the second day of being meticulous with my weighing and tracking calories, and my hope is that it is going to really make all the difference in consistent losses.