Motivation

GETTING STARTED

Losing weight is a lot like paying off debt. It's a lot of fun to spend money and rack up a big debt, but paying it off takes time, perseverance, sacrifice and belt-tightening. In the same way, it can be a lot of fun to "spend" calories and rack up a big weight gain, but losing that weight takes time, perseverance, sacrifice and ... woo hoo... belt-tightening! The only way to really succeed at debt reduction is a twofold approach: (1) stop over-spending; and (2) cut back so extra saved money can go toward debt reduction. And, similarly, the only way to really succeed at weight loss is a similar twofold approach: (1) stop overeating; and (2) cut back on eating so extra "saved/uneaten calories) can go toward weight loss.

START FROM A POSITION OF KNOWLEDGE

Use the the Tools at www.calorie-count.com to determine the number of calories that it currently takes to just maintain your present weight. This involves inputting you age, weight, height, gender, general body frame size, and your activity level. Keep in mind that the number given isn't exactly perfect -- all of us have different metabolisms, medical issues, etc. -- but it's a grand starting point. Then, depending on what that number is, subtract 500 calories (1 pound per week loss), 750 calories (1.5 pound per week loss) or 1000 calories (2 pounds per week loss.) Experts all agree that you should not have greater than a 1000-calorie per day deficit unless you are being monitored at least every other week by a physician. The other number to keep an eye on is your total daily calories. Adult women must stay above 1200 calories per day, and adult men must stay above 1500 per day. (Teens, add 300 to those numbers!)

Keep in mind that if you are overweight, you've been eating more than the number of calories necessary to maintain your weight, so just dropping down to your maintenance calories on a regular basis will be a shift. Then, subtracting 500 or more calories from that will be a change. You are the best person to judge if you and your lifestyle can handle a 1000-calorie-per day change, or if 750 or 500 would be better. And, like me, you might want to start at a 600 calorie per day deficit and after a few weeks, change that to a bigger deficit. After all, slow and steady DOES win the race and will still get you to your goal. (After all, it's like changing your spending habits... it's easier to cut back on "recreational shopping" rather than taking the position that you will "never shop again.")

SET UP A DAILY AND MEAL-BY-MEAL CALORIE BUDGET

Once you've determined how many calories per day you get to eat, set up a calorie "budget" that fits your lifestyle. For me (with 1500 calories per day to "spend"), I use 300 for breakfast, 400 for lunch, 500 for dinner, and I save 300 for snacking... usually 100 as an afternoon snack and 200 for evening snacks. Other people do fine without snacks. Still other people need more snacks, or prefer just to eat six small meals a day. Figure out what works for you and STICK TO IT. That can be the hard part, but it really is the key to staying on track for the whole day. STICK TO YOUR BUDGET. And, once you've eaten all your calories for a meal or snack, you need to wait for the next one to eat.... it's only a few hours and you really WILL survive. And, once you've had all your calories for the day, follow this approach.

Eaten all your calories and you want more? Fine. Start with a double-mug of decaf tea or low-sodium bouillon. (That's 16 ounces). Drink it up and wait 10 minutes. (Often what we perceive as hunger is really our body being thirsty.) Still hungry? You can have 50 calories of a vegetable (not a fruit) ... whatever you like. (By the way, that's two cucumbers or 2.5 cups of sliced radishes or just under two cups of cherry tomatoes or a nice pile of green beans or two cups of broccoli.) Then wait another 10 minutes. (You are waiting because sometimes it takes time for your tummy to tell your brain that you're full.) Still hungry? You can have 50 calories of a lean protein. (That's two slices of lean turkey, or 7 cubes of Laughing Cow Light Gourmet cheese bites, or two hard-boiled egg whites.) Then, wait another 10 minutes. Still hungry after that? Repeat this process of liquids-veggies-proteins. The key is, if you are eating "off budget" ... you do NOT get to "cheat" by eating something wonderful (or unhealthy!) ... it has to be a veggie or a lean protein ... nothing sweet, nothing junk food. This is retraining your body and you not to reach for unhealthy food when you are hungry!

