Sustainable Weight Loss with Busy Schedule
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Jackibrazil wrote: »I'm feeling like you didn't really read my post. I didn't say I'm not counting calories and working out. My point was that I'm not going to extremes or doing elimination diets anymore to do it. I didn't make an excuse for myself NOT being healthy, I stated I was trying to do sustainable things. I even talked about my diet during weekdays. It's a pretty healthy diet AND I'm keeping my calories low.
I think the general confusion is coming from:
a.) You posting in the General Diet and Weight Loss Help and not actually wanting help
b.) You repeatedly telling us how busy you are (and us trying to explain how being busy doesn't effect your portion sizes)
Either way - glad to see you have a system working for you. I'm not really sure what types of "tips, routines, challenges" you're looking for - maybe you could elaborate?
Help can be communal. I made the post stating that I was hoping the thread could be where people share tips and personal experiences... I'm not sure the problem here. We can help each other? It wasn't meant to be just me focused. Just wanted community and somewhere to bounce ideas around with people.4 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »This thread wasn't made to shame me or anyone else and point out excuses. It was made to exchange and share tips for making eating healthy and losing weight a little easier on people who don't have much expendable time. My time constraints aren't an excuse, they're reality. I go to work 40-50 hours a week and get home every day to a pile of homework that I work on til I fall asleep, get about 6 -7 hours of sleep and then start the process over again. Saturdays I volunteer because a certain amount of hours are REQUIRED for my degree and the one liesure day I have I am not going to spend for hours in the kitchen. It isn't healthy at that point. People need rest.
This is kind of confusing because you're also presenting a day walking around Disneyworld for eight hours as a regular or semi-regular thing for you, regular enough that it justifies consuming extra calories on the weekend.
You don't have to justify how you spend your time to anyone. If you want to spend a day off doing stuff like that, it's fine. It doesn't mean that you have challenges to weight loss that other people don't have, though. We're all dealing with a relatively limited amount of time and choosing what we want to do with it. Some of us are choosing meal prep/cooking/planning, others aren't. Weight loss is possible for all of us though -- it just requires a deficit.
I'm an annual passholder. I go every week. Sometimes twice.
I think that's awesome, I'm not challenging it. I spend hours a week on my hobbies. I'm just pointing out that *is* part of your free time, you do have a good amount of expendable time compared to other people. You've just decided to dedicate a good chunk of it to Disneyworld and you're having to adjust the rest of your goals accordingly.
That time, if reallocated, could easily fit the things you say you don't have time to do. I'm not saying you have to reallocate the time to that.
So my tips: If you want to go over on the weekend, make sure you build that into your weekdays so you're going into the weekend with "extra" calories. Don't overestimate the calories you're burning walking on the weekend -- it may not be as many as you think (not sure how you are estimating). Try to figure out some *simple* meal prep options (for me it would be pre-cooking beans in a slow cooker, roasting some sweet potatoes, making overnight oats, etc). Figure out if there are frozen/pre-cooked items that fit into your goals and use those on days when you are really busy (for me that's veggie frozen burritos, cans of refried beans, precut fruit).7 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »Hi!
I am a full time student who also works full time. I have a busy and active social life and am often found volunteering in many areas. I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging. My current BMI hovers around 29-31 (fluctuates based on my activity levels week to week). I'm trying to lose enough weight to be in the healthy range but still a little thicker. I'm 5'3" and go from about 160-170 usually. I wear a US size 8-10.
I just want to do something sustainable and easy that can be incorporated into my daily busyness. I used to be a whole foods only, food prep twice a week type but that took away from me actually enjoying my life. I was food obsessed! I'm trying to just do healthy easy meals during the week. Eggs or oatmeal or yogurt and fruit for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, and chicken and veggies and sweet potatoes or something similar to those meals during the week and maybe splurge for a meal or two on the weekends (while I'm spending whole days walking around Disneyland or going for beach bike rides to offset).
I want to hear others stories about their life-friendly diet routines and how you keep your calories low and your food healthy amidst the busyness and social dinners, etc.
Please share tips, routines, challenges, etc!
I just log my food and hit my calorie goal. If you aren't losing weight, you're eating too much. Not meant to be harsh, just the truth. Are you logging accurately and consistently? Using correct entries in the database? Do you have a kitchen scale? Maybe your splurge meals are a lot more splurge-ier than you think?
For me, scheduling time to walk or do a workout, and getting a food scale and committing to consistent logging were the difference makers. I eat probably 50% whole food/50% convenience food. I don't eat any special food, just try to keep my protein up because it makes me feel full. I think most people vastly underestimate how much they eat and drink. It took weeks of logging consistently to get a handle on where I was wasting calories, where my estimated servings were horribly off, what foods worked for me and which didn't.
