This is a hard topic for me to write about (as I am sure that it is for many bloggers).
I was inspired to journal about this from my sister-in-law. She tried a program called 14/14. Basically the goal is 14 pounds in 14 weeks. I am not attempting that, although my goals are 1 1/2 pounds a week. I figured I could be as brave as Dangerous Crayon and actually document my ups and downs. I am hoping for more downs than ups ;)
So what am I doing?
I am keeping tack of my calories which is always a frightening thing. I am using an iPod app called myfitnesspal. It's a simple little app but it definitely keeps me honest about things. Everyday I log in what I have eaten and the amount and it shows me how many calories I have consumed and how many I have left to meet my goal. You can then enter in any exercises you complete and it will update your total. It bases your goals on your height and weight at the time and also takes into account if your lifestyle habits.
The thing about my issues with weight loss have always been that I don't eat ENOUGH calories so my body has been in starvation mode for a long time. It was an eye opener the first day I kept track of my calories. I hadn't realized just how FEW calories I actually eat. I mean I knew that I didn't eat enough for a long time but to see the actually figures in black and white was a shock. This isn't the first time I have kept track of what I eat but I have never actually counted calories.
The app will also tell you the nutrients you are getting and again this was a shock at how horrible of food choices I make. The little food I eat is giving me nothing. I need to fix this. I have 3 young ladies watching what I do and modeling their lives on me. I have always been strict about what they eat but never about me. I will make them a nice dinner but I only eat a few bites of the veggies and meat and tend to eat the carbs. Obviously I need to reverse that but it is a hard habit to break.
Breakfast and lunch. Again I need to fix things here. I tend to skip both meals and just eat dinner. I like that the app shows me each individual meals calories. The thing I have noticed about my habits are that if someone brings me food I will eat it but if left to myself I won't go seek out food. A good example has been lunch. My youngest loves making me sandwiches to eat at lunchtime but yesterday my girls went to a friends house for the day and I was home alone all day. How many calories did I get yesterday? Just around 1000. Now to meet my goal I need to eat almost 1500. Yeah not a good day and yes the app yelled at me.
So the good news. I have been doing this for a week and most days I have been able to get close to my goal and I have exercised more (it's nice to see that in black and white also) and because of that I have lost my goal of 1 1/2 pounds! Just have to keep this going and try not to get discouraged if the scale goes the wrong way. My final goal at this point is to lose 40 pounds. That may change as I get closer I may decide to go for a little more but I think I will be happy to make that. Not sure what clothing size that will make me.
Well hopefully I will keep this up to date and keep up the honesty.
Wow! I have read about the starvation effect on weight. It definitely seems counter intuitive. I've been making an effort recently at tracking my calories (kind of). I'm the more traditional " I ate breakfast 2 times, ate my kids' leftovers after lunch, and then had seconds at supper and dessert kind of person. I've been doing slimfast this past week, and lost maybe a pound. hard to say, though, because my scale is not consistent or accurate.
ReplyDeleteAnyway - Yay! go you! Is making sure you're eating 3 meals a day enough to up your calories to a proper level? perhaps if you don't really want to eat a full meal, you could do something like a protein bar - not very big, but lots of calories.
I still have major issues with breakfast. I just can't seem to get myself to eat when I get up. Again if someone says "hey you need to eat something" I will generally get a bite otherwise it just doesn't occur to me to eat.
ReplyDeleteI have had a couple of bad days recently where I only ate 1000 calories and was working out by cleaning alot or coaching gymnastics so that was not so good.
Seeing it in writing is helping though. Making myself be honest about what goes in is really making it hit home and makes it easier for me to remember to eat and hit my goals. :)
Next goal is to get moving which is what I am going to post about next.