|
My progress bar changed to yellow today, at 46.7% of my weight loss goal achieved. (I thought I had to wait till 50%.) I've lost 10.5 lb in just under 7 weeks. I'm about a month ahead of the schedule I'd imagined.
I've laid out my weight-loss "rules" in my bio, but I'll fill in some details.
As it turns out, I tend to eat about 25% of my calories as protein and then about equal fat and carbs for the remainder, which seems to suit me. If I make sure to start my protein consumption early in the day, I don't feel over-hungry at any point. On days when I'm hungry mid-afternoon, I'm content to consume my RDI by 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. (and I still don't have to eat again until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.), which, if I have the time to eat early, is better for me hunger-wise than putting my last meal off until evening, though most days I eat supper at a normal hour. I don't worry that I'm depriving myself. I'm clearly not starving at 1870 Cal – more on this number below.
I started out using Fat Secret's RDI, but then I saw that other calorie calculators online undercut this by about 500 calories per day. The latter might be a good idea if I were eyeballing portions and underestimating a lot, but it seemed drastic considering I felt I'd already cut back, and was measuring accurately. So I did my own calculations, after some reading, and chose something in between. I'm about 5' 10" and relatively sedentary these days, though moderately athletic when I want to be. I'm aiming for 170 lb, and I chose an RDI of 1870 Cal. (In the past my body type has tended toward the high end of the BMI scale; I've been just barely within the normal range when lean and not training to maintain muscle.) I aimed to eat a bit less than the maintenance RDI for a similarly sedentary person of my goal weight, as I reasoned this would ensure that my glycogen was being depleted and fat burning was kicking in, and I didn't want to go too high and be feeding a still overweight version of myself. My weight loss has been just over 1.5 lb per week on average.
(For the past couple of days I've been recovering from food poisoning, with an unplanned day of fasting forced on me by the circumstances, and eating mostly carbs and not much fiber during the recovery. The weight loss is proceeding apace but I'm cognizant of the potential for greater lean muscle loss if I don't switch back soon.)
The only things I don't exactly weigh or measure, per se, are bananas (I just use the "medium" and "large" entries, as appropriate) and dates (one is half a serving, and I enter it as such whether it's big or small, figuring it will all balance out in the end). Otherwise I'm pretty religious about keeping track.
I don't mean to consume added sugar but it's an ingredient in kombucha (which I like these days), to feed the fermentation. However, I usually drink a kind with relatively few calories, 30 per cup. Otherwise I'm just about sugar-free (apart from natural sugar in whole fruits), which I find surprisingly rewarding.
I've stuck within a fairly limited range of foods during this process, for convenience.
I don't expect to get "abs", necessarily, with the little amount of exercise I'm doing, and that hasn't been the goal, but I'm starting to see some ab contours, and I'm starting to verge on lean. I don't know if I have 12 lb more to lose, but it's possible. I'll keep that as the goal for now, and stay the course. I don't know if the weight loss will continue at the same rate, if my metabolism will slow, if more exercise will cause me to put on weight, etc. We'll we what happens.
But I'd say this calorie-counting thing has been a mounting success so far.
All the best to everyone. Your goals are achievable.
Diet Calendar Entry for 25 April 2019:
|
1646 kcal
|
Fat: 79.86g | Prot: 78.23g | Carb: 244.39g.
Breakfast: Strawberry, Brew Dr Brew Dr Ginger Turmeric Kombucha, Avocado, Banana, Paradise Island Cheese Lactose Free Mozzarella Cheese. Snacks/Other: Fisherman's Friend Original Extra Strong Lozenges, Tea (Brewed), Coffee, Paradise Island Cheese Lactose Free Mozzarella Cheese, Avocado, Explore Cuisine Organic Chickpea Spaghetti, Paradise Island Cheese Lactose Free Mozzarella Cheese, Brew Dr Vanilla Oak Kombucha, Brew Dr Brew Dr Ginger Turmeric Kombucha, Dry Roasted Macadamias with Sea Salt, Explore Cuisine Organic Chickpea Spaghetti, Paradise Island Cheese Lactose Free Mozzarella Cheese, Strawberry, Banana, Paradise Island Cheese Lactose Free Mozzarella Cheese. more...
|
|