Creating Reasonable Goals
One of the hardest things to do when it comes to body comp, whether you are boy or girl, big or small, is picking a "good" goal. For me, this is all about visceral, real-world things I can take action upon.
Wanting to look like you did in high-school is nice, but not actionable. Here is my short list...what's on yours?
- No refined sugars.
- No complex carbs (bread, pasta) unless just before / after a solid workout.
- Quality protein shake after each workout as recovery (not technically as a meal supplement, but I don't really eat after having it).
- Staying on top of hydration -- 8 glasses of water a day.
- No eating after 7pm. This means some gum, maybe a jolly rancher. Worst case I might break down and have a glass of wine.
- In bed by 10pm.
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Comments
Where are you getting your motivation to avoid the refined sugars and simple carbs? It is the motivation that is lacking at the end of my day that kills my program. I'm stellar all day, maybe too good, after 6pm I might as well be Tiger in Vegas (or a Perkos) trying to walk the straight and narrow.
I sleep by 9:30 up at 4-5:30 am depending on work/workouts. Plenty of fresh veggies, lean protein, post-workout shake within 10 mins, Base Performance amino acids during training, etc. It's the motivation to say NO to the temptation that we need to nail to be successful.
Vince
My goal for the 12 weeks leading up to IMWI was to never, not even once, eat about my daily calorie goal + workouts. I tracked every single thing I ate and if I had a craving and it didn't fir in my budget for the day tough. I managed this by eating what I was craving on Saturdays and Sundays when I burned a ton of calories on the long rides.
Prior to the Race Prep phase I my goal was to hit my target calories every day, and allow myself one meal (not day) a week to eat whatever I wanted and not count the calories.
This worked for me... just like power files, number don't lie as long as you record them accurately.
Since I am not trying to hit as aggresive of a goal this year, I'm taking a different approach:
- Make good choices (pick healthy food over junk as much as possible). Simply always trying to find a way to make something healthier.
- Lots of veggies to fill me up
- If I am hungry and it is not a planned meal or snack time.. Drink two glasses of water...don't eat
- Portion control, my biggest downfall is that I will eat water ever is in front of me. I am making smaller portions at home and ordering smaller portions when out. Sometime I even put away the left overs before I start eating so I can't go back for more.
- Stay out of the kitchen. If i stand in the kitchen around after eating, I continue to pick on things. I'm much better off cleaning up and leaving and not going back for over a half hour. Then my body realizes it is full and doesn't need to eat more.
- I still get one meal a week that I can have whatever I want.
I like the 2 glasses of water ides, smaller portions, put 2nds away prior to eating, etc.
When I'm "on" with my motivation and eating in a restaurant (often) I will pour candle wax on anything that is on my plate that I shouldn't eat. I've also poured water over bread. But I have to be "on" to be that disciplined. Just this thread is motivating. Thanks Patrick and Matt.
Vince
So, now being 27 pounds away from my weight goal (170) this is a great place to put my action items down.
The first and third items are the most difficult for me. Goal by January 1 is 190 lbs. You guys are keeping me honest
Vince, that's awesome! I love it. However, I'd be more impressed if you told us in a moment of weakness, you went back for seconds on the wax seasoned food.
I hear you with the being 'on' part. Post Halloween, I was 'on' and had to sit next to my wife every night as she pillaged the halloween candy. (She never gains weight and rarely works out.) I had no desire. I was on my game. The results of losing a few pounds were more motivating than the cravings at that time. However, it ebbs and flows.
Sometimes it helps me to use this phrase, 'nothing tastes as good as fit feels'.
Dave
I like that Dave. A peice of candy or snack only taste good for a minute, but hitting your goal and feeling great about it, last much much longer.
Lately I have been on, but struggled last 2 days
I just keep thinking of my goal weight for Lake placid, though, I am also going to break it down to smaller goals, so it does not seem so overwhelming
The 2 glasses of water thing is brilliant. For cravings after 7pm or at work, I'll go brush my teeth and rinse with mouthwash. This sounds crazy but I feel like I'm giving my mouth the attention it was screaming for, but in a way that my dentist would approve.
I think the hardest part for me is going grocery shopping and getting the healthy food---which tends to spoil quickly necessitating 2-3 trips a week. I've found that I'm eating cookies/donuts/pastries at work because I didn't have any fruit or Cheerios to pack from home.
Ditto! I do this too. It really does help, especially at night. Somehow it helps set the signal to my head that I'm "done" eating for the day. Except with chocolate 'cause mint & chocolate go together so nicely
There was a time where in addition to keeping a daily food diary, getting at least X servings of fruits/vegis, and Y servings of protein every day, I also had a goal of not eating more than one "refined sugar dessert" treat each week. I was able to acheive it with a lot of success at the time however, I considered things like "sugar-free pudding" as OK back then, and these days I try to steer a bit clear of sugar substitutes.. I kinda wonder if I could be disciplined to work that goal again without having the sugar-free stuff to bridge the gap. Hmmmmmmmmm.
My current mantra is "If I can't kill it or grow it, I can't eat it". Forget where I read that.
Main goals are: 1) no sweets, 2) snacks = fruit, 3) increased dairy for calcium + d (since I'm apparently 3rd world deficient.
).
Currently counting, measuring, logging, etc. Getting better about figuring out my daily burn rate at work but it's taking more time than I'd like.
I like that. But I need to add the word "Theoretically" before it, cause I know if I REALLY had to kill my own food or grow it (brown thumb here) I'd totally starve!!!
I'm getting on the McCrann Plan. I speaks to me except for the late glass of wine. Wine is a gateway drug that leads to snacks.
actually, the real problem is that I'm optimistic and can totally buy into things like science must have a way to produce cookie trees!
Leigh- I was so impressed with what you wrote... right up to the "cookie tree". Then I was LMAO.
Mary- While not eating after 7 pm is ideal for many, like you, if I did that, I might not eat at all. DH (Max) and I eat together every night. When he is on call, he sometimes gets home after 7 or doesn't want to eat the minute he walks in the door. We eat at 8 pm more often than I'd like to think about. Salad is key. I eat a large salad, all leafy, a few tomatoes, peppers, maybe some grated carrot. Nuts, croutons, oil and vinegar with spices. No creamy dressings (unless I make a Ceasar salad). As hard as it is, we cut out bread, rice, potatoes, pasta. Then my "main" dish is a small piece of fish and steamed or grilled veggies.
At home I make a large container of salad lettuce (red leaf, romaine, butter, boston, napa cabbage, etc- NO ICEBERG). I dry the cut up mixture in a spinner or with paper towels. Then for every lunch and dinner, I take a handful or 2 out. Add the above garnish and am good to go in under 1 minute. Really keeps craving down. I get my crunchy salty with nuts/ croutons and balsamic vinegar is sweet enough as are tomatoes.
I keep cut up carrots and celery in a container and grab with a dip- hummus, artichoke/ parmesan, peanut butter and make that a fast snack or small meal.
When I run out of either of the above, I hate it. That's when I start thinking about the foods I have been "neglecting" (couscous, polenta, rice, pasta, etc.)
Oops, this is about goals.
My biggest goal is always to get my veggie and fruit count every day.
Patrick
I have been reading this thread and finding it extremely motivating. Truthfully, if I stayed at the weight I'm at, I would be "fine." I don't "need" to lose weight, and I know that. But for racing and training, the final refinement is to get off these four pounds. That weight is where I feel the best when running and climbing--and also the strongest too.
That said, reading this has been helping me be more cognizant throughout the day of make the changes I want to make. At this point in my life, I need to cut out the sugar, cool it on the bread, etc. because it's better for my overall health. Period. Sure, the payoff is getting down to lean race weight, but it's more than that. I want to enter this phase of my life finally laying to rest some long-term bad habits. This thread has helped crystallize a lot.
My reasonable goal plan:
with a basic healthy diet and consistent training, I can get to 165lbs comfortably. with race prep level training volume i can get to 160lbs with a bit more stringent diet, but still not 'suffering' for food. by being more strict with diet i can probably get to near 155lbs. however, to drop to 150lbs or less i will likely have to lose muscle mass. my upper body has a bunch of heavy muscle that did me good when i was in the hood, but is useless now in the tri-world where everyone is nice. the losing muscle part of this process will be the toughest part, but first i'll focus on the first part of my plan.
if we are all successful with our body comp goals this year, maybe we can reward ourselves with new EN gear and donate our old larger sizes to the chubby EN people!
GH
Gilberto -
Good luck with that goal and keep us posted on your progress. Don't worry about the food for now...one step back for two steps forward I say!
P
I've never been able to make it a habit of making good choices.....I don't think I need to count calories, but maybe a log would work. Maybe that would allow me to keep track of what I ate when I felt like crap. Anyone have any good logs recommendations?
I joined this group a while ago, but haven't posted or read until today. I started my weight loss journey (for the umpteenth time in my life) in March of 2009. I have kept a journal online, through a program called Weight Commander. I am usually very good about keeping track of EVERYTHING I put in my mouth, and weighing myself. Lately, my motivation has waned, and I haven't been the good Girl Scout by keeping up my journal. This group will most certainly help me to do so, however! Since March, I have lost 55 lbs. and am counting... Since I'm training now with EN, and lifting weights, I hope to be at my goal weight by my A race, IMLOU, in August of 2010. If I don't make the goal, anything close to it will be a bonus for me, compared to where I previously was! The power of the group is great! Keep it up everyone! My big things I gave up were diet sodas, sugar (not been very good about that lately!) and alcohol. When I want a drink, I have O'Doul's or Coors Non-Alcoholic beverage. They taste like beer, and I've avoided those calories for 7 months now. I also substituted LaCroix carbonated water for the brewskies. When I become an Ironman however, look out Guiness!!!!
A girl's gotta celebrate!!
@Larry- We eat out A LOT! It is a running joke that I don't know how to cook. I can and do, but I do it from scratch and all the prep work is too much. We both work FT in healthcare. It can be unpredictable (which is why AM workouts are my norm). Anyway- we only go to restaurants that make substitutions without balking. You are right, it is about making good choices. I always start with salad with O+V dressing. Main dish is almost always protein (sometimes eggplant). Depending on portion size (most of the time huge) I take half home. We keep bread off the table, if others want it, they have to keep it in front of them. No pasta, rice, potato, etc. sides. All sides are green veggies. Other huge point I have worked on- mindful eating. Am I full? Am I eating because the food is in front of me and I am having a great time or am I hungry? I hate feeling so full that I might puke. I drink lots of water, club soda, sometimes diet soda if I want a sweet taste, but not often. It takes effort to make proper food choices.
*quit drinking my calories, I was taking in 200-400 calories in per day via energy drinks and soda, I still like beer not going to cut that out. Coffee, tea with lemon, water out of the tap w/ lemon. I reuse a quik trip 44 oz cup for days (i wash it)
*stopped eating so darn much cheese, it was fine in small amounts but 4-5 oz of cheddar is 400-500 calories and really not that satisfying. @ Jimmy john's and subway I don't miss it either.
*if my wife buys chips or cookies I put them in a seperate (her) cupboard and I don't go in there. I'm not possessive about my food doritos must be outta sight outta mind.
* simplified my meals, grill something (chicken breast, pork tenderloin, 4 oz beef tenderloin), steam something (green beans, cauliflower, brocolli, zuchinni, yellow squash), in a steam bag in the microwave, do a baked potato or wild rice. Dinners are easy, satisfying, quick, and i don't make much of a mess in the kitchen.
* hot tea in the evening between 8-10 pm. Don't know why but it seemed to curb some cravings plus no calories and it is decaf sort of relaxing to drink in a manly sort of way.
*yoga, I do the flexible warrior 3rd edition video pretty often. It might be world's easiest yoga and seems more like a stretching routine. I don't know what it is but it makes me chill out and not bounce off the walls hence no nervous eating.
*Sleep, poor sleep hygiene is part of my career/lifestyle. This won't change anytime soon, but I've learned to somewhat deal w/ it. I need one sleep per 72 hr tour where I sleep until I wake up on my own. I take ambien to help deal with the feast/famine that is my sleep cycle it works great.
* canned green beans, before I eat or while I'm cooking I eat 1-2 cans of french cut green beans, maybe sprinkled w/ granulated garlic. There is about 55 calories in a can of green beans plus a 2.5 servings of vegetables. They cost about .50 cents if you find them on sale. Loaded w/ sodium but I don't really worry about salt intake.
*breakfast I eat 2-3 eggs cooked in a non stick pan almost every morning. 210 calories. Fresh pineapple or kiwi (I live in rural Iowa my fresh fruit choices are somewhat limited)
Mary- I read an article a while back about a woman that switched her dinner and breakfast meals. helped her to lose weight. She makes dinner for the family, wraps up her portion to have for breakfast the next day, then has a typical breakfast, which is lower in calories than dinner.
What do you typically eat for dinner? Meat/ starch/ veggie?
Breakfast? cereal?
I have an Isopure protein shake for breakfast because it is fast. Yes I am a morning workout person. Once I get to work, I will have a handful of almonds or some cottage cheese. The extra food sticks around and helps me last until lunch.
I need to eat every few hours. I plan EVERYTHING these days. Snacks, meals, whatever, including going off plan and enjoying myself- I love sweets. It has truly helped stay on track.
I know a lot of people lately that have gone paleo or near-paleo, which is basically what seems to be the latest trend (in da Haus and out), but the concept of breakfast salad or breakfast soup doesn't really appeal to me, so I'd be interested in knowing what y'all would suggest.
Right now, my bfast is oatmeal and a banana - and I'm STARVING by 10am to get a snack.