My names Aaron and I'm a calor-aholic

B

bgsuaaron

New member
Just signed up today, have to say this site looks like a great place to find some support:grouphug:, as well as to let me keep myself accountable:toetap05:.

A little about me: I am 22, I started my diet 6/21 at 256.8 and am down to 241 as of my last weekly weigh-in (next weigh in is tomorrow). I'm lucky and am 6'4" so it spreads out a little over my frame, but I know there is a line for what is healthy, and I have crossed it. Also, my father has had his health ravaged by weight (sleep apnea, hip surgery, blood pressure, cholesterol, quadruple bypass, the whole deal) and I refuse to do that to myself or to my kids, I'm going to own my own body.

I have been using FitDay's calorie tracker to track my exercise and diet so far. I have been very committed to logging my foods, and this is by far the most successful and concerted effort i have ever made to cut back, I just want to make sure I keep it up. So far I have been doing a fairly large calorie deficit, with LOTS of exercise. 10+ miles is not unusual (walking). I am blessed with a summer of unemployment before grad school starts and have been putting alot of hours into actively losing weight. Unfortunately, things have to change soon:

1.) I am visiting home for 11 days and home may as well be the gingerbread house from hansel and gretel, everythign cooked at home is slathered in butter, crisco, veggie oil, or all three. Portion sizes exceed any restaurant you can think of. I think the calorie deficit I have right now would be impractical at home, and I would rather slow down a little than have my train jump the tracks.

2.) With a substantial calorie deficit I feel it mentally. my brain cannot fire on all cylinders while my body is dealing with weight loss. I will need every neuron I can muster for my (intense competitive) grad school in august. I am going to start fish oil supplements, I currently use a multi-vitamin, but the time constraints and rigorous nature mean I am going to be re-adjusting to a longer-term diet in the next month. I intend to keep a high level of exercise (but not as high as currently, for time reasons). I enjoy rock climbing and live 1.5 miles from the largest indoor natural rock wall in the U.S. this burns about 1k calories an hour for me (online activity listings and my heartrate watch agree on this).

3.) The roommate, my support and a fellow dieter, will also be relaxing his diet.

4.) Alcohol and eating out, grad school involves substantial alcohol and dinners on the town and I plan to enjoy them. I will be cutting out soda when I go out, and drinking less frequently in an effort to help my diet, but I will be taking into account the reality of the situation. I will be drinking and eating at restaurants that dont cater to the health conscious.

So Im posting this to get started, and I am looking over my new diet plan, and I think it is conservative, and very do-able:

1.) 3+ fruits and veggies / day

2.) 35+ grams of fiber per day (I'm kind of a fiber junkie, and have gone as high
as 70, so this wont be a stretch in the slightest)

3.) Calories < 3500 with a weekly total of (14000-16000) + 1/2 calories burned exercising

4.) 14% or more of my calories come from protein (week in total)

5.) Friday and Saturday 20 cups of water each day (I have been doing this the past three weeks, to purge myself of toxins, salt and water weight, to give a more consistent weigh in result)

6.) 3500+ calories exercise per week (primarily an issue of time management)

7.) Enjoy myself

8.) Lose weight!

That's the contours of my new diet, and I will start it on monday. I will keep everyone posted...
 
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Welcome!

I'm new to the forum too, but I could give you some tips!

When you visit home, drink water like crazy! Chug a glass before every meal, You won't eat as much. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you eat, Just how much of it.

I've been bartending for awhile and if you like your alcohol its not the end of the world! If you drink wine, go for white zinfandel, chablis, or chardonnay.

If you like cocktails, stay away from the ones that are heavy on the mixers! Try to stick with Bloody Marys, Highballs, Mojitos, and Manhattans, or anything else that doesn't use too much mixer.

Hope this helps!!

Good luck,

Codey
 
Thanks codey

Yeah, I have in mind my tussle two weeks ago with some beer, and the beer won. CRAZY calories.

I try to do rum and diet coke (letting myself have the treat of diet coke) and that works, but I do appreciate the advice. The biggest worry with rum and diet coke is that I will eat something out of a mix of the crash from diet coke and the stupidity of drunkenness

Water is a Godsend. It took me a few weeks to appreciate it but now I drink it constantly
 
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If you are a beer man try miller chills. they have less than a 100 calories each.

Ugh there is nothing good about diet drinks... Gin and tonic has very few calories... But if you're going with rum here are some mixes to try out
V8 Light Tropical mix with Spiced rum
Cruzan with Calorie free sierra mist

Keep in mind the more alcohol content, the more calories

80 Proof rum has about 48 calories per ounce,
90 proof rum has 55 per ounce
and 100 proof rum has 62 calories.

Lower proof rum such as cruzan will keep you in the clear of going overboard on calories, and getting drunk and giving in to the dreaded munchies.
 
