mecompco

You CAN do it, really.

First, as to the over-cal day you had, it really doesn't matter. I have one day a month figured into my plan that I take "off". I log what I eat, but with no calorie limit. Yesterday was my day--I had over 3K calories, including a 6 pack of beer. Today, I'm right back on my 1500 cals.

I think the "day off" is a good idea--you are planning on it, it is not "cheating". You record the calories and it is figured into your average. You are also not faced with the "I'll never be able to eat (insert your favorite food here) again" type thinking. You think "I've been good all month, today, and today only, I will go significatly over my usual limit".

It's funny, even on my day off, I have no compulsion to eat junk like sweets or bakery items (my old nemesis--I was a raving carb freak) nor really go overboard. And suprisingly, I enjoy my "day off" less and less. Even the beer was a dissapointment and I do like beer. I feel much better today with, at this point, 400 good calories in me.

Now, as to feeling hungry--I really seldom am hungry to the point of distress. Having on a couple of occasions taken in 0 calories for 30 days at a time, I know what real hunger is all about.

The way I spread out my 1500 calories really keeps me satisfied most of the time. About the only times it doesn't is if I'm bored and have perhaps used up my calories too early in the day.

On work days I eat 300 cals (usually 1/2 cup egg beaters, 2oz steak and 2 slices lite whole wheat bread w/real butter) for breakfast, 100 (fruit)around 9:00, 300 at 11:30 and the last 800 around 5:30 to 6:00 and go to bed around 8 or 9.

On weekends I usually eat a big brunch around 10-11, usually a couple eggs, bacon and toast. I'll have an afternoon snack, then again, the rest of my cals around supper time.

I do drink a big glass or two of water before my meals, which really helps.

I really don't exercise as much as I should--just the 1.3 mile walk at lunch time on work days, the WiiFit for half an hour or so on Saturday and some house/yard work on Sundays. I DO need to start lifting, but haven't done it yet.

This is what works for me. It may very well be that you can't live on the lower cals and that's fine but your losses may come more slowly. I would take a hard look at what you're eating in those 2K cals--are their any "empty" calories there? If so, you might consider cutting them back. Just a suggestion.

Regards,
Michael

PS I still weigh about 70 pounds more than you, so my body burns more than yours just to keep me breathing. With my "lifestyle" and exercise, I figure around 3000 cals a day. I am losing, on average, a bit over 2lbs a week with my 1500 cal intake limit. If I ate 2K a day, I would expect the losses to really slow up, for what that's worth. I suspect that eventually my maintainance level will be somewhere around 2K cals a day.

mchedester

thanks so much for the help guys (and girls). i am doing a 5k in march, so i'm hoping to lose enough weight by then to actually be able to jog. there is not way i could run a mile today unless i was being chased. i guess i've just had to accept hunger as part of weight loss. but i think when i've lost the weight, it won't be so bad. i am establishing some new habits and i will never go back to the old ones. i used to go to mcdonalds almost every day for lunch. i've been only once in the last 3 weeks or so and i don't even crave it now. they say it takes 30 days to establish a habit. i think i'm pretty close.

fattypapa

One thing I've found is that an early morning workout tends to calm down my hunger a bit. I've never really been a big breakfast person though. Since I started I've been alternating between running 30-60 min on the eliptical (depending on the day) and doing the p90x cardiox dvd first thing in the morning. I follow that up with a slimfast shake about 40 min. later after getting cleaned up and such and for some reason this ritual really seems to level out my hunger for the rest of the day. I eat about every two hours after that first shake, but small snack/meals never bigger than 300 calories and stop eating early. Been at 1200-1500 calories a day, with daily workouts and hunger has not been too bad. Hope it helps!

Also, water! I have a 500 ml bottle that I keep with me all day, no idea how many I get down, I just know its a lot. Helps with the hunger and it speeds your metabolism!

changeisgood29

If I can add my 2 cents here...

I see it mentioned this idea of equating being "good" with the quality and, sometimes, quantity of food consumed on a given day. My opinion is that you are no less "good" because of, say, a dozen doughnuts than if you ate 1 cup of broccoli instead. My point here is that your value and worth as a person is NOT dependent on or determined by food.

What has proven to be so effective for me, and one of the reasons why I am still maintaining the healthy lifestyle I started almost a year ago, is that I no longer consider food "good" or "bad" and, by the same token, I no longer consider myself either "good" or "bad" based on what I eat. I can and do eat anything I want - there are simply some foods that require stricter portion control than others. It doesn't make those foods "bad" or me "bad" for eating them.

I also have one "cheat meal" a week, which, over the course of the last 8 months, has developed into just having one day a week where my calories are at 2000 instead of (roughly) 1500. But it did take quite awhile for me to prefer steamed vegetables to fries, just like it took a long time for me to find exercise I liked enough to do for an hour a day.

Just my opinion... I wanted to share a food philosophy that's enabled me to lose about 50# with some more to go. Good luck and be kind to yourselves.

Vinomadd

Mecompco has talked with me about his diet a bit and I have been using the %40carb/%30protein/%30fat method myself. I, too, was a raging carb fiend, favoring sugary pastries and pastas for years. Very high carbohydrate levels do trick your body into thinking it's hungry after only a little bit, even after you've eaten a whole day's worth of calories in a sitting (and I have).

Carbs are not bad. Anything is bad in excess.

I find the higher protein levels keep me satiated much longer to the extent that I actually struggle to eat my entire 1300 calorie minimum. Your body has to work harder to process protein, keeping you satiated longer. Transfering carb calories to protein calories also limits that ever present threat of excessive insulin that we over eaters tend to bring on ourselves.

Give that ratio a try and give it some time. I think the change happened abnormalyl quick for me. In only about a week my eating patterns have shifted drastically in favor of weight loss/nearly all day satisfaction.