The easiest way to avoid regrets is to ask yourself this question, "If not now, when?" It's a powerful way to put life and our decisions about how we spend our time into perspective"

Calorie question for whoever wants to answer Posted by Cindyh on 8/10/2025, 2:11 am I log my food and seems like it’s hard to not end up close to 1300 Ian’s that’s eating real food. It’s not easy for me to lose or lose consistently there. I feel like I should Where do you stay , or try to , what range for weight loss??

(Long reply) My calorie intake is between 1100 and 1300. Posted by Paula on 8/10/2025, 11:05 am, in reply to "Calorie question for whoever wants to answer" Usually, I don't break 1200. Take into consideration that most days, all I do is sit around with a few little walks when I don't hurt too much. I have always said that if I wasn't a sugar addict, I'd weigh 145 pounds. IDk if that's true or not but, I don't enjoy 'regular' food that much. Since this health saga began, I've not regained my appetite most days. The only times I may feel a little hungry is first thing in the morning. And, I've learned that feeling hungry isn't the end of the world. Before this, I almost felt a sense of panic (at least an increase in anxiety) if I felt hungry. I also think it matters what kind of calories I'm eating. The tracking thing I use let's me know how many calories of protein, carbs and fat I'm eating. I can stay in my calorie range but I don't think I would lose much if the fat % way overpowered the other. Again, this is a very a-typical time of my life (that I wouldn't wish on anyone!). Once I'm set 'free' again, I know I will have to deal with the daily stressors that come with living and working. I posted a few days ago how just driving by so.e of the places where I buy my sweets, set off cravings. Another motivator for me right now is that I am pretty miserable right now (especially with the amount of back pain I'm still feeling). I know that eating a lot of junk and gaining more weight would make me even MORE miserable. I don't know how I would handle that. Once I'm able to be more active, I will bump my calories up, probably to 1500/1600.

Just our of curiosity, Posted by Delta on 8/10/2025, 3:42 pm, in reply to "(Long reply) My calorie intake is between 1100 and 1300." How many daily stressors will you encounter that are bigger than what you are going through now once you are set free? This seems like a pretty major. on-going stressor, and you are handling it like a champ with the eating. I was just wondering if you mean old eating habits, once you are free to go to your old haunts anytime you want? News flash: you are dealing with them now, and you are a strong woman, so I believe you can deal with them then, too. Especially if you have a plan to intentionally make new habits when you get back to driving. What healthy places can you visit instead of the old haunts? Nothing wrong with an occasional splurge, look at our Joan, but your life can have a new meaning, a new focus, other than what you used to eat. I believe you can be the same that you are now.

Thanks, Delta Posted by Paula on 8/10/2025, 6:38 pm, in reply to "Just our of curiosity, " This IS a huge stressor but it feels different from the habitual stressors that all have a food connection.

Should depend on your weight Posted by Krista on 8/10/2025, 9:46 am, in reply to "Calorie question for whoever wants to answer" What I have always read is that it takes 10 calories / pound to maintain your weight. So if you were 200, you could eat 2000 calories to stay the same. To lose a lb it would be 3500 calories so cutting by 500 a day would take you to 1500 calories. I honestly believe if I followed that, if many of us did, we could still lose weight. Not eating ENOUGH calories is as detrimental as eating TOO MANY in my humble opinion. Hope this helps

But I’ve had surgery Posted by Cindyh on 8/10/2025, 4:23 pm, in reply to "Should depend on your weight" And they say that forever lowers how many calories you can eat and be able to lose / point to maintain. Ok. I took a break and googled and went to my gym programs website “Initially post surgery, dietary intake will be around 800 calories a day. This figure will gradually increase to 1000 calories and beyond, ensuring the diet is rich in protein (at least 60 to 70g a day) as well as vegetables, fruit, wholegrains and small amounts of healthy fats. Long term, most patients consume around 1200 to 1500 calories a day for maintenance “ Sooo there’s my answer. That’s why I’m not losing at 1350 or so. I’ve change my metabolism in 2008

Cindyh Posted by Delta on 8/10/2025, 6:00 pm, in reply to "But I’ve had surgery" Supposedly, people, especially women who have a lot of stress, have dieted a lot, have had WLS, and or gone through or are going through menopause, tend to have hormone problems that cause us to convert food into fat instead of energy. The cycling seems to kick-start the hormones to work correctly again, similar to how Ozempic works on hormones. I don't know if it is true or just another weight loss gimmick to sell something because the shots are scaring them, but I am hearing a lot of "research" (I haven't been able to read peer-reviewed research by scientists yet, so I dunno), but I have been hearing that they are getting great results with carb cycling. Even a couple of doctors have mentioned it to me. I know my mom was part of a medical research by Vanderbilt Medical Center and University in the 70s that cycled calories and carbs, and it worked great for her. She dropped over 60 pounds quickly and got to goal during the testing. It did like a 1000, 1200, and 1500 calorie loop over and over. I keep thinking that they had an 1800-calorie day ever once in a while because she would go out and splurge about once a month. They also had a few foods that they couldn't eat, but I don't remember them, except for sweets and certain breads, but I don't know which. Anyway, it was lower in carbs on the low-calorie days to keep the calories lower. The carb cycling seems easier to follow, but uses the same philosophy. This is a simplified version of a talk I listened to that tells the benefits and gives a simple breakdown of how to do it. What makes sense to me is that it helps to keep muscle from breaking down because the more muscle we have, the more calories we burn, and it is supposed to keep the body guessing, not thinking it is in starvation mode, so it stops. https://urbanmamaz.com/carb-cycling-for-weight-loss-7-days-meal-plan/ There is also the theory that a water fast for three or more days will flip the switch and make hormones start working again. I guess it is all conjecture but at least they are thinking outside the calories in/calories out= weight loss box they have been in for years that we all know only works for a few weeks/months then stops.

And yes Posted by Delta on 8/10/2025, 6:14 pm, in reply to "Cindyh" Those calorie counts sound astounding to me and make me afraid of that particular meal plan but I wonder if I got the calories down to 1000, 1200 and 1500 if it would work for me because I am not exercising hard enough to get much more than that right now and it will take months before I could get close to exercising as hard as I would need to. Pretty sure that the macros can be converted to those calories though.

Definitely interesting Posted by Cindyh on 8/11/2025, 1:40 am, in reply to "And yes" I used to cycle calories. Kind of the same theory. It was very helpful to do that when installed. Thank you Delta!

Krista, I think you just Posted by Delta on 8/10/2025, 3:51 pm, in reply to "Should depend on your weight" hit the nail on the head. I think if all of us tried to cut out 500 calories a day below our 10 calories per pound that we would all average 1 pound per week in the long run. If we added 500 calories a day from exercise to that, we would probably average 2 pounds a week. I get impatient and try to lower it too low or add too much exercise at once. That can't be maintained healthily for very long before my body gets into a deficiency in nutrition and gives me a big problem, or I get so sick of all the restrictions that I fall face-first into ALL my favorite foods. By the way, I didn't mean to upset you. Forgive me?

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