Eating and weight loss

[Anonymous]

I have lost 30 pounds in a year and would like to share to help others. I started at 204 and I am now at 164. Still chubby but not like I was. I can now fit into clothes that aren’t plus size (I was a 1-2x now I am a 12-14 or a large.) My advice won’t help the skinnies but it will help people like me.

I gave myself a generous 1850 calories a day and I am allowed to split it any way I want but I have a few rules. I have to have 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day and at least 50 grams of protein. And unless I am sick I have to eat at least 1700 calories. I also try to walk a mile a day but that’s about it for exercise.

This calorie allowance has made me relearn portion size, what being full vs. being hungry means and that no food is off limits it the quantity that’s off limits. If I choose to have a brownie sundae I may have to skip lunch, have a salad for a meal with a light dressing for a different meal that day to hit my quota and when my sundae comes I may only be able to eat half. I have crap like lean cuisines sometimes, but I still have to fit my calories and veggies in somewhere so I have real food everyday. I can have a sugar cookie from the break room but that may mean no starch at dinner.

The weight has come off at about 1/2 a pound to a pound a week which means I was eating about 2500-2800 calories a day and I think a lot of it was mindless eating. A potato with sour cream taste almost as good as a potato with butter and sour creme. I think the downfall is trying to stay at 1400 and being hangry all the time. 1850 is sustainable 1400 is not.

If I run out or calories or I have the munchies I allow myself something like strawberries or green pepper strips guilt free. If I exercise more than walking a mile I do add those calories in- so if I am going out to Mexican with friends for dinner I can bonus up the exercise to have chips and salsa. I use the app MyPlate for calorie counting and if I have 29 “green” days and one or two “red” days a month I call that a win.

Sorry for typos typing on my phone

[Anonymous]

That's good advice. How did you calculate the calories burned for exercise? An app?

[Anonymous]

Yes and it's all just an estimate- but even being mindful about it makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Good job. I cut back to 1300 calories and lost about 20 lbs. I was hungry at first but am not any more. But I had to cut out alcohol and cheese and some other things I like a lot. I think I am going to go to 1400 and then 1500 to see what happens.