A food addict's travels on the road to recovery.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Groovin' Right Along

Well, I was at my sister's house yesterday, and it went surprisingly well!!  I went over the 1500 limit, but I'm okay with the 1625 I landed at.  Those extra 125 cals came from snacking.  Kids = stress = snacking.  When I got there, they had a big ol' pot of Northern beans simmering on the stove.  Excellent!!  I HATE BEANS!!  I ate the tuna salad sandwich on a whole wheat bun that I brought with me, and outside of a couple of snacks, I felt good about last night.  Brandy's house is rampant with crap food, which kills me, knowing how slim she is.  She's just way more self-disciplined than I am.  Although I didn't touch either of these, here's a pic of just a couple of things I was faced with:


And remember how I told you my niece Carla is smarter than I am?  In that she'll NEVER eat too many cookies so she doesn't get fat like me?  Well here's a pic of my niece Grace and nephew Elijah, who are also smarter than their Aunt Tammy, eating their healthy beans:





I skipped the gym yesterday morning because the sun was shining bright and I wanted to be out in it.  So Scarlette, my sister Amy, and I went for a 2 mile walk at the park.  Today's calories were good.  Normally, I take the kids out to lunch on Tuesdays when I babysit because I don't leave from there until 2:30pm.  But in the effort to stay comfortably within my calorie count and minimize temptation, we stayed home.  I'm sitting at 1510 cals for today.  As much as it stresses me out sometimes to count every single one of them, never feel really "full", and not give into any yummy temptations (i.e., Chinese food!), it definitely makes for a much anticipated weigh-in on Friday.  I'm really looking forward to it, and that's the first time I've been able to say that in a couple of months.

Now....for tonight's happenings at the gym.  I had asked the personal trainer to tell me what amount of calories he thought I should be eating when we met with him this past Saturday.  He took all my stats, said he'd do some reading in his book at home, and let me know tonight.  Oh he let me know alright. 

He said he triple-checked it, because he was surprised it was so high, but I needed to start eating 2306 cals/day. 

I totally freaked.  My quick and succint reply to that was "Are you effin' nuts???  No way!!"  lol
We talked back and forth for a few minutes.  He admitted that he thought it was a little high.  I asked him hadn't he ever heard that when someone just wants to maintain their current weight, that they should eat around 2000?  He said yes, between 2000-2100.  So I said well then you can see why when you tell me to eat 2300, my brain thinks I'm going to GAIN instead of lose??  He told me to go ahead and stay at the 1500 cals/day for a couple of week and let him know what my losses are.  He said if they stall or slow down significantly then we'll bump them up.  I told him that I did expect him to tell me something like 1800, but 2300 just sounds unreasonable for any kind of real weight loss. 

So, if I like what I see on the scale this week, and I'm pretty certain I will, then I'm shooting for 1500 again next week.  I'm also not going to freak if I have one "bad" eating day out of the week.  I am not perfect and that's not what I'm striving for.  But I do want to get back on track with some significant losses and the blinders are on.  I'm counting my calories again and I'm exercising 5-6 days a week. 

Since I know a lot of you have been doing the strength training WAY longer than I have, then I need to know if you think the 2306 cals/day sounds as insane as I think it does?   I know a couple of people that are in the gym 5-6 days a week, and they have a couple of high calorie days a week....but ALL SEVEN DAYS??  Seriously??  Does anyone else that's working out consistently eat like this?  I'm really curious to know why his "book" told him that.  'Nite friends.  :)



14 comments:

  1. Hey buddy, I don't pretend to have the answers. While I agree 2300 cals sounds like a lot, I wonder how many times I've eaten a quarter pounder with cheese with super size fries and large coke and THEN looked to see if the kids didn't finish all their chicken nuggets and wolfed a bunch of them too. That has be be close to 2300 in ONE SITTING. In my opinion, that's what caused me to gain all the weight.

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  2. I've never seen kids look so happy to be eating beans before! lol Hard to resist snacks when your faced with them- good job on keeping it in check! :)

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  3. I work out 6-7 hrs a week usually and I average about 2000-2100 aday but I do zig zag my calories throughout the week. If you are putting in 5-6 days a week at the gym I can see the higher calories but not sure quite that high. I would watch your loses and if they are more than 3lbs I would up the calories because losing more than that means your losing muscle as well as fat.

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  4. i have always found 1700 to be the magic number for me, 1500 sounds a bit low since you work out so much, I m short 5'3 and if I m moderately active, and eat 1700, i lose.
    I agree to see what your weigh in says, and then go up a bit if you dont lose as much as you want. HELL no to 2300. that's nuts unless you are a HUGE MAN.

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  5. I do not usually count my calories. When I have I usually ate between 1400-1800 calories a day and maybe would have a 2000 to 2100 calorie day once a week or once every other week. I counted after a week of recording recently to check on what I was doing. When I count I get weirdly obsessed and seem to be hungry more. I have some rules... lots of water make my foods count, complex carbs, 5 fresh fruits and veggies a day, lean protien, no alcohol.

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  6. Uh, yeah, that sounds really high to me. Only a person who's really active (and maintaining) or someone who is morbidly obese should be eating that many calories. Good job resisting the crap food at your sister's house. :)

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  7. I definitely think it sounds insane. I have to wonder if he was looking at a table or formula for men to lose weight while strength training. I've never heard of a plan designed to shed pounds while strength and cardio training that allowed more than 1800 cals a day! I know less than most of your readers probably, so I'll be coming back around today to see what opinions you get.

    Way to hang tough with the little kids!

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  8. For me it should be more of a matter of how you progress with the strength training. If your body needs the extra calories to repair and build muscle then it should be more apparent in your performance there. I think it is good advice to stay at 1500 cal for a couple weeks, but I think you and your trainer need to see how well you are moving forward with weights and if you are progressing, don't change a thing.

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  9. Hi Tammy. I can only assume he was looking at a table for morbidly obese men. The `worrying thing is that he didn't realise immediately that that was waaaaay off. He's not very bright I guess.

    I think you're right to stick to the 1500-1800 range. And well done for sticking to it the last couple of days! So great to be looking forward to your weigh in.

    Bearfriend xx

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  10. It seems to me, everyone has to find what works for them. I strive for 1800 calories a day. I admit I probably go 100-200 cal over that 3-4 days a week. I wasn't losing any weight, as you know, for a good month or so. So, I turned up my speed on the treadmill from 2.9 MPH to 3.2 MPH, and spend more time on an incline of 2.0-2.5. Then I have started doing more time on the elliptical....20 minutes on the weight loss program. I am pleased with the results. I still haven't started working with weights yet. Find what works for you, and then crank it. Hugs, Kathleen

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  11. Wow, that is alot of calories, but I can see that if your working out 7 days a week, your body would need that fuel.........but I honestly dont know what to tell you! sorry!!! Ill be watching to see what happens

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  12. You forgot to mention the awesome pepper that had a crazy amount of food in it for only 345 cals, that i made.

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