COUNTING CALORIES: MY EXPERIENCE SO FAR

    I have been on a mission to lose weight...again. For anyone who has struggled with losing weight (specifically, keeping it off!) you know how hard it can be to feel like you've tried it all but nothing seems to be working. Well, that's the point that I'm at and it sucks. I kept losing weight and gaining it all back and I just couldn't understand why or how. Was my body out to get me? Was I just destined to be a default weight of obese?

    Now, before I start this post,  I don't want my health goals to trigger others. I know the ideal weight I should be at and since I strive to be healthy, I know I can't be healthy and happy if the scale says otherwise (Again, I'm using myself as an example here). Also, this post is not for those who struggle with eating problems already - if you find yourself with an eating disorder or have underlying health conditions that need to be evaluated by a professional, I highly encourage you to get medical help as soon as possible. 

    With that said, I have opened up about my experience trying many different diets; each came with their own success but it was always short lived and I would just end up gaining all of the weight back. The most successful diet I tried was doing Keto but my diet was very restricted and often left me frustrated since I had to maintain a low carb diet every day. While it came with added health benefits, I just couldn't see myself doing it long term. 

    This year, something clicked in me where I thought about counting calories. I have never considered it before and instead always thrusted difficult diets onto my body with no questions asked. My diet is already fairly healthy but I wasn't losing any weight, which led me to wondering if I was eating too many calories than I was actually burning. 

    This is how I started counting calories. I downloaded an App called "Lose It," and did my best to track my calories every day. It's a fairly easy App to understand but unless you upgrade, you have to enter what you eat manually. I didn't upgrade and have come to enjoy putting the foods I eat in myself but some of the App's features like tracking your carbs or scanning a barcode seem pretty useful for those willing to pay.

Lose It App

    Also, when you setup the App, you can personalize your goal according to what you want to achieve. Since I wanted to lose weight, my first plan was set up so that I was eating 1200 calories a day which meant I'd achieve my weight loss of 25lbs by November. It seems like a long wait to see results but I was so used to trying diets that gave me fast results that I was ready to try the complete opposite if it meant the weight staying off. 

    Unfortunately, after several weeks of counting calories with the scale not moving, I lowered my calorie intake down to 1000. For some, this many seem too little but I knew my body had more than enough fat on it to sustain itself; I just had to be extra mindful now of the food I ate. Just like that, the water weight was first to go and I started to feel like I was making progress. 

    My day consisted of a protein shake in the morning, a small snack afterwards, a light carb meal for lunch, another small snack, and then dinner is where I'd cook something more elaborate. Since I was consuming less calories, I had to be mindful of everything I ate since I could easily go over with a simple snack like chocolate.

    It was hard of course but not as restricting as doing Keto or water fasting. I felt like I could splurge if I wanted to just as long as I was not going over my calorie intake. Of all the diets I have tried, being mindful of my calorie intake was a great way for me to hold myself accountable for everything I was eating because I genuinely had no idea how easy it was to eat 1500 calories or more! Tracking the calories forced me to be honest about my eating habits without my diet being so restrictive. 

My 2nd diet plan

    I also should mention that I don't really work out; I personally don't like to but I do wear a Fitbit that Dimitar bought me a few weeks back. It's pretty fun but sometimes also annoying; I got sick shortly after wearing it and it was annoying for the watch to constantly remind me to move when I was bed ridden! Other than that though, it's a useful device I use to monitor my steps. At the end of the day, I put in how much I've walked on the Lose It App; freeing up more calories that I can treat myself to if desired.

    I'm now going on my second week of my new diet plan and I know my body is getting a healthy challenge. I don't feel like I'm deprived but I definitely find myself craving stuff; a good sign my body is working. I'll know after another two weeks if this new plan is working and if it is, I may have found the answer to losing weight (at least for me).

 Until next time! - Sarah xoxo