Rob's Diary

[bensanon]

7-19-19 (night before) sleep: 4hr 6min

7-19-19 weight: 210.0 pounds

7-19-19 breakfast:
- flax raisin bran with almond milk
- fried eggs
- vitamins
- decaf coffee
Total kcal: 377

7-19-19 lunch:
- sardines in olive oil
- seasoned grilled chicken with fried egg in olive oil on sprouted bread with Swiss cheese, red onion, mustard
Total kcal: 678

7-19-19 dinner:
- Southwest spicy salad with chicken (Coolgreens)
- sardines
Total kcal: 780

7-19-19 total kcal consumed: 1,835

7-19-19 exercise:
- 6 mile run, 5.44mph speed
- 5 miles incline walking, 3.8mph speed, 1229 feet climbed

7-19-19 total steps: 28,772

7-19-19 Fitbit total kcal burned: 4,615

I felt good today. Another solid drop in weight. I'm down 120 pounds since my peak. I'm relieved to have figured out why I had the slowdown. After upping my treadmill walking distance, I feel similar to when I started out on this plan and was losing weight steadily. The rate seems to be picking back up to where it was then. I'm happy with my calories except the unplanned overeating days I had. Not concerned about the calories on those days rather the behavior. They have been in response to stressors which I won't be able to prevent but I'm learning more through logging.

Rob, tried some "lightly smoked" sardines in olive oil. Love them! Glad to have found another good food with a strong flavor to integrate for more variety.

 

[Llama]

Not concerned about the calories on those days rather the behavior. They have been in response to stressors which I won't be able to prevent but I'm learning more through logging.

Couldn't agree more. Also: congratulations on 120 pounds lost! That's a small human

 

[Cate]

Oh, wow! 120 lbs lost. That is absolutely awesome!
I love smoked sardines too. They also go well with hummus.

 

[Marsia]

I felt much better today. Night and day compared to yesterday. I felt shame and guilt yesterday about overeating. I don't want to present that person. I've felt that way about many of the thoughts I share here too. It's much better than the alternative though which is to stuff them. They are for me. The responses here though have been worth it and do not make me regretful. I've had the opposite experience.

Really glad you are feeling better! And amazing job losing 120 pounds!!! That's so inspiring!!!

I also have trouble really expressing how I feel on the site when I am out of sorts, but I figure we all have similar feelings at times, and it's good just to get them out and examine them so I can learn from them. We all have days where we abandon the diet and all understand about overeating days, so please don't let the shame feelings hook you in. We all get it!!

 

[bensanon]

7-20-19 (night before) sleep: 7hr 4min

7-20-19 weight: 209.0 pounds

7-20-19 breakfast:
- yogurt with strawberries and raspberries
- eggs
- decaf coffee
- vitamins
Total kcal: 375

7-20-19 lunch:
- seasoned grilled chicken and egg sandwich on sprouted bread with mustard, Swiss and red onion
- olive oil for the chicken and eggs
- salad (mix from store) kale, broccoli, green cabbage, Brussels sprouts, green bell pepper, chicory, dried cranberries, sugar, pumpkin seeds, canola oil with roasted red pepper dressing
Total kcal: 844

7-20-19 snacks:
- pistachios
- seasoned grilled chicken
- sprouted whole grain tortillas
Total kcal: 1170

7-20-19 dinner:
- Mediterranean salad trio bowl with chicken (Zoe's Kitchen)
Total kcal: 690

7-20-19 total kcal consumed: 3,079

7-20-19 exercise:
- 4.1 mile run, 5.46mph speed
- 3.75 miles incline walking, 3.75mph speed, 419 feet climbed

7-20-19 total steps: 20,107

7-20-19 Fitbit total kcal burned: 3,651

I feel good tonight. Noticed some difficult thought patterns this morning and thought I should cut back on the exercise so I did. This evening, I gave in to a craving for some pistachios and ended up eating a lot of chicken and tortillas and some more pistachios. It's hard to spot from the numbers but I've really increased my exercise in the past week and it's having an affect that I don't quite have a handle on just yet. I dropped another whole pound today so I'm down 3.8 pounds in 3 days. I'm not concerned about the behavior but would like to be able to anticipate and understand when I'll feel a certain way. Now that I think about it, none of the "episodes" I've had are unreasonable under these circumstances. I need to cut myself more slack. The fear of .... (whatever it is that I feel will happen if I overeat?) is unfounded and the fear itself is the problem. Scrutinizing my behavior (overeating) while I'm doing this has been counterproductive. Overall my mood has been fine except for 2 days ago. That was concerning. The others before were not. It's simply very hard to balance reducing calories with vigorous exercise so I come out with a specific deficit. 100+ pounds weight loss is a trip!

 

[Marsia]

I often stumble into that "nothing to fear but fear itself" thing and am happy when I get that insight. I studied self compassion a lot because it really beats trying to over-manage myself. I like understanding and being compassionate with myself a lot better. You would think that would lead me to not staying disciplined, but I find the opposite is true - carrot definitely works better than the stick for me! I hope you are really feeling a great sense of accomplishment with your weight loss - you really are doing incredible!!

