April 10, 2009

My checklist

...or Confessions of a list addicted dork.

I have a confession to make. Its Thursday. And I’m going to hold this post till Friday. Shhh – don’t tell on me okay?

I appreciate all your thoughts and comments yesterday…erm…Wednesday in regards to my weight loss problems. Several of you had some good ideas, and so I’m going to try them out and see how they work.

Not very scientific, since I’m going to try several things at once, but here we go.

1. Upping my calorie intake.

Back in the day I lost 8 pounds (down to 126) on 1500 calories. This included no exercise. So why, weighing more than I did then, am I exercising 3-5 times a week and eating 1200 and seeing no results? Maybe I am being too hard on my body.

As recently as November I was eating fast food every day. Then I switch to sack lunches and exercising for 5 and have only lost 3 pounds? Maybe it was too much of a shock and now I’m stockpiling fat. (Although its good to know I’m set if I ever really do experience a famine.)

2. The Wendie plan.

I don’t do WW points, but I count my calories on LiveStrong – Daily Plate. You enter your body weight, activity level, and how much you want to lose, and it tells you how many calories you can consume. To lose 2 pounds a week my number is 1250.

Since I really don’t have a range (as described with WW points) I’m just gonna have to wing this a little. I think that 1250 should be my very low day and somewhere around 1600 should be my high.

I knew that you weren’t suppose to do the same work out all the time or else your body would get use to it – I’m sure diet is no different.

3. Only having one cheat day.

Like Christy said, if I add more calories spread throughout the week, I should be able to do this no problem. No need to wait till Saturday to have the ice cream sandwich, I’ll just save a couple hundred calories for it tonight. That way come Saturday I’m not pigging out on everything.

I’m leaving Sunday as my cheat day, not only because this coming one is a holiday, but mostly because that’s the day that eating is a social occasion. Either lunch at the Cracker Barrell with my grandparents, or at my parents house, eating one of my mom’s grilled cheese sandwiches – the best ever made.

(Seriously, they are. Just ask Mr. Right. Only don’t tell his mom, because that would hurt her feelings.) Not to mention the popcorn and never ending supply of Pepsi in my dad’s “office fridge” (the one in the garage – kept at such a low temperature the Pepsi gets ice chunks in it.)

Some Saturdays, especially if I stay at home, I only have 800-900 calories. I try my best to sleep through breakfast and just snack for lunch.

4. Drinking water

I think I’m pretty good at this, but I need to track it to be sure. Except for the days I'm lazy and don't feel like going to the bathroom as much as proper hydration required. More on my bathroom laziness in the fiber section.

5. Measuring portions

For most dishes that isn’t a problem. My Del Monte fruit cup tells me that there are two servings in the container, so when I eat the whole container I know that I’ve had 140 calories. I measure my bran flakes this morning and found that I’ve been eating a serving and a half. Its only 55 extra calories, but adding 50 here and there will start to add up!

And Lastly…

6. Fiber

Honestly, this one scares me. If I’m not trying, my body gets around 10 grams of fiber a day. I wish I were kidding. The bran flakes will change that somewhat, but I need to be more conscious about how much I get. Today I’ve got 495 calories left and have already consumed 34 grams of fiber!

I’m a little nervous about what kind of effect that might have on me…but eventually my body will get use to it. Right?

7 comments:

  1. great ideas keep going but remember it is a lifestyle change and not just a diet that is where I get into trouble

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  2. Those are all some great ideas!! You're doing great!!

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  3. Ok, your Sat. eating totally scared me! You've gotta eat more than that otherwise your metabolism will shut down and you'll spend the rest of the week trying to get it to speed back up again. One thing that keeps popping in my mind when I read this post is that you do a lot of different eating habits throughout the week, I think this might be where you're running into trouble. If you're more consistent about what you eat, no matter what day of the week it is, then your metabolism will stay higher and you'll feel better overall and have less cravings on your "cheat" days. That's one thing I learned when I had gestational diabetes, your blood sugar has a LOT to do with how you feel and how your body processes food. If you don't eat (say Sat. morning) then your sugar takes a nose dive, and when you finally do eat it will skyrocket. If you eat more consistently throughout the week your blood sugar will remain steady, and your body will process food better, and therefore help you to loose weight. This is true for everyone, not just diabetics.

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  4. these sound like great ideas...water water water..that is a good one....eat small meals 6 times a day that one alwasy works for me!
    training for the 5k AWESOME!!!

    you go girl!
    m:)

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  5. Water, water, water--that's what I've added. And then my scale battery went out and I haven't replaced it yet so I have no idea if it's working! lol.

    I'm going to do the Cinco de Mayo Run for the Party I think. Have you heard about that one? I can't do the half marathon because of other obligations on that day :-(

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  6. Brooke, please don't make me get all "Jillian" on your tail! You should never, ever ever ever eat below 1200 calories. Ever. That is just not healthy. Quit being so hard on yourself! I KNOW you want to lose those last few pounds and that's great, but please listen to me. With your work out plan, you should never go below 1500 calories a day. I'm pretty sure of this. Your high day can be as high as 2000 and you would still be fine! I promise. I could go on and on here, and if you would like I can email you! Let me know! :o)

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  7. Oh girl, I SO get you on the fiber deal. I know it's important, but the effects it has on my body... mercy.

    Hang in there, you just have to find your new rhythm. Welcome to late 20s!

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what up yo?