BrightAngel's Daily Diary

[BrightAngel]

Hoe: "I am interested as to how you lost over 50% body weight in the first place - that is an outstanding achievement"

Here is a copy of a brief introduction from another thread.

For the past 4 years I have been working to maintain a large weight-loss.
My signature contains a graphic that shows my Weight Maintenance Plan.

17 years ago I was at my all-time high of 271 lbs when I had open RNY gastric bypass surgery, with no shortening of the intestines which means that all of my food intake continues to be digested...and every calorie counts. Within a year of that surgery, I lost down to 160 lbs, and maintained in the 160s for several years, but then the weight began creeping up and up. When I weighed in the 190 lb range, I realized that if I continued to eat as much as my body allowed, I would return to my high weight again and perhaps beyound. This is when I began to seriously diet again.

I found a computer software journeling program in which I began logging all my food intake every day. This program also gave me the calorie counts of the food. Over about a 16 month period of averaging about 1250 calories a day, I lost an average of about 1 lb per week to reach my ultimate goal of 115 lbs. Since that time I've been working to maintain in an area around my goal weight.

About 3 years ago I first learned about the alternate day plans of JUDDD and QOD, and off and on I have used them to help in this process. Right now I need to drop weight to get back into the blue area of my Maintenance Weight Range. Therefore, I am again starting a JUDDD plan. I find the down days tough, and I welcome all of your support.

 

[HOE]

I found a computer software journeling program in which I began logging all my food intake every day. This program also gave me the calorie counts of the food.

I do wish we had something similar here. Most I have seen are from USA and of coure don't contain many of our brands. Anyone know of a good UK one? Thanks for the history - I thought it must be contained in another thread. Great going.

 

[miss jelly tot]

Most I have seen are from USA and of coure don't contain many of our brands. Anyone know of a good UK one?

Ive not tried it as yet but some people I know on CD are raving about the Perfect Diet Tracker. You get a free trial to see if you like it and they have said it really helps

 

[HOE]

Great thanks.

 

[BrightAngel]

Re: Computer Food Journal

I do wish we had something similar here. Most I have seen are from USA and of coure don't contain many of our brands.

I, personally, have no connection to DietPower, other than my longtime use of it.
However, I do know one faithful user is a female priest in the UK,
so there mut be a way to overcome differences.
DietPower has a food dictionary, of course, which doesn't contain lots of UK things,
however, it also gives one the ability to add to the dictionary
by inputting label information from the foods one buys.
I've been doing this all the time for the past 5 years,
so at present my food dictionary is extremely helpful to me personally.
I even have added all my normal recipes, so I know their nutritional info.
The only way to know if you can adapt it would be to go to their website and get their 2 week free trial.
However, if you do decide to buy it...BE CERTAIN to order the disk..
having the disk (instead of just a download) has saved me a great deal of trouble when my computer has glitches.
The DietPower company is very small, and they respond quite well to questions on their forum or e-mail.

 

[BrightAngel]

Yesterday's UP day was a bit too UP.

My UP day calorie maximum is 1300,
which I'm using as a guideline...Anything around that is okay.
However, yesterday's total was 1705 calories,
which was quite a bit too Up.

Hoping for a better Result with today's Down Day.
A calorie maximum of 300 is my guideline.

 

[HOE]

Yes I am going for 350 - it's hard but so worth it when you finally fall asleep with only 350 cals inside you! Thanks for the info on the DietPower database.

 

[Stirky7]

Have a great day today

 

[jolinarr]

Keep up the good work!

 

[BrightAngel]

Today is Up day

Yesterday's Down day was successful.
214 calories.
Today is an UP day, and I am sooooo hungry.
Good luck to me today.

 

[BrightAngel]

Up day Results

I am happy with yesterday's UP day results.
My calorie total was 1193.
But....
today is yet another Down Day.

 

[HOE]

Well on your calorie calcs I can see why the DDs are a challenge and why you are hungry. You have had to be so disciplined for so many years now, it must be very hard. Keep it going though and let's hope JUDDD helps get thigns going for you. Love the sugar free jelly too. I make two pints at a time and sometimes eat the lot in one day!

 

[BrightAngel]

Down Day Results - Today is an UP day

Yesterday's Down Day totalled 318 calories.
Today is an Up day.

I'm finding it almost impossible to eat around 300 calories on my Down Day,
but I'd still like to lose about 1/2 lb per week.
So I'm making some changes to my Plan.

I've decided to increase my Down Days from a maximum of 300 calories
to a maximum of 500 calories;
and to decrease my Up Days from a maximum of 1300 calories
to a maximum of 1000 calories.

Near Perfection with this (though quite unlikely)
would still total an approximatey 750-800 daily calorie average,
which based on my extremely low daily burn,
should still give me about a 250 calorie daily deficit,
for a potential fat loss of 1/2 lb per week.

 

[BrightAngel]

You have had to be so disciplined for so many years now,
it must be very hard.

Thank you Hoe,

Yes, it is very difficult, but to me
being small and staying small is worth the struggle.

 

[jolinarr]

Keep it up!

 

[Lou1973]

BrightAngel - not yet a JUDDDerer but will be very soon so come and lurk around everyones diaries to see how everyones doing.

You've done amazingly well and have obviously been tracking your food intake for a long time.