 

[bensanon]

I often stumble into that "nothing to fear but fear itself" thing and am happy when I get that insight. I studied self compassion a lot because it really beats trying to over-manage myself. I like understanding and being compassionate with myself a lot better. You would think that would lead me to not staying disciplined, but I find the opposite is true - carrot definitely works better than the stick for me! I hope you are really feeling a great sense of accomplishment with your weight loss - you really are doing incredible!!

Thank you, Marsia, I really appreciate your post. Over-management gets right to it. Speaking to myself here, look at what’s going on. As others have commended, I have lost over 40 pounds in 2 and a half months. I’m running about 5 miles a day and consuming almost exclusively nutritional wholesome food. I have completely turned my life around since getting off the medication I was on. I was not functional only a year ago. I was 80 pounds heavier than I am now. I couldn’t be active for more than 5 minutes without having to rest. Only a few months ago, I was eating crap food full of fat and carbs with very little nutritional value, following urges that I had developed over years. I recently heard someone talking about how when we’re in the process of changing ourselves for the better, we can often be the most critical of ourselves however, this is the time when self-compassion is needed most. Putting out everything I’m going through in a forum where anyone can comment can naturally lead to an emphasis on problem areas and I’m thankful for that input. There is a balance and a bigger picture too. As has been mentioned, no one knows better than me. This has been a long journey and I’ve come a long way and I’m appreciative of all the support and I think I’m going to make it. In fact, I’m starting to believe I will now after believing all sorts of negative things about myself for so long.

 

[Cate]

I think I’m going to make it. In fact, I’m starting to believe I will now after believing all sorts of negative things about myself for so long.

That is music to my ears. I know I'm my own biggest critic and I also know I need to be more compassionate towards myself. I think you are doing very, very well Rob xo

 

[bensanon]

7-21-19 (night before) sleep: 8hr 0min

7-21-19 weight: 211.0 pounds

7-21-19 breakfast:
- yogurt with strawberries and raspberries
- eggs
- decaf coffee
- vitamins
Total kcal: 375

7-21-19 lunch:
- chicken kabobs with marinated slaw and roasted vegetables (Zoe's Kitchen)
Total kcal: 570

7-21-19 snacks:
- Starbucks 16oz light roast coffee, black
- organic coffee from local shop, 16oz, black
- banana
Total kcal: 100

7-21-19 dinner:
- avocado, black beans, Rotel, hot sauce, yogurt, red onion sauteed in olive oil on sprouted whole grain tortilla (x3)
Total kcal: 755

7-21-19 total kcal consumed: 1,799

7-21-19 exercise:
- 7.5 mile run, 5.42mph speed
- 5 miles incline walking, 3.8mph speed, 981 feet climbed

7-21-19 total steps: 29,639

7-21-19 Fitbit total kcal burned: 4,426

I felt good today. Got 8 hours of sleep!!

 

[Cate]

I felt good today. Got 8 hours of sleep!!

Excellent!

 

[Llama]

I recently heard someone talking about how when we’re in the process of changing ourselves for the better, we can often be the most critical of ourselves however, this is the time when self-compassion is needed most.

So true!

I’m starting to believe I will now after believing all sorts of negative things about myself for so long.

That´s awesome, congratulations!

 

[Marsia]

I think I’m going to make it. In fact, I’m starting to believe I will now after believing all sorts of negative things about myself for so long.

Your post made me so happy to read! There is so much in it I need to remember to follow, too. I studied Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, basically a clinically tested form of Buddhist-based therapy, and one of my main take aways is not to believe a thought unless 1. it is true; and 2. it is helpful. I really liked studying this because it has you compassionately look at what you are doing day to day to see if it is working while also examining what your long term goals are so that you can also look at your big picture of what makes you happy. I actually need to revisit my long term goals because I tend to get so caught up in the day to day and forget to aim toward things I know I love to do.

 

[bensanon]

7-22-19 (night before) sleep: 5hr 9min

7-22-19 weight: 209.2 pounds

7-22-19 breakfast:
- Greek yogurt with strawberries and banana
- eggs
- 16 oz black organic coffee from cafe
- vitamins
Total kcal: 390

7-22-19 lunch:
- seasoned grilled chicken with fried egg (in olive oil) on sprouted bread with red onion, Swiss, mustard
- tomatoes
Total kcal: 714

7-22-19 snacks:
- organic coffee from local shop, 12oz, black
Total kcal: 0

7-22-19 dinner:
- southwest spicy wrap with chicken (Coolgreens)
- seasoned grilled chicken with black beans, Rotel, red onion, hot sauce
Total kcal: 1060

7-22-19 total kcal consumed: 2,165

7-22-19 exercise:
- 4 miles incline walking, 3.74mph speed, 651 feet climbed

7-22-19 total steps: 16,140

7-22-19 Fitbit total kcal burned: 3,458

Struggled with energy today. Could be the coffee I've been drinking. Decided to exercise less and eat a little more. Struggled with cravings tonight. Not surprising given how much I've been exercising lately.

