Calorie Counting Confusion
I'm happy to say that Day 1 was the only day so far that felt a little 'sticky' mentally, and so far I have been doing really well with tracking calories using my Fitbit app.
I am realizing now that I need to do more research because the way Fitbit works is it calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate, all the calories you are expending not just from activity but from breathing and thinking; living. What is tricky about that is, it changes your calorie allowance throughout the day. Since I have been way more active since January 1, my Fitbit is telling me I am consistently not getting enough calories to keep my body in prime metabolic state in order to lose weight. Here's where years of dieting have been a bit of an undoing; it feels really wrong to be purposely trying to add more calories. It is liking pinning down a fart, this app, trying to get enough calories in to be "in the zone".
I have read some forum posts on it, and I kind of understand it, but I will need a closer look yet, and maybe the help of my husband, who is very versed in all things fitness related. Or I can just keep chugging along.
All this "under budget" stuff had me wondering if it was really that big of a deal, so I looked up and I actually found a pretty interesting article here. It made me realize that I do need to pay attention to it, but I'm not sure how dramatic it needs to be. Anyway, I have read that when you have an excess of body fat that a larger deficit will work at first but then you will find that you need to be taking in more calories in order to keep losing. Yesterday I actually was so very sore from the weekend that I intentionally did not workout and it was the first time that I was "over budget" (by 78 calories) which means between the calories I burned and the calories I ate, there was only a 422 calorie deficit instead of 500. Fitbit calculates your calorie deficit based on how many pounds a week you want to lose, 500 calories per pound. I have it set for one pound a week. Anyway, I feel really good that I am making progress and this feels a lot more freeing than I imagined. I am not starving myself. After yesterday I do realize that not working out means I will need to be more careful with my calories. On days when I work out I will be upping my calorie count by doing things like adding guacamole to my egg patties at breakfast, including a scoop of peanut butter with my afternoon Special K bar, and adding an extra slice of cheese and some grapes to my evening snack.
In classic klutz style, I have had two recent incidents of slipping on ice. One was on Sunday when I took my sons to a state park on the bay. There is a significant cliff that leads down to the water, and a significant staircase, but there is a path that leads to the stairs, cut through rocky ledges and with the melting, freezing snow and freezing drizzle on Friday evening, the path was very slippery. Very early on I noted how I was tensing every muscle in my legs and arms trying to prevent a slip. But with my history of being very accident prone, I knew eventually I was going down and I did. I ended up tweaking the ankle that has been swollen since October but I knew I could still walk so we kept going and eventually had fun looking for beach glass on the shore. Going back up was equally as challenging, but in order to not injur myself seriously I went over the slipperiest parts on my knees. when we got back to the top we felt pretty proud of ourselves. My legs and arms are still very sore today from that extreme clenching and climbing, not to mention spending nearly an hour hunched over digging for glass.
This moring I danced and despite my still sore leg muscles, it felt really good to get my sweat on. Afterword I took the dog out and I slipped on some really smooth ice in the dark. It caught me so off gaurd I was actually on my bad knee before I realized what happened. I came down really hard on that knee, it is bruised and swollen (same side as the bad ankle) but nothing is broken. I don't think it will prevent me from being active, but I know it's going to hurt for a while. That being said, yoga is out of the question for now. And maybe that's just fine. I was thinking of trying zumba at some point, something that keeps me off my knee and doesn't have extreme ankle bending moves. If anyone has any recommendations for zumba videos please leave a comment!
All in all, despite me trying to mame myself, I think I'm doing really well so far. It is tempting to get on the scale, but I will wait. I have decided I will weigh on the 1st and 15th of every month and take measurements just on the 1st of the month, though I probably won't report those numbers as frequently as they are not very meaningful on paper. Based on the whole being under budget thing, I have to prepare my mind for the fact that I may not have a significant weight loss for the first weigh-in. I can use the scale to help me figure out what I need to do, though I do not want to rely really heavily on the scale or put too much stock in that measure alone.
