Day 50 of the journey - Question about calories in/out

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  • slowregal661
    slowregal661 Posts: 19 Member
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    I spoke with a few trainers and good friends of mine that are into nutrition and fitness, and according to them, 220 would be the ideal weight for my shape. It might even be hard to reach 220 as I am already fairly muscular, but i'll see. For now i'm eating anywhere between 1800 and 2600 calories a day(estimated, not calculating anymore), and i'm focusing on high protein meals.

    I'll keep y'all posted on the progress :smiley:
  • slowregal661
    slowregal661 Posts: 19 Member
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    Not sure how to quote but yes you are right Novus, it never ends. You just have to make changes and live with it.

  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited July 2020
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    I believe in edging your way down slowly but I realize that horse has already left the barn. There's a Honeymoon Phase that comes with rapid weight loss followed by Ghrelin Blowback. Get ready. Get ready.

    Down the line after all of the weight releasing is done when you're not looking, in comes the Mission Creep. Ghrelin Blowback is seldom denied and if it is not handled correctly it results in rebound weight gain with friends.

    The weight loss Mission Creep is so darned stealthy that it will actually distract you as it coaxes you start eating it all back. Dropping it like it's hot is fun until it's not.

    Slow this horse down and start thinking about your long term weight stability waaaay into the future. The appetite control center is located in the brain and not the stomach. That's why we can remove most of a stomach and still eat it all back.

    With every major weight loss the body will start fighting hard against you for 2 years or more, trying to get you to eat it all back. Rethink your strategy.

    I hear the joy in your words but all I can think about is the consequences of rapid weight loss. The road back from rebound weight gain with friends steals all of the joy. It's taken me years to make that comeback and promise not to make those same mistakes again.

    I share my errors and mistakes.

    Do you know why people eat it all back in a fraction of the time it took to take it all off without ever stopping one time to question what's going on. The brain doesn't care and the appetite control center wants what it wants.

    You eat it all back in a fog by remote control and autopilot. Then one day when you've reached the highest weight the brain stands back and allows you to look into the mirror.

    Multi-cr@p hits the fan and you start dieting all over again and again and again. I've been there and I'm not going out like that. Slow down and rethink your long term strategy. Ghrelin Blowback is a hunger that can undo all of the hard work in the blink of an eye.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
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    slowregal661 wrote: »
    Yep im def doing things faster than that. I realize it's too fast, but can't help it lol. What do you think is more likely to happen once I reach my goal? I've been doing so much excercice, gym in the morning, cycle at night, eat lots of protein, I was stuck at 258 pounds for almost 3 weeks, and then dropped 4 pounds in a week, without changing anything.

    All I know, is i've never been in a better shape and I feel great.

    Thanks!

    I guress the question I'd ask is: Do you plan to continue to eat as you're now eating (restrictions, food choices, etc.), and exercising as you're now exercising (frequency, duration, volume, modes), socializing as you're now socializing (well, adjusting for changes due to pandemics) forever?

    If so, there's reasonable hope that you can just add back some calories, from your current food choices or similar, to stabilize your weight, then go on to have a happy and successful long-term maintenance. (Well, except for that hunger-hormones blowback thing, which is a very real possibility. Oh, and the "what are your motivating goals once scale-drop isn't it" thing on the psychological side.)

    If you can't see yourself with this (pretty exact) lifestyle long term, then I'd suggest now is the time to start seriously experimenting with the changes you'd like to make, in order to reach a long-term sustainable routine. For example, if you plan to reduce cardio to have more time for your family or non-exercise hobbies, start doing that now. It will slow your weight loss, but it will also help you understand what life-tweaks you'll need for maintenance (if your initial vision proves somehow problematic), and it will get you practicing and grooving in those new habits. Same thing with the eating habits: If you've given up something important to you in pursuit of weight/fitness goals, start adding that back in. For example, if you've been skipping beer and wings over football - probably quite easy during coronavirus times - what will your future look like? Football with friends, but salad, no beer? Modified portions? etc. It may not be some situation that extreme, but for most people, there's something.

    IMO, the weight loss process ought to be maintenance practice, if staying healthy long term is the goal. The calorie deficit creates a little wiggle room for mistakes and adjustments, that we don't have in actual maintenance.

    If the process so far hasn't had that "maintenance practice" focus for you up to this point then the last chunk of pounds would be a good time to start thinking in those terms. Maybe you're all good there, I dunno. Just something to consider.

    I know I'm kind of repeating what I said earlier . . . but with a sharper point to it. I think many people find keeping weight at a healthy level long-term, and staying fit, is the bigger challenge compared to reaching those goals in the first place.

    Wishing you success!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,605 Member
    edited July 2020
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    slowregal661 wrote: »
    What do you think is more likely to happen once I reach my goal?
    Diatonic12 wrote: »
    I believe in edging your way down slowly but I realize that horse has already left the barn.