<snip>
ETA: My post now seems completely off base, since now that there are more posts, it seems like you weren't actually asking for help? I'm confused I guess <shrug>. Maybe it will help someone else 6 -
liftingbro wrote: »I have met very few people who successfully lost weight over the long term without meal planning or some sort. Not every meal of the day but probably at least one. I typically only plan and prep lunches & snacks.
I've lost a total of 53 pounds in my life with no meal planning or calorie counting. It is not mandatory unless someone is struggling to find out why they aren't losing weight.3 -
liftingbro wrote: »I have met very few people who successfully lost weight over the long term without meal planning or some sort. Not every meal of the day but probably at least one. I typically only plan and prep lunches & snacks.
I've lost a total of 53 pounds in my life with no meal planning or calorie counting. It is not mandatory unless someone is struggling to find out why they aren't losing weight.
I'm jealous! Without calorie counting, I'd be eating like a sumo wrestler. Mindful eating has never been my strong suit.5 -
Honestly, don't believe the hype about needed to be super meticulous with your diet in order to look fantastic. First of all, decide what your goals are. If you're not aiming to showcase yourself on stage there's no need to be super anal about every meal. You can make life a lot easier for yourself.
1. Establish your cals needed to cut 1-2 lbs/week
2. Establish what type of foods satisfy you most
3. Establish whether you're a big meal eater or a small meal eater
4. Establish how many meals you would like to eat in a day along with their macro profile according to your desire. Eg. Breakfast: moderate protein & carbs, Lunch: mostly carbs & fat, Dinner High carbs & protein (the meal order can be rearranged but each meal profile according to your choice is constant)
If you wish to have some muscle tone then you'd want to keep an eye on your protein intake and be sure to get *at least* 80g - 100g/day.
When building a meal be sure to focus on Volume per cals & Protein. Everything else (Carbs & fats) will fall into place if you eat in s calorie deficit. Don't afraid of carbs or fat.
PS: Don't force feed yourself past comfortable fullness, your body knows what it's doing.
It's that simple.1 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »Hi!
I am a full time student who also works full time. I have a busy and active social life and am often found volunteering in many areas. I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging. My current BMI hovers around 29-31 (fluctuates based on my activity levels week to week). I'm trying to lose enough weight to be in the healthy range but still a little thicker. I'm 5'3" and go from about 160-170 usually. I wear a US size 8-10.
I just want to do something sustainable and easy that can be incorporated into my daily busyness. I used to be a whole foods only, food prep twice a week type but that took away from me actually enjoying my life. I was food obsessed! I'm trying to just do healthy easy meals during the week. Eggs or oatmeal or yogurt and fruit for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, and chicken and veggies and sweet potatoes or something similar to those meals during the week and maybe splurge for a meal or two on the weekends (while I'm spending whole days walking around Disneyland or going for beach bike rides to offset).
I want to hear others stories about their life-friendly diet routines and how you keep your calories low and your food healthy amidst the busyness and social dinners, etc.
Please share tips, routines, challenges, etc!
I just log my food and hit my calorie goal. If you aren't losing weight, you're eating too much. Not meant to be harsh, just the truth. Are you logging accurately and consistently? Using correct entries in the database? Do you have a kitchen scale? Maybe your splurge meals are a lot more splurge-ier than you think?
For me, scheduling time to walk or do a workout, and getting a food scale and committing to consistent logging were the difference makers. I eat probably 50% whole food/50% convenience food. I don't eat any special food, just try to keep my protein up because it makes me feel full. I think most people vastly underestimate how much they eat and drink. It took weeks of logging consistently to get a handle on where I was wasting calories, where my estimated servings were horribly off, what foods worked for me and which didn't.
<snip>
ETA: My post now seems completely off base, since now that there are more posts, it seems like you weren't actually asking for help? I'm confused I guess <shrug>. Maybe it will help someone else
I think the posts came off very "you're doing it wrong" or what someone actually said that I'm making excuses. I didn't think specifying that I am eating healthy and being active would still mean my time strecthed schedule was an excuse. I wanted to hear others stories and challenges which I included in my initial post, not get a bunch of people telling me that I was an excuse maker. I said that I've been eating healthy and losing weight and wanted to hear from others with busy schedules regarding what they do to manage their weightloss/healthy eating without diminishing their quality of life.
