ZoneFive Member

If I’m not mistaken, the presence of judgmental cats raises perceived exertion by 12%, yes?

Staying under your goal is almost as bad as going far over it. Your body needs fuel and the right nutrition; if you deny it that, you'll wind up too hungry later on and likely go over goal again, which will just set up a habit of overeat/undereat. MFP gives you a calorie total that includes your deficit. Eat to your…

I'm starting my first diet break today. I've changed the calories/macros to MFP's default for maintenance and planned today's food. Let me just say I'm startled at how difficult it was to fit things in properly -- I didn't expect to have trouble filling in the carbs! It's going to be interesting allowing myself to plan for…

Then go right back to better eating. All the past three days will do is delay your goal by a few days.

Have you logged everything? Knowing just how many calories you've consumed will answer your questions. If you haven't, go back and reconstruct the past few days in your food diary. It might be fewer calories than you think. And yes, carry on eating better starting right now.

There are quite a few of us in almost the same position as you. Been at this several months and longer; hunger is growing and so are cravings. I don't know all of your circumstances, but you might be in a place where a diet break would be helpful. There's an interesting discussion of refeeds and diet breaks in this forum.…

Oh, honey. It's going to be okay. Diabetes is not a death sentence. You absolutely have it in your own hands to improve your condition. I was diagnosed with T2 eighteen months ago. I came to MFP with the intent of monitoring my sugars and starches, and soon moved to keeping track of my calories as well. Over the past year…

Red bell peppers, fresh spinach, whole-grain sandwich wraps, plain wholemilk yogurt, blueberries, apples, bananas, muesli, eggs, frozen stir-fry veggies, frozen uncooked shrimp, 2% milk, ground turkey, deli ham and turkey, string cheese. Those are the everyday staples. Then add to that ingredients for whatever other…

Grape Nuts Flakes. Not just Grape Nuts, Grape Nuts Flakes. Hard to find around here, so even more of a treat for me.

A nap

Hoist and smoosh. Yeah, I know a little about that. But "hoist and smoosh" just makes me giggle. :D

You are very much in the right place. This thread has all the advice you're likely to want, and everyone who's commented is pretty much pro-diet-break or refeed. Watch/listen to the podcast, read the whole thread (yes, it meanders, don't worry), and welcome!

2 scrambled eggs with sauteed onions & ham, cheese on top. Coffee. Vanilla s/f yogurt with muesli and blueberries. Coffee. Oatmeal (old fashioned or steel cut) with grated apple, brown sugar and cinnamon. Coffee. (we don't do nuthin' without the coffee)

Even if a diet break doesn't directly affect your immune system (I have no real idea; I don't even play a doctor on TV), I imagine that the relaxation of stress from tracking, trying to pare down calories and generally watching every food decision would be a very good thing for all your systems.

Sounds very good. Remember that you're doing this for a scheduled, limited time, it's a very real part of losing weight/being healthy, and you're ALLOWED those "extra" calories. Enjoy them! And please check in and let us know how it goes.

Another vote for this thread. It's long, and it does meander, but there is a metric tonne of great information about diet breaks (among other things) in there. What you've described sounds like a break is probably a very good idea for you. The last time I lost a lot of weight, about 11 months in I hit a patch of…

Same. I might be missing out on some pretty good products, but there's an irritable part of me that just says oh please. I thought paleo was all about natural and unprocessed, just like our ancestors did? If you want bread, have bread. Bah. Humbug. You flintstones get off my lawn. (wanders off grumbling)

And I promise that I was only using "cheat meal" in huge air quotes. I never thought they were a good idea, and I knew it would be too easy to slide from one into an emotional breakdown and binge for me. A diet break will be mostly the kinds of things I eat usually, with room for treats and more unusual dishes. One of the…

I've been using HappyScale for a couple of months now, and it's truly wonderful how much that little app has drained the drama out of weighing for me! When I did WW, the weekly weigh-in could get awfully fraught for me -- did I lose? did I gain? will that wretched receptionist announce my numbers in front of everyone on…

Right now I'm all in on the better sleep! We have a couple of young dogs who get us up way too early, and I'm having trouble falling back asleep again after I take them out (at some ungodly cow-milking hour). I'll be very grateful for improvement with that. I've never achieved maintenance either, over many years of diets.…

I'm doing a lot of reading (and re-reading) of this thread, plus side reading of Lyle McDonald's articles on his website. The concept of the diet break is intriguing, but how do you know you're ready for one? Do I need to wait until weight loss slows and comes to a standstill? Are cravings part of the signal that it's…

Congratulations on the results of your hard work! Sounds like it's time for a new goal. You're in a healthy weight range, and now want to change the composition of your body. Take a look for some of the body recomposition threads. We have a lot of members who are far more knowledgeable than I am about recomp, and I'm sure…

I wear a Charge 2 and I enjoy having a bit of a challenge to work with. If it stresses and depresses you, by all means take it off and put it away or give it away! There's no need to make yourself unhappy -- life can be a pain in the butt enough without assistance.

Remove sugar from your diary and track fiber (or just leave it blank). MFP's nutrition entries are notoriously wrong or incomplete, and don't necessarily differentiate between added sugar and inherent sugar. Whenever possible, use the USDA information (add USDA to your search terms).

Coffee before swimming, then probably yogurt (plain wholemilk; I sweeten it myself with sucralose and dry vanilla extract) with muesli and blueberries. Other mornings it's oatmeal with grated apple and cinnamon or scrambled eggs with ham and smoked gouda.

We either get a thousand trick-or-treaters, or four -- and I always buy the wrong amount for the population. Last year was a four year, so I figured this year would be a thousand. Well, for once we split the difference had a medium-large number. And yes, I did overindulge. I've logged an amount that's probably pretty close…

Congratulations. You've hit just about every box on the checklist of woo.

Beef & barley crockpot soup with pretzel rolls. Chicken noodle soup. White chicken chili with cornbread.

A time deadline will put more pressure on you than you need. Trust me when I say that birthdays are really only just another day on the calendar; chances are nothing will change on that particular day that wouldn't happen on any other day. And life is a journey anyway, not a destination. You've gotten some good advice in…

Vegetables are carbs.