Thursday 23 May 2024 – The calories count

I’m calorie counting again, it’s weird. It’s easy because I’m not eating much. And I’m counting for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is because I feel that I have to re-learn what a ‘normal’ amount to eat is. But also, to make sure I am eating enough.

I have tried every diet method going from, Slim Fast, The Cambridge Diet, Atkins, Hip and Thigh, Slimming World, The Heart Foundation Diet (the one where you have about 600 calories per day), 5:2 method, Intermittent Fasting, and I have personally come to the conclusion that all diets work in the same way, you consume less calories than you use.

The only diets that ever worked, albeit for a very short time, were the very low calories ones, because on all the others I became extremely good a cheating legally!

On slimming world, on a green day, I used to make a lasagne. Pasta, free. Quorn mince, free. I made the cheese sauce by blending a tin of macaroni cheese, also free! So, I ended up with a dish that you could barely lift, and it was all ‘free’!

I did the same with Atkins. When it first started, I lost weight quickly living on meat and cheese. Then I discovered the Atkins website, where I could buy carb free versions of everything I though was banned, low carb bread, low carb pasta, low carb biscuits and cakes. It is possible to be on an entirely sugar free diet and still eat too many calories!

The only conclusion is that, to lose weight you have to consume less calories than you use, and for health you need to include fibre, protein and healthy fats.

That’s it. Don’t think this one-line diet plan would be an international best seller.

My love of reading, and the years of diet research means I have a lot of ‘knowledge’ about diets, many of which conflict and contradict each other. Accepting that the calorie deficit does appear to be the only one to carry weight, pun intended. The next question is how many calories? For this I have 2 separate experts in my head, and I agree with them both, though they have contradictory advice.

Dr Michael Mosley suggests, that for those of us with a lot of weight to lose, spending up to 12 weeks on 800 calories per day can give a quick boost to weight loss. This accelerated start is intended to boost your motivation by seeing rapid progress. The concern for spending longer than 12 weeks at this level, is getting sufficient nutrients, especially if you work out your favourite 800 Cals worth of food and repeat it over and over again. I know I do this. This can mean that whole nutrient groups could be missing. This is why meal replacement shakes can be an option, because it makes sure you tick all the requirements. But then you do not re-educate yourself to eat real food. Aargh!

The other coach I admire is Richie at Team RH. He sets your calories amount based on an algorithm that calculates your typical daily expenditure and sets your calories limit at just below this. The idea being to make sure you are in a calorie deficit but allowing you the maximum possible to reduce your likeliness to feel the need to cheat, or binge at the weekend. I believe that this is the most successful way of achieving long term weight loss. He also sets targets for protein and fibre, so you have to ‘spend’ the majority of your calories on nutritious food, and it allows enough left over for treats.

What does that mean for me now? I’m finding that I do not feel hungry. So, I do not want to either, accidentally consume too many calories by choosing small, but calorie dense options, or go days in a row not eating enough to maintain health.

I feel confident that it’s safe for me to keep my calories very low for now. Dr Mosley approves. But I need to check I am getting protein and fibre too. Blimey this is how the Kardashians must feel every day!

Yesterday, Wednesday 22 May, I ate a protein shake, just my favourite protein powder, it’s from Team RH, and water, which was about 140 calories, at about 11 am.

Then I went out to a work event and returned home at about 3.30pm and I felt like I needed to eat something. I had 5 seeded oatcakes with some butter, marmite and a little bit of cheese. At 5.30pm I ate my dinner, to get it out of the way, it was an M&S Count on Us braised steak with root veg mash and I added some spring greens, it was 360 cals and tasted delicious. I’m not weighing items or checking every bite, it may come to that if the weight loss slows, but for the time being I’m happy to know the calories in most of my food and know that my oatcake snack will not have pushed me over the limit. And I’m not doing any exercise yet. I plan to build exercise in when I have lost a little more.

Oh and you will be pleased to know that I pooped! Yay! It took a full cup of tea, first thing in the morning, and then, success. It wasn’t even uncomfortable. Feel so relieved, in more ways than one.

I’ve already shared the love/hate relationship with the scales. First thing in the morning it’s a whole thing.

Ideally, I will get up, do a poo and weigh myself, have my very large cup of tea. Perfect.

I know, from experience, that my giant cup of tea adds 1lb. So I would never weigh myself after having it. Unless of course, I wake up, don’t need to poo, weigh myself, then have my tea, which makes me want to poo, then I have to take the gamble… will the poo have weighed more than the tea? Is it worth getting back on the scale? OMG, please tell me I am not the only one!

Weight 16 stone 10.4 lbs

Down 11.5lbs