What are your Goals for this week?

What are your goals for this week? I have some in mind for me:

1. Drink Water, water, water

2. Walk at least 3 days, climb stairs at work the other two days.

3. Journal every morsel that goes into my mouth.

4. Eat off of a smaller plate

Cece

Exactly my goals, as well.

However, if I go another week without losing a pound I am going back to my full bag of chitos and a bottle of red wine before bedtime. This is getting ridiculous. I stayed at 205 for over a year on a 3000+ calorie a day diet and if I drop down to 1500 and nothing changes, there is no point whatsoever.

I don't feel any better after two weeks of healthy eating and exercise and I am exactly the same weight. It is more expensive, more time intensive, and more disruptive to stick to this diet than it is to eat the way I normally have been.

I am a grumpy, pissy, unhappy individual. My kids need a mom who can sit with them at Sunday breakfast and laugh and talk. Not one who sits at her desk in another room while they are in the kitchen enjoying their bacon and eggs (only once a week, though).

You know what I mean? Here I am at my desk with my coffee and rice cakes and my kids are by themselves, alone at breakfast. Yeah, I cooked for them, but rather than sit at the table with my rice cake and make them think there is something wrong with their food, I just stay away. Well, it isn't worth it. It really isn't.

What have I learned in this past two weeks? That life isn't fair, that you can't always get what you want and that time is short so you better be happy while you can. I have never been such a disagreeable person in my life, before this failed diet plan. One more week. That's it. My goal this week is to lose at least a pound or I am dropping it for good!

One goal, lose weight.

I'm sorry you're upset jenni - have you checked to make sure you are eating enough?  1500 calories doesn't sound like enough for an active mother.  Please call me if you do resort to cheetos and red wine because you just named two of my Favorite things.  I argued that the deliciousness of cheetos more than compensates for the cheeto breath and orange fingers. 

My goals for the week - workout 5 times - finish Empire Falls (this book that I can't get into - even though it seems like it's going to get good) - eat more greens - I've slacked off with regards to the fresh vegetables. 

Jenni - what is your basic met rate calories needed to live day to day?  I am 5'6" and 167 lbs and need 1700 a day to live - I would think and agree with Kelly you are probably not eating enough.  If you starve your body then any calories you do eat will be held on to by your body for dear life and weight loss is next to impossible.  Be sure to eat healthy foods.  Have an egg with your kids - just don't fry it in fats use a non stick spray instead.  Have a piece of reduced calorie bread.  Sara Lee makes some really good ones that are only 90 claories for 2 slices.  Instead of regular bacon - next week pick up some canadian bacon or turkey bacon that is lower in fat and then you can have some with the kids.  Personally I think rice cakes are like eating cardboard and really not that nutritious lots of sodium too if I recall.  There are so many other healthy choices that will have a more filling effect. 

Thank you for commenting on my disagreeable post. I can't help it. I have never been so negative. Since I have been on this diet, I see things with a negative tone, I think in terms of anger and resentment. When I was not on the diet, I was a relatively normal, happy person, although unhappy with my weight. Being unhappy with my weight, however, did not permeate in to all areas of my life the way the dieting is.

Also, it is very new to me to think that I might be staying the same weight by not eating enough. I would think that if I reduced my caloric intake by half, then that would theoretically set me up for weight loss. That is if you figure the physics of everything. But, I wonder, and this is just a thought...I wonder if you could enter 'starvation mode' based on the percentage of calories reduced. For example, my typical 3000+ calorie day, reduced to 1500 might have sent me in to some stage of metabolic preservation. I don't know. But I do now wonder if your standard caloric intake before the diet might affect the reduction that is appropriate. Maybe. Maybe I should get back to about 2000 calories and then ease in to the reduction to about 1500. I am just thinking out loud, here, but taking in to consideration the recent comments on my experience, perhaps that might help.

Thank you, again!

Here's hkellick's Getting started post - it's very informative and may answer some questions.

When your calorie deficit is too high (calories burned - calories consumed) your body will go into starvation mode.  Recommended deficits are 500-1000 calories, but most of us have found that you should cap it at 750 calories at the most.  This site is great because you can measure your calories burned and consumed, thus taking out the guesswork.

Here's my example:
I set my activity level at sedentary and then log all of my activities (including walking to the restaurant, taking the stairs, etc... you don't have to do it that way).  At a sedentary lifestyle, my body requires 1800 calories a day to maintain my weight.  I log my exercise each day, which burns somewhere between 500-700 calories, depending on the workout.  So here's a day for me:

1800 (sedentary) +600 (activities for the day) = 2400 calories burned.  So if I decide to have a deficit of 700 calories, I'll need to consume 1700 calories. 

Kelly,

Does this science work for you? That would be great. I am going to review the link and see if I can figure it out to work for me.

Thank you!

Jenni...

First of all eat brekfast with your kids!! Eggs are a good source of protein and low in calories...rice cakes are ok for a snack, but your body needs protein.

These are just my thoughts and I'm no expert, if I was I wouldn't weigh 266 pounds!