WEIGH YOUR FOOD, MEASURE YOUR FOOD, LOG YOUR FOOD, ROTATE YOUR FOOD

Weigh, measure, or otherwise apportion everything you eat ... and log it all. This helps hold you accountable and it teaches you all about portion sizes, serving sizes, and helps you to recognize how calorie-dense some foods really are. And it should help you make better choices. Ever wonder why some dieters use fat free products? So they can eat more food!!!. For some people, quantity is what counts. For other people, taste and quality is what counts. Make YOUR healthy decisions based on how you value food. Personally, I'd rather have four servings of broccoli for 100 calories than one tiny little snack bar ... but that's just me. I switched from fat free skim milk (90 calories a cup) to unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze (almond milk) because it has half the calories and a fraction of the carbs. It works just as well on my cereal, and it "frees up" more calories for me to "spend" elsewhere. And what do I do with those "extra calories?" I eat more food! LOL! (And often it's veggies!) And don't hesitate to try new things and rotate what you are eating so you don't get bored! I make it a point to try new foods... new proteins, new veggies, new grains, new brands, new products. Before I started on my weight loss journey, I'd never had Almond Milk, Ostrich, Quinoa, Kamut, Hummus, vegetarian burgers, butternut squash, red peppers, Straw Mushrooms, Shirataki noodles, Tofu-shirataki noodles, natural peanut butter, Laughing Cow light cheese, Kashi Go Lean cereal, etc. There's a whole world of healthy food out there.

FIND A BUDDY, A GROUP, FRIENDS ... AND STICK WITH THEM

Join a Challenge. Post in the forums. Join a thread, a club, a group... and stick with them for support, motivation, encouragement and camaraderie. Comment in people's journals, and write in your OWN journal. Send PMs. Make friends and get to know people ... it's a great way to get new ideas, discuss problems or ideas with people, and just have a lot more fun at this eating healthy-weight loss "journey" that we're all on.

WE CAN DO THIS ... YOU CAN DO THIS!

Just take things one meal at a time, one day at a time, and one pound at a time....

=^..^= MOLLY

And be sure and read these FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!

WHAT IS A BALANCED DIET?

1500 CALORIES IN THREE MEALS A DAY

1500 CALORIES IN SIX MEALS A DAY

 

=^..^= MOLLY

Tagged it!  This is fantastic, I love the analogy you used it totally hit home for me and breaks it down into something more manageable.

Your tips are greatly appreciated and will be read by me often.  I've already started using your tip for budgeting calories for meals and snacks today. I like this, it gives me more control and gives me room to allow for snacks which I totally need. 

 I'm vegetarian and can only handle small amounts of soy/soy products so I also use almond milk, I love how low in calories it is too.

Thanks again for so much good advice now I know I can do this! Molly you rock!

Thank you for the awesome tips.  I am definitely going to tag this. 

 Lori

 

 

 

Yay, glad people are finding this helpful!

=^..^= MOLLY

I am so glad you exist.  Thanks for posting this.  Your debt analogy is brilliant and so is your strategy.  I'm off to read your budget suggestions now.

I just started using this program 3 days ago and I love it but I can not figure out what the eat meter means. mine says around 2700 and my burn meter say about 3600. I weigh 375 and the program set goal weight at 170. I am a 62 yr old male.

Thanks.

Peter

Original Post by petaj99:

I just started using this program 3 days ago and I love it but I can not figure out what the eat meter means. mine says around 2700 and my burn meter say about 3600. I weigh 375 and the program set goal weight at 170. I am a 62 yr old male.

Thanks.

