Hey guys, F19 here, 5'7'' CW 140lbs
Until little over a month ago, I took my weight loss to the extreme. I starved myself for months and as a result obviously lost a bunch of weight. When I started eating again, there was a span of a few weeks were I seemed to have such an extreme hunger, I ate until I was physically sick all day. As a result of this, I gained some weight back. I didn't want this to defeat me tho, and have completely revamped my approach to weight loss. As of today, I have pretty much reached the weight I used to be at when I starved myself and here are some things I have noticed:
- I feel warm. I live in Siberia, but everything is so warm even in -30°C! People who have lived here all their lives routinely call me crazy when I run around without a hat on x) When I starved myself, I was freezing in a warm car, I had to take extremely hot showers to even remember what being warm felt like. Huge difference here!
- My self confidence is through the roof, as a generally very insecure person, I feel like I have more confidence now than ever. When I first reached this weight, I would have never been able to think about dating or anything alike, now I am looking forward to my second date with a great guy, feeling good about it!
- I am so much happier. My mood has greatly improved, I am not hungry all the time and feel much more stable. I am less irritable and actually feel like doing things!
- I eat a lot more (duh), I aim for around 1700-1800 calories a day and spread them out over as many meals as I like and need. I am a big fan of small portions, so I sometimes eat 6 times a day and it feels like I am just constantly eating, as opposed to looking forward to my single meal a day that was never more than 600 calories.
- My energy levels are back! For a while, I thought I had found the cure to my ADHD, my constant fidgeting, getting up to pace around my room and need for movement had completely faded away. Now that I am back to my old self, I am more than ever realizing why I would never want to live without my hyperactive self, she's the reason my life is so fun!
- I am actually not a very food focused person at all. When I starved myself, I was constantly feeling hungry, even if I had just eaten a portion that now satisfies me for several hours. I can keep snacks around me and the thought of binging on them doesn't even come to mind. In fact, I feel like I have more snacks than I'll ever be able to eat!
So how did I find this approach that works for me? I looked at what I wanted from this. I enjoy eating a lot of different things in a day, I love variation! (Except for my breakfast, that's always the same) So what I found works for me is just eating many, smaller meals a day. At the end of the day, if I list all the foods I have eaten, the list is very long and I am happy with what I had that day without having eaten too many calories.
I know that many people are very keen on intermittent fasting, but I have found that I just really like to eat breakfast, I enjoy getting up in the morning and preparing the same boring bowl of oats every day, it gives me a sense of security and structure. My breakfast also usually holds me over until the late afternoon when I feel hungry again.
My day usually starts around noon and ends around 4am, so normal eating times just don't work for me and that's fine! I usually get hungriest at nighttime, so I make sure that most of my eating takes place at night. It wouldn't make sense for me to eat all my calories during the day when I am mostly awake at night :D
I also figured out that I burn much more calories than I thought. Every calculator spits out a TDEE of around 1,700 for me, but I figured out that I burn closer to 2,200 or even 2,300, depending on the day. I am a very fidgety person who constantly moves in one way or the other, walk around a lot and have a very active thyroid that's bordering on hyperthyroidism, so my needs are just more and eating below 1,500-600 calories makes me feel awful.
I guess the bottom line is, that while there are many guidelines, trends etc, in the end you need to figure out what works best for you and only you. Every body is different and so is every person. What might work for Person A could be a disaster for Person B, so figure out what's good for you. That's the great part about CICO, as long as your calories are in check, the rest is super flexible! Take good care of yourselves people, don't push for fast results because they will not be worth it. Take the scenic route, enjoying the landscape along the way will bring you much more joy!
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2GByKn9
No comments:
Post a Comment