How committed are you??
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I'm really impressed by everyone's commitment here! I only started on Tuesday and today has been my first difficult day where I have really over-eaten. It seemed to go downhill as I just got too hungry before lunch and it set off an ongoing eating frenzy. Back on the wagon now for me, thanks for the motivation 😊
I eat about every 1.5 hours so I don't get too hungry.1 -
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
If I'm quite short on protein, and can materially improve the situation without huge calorie overage, I will. (Now, the banked calories can easily cover some of this.)
In maintenance, I'm rarely hungry and out of calories on normal days. I guess that was true while losing, too, once I got the in the swing of it: I'm pretty good at managing satiation at this point.
I'm retired. What is this "stressful days" and "busy" of which you speak?
Thanks @AnnPT77 I found this very interesting!
So do you just make sure you're eating regularly to avoid getting hungry? What would you typically eat as a filling but nutritious (lower calorie) snack? Today I got ravenous whilst waiting for lunch and it set off a few hours of overeating.
Ahh retirement, I work part-time and have a 4yo and 2yo twins.... Maybe I need to lower my expectations of myself 😂😂
Satiation seems to be very personal/individual. The big variables - no surprise - are what you eat, and when you eat it.
You'll see people around here advocating everything from grazing all day, to 6 small meals, to 3 meals and snacks, to no snacks ever just meals, to one meal a day, and lots of other variations. There are a lot of breakfast skippers, but also some (like me) who will crash and burn two hours into the day, without breakfast.
As far as what to eat: Some people find protein satiating, some get it from fats, some from high volume things (often large amounts of fibrous veggies, but there are other variations). Some people do best low carb, others need carbs (often complex carbs like potatoes or grains) in order to feel full. Some need a combination of one or more of the above. For certain people, there are particular foods that are extremely filling; those can be anything.
What I'd suggest is to figure out your personal best options via experimentation and diary review.
If you have a particular crave-y day, try to figure out why: Look for patterns. It may be eating, but it could also be stress, insufficient sleep, dehydration, exercise (day of, or day before), boredom, emotions, habit, social triggers. If the cause is something other than eating, the solution isn't eating: Gotta fix the root problem.
If you have an extra good day, or part of a day, again try to figure out why. Look at your food log: Did you eat differently? If so, what/when? Try repeating that pattern, see if it improves things. (Here again, the reason could be something other than food: Exercise, distraction, non-food indulgence, etc.).
Pay attention to how you feel when eating, and (especially) after eating. What sticks with you? What makes you want to eat more? What helps your energy level, and what tanks it? Try a new variation for a couple of days, and see whether it helps or hinders.
For me, I found that I need a solid breakfast, with a decent fraction of my day's protein, and protein spread through the day. If I get hungry when it isn't close to meal time, I'll have a small snack, usually one with protein (adjusting calories elsewhere in the day as needed): If I let myself get super-hungry, I'm much more likely to overdo the upcoming meal. In addition to protein, I need volume, mostly in the form of pretty large amounts of veggies. One meal is almost always old-fashioned oats (microwaved) with berries/walnuts/Greek yogurt: Incredibly filling to me.
Since I have a flexible schedule, I also eat somewhat flexibly. I wouldn't say that I eat on a "regular schedule" necessarily; it depends on the day. It also depends on when I'm hungry, within the idea that I need to account for how much more day is left to come, of course. It depends a lot on my exercise schedule, which changes seasonally. In Summer, I row (on water) or spin 6 days a week, so get up early and have a small breakfast (protein!) beforehand, with lunch sometime afterward, and dinner in the evening. In Winter, I'm more likely to sleep later when it's not spin day, & stay up later, and often only have 2 main meals, with sometimes some snacks. But even that varies.
But this is me, not you. You'll need to figure out you. It's like a big, fun, high-payoff science fair project for grown-ups.
