Blog #307
What is working for you?
Here is what I have done to kickstart my plan to weight loss success:
· Get a kitchen scale and use it.
· Download a calorie and fitness tracker. My recommendations are either MyFitnessPal or Lose It. Log-in every day!
· For one month, eat normally without trying to lose weight. Log everything. Figure out what your daily intake is. That number of calories is what is keeping you where you are. It is your base.
· The second month, cut that daily number by 100 calories. One cookie? Four tater tots? You won't miss it. But your body will stop gaining (or stop gaining so fast) and will start pulling those 100 calories from your fat reserves if it needs them. Keep logging.
** Note **The Second Law of Thermodynamics is a Law, not a suggestion. It takes about 10 calories a day to support a pound of you. If you are 250 pounds and you are getting less than 2500 calories a day, your body will not be able to stay 250 pounds and will not be able to gain any more weight. **
· The third month, after your body has gotten used to that original 100 calories, reduce them by another 100 calories a day, or six corn chips, for a total of 200 calories a day less than your base.
· The fourth month, reduce by another 100 calories, for a total of 300 calories a day less than your base. Keep reducing every month or two until you reach the maintenance level for the weight you want, then stay there. 150 pounds is 150 x 10 = 1500 daily calories. Keep logging.
· If you want faster results, do the reduction at 150 calorie rates instead of 100 calories.
· For my weight which was 368 pounds when I started, I found my ideal caloric intake per day to lose weight was 1200 calories a day. My goal weight is to be under 200 pounds!
Yours may be more or less depending on your weight and what you want your weight to be. (Whatever works for you)
· I also fast from 7:00 pm (I eat nothing after this time) until 9:00 am the following morning. This helps your metabolism level off.
· Drink plenty of water during the day! I love making my own “Lemon Water”.
· Exercise at least 3-4 times a week for a ½ hour or 1 hour a day.
Meanwhile, you probably know all about reducing sugar and about empty calories (they are not your friends!)
Eat plenty of protein and fiber and whatever else you need to do. Weight loss will start out very slow and will probably stay very slow. But after a couple of overly optimistic and completely unrealistic tries and yoyoing with other diets that I have done, this system is a start to figuring out how many calories a day you need to take in to lose weight.
One advantage to slow weight loss is that you don't have to talk about it. People barely notice it unless they haven't seen you in a while. Other people can make the whole process very uncomfortable. Some may be full of unwanted advice or criticism. Some will try outright sabotage. So, keep it to yourself, or gain support from trusted family or friends.
My entire attitude towards food has changed. I don't mindlessly gobble it up anymore. My diet has become a game. If I want to spend my calories on cake for lunch, I eat cake for lunch. I just don't pile pizza in on top of it. My portion sizes have also gone down without even thinking about it.
Here is a handy little chart for portion control sizes:
This is what has worked for me, and I hope it is inspiration and motivation to help you start your health happiness journey of weight loss too!
I have lost over one hundred pounds and have kept it off, and you can too!
Make the Choice to take the chance to make the change!