What did you eat today?

[shootingstar]

B: cereal with sliced plum, tea with milk
later at work: dry toast with peanut butter, coffee with milk.
Snack/lunch: yogurt

Snack: baked pretzel and coffee

Supper: koh rabi with white sauce, leftover homemade herbed spaetzle

[Owlie]

Out of cereal, so I had something else for breakfast today!

3 slices bacon, two slices cinnamon toast, chai with milk and sugar
Pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce
Iced matcha latte
~2 glasses of wine (white and red), bits of salad (with strawberries and melon pieces), chicken, bean and orzo salad, some nice cheese and a less-nice dried fig, banana with almond butter and chocolate.
Bread with red pepper hummus and slightly too much salami. It was tasty, though...

[spokewench]

B: rice chex, 1% milk, a peach, coffee
L: cantaloupe, a couple of chips with salsa, 1 glass of wine
D: leftover rice, beans, chicken, salsa, lettuce tomato, corn tortillas, 1 glass wine

[goldfinch]

I've been having a hard time with food lately. My appetite has been tremendous since I upped my exercise. Plus, I have been traveling and there are many temptations on the road. Yesterday I started fine with some no oil added granola, blueberries, raspberries, and a third of a banana, with milk for breakfast (400 calories worth). Then I had a ride and afterwords an ounce of cheese and two dates (150 calories). Now I am already up to 550 with a daily limit of 1200. Then I really blew it, I had a homemade bar made by a neighbor. It had to be 400 calories. Now I am up to 950 and it is barely noon and I only have 250 left. I struggled and had some salmon pasta salad with lots of cilantro, totaling about 300 calories to finish out the day barely over my limit. But what I ate was terrible, I can't afford a 400 calorie bar and still get good nutrition. And no vegetables to speak of!

Today I started out with an egg and Canadian bacon, plus two carrots, totaling 200 calories. I hope the dose of protein helps keep my appetite in check. And today I eat some veggies!

[Crankin]

I can't even list everything I ate yesterday... my weight was down a lot and my stomach is acting up and I was hungry. I had my consultation group over, so after a breakfast of a small tuna melt and fruit, I grazed from 11 AM until 2:30 on a variety of bean salads, peach coffee cake, a little piece of a crepe, ww pita chips and light garlic and herb dip. Then I went on a 20 mile ride and had a couple of slices of cheese when I came home.
Went out to dinner, where I had 2 mojitos , a bib lettuce salad with goat cheese, ravioli with fresh veggies and half a blueberry cobbler.

The weight is back and my stomach still hurts.

[spokewench]

B: 2 eggs scrambled, hashbrowns, coffee, oj
L: A few leftover roasted potatoes, green beans, cantaloupe
S: 1 beer
D: roasted chicken, potatoes, gravy, peas, 1 glass wine
Dessert: 1 ice cream drumstick treat

[redrhodie]

yesterday:

oatmeal with oat bran, raisins and flax seeds
an egg on ww toast
tomato sandwich on ww, a baked sweet potato and purple mashed potatoes
a peach with Greek yogurt
quinoa with summer squash and corn, and wild sockeye
raw walnuts
cherries
another peach
potato chips
oj and a little champagne

[indysteel]

I've been having a hard time with food lately. My appetite has been tremendous since I upped my exercise. Plus, I have been traveling and there are many temptations on the road. Yesterday I started fine with some no oil added granola, blueberries, raspberries, and a third of a banana, with milk for breakfast (400 calories worth). Then I had a ride and afterwords an ounce of cheese and two dates (150 calories). Now I am already up to 550 with a daily limit of 1200. Then I really blew it, I had a homemade bar made by a neighbor. It had to be 400 calories. Now I am up to 950 and it is barely noon and I only have 250 left. I struggled and had some salmon pasta salad with lots of cilantro, totaling about 300 calories to finish out the day barely over my limit. But what I ate was terrible, I can't afford a 400 calorie bar and still get good nutrition. And no vegetables to speak of!

Today I started out with an egg and Canadian bacon, plus two carrots, totaling 200 calories. I hope the dose of protein helps keep my appetite in check. And today I eat some veggies!

