Accountability
I haven't posted a lot on OH but I'm posting today because it's time for me to become accountable for my eating. I'm hoping that posting this and putting my weight out there for everyone to see will give me the motivation to get the 9 pounds I've gained back off. I continue to exercise 5 days a week, but I know my eating habits have become snacking habits. I DO NOT want to continue on the weight gain path but I guess I need a wake up call so this is my start. Looking forward to taking the pounds off and being accountable again for what I eat!
Elina I have read so much you have posted and it has always been encouraging to me. I am planning to track my foods again with myfitnesspal, but other than that I'm not sure. In the past I have just jogged during the week and worked out arms 3 days a week and my weight has maintained with little effort. In December the weight started creeping on and I knew I was eating more junk. The past couple weeks I have monitored more closely my diet but no weight loss. I'm assuming that I still must be taking in more calories than I'm burning. I am eating healthy but I haven't tracked it. Any suggestions I would love! thank you
Yes, I have tons of suggestions. :) PM me and we can talk this out. You need a sustainable plan or two. One for getting the weight off and another to keep it off. There are many different options but not having a good plan is not one of them. Jus****ching what you eat in a general sense usually doesn't really get you there (from my experience). Here are some basic suggestions, but we can iron it out in a more personal way if you would like.
1) Start journaling every bite again (it's a pain, but very good tool). You need a baseline for the number of calories, carbs and protein that you are taking in now.
2) Eat at specific times, no snacks unless they are veggies
3) Drink more water
4) Come up with strategies for the weekend (if your weekend looks different from your weekdays).
5) Go back to eating protein (lean, homemade protein) first, followed by veggies.
6) Weigh your protein again, my guess is that you might be eating more than you really need.
7) Cut out the carbs, especially white carbs.
There is no magic, but having a specific plan helps me do it. I have a few other things that I do that I would not be comfortable to talk about on an open forum but I will tell you in a PM. In the end, you have to find something that works for you. Losing the weight gets harder the further out we get. At least that has been my experience. You are wise to take things seriously and get on top of this right away. Some people will tell you that it's okay to gain a little bit and find your "comfortable set point". The truth is that metabolically speaking, our set point is really our highest weight. If we don't battle the regain, the weight will just keep going back up. That's the sad truth. Obesity is not really curable, it is manageable but it must be monitored and dealt with as relapse happens. Sometimes we need to make small changes, sometimes we need to make major lifestyle changes, I don't really know your particular situation, but clearly, something (about the calories you eat) must be changed and just leaving it to "eating less", usually doesn't do it.