Anyway, I'm on my way to what I think will be lasting changes and I like how that feels!
I am realizing now that I need to do more research because the way Fitbit works is it calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate, all the calories you are expending not just from activity but from breathing and thinking; living. What is tricky about that is, it changes your calorie allowance throughout the day. Since I have been way more active since January 1, my Fitbit is telling me I am consistently not getting enough calories to keep my body in prime metabolic state in order to lose weight. Here's where years of dieting have been a bit of an undoing; it feels really wrong to be purposely trying to add more calories. It is liking pinning down a fart, this app, trying to get enough calories in to be "in the zone".
I have read some forum posts on it, and I kind of understand it, but I will need a closer look yet, and maybe the help of my husband, who is very versed in all things fitness related. Or I can just keep chugging along.
All this "under budget" stuff had me wondering if it was really that big of a deal, so I looked up and I actually found a pretty interesting article here. It made me realize that I do need to pay attention to it, but I'm not sure how dramatic it needs to be. Anyway, I have read that when you have an excess of body fat that a larger deficit will work at first but then you will find that you need to be taking in more calories in order to keep losing. Yesterday I actually was so very sore from the weekend that I intentionally did not workout and it was the first time that I was "over budget" (by 78 calories) which means between the calories I burned and the calories I ate, there was only a 422 calorie deficit instead of 500. Fitbit calculates your calorie deficit based on how many pounds a week you want to lose, 500 calories per pound. I have it set for one pound a week. Anyway, I feel really good that I am making progress and this feels a lot more freeing than I imagined. I am not starving myself. After yesterday I do realize that not working out means I will need to be more careful with my calories. On days when I work out I will be upping my calorie count by doing things like adding guacamole to my egg patties at breakfast, including a scoop of peanut butter with my afternoon Special K bar, and adding an extra slice of cheese and some grapes to my evening snack.
In classic klutz style, I have had two recent incidents of slipping on ice. One was on Sunday when I took my sons to a state park on the bay. There is a significant cliff that leads down to the water, and a significant staircase, but there is a path that leads to the stairs, cut through rocky ledges and with the melting, freezing snow and freezing drizzle on Friday evening, the path was very slippery. Very early on I noted how I was tensing every muscle in my legs and arms trying to prevent a slip. But with my history of being very accident prone, I knew eventually I was going down and I did. I ended up tweaking the ankle that has been swollen since October but I knew I could still walk so we kept going and eventually had fun looking for beach glass on the shore. Going back up was equally as challenging, but in order to not injur myself seriously I went over the slipperiest parts on my knees. when we got back to the top we felt pretty proud of ourselves. My legs and arms are still very sore today from that extreme clenching and climbing, not to mention spending nearly an hour hunched over digging for glass.
This moring I danced and despite my still sore leg muscles, it felt really good to get my sweat on. Afterword I took the dog out and I slipped on some really smooth ice in the dark. It caught me so off gaurd I was actually on my bad knee before I realized what happened. I came down really hard on that knee, it is bruised and swollen (same side as the bad ankle) but nothing is broken. I don't think it will prevent me from being active, but I know it's going to hurt for a while. That being said, yoga is out of the question for now. And maybe that's just fine. I was thinking of trying zumba at some point, something that keeps me off my knee and doesn't have extreme ankle bending moves. If anyone has any recommendations for zumba videos please leave a comment!
All in all, despite me trying to mame myself, I think I'm doing really well so far. It is tempting to get on the scale, but I will wait. I have decided I will weigh on the 1st and 15th of every month and take measurements just on the 1st of the month, though I probably won't report those numbers as frequently as they are not very meaningful on paper. Based on the whole being under budget thing, I have to prepare my mind for the fact that I may not have a significant weight loss for the first weigh-in. I can use the scale to help me figure out what I need to do, though I do not want to rely really heavily on the scale or put too much stock in that measure alone.
Anyway, I'm on my way to what I think will be lasting changes and I like how that feels!
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