Hi everyone!! I'm currently on my longest CICO streak in years and I thought I'd share some advice/reflections/insights that I've learned along the way. Disclaimer: I'm not trying to tell y'all what to do. I'm not a doctor or nutritionist or anything. You can take as much or as little of this to heart as you want; I'm just trying to share some things I wish I would have known sooner.
- COUNT CALORIES, and LOG EVERYTHING, even (especially) if you're thousands of calories over. Yes, it feels incredibly shitty to have that one day's failure memorialized in your log when you can easily just skip logging that day, but it's important to work towards creating the habit of logging every day. IMO, at least early on, it's more important to be completely honest with yourself about what you're eating than it is to be 100% under your calorie goal every day. This is absolutely what made the difference for me this time versus the other literally hundreds of times I've started calorie counting only to fuck up one day, say "screw it, I've already blown it, might as well overeat now," delete my food log, and go back to eating like normal.
1a. In the same vein, don't fall into the trap of, say, going over by 600 one day and then just logging it as the next day's calories and telling yourself you'll eat 600 less tomorrow to compensate. Just log them the day you ate them. You can still try to eat 600 less on the next day to balance your intake out (or better yet, eat 300 less the next two days/200 less the next three days. Even easier!!) But this way, you're being honest about what you ate each day (good for finding patterns). (If this doesn't apply to you, good for you! Do what works for you!! But I used to do this a lot and I'd just find myself struggling and inevitably going over when I couldn't cut 600 from my 1200 calorie goal. YMMV.)
1b. I don't know if this even needs to be said, but you should definitely be counting calories if you're trying to lose weight. It's the only way to guarantee results. Not to mention, when you're frustrated that you're stuck in a plateau, it's great to be able to remind yourself that, hey, it's not like your body can defy the laws of thermodynamics or anything.
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DRINK WATER BEFORE MEALS AND EAT SLOWLY. I say this because I was so fucking hungry when I first started eating at a calorie deficit. An actual 56g serving of pasta just doesn't fill you up the way dumping however much you feel like into the pot does. Drinking (at least) a cup of water five or so minutes before you eat will definitely help fill you up. I'm sure you've all heard that it takes your body twenty minutes for your stomach to tell your brain you're full, blah, blah. It's completely true, and that's why you should eat slowly. Not to mention, food feels like more if you're really slowing down to appreciate it! I've also tried to minimize eating while working, watching TV, etc. for the same reason. You eat chips and salsa while you're plowing through episodes on Netflix and they're gone in a goddamn second, you know? Maybe this is the Buddhism talking, but it's just better to try to focus your attention on the present moment and the food you're eating, especially when you're transitioning into eating less.
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On that note, THE HUNGER WILL GO AWAY. I want to say it took a couple weeks before I started feeling full on 1200-1400 a day vs my prior eating habits of 1800-2200. The adjustment is shitty for sure, but I promise it gets better. Don't listen to the anti-dieters who spout that nonsense about how your diet is doomed to fail because you'll never stop feeling like you're starving all the time. Your body will adjust. And if it doesn’t after a month or so? Maybe consider upping your calories a bit. You don't have to be miserable and tired and cranky to be losing weight.
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SLOW AND CONSISTENT WEIGHT LOSS IS KEY. Every time I restart dieting, I lose 5-10 pounds in the first week or two. Always. Yeah, it's mostly water weight, but it always feels really good to see the number on the scale go down that quickly. After that, things seemingly grind to a halt. I'm lucky if I even see weight changes day-to-day. It feels like something's wrong, like I should be cutting more calories to keep up the rate of loss I was seeing initially. This isn't the case. The most sustainable weight loss is only around 1% of your body weight per week! And this is something I have to constantly remind myself. Yeah, I could eat less and exercise more and lose weight faster, but I know I'll just end up getting burnt out quickly and going right back to my old habits.
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WEIGH YOURSELF EVERY DAY (or as much as you can). I know some people swear by doing it once a week or whatever, but if you're only losing a pound or few a week, it can be easy for your weight loss to be hidden if you're only weighing once a week. Our bodies fluctuate A LOT due to water, sodium, carb, etc. intakes, and it totally blows to weigh yourself once a week and see a gain over a few weeks just because you happen to be a bit heavier those days. I personally think it's just better to weigh every day so you can see the overall trends easier. I recommend getting an app that smooths out your data for better visualization of what's actually going on. I use an app called Libra on Android, and I've heard Happy Scale is great for those of y'all with Apple products. Also, really try to weigh yourself at the same time every day, just for consistency. I do it when I first wake up, after I use the bathroom.
5a. I also recommend taking progress pictures. I only take them every 10 pounds or so; you can take them more or less frequently. They're nice to have around when you're not seeing the scale move but you need to remind yourself that you're making progress anyway.
- Last but not least, DON'T TALK ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT LOSS/DIET/CALORIE COUNTING/ETC (at least at first). In my experience, this can only really do you harm. If you're living with family/roommates/a partner with different eating habits than you, you're going to be tempted to eat the way they do. And when you don't, you might experience a (real or imagined) sense of being judged, which does nothing to help you reach your goals. Also, depending on the person, talking about your diet can end up skewing their behaviors around you and food/exercise, which can take the form of them helping (which can get annoying and overbearing) or them trying to sabotage you (which is….obviously bad, not just for your goals, but for your relationship). Not to mention, I'm pretty sure there's actual research on how once you've told people about your goals/projects, you're less likely to achieve/complete them because you've already gotten validation just from sharing your plans. Just try to establish good habits on your own before sharing your goals with people.
Okay, so obviously you don't have to read any of this or take it at all seriously. This is just my experience, and I thought I'd share just in case it helps even one person. :)
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