P.S. You asked explicitly what snacks I like. This will be individual, but some that work well for me, since I find protein satiating, are string cheese; crispy chickpeas or dry-roasted soybeans or crispy broad beans; apple with peanut butter (if I need a bigger snack & can free up the calories); Greek yogurt with berries and maybe chocolate peanut butter powder; small portions of nuts (you can get 100-calorie packs for portable use; note that nuts are also high fat, but they work for me sometimes); hard-boiled eggs; cottage cheese with spices and maybe cherry tomatoes or something like that. (BTW: I'm a long-time ovo-lacto vegetarian. If I weren't, there would be some meats or maybe tuna in there.) I keep some single-serve long-keeper snack packets in my car, in case I'm out longer than expected running errands or something.
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Would love to know how others do this....
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?
What have your results been?
1. Yes if I want to see results
2. I go over on Saturdays as a treat, and usually not healthy
3. I can't abandon it, if stressed I exercise more and chat to someone1 -
@AnnPT77 wow thank you so much, can you be my life coach please?!
Yes I've often felt fuller on carbs than protein so I'll do some experimenting. I also need breakfast and definitely can't just do the 3 meals/no snack thing. Right, this is more exciting now that I have some investigating to do! 😊2 -
It's my thang.0
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I'm really impressed by everyone's commitment here! I only started on Tuesday and today has been my first difficult day where I have really over-eaten. It seemed to go downhill as I just got too hungry before lunch and it set off an ongoing eating frenzy. Back on the wagon now for me, thanks for the motivation 😊
I'm wondering if you chose a weekly weight loss goal that is too aggressive for how much weight you need to lose?
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
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Would love to know how others do this....
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?
What have your results been?
1 - within 50 cals absolutely. there maybe the a day every 2-3mts i go over on a splurge dinner out or special meal. i admit the holidays were harder and i was not successful but that was a one off week.
2 - if i am very hungry (doesn't happen very often where it's not just boredom hunger) i may move around meals and snacks or calories to fit it in. If i were generally getting hungry then i'd have to rethink my overall balance of foods and if i am eating enough but this has not been an issue.
3 - i follow daily. many days are stressful that isn't an excuse i can take.
I have lost 100lbs twice doing this. More recently from May-Dec I lost 40lbs (I had stopped myself before gaining 100 this time, had only gained 40). I am on the last few pounds and finding maintenance now.1 -
Try to remember that weight loss is a journey not a destination. You can't think of it as a diet but rather changing your habits. Long term weight loss and maintenance is a lifestyle change. It is a proven fact that if you go on a "diet" 85% of people will gain most or all of their weight back once the "diet" has ended.
For now focus on healthy eating. Remove unhealthy snacks and foods that are packaged and processed. Don't drink juices or soda (even diet) and start an exercise program that you can stick to. Preference in exercise is resistance training. Muscles are fantastic calorie burners and maintaining your current muscle mass is just as important as gaining more muscle mass. As we age we start to lose muscle mass especially after age 40 so it's important to maintain what you already have.10 -
Try to remember that weight loss is a journey not a destination. You can't think of it as a diet but rather changing your habits. Long term weight loss and maintenance is a lifestyle change. It is a proven fact that if you go on a "diet" 85% of people will gain most or all of their weight back once the "diet" has ended.
For now focus on healthy eating. Remove unhealthy snacks and foods that are packaged and processed. Don't drink juices or soda (even diet) and start an exercise program that you can stick to. Preference in exercise is resistance training. Muscles are fantastic calorie burners and maintaining your current muscle mass is just as important as gaining more muscle mass. As we age we start to lose muscle mass especially after age 40 so it's important to maintain what you already have.
Incorrect/unnecessary. No food is healthy or unhealthy when taken on its own. You need to look at it in the context of overall diet. A diet comprised entirely of chocolate is just as unhealthy as one comprised entirely of kale. Packaged and processed foods aren't evil. They're convenient. Check the labels if you've reason to restrict sodium or some other nutrient, note the calories, but for example, an Yves veggie dog (family pack; there are different sizes) is 45 calories, 8 grams of protein and 15% of my iron RDA. It's also packaged/processed. But with that nutritional profile, if I need a quick snack, I'll take that over unprocessed iceberg lettuce any day of the week. And there are a number of processed/packaged foods that make it into my home cooking. (Cracker crumbs in a side dish, jam in a dessert, jarred salsa in about 30% of my meals...)