Have you upped your calorie intake to reflect the increase in activity? I'm not sure whether your 1200 calorie restriction is for non-exercise day. Because if you're exercising and only eating 1200 calories, it's no wonder that you're hungry.

[goldfinch]

Have you upped your calorie intake to reflect the increase in activity? I'm not sure whether your 1200 calorie restriction is for non-exercise day. Because if you're exercising and only eating 1200 calories, it's no wonder that you're hungry.

Yeah, I do up it on days where there is a lot of exercise and now am generally averaging 1250 to 1300 a day over a week period if I am exercising a lot, rather than the 1100 to 1200 I started with back in January. This takes me down a pound a week roughly. When I am traveling I try to keep it at 1200 per day because I get very little exercise when I am on the road. If I am sedentary I will not lose near to a pound a week on 1200 calories as my basal metabolic rate is not even 1200. I need at least some exercise. I had a week where I did 1500 average per day (mostly due to two big days) and I gained .8 pounds, my first gain of my weight loss journey. But that amount is really statistically insignificant and could just be the usual ups and downs a person has based on hydration, etc. But it is hard to balance weight loss and exercise needs. Given how small I am (4'11") even with exercise my calorie needs are not large.

[Crankin]

Goldfinch, I am also small, though not as small as you. I found that it's virtually impossible to maintain my normal weight, exercise, and have enough energy on the amount of calories you are consuming. So, while I am not trying to lose now, I have been there, and I can say that losing a pound a week is just too tough for people who are small.
One of the things that works for me, is to periodically "mix up" or trick my body by changing how I eat. Like, do dinner for breakfast, concentrate on more protein, etc. I also have to trick my body with different kinds of exercise. That might mean nothing more than hiking a couple of days a week, or brisk walking, yoga with some brief cardio warm up, and weights/core work. Your body is a very efficient machine and is going to learn to survive on 1100 calories a day. Perhaps you should see a nutritionist. I know that at my activity level, I need to eat at least 2,000 calories a day, even though in theory, it looks like I should be able to survive on 1200. On high activity days, I probably eat more than that. My weight is stable within 3-4 lbs., but it took upping the protein and watching carbs on days I am less active.

[GLC1968]

Given how small I am (4'11") even with exercise my calorie needs are not large.

Heh - I was about ready to freak out on you about not eating enough until you said the above. I know a number of small women who really struggle to keep a deficit when trying to lose. Yeah a 400 calorie bar will definitely destroy your totals...but really, I probably would have just eaten as normal for the rest of the day and let that be a 'surplus' day instead. Don't make yourself miserable to make the numbers! It won't leave you with enough energy to function and certainly not to exercise...and then your burn suffers and it's a vicious cycle!

How long have you been in a deficit? I ask because if it's been a long time, it may be time for a maintenance period and a bit of a 'refeed'. You may be able to reset your metabolism at a higher level if you give yourself a month or so of eating at maintenance or slightly above. You won't lose and you may gain a small amount, but then when you start cutting back again, you'll likely be able to lose more while eating more than you are now.

[shootingstar]

Congrats. goldfinch. Just keep on cycling/engaging in physical activity that you love so that your body become addicted and wants it often each week. Endomorphins induced by exercise are real motivators for weight maintenance.

I doubt I'm a great example. Today:

B
cornflakes with fresh blackberries and skim milk, tea with skim milk
Snack: coffee with milk, some cherries and 2 golden plums

L
roasted sliced duck with brie cheese, lettuce and tomato focaccia bread
Green tea panna cotta
coffee with milk

Supper
yogurt with fresh raspberries and blackberries
tea with skim milk

I went to a worker's retirement luncheon. Under such circumstances, supper is kept small. Right now it's 85 degrees F. Just came back from cycling 30 lbs. of groceries.

I nearly lost my box of cornflakes and toilet tissue at peak afterwork hrs. on the road.

Goldfinch, I've eased off bread alot in past 8 months. And am living in a city that has longer, colder and icier/snowier winters. So am cycling less overall. I think this latest diet change helped me. I naturally fell into it gradually over time without really thinking much about: I kept on forgetting to buy bread.