Eating every 1.5 hours works!! Follow my journey!

[kkmcan]

So I've been trying to diet and get some of this weight off for many years now and so far it's been nothing but failures for me. I just made up my mind that I'm sick and tired of being fat!! I did a shake diet a few years ago and it worked really well but it was super hard and I didn't want to drink my meals anymore so I fell off that diet and couldn't seem to get back on it.

I've read a bunch of stuff on the internet about eating small meals every couple of hours and spreading out your calories so i kinda made up my own diet based on an interesting youtube success story(impatientdieter). I am eating six 100 calories meals/snacks + two 250 calorie meals which = 1100 calories per day plus I've started exercising 30 minutes/day 4-5 times per week. Also I drink a glass of water just about every hour and I write down everything I eat and drink on my daily schedule. I am aiming for 1200 cals per day and I know my one cup of coffee already has 35 cals from the creamer I refuse to give up. Plus sometimes my snacks end up being 110 or 120 cals or my meals might end up being 260 0r 270 but it all evens out at the end of the day because some of my snacks are only 80 calories or the salad I ate yesterday for lunch was only 230 calories.

I just finished week 1 and I lost 4 pounds! I really am happy about that but i think it might be more because I'm about to start that time of the month and I always gain 1-2 pounds in water weight.

So here's my eating schedule:
6:30 Cup of coffee
7:30 100 calories
9:00 100 calories
10:30 100 Calories
12:00 Lunch 250 calories
1:30 100 calories
3:00 100 calories
4:30 100 calories
6:00 Dinner 250 calories

Now the trick is not to eat those 100 calorie Nabisco things. I eat a string chees (80 cal), or 2 wasa + wedge of laughing cow cheese (95 cal), banana (80 cal, hard boiled egg (78), apple + 2 tsp peanut butter (100), 1/2 turkey sandwich on light bread (95), protein shake made with water (100), low sugar oatmeal packet(80), egg whites on one toasted kashi waffle (91).

I've gotten really creative and found some fun things. Now for the 250 meal I might eat a prepackaged salad from grocery the ones with calories marked on the front (230-260 cals each), or a whole turkey sandwich (no mayo) and a chicken noodle soup at hand, Lean Cuisine around 250 cal or a chicken breast and veggies or fish and veggies.

I love that every hour and half I get to eat again. I'm a grazer so this really has worked for me. I don't feel deprived or famished (well, a little hungry the first 2 days but the rest of the days have been fine).

i'm really excited about week 2!

Start: 214.4
Week 1 Loss 210.4

Already lost inches too and can see the difference in my waist! Whohooo!

 

[FireDancer]

I think smaller meals throughout the day is the best way to eat for health in general and weight-loss specifically. I always have small snacks at my desk at work and only eat large meals if I go out to eat as a group.

I'm really not a fan of diets since they are temporary by nature but what you described can be a lifestyle change. I would caution you not to be too rigid in your schedule. If you have 150 or 200 calories at one meal don't sweat it, just adjust down some of the other meals.

What kind of exercising do you do? While any is good I would suggest making sure you get in a variety of different exercise. A lot of people who are concentrating on weight-loss make the mistake, IMO, of only doing low intensity cardio like walking or an elliptical. I think adding resistance training, even if you start with just body weight, is important. I would also suggest finding a sport you like and joining a team. I have a friend who is trying to lose some weight and is on my co-ed softball and volleyball team. The short bouts of intense motion needed in sports is a good compliment to walking or taking a class at a gym.

The two things I tell anyone trying to lose weight or get in shape are to journal everything you eat and start some sort of fitness plan. It looks like you have done both so I think you are on your way to a successful journey.

 

[kkmcan]

Thanks Firedancer for the reply! So far I've been doing either power walking or Zumba class. Today I did step aerobics. Plus I add in crunches, squats and push ups with every workout. I know I'll need to adjust as I go as I tend to get bored with the same old workouts. It's hard living in Az in the summer because once it hits July it never cools down past 89 or so even in the middle of the night. Outside workouts don't work for me later in the summer. This lasts til sometime in Sept then it starts getting cooler at night again.

I don't belong to a gym but that's my next step- Anytime Fitness near me is offering a $99 summer rate so I need to get over there and sign up.

There were a couple of days this past week where i didn't eat ontime or I skipped a snack because of other things going on but I just adjusted what I ate later in the day so it came out around 1200 cals at the end of the day. I also may look at doing 4- 100 cal snacks and 2- 350 cal meals. I think that would work nicely too. So, at any rate there's room for changes as I go.

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[kkmcan]

Well week 2 wasn't as successful and I didn't try as hard. Very stressful week- my dd14 flew to Denver by herself for the first time to stay with inlaws. I was kind of a basketcase over that. Then ds11 had oral surgery today and I've been dreading this for months now. Poor thing is on the couch in and out of sleep because of the pain meds they gave him.

Weighed in at 211.0 so just up a little. But I'm back on as I really want to see the 190's. Thats my first goal.

 

[kkmcan]

Week 3 and I lost 1 pound. First week I lost 4, last week I gained .6 and this week I lost 1 so my total for 3 weeks is 5 pounds. Not too bad but boy is that slow-ugh!

I'm not expecting a huge weight loss each week but I'd be overjoyed for a consistent 2 pound weekly loss.

I was thinking that maybe I cut my calories too low and should have started at 1400 -1500 cals. Maybe I'm eating to little Hard part is, is that I don't feel hungry most of the time. Thats good but bad when its time to eat and I don't want to.

Plan is to just keep doing it. I have the right mind set- that I'm not going to quit- that I will keep adjusting until I get it right.

Any other suggestions?

 

[kkmcan]

I know its not the end of the week yet but I want to scream from the housetops!!! I think I shook it up a bit with my weight loss!

Monday I ended up taking a cheat meal- I had two slices of pizza
We got pizza for dinner and I ate my two slices very slowly and was really quite satisfied actually.

Then yesterday, I went right back on my diet and ate very well. Drank a ton of water. I had my usual snacks but they were more protein based and Subway Turkey Sandwich for lunch(320 cals) and Campbells Select Tortilla Soup for dinner (260 calories for the WHOLE can!) and then I went to a one hour Zumba class. I haven't Zumba'd in a long time.

Got on the scale this morning and I dropped 2.8 pounds!!!! OMG!!

Going to try and Zumba 3 times per week. Its a hard class and thats definitely a stretch for me.

I will report back at the end of this week (week 4) with my total weight loss.