I used to be very very fitness obsessed and thought about food and weightloss all the time. I was fit but tired and unhappy.1 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »I'm feeling like you didn't really read my post. I didn't say I'm not counting calories and working out. My point was that I'm not going to extremes or doing elimination diets anymore to do it. I didn't make an excuse for myself NOT being healthy, I stated I was trying to do sustainable things. I even talked about my diet during weekdays. It's a pretty healthy diet AND I'm keeping my calories low.
I think the general confusion is coming from:
a.) You posting in the General Diet and Weight Loss Help and not actually wanting help
b.) You repeatedly telling us how busy you are (and us trying to explain how being busy doesn't effect your portion sizes)
Either way - glad to see you have a system working for you. I'm not really sure what types of "tips, routines, challenges" you're looking for - maybe you could elaborate?
To be fair, the forum sections are lacking. There is no "Weight Loss Discussion" or "Goal: Weight Loss" section like there are for maintaining/gaining. Really threw me off when I joined.liftingbro wrote: »I have met very few people who successfully lost weight over the long term without meal planning or some sort. Not every meal of the day but probably at least one. I typically only plan and prep lunches & snacks.
I've lost a total of 53 pounds in my life with no meal planning or calorie counting. It is not mandatory unless someone is struggling to find out why they aren't losing weight.
I'm jealous! Without calorie counting, I'd be eating like a sumo wrestler. Mindful eating has never been my strong suit.
Me too, I would eat entire packages of (24?) Oreos in one sitting. The key for me was just getting it out of my life and home completely and not buying snack foods anymore.1 -
Jackibrazil wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »Hi!
I am a full time student who also works full time. I have a busy and active social life and am often found volunteering in many areas. I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging. My current BMI hovers around 29-31 (fluctuates based on my activity levels week to week). I'm trying to lose enough weight to be in the healthy range but still a little thicker. I'm 5'3" and go from about 160-170 usually. I wear a US size 8-10.
I just want to do something sustainable and easy that can be incorporated into my daily busyness. I used to be a whole foods only, food prep twice a week type but that took away from me actually enjoying my life. I was food obsessed! I'm trying to just do healthy easy meals during the week. Eggs or oatmeal or yogurt and fruit for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, and chicken and veggies and sweet potatoes or something similar to those meals during the week and maybe splurge for a meal or two on the weekends (while I'm spending whole days walking around Disneyland or going for beach bike rides to offset).
I want to hear others stories about their life-friendly diet routines and how you keep your calories low and your food healthy amidst the busyness and social dinners, etc.
Please share tips, routines, challenges, etc!
I just log my food and hit my calorie goal. If you aren't losing weight, you're eating too much. Not meant to be harsh, just the truth. Are you logging accurately and consistently? Using correct entries in the database? Do you have a kitchen scale? Maybe your splurge meals are a lot more splurge-ier than you think?
For me, scheduling time to walk or do a workout, and getting a food scale and committing to consistent logging were the difference makers. I eat probably 50% whole food/50% convenience food. I don't eat any special food, just try to keep my protein up because it makes me feel full. I think most people vastly underestimate how much they eat and drink. It took weeks of logging consistently to get a handle on where I was wasting calories, where my estimated servings were horribly off, what foods worked for me and which didn't.
<snip>
ETA: My post now seems completely off base, since now that there are more posts, it seems like you weren't actually asking for help? I'm confused I guess <shrug>. Maybe it will help someone else
I think the posts came off very "you're doing it wrong" or what someone actually said that I'm making excuses. I didn't think specifying that I am eating healthy and being active would still mean my time strecthed schedule was an excuse. I wanted to hear others stories and challenges which I included in my initial post, not get a bunch of people telling me that I was an excuse maker. I said that I've been eating healthy and losing weight and wanted to hear from others with busy schedules regarding what they do to manage their weightloss/healthy eating without diminishing their quality of life.
I used to be very very fitness obsessed and thought about food and weightloss all the time. I was fit but tired and unhappy.
When I read this: "I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging. My current BMI hovers around 29-31 (fluctuates based on my activity levels week to week). I'm trying to lose enough weight to be in the healthy range . . . " I honestly thought you were asking for help. It came across to me like you were having challenges so that's why I responded in that spirit.6 -
I meal prep on Sundays. It takes me about an hour to make all of my breakfasts for the week and every 2-3 weeks I make a big batch of something in the Crockpot for lunches. I have a few different recipes I rotate through and I portion it all out and freeze it, so I can take one to work each day.1
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I think you may need to elevate the priority level you have on eating right. I'm not being critical because it's your choice how to live your life, but it seems like people are taking issue with you having an active social life, visit a leisure spot at least once a week, but are unwilling to spend 4 hours meal prepping. Just to use myself as an example, you get about 2 hours more sleep per day than I do, I'm 29 and have never been to Disney (I can afford it btw), I spend a minimum of 90 minutes a day in the gym, I work a minimum of 10 hours per day M-F, am the volunteer CEO at a private school campus and have had less than 10 vacation days including holidays in the last 12 months. You're coming across a little like you "want your cake and to eat it too". Again, your choice; I'm only trying to explain how it looks. "I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging." As with anything, you need to decide what's most important to you.
