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Goodmorning, buddies!
Ahhh, the first days of maintenance...
It feels like I have had two Indulgence Days in a row, but I really haven't. I had one - the one I talked about in my journal yesterday. Weight is up about 2 kilos, nothing unusual after Indulgence Day and it is fully expected. Fat% is down accordingly, and my visceral fat is even down from 9 to 8 for the first time. Nice!
Yesterday, I ended up at 1600 calories, in no way bad.
We found an excellent steak house in Copenhagen. Essentially, the deal is that you buy the steak, then buy separate sides for in. One of the optional sides is a salad bar.
The salad bar is AMAZING, and once you see it you'd agree that with a selection like that there is NO need for meat whatsoever. So Wife and I just opted for salads for dinner. Yum.
Lunch was a little less exciting. We went to a shawarma grill, and the food was fair quality, but not really interesting. I made excellent choices - I ate about 50% of the meat served, about 20% of the hummus served, all the lettuce that didn't have dressing and I skipped the bread completely. I am kinda proud of that.
...
Today I went to the gym. I was surprised. Last time I went, Friday, I was so tired. I think the three weeks with a 600 calorie RDI had finally gotten to me. I was sick and tired of doing it, and it was just wearing me down. Sure, I saw weight loss results, but the side effects were getting rough. Especially the loss of energy, and the frustration over having to work so hard to fit everything into my meal plan.
Today, it was totally different. I felt refueled after a light breakfast with rye bread and egg, and every machine I used at the gym felt LIGHT, everything compared.
I was able to go WAY harder on every single machine. Now, there is food for thought.
Obviously, if you work out - do NOT go that low in calories! Still, it was an experiment that I wanted to do, and I was prepared that this could happen. I'm glad it's over, though.
What is even more interesting is this:
I set out on the three weeks at 600 journey to learn about hunger. I was to learn how it feels to be PHYSICALLY hungry. I actually wanted to push myself to a place where I would feel it, so I could identify it and compare it to my emotional hunger, and thus easier identify which is which.
However, after three weeks, it never came. I never felt starving. I never felt that I now NEEDED to eat. I never felt sick.
I guess what I have learned instead is that I don't get physically hungry, as long as I have just a little bit of food here and there. NEVER, get hungry. It's all a matter of eating when I can, not as much when time dictates it, "just because it's lunch time".
Of course, this doesn't mean that I can't feel hunger. When the clock hits 11 am on work days, I feel hungry like everyone else does around meal times. My mind is prepping me for lunch. It's perfectly normal. I just don't want to feel like I am a slave to those thoughts - that is the key to all of this.
I could easily tell the difference this weekend. I think I really had a great grip on it. Both lunches, I didn't finish my meals. I made good choices for breakfast, focusing on protein, not bread. I had great dinner yesterday, and didn't go nearly as nuts as planned on Friday.
This is how I need to do this from now on, in maintenance mode.
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Now, as my buddy Sarahduke points out in the comments yesterday - There is a lot of talk about whether we can "just bounce back to the calories we SHOULD be able to consume" in maintenance mode. I am not sure about this, but I know I have to be very careful that the lbs don't just creep back on.
My approach with this is to use proper judgment at all my meals. I want to be able to do this right - and honestly, if I was to consume all the calories that I am now allowed (supposedly) I'd eat myself to death. I can't do that on an every day basis. So I won't.
I think that if I generally make sane choices througout the work days, have two 600 calorie days per week, and one day where I am allowed to do "stupid" choices - IF I COUNT CALORIES THAT DAY - then I think it's gonna work. It is very easy, and very accomplishable. Let's see where it takes me.
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Today, it's BURNIN' LIVE! day. We're doing an extended practice day, just to get some stuff worked through. I hope that we can get to do a nice recording or two of some of the songs that we play.
We are probably also gonna talk about doing a little "show" at the next jam session, playing maybe three songs or something. WE gotta pick the songs, and find out what to do with them.
Since I am gonna be away from home, and in a food-less place, all day, today is the perfect day to do 600 calories.
I had a slice of rye bread and an egg for breakfast. Lunch will be a pita bread with ham and lettuce (no cheese, dressing or anything else) for lunch (and I might even skip the pita and just have the lettuce and ham), and for dinner is one of my famous vegetable/tomato soups. I even have room for a couple of apples for snacks.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- Spring coming! I can now feel it. The weather is warmer, the sun is shining.
- Morning coffee.
- MUCH more energy at the gym.
- Realizing that I took going to the gym as an obvious thing this morning, not something I had to even remotely convince myself that I had to do. I just got up, got ready, had breakfast, and went.
- An awesome - AWESOME - weekend with wife!
- Wife!
- Maintenance, baby! Yeah!
- Rockin' with Burnin' Live!
There are so many reasons that LIFE IS GOOD! :)
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187.6 lb
Lost so far: 154.1 lb.
Still to go: 0.2 lb.
Diet followed 100%.
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gaining 17.0 lb a week
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