Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I assumed that was a spambot!

Me too!

Also, blah. I need to start getting back to the gym, but I am so unmotivated. Finding motivation is one of the things I'm working on in therapy though, so hopefully I learn a way to get myself in the door. Usually if I can get in the door of the gym I will have a good work out and enjoy myself/feel loads better. All I want to do is snack and sleep though...

I know that feeling so well! I had to yank myself out of bed this morning to get to the gym for 7, but I'l so glad I went. Now I just have to keep it up.

Keep it up! You'll begin to look forwards to it and maybe want to go twice a day sometimes (I do!).

I'm in the exercise groove again and it is good. Although I didn't do it today due to lack of sleep (dog issues), I have been exercising in the morning and evening.

That's what I miss about warmer weather so much! I used to run before work and then do something at the gym (either a class with weights or just weights) afterward, and I felt like a rock star. Now I just feel cold and paunchy, lol.

I've been doing a lot better the past couple days about not grazing throughout the day and have managed to keep things mostly under control. I had a few too many glasses of wine on Saturday night, but I still was within my target calorie range, so meh.

The real trick for me will be this week. Mondays and Tuesdays I'm always super tired because of school, but in addition to that I have a test on Friday, which means all day studying and stress. Stress + being tired = Overeating and making poor choices, historically, for me. I just need to remain mindful about what I'm doing. No, eating an entire bag of chips is not going to help me remember pathology of the uterus any better!

I feel like there's a PMS joke in there somewhere. :P

Those of you counting calories - how many are you eating per day? And how much exercise is that for?

I've been sticking to apx 1550 calories per day & skipping on average one day a week when I'm eating out with friends/going to a bar/just can't be bothered. I also don't count calories when I travel (about 9 weeks a year) I exercise 3 times a week when I'm at home for around an hour (30 mins cardio, 30 mins weights/core work). I've lost 50lbs in total since Jan 2011 and I maintained a 40lb weight loss for all of 2012.

I read an interesting thing somewhere about how you calculate calories for maintenance for your body type & I'll be switching to that soon - I think with the exercise I was doing & my height/weight it was around 1790. I love that it takes into account the amount of calories you need to eat for your weight/height/amount of exercise you do rather than the blanket 2000 a day for women no matter what.

Calorie formulas and recommendations have always been way too high for me.

I figured out my daily limit by starting off with one of those metabolic tests ( at a physical therapist for an unrelated issue, some gyms have them too ) where you breathe into a tube while sitting down. I then started recording my calories and weighing myself every day, adjusting how much I ate by how those numbers changed.

Before exercise, all the sites tel me ~1750/day and then I add exercise in. I have a feeling my metabolism isn'tas high as that so I've been making a concerted effort to remain a couple hundred below what my total ends up being (including exercise calories). It doesn't always happen but overall I think I average below.

I try to stick to 1200 ish in the week, because I've got quite a bit to lose stil but also, because if I eat more than that, I gain. I am not rigid about it though, somedays (when I go to the gym) I'll eat more and other days I might eat less.

Also I don't count at the weekend. I try not to go too nuts but if I'm going out or drinking.. etc, I'm not gonna stress myself out by tryingn to count a cupcake or a jaeger bomb or 2!

Depends on your weight/activity level/metabolism. There are calculators online that can help you figure out what kind of calorie consumption is appropriate for you to maintain (or lose) weight. I somehow doubt they're super-precise, but they can give you a better idea than the blanket 2000 per day for adult women. I actually did the math once when I wasn't overweight and I should have been consuming around 1800 per day to maintain my weight, so it can definitely vary.

Right now (weight loss mode) my base number is 1400/day, paying close attention to make sure I'm consuming enough protein. That's based on my current weight, and after I lose some I may need to reevaluate. When I exercise, I get more and eat back most of what I've burned off. I lost 30 pounds following that model in the past and I've already lost a couple this go around. Of course there have been a few days here and there when I went over or didn't track, but as long as it's not all the time and you're generally eating a balanced diet and not gorging or binging all of a sudden (which would probably make you sick anyway) it's OK.

Right now, I'm trying to lose weight still. I'm taking in about 1500 - 1520 calories a day without exercise. If I have a large workout, I will eat up to 1800. I usually burn 350 - 400 calories working out. I workout 6 times a week. I do my absolute best to not go over 2000 calories more than once a week, and try to only do that if I've worked out that day. So far I'm at 57 lbs lost.

BTW - I track all of this through myfitnesspal otherwise I would go mad.

UGH. I had psyched myself up to go to the gym after work, but now I feel really sick (headache/nausea). I'm going to try to take some medicine and go out for some fresh air in hopes that will help.

FWIW, I don't really COUNT count calories, but I estimate and try to keep it under 2000 a day. Probably why I'm not actually having success in losing weight at the moment.

I'm new to this thread :)
I've been tracking my calories with an app on phone, which has been nice because it shows me the breakdown of what vitamins I'm getting and what percentage of calories are from fat protein etc. I'm really short so I've been trying to stay under 1200/day. I've been trying to exercise 5 times a week, but as I am in a challenging graduate level program its hard to always do that. I've only been working on my diet for about a month, only lost 5ish pounds so far. I know I have to patient, but its very hard sometimes.

Im not trying not to be a downer but just thinking about eating under 1200 calories sound scary.

Nothing wrong with 5lbs a month. After I had my gastric bypass surgery, I never lost more than 8-10lbs a month, max, and that's on a liquid diet and all the restrictions. Everyone in my support group was losing huge amounts and I felt like a loser (ha) and I think people though I was sneaking Doritos or something all day. In the end, I lost the most overall weight, kept it off the longest (until enforced inactivity), was the healthiest overall in terms of the weight issues, and didn't get loose skin issues as badly. Long after others were done losing 20-30lbs a month and had plateaued and were losing hair, etc, I was still losing 1-2lbs a week like clockwork. It was super frustrating at the time, but in retrospect, I'm very grateful that body was clever enough to do that.

Losing slowly and steadily is good!

Yeah, I agree. Even after my weight loss surgery, we didn't go much lower than that, and it was fully medically supervised. Personally, I would want to be working with a dr and/or nutritionist if I had to restrict that much. One reason protein is so emphasized in post-surgery diets is because it's hard to get enough protein on a severely calorie restricted diet. (other things too, but protein is the biggest concern for the first year)

So, how many points do you suppose I can deduct because I shared my 4pt tortilla chip snack with Molly?

I was doing so well with my running tonight at the gym then some lady who probably bathed in febreze got onto the machine next to me and I could taste the scent! Messed up my breathing/pace and I had to leave. I was doing 7:30 minute miles which is pretty good for me.

Ugh. That's horrible. I know what you mean about tasting the scent.

I know we have to live in a society where lots of people have smell aversion/sensitivities so i'm always super cautious about the amount of perfume I wear. Isn't there like some kind of treadmill code like a urinal code? Don't pick on next to a runner if there's an empty one elsewhere?

There should be.

I make jokes about bathing in my Chanel No5, but if you can smell it, you are way too close. When Ai worked retail there were always some customers that I wanted to call back and tell them that they forgot their perfume or cologne.