So, we all go around saying "I must have a slow metabolism", being annoyed that our weight has a natural upward drift and we lose so slowly. But take a look at this:
The internet calculates my maintenance calorie needs to be about 2100.
My average intake for the past 34 days has been about 1850/day.
A pound of fat is 3500 calories.
Go ahead, run the numbers. According to this calculation, I've lost four times as much weight as I should have.
Have I been losing muscle? Maybe, but if so, there's not a whole lot I could be doing about that. I've also been strength training, and it's not as if I've been overdoing the deficit. They say you lose fluid at the beginning of any diet, even a healthy one, so maybe that's it - although I don't quite get why. Or it might be that my metabolism is just as high as any other 20-year-old, and the natural upward drift is due to different deficiencies in my bodily makeup... such as the fact that "hunger" comprises at least two distinct physiological sensations.
Either way, I've lost 10 pounds in the first month (now 171) and I'm happy about that. I'm going to continue as I've been and hope to lose another 5 pounds in each of the next two months (more or less, still sticking with 160 by 99 days). If it slows beyond that rate, I'll start by just pushing my daily target down to 1700. I anticipate, around 165 or 160, a straight up plateau, and at that point I have 2 strategies - eat for a week at maintenance, and then drop the target to 1500. By that point, hopefully, my needs will be less and it won't strain my energy so much (1650 seems to be my lower limit lately). I don't know what will happen at 150, but since I've never been lighter at this height I wouldn't be surprised to stall out there as well. I then still have the further step of 1200 available if necessary.
This weekend I'm doing something a little different for my booster. Instead of eating an overload for one day, I'm spending two days at about maintenance, or rather, eating intuitively. Yesterday I ate as follows:
Breakfast out (615)
Mozzarella, avocado, mushroom and tomato crepe (550)
Coffee with cream and sugar (45)
Andes mint (20)
Fruit grain bar and 1 square dark chocolate (130+55=185)
Bean salad over green salad (170+30=200)
Frozen yogurt and fruit sundae (2*140+75+25=380)
Frozen grapes (50)
Whole wheat pasta with cheddar cheese (400+100=500)
1 Triscuit with 1 tsp honey peanut butter (40)
615+185+200+380+50+500+40=1970
I did not end up having any exercise, but I will at least do some wall pushups and such today, and my new running shoes should come soon, which will motivate me to run a lot more. I ate scrambled eggs with spinach and cheddar for breakfast, and we are going berry picking so I will be eating lots of fruit today and for a bit. Fruit is awesome, it's delicious and snacky but healthy and low calorie density because it's also full of water and fiber.
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