Marla's CRON-o-meter Chronicle

[Marla]

My last Fitbit report for this project. I got it in my email this morning so I want to include it here.

I will need to decide, after analyzing the data from this 'experiment,' whether I want to keep up this level of activity or not. Getting this many steps means going for a walk/run of 5-6 miles every single morning, plus usually a quick evening walk of another mile or so. I am enjoying it at the moment, and it is definitely helping to create a caloric deficit right now, but it may not be feasible for me to keep it up forever due to the amount of time it takes.

[Marla]

Not "Vanity Pounds"

This morning in Jeff's forum I saw that he had posted a link to (yet another) article on "Optimal body weight for health and longevity," authored by Luigi Fontana and Frank B. Hu, and published in the journal Aging Cell. Here is the link he posted: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 12207/full

I saved the .pdf file to my computer. There is a lot of information to digest here, but I think it is fascinating, and it very much reinforces my desire to achieve a BMI in the "low normal" range.

Epidemiological studies have found strong direct associations between increasing body mass index (BMI) and risks of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several types of cancer, beginning from BMI of 20–21 kg m−2.

The section subtitled Linking metabolic pathways to chronic diseases: Fat tissue as an endocrine organ was especially interesting to me, because it discusses not just the correlation between lower BMI and reduced mortality and morbidity, but the mechanisms that may be involved. I wasn't fully aware of all the biochemical and physiological processes that are influenced by excess body fat:

Accumulating evidence indicates that adipose tissue is not just an inert store of excessive energy intake, but is also an active endocrine organ that produces key hormones, called adipokines, that regulate several important biological functions (Fig. 4) (Kershaw & Flier, 2004). Excessive energy intake, particularly in sedentary people, leads to a chronic positive energy balance, resulting in weight gain, increased visceral adiposity, dysfunctional enlarged adipocytes with macrophages infiltration, lipid overflow, and deposition of ectopic fat in key organs, such as liver, heart, skeletal muscle, kidney, and pancreas (Tchernof & Després, 2013). Both hypertrophic fat cells and infiltrated inflammatory cells secrete inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, causing a local and systemic low-grade inflammation. This chronic inflammation is known to play a central role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, cancer, dementia, and aging (Fontana et al., 2007a; Gregor & Hotamisligil, 2011). Inflammation and reduced production of adiponectin (an adipocyte-derived adipokine) from enlarged visceral fat cells in overweight and obese individuals are associated with insulin resistance, increased hepatic glucose production, and altered lipoprotein–lipid metabolism (i.e., hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol, and small, dense LDL particles), contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and CVD (Tchernof & Després, 2013; National Institutes of Health, 1998; Gregor & Hotamisligil, 2011; Turer & Scherer, 2012). Moreover, adipokine-mediated insulin resistance triggers compensatory hyperinsulinemia, which exerts powerful mitogenic procancer effects directly, and also indirectly by increasing the bioavailability of sex hormones and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, and the ovarian production of androgens. Enlarged adipocytes also secrete molecules such as leptin, IGF-1, IL-6, and type VI collagen that promote cell survival and tumor growth (Calle & Kaaks, 2004; Roberts et al., 2010). Insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and adipokine imbalance, in conjunction with overactivation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and the sympathetic nervous systems, have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypertension in overweight and obese individuals (Tchernof & Després, 2013).

A 5–10% weight loss induced by a negative energy balance (i.e., calorie restriction, endurance exercise, bariatric surgery) simultaneously improves multiple metabolic and hormonal factors implicated in the pathogenesis of several lethal chronic diseases, as well as in the biology of aging itself (Goldstein, 1992). Weight loss induced by a negative energy balance is associated with a reduction in visceral, hepatic, and skeletal muscle fat, decreased fat cell size, increased adiponectin and insulin sensitivity, and reduced circulating levels of insulin and leptin (Larson-Meyer et al., 2006; Uusitupa et al., 2003; Turer & Scherer, 2012). Weight loss is also associated with improved blood pressure, serum triglycerides, and HDL-cholesterol concentrations. (Dattilo & Kris-Etherton, 1992; Stevens et al., 2001). Decreases in adiposity also leads to reductions in inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandins, oxidative stress and DNA damage, and circulating estrogens due to inhibition of aromatases (Davì et al., 2002; Ziccardi et al., 2002; Hofer et al., 2008). Other hormonal adaptations associated with fat loss, improved insulin sensitivity, and reduced cancer risk include increased serum steroid hormone binding globulin and reduced levels of free estrogens and testosterone, and increased serum IGFBP-1 and reduced free IGF-1 concentrations (Longo & Fontana, 2010; Demark-Wahnefried et al., 2012).

The next section, Health benefits of achieving a healthy weight through dietary restriction, is very compelling also.

I am posting this here to remind myself that these are not "vanity pounds" I am trying to lose. They are pounds of metabolically active tissue that can increase inflammation, increase the bioavailability of sex hormones and IGF-1, promote tumor growth, contribute to hypertension, raise cholesterol levels, increase circulating levels of insulin, increase oxidative stress and DNA damage, and generally contribute to poorer health and decreased probability of successful aging (I like that term). If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is.

