How does my new exercise/calorie intake plan sound?

rrjs · August 2011

I want to run my new plan by you all to get feedback.

Keep in mind, I've tried EVERYTHING and my problem is doing too much too fast and getting burnt out and giving up. I have a history of binge eating disorder and struggle with that. After nearly a year and a half of trying to lose the same five to ten pounds over and over again, I decided I need to change my approach. When I feel overly deprived, I give up and binge and end up gaining more weight (which is the phase I'm in right now - creeping up on my highest weight and needing to CHANGE but don't want to go back to my old ways of over-restricting, binging and purging).

My new plan is to tweak my daily calories so that I'll be giving myself enough wiggle room to never feel deprived but still allow for a modest deficit for slow but steady weight loss.

I'm 5' 1'', 130-135 lbs, and I programmed a .5 lb per week loss into MFP. Realistically I think I'll only work out 3 times a week for half an hour, and MFP says I should aim for burning 430 cals a week doing that. I'm unsure about my activity level - I waitress and spend about 30 hours a week on my feet, but never really do much more than standing in place now that it's our slow season. Would I still be considered lightly active?

All in all I'm supposed to consume 1510 calories a day, burn 430 a week from exercise, and I'll lose 2.5 lbs in about a month. I realize this is slow - almost TOO slow considering I'm quite impatient - but trying to lose too much too soon is what gets me into a binge/restrict cycle and does me no good.

To lose 10 lbs will take me about 5 months with this plan, but I guess my attitude should be "What's the rush? It's only ten pounds and I'm not going anywhere in the next 5, 10, 20, 50 months so why not make modest changes and see slow but steady results instead of trying to starve myself thin in two weeks?"

How does my plan check out in your eyes, other than setting myself up for snail's pace progress?

wickedcricket · August 2011

any progress is better than none I say

terrie98 · August 2011

Very reasonable and similar to mine. I think its better to go at a slow pace and know that you are going to keep it off, then use unhealthy methods of losing weight only to gain it right back (even more unhealthy)

GOOD LUCK!!!

CandiJo1 · August 2011

any progress is better than none I say

Couldn't have said it any better

lframent · August 2011

It sounds like a reasonable and realistic plan!

I have a similar problem of trying to lose too much too fast and end up falling into old habits. It's a cruel and vicious cycle. There is absolutely nothing wrong with snail's pace progress. As wickedcricket put it, any progress is better than none. Hope all's well and good-luck! x

LillysGranny · August 2011

I think you're on the right track! If you lose too fast, in 5 months you may have lost and already regained most of your 10 pounds, right? So just take your time. Oh, I think even standing all day will make you lightly active--definitely burning more calories than sitting all day. Good luck!

rrjs · August 2011

Very reasonable and similar to mine. I think its better to go at a slow pace and know that you are going to keep it off, then use unhealthy methods of losing weight only to gain it right back (even more unhealthy)

GOOD LUCK!!!

You're SO right. And what you said just summed up my experience so far - I've done just about every unhealthy (and I mean UNHEALTHY) thing in the book to lose weight fast, and it has always backfired. I've always gained it back, sometimes double. I always go into it thinking "I'll just work hard to lose it this way then I'll worry about maintenance" but I never even get to see any results because a week and a half into it I'm so weak and frustrated that I give up and binge. It's amazing how long I've let the cycle go before I've realized my patterns.

Thank you and good luck to you as well!

sarahmctaggart · August 2011

I think slow and steady is the best way. It is only natural for us to want to have a quick fix but as you have already experienced it doesn't really work!
I think a maximum of 1 pound a week weight loss is healthy. I have found that it is really important to always eat the amount of calories that you are allocated, not less (otherwise your body will go into starvation mode) and if you do exercise, you can eat a little more because sometimes your body needs it.

As much as most of us don't really enjoy water, I think this is vital - I have found that if I always drink 8 glasses of water a day this helps with my weight loss too. Basically I think that if your body is fully hydrated it is going to be working/processing a lot more effectively then if it isn't.

sabified · August 2011

That sounds like a good plan... and when busy season hits again, you can change your daily activity level and the site will take that into consideration as well.

Do you have an exercise plan as well? DO NOT try to do too much too soon with that, but adding some will help tone (which will make you look slimmer before you actually start to lose weight- but if losing lbs is your goal keep in mind that this will slow that down, since you'll be gaining muscle in the beginning, which is heavier than fat) and it'll help you feel much better! It's amazing the difference you'll feel between exercising and not exercising.

rrjs · August 2011

I think slow and steady is the best way. It is only natural for us to want to have a quick fix but as you have already experienced it doesn't really work!
I think a maximum of 1 pound a week weight loss is healthy. I have found that it is really important to always eat the amount of calories that you are allocated, not less (otherwise your body will go into starvation mode) and if you do exercise, you can eat a little more because sometimes your body needs it.

