Weight Loss Wednesday: Recognize and Record
Okay…..so I know the post says Weight Loss Wednesday and it is already Thursday. I just want to give all of you who want to join us on this journey a chance to say “I’m in!” So, read on and leave your comment. I am praying for you!!!!
Oh gals, can you hear me shouting from wherever you are? I am soooooo excited to know that nearly 50 of us are beginning this journey together! In fact, just knowing that you all are on this same quest to see the scales go down helped me over the weekend.
I was at a fabulous family gathering and had MANY chances to eat lots of yummy food. However, I knew we are all counting on each other to provide encouragement, support and prayer and I thought of you many times when I wanted to dive into the cream cheese caramel apple dip (which I never did) or eat two whole pieces of tiramisu (I took two bites).
I know that without the accountability, I would have played the old mind game so many of us play.
You know the routine. You vow to start your diet tomorrow. Tomorrow comes. You eat a sensible breakfast. The mid-morning munchies soon set in and by noon you’ve “blown your diet”, so you vow, “I’ll start over tomorrow.” and promptly raid the fridge.
Tomorrow isn’t so hot either and by 2:00 pm, you are plum out of calories (not from eating plums, but from cramming cookies down your throat or opening the hatch and downing nearly a pound bag of peanut M & M’s!!) so you tell yourself, “I’ll start next Monday.” Then you eat like a pig until Monday comes, try to start over, blow it again by noon and promise yourself… “Okay, let’s try next month. Yeah, that’s it, I’ll start the first of next month…..” and on and on it goes.
But with accountability, it is so much easier to stop yourself. If we know we must check in each week and leave a comment with the honest results of our weigh in, we’ll be more apt to behave!
And to take it up a notch and ensure even more success, weigh in with a friend. That was the number one key component to the success God gave to me. You cannot fudge when weighing in on the scales in front of someone else (after eating too much fudge!) You also cannot afford to blow it for days on end when you must weigh in in front of someone else. Were (and are) there times that I overate? You bet! But it was VERY short lived.
Maybe I ate 500 calories of junk one afternoon. But then I’d slap myself in the face and say, “You dummy! Why did you do that? You have to weigh in next Wednesday. If you keep this pattern up, you will see the scale go up, not down! However, if you stop right now and behave the rest of the week, you’ll only be over 500 calories for the week. Why, that is only about 70 calories over per day. That won’t hurt you. Stop it now, Karen!!” And my little self-talk worked! So, find a buddy!
Now, here is the dealio. I know many of you have started already, but let’s make today the official beginning.
- Weigh yourself today. Record it somewhere. (You’ll never have to tell us what you weigh). Next week, I want you to comment and tell us how much you have lost.
- Also, have someone take a “before” picture of you. I’m not going to ask you to post it. However, later when many of you have dropped pounds and pants sizes, we may have a before and after cyber show and tell!
- Then, your homework assignment for this week is to begin to recognize and record.
Recognize when you eat when you are not even hungry; out of habit or boredom. And record what you do eat. You can just write down calories. Or you can include carbs too or fat grams, if you want. But the most important facet is the calories.
Now, how many calories should you be eating? When I lost my 106 pounds, I pulled out a formula I learned years ago, but usually didn’t apply. That formula is to take your current weight and times it by 12 if you are sedentary, 14 if you are moderately active (exercise 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes) and 16 if you exercise an hour a day 3-5 times a week. That is how many calories you would need to eat each day in order to stay at your current weight. Then, subtract 500 calories a day for each pound you’d like to lose per week. (500 calories x 7 days=3500 calories. Every 3500 calories burned equals one pound)
So, lets say you weigh 200 (because it is an easy number to figure and I am not near a calculator!) You are moderately active. So, to keep at your same weight, you’d need to consume 2800 calories. (200 x 14= 2800) If you want to lose 1 pound a week, drop the calories down to 2300. Make it 1800 to lose 2 pounds each week. Drop it further to 1300 to lose 3 pounds each week. Most experts say not to drop below 1200 calories per day.
