Weight Loss Wednesday: Recognize and Record

Okay…..so I know the post says Weight Loss Wednesday and it is already Thursday.  I just want to give all of you who want to join us on this journey a chance to say “I’m in!” So, read on and leave your comment. I am praying for you!!!!

Oh gals, can you hear me shouting from wherever you are? I am soooooo excited to know that nearly 50 of us are beginning this journey together! In fact, just knowing that you all are on this same quest to see the scales go down helped me over the weekend.

I was at a fabulous family gathering and had MANY chances to eat lots of yummy food. However, I knew we are all counting on each other to provide encouragement, support and prayer and I thought of you many times when I wanted to dive into the cream cheese caramel apple dip (which I never did) or eat two whole pieces of tiramisu (I took two bites).

I know that without the accountability, I would have played the old mind game so many of us play.

You know the routine. You vow to start your diet tomorrow. Tomorrow comes. You eat a sensible breakfast. The mid-morning munchies soon set in and by noon you’ve “blown your diet”, so you vow, “I’ll start over tomorrow.” and promptly raid the fridge.

Tomorrow isn’t so hot either and by 2:00 pm, you are plum out of calories (not from eating plums, but from cramming cookies down your throat or opening the hatch and downing nearly a pound bag of peanut M & M’s!!) so you tell yourself, “I’ll start next Monday.” Then you eat like a pig until Monday comes, try to start over, blow it again by noon and promise yourself… “Okay, let’s try next month. Yeah, that’s it, I’ll start the first of next month…..” and on and on it goes.

But with accountability, it is so much easier to stop yourself. If we know we must check in each week and leave a comment with the honest results of our weigh in, we’ll be more apt to behave!

And to take it up a notch and ensure even more success, weigh in with a friend. That was the number one key component to the success God gave to me.  You cannot fudge when weighing in on the scales in front of someone else (after eating too much fudge!) You also cannot afford to blow it for days on end when you must weigh in in front of someone else. Were (and are) there times that I overate? You bet! But it was VERY short lived.

Maybe I ate 500 calories of junk one afternoon. But then I’d slap myself in the face and say, “You dummy! Why did you do that? You have to weigh in next Wednesday. If you keep this pattern up, you will see the scale go up, not down! However, if you stop right now and behave the rest of the week, you’ll only be over 500 calories for the week. Why, that is only about 70 calories over per day. That won’t hurt you. Stop it now, Karen!!” And my little self-talk worked! So, find a buddy! 

Now, here is the dealio. I know many of you have started already, but let’s make today the official beginning.

  • Weigh yourself today. Record it somewhere. (You’ll never have to tell us what you weigh).  Next week, I want you to comment and tell us how much you have lost.
  • Also, have someone take a “before” picture of you. I’m not going to ask you to post it. However, later when many of you have dropped pounds and pants sizes, we may have a before and after cyber show and tell! 
  • Then, your homework assignment for this week is to begin to recognize and record.

Recognize when you eat when you are not even hungry; out of habit or boredom. And record what you do eat. You can just write down calories. Or you can include carbs too or fat grams, if you want. But the most important facet is the calories.

Now, how many calories should you be eating? When I lost my 106 pounds, I pulled out a formula I learned years ago, but usually didn’t apply. That formula is to take your current weight and times it by 12 if you are sedentary, 14 if you are moderately active (exercise 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes) and 16 if you exercise an hour a day 3-5 times a week. That is how many calories you would need to eat each day in order to stay at your current weight. Then, subtract 500 calories a day for each pound you’d like to lose per week. (500 calories x 7 days=3500 calories. Every 3500 calories burned equals one pound)

So, lets say you weigh 200 (because it is an easy number to figure and I am not near a calculator!) You are moderately active. So, to keep at your same weight, you’d need to consume 2800 calories. (200 x 14= 2800) If you want to lose 1 pound a week, drop the calories down to 2300. Make it 1800 to lose 2 pounds each week. Drop it further to 1300 to lose 3 pounds each week. Most experts say not to drop below 1200 calories per day.

Now, once you lose 10% of your starting body weight (in our example that would be 20 pounds) stop and re-figure this all over again. Now you’d take 180 pounds, re-crunch the numbers and aim for another 10% gone. Keep doing it until you are at your goal. I am no fitness expert, but this worked like a charm for me! And breaking it down in chunks helps to keep it from seeming like a daunting task. I could wrap my brain around 10%. It seemed doable. When I thought of losing 100 + pounds, it seemed overwhelming and I wanted to reach for a fork and a cheesecake!

So this week, get yourself a cute little notebook and record, record, record!!!

Also begin to move your body. We’ll talk later about exercise. Just start doing something. Walking is a great start.

Next week, you will leave a comment with how your week went and what the scales did. Today let’s leave a comment about what your toughest time of day is; when you eat because you are bored, lonely, stressed or just because ‘something sounds good’. Maybe it is when you are feeding your kids lunch with creamy peanut butter and homemade jam and you want to make yourself a sandwich with a thick layer of both. That is my greatest tempting time.

Then, feel free to hop on and encourage each other. I’ll hop on as much as I can too to offer my two cents worth.

Ready?

Recognize….

Then record…

Can’t wait to see those scales going down, down, down…..

Scale-plummeting Blessings,

82 Comments

  1. Just saw Lysa Terkhurst over the weekend at ONU. Last fall I used her Made to Crave study to lose 25 (30 on a good day) lbs…..then I lost some motiovation, what was supposed to be a holiday hiatus strtched from Christmas to Easter!
    I have 27 lbs to go to make my life time goal, and I am so determined to dig in this time, and work with God to figure out this emotional eating of mine. I’ve lost it so many times, gained it so many times, I just want to be done with it.

  2. I just found this site. I’ve read the comments and feel like Deb, discouraged before I begin. I’ve had weight issues my whole life so it’s hard to get excited again. I need prayer for perseverance. I give up way too easily.

  3. Well 2 1/2 yrs later & I’m jumping on board. Just found this site this am. I’m weighing in. My hardest time is at lunch, then afternoon snack. I feel alone because I don’t have a friend to walk along side of me. I am new to the area so I haven’t made friends yet. What a way to begin a friendship with someone. “Do you want to be my accountability friend? We can do this wt thing together!” :( I don’t think so.

  4. I just found this site! I am three months into my journey! I know just reading everyday is going to give me the boost to keep going.

  5. My 3 third day and I find so much encouragement by reading the posts. I agree with the advice of logging what you eat.
    I also read the advice of having a accountability partner.
    pray for me that I can fiind the right person who needs
    the encouragement as much as I do and will encourage me as well.

  6. Great spiritual food for thought here! I’ve been stuck at my current weight for a few years now and have loved to blame it all on “the meds”. I go to Curves For Women 2-3 times per week, and I love http://www.myfooddiary.com for tracking calories! It also tracks nutrition for you – all you do is enter what you’ve eaten and the program does the rests. I haven’t logged in for months but will go there again today and begin logging my food and trying to keep it to 1300-1800 calories per day to lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. God, help me please.

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