I know you explain above why your calorie intake is so low and the science behind it. I wondered if you've been on this amount of calories for the last 5 years? If you have I wonder if your body is effectively in starvation mode? I believe there is some science behind it that shows if you deprive your body over a long period of time it holds onto every calorie it consumes to keep going which means you have to keep reducing calories to lose weight. Obviously you know your body better than anyone else but your calorie intake of averaging out at 750 calories a day seems to be effectively a starvation diet (even VLCD that involve shakes are around 550 cals a day)

All power to you if you can stick to it though

 

[BrightAngel]

I wondered if you've been on this amount of calories for the last 5 years? If you have I wonder if your body is effectively in starvation mode?

I believe there is some science behind it that shows if you deprive your body over a long period of time it holds onto every calorie it consumes to keep going which means you have to keep reducing calories to lose weight. Obviously you know your body better than anyone else but your calorie intake of averaging out at 750 calories a day seems to be effectively a starvation diet (even VLCD that involve shakes are around 550 cals a day)

The actual definition of a VLCD is less than 800 calories a day. I have had quite a bit of experience with VeryLowCalorieDiets.

Many years ago I spent 6 months on a Dr-supervised liquid diet...i.e. shakes, where the total day's intake was 300 calories a day.

Also, 17 years ago, the first 3 to 9 months after my RNY gastric bypass surgery, ....(with no malabsorption issue...and No medical supervision).....while eating all of the food I could tolerate, my total day's intake was normally between 200 and 500.

Genetically my calorie burn has always been a bit below "normal", but not greatly out of line for a sedentary female with a petite frame.
My lifetime problem was binge eating. Much of the time while over 200 lbs I ate between 1000 and 1500 calories when I was dieting. When I wasn't dieting I'd eat between 1500 and 2500 calories. However, dieting or not, periodically I would "binge" i.e. eat massive amounts of rich food...up to 10,000 calories in a day.

As I stated in an earlier post in this Thread,
my most recent weight loss (75 lbs) was a 16 month diet of an average of around 1250 calories per day, and I have been working to maintain that weight-loss for the past 4 years.

Of course I burn far less now than I did in the past...I'm carrying far less weight, and I'm also older. I am now over 60, only 5'0" tall, sedentary, and quite small - maintaining--most of the time-- a weight of between 110 and 115 lbs.

I am also a "formerly obese" person, and so the activity percentage of my metabolism burn is lower because of that,. Of course, for a great many years I'v been struggling against my Body's natural inclination to regain all its lost weight and return to the 200+ lb range again.

I've spent a great deal of time and effort on this issue. My detailed daily data shows that during the past 4 years of Maintaining within my current weight range, each year my burn rate has dropped lower. There are essentially no scientific research studies on long-term maintenance of large weight-loss...(although I am a participant in the current National Weight-Loss Registry survey)...therefore, in essence, right now "I am an experiment of one." During the past 4 years, I've done many personal experiments involving raising my calorie intake for various specific periods, to see if that has the effect of raising my burn rate. Therefore, I know for a fact that doing this will not accomplish that effect for my body while I am at this size, at this age.

I am determined to maintain my current weight within my Weight Range Maintenance Plan...no matter what. I greatly Hope...with no evidence to support it...that after I've maintained here for 5 years or more, my body will more easily accept and adjust... If it doesn't, then I'll just have to continue reducing my calories to keep my food intake and my energy burn in balance.

Below is a link to an excellent article on the Metabolism issue posted by KD in the Maintenance Thread.

Okay...this is long, but it's really worth the read if you're up to it.
Some Answers About Genes, Environment, Obesity and Maintenance - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community Living Maintenance

I don't know whether or not you are aware of this,
but most medical Experts...(and by Experts, I'm not refering to popular nutritionists and trainers)...are in agreement that "Starvation Mode" is a diet Myth.
The "Starvation Mode" Myth goes like this: if you lower your calories too much, then you will stop losing fat because your body has entered ‘starvation mode’ and your metabolic rate will slow to a stand-still.
Despite the fact that this Myth is cited like the Gospel,it turns out that it is actually not true.
One's burn isn't ever going to go any lower than one's Basil Metabolism Rate. One's body works to become more efficient, and metabolism may slow a bit, but a calorie deficit still causes weight-loss. An obvious example on point re this issue is that dieting Anexorics will continue to drop weight until they die.

To put my metabolism data in perspective,
At present, if my calorie burn were "normal" for my sex, age, height, weight, and activity level, my daily calorie burn would be approximately between 1200 and 1350. However, at present my records show it is running between 1000 and 1100.

Thanks for your interest.

 

[BrightAngel]

UP day = eating 100% of one's normal Burn

Adding to my above-post regarding JUDDD.

An UP day in JUDDD (or any Alternate Day plan) is supposed to be just a Normal, Maintenance day.
Meaning a day in which a person eats his or her total, normal day's calorie burn.

Bear in mind that my current Plan is to eat 100% of my burn rate on UP days,
and 45-50% of my burn rate on Down days.

There are larger, younger females who have a daily burn of around 2000 calories, in that case it would be appropriate for them to eat 2000 on UP days.
However, since my normal day's total calorie burn is only between 1000-1100, that is the appropriate amount for me to eat on my UP days.

I've found that on Down Days I am not able to consistently follow through with eating only 20% of my burn rate as is recommended by Dr. Johnson (which for me is only around 220 calories).
Even 300 calories per Down day has proven to be too low for me to succeed with long-term,
and so I increased that amount to 500 calories...which is about 45 to 50% of my current total daily burn rate.

 

[BrightAngel]

Up day Results

Yesterday's UP day was successful.

My total calories came to 932, which is just a bit under my Guideline of a maximum of 1000 calories.
Today is a Down Day, and I'm aiming for a maximum of 500 calories.

 

[HOE]

Well done and good luck with what must be a DD or MD I guess today.