I was asked this question. After answering it, I thought, this should be a blog post. I've received several questions along this line and figured I'd share.
"Congratulations on your weight loss. I checked out your blog. About how many calories are you taking in a day?"
The beachbody calculator says that I should be consuming 2800 to maintain and 2300 to lose a pound a week. However, currently I am consuming much less than that. But only for about 2, maybe 3 weeks. I am making sure to get my essential nutrients, nutrients and vitamins via nutritional yeast. I am also consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables from time to time, each day.
99% of what I consume goes through the juicer. However, these last few days I've added in a few more solid items. I believe yesterday I probably consumed around 700 calories, but did no workout. The day before probably 500 and did 2 Max Insanity workouts. Both days though I took two servings (70 calories) of Nutritional Yeast. I have a gut still... not as much as before of course. My body is still burning calories... I know the concern is not to do a very low calorie diet for long, as the body will start consuming the muscle. Which is why I added the nutritional yeast. And which is why I'm only doing this for 2 or 3 weeks. Then, when I add more calories back into my lifestyle, I'll do so with high quality foods and juices. Doing so in a manner that doesn't PACK it in, as I don't want to do the roller coaster weight gain thing. Also, I still have 30 pounds (slightly less than that), that I want to shed. I know I need to fuel my body or my body will CLING to the calories that I have, as a way to make sure that I am still alive. With that said, I've noticed it doesn't take a lot for me to fill full. Which is great, as I eat 4 to 8 times a day! So... for now, I'm consuing 4 to 8 ounces (75 to 200 calories) every couple of hours. Once I get back in the "range" the beachbody calculator says is my range (2300 to lose a pound a week), I still plan on rationing out my portions. They will be larger, around 280 to 600 per meal (based off of 4 to 8 meals a day). Simply take the total calories you want to consume in a day / by the number of meals you plan on eating and VIOLA! You've got how many calories you should consume each meal.
It will be a while before I get up to 2300 calories. I'll probably jump it up to 1200 to 1500 calories next week. Eating 8 times in a day would make it basically 190 calories per time.
It is all about discipline.
In reality, I eat more in the morning at night. Which means I tend to eat twice or three times the amount to start the day and then ration the remainder out.
Example: 1500 calories would be about 190 calories per "meal" but I would consume at least two, maybe 3 of those to start the day.
Breakfast: 570 ish calories. Which would leave 930 calories to be divided into the next 7 times I eat. Basically 132 calories each time... every few hours. If I ever "feel" hungry I can always double up one of the times I eat. Either way, I have rationed it out, so when the food is gone, it is gone. Not that I can't or wouldn't eat more if I wanted it. I would just know when the food / juice is gone, that I hit my caloric intake that I planned for the day.
I listen to my body though, if I feel hungry I will eat. I also remember to drink PLENTY of water. As 60% of the time we "feel hungry" we really are thirsty. If I feel hungry, I'll drink water first and then wait.
This picture is of regular food... I still do consume solids. I just am being selective and careful. This is one of the rare times where I did a low heat stir fry.
Since it takes about 20 minutes or so for the stomach to tell the brain it is full, I purposely stop consuming food well before the "twenty" minutes comes and goes. This is a huge improvement on the eating habits I had in my youth. I grew up on meat and potatoes. I would eat until I "felt" full! Then when the signal finally did hit my brain, I was also so full my pants felt like they were going to cut me in half. We were all big eaters growing up! Huge meals! We always wanted to get the most bang for our buck! How much food can I get for as little as possible. Now I look at it as quality over quantity! Highly nutritious food is much better! I'll pay a little more and ensure that I am getting what my body needs! I haven't had fast food or junk in a long time and I see no place for it in my life! This is a lifestyle change. Even after I hit my goal weight and tone up, my intention is to still juice at least one or two times a day and then have a sensible dinner. Maintaining a healthy inside and a fit outside is my goal. I want to be strong enough and active enough to do all that I can with my family and kids and healthy inside so that I can live a long life with them too! Looking "fit" and ripped on the outside doesn't mean that one's arteries and body is healthy on the inside. However, I know after my last blood work and the ultra sound where they looked at my arteries that I am healthy and that the arteries are "clean!" The ultrasound tech was shocked when she saw my arteries. She actually said, "WoW! This is what normal arteries are supposed to look like!"
That was so cool to hear!
Thanks for asking... and thanks for reading! I truly want to be the healthiest that I can be. Both inside and out.
