Need motivation. Close to quiting.
I recently came back to calorie count and started "properly" trying for a 1,000 calorie deficit everyday. I didn't really get the whole deficit deal until I came back. As weird as it seems, I still lost 60 pounds this year before coming back. Anyways, I treated myself with 2 slices of pizza and one slice of apple pie today from Donatos. Horrible choice I know. -_- Other choices for today were mostly okay choices (4 oranges, 1 chicken sandwich, honey nut cheerios with 2% milk, 8 oz 100% orange juice, and a granola bar [this was bad I know..], and about 94 oz of water.. This is really good for me since I just started to work my way up to the 118 oz of water I need. Its hard for me to drink that much water.). My count for today came out to 2,541 and I've been trying to not have anymore because that is already past my normal limit with exercise(which is usually 2200)! I am STARVING. My stomach keeps GROWLING pretty loud and it hurts. I haven't even worked out today. The rest of the pizza in the kitchen is really tempting me. +I'm really confused about just how MANY calories I'm even burning with my daily work out. I usually cycle for 30 minutes everyday. My gym bike says I am burning 150 calories and yet calorie count says I burn 597. Of course I'm not too sure about what bike intensity I should put down since its constantly changing and I just always put "12-13.9 Mph, Leisure, Moderate Effort". My heart rate is in its target zone about 60% of the time I think and I'm pretty sweaty. Its just so confusing! If I just start "trusting" my gym bike that its only burning me 150 calories, I think I'm going to be even hungrier! Its going to take a lot of work to get that 1,000 calorie decifit every single day. I'm not even sure how many times a day should I do my 30 minute workouts with my daily just being alive burn.. =[ I'm a 5' 7" woman. 280 pounds. Can someone motivate me or help me out with my problems?? I would very much appericate it.
I don't know what to say exactly, but sometimes it just helps to know someone heard you. I have had days where I already ate my limit, and am just starving. I usually drink some nice hot tea, really slowly. Often, this takes the urge away. Sometimes, it doesn't. If it doesn't I indulge it, /within reason/. Eat a small serving of something that will really fill you up, but doesn't cost a lot of calories. Baby carrots plain, for instance (or at least, they fill me up). Avoid the pizza! Save that for tomorrow, or another day. Also, take a look at what you have been eating today, because those do not seem to match well for you (not to say never eat them, just mix and match with more filling items, so you are full for longer). For instance, Cheerios, at least for me, leave me feeling hungry quicker than a large salad of the same calories. And oranges are mostly fruit sugar and water, beef jerky might be a better option here.
As for your bike versus CC, I don't know. Both of them are just estimates, and can be thrown off so easily (the bike by the settings, CC by lack of discription, so you don't know where you fall). A half an hour of moderate biking I would think would be above 150 calories, just based on my walking uphills for 18 minutes being about that much, but I cannot be sure. Still, 597 calories does seem too high, as well, but I could be wrong (this really depends on just how hard you are biking, as I started before, CC doesn't give many discriptions, and sometimes we just have to pick one).
Don't give up! This isn't a one time you mess up, and it's all over thing. This is a lifestyle change. You are going to mess up, we all are. We just dust ourselves off, look at the things that made us get there, reevaluate our decisions, and get right back at it. The worst thing you can do for yourself is give up. And never think you failed! The only person who can say you failed is yourself.
I hope this at least helped a little.
Sweetie, just try to remember that we ALL have bad days. Remember that a day (or even two) of indulgence isn't going to derail your whole program or even set it back by that much. If you've lost 60 lbs already, that's awesome! (Although I hope you didn't lose it all THIS year as you said... That would be super hard on your body!)
Do you have a cheat day once a week or once every two weeks? Those really help me stay on track. (Usually. 
) I have one day a week where I don't really worry about what I'm ingesting so much. I still try to keep it, you know, within maintenance levels, but if I go a little over, I know I'll be okay.
I know it's hard, but always try to remember: Even if you have a bad day (or a really really bad day) tomorrow is another day. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to it.
And you're doing a great job. Even when you feel like you aren't. A friend of mine said to me recently, "There's no blaming in weight-loss". I love that. So one of my biggest goals right now is to try not to beat myself black and blue when I have an off eating day.
Don't give up! You not only CAN do this, YOU ARE DOING THIS!
Hang in there. For ALL the reasons you wanted to get healthy in the first place.
Hi,
The most important thing to remember is that you LOST 60 pounds. I think you should focus on what you CAN do. Set reasonable goals and limits. You are doing this and it is working for you. You need to remember that we are all individuals so your diet won't look or feel exactly like anyone else's, so don't put too much pressure on yourself for not fitting the "criteria" exactly as you see it on this site.
On a less happy note, I have to be honest and say that there really is no way you are burning over 500 calories on a bike in 1 half hour. You might burn that much in a 1 hour spin class, but not on a stationary bike. You should probably talk to someone at the gym to see if they think the bike's estimate is accurate.
One final thought, why don't you start with a 600 calorie deficit and see if you can maintain that for 1 week without too much stress and then gradually increase from there? Setting goals you can actually achieve will help you see results faster than stressing out over not being able to do things perfectly.
I wish you much luck!
Some things I like to eat when I feel like I'm STARVING but I am at or over my limit for the day are: Red apples (all the fiber will fill you up), celery, or low cal cereal. Just remember, it happens to the best of us :)
Also, with regard to the calorie expenditure... your best bet is probably to get a Heart Rate Monitor. I have the Polar F4, which I got at Target for $89. It has a chest strap which measures your heart rate ACCURATELY and that way it can give you a way closer estimate as to your calorie burn. If you can't run out and get one right now, try to use cardio machines that have some kind of heart rate monitor and ask you to put in your weight when starting. I have noticed that those machines are much closer to accurate (sometimes between 10-50 cals off).
