Hottie by the Holidays Week 1

I hope everybody's doing well.

I have a few goals for this week. And there's a little (or a LOT of) happy commentary below about what works for me. Things are going well for me and I would like to share. If this helps you ladies, great

Goals:

1) Weight.

I lost approx 1lb/week in september after I started with mfp. This was after I lost a lot of my water weight.

My Sunday morning weight was 159. My goal was to reach 158.0 lbs on Monday, Oct 3. I hit 156.4 this morning. Considering how many calories I burned, my weight wasn't moving along at the same pace. I think it is finally catching up to that. Usually when my weight drops steeply or randomly, it goes back up by a pound or less. With that in mind, next monday morning, I will give myself:

an A grade if it stays at or under 156.4.
B grade if it stays over 156.4, but under 157.
C if it is between 157-158.
I don't want to consider any other possibilities I would be very happy with an A. B grade is fine too.


2) Diet goal: to keep things going like they are now, but to steadily add more variety into my diet. However, the priority will be on keeping my net calories stable like it is now.

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What I'm doing now to keep my calorie count low:

1) Measure everything

I measure all my food nowadays. Either the nutrition data is already on MFP or I weigh the food on my food scale and enter it myself. I never cut myself any slack anymore. I enter the accurate weight for food or if I'm using a guess, I enter a weight that is higher what it is likely to be. This is very unlike the old me. I loved cutting corners earlier. But now, I'm so in control. I don't feel emotional about food anymore (unless it's a positive thought like "oh look how smart I am to eat a filling meal within 350 calories"). I'm committed. I like the new me. I'm in awe of my new habits. I didn't know I could actually become this person.

2) I look for hidden calories and eliminate them to the best possible extent.

3) Eat within my calorie budget no matter how much I burn... and let my body use my body fat for extra energy. I set my MFP net calories goal lower than what I'm willing to accept. It encourages me to stay low but I don't feel bad if I go 100 over my MFP goal every now and then.

It took a while to develop this skill but I'm finally at this stage. I have recently become very good at keeping my calories in the 1200s or lower, no matter how much I burn. My maintenance calorie count is 1700+. When I work, I burn 600-1000+ calories extra per day because my job's crazy like that. I still eat 1200 or less. Max 1400ish if I get a "splurge on calories" urge. Explanation below.

I simply don't feel the urge to consume more than 1200ish. I think my body has officially accepted the new system I have set for myself. It knows that there's no need to ingest more because there's plenty in the storage (my body fat). And I have soooo much energy everyday. It's amazing. If I need more energy to jump around happily celebrating my progress, my body simply goes off to burn more fat. haha. Imagine that.

4) Choosing food carefully or choosing quantity carefully. I rarely have to do both. But this varies based on each person's life.

The ironic thing is I eat a lot (or so my stomach tells me). I feel full after every meal. And I enjoy the food I eat. The only difference now is that I'm eating mostly very low calorie food (so I can eat a LOT more) or tiny quantities of high calorie food (while staying in my calorie budget). I love that. I love being in control and making good choices. It makes me feel sooooo good every day. And feeling good everyday makes me use up more energy (calories from body fat) because I'm always giddy with happiness. So it's a positive cycle that propels me towards my goals.

Examples of food:

A) Low cal
grilled chicken. Protein fills me up so fast. I can eat a lot (by my new standards) and still stay under 200 calories. If I want to eat more, i add other nutritious stuff. With more food added in, the total calories are still reasonable for me.

High cal food in TINY quantities
Btw, I didn't do this until my self control got into in good shape. Temptation would have overruled earlier.
Brownies! my new desert. I dont eat the whole brownie anymore. I cut it up into 4-6 parts. I used to do it in 2 parts. But I realized after eating half of the half (1/4 brownie), I was eating simply to finish it. So now I do 4-6 parts for each brownie. In the end, I consume maybe 100 calories per day from such food (and still stay under or near my 1200 budget). And I still feel like I ate something delicious. I just want the taste, not the whole thing. I don't feel the urge to eat more.

5) If I feel the urge to eat more pieces of high cal food, I ask myself, do I need to eat this? Will I feel better tomorrow if I eat it today? Can it wait until another meal? Will it help me look better? Will it take away from all the efforts I have made? Am I willing to do this to myself? Will I like myself if I do this to myself? Can I eat something else that's tasty and low cal instead of an extra piece of high cal food?