Now, once you lose 10% of your starting body weight (in our example that would be 20 pounds) stop and re-figure this all over again. Now you’d take 180 pounds, re-crunch the numbers and aim for another 10% gone. Keep doing it until you are at your goal. I am no fitness expert, but this worked like a charm for me! And breaking it down in chunks helps to keep it from seeming like a daunting task. I could wrap my brain around 10%. It seemed doable. When I thought of losing 100 + pounds, it seemed overwhelming and I wanted to reach for a fork and a cheesecake!
So this week, get yourself a cute little notebook and record, record, record!!!
Also begin to move your body. We’ll talk later about exercise. Just start doing something. Walking is a great start.
Next week, you will leave a comment with how your week went and what the scales did. Today let’s leave a comment about what your toughest time of day is; when you eat because you are bored, lonely, stressed or just because ‘something sounds good’. Maybe it is when you are feeding your kids lunch with creamy peanut butter and homemade jam and you want to make yourself a sandwich with a thick layer of both. That is my greatest tempting time.
Then, feel free to hop on and encourage each other. I’ll hop on as much as I can too to offer my two cents worth.
Ready?
Recognize….
Then record…
Can’t wait to see those scales going down, down, down…..
Scale-plummeting Blessings,
Hi Karen,
Wednesdays are my most busy day of the week so while I will read your blogs I probably won’t have time to respond until Thursdays. Anyway, the toughest times of the day for me are after school and before bed. My husband often makes a BIG bowl of buttery, oil popped popcorn in the evening. I used to eat a big bowl with him. Now I try not to eat any or I allow myself one small bowl and then go to a different room so it’s not so tempting. I have been including snacks and have tried to eat things like almonds instead of chocolate chips! Thanks for the encouragement to get healthy!
My toughest time is afternoons or lunch time. I usually eat a good breakfast and can go easy on the dinners [thanks to my husbands home made popcorn I can always turn to].
Hi all–
Praying for you today!
One thing that helps me during those tempting times is to have two or three possible healthy and lo-cal snacks to turn to when I am tempted to grab junk.
I try to have a salty choice (some baked Tostitos scoops and salsa or mini-bag of heart-smart microwave popcorn and a Splenda sweetened soda) a crunchy choice (already cut up carrots, celery, red and yellow peppers and light ranch dressing for dip) and of course a few sweet ( Weight Watchers Key Lime yogurt or some berries sweetened with Stevia or Truvia–a natural, non-chemical sweetener and topped with some light whipped cream)
Oh and Lisa V.—-have you tried soda’s sweetened with Splenda instead of Aspertame (Nutrasweet–YUCK!) they taste much better. Diet Rite makes a tangerine, white grape, cherry cola and raspberry that taste great. I enjoy them once in a while.
Talk to you all next week!
:-) Karen
Hello everyone
I’m not sure if I have a certain time of day that is the toughest. Sometimes in late afternoon, I start to feel that tired, I need a nap slump, and go looking for a snack or coffee. Breakfast and lunch are difficult for me too though, because mornings are so busy, by the time I get kids to school, I am starving and too often run through the drive-thru for fast food and/or stop at my fave. coffee shop for my daily latte. At lunch time, I never seem to know what to have, so again, it’s often fast food.
For some strange reason, I don’t want to buy frozen dinners, because they’re expensive, and full of sodium, but then because I don’t have anything in the house, I go to McD’s and get something with probably more sodium and more costly.
Another strange thing I’ve noticed is that I tend to eat after social events… I am an introvert, and I think my body must just register stress during social occasions, and even if we’ve just had dinner, I eat when company leaves, or when I get home.
What is that about????????
I don’t like eating in front of others, so maybe I don’t eat enough.. until they leave. I worry about what others will think of how much I eat, or judge me by my weight, so I don’t eat much around people.
Definitely my toughest time of the day is midafternoon at work. Usually that’s when the hecticness of the work day has slowed down, no meetings, just time to be at my desk. And that’s when I get stressed because I can see all the work that needs to be done, and I don’t where to start, and yeah…stress. Plus I think I’m crashing from my late breakfast and subsequent lunch. I usually will grab a can of soda (no thank you diet — yuck!) and a snack from the vending machine. I really, REALLY need to have healthy snacks to munch on. It’s the ONLY way I’m going to beat this afternoon demon. If anyone that can relate has any other ideas for someone that’s working in the office, I welcome any suggestions.
