Sparkspeople

Sparkspeople.com  gave me a reality check today.  Here I was counting calories and I am still so lacking in my eating habits.  I only realized today that I could lose 2 pounds per week which is 15 pounds by June 30, 2011.  I realize that is a very good goal by in the back of my mind I with it could be more.  I have keeping up with some of my exercises during this week.  What can I do to keep the calories down this week without dieting?

Making a change by calorie counting

So you figured out how many calories you need to eat to lose the extra pounds but for some reason its hard to stay within the calorie count.  Don't fret, it takes practice to stop eating so much.  First find out how many calories are consumed naturally within your normal day.  This may take a few days to do.  Eat like you normally eat and count every thing you put in your mouth including the sugar in your coffee down to the spoonful of food you eat while cooking a meal.  After a few days you should find that the calorie range is the same, you body has a set point to the amount of calories you are use to.  Now it is time to change that amount. From your normal amount of calorie intake, subtract 500 calories per day.  By cutting those 500 calories you should lose 1 pound in 7 days because for every 3500 calories a pound is lost.  Burn 500 extra calories by exercising and get 2 pound by the end of 7 days.  Some people can cut more calories but it may not be safe to do. If you are having trouble cutting those 500 per day go slow by practicing cutting out 250 for  awhile then going down over a period of time. By cutting 250 it may take a little longer but remember you are changing you life one day at a time.

Your perfect weightloss plan

Your weight loss program does not always need to be all or nothing.  There are times when your plan will go straight to hell and what you have learned does not jive with that calorie intake you've chosen.  What I've learned is that when my day does not go exactly like I planned I continue  to count calories.  It took me 6 months to stop eating 3400 calories a day which was what I was use to eating. I kept trying to eat 2000 calories a day but each day I just couldn't change the amount I was eating, then I told myself, so you can't cut 1400 calories out of your life but you can cut 200 of the 3400 calories for a while, then I cut 200 more until I got used to eating less.  Sure I wanted to lose weight fast but what I really wanted was to keep it off for good.  I finally got down to 2000 per day naturally cutting off my appetite.  I still eat when hungry with one exception, I must eat breakfast when I wake up.  If I do this and keep my calories down to 300 to 350 for breakfast, by the time lunch times come, I am feeling hungry again which is what I am looking for.  I want to eat when hungry and really enjoy my food.  When I started cutting the calories my body seemed to keep looking for that sluggish feeling I was so used to.  I wanted to eat then pass out on the couch.  I started paying attention to how I felt before getting sluggish and sat with myself  enjoying the feeling of less food in my body. Sometime it was not a comfortable feeling and I started to feel empty.  Sometimes that empty feeling would make me feel lonely.  Wow, was it really about food?  I would actually rather feel sluggish and fall asleep rather than think about how lonely I felt. I searched for something to take away that empty feeling I started riding my bike for 5 minutes so that the feeling would go away.  I could not ride the bike for 20 or 30 minutes because mentally I just didn't want to do it, but I could ride  for 5 minutes and try to increase over time.  Believe me I would have loved to lose a lot of weight by now but I really had some deep rooted issued that needed to be discovered and plucked away.  I really think the weight will start to fall off now because, I'm a fat burning machine.

Baby Steps

I am still counting calories along with the intuitive eating.  I realize that I was eating way to much while working on the intuitive eating, I am sorry that it took so long to finally get it.  I went to sparkspeople.com and have been keeping up with my calories on the site but some times its just to much to do, so I have decided to count 300 calories for breakfast, 400 for lunch and 700 for dinner and stop worrying about the total for the whole day. "Baby Steps" I will try to keep my count at 1400 calories but after speaking with the nutritionist I learned that I could have 1900 calories and still lose weight.  I don't really know what foods I will eat for 700 calories.  Dinner has been a real problem for me because I rush into the house after work and dive into the fridge.  I snack on anything then count the calories then eat dinner.  I usually go over my count  but that's ok because I am still learning.  I am just at a point where I really want to see a difference in my body.  I have changed so much over the past year and a half.  I no longer worry  about things that I can;t change.  I try not to stress out over every little thing.