[Marla]

The results

For the last 31 days, I've weighed and measured every bit of food and drink that I consumed, recorded it all in the CRON-o-meter, and photographed most of it. I've worn a pedometer every waking hour, and allowed it to track every step that I took. While I had several important goals in mind, the one that came to occupy my thoughts the most was this: do I really have a "slow metabolism" like I've always assumed? Or is there some other explanation for why losing weight and keeping it off has always been so difficult for me, even on a whole-food plant-based diet?

The day has finally come for me to reveal the results of my experiment.

Throughout the month, I recorded my daily calories consumed and calories burned on a spreadsheet, which then generated a weight change prediction based on the 3,500 calorie rule (as discussed in a previous post). Calories burned were provided by my Fitbit pedometer, which uses the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation. All Fitbit knows about me is that I am a 44-year-old female, 5 feet 4.3 inches tall, who weighed 137 pounds at the beginning of this month (I updated my weight once mid-month for the sake of accuracy). From this data it estimated what my basal metabolic rate should be, factored in the physical activity that it logged each day, and calculated my total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

I weighed myself this morning and entered my weight into the spreadsheet.

Weight on March 1: 137 pounds, BMI 23.3
Weight on April 1: 128.2 pounds, BMI 21.8

Predicted weight loss based on calories in/calories out: 8.92 pounds
Actual weight loss: 8.8 pounds



What does this mean? The fact that predicted weight loss and actual weight loss are so closely aligned suggests to me that my body is burning approximately the number of calories that would be expected for a woman of my age, height, weight, and activity level.

There is nothing wrong with my metabolism. It is not slower than anyone else's. I am not "naturally curvy" or ultra-efficient at storing fat. I am not a slow loser. I am....normal. If I had trouble losing weight before, it was because somehow, I was eating more than I thought.

That is not to say that I don't have other characteristics that may make me more prone to weight gain. Some of them may even have a genetic or biological component. Brain chemistry is certainly a factor in food addiction, which I admit I struggle with. However, at the end of the day, this project has shown me that if I consume an appropriate number of calories in whole plant foods, I will maintain an appropriate body weight.

I can't decide how I feel about this. On the one hand, it is liberating to know that I am not cursed with a slow metabolism that will cause me to put on weight no matter what I do. On the other hand, I no longer have an excuse. I can't even feel angry that I gain weight more easily than other people, because it's not true. I just tend to eat more calories than they do.

I'll post again in a few days about where I plan to go with my diet from here. For the moment, I'm going to continue eating the way I have been, because I am in a "groove" and it is working for me. I am not sure exactly what my weight goal should be, as I have never been much below my current weight (and I have never stayed here for long, either). I guess it is safe to say that I would like to lose another 10 pounds and then try to maintain that and see how it goes.

All in all, I am very glad that I did this project. I feel "enlightened" in more ways than one.

[Crider]

That is absolutely amazing the results were so close! I've been following your journal with anticipation. The calorie counts in the database CRON-o-meter uses are much more accurate that I expected. Good luck, and congratulations on your study.

[Veganrocks]

Just plain awesome!! I will miss the daily posting. Thanks for doing this.

[Marla]

Veganrocks, thank you! It would not have been as much fun without people to share it with. I appreciated you following along.

That is absolutely amazing the results were so close! I've been following your journal with anticipation. The calorie counts in the database CRON-o-meter uses are much more accurate that I expected.

Hi Crider, I am happy you posted because I love seeing Big Bunny in your avatar. I have house rabbits too. My own "big bunny," who was my most loved pet ever, passed away in 2012 after a sudden illness. I still miss her every day and keep her picture on my desktop.



Regarding the accuracy of the CRON-o-meter, I have two observations.

--The values for foods in the CRON-o-meter come mostly from the USDA database. As Jeff Novick has pointed out, these values "are based on estimates and not always very accurate and can be 20% off or more" (http://jeffnovick.com/RD/Articles/Entri ... ories.html). However, I think that the inaccuracies tend to balance each other out over time, if you enter many days of data. They may still be significantly off for any one food or any one meal.

--User error and imprecise measurement presents the biggest potential source of inaccuracy and can result in a calorie estimate that is off by hundreds of calories. If a person is entering "cups" and "tablespoons," these will be far less accurate than weight. Using units like "banana, large" or "potato, baked, 2 14"-3 1/4" diameter" is just asking for trouble. And when you don't measure your food at all, but try to eyeball it and enter in how many cups you think you ate, you may as well not bother IMO. My DH thought he knew how much oatmeal and flaxseed he was eating every morning for breakfast, and when I actually weighed it one day, his estimate was off by 50%!

When entering cooked foods, there can be a wide variation in the water content which further affects accuracy. One cup of cooked pinto beans (or even a weighed 250g portion of those beans) could contain wildly different amounts of calories depending on how much of the portion was liquid and how much was beans. For the sake of this project, I always weighed the dry (uncooked) ingredients and the added water, recorded the final weight of the whole recipe, and then applied an adjustment for water lost during cooking. It was extremely time consuming and fiddly, and sometimes headache-inducing.