I’m excited for our accountability group. Let’s do this! Let’s start making GOOD choices for ourselves.
I usually have a light, healthy breakfast, then nothing till lunch. We eat our main meal at lunchtime, since that is when my husband is home – it is usually fairly balanced and healthy. I usually eat too much. Then mid-afternoon – I am hungry. I snack and snack and then 6:00 comes, even tho I’m not hungry anymore – hey it’s suppertime. So I eat – usually feel too full, flop onto the couch then in a couple of hours snack again. So I guess my worst times are in mid-afternoon and mid-evening and it is usually mindless snacking.
Hi!
I weighed myself and recorded it in a cute little notebook…my daughter just gave me one for my bday!
Now…I need to set those goals and get on the treadmill.
The most difficult time of the day for me to control my eating is between 3pm and dinner…I am in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I just snack and snack and snack…but I still eat a full meal for dinner…ahhh.
Hi Karen and fellow weight-loss minded friends,
I signed up for this after seeing Karen at Hearts @ Home and this group is exactly what I need. Last nov 13 I started my weight loss journey at 260lb and between then and june lost 80 pounds. I was doing great and then…I just stopped. I stopped watching my calories and stopped exercising and started going back to my old way of eating and the needle on the scale started to climb. I’ve gained back 10 of the pounds I lost and consider myself lucky that it wasn’t more!
But now with all of you I am commiting to begin again and live the healthy life I know I was meant too. We can do it!!!
Autumn
By the way, the most difficult time of the day for me is after the kids go to bed. I want to sit in front of the tv and eat!
I think this must be God’s timing! I can totally relate to that negative cycle you describe in your blog, Karen, and to so many of the comments that follow.
I find mid-afternoon to be difficult, because the house is quiet with kids off at school or down for a nap. No one’s gonna know if I get into that bag of … you name it! Especially if I haven’t taken the time to eat a balanced and satisfying lunch. But evenings are hard too. Kids are in bed, and my husband and I get the munchies. Danger!
This will be good for me! And I’ve made my first good choice. I was starting to feel snacky (aha! mid-afternoon!) and I opted for an apple instead of the Oreo’s in the cabinet.
Thanks for the motivation and the accountability!
Sadly, I have not excuse or reason why and when I eat. I’m never hungry because I’m always munching. I just enjoy eating anytime. . . especially desserts. Of course I justify eating desserts after I’ve eaten a “healthy” meal or been on a walk. Can anyone say Oink!
I think the toughest times of the day for me are late morning and mid-afternoon. I work outside the home, but there always seems to be something tempting around our office. Thanks for starting Weight loss Wednesdays, Karen. It sounds like a lot of us are wanting to lose some weight.
I’m in! Starting now, weight loss wednesday. I happen to come to this site after praying God would confirm His direction in another area of my life, I believe He is asking me to start here….
It is Hilarious and awesome how God puts people or blogs right in front of you when you need it……was just talking with my sister about this issue this morning. After always having a high metabolism and very active lifestyle…..a few pound here and there didn’t seem to matter………and then I hit 45..then 50 and my activitivy turned into sitting in the auto driving the children to their activities and sitting on the bleachers watching and supporting them…. by the time I have time for myself at the end of the day I’m too tired to do something …like exercise…. for myself. And I’ve found that I use many of the excuses as alreday stated…bored…stress… not preparing meals ahead…so eating unhealthy fast food… yes … it has taken its toll on me ..or should I say stomach and hips…. so I’m going to try this accountability thing… and lose the 30 pounds that I’ve wanted to over the last 3 years. Thanks for letting me joing your journey as we work at this together with God’s help.
Debbie-
BRAVO!!! Can you hear me cheering from wherever you are? I am soooo proud of you. And how great of you to jump on and tell everyone that it works! You are living proof! See gals….if you do this YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT!!!!!
There is no bad time of the day for me. I just like food! Thirteen weeks ago I started with Karen’s calorie counting formula (I found it on her archived blog). In 13 weeks I have removed (I don’t want to say lost because I don’t want to find it again) 22 pounds. I still have a very very very long way to go but I’m extremely happy with the beginning. The writing it down and keeping track of calories helps but it is important to make it a game with yourself or you quickly burn out. Give the recording and counting a try.
