Weekly Calorie Trajectory --> Keep Going --> 1 year and 20 weeks of weight maintenance
I haven't posted one of these in a while as wifey pointed out a few posts ago. I do still email my weekly trajectory to myself every single week in addition to my workout schedules/programs so everything is there when I need it.
Someone asked the question a few posts ago, how long it took me to lose the weight? I don't know if they will read this post, but I started this journey on February 17, 2017. It was shortly after the super bowl and my mother and I went in on a recumbent bike together. The initial goal I set for was 150 lbs. The irony is I had always set my goal at 135 lbs on previous attempts at dieting. But, in all honestly I never in my life hit that goal until this endeavor.
I was approximately 208 lbs when I started, and I hit 150 lbs on August 6. 2018. So, it took me roughly a year and a half to lose around 60 lbs. I lost approximately .7 lbs/week on average using CICO (calories in/calories out), tracking my food in MFP, and joining a community group that incorporated tools to help lose weight with maintenance in mind.
Some might be surprised it took me that long to lose the initial 60 lbs, but losing with maintenance in mind is just that - not just losing weight, but actually practicing maintenance while losing. So, every 10 weeks I took a week long maintenance break. A week long maintenance break does not mean "diet break". It means, I actually practiced eating at my maintenance calories - not over them or too much under them. I continued to track, weigh, and measure my food and when the maintenance break was up - I went back into deficit cals.
It was always a surprise when the week was up, to see that I never gained. And, sometimes I even lost. My metabolism also seemed to love my maintenance breaks. I came to see these breaks as periods where I might reassure it in a nurturing manner, that I wasn't starving it, LOL. I wasn't in a severe deficit either, but I did zig zag my weekly allotment of cals, in order to fit in fun foods so I didn't feel deprived.
However, on the other end of the spectrum, I was often relieved when I was able was go back into a deficit by the end of the week, because my body often felt bloated and full from the increase in intake. But, I also liked those maintenance breaks, because it gave me confidence to maintain when I hit goal.
Now, anyone who has been following me might venture to say, "Errr...have you really maintained sweetheart, because you're actually around 25 lbs down from the goal weight stated on your profile."
I guess it's a matter of perspective. I chose to reverse diet up to maintenance when I hit goal, which basically means I slowly added 2% more cals to my daily intake each week or so until I hit "maintenance cals". So, of course I still kept losing and this was expected by me and my health coach. However, I also incorporated fitness goals that definitely increased the intensity and output of cals burned.
I work out 5 days a week and yes - at least 4 of those days I burn between 200-600 cals in a single session. The 5th workout day is for mobility training and stretching only. I did add more cals back in when I hit the 135 lb mark, and lest one think I was chintzy about it - I added upwards of 1100 more cals per month in the spring and summer due to increased activity.
When fall came and some of that activity was reduced, I only peeled off about 500, but left the remaining. And, what do you know ---> I still kept losing. I even scheduled three separate 3000 cal days, in the month of December and lost 1.3 lbs. So, needless to say, both the fitness and approaches to nutrition are stoking the metabolic fires so to speak.
I am mindful about adding in more daily cals. Fueling this level of activity is very important to me and if at any time I feel deprived or hungry, bet your bottom dollar those cals will be increased. However, it's a slippery slope to base maintenance cals solely on one's level of activity. At any moment, things can change and/or there may be something that happens where I can't exercise at this level - especially with an MS diagnosis.
For my sanity alone - I don't want to be in a position where I'm cutting out a whole gob of cals, because I'm not burning as much as I used too. In fact, circumstances like that are a perfect recipe for setting up binge like behavior and mindset is EVERYTHING when it comes to weight maintenance.
So, I'm basically just trying to find a "middle ground" here. When spring/summer arrives and the activity increases yet again, the goal will be to add back in those 500 cals to help supplement the increase in burn. But, hey it's possible there may be weight released again. At some point, this body will find where it's happy at. This girl's goal is just to ensure that it's fueled properly for the amount of activity I put it through. Besides, I'm 5'2 - so I'm not even close to the low end of my BMI. So, we got leeway...
I still consider myself a maintainer in that I have met the goal of keeping the weight I lost off...err...and then some. lol :-)
Anyhow, below is this week's calorie trajectory. I have a 2400 plus schedule in on Friday. Mom and I have decided to go to a Moroccan restaurant and we're going to get 2 desserts to share! I also have one of my 6 month follow up appointments with the MS specialist on Friday, so I'll be doing Cardio on Monday, Weights on Wednesday, and my Metcon on Thursday. My blood test results came back this morning and even though I went down one point in my white blood cell count, this girl is A-Okay and my lymphocyte levels are looking wonderful!
I hope everyone is having a beautiful, blessed, joyful weekend. Thank you all for the continued support. Please know I follow many of your posts. I'm not always able to comment because it's a full schedule these days. But, I do genuinely appreciate all of your perspectives.
Monday - 1686
Tuesday - 1725
Wednesday - 1686
Thursday - 1686
Friday - 2400 plus
Saturday - 1513
Sunday - 1517
Average TDEE 1700
Current TDEE for the Fall and Winter Months = 1700/day
2400 cals 1 day/month
Working to maintain between 127-134 lb range