Moving on to practical advice.
- Up your incidental cardio. Take the stairs, park at the far end of the parking lot, etc.
- Keep healthy snacks nearby. (I keep a tub of protein, protein bars, beef jerky, almonds and rice cakes in my truck.)
- It sounds to me like you eat great through the week and your eating out is derailing you. You could have a 500 calorie per day deficit M-F (2500 calories total) and easily eat 1,250 calories surplus on Saturday and Sunday, completely erasing any progress you made M-F. When eating out, reduce alcohol intake, choose lean meats, baked food instead of fried and eliminate sauces and other calorie dense foods.
I tried to keep this neutral...hope it comes across that way.9 -
I am a big fan of the easy-does-it approach. What's worked for me so far has been:
(1) logging everything I was eating for a while without changing my eating habits.
(2) figuring out approximately what my maintenance calories were based on logging and weighing myself regularly.
(3) picking off the "low-hanging fruit" one by one until I hit a calorie deficit. For me, that largely meant simplifying my diet - there are a handful of go to, no-cook dinners that I keep on hand in case my husband doesn't feel like cooking (I do not enjoy cooking myself). I rely a lot on pre-prepared deli food. It might be more expensive to buy pre-shelled hard-boiled eggs and pre-cubed cheese, but it's still cheaper than eating out, and removes almost all of the actual work from keeping my calories down. I keep a drawer full of that kind of thing, plus nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit and veggies that can be eaten raw (cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, apples, etc), and preserved meats. I've also almost entirely cut liquid calories (except alcohol) as I just don't like juice/soda/lattes as much as I like eating more solid food. YMMV.
(4) remembering that any loss is a success, and maintaining isn't failure.
(5) eating less during the week so I can eat more on the weekends.
Good luck!3 -
liftingbro wrote: »I have met very few people who successfully lost weight over the long term without meal planning or some sort. Not every meal of the day but probably at least one. I typically only plan and prep lunches & snacks.
I've lost a total of 53 pounds in my life with no meal planning or calorie counting. It is not mandatory unless someone is struggling to find out why they aren't losing weight.
Like the OP.
I'm not saying it's not possible just not a common occurrence.0 -
To be fair, the forum sections are lacking. There is no "Weight Loss Discussion" or "Goal: Weight Loss" section like there are for maintaining/gaining. Really threw me off when I joined.
Very true. I'd say most of the regular forum posters are just always in "HELP MODE" because 99% of the posts here are asking for help. So when a thread like this comes along, we all go on autopilot and search our brain-libraries for helpful tips based on what the OP mentions.
So - nothing personal, OP.
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Jackibrazil wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Jackibrazil wrote: »This thread wasn't made to shame me or anyone else and point out excuses. It was made to exchange and share tips for making eating healthy and losing weight a little easier on people who don't have much expendable time. My time constraints aren't an excuse, they're reality. I go to work 40-50 hours a week and get home every day to a pile of homework that I work on til I fall asleep, get about 6 -7 hours of sleep and then start the process over again. Saturdays I volunteer because a certain amount of hours are REQUIRED for my degree and the one liesure day I have I am not going to spend for hours in the kitchen. It isn't healthy at that point. People need rest.
This is kind of confusing because you're also presenting a day walking around Disneyworld for eight hours as a regular or semi-regular thing for you, regular enough that it justifies consuming extra calories on the weekend.
You don't have to justify how you spend your time to anyone. If you want to spend a day off doing stuff like that, it's fine. It doesn't mean that you have challenges to weight loss that other people don't have, though. We're all dealing with a relatively limited amount of time and choosing what we want to do with it. Some of us are choosing meal prep/cooking/planning, others aren't. Weight loss is possible for all of us though -- it just requires a deficit.
I'm an annual passholder. I go every week. Sometimes twice.
Steps at a leisurely pace, really the only pace possible at Disney because it's so crowded, can help give you a little extra wiggle room but not necessarily a lot. To help with your planning, you can look at the info here. Be sure to take your MFP activity setting into account when looking at eating step calories so you don't double count them.