Wow! Weight lost is something that I have been struggling with for years. I will do a good job of paying attention to what I eat then. Stress enters and out the window goes my plans of loosing weight. I let one bad day destroy the whole plan.
Hello Ladies!!!! Reading through your comments, I was like “me too!”. I eat when I’m stressed and when I’m bored. I recently read a great article in the October issue of Good HouseKeeping called “The Fork Syndrome”. I highly recommend grabbing the magazine for that article. It really zoned in on why we (I) eat when I don’t really want the item I’m putting into my mouth.
Love, Prayers and Blessings
I’m an emotional eater. I celebrate with food and drown my sorrows with food. So, depending how the day is going it could be anytime. I tried memorizing different Psalms to combat my desire. Sometimes it worked and sometimes I failed. I think I’ll write down a Scripture along with my food intake. Something postive to focus on during the tough moments.
Thanks and until next week-
Wendy W
Kimberlee and Kim T—I used to have that problem as well….eating after dinner while watching tv..(yes, I too watch those “food” shows….including Amazing Wedding Cakes which doesn’t help) but I’ve learned to “shut down” the kitchen after dessert. My body is so used to not eating after a certain time-by 7pm or earlier-that I don’t really crave anything after that. You know what I’ve found out about my body?–If I allow myself to have a dessert….like a my healthy version of updside down peanut butter cheesecake….I’m good to go the rest of the night. On evenings when I just didn’t have time for dessert or try to NOT have one, my body’s like…”hey, where’s the chocolate?!” And I end up eating more calories than I would’ve if I’d just had a single serving of a dessert!
My toughest time of day is probably after lunch, but before dinner b/n 2-5pm. At this point I will usually have a small snack, like a slice of my chocolate banana bread which is full of fiber and protein.
Amy V.
My toughest time is when I am up alone in the evenings. I always want to get a snack. And even sometimes in the late afternoon before dinner.
My toughest time is after the kids go to bed and I’m sitting on the couch watching a little TV and relaxing. I’ve been trying to eat a healthy snack like fruit during that time but if there are chips in the house it is so tempting to go and grab the bag and munch on them. By doing this I don’t realize how much I am actually eating. This week I would like to make it a goal to change that habit and become more aware of the calories and snacks I am eating.
My bewitching hour is after the kids go to bed and hubby and I plop down in front of the tv for some “real quality time.” :P Sometimes it’s the shows we watch that are focused on food (Chopped, Top Chef, even the Biggest Loser!) and I feel hungry. We have been known to have “2nd dinner” especially if what I made for dinner was not satisfying.
We don’t usually keep snacks in the house, but I do bake (nowhere near as much as I use to) and that’s where I cave.
Good morning!
I have been looking forward to starting with you all this past week. I am a homeschool mom with 50 pounds that I would like to lose. The afternoon is my most difficult time–school and major chores are done, the little ones are down for a nap and I start thinking about what I am fixing for dinner. I used to exercise faithfully–it was part of my sanity routine, but with a medically needy child that really changed my routine. Now, things are much simpler, but I find that it is difficult to get myself out the door to walk (can’t run as much but I put a little in there to build back up) and even put off plugging in a good exercise video. So, I am looking forward to the accountability and will drag out my double stroller and go, or plug in video a couple of times this week, and count what I am eating. I am going to take baby steps and I will keep checking back in! Looking forward to the journey with you all!
Have a great week!
Karen –
I just happened to jump over to your blog today and read your post. I am so glad I did. I am on board with this and will start today. Thank you for opening this up to all of us. What a great idea!
Karen – Parma, Ohio
Honestly, I wish I could say I have specific times that I get really hungry but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I work from home and there are about 10 steps between my home office and my pantry door. Everytime I need a little break, I’ve been walking to the pantry. If we still had carpet, I would bet the carpet would be worn down from my continuous walking back and forth-how pathetic is that! I just grab something out of habit, many times I’m not even hungry-silly, isn’t it? Somebody needs to bop me on the head. I’m putting a sticky note on the pantry door today saying ‘STAY OUT’ or maybe a Mr. Yuck sign would be more effective.
Thanks and happy Hump Day to everyone!