Maintenance Question for Icemoose

Porgeous

Chilling
Hi Mike

Just following on from yesterday's thread about maintaining I wonder if I could pick your brains. I am nearing BMI 25 +1 and will be making my way up the plans. Do you still find that you have to count calories or follow some form of healthy eating plan to maintain or do you naturally know how much is enough? I suppose what I am getting at is whether it is possible to learn how to make the right choices without following some form of diet plan or constantly counting calories - am I making any sense??!

Thanks
Georgie
 
Hiya

Ok honest answer is that I don't count calories, I don't do Cambridge anymore but I do eat healthy. As I say to my clients I am calorie aware now as opposed to calorie counting.

So for example if I really fancy some Starbucks Granola Cake then I know that it is roughly 550 calories for a chunk which is frankly too much for a snack so I share it with whoever I am with (unless I am on my own in which case I will order skinny carrot cake), therefore I get to enjoy the treat but without the calorie hit.

I tend to be good in the week in terms of I don't pick and snack in the office etc but if I want to have a glass of wine and a curry at the weekend then I will as life is too short to eat sawdust and little else.

I found on the Cambridge that I did well on it because I could do the all or nothing nature of the diet, I did ALL before the diet and then did the NOTHING for 6 months on the diet.

I tend therefore to keep that mentality in a lot of areas of my food, so for example I NEVER eat after 9pm at night as no reason too and stops me snacking on the sofa, I always have a couple of litres of water a day, I never eat pork pies anymore, I always have a couple of pieces of fruit etc etc etc etc. That way by using the ALL OR NOTHING mentality that got you slim then you can hopefully find moderation which is what it is all about really.

I think the secret of keeping the weight off, is that there is no secret! Eat too many calories and get big again, eat fewer calories and stay slim, so you just need to find out what your calorie need is (you can use MBR calculator or just use the Cambridge 1500 plan as a basis to build up), then when you know what your average is then try and have roughly that a day, I try and choose healthy when I can so have reduced fat if you can etc etc.

Loads of other things I do like I always have black coffee now instead of lattes as I love both but one is 17 calories and the other one 330, I have chicken wings from morrisons at the football instead of a pie in the ground (also save 3 quid) etc etc etc.

But ultimately I need around 2200 calories a day for my body to work on and over a month that is about what I average as my weight stays the same...

Mike
 
Thanks Mike that is really helpful and interesting, gives me an insight into the future. I am very much an all or nothing person as well which is why I have found the SS part of Cambridge a positive and fairly easy experience so far and am hoping that will stand me in good stead for the future. My issue was never quantity, more quality and had a diet that consisted of obsessive eating of certain foods, ie, chocolate, cake etc.

I find it encouraging that with time and alot of hard work making sensible choices can be something that can be part of life rather than a restrictive diet plan.

Thanks again
Georgie
 
Oooo I think I know the answer as I have asked Mike before, it is Metabolic Balsal Rate and basically it is the calculation of how many calories your body needs in a day based on you doing nothing. If you pop it into google there are lots of calculators.

Gx
 
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