I do know that protein plays a vital part in dieting.

Cece

Goals for this week?

lose at least 2lbs

1 hour of jogging each day


no more than 1400 cals a day

at least 64oz of water  and 24oz of fat-free milk each day

Thank you, Cece.

Maybe my goal for this week should be to learn from others!

Hey Jenny -

I know its discouraging but it sounds like you are doing the whole - all or nothing thing.  I'm bad about it myself.  You either wanta be super good and loose the weight or you don't want to care about it. 

The solution maybe for you for a while to set your calorie goal less than your norm by a few hundred calories - you've said somewhere that you usually eat around 3000 calories - similar to where I've been in the past.  Try moving it down to 2500 for a week then 2000 the next week and see what your body does.  Up your activity level and maybe you'll suprise yourself by eating things you enjoy and still loosing weight.

Also - what you eat is typically important for your weight loss.  If you're eating just things like rice cakes and 100 calorie snacks you may be missing the fats and the proteins that your body is craving which may be setting you up to binge (which I've seen from some of your posts you might be doing). 

A balanced diet is important no matter which stage your at - loss or maintenence.  If you'd like some coaching as to what you could eat with your family, enjoy and still have reduced calories feel free to email me:  debra.melton@gmail.com and I'll talk through some alternatives with you based on what you LIKE to eat, and what your family would be willing to try. 

I hate to see someone give up.  I've been there too often and its not a fun place to be.  I've lived through the resentment (especially when it regards exercise which has been a constant frustration for me) and the dissapointment and I'm currently living the battle now. 

My Goals:

An average of about 1700 calories a day with an average of an A rating on the program

Some sort of exercise daily!

Some sort of relaxation daily (reading or journaling or preferably both)

Hey Jenni - yeah the program I mentioned works for me.  When I joined Calorie Count (end of August) I had hit a big plateau - It would take me a month to lose 2 pounds and it would come right back if I even looked at a French Fry.  After I started logging my food I noticed that I wasn't eating enough calories - even though I ate 5 times a day (it was all salad and water and lean chicken and a couple pieces of fruit).  Since I upped my calories I have lost 9 pounds.

Hi! My goals for this week. First to eat good and stay within my 1200 to 1300 calories.    Second is to keep walking 2 miles every day and 4 if I can get away.   Third is to lose one and a half pounds by Fri the 20 th. So I will be 183 by then.Hopefully I will accomplish these goals. Good Luck to us all. linda

My goals are to:

• follow my planned exercise schedule (a little too detailed for here; it's in my journal if anyone cares to look);
• drink enough water;
• get enough sleep, which means going to bed early because the next time I'll be able to sleep in is probably when my youngest is 18, and he's only 3 now.
• accept with grace the fact that some things (like the hip spring in jujitsu, or some of the moves in my step class) may be a bit more challenging  for me than for other people, simply because I'm a tad uncoordinated.  I may not be able to change being a klutz, but I can choose to be a determined and tenacious one.
• have time with my kids each day when I'm totally focused on them, and not trying to fold laundry/make dinner/clean kitchen at the same time
• continue being conscious of what I'm putting into my body.  Dropping another pound or so would be great.

Here's hoping we all achieve our goals this week. (And Jenni, turkey bacon -- at 60 cal for two slices -- has been a sanity saver for me a few times since I've started watching what I'm eating).

n.

Whatcolor, kelly and nicoley.

Hey, I didn't even know there was such a thing as turkey bacon! I HAVE TO get to Safeway and find out.

Thank you for your comments. Iam not making any excuses or anything, but I am a former New York urbanite and everything in our city culture (even though I am now a country girl) says we want it and we want it NOW! So, I am working against that, as well.

Great suggestions and great support from all!

Here's to a great week and I hope you all reach your 7-day goal!

My goals.

Stay within 1700 calories.

Burn off at least 400 through exercise.

Wean myself off flavored water and get back to regular plain water.

Experiment with at least 3 new recipes from my "good book" to keep up the variety. I'm making modified sloppy joes recipe tonight!

potteryhoney,

What's wrong with flavored water?

Goal for this week?

To get through it, one day at a time - even if its by section at a time (morning, afternoon, evening) - or even one hour at a time, as I continue to follow my plans for healthier eating and living...and to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep trying should I stumble or fall.

GOALS! This is quite the brilliant post.

-drink lots of water. I have this really cute tiny smartwater bottle that I plan on drinking and refilling 2-3 times. I should probably do more but I don't really do well with too much water.
-play the zig zag game with the calories and see how that works. I see that i kind of accidentally do that anyway but I'm hoping it all comes out to an average of close to 1200 cuz thats what c-c told me i should eat...maybe more though cuz i'm considering working out more
-speaking of working out, i'm hoping to decide to go back to basketball practice this week. i have lots of work so i kind of don't feel like it (plus it screws around with my hair which i spent an hour on this evening).
i know this is frivolous but i wanna wear some jewelry or do something (besides daily makeup) to make me feel prettier/more put together. wee!

XD yay...this should be a good week