As much as most of us don't really enjoy water, I think this is vital - I have found that if I always drink 8 glasses of water a day this helps with my weight loss too. Basically I think that if your body is fully hydrated it is going to be working/processing a lot more effectively then if it isn't.

I struggle with eating allocated calories - it has to do a lot with my impatience. I say "I'll cut corners and eat way under today" which starts the cycle up all over again. This time around I need to eat ALL my allocated calories, even if I have to force myself. Otherwise I'll get too close to my old ways.

And you're SO RIGHT - I notice a huge difference in how my body feels when I drink a lot of water.

Thank you!!

auntiebabs · August 2011

Slow and steady wins the race....

Focus on the PROCESS of eating healthier and exercising, and the results will follow.
You can follow guidelines, but everybody is different, it's up to you track you food and exercise then tweak the details to what works for you.

what worked for me was rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target*** and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

***also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week (1200 cal rock bottom, 1/2 lb/week as my target, maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.)

Food is not the enemy.
Oddly enough on my journey here I've reduced guilt over food.
I have the occasional treat and I fully enjoy it with no guilt involved.
The thing is since I'm not eating crap all the time the occasional treat is just that a TREAT it's special and I enjoy it so much more than when I was unconsciously shovel junk food into my face.

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

sleepytexan · August 2011

I think that is an excellent plan.

So many people think they can lose weight overnight and they go crazy restricting calories, get frustrated, give up and binge, as you said. You are so smart to recognize and learn from your mistakes in the past.

You will get it this time!

Go girl!

blessings.

rrjs · August 2011

That sounds like a good plan... and when busy season hits again, you can change your daily activity level and the site will take that into consideration as well.

Do you have an exercise plan as well? DO NOT try to do too much too soon with that, but adding some will help tone (which will make you look slimmer before you actually start to lose weight- but if losing lbs is your goal keep in mind that this will slow that down, since you'll be gaining muscle in the beginning, which is heavier than fat) and it'll help you feel much better! It's amazing the difference you'll feel between exercising and not exercising.

My exercise plan is pretty simple - either go for a run at the gym or go for a walk/jog outside. Either way, going for about half an hour three times a week. It's all that I can really commit to right now, and if I set any loftier fitness goals for myself at this time I'll just fall short.

Thanks for the advice. (:

Pebble321 · August 2011

This sounds like a good plan.
I did something similar when I started out in January - I set my calories based on 1/2 pound loss per week because I knew that I would not stick to something that was severely restricted. I've played around with the numbers since then and have eaten anything from 1660 to 1450 cals/day.
Now I'm very close to my goal weight and I'm back to 1/2 pound a week - about 1600 cals/day which has kickstarted my weight loss again - I was eating around 1500 and it stalled for a month or so. (all these numbers are net calories, so that means I ate this much plus almost all my exercise calories each day)

Don't forget to have a look at your activity level too. If you are set at sedentary but are more active you might be short changing yourslef here too. I changed from sedentary to lightly active after a few months and found that the higher cals worked better for me.

rrjs · August 2011

Slow and steady wins the race....

Focus on the PROCESS of eating healthier and exercising, and the results will follow.
You can follow guidelines, but everybody is different, it's up to you track you food and exercise then tweak the details to what works for you.

what worked for me was rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target*** and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

***also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week (1200 cal rock bottom, 1/2 lb/week as my target, maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.)

Food is not the enemy.
Oddly enough on my journey here I've reduced guilt over food.
I have the occasional treat and I fully enjoy it with no guilt involved.
The thing is since I'm not eating crap all the time the occasional treat is just that a TREAT it's special and I enjoy it so much more than when I was unconsciously shovel junk food into my face.

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

Wow, this is one of the most truly helpful things I've ever read. I've never thought about researching my maintenance calories and aiming for a range. This really changes how I view calorie goals - thank you so much for everything you've shared - I can relate to SO much of it. I'm glad your journey has taken you this far, and I wish nothing but happiness and further progress in your future.

rrjs · August 2011

This sounds like a good plan.
I did something similar when I started out in January - I set my calories based on 1/2 pound loss per week because I knew that I would not stick to something that was severely restricted. I've played around with the numbers since then and have eaten anything from 1660 to 1450 cals/day.
Now I'm very close to my goal weight and I'm back to 1/2 pound a week - about 1600 cals/day which has kickstarted my weight loss again - I was eating around 1500 and it stalled for a month or so. (all these numbers are net calories, so that means I ate this much plus almost all my exercise calories each day)

Don't forget to have a look at your activity level too. If you are set at sedentary but are more active you might be short changing yourslef here too. I changed from sedentary to lightly active after a few months and found that the higher cals worked better for me.

Thank you for sharing - and you're right, I tend to shortchange myself TOO MUCH and that's another thing I need to work on. It's kind of like setting your clocks a couple minutes ahead or behind - you know that they're off so you just figure that in as you go about your day. If you over or under estimate and you know you're doing it, it's not doing you any more good than just being realistic.

How does my new exercise/calorie intake plan sound?

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