You are already an inspiration for losing 60 pounds (!!!!) by yourself. :) Keep going, keep your head up, and I'm sure things will start turning around.
If your heart rate is up, and you get sweaty, I'd bet the CC estimate is closer than the bike estimate.
Honey, maybe the 1000 calorie deficit is a bit much for you right now. Why not try something in the 600-800 range for a week, and see what your results are? My other thought is that that's a lot of oranges! There's nothing wrong with some fruit in your diet, but fruit is high sugar, and fructose does flood the bloodstream and cause blood sugar crasher just as sugar does. Perhaps the amount of sugar in your diet is making you hungrier? I'd suggest cutting it down to no more than 3 orange servings (juice or orange) a day, and see if that has an effect on your hunger level. Remeber that a serving size of fruit would be one small orange, or 6 ounces of juice. You might try to get more whole grains in your diet. When I get enough whole grains, it really helps cut my hunger. I know you are getting some now, but try pumping it up a little for a few days and see if that helps.
Whatever you do, don't give up! You may simply need some fine tuning in your plan to get you where you want to be. You've come such a long way already, don't stop now!
I agree with plaidpooka. Cutting sugar and increasing protein and fiber will help reduce hunger swings. Also, it really isn't worth counting every calorie that you burn with exercise - it's enough work to count your intake, no? Shoot for the same calorie goal every day, or if you must, have an "exercise day goal" and a "sedentary day goal" that are a couple hundred calories apart (you say it's 2200 for exercise day, so then make it 2000 for sedentary day). Then you will have half the math to do, which will help calm you. (2000 calories of healthy food can actually be a whole lot of food, and might not be a bad "every day" goal if you are looking to lose steadily)
The most important message I would have for you is not to let your emotions get the better of you like this! Being "close to quitting" after one bad day is not a good sign! Relax, take the zen approach, think of this as a day in which you made some bad choices (own them, accept them, resolve to make better ones in the future) and therefore it will be impossible to reach your calorie goal. HOWEVER, you don't just flip back to your previous habits and soothe this remaining hunger with MORE bad choices, i.e. pizza! You eat healthy food, preferably fresh veggies or plain popcorn or hard-boiled eggs, something that can fill you up entirely for the same amount of calories as one slice of that pizza! (Honestly, if you aren't saving the pizza for someone else, I'd say throw it out! You might call that waste but it's just as wasted if it turns into fat on your body - it's not like you'll ever depend on that pizza to get enough food into you on any given day and prevent you from starving, right?)
You also say you "treated yourself" to unhealthy food. That's no treat, as you can see now. One of the hardest associations to break is that of unhealthy food with "reward", "treat", and pleasure. You have to retrain yourself to enjoy healthy foods just as much - and that happens with practice, practice, practice (and some creative cooking, sometimes). If you ever want to taste fast food, go for it, but get a slice instead of a whole pie - a single burger instead of a combo, you get my drift. You know already that if you buy the whole pizza, you'll eat the whole pizza. A slice might be a "treat", a whole pizza is a bad idea. Especially since your emotions are still so overwhelming about food! By the way, there are some good-tasting, healthy frozen pizzas out there - experiment until you find one you like. I eat pizza at least once a week, and did so throughout my weight loss.
Perfect is the enemy of good. Don't shoot for perfect. Shoot for consistent, manageable, sane, liveable changes in your lifestyle. And over time, they add up to produce the desired result. Live like a sane healthy person and not like a crazed obese person - don't let yourself go hungry, no sane healthy person does that. But they don't soothe their feelings with pizza, either - when they are hungry they eat something healthy, like always.
Another piece of advice - the mini-goal. I recommend breaking down this process into manageable chunks, maybe 20 lbs each, to avoid feeling sooo verrrry farrr awaaaay from goal, which demotivates a person quickly. Your goal would be 260, not 130. The one after that would be 240. And so on... don't think "big picture" sometimes, because it can be overwhelming. I'm in the third year of a program of study and training that will suck up seven, possibly eight years of my life. If I thought of it that way, it would be overwhelming sometimes. But I worry about this rotation, this upcoming exam. It's better that way. I did the same thing during my weight loss - little goals that meant something to me personally (weights I had been steady at before, weights that were associated with good memories, etc - all of them still overweight or obese, mind you, because I hadn't been at a healthy weight in about 9 years and for that matter am still 20-ish pounds away). I know of one person on here who lost nearly 200 lbs by aiming for successive reductions of 10% of body weight. (Significant because statistically, each reduction of 10% reduces your risk of heart disease by a certain amount as well - I forget the exact number, but 10% is always a significant change - meaning you've already started reducing your cardiovascular risk!!)
Sigh. Well guys. I went to the ER today and found out I was 2 weeks pregnant (by blood test). That would explain why I was so hungry. Looks like my weight loss jouney is over for 9 months. =[ Still have to eat healthy though. Damn.. I'm so young too... Part of me is happy but I'm really scared. I won't give up what my love and I brought into this world though just so I can lose weight.
Ahh... Congrats hon. If it makes you feel any better, I was very heavy when I got pregnant and really didn't have to "gain" much weight, because, well, I didn't need to. Talk your your doctor about this. And if you're like me, you might actually lose a little weight in the first few months of your pregnancy.
Also, once the babe is born, try and get into the breast feeding thing. Healthy for you and the babe and will really help get some of your post-pregnency weight off.
Good luck, and congratulations! And being pregnant is a great motivator for eating healthier, too.