6) One system to evaluate my food that I use is the following:
A) What healthy food makes my stomach feel full? (protein)
what satisfies my taste buds? (fat)
C) What makes me want to eat more? (carbs, sugar)

With the above questions/answers in mind, I eat in the following manner:
A) Filling food goes in first. It says "ok there's only so much space left in here now."
What makes me want to eat more gets very little say because my stomach is already full after consuming protein. so it goes inside, but can't start a "eat more" rebellion.
C) If I think that I will still feel the urge to eat, I add some fat to the carbs. That usually satisfies me. It signals, "alright that was was tasty and we're done now."

The objective of this line of questioning is to prevent me from ordering high calorie food in large quantities such as 1 large pizza. High cal, high quantity = bad for weight loss. Pizza is my weight loss killer. I will eat the fricking thing and order 1 more next week. It's addictive. I gain a few pounds every single time and spent money on something that was making me feel bad. Crazy logic there. I haven't ordered pizza since July, I think. The goal is to stay off for as long as I can.


That's it for now. If you have any questions and actually read the whole thing , feel free to ask me. Feel free to add any tips too. We all would love to read any ideas that have worked for you.

Have a great day, ladies, and remember that if you set the process that suits your body's true needs or healthy needs, the results will follow. You must be good to yourself. You deserve to be healthy. But, at the same time, if you're struggling, be kind to your body. It's not the enemy here; your habits are.

I AM IN!!! I need some motivation!!!

Name: Lori
CW: I weigh tomorrow ... so I will update then.
Goal: 28 pounds
GW: 135

I'm in!!

Name: Nicole Russell
Current Weight: 293
Goal Weight (It doesn't have to be for the holidays necessarily): long-term goal, 190; holiday goal: 250 or less

Hello! Can I join? I just finished a challenge where I lost 19 lbs, and now up for a new one!!

Great idea, I'd love to join! My scale is on the fritz so I'll have to use one at the gym in the morning to get a starting weight but I believe this is correct (or if not, pretty close)

Current weight: 170
holiday goal: 149 (Liz I like your idea of being in the 140's by then!)
ultimate goal: 130 or 135ish, I'm going to re-evaluate once I get closer and see how I feel and look

Oh, and my name is Katherine

Sorry for not being active this past couple days!

Yesterday was a bad fod day for me but it's alright because the "bad food" was eaten in celebration at my grandpa's funeral, so I don't feel guilty. Plus the food was really, really good so although I splurged on calories, it was for delicious food and not something stupid like fast food or cake. I didn't get home from the funeral and my parents house until 1am this morning and I had to be at work at 9:30 today. I woke up late and didn't have a chance to make breakfast but I grabbed a multigrain bagel from Starbucks and had a light layer of cream cheese to top it, so I think I made an okay choice for breakfast. I work at a mall so it's definitely better than the options from the food court.

Unfortunately Monday and Wednesdays are the longest days of my week. I get to work at 9:30 and get off at 4 or 5 and have night class from 7-9:50pm. They're long, long days which typically mean I'm exhausted by the end. Seeing as I'm tired and worn in general from the funeral and the drama that has come from my grandfather's passing, I don't know if I'm going to have any energy left in me to exercise tonight. Because I pretty much had a rest day yesterday, I really don't want to have another today. I am planning on doing day 2 of the 30 Day Shred tonight though, so hopefully I am able to push myself to do that. If nothing else, I will do some wii fit plus and try out the Biggest Loser game I downloaded. My body is craving exercise. Luckily I have tomorrow off so I can exercise lots tomorrow. Going to start week 3 of the ct5k program and I'm really afraid I'm not going to be able to run the 3 minutes straight. 1.5 minutes was a challenge but I am going to push myself and I know it's mind over matter. Now with the inhaler I should be able to breathe more easily which has been my biggest issue with pushing through the burn of my calves. Also, I need to go grocery shopping! Which I guess I'll get done tomorrow too x___x what a nice busy day off I'm going to have lol.

Just what I need, A challenge to keep me motivated!!! I'm in.

Name: Kimberly
Nick Name: Kim

Current Weight: 199

Goal Weight: 160

AWESOME!!!

I am brand new here and can really use that kick in the pants and accountability! I love my husband, but he turns a "blind eye" to my eating & exercise habits. I am thankful he loves me the way I am but I am not happy with me.

My name is Donna
Current weight 228.8
Goal (someday) 140
By holidays to be lighter than I am now!

Okay ... here is my info. again. I had left out CW before because I hadn't weighed. So,

Name: Lori
CW: 163.2
GW: 135
UGW: 135 (wow ... if only I could be there by the holidays! what a christmas present & happy new year!)