I'm thinking it will be much easier to pay attention to my weekly calories rather than the daily ones for goal setting. With all the exercise I'm doing, my intake and expenditures vary widely. There's too much variability to try to account for and it's easy to draw the wrong conclusions and it's a bit of a mental roller coaster that doesn't mean very much. I'll try to get a sense for weekly numbers now but will come to rely on it more over time. Maybe I'll try just posting weekly numbers at some point. I think this is similar to the reasons why some people prefer to measure their weight weekly instead of daily.

 

[Llama]

I'm thinking it will be much easier to pay attention to my weekly calories rather than the daily ones for goal setting. With all the exercise I'm doing, my intake and expenditures vary widely.

Sounds sensible. And you have the numbers for your past weeks already which should help.

 

[Marsia]

I think experimenting with this is a really good idea. You track everything so well, you'll be able to tell what works best for you. If weekly averaging and weighing isn't accurate enough, you could try setting a high calorie day max and seeing how many days you could do a high calorie day based on your exercise or things like that. I have had to alter my diet a lot as I keep losing weight and the calorie counter keeps lowering my max calories per day. I don't exercise as much as I should, so LaMa and Cate know about the interaction of exercise and diet way, way more than I do though.

 

[Makaren]

You are doing really well, Rob. Great job!

 

[bensanon]

I think experimenting with this is a really good idea. You track everything so well, you'll be able to tell what works best for you. If weekly averaging and weighing isn't accurate enough, you could try setting a high calorie day max and seeing how many days you could do a high calorie day based on your exercise or things like that. I have had to alter my diet a lot as I keep losing weight and the calorie counter keeps lowering my max calories per day. I don't exercise as much as I should, so LaMa and Cate know about the interaction of exercise and diet way, way more than I do though.

Yeah, it’s because I’m exercising so much right now it makes more sense. The amount of kcals I burn varies widely and I can’t measure it very precisely. One day it’s 500 kcal or even 1000 kcal less or more than another day so it makes looking at the amount of calories I’m consuming daily and drawing conclusions rather challenging. If I wasn’t exercising so much, monitoring daily calories would make more sense and differences of a few hundred calories from day to day would be something I should pay attention to. Consistency on a weekly rather than a daily basis though with wiggle room to consume more or less calories on a daily basis depending on how I feel seems like it would work better. This is exactly the type of stuff I’m trying to figure out by tracking all of this. There are not many resources or discussion about things like this that I can find. It’s nice to have a little bit of data now to go on.

 

[Marsia]

The closest thing I know of is how weight lifters practice metabolic confusion where they eat more carbs on heavy lifting days and more healthy fats on lower calorie, less intense exercise days. Maybe ask Tru!

 

[docblwell]

OK, here goes.

I'm 39, 6'1'', and 254 pounds.

Today, for breakfast, I had:
- 1 cup muesli (Alpen)
- 1 cup kefir (Lifeway)
- 2 scrambled eggs
- 2 multivitamins
Total calories: 473

I'm in pretty good cardio shape because I run a lot. I don't have any medical conditions other than obesity and some anxiety and depression. I used to take medication for anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and cholesterol but I'm off all medication now. The medication is what led to massive weight gain. I've been as heavy as 330 pounds. In the last year, I've lost about 80 pounds. I've been successful at dieting before (lost 90 pounds about 8 years ago) but was not able to keep it off also because of the medication. I don't drink alcohol and I don't drink or eat anything with caffeine in it other than decaf coffee and occasionally or during binges, chocolate.

The biggest struggles I have now are binge eating on take out food and maintaining energy and motivation. Wrt the energy and motivation, I'm just doing it wrong. I know it and I need to work on understanding and implementing better ways.

I'm hoping to work it all out here with support from others here. I'd like to offer my support to others as well. Support and having others to talk to about this helps me tremendously. I don't have much of that type of support elsewhere my life right now.

My goal weight is 189 pounds and to lose the weight over the next 7 months (by the end of 2019). Ideally it would be faster but based on my history and previous attempts, I am trying to be realistic.

Hey my friend. It would be interesting to see what you actual body composition is and how much protein you are getting in your diet per day. You are 6'1" so that is taller than average and if you are working out a lot, which it seems you are, you will need a pretty good amount of protein to maintain, and hopefully even build, some lean muscle mass to speed up this weight loss process for you. I find in my experience that deficiency in adequate protein consumption is a common mistake that people make when they are losing weight.

If you are working out a lot you need extra calories from protein sources to fuel your workout and repair your muscles and tissues. Consuming a higher proportion of total calories from protein while in negative calorie balance (reduced calorie diet) has been proven by multiple studies to increase thermogenesis, increase satiety between meals, and maintain lean muscle mass. The meal you had for breakfast looks balanced but is low in protein in your circumstance so you would have some catching up to do in the rest of your meals.

 

[bensanon]

You are doing really well, Rob. Great job!

Thanks, Makaren! Welcome to the forum!