Peter

 

The EAT meter tells you how many calories total you've decided to eat in any given day (the tiny number at the top) and the bigger number tells you how many calories you've logged so far, for that day,

The BURN meter tells you how many total calories you will burn in any given day (based on your activity level, age, weight, gender ... the tiny number at the top), and the bigger number tells you how many calories you've burned so far, for the day. (It's really just to show you how you burn calories spread over a day.)

Peter, if your daily burn is 3600 calories and you want to lose 2 pounds a week, seek to eat 1000 calories below that (2600 calories). If you have more questions, feel free to send me -- or any of the mods -- a PM!  (and welcome!)

=^..^= MOLLY

TAGGING

This is outstanding, you definitely rock!

This is the second topic posted by Molly that I've tagged so far (and I'm here only a week!)!

Molly, this is fantastic! Amazing analogy and excellent tips...

 

Thanks!!

Tagged!!  Thanks Molly :-)

This is my second day on this site and I am so impressed.  You are offering real advice I can follow and not feel deprived or it's not possible to do.  Thanks

Hi,

 First of all I just wanted to thank you for breaking it down for us, and making  it easier to digest

I was wondering if the timing of meals makes any difference, I know some pple loose weight by not eating after a certain time of day. I pesonally cannot possibly do that, as I get home after 7:30pm and by the time I get the kids to bed, I sometimes dont get a chance to have dinner until 10pm. Just wondering how much of a hindrance late eating can be on a diet, even if I stick to calorie allowance.

 

Thanks 

 

 

natasha319 ....

As long as you stay within your calorie goals and don't find eating late to be a problem for sleeping, you really can eat as late as you want ... I do.  However, your metabolism will stay more active if you spread your calories out somewhat throughout the day (and always have breakfast), rather than waiting all day until 7pm (or later) to eat your entire day's worth of calories. (That would have me flopping over on the floor LONG before then!)

The calories you burn each day are based on X number of waking hours and X number of sleeping hours (based on what you input when you first signed up), factoring in the activity level you stated that you had. So, if your body burns 2400 calories per day, that's 2400 calories per 24-hour day. You don't change that by eating an hour before you go to bed, though that IS one of the diet myths that's out there.

Some people find that giving themselves an eating "cut-off" time before bed helps to prevent "unauthorized" or "unbudgeted" snacking. Still others, like me, recognize that I am a "snack happy night owl" and go ahead and budget after dinner snacking into my daily calorie budget.

So, whatever works for you ... works for you! There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to the details of dieting ... just be sure to eat healthy, get some exercise, and stick to your budget!

=^..^= MOLLY

Thanks!

This is great, Molly...but I do have one comment...

Keep in mind that if you are overweight, you've been eating more than the number of calories necessary to maintain your weight, so just dropping down to your maintenance calories on a regular basis will be a shift.

I think it would be more accurate to say if you are GAINING weight, you've been eating more than the number of calories necessary to maintain your weight.  If you are overweight but maintaining that weight, then you couldn't really drop down to maintenance calories  because you'd already be eating at that level.

Just my .02.

Original Post by brandy_m_gray:

This is great, Molly...but I do have one comment...

Keep in mind that if you are overweight, you've been eating more than the number of calories necessary to maintain your weight, so just dropping down to your maintenance calories on a regular basis will be a shift.

I think it would be more accurate to say if you are GAINING weight, you've been eating more than the number of calories necessary to maintain your weight.  If you are overweight but maintaining that weight, then you couldn't really drop down to maintenance calories  because you'd already be eating at that level.

Just my .02.

True enough.

=^..^= MOLLY

I really enjoyed reading your forum.  I found it inspiring and motivating.  It made a lot of sense.  I'm new to the program and finding my way around,  I've made a couple of friends that have been very helpful.  I Love it.  Thanks

Well Done, Molly!!!!

Again...!!!!

Molly - Thank you so much for the info. I didn't realize that you had put this on for me. I have been so busy, haven't back here for a week or so. Sorry about that. I will read what you wrote more carefully, I am printing it as we speak. Thanks again so much. Barb.