Thank you to everyone who commented (here or on spark) or sent me a message. I’m lucky to have such smart people who actually read this stuff! I got some amazing advice, so I wanted to make sure to share for those of you who don’t actually peruse every comment. First, a little Monday cuteness:
- Check this out, it seems like a very reasonable way to figure out how many calories to eat. This had me around 1679 calories per day to lose with an average of 419 per day burnt. So I went ahead and rounded up to 1700 and am rolling with that. It feels like too much, but I think it’s because I have been eating too little. Everything under the sun I’ve seen numberwise says I can eat just about 2000 and not work out and maintain, so I’ll trust it. Also, I’ve never eaten a constant calorie count per day so that will definitely be a shock to my body!
- Alcohol is a sugar. Thanks Charlotte – this gave me one of those DUH moments! Of course it is. And I haven’t been treating it as such. As long as I had the calories for it, I didn’t care beyond that. I need to make sure at the very least that I do not eat sweet treats on the same day I have alcohol, and preferably, to limit it to a few times per week for either. When I drank a lot I never ate sweets, but now that it’s more occasional, I find myself wanting a somethin’ somethin’ after dinner. Now that I have more calories, it might not even be an issue, because I bet it’s not just something sweet – it’s that I was hungry and sweets were time appropriate.
- Try the zone ratio of eating (40/30/30 – 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. I’ve been on this a few days and it’s HARD! I generally eat low fat without trying – more like a 55/30/15 ratio. Closest I’ve gotten is 44/27/29. What I’m doing for the most part is trying to eat what I normally do, but add calories via protien and fat via snacks. I have to say – I feel full all the time eating this way. It’s going to take some work to adjust (and I need to accept that my grocery bill is going to go up a bit, healthy fats are expensive!) but I think I am already on board with this.
- I am also going to try to keep my exercise spread out 6 days a week doing *something* like I have been to go with the constant calorie intake. There are very few days that I can’t make at least 30 minutes to go do something heart pumping (and those are usually Sundays), and it doesn’t have to be the most vigorous thing every day. Weights and west coast swing class for an hour is perfectly fine. I don’t need to kill myself getting a super cardio workout every day, just enough so I can maintain my 419-ish per day.
I’ve had multiple people tell me to give it 2 full weeks (because I *might* see a gain this week) so you won’t hear another peep out of me about this until August 3rd. Thanks for the advice, moral support, and I’m looking forward to safe and sane weight loss, or if not, at least I’ll never be hungry again, right?
Also, Better’n peanut butter, sliced strawberries, and a tablespoon of honey on sprouted grain bread is just about heaven on earth. Have a great Monday, and tomorrow I will talk about something different, I promise!
I'm a video game producer and a lover of anything game related by trade. I'm a triathlete by hobby. I live for being on or in the water as much as I can - scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, water slides... you name it. The dichotomy between my outdoor and indoor realities are interesting, but they're all mine! Longer version