    There's a Honeymoon Phase that comes with rapid weight loss followed by Ghrelin Blowback. Get ready. Get ready.

    ...Ghrelin Blowback is seldom denied and if it is not handled correctly it results in rebound weight gain with friends.

    ...Dropping it like it's hot is fun until it's not.

    Slow this horse down and start thinking about your long term weight stability waaaay into the future.
    The appetite control center is located in the brain and not the stomach.
    ...
    With every major weight loss the body will start fighting hard against you for 2 years or more, trying to get you to eat it all back. Rethink your strategy.
    ...
    I hear the joy in your words but all I can think about is the consequences of rapid weight loss. The road back from rebound weight gain with friends steals all of the joy.
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Do you plan to continue to eat as you're now eating (restrictions, food choices, etc.), and exercising as you're now exercising (frequency, duration, volume, modes), socializing as you're now socializing (well, adjusting for changes due to pandemics) forever?

    If so, there's reasonable hope that you can just add back some calories, from your current food choices or similar, to stabilize your weight, then go on to have a happy and successful long-term maintenance. (Well, except for that hunger-hormones blowback thing, which is a very real possibility. Oh, and the "what are your motivating goals once scale-drop isn't it" thing on the psychological side.)

    If you can't see yourself with this (pretty exact) lifestyle long term, then I'd suggest now is the time to start seriously experimenting with the changes you'd like to make, in order to reach a long-term sustainable routine.

    I think many people find keeping weight at a healthy level long-term, and staying fit, is the bigger challenge compared to reaching those goals in the first place.

    QFT
  • ElTriste1973
    ElTriste1973 Posts: 234 Member
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    Very insightful and informative comments, thank you
  • slowregal661
    slowregal661 Posts: 19 Member
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    Thanks for all your inputs, everything said is true. I have been adding back things like liquor every now and then, bring me a beer i won't think twice, i'll take it. Since it's summer and we are very active, I can eat pretty much whatever I want and i'll still be dropping weight. Yesterday I probably ate 3000 calories and this morning the scale shows another pound down(down to 253,0 from 310,4 now)

    My metabolism is at the top right now, excercise and black coffee wins :smile:

    I'm not rushing the weight loss, i'm just putting in the efforts to make long-term changes, and it's working. I don't plan on changing the way i'm eating right now at all. I made the changes and they are here to stay, i'm not forcing myself into a diet to rush to get down to a lower weight, because that would just make me gain it all back. I've been there before, i've done it before, this time it's different and you are confirming my thoughts.

    Thanks! i'll keep the progress posted
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,605 Member
    edited July 2020
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    slowregal661 wrote: »
    My metabolism is at the top right now, excercise and black coffee wins :smile:

    It sounds promising that you personally feel that your current set-up is something you can continue to maintain long term.

    If the future throws you a curve ball, you can always adjust calories in and go back to logging carefully to make sure that your Caloric balance remains withing desired parameters.

    Avoid falling in the trap of believing that you are powerless to control your weight should your level of activity ever change.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
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    @slowregal661 Thank you for your willingness to be open to other viewpoints. <3 None of this is easy.
    Remember there's a reason there's no such thing as a Biggest Loser Reunion show. They ate it all back.

    It's not my intention to step on deeply felt weight loss principles because we all have them. Experience had to be my teacher and it suxed. As you continue tooling along your way if your consistency should start to wane and wind down that would be the brain taking the reins.

    In order to win any battle we have to know our enemy.

    The brain loves it when we throw the towel in. It likes constant starts and stops and quite frankly, half-@$$ing it. The brain will tell you it's alright to take a break because after all, Life Happens.

    Life Happens to all of us and that's never ever going to change. We have to develop skillsets that will build our ability to get fit under any real life conditions. If we can't do that none of this will last. There won't be any long term stability with weight or fitness.

    The natural and predictable consequences with limited skillsets is short term success followed by long term frustration.

    If you're out there and you're in the eating it all back phase why didn't your brain stop you one single time, not one single time to assist you. Why didn't your brain help you rein it back in before you ate it all back to the highest weight you've ever been in your entire lifetime. Why did the brain encourage you to eat it all back after a major weight loss or even WLS weight loss surgery.

    The brain doesn't care. The brain wants to constantly coast on its laurels and fly by the seat of its pants. Some order out of all this chaos must be imposed.

    This is serious business. It's not about willpower. It's about skills.

    Life has no pause button. There is no timeout. Life keeps going. We don't get to press pause for our jobs and families. We don't get to hit the reset button. We keep going. Fight like that for yourself. Without our overall health and well being we get mostly nothing. If you keep going and fighting you will always, always get something for all of your hard work.
  • slowregal661
    slowregal661 Posts: 19 Member
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    Update : 69 pounds down! 1 pound from my original goal

    I am now over 6 months into weight loss, and everything is still going smooth.

    All I have to say is, consistency is key.

    Thanks for all your support, I will keep updating every now and then, from 310 to 241, aiming for 220.

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