Need help! 2019 Eating plan, w/Work travel

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Shell4624
Shell4624 Posts: 32 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been around enough to understand CICO = weight loss. I have really struggled with this. Tracking has been inconsistent. When/if I stick to those 2 things I lose weight. Problem is, as I get older, I have a harder time getting started. Life has all kinds of twist and turns that disrupt my start ~2 weeks in. So couple of questions, 1 - What has been your plan to start and stick with a plan longer than 2-3 weeks. And finally I know Q1 2019 I will have a lot of travel for work. Probably ~10 days on the road in the months of February and March. What suggestions do you have for me?

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  • Shell4624
    Shell4624 Posts: 32 Member
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    Also I have been a member of Orange Theory for nearly 3 years (march 2016) and my weight has slowly crept up. I have loss during this course 10-15 lbs lighter than what I am now, but I have always fallen off, stopped tracking, stuffed my face and gained weight. I average 3 work outs a week with my studio, so I am fairly active.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    There are a number of tools available to keep calories in line consistently.

    Intermittent fasting - one protocol is an "feeding window." Eat between the hours of x and y. Another protocol is 5:2. Eat at maintenance 5 days a week and 500-600 calories the other 2 days. Some people are able to use one of these protocols to reduce dependency on logging, others not so much.

    No "S" diet - no sweets, no seconds, no snacks, except occasionally on days that begin with the letter "S" - Saturdays, Sundays, and special days.

    A great many restaurants have nutritional information on their websites. Careful planning will allow you to stay within calories.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    When you are on the road do you have acccess to a microwave/fridge in your hotel room? You can cook a lot of stuff (incl meat in the microwave); handy foods I use include the microwave single serving rice; veggies in the steam bags; Greek yogurt
  • Safari_Gal
    Safari_Gal Posts: 888 Member
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    I notice I eat better when I travel since I’m always on the go. The first week of diet change is often the hardest - if you can focus and see some results after a few weeks - that helps me the most! When I’m eating healthy and exercising I also feel better and sleep better...

    Have a great work trip!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    There are two things I have observed here time and time again from serial starters:

    1) They expect consistent results/perfection from themselves. Some people are too fixated on the number of calories they should eat each day and if they go over for some reason they see it as a failure. You may WANT to lose a certain amount of weight each week but be happy losing any amount. Some weeks will be tough. Just because you want to be in enough of a deficit to lose 1lb doesn't mean that half of that is not progress. You only NEED to lose weight (any amount) more days than you don't.

    2) They make weight loss more difficult than it needs to be like denying treats, going too aggressive, requiring only "healthy" foods, and/or forcing compliance to some named diet. You only need to eat less food than you burn. The more requirements you add to yourself the harder it will be to start and the less likely you will stick with it. You don't have to love doing the things you need to do to lose weight but if you hate it you will likely fail. I think it is probably impossible to avoid having bad days entirely but if they are all bad or tough you need to rethink your strategy.

    One of my biggest fears going into the holidays was that I would feel deprived afterwards if I didn't allow myself to eat more. At Christmas I gave myself 3 days of maintenance and here at New Year I have given myself another 3 days. This means that for 6 days I will not lose weight. In addition I have given myself an extra 150-200 calories each day in between for an added treat which means on those days I will lose less too. I am not afraid of getting accustomed to more calories though because I actually like my normal weight loss days and I am already looking forward to getting back to it. I have been doing this for 10 months now and I have lost a lot of weight. I could have lost a little more if I had pushed harder but then I would have risked sustainability.
  • Shell4624
    Shell4624 Posts: 32 Member
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    Thank you all for the feedback, insight, perspective and options at hand. Appreciate it, Happy New Year!

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