Sadly, a pound of muscle only burns 4 to 6 calories more than a pound of fat. There are other reasons to build/maintain muscle, of course. But fat-burning properties aren't high on that list: http://lanimuelrath.com/calories-burned-by-muscle-vs-fat-another-myth-exploded/9 -
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
mostly yes but if im over i dont stress about it
Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
see above. if im craving something ill eat it, but within my allowance, or at least under maintenance. Holidays and my birthday i eat what i want, regardless.
Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?
no. come to think of it, when im super busy or stressed, i eat LESS
100+ pounds lost. maintained past 3 years with no gain, now working on losing the rest (30 pounds or so)1 -
@AnnPT77 wow thank you so much, can you be my life coach please?!
Yes I've often felt fuller on carbs than protein so I'll do some experimenting. I also need breakfast and definitely can't just do the 3 meals/no snack thing. Right, this is more exciting now that I have some investigating to do! 😊
I'd suggest along with the experimenting that you be open minded to the meals and snacks thing. I used to do three meals a day, with a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. The biggest reason for that being that if I get too hungry, it can trigger a migraine.
Over my years on MFP, I've read the forums a lot. Knowledge and comments change over time. People used to push protein for satiation all the time; some still do, but it's not the overwhelming answer anymore. I used to try and try to eat more protein for more satiation and it just didn't work for me overall. When I say overall, I mean that I still need to get an adequate amount per day, or I have noticed I will be much more hungry the day following a low protein day.
However, after experimenting I found that fiber and fat are important for my satiation. After figuring that out, I was able to adjust my meals so that I typically eat three larger meals (calorie wise) than I used to when snacking, and I am now less likely to actually be hungry for a snack. I figured out a breakfast that I eat every work day, because I like it and it's filling and gets me through to lunch [50g thick rolled oats, one banana, 80g pumpkin, 5g hemp seeds, 5g ground flaxseed, 15g walnuts, 10g dried fruit, 10-15g blackstrap molasses, 4g unsweetened cocoa powder - add boiling water (I don't cook the oats)]. My lunch is typically a bean dish with veggies in the dish, or as a large mostly non-lettuce salad or baked veggie mix, and 1/4 - 1/2 avocado (all of this weighed). On occasion, I may still have a late-afternoon snack if I am hungry, but it's not every day. I have found that if my typical schedule changes for too long (such as if I go on vacation or something) and I get back into less regular meals, that can impact the desire to snack out of habit.
My point to all of that is just to say to be open minded even to the number of meals/snacks that you might think you need. You might be surprised by what works for you after some experimentation.3 -
Would love to know how others do this....
Do you follow your calorie allowance religiously every single day all the time?
Do you mostly follow it but when hungry choose something healthy and go over your allowance?
Do you just follow it on less stressful days and then abandon it when busy?
What have your results been?
1. Most of the time. I don’t have “good” and “bad” days. I have days where I eat at/under my calorie allowance and I have days where I eat over (sometimes way over). I tend to follow a weekly goal and purposefully save some calories from most days so I can have a more indulgent day and still meet my weekly calorie goal.
2. If I’m hungry, I’m going to eat. Thugs don’t end well when I try to power through excessive hunger. That’s not the same as being hungry before a meal (that’s normal). Most of the time I make the best choices I can (meaning picking foods I find satiating, allowing for occasional indulgences so I don’t feel deprived, etc.)
3. I’m going to buck the trend here. I recognize there are times in my life when making excellent food choices and getting proper exercise are simply not my top priority. It’s exceedingly difficult to food plan/prep and make great choices (within my budget) when you don’t have a kitchen (or a refrigerator). When I was sitting with my mother in hospice, making good food choices was my absolute last priority. When I was caring for my two terminally ill parents, time for workouts didn’t always happen & food choices weren’t always perfect. My brother was in the hospital for a month th last summer and while I managed to keep up marathon training (sometimes running at midnight to get my miles in), I didn’t have the time to also do super duper food prep. When I had a miscarriage, I didn’t care at all for a few weeks. I’ve been here 7 years-I can list a whole multitude of times when I’ve had life situations where food/exercise choices were not my top priority.