Yeah I can be a sucker for that drunk feeling, which being a bigger guy means more alcohol more calories.

And to be clear, I wouldnt drink diet pop anywhere but in a rum and coke and only then bc I am a sucker for it. I guess I should alternate, take it easier some nights for my diet, try the miller chills and settle for a light buzz
 
Hi, Aaron. :)

A few thoughts:

bgsuaaron said:
1.) I am visiting home for 11 days and home may as well be the gingerbread house from hansel and gretel, everythign cooked at home is slathered in butter, crisco, veggie oil, or all three. Portion sizes exceed any restaurant you can think of. I think the calorie deficit I have right now would be impractical at home, and I would rather slow down a little than have my train jump the tracks.

2.) With a substantial calorie deficit I feel it mentally. my brain cannot fire on all cylinders while my body is dealing with weight loss. I will need every neuron I can muster for my (intense competitive) grad school in august. I am going to start fish oil supplements, I currently use a multi-vitamin, but the time constraints and rigorous nature mean I am going to be re-adjusting to a longer-term diet in the next month. I intend to keep a high level of exercise (but not as high as currently, for time reasons). I enjoy rock climbing and live 1.5 miles from the largest indoor natural rock wall in the U.S. this burns about 1k calories an hour for me (online activity listings and my heartrate watch agree on this).

3.) The roommate, my support and a fellow dieter, will also be relaxing his diet.

4.) Alcohol and eating out, grad school involves substantial alcohol and dinners on the town and I plan to enjoy them. I will be cutting out soda when I go out, and drinking less frequently in an effort to help my diet, but I will be taking into account the reality of the situation. I will be drinking and eating at restaurants that dont cater to the health conscious.

So Im posting this to get started, and I am looking over my new diet plan, and I think it is conservative, and very do-able:

1.) 3+ fruits and veggies / day

3.) Calories 1700-3500 with a weekly total of 14000 + 1/2 calories burned exercising

4.) 14% or more of my calories come from protein (week in total)

Could be higher, but not worth quibbling about, IMO.

5.) Friday and Saturday 20 cups of water each day (I have been doing this the past three weeks, to purge myself of toxins, salt and water weight, to give a more consistent weigh in result)

7.) Enjoy myself
Click to expand...

1.) When you are eating at home (even your mother's home), YOU control the portion sizes. You only have to put as much on your plate as you want to eat.

2.)That's fairly unusual, I think, to feel mentally sluggish like that. I suspect it may be the particulars of your diet, and not the calorie deficit per se. You may be missing some crucial element in your diet, or you may be just adjusting to the reduction in sugar and fat, if you ate a lot of those things before.
I know that when I started eating better and exercising, the opposite happened. I felt more mentally and physically alert.

3.)You don't have to follow along. You can keep on programme if you want to.

4.)I'm not sure what graduate programme requires drinking.
There are ways to eat better at restaurants. Salads instead of high-calorie side dishes, for instance. Most restaurants have healthier options. Have the fish instead of the burger or whatever. That sort of thing.
Alcohol is a source of empty calories and I would cut it out as much as possible. Drink water as much as possible at restaurants - it's free.

Your plan:

1.)Try to increase that to at least 5 servings minimum.

3.)Without plugging it into FitDay, I would have guessed more like 2000-2500 for you. Conversely, 1700 is probably a little low.
My suggestion is to get your maintenence calories from FitDay, using your default activity level (not including exercise, but just the stuff you do on a regular basis). Knock 1000 from that to get your daily caloric budget, and take calories burned form exercise as a bonus.


4.)Could be higher, but not worth quibbling about, IMO. There are those who believe tha ideal balance to be 40/30/30 carbs/protein/fat, but it is hard to eat that much protein. I average around 15% myself.

5.)Drink that much water every day and you'll do a lot better, and eat less.

7.)Always important.
 
Thanks Cord,

I think I wasn't specific enough. I tend to do better with a variation in my daily calorie intake. To lose 1.9 lbs / week I need to average 2287 calories at my usual activity level without exercise. So I figured I would spread that out to a weekly average with a wider range for individual days depending on my hunger levels.

5 servings a day would be better

One of the things I worry about, is dropping too quickly, and I have been doing that in the past 4 weeks. I don't care to drop muscle mass, and I know that with too large a deficit I will do just that.

Gum has also been doing wonders for me, it's a great appetite suppressant.