I usually whip up some quinoa on the weekend and portion it out right away. I do lots of frozen protein and veggies, so my daily meal prep is tossing stuff in a pyrex and hitting "tare" on my food scale a few times and blending a protein shake. Only takes me a couple of minutes. I buy most of my snacks through amazon and keep a pile at the office. I definitely don't spend hours in the kitchen.
It's up to you and whatever priorities you set. Everyone is busy and everyone has their responsibilities and other "stuff" that occupies their time. So if weight-loss is tough, it's likely because other things are currently more important. And that's OK--it's your life. You do you.
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Jackibrazil wrote: »I want to hear others stories about their life-friendly diet routines and how you keep your calories low and your food healthy amidst the busyness and social dinners, etc.
Please share tips, routines, challenges, etc!
I often have low prep foods for breakfast, lunch and snacks. I don't have diet restrictions or follow a special diet.
I prelog my food for the whole day every morning or the night before. I plan dinners.
Breakfast- things like Greek yogurt, granola bars, cereal with milk, sandwich, dinner leftovers, fruit, cottage cheese
Lunch- things like sandwich, salad, or dinner leftovers
Snacks- things like fruit, chips, popcorn, pretzels, chocolate, cookies, granola bar, carrots, celery, broccoli, trail mix, deviled eggs, pickles, cottage cheese
I eat a small breakfast and save more of my calories for later in the day.
When you cook, cook extra. It doesn't really take more time to double a recipe once or twice a week and you have food for several meals. A big pot of soup can be good for this.
Have a limited rotating meal plan.
Get a slow cooker.
Some foods are quick cooking. Eggs and pasta for example.
Some foods you can put in the oven and go do something else. It takes a couple of minutes to prepare a chicken breast and potato to bake in the oven.
Reduce portion sizes of higher calorie foods. Bulk out your meals with lower calorie vegetables.
Use frozen or canned vegetables and fruits.
Healthy food is food that meets your nutritional needs not a particular list of food. Don't feel like you have to radically change your whole diet.
Check nutritional information for restaurants you frequent and find items that fit your calories in advance. You don't have to get a triple bacon cheeseburger and large fry and extra huge pop. A regular burger with a side salad and vinaigrette dressing and unsweetened tea is pretty reasonable calories.
Everyone has challenges. Don't use busy as an excuse not to take care of yourself.
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joemac1988 wrote: »I think you may need to elevate the priority level you have on eating right. I'm not being critical because it's your choice how to live your life, but it seems like people are taking issue with you having an active social life, visit a leisure spot at least once a week, but are unwilling to spend 4 hours meal prepping. Just to use myself as an example, you get about 2 hours more sleep per day than I do, I'm 29 and have never been to Disney (I can afford it btw), I spend a minimum of 90 minutes a day in the gym, I work a minimum of 10 hours per day M-F, am the volunteer CEO at a private school campus and have had less than 10 vacation days including holidays in the last 12 months. You're coming across a little like you "want your cake and to eat it too". Again, your choice; I'm only trying to explain how it looks. "I like to live my life passionately and in the present but sometimes that makes weight loss and personal health a little challenging." As with anything, you need to decide what's most important to you.
Moving on to practical advice.
- Up your incidental cardio. Take the stairs, park at the far end of the parking lot, etc.
- Keep healthy snacks nearby. (I keep a tub of protein, protein bars, beef jerky, almonds and rice cakes in my truck.)
- It sounds to me like you eat great through the week and your eating out is derailing you. You could have a 500 calorie per day deficit M-F (2500 calories total) and easily eat 1,250 calories surplus on Saturday and Sunday, completely erasing any progress you made M-F. When eating out, reduce alcohol intake, choose lean meats, baked food instead of fried and eliminate sauces and other calorie dense foods.
I tried to keep this neutral...hope it comes across that way.
I get that. But my leisure activity requires hours and hours of walking. In my mind that actually enhances my weight loss experience AND my boyfriend and I have a fun date day. I'm not wanting my cake and eating it too. I have iterated multiple times that even when I splurge I keep my calorie level at maintenance or under. That's why I get frustrated with the numerous posts talking about how I am making excuses in my schedule. I'm actively losing weight and working out during the week. I maybe didn't mention that I do the gym before work M-F which is why my sleep is generally 6-7 hours and not 8. And I don't know why you had to highlight the difference in hours of sleep we get. It's generally accepted by the scientific community that men actually require less anyway.
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Furthermore, yes sometimes life makes weightloss and healthy eating hard. That doesn't mean I'm not still doing it! Just stated it's hard. Hard doesn't mean I quit...0
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I wish there were a GOAL: Weight Loss and/or Healthful eating. I by default posted here due to lack of such a category.3
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