That said-I don’t necessarily go hog wild. I log everything-days at/under goal and days where I have eaten 10k+ calories. I do the best I can. Sometimes-that’s 2,000 calories over maintenance because the only place to get food at the hospital at that hour is Dunkin‘ Donuts and they only have 1023 calorie muffins left no matter what time of day I go. Usually it means making the best choices I can make under the circumstances. But that doesn’t mean they are good choices or that even the best possible choices will put me under maintenance. But see #1-I don’t have good and bad days. I have days where I eat at/under my calorie goal (most) and days where I eat over (some). I do the best I can.
I was morbidly obese to start. My max loss was 86 pounds. I’m sitting a bit above that now.
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As @AnnPT77 writes ... "What I'd suggest is to figure out your personal best options via experimentation and diary review.
If you have a particular crave-y day, try to figure out why: Look for patterns. It may be eating, but it could also be stress, insufficient sleep, dehydration, exercise (day of, or day before), boredom, emotions, habit, social triggers. If the cause is something other than eating, the solution isn't eating: Gotta fix the root problem.
If you have an extra good day, or part of a day, again try to figure out why. Look at your food log: Did you eat differently? If so, what/when? Try repeating that pattern, see if it improves things. (Here again, the reason could be something other than food: Exercise, distraction, non-food indulgence, etc.).
Pay attention to how you feel when eating, and (especially) after eating. What sticks with you? What makes you want to eat more? What helps your energy level, and what tanks it? Try a new variation for a couple of days, and see whether it helps or hinders."
This is exactly what I have done. The first couple of months I "floundered" as I figured out what works for me. Once I conquered that learning curve. It has been pretty smooth sailing and I am easily able to be consistent. I have lost 50+ pounds since Aug 1 and am in my maintenance range.3 -
I do my best to stick to it 90% of the time. I found that 4-5 days of eating well I can loosen up for a meal or have some extra snack or dessert and then get right back to it without any effects. This has been true for loss as well as maintenance. Probably equally as important as my daily total has been where in the day I "spend" the calories. As I work out in the morning I get starving for lunch, so when that is my biggest meal of the day I do better with overall adherence.1
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1. Nope, I would say it's more like 80/20 realistically.
2. If I'm hungry, I usually eat something that I'm in the mood for and track it accordingly. If I go over, I go over. I've learned to make healthier choices in the long run so my cravings have changed a lot.
3. Stress usually isn't an indicator of how I eat anymore. ( I used to be an emotional binge eater). I also pre-log my food pretty often so I don't even have to think about it.
I've lost 30 lbs doing this over the course of 5-6 months and I haven't felt hungry, deprived, or restricted.2 -
I am on day 18 of a 90 day exercise program. I have been tracking my exercise and calories since day one of that with MFP. I have been eating much healtheir and trying to eat less. I do a 16 hour intermittent fast every 4 days. I am 36 y/o, 5"10 and when I started I was 198 and now I am 192. My goal is 165.1
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@Duck_Puddle I'm so sorry about the loss of your parents and your miscarriage. Thank you for sharing.
I'm impressed you still managed to keep your health a priority when you could.
Keep on truckin xx0 -
@kshama2001 thank you for your reply, you've made an excellent point and the graph says it all. Yes I think you're quite right, my calorie allowance is maybe the issue. I was aiming for 1400 but think I'll see how i go at 1500 or 1600 if it means I'll stick to it better. I only have around 10kg to lose but I had wanted to do it fast due to going on holiday in 6 weeks time. However I am also wanting long term weight loss and steady maintenance so really I need to be thinking of that rather than fast results (which I won't achieve if I overeat).
Thanks again 😊0
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