Today I had almond milk and cereal for breakfast. Three cheese sandwiches on lite wheat bread with fat free cheese. A banana for a snack. Two Chicken Tacos with fresh veggies for dinner. Some trident gum, and three glasses of apple juice.

I also bought an Omega-3 Fatty Acid supplement to help with the mental acuity. I actually have read that this is not uncommon if youre running a fairly high deficit. I was looking at 2500 - 3k a day in deficit for the last few weeks. And it has effects

On the exercise front I rock climbed for about 45 minutes, at 660 calories for the effort. I also walked 8.6 miles today which will certainly help (1519 calories total)

Just made it on fiber today, but otherwise everything was good
 
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today and yesterday were both good days, my biggest two gripes are 1.) I am eating too much processed, not as good for me foods, and 2.) I feel bad on this diet.

I have recently been eating 1450-1500 calories a day, 6 days a week, a very speciric number of calories. I feel like i am gorging myself now, but I know that the restricted calorie intake came along with mental fuzziness. I am not sure how long I will keep up this higher calorie intake. I feel like I am not making the progress I should.

On the processed food note, I have been trying to avoid buying fruits and veggies bc if I dont finish them they will go bad when I go home for ten days. I am going to grocery shop first thing when I get home sdo I control what I eat (thanks for reminding me Cord) it will be easy to slip into my old habits there, but it will be even more rewarding to stick to my guns, to know I can handle the change I have made, even in the face of great temptation. As I write this I realize I do want to cut back my calories. I have a new omega 3 supplement, I have my multivitamin, if I stick to them regularly I will get everything I need to stay sharp, so I will make an effort to take them every day 3 times a day, and tomorrow I will ponder what new calorie intake I need ( I like to fidget with my specific diet rules, its usually small adjustments, or a renewed emphasis on a specific nutrient, but the general contours are the same, create a calorie deficit5 through eating right and exercise).
 
Ive been monitoring my heartrate (and estimated calories burned) with my rock climbing, and have found out that my body handles it better now. It's great to see myself flying through some of the routes, and to know it's easier on my body too. The downside is it takes more time to burn the same number of calories (cranking up the intensity is difficult bc right now I can only do horizontal climbing) BUT I am proud of myself for sticking to it, and making the rock wall part of my exercise repertoire!
 
Yesterday was my first day home. Real spirit killer. Other than havign food thrust at me all day (which I turned down every time) there was drinking, and I didn't turn that down. I'm still under my weekly average overall, but as I didnt exercise yesterday I packed on some calories, which is dissapointing. BUT today is a new day, I have a fridge FULL of healthy foods I bought, I will perservere!
 
Ok so this week of dieting ended yesterday. 18263 out of my limit of 18713 calories. So I made it under the bar. I thought this calorie limit would be a tad excessive, but at home it is proving to be about right.

Usually I weigh in on sundays but Im skipping this week because the scale here is very sketchy and I want to surprise myself when I step on it after going back to the apartment.

I also need to get around to exercising. Swimming is on the agenda tomorrow, so thats encouraging.
 
Came in under on calories today thanks to some delicious salmon and shrimp tonight. Happy to see Im not sliding off my diet, that would be a real downer. I've worked to get here and I plan to take it all the way!
 
Pretty great day so far. Had some chinese food for lunch. Fiber one and almond milk for breakfast. Have a few calories to play with for dinner. This week is going much better.

Also, went swimming today!
 
So I saw a nice motivational idea on here, to find something equivalent to the weight you lost, and realize how much you arent carrying around anymore. I got some books and weighed them out. I must say I am blown away. I can't feel the results so much in my body, tho exercise is a bit easier, but when I look at that stack of books I realize I am really doing it.
 
Took some measurements today to log, wish I had when I first started... :-/ but Ive done them now
waist at belly button 42.25
Narrowest part of torso 38.75
Bicep 13.75
Calves 17
A @ hl 9
Chest, pitt to pitt 41.75
Neck 16.75
 
350 calories below my average today, plus walked 4.6 miles, not too bad. Good to see my diet is stronger than my old habits!
 
Feel like today is going to be a great day, the diet is going strong, has recovered from going home!

Fiber one and almond milk for breakfast
Sushi for lunch
 
tempted to weigh myself, but staying strong!
I also need to give up some of the refined flour Ive been eating. It's a bad plan because it makes me feel liek I am starving. I try to play ball and eat a little with the family, but even if I control my portion it is not filling enough, and literally an hour later Im ravenous.
 
Once again tempted to weigh in. Im deathly curious. But yesterday was this weeks cheat day. I have done well with my diet at home, but I have not been exercising like I should have and am anxious to go back to NY and get into my exercise routine again.
 
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