2.07.2012

Diet & Exercise

As I mentioned last week, I have decided it is time to take a few serious steps toward improving my weight and health. I know myself well enough to know that I am not going to stick with any kind of drastic, all-or-nothing plan, but small steps toward the goal are better than no steps, right?

According to my profile on the My Fitness Pal app, my goal is 1200 calories per day. Honestly, I have never counted calories before in my life, but I knew for certain that I had been eating far more than 1200 calories every day.  I was not sure I could make it through a day eating so little!

To my surprise, I have survived at or around 1200 calories for about two weeks now...during the week, at least. Weekends, so far, have been a bit of a problem to get under control.  I don't go all-out and eat everything in sight on weekends, but I definitely relax the weekday standards. I know I have to change that, and I really am working on it. As part of our efforts to scale back the budget, we are trying to eat out less and plan good, healthy meals at home more often.

The frustrating part is that even after meeting my calorie goals each weekday, I think I might be down about one pound. Very, very discouraging.

I am working on incorporating more exercise this week, which is also an area where I have plenty of room for improvement. Again, I know myself well enough not to set my expectations too high, so I am starting with very minimum goals. I am still enjoying this power yoga/pilates workout on Netflix, and I like doing Just Dance on the Wii sometimes. I will never, ever, ever like running, but I do enjoy walking when I can work it in. That's really the key for me, I think...I have to find time to work something in. I am hopeful that at least a minimum level of regular exercise combined with my 1200-calorie diet (ugh!) will begin to make a difference.

Now tell me...
How do you control your diet on the weekends? Do you eat relatively the same every day, or do you have a designated splurge day? Breakfast is a hard meal for me to add variety--what is your standard weekday breakfast?

4 comments:

  1. My standard breakfast is muesli and yoghurt and on the weekends I like to do All-bran flakes and milk for one of the days (the microwave is too far from where we sit at work which is why I don't eat "milk" cereals there!).

    I definitely eat more junk on the weekends, in fact, anytime I'm at home - there is a TON of "bad" food here. Actually I just like food too much

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  2. Calories are crazy. I downloaded an app just to log what I eat (cause everyone else is and I want to be a cool kid!!) and yesterday I ate 2322 calories! I've never controlled my eating, unless you count stuffing my face while pregnant. My rule of thumb is to not stuff my face, and everything in moderation. I'm also terrible for breakfast. I usually just have milk. My cousin swears by carnation instant breakfast though! Sorry I'm not more help!

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  3. ok. so let me be clear: i'm no expert. i'll work out more so i can "buy" calories :) having said that i have a few thoughts:

    1) i honestly don't think that anyone should eat less than 1400 or 1500 cal per day. just seems unreasonable to me....and that's the LOW number. on my low days i consume around 1600. but i work out most days so that it really doesn't matter in the long run.

    2) be sure to count all things for physical activity. 3 10 minute walks really is the same thing as 30 minutes together. short bouts are totally fine!!

    3) at our house recently we've been ending the evening with "dance party". the kids and i get crazy. i am TOTALLY out of breath during these sessions. i'm thinking of counting it or wearing my HR monitor to see if it actually works me as hard as i think it does!!

    4) breakfast most days of the week for me is: 2 cups of coffee with french vanilla creamer (a daily splurge), 1 cup of kashi go lean crunch (seriously filling--only 190 calories for a cup, and has 9gm prot and 8 gm fiber!! and is delish), and some skim milk on it. grand total? 383 calories. and i'm full and don't feel like i need a snack for 3 hours. other days i will scramble an egg and make a mini bagel sandwich with a slice of cheese--but i'm a sucker for breakfast sandwiches! :)

    ...what number am i on now? who cares: i was just talking to my sister about "cheat days". i actually think that it's good to have one day a week (for me it will likely be a weekend) where i don't monitor. i'll still try to make smart choices, monitor portions, and not go crazy, but i want to enjoy myself, too. if something becomes to cumbersome or too much of a burden, i will stop doing it.

    also (and holy comment. sooooo sorry!) half to one pound per week lost is healthy!! so, you're totally on track! :)

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  4. hey, I also wanted to encourage you that when you reduce your calories, your body at first goes into "starvation" mode and fights to hang onto pounds. So...keep doing what your doing (or add a few calories, if you want, but you know what I mean), and you will "outwit" your body's natural survival instincts. Seriously. And I agree, the only pounds that I have ever lost and kept off are ones that I lost very, very slowly.

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