Intermittent Diet Update 2

 Exercise, Intermittent Low Calorie Plan  No Responses »
Jan 252012
 
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Start with the numbers: in 2 weeks, I’ve lost 5.5 pounds. Just fine with me. I’ve had some lovely social, food-oriented times and have not been craving sugar or alcohol at all. Again – just fine with me.

In fact – I’ve been feeling so well that I turned down a third glass of wine because I didn’t want that foggy head the next morning. (I know; I’m a cheap date.) But that’s such a victory that I’m going to cling to it for a while. Will let you know if it happens again!

This is heavy hormone week and I struggled with the super low calorie days. Luckily, I’m a grown-up so I ate enough to make it bearable and still kept them “pretty low calorie” days at 800 and 950 calories.

I’m trying to think of exercise, NOT as something that earns me more food, but as a new rhythm of life. To that end, I’ve noted whether my moving is:

  • r/w – run walk – 11 – 12 minute mile
  • walk  – as in a power walk – got to be under a 15 minute mile
  • o&a – out and about – I count it as a 20 minute mile though my pace is faster than that when I’m on my own.

Last week I had 1 walk, 3 run/walks and 5 sessions just out and about, burning off over 2,ooo calories in the process. I reckon I put in somewhere around 10 o&a miles of walking just going to the train and walking across town for errands.

What was hard?

I will never like the fact that I have to be so focused on food and weight in order to lose but there’s no other option. The only time weight has just fallen off in the past 10 years, I was either ill or very very stressed (or both) and it was incredibly scary. What gives me hope is that in a few weeks I’ll be able to scrap the two VLC days and start eating to maintain my weight. I’ll be in Canada for five weeks so it will give me a chance to establish new eating and exercise habits in that home too.

But that’s looking way forward – a proven toxic behaviour when it comes to weight loss for me. I need to picture the me I want to be – but concentrate on immediate behaviours. So I guess I’d better eat breakfast and get on with the day.

Daily Weigh is still going on if you are that thrilled with numbers.

 Posted by Millie at 2:29 am  Tagged with: ,

Intermittent Diet Update 1

 Intermittent Low Calorie Plan  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 
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So – likes and dislikes so far about this intermittent low calorie diet.

Strictly, this means two days of very low calories (VLC) and 5 days of *regular healthy eating*. For my own sanity, I’m journalling my food and exercise every day while I’m losing to make sure that I’m on track. My week looks like this:

Monday & Tuesday: 650-700 calories

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: 1550 – 1600 calories

Saturday & Sunday: 1800 calories – or use this time to balance what’s been eaten the rest of the week – such as a nice dinner out on Friday night.

As long as I average 1400 calories per day eaten and 200 calories per day burned by exercise then I should look forward to losing up to 1.5 pounds per week. And that is stupendous if it is consistent.

  • Dislikes:

The low calorie days feel, not exactly unhealthy, but so dietish that I wonder what I’m doing to myself. However, the Likes are so significant that I can ignore that little problem.

  • Likes

Even on the VLCDays, I can meet someone for a coffee. That is key to my happiness when I’m trying to lose weight. The thought that “I can’t” really draws out the rebel in me and failure ends up right around the corner.

The other 5 days per week are wonderful rehearsals for real life with real food. I feel like, by journaling and tracking now, I’m really preparing myself for a life where I don’t keep gaining weight.

The usual 1400 calories per day gets so so boring and every social event becomes a choice between being on and off the wagon. This method means that I can eat with friends when the occasion demands – in a relaxed way.

There is so much wiggle room in the remaining 5 days that I never play diet games. In fact, I’m eating what I’ll be eating to maintain my weight. The only difference will be stopping the VLCDays which makes me look forward to “normal”.

I’ve already learned that, if there’s a high calorie event planned, it doesn’t really hurt to eat less the day before or after. It’s just reality if I want to stay slim. Naturally slim people take eating a lot one day as a cue to eat less the following day. Naturally fat people take eating a lot one day as a cue to keep on eating!

My beloved is also happy with the plan. He knows that he’s on his own for dinner for one day per week and he’s happy to have a VLC meal on the other day. The rest of the week is just like usual – that’s usual when we’re choosing to be healthy.

*And that would be my only warning.* If you don’t know how to eat healthily, then this may not be for you. I don’t crave junk food and we don’t have unhealthy snacks – cookies, chips, etc -  in the house at all.  We worked through that years ago and this is really about losing a few pounds that have crept on over the past year.

Look here for information about the Intermittent Diet.

Here’s the Good Housekeeping article that got me curious in the first place.

 

 

 

 Posted by Millie at 2:19 am  Tagged with: ,

Weighing Every Day

 Psychology of Weight Loss, Things to try, Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Jan 142012
 
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How often should you weigh yourself?

If I were starting out on this weight loss thing for the first time, I’d say never more than once a week.

However, I have a history with scale insanity – brought about by the combination of my natural fear of failure and the stressful weekly ritual of the Weight Watchers weigh-in.

What do I mean by scale insanity?

I mean wearing the lightest clothes I own – but only after the initial weigh-in – then progressing to taking off my watch then my wedding ring.

I mean not eating breakfast and taking my coffee in a travel mug so that I can drink it after stepping on the scale.

I mean seeing that weekly event as something that could make or break my day.

I mean allowing myself to be defined by a number.

That’s not sane.

So the only way I could think of breaking that was to weigh myself every day till it held no power over me.

It works but there are strict parameters:

Weigh only first thing in the morning without clothes. (wedding ring can stay!)

Weigh only once. If your scale doesn’t give the same reading when you weigh yourself 3 times in 3 minutes, get a new scale.

Practice and practice some more the skill of seeing that the scale is just measuring changes in the weight of the composition of your body. It will fluctuate all over the place and does not in any way reflect who you are as a person.

Only another sufferer of scale insanity would think that the above sentence is not crazy.

Please please please only embark on daily weighing if it makes you more sane about your body rather than less. And never ever ever step on the scale in the evening. Really. Just don’t.

If you’d like to be bored to tears by the slow progress of my own weight loss, you can keep tabs on my Daily Weigh page.

 

 Posted by Millie at 3:20 am  Tagged with: ,
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