Well, week one is in the books and I’m willing to call it a success. I’m actually fairly surprised at how easy it was to eliminate snacking and unhealthy food from my diet (although Sunday was a little bit of a cheat day).
My daily caloric intake goal to lose a pound a week is 2, 120 calories per day, or 14, 840/week. This week I consumed 11, 998 calories.
On most days, I was well below my recommended caloric intake. It will be interesting as time goes by to see if this effects my energy levels. I felt fine everyday this week eating well below my recommended amount.
Caloric Expenditure: Goal: 1, 280 cal/week; Actual: 3, 053 calories; BMR: 1, 944/day, 13, 608/week; Total Caloric Expenditure this week: 16, 661.
The difference in my caloric expenditure vs. intake is 4,663. As one pound is 3, 500 calories, this should equal to just over a pound in weight loss.
I completed six workouts this week; 3 runs, 2 stationary cycling, and 1 strength workout. I hope to continue running as much as possible while the weather allows. After that, cycling will become my primary cardio workout. I would like to get at least one more strength session in during the week, and at least one yoga session.
Results: On Monday September 27, I weighed in at 194.1 lbs. On Monday October 4, I weighed in at 192.6 lbs. This is exactly where I should be based on my calculations of intake vs. expenditure.
This does leave me with a question though – I consumed well under my recommended caloric intake and expended many more calories than suggested. If I had followed those recommendations more closely, I don’t think I would have lost one pound, which is my weekly goal. I know there can be a number of factors at play with weight loss including water weight, scale accuracy…this will be something I keep my eye on over the coming weeks.
I am excited to watch your journey. So do you do meal prep for the entire week? How do you space out your 2100 calories in a day?
Hey Curtis,
My wife does meal prep for each week. At this point, I have changed what I eat for breakfast but still eat my normal lunches and suppers. I have paid more attention to portion control and just cutting out empty calories from my diet. I am usually a junk food snacker, so cutting this out of my diet, especially at night, has helped.
Breakfast is typically my lowest calorie meal, followed by lunch and then supper. During the day at work I have tried to cut out snacking and only eat at lunch time. However, I will have some fruit or vegetables if I need a snack. I know many recommend eating 5 smaller meals a day, but as we know with teaching, there is no way I can fit that in during a normal school day. I think I would end up missing most meals that I was supposed to have at school most days.
Weight loss can be super hard with all the factors that go into it. Congrats to you on taking on this challenge. I started weight watchers at the end of March and have found it to be very successful for me. I have lost 20lbs and I have 10 more pounds I would like to lose. Prior to starting Weight Watchers I was working out but found no success. I continue to work out and enjoy using the Fiton app at home. You might want to check it out as it is free but you can also pay which opens more content and allows you to track food etc. I am excited to see your end results.
Thanks for the recommendation of the Fitness app, Jenny. I have been trying a bunch of different workouts on youtube and through the myfitnesspal app, so new app suggestions are always welcome.
Hi Chris!
I really love your stacked bar graph that you utilized to track your calories! Such a visually appealing way to record and analyze the data!
I look forward to seeing more, and hopefully it will be useful to compare charts and graphs from post to post.
Wow! Good job! This takes super dedication, something that I currently don’t have. I know a lot of my friends signed up for the Peleton app without having the bike. There are a ton of workouts there and it tracks them and gives you points. That may be something to change things up? Did you also take before pictures of yourself? It’s crazy how much pictures can show your progress. I am interested to watch you on this journey! Can’t wait for all of the tips and tricks after.
This is such a well thought out and personally reflective project. (Project feels like such a weak word to use in this case as this is so much more). It sounds like you got off to a great start and have so many positives from your first week.
You bring up a great point at the end though. Is it possible to lose weight based on the predetermined intake vs. output, or is every person different? Maybe that formula is meant more as a starting point for someone who was coming into it already eating far more than they should with not enough exercise? For you, who already has some good habits in place, it may have to look a little different to lose as you’ve identified. Sometimes I wonder if people struggle to lose when they follow guidelines like this because they are trying to make sure to get that full calorie intake?
I too would be curious to see if there would be any change based on that formula. But please, don’t experiment for me! Keep doing what you are doing!!!
Hey Chris – Awesome idea for a project! I am currently working towards building a better relationship with my calorie intake. There are most definitely good days and bad mixed together. I found the first month or so to be easier than anticipated, but I’m currently trying not to fall back into my old habits! I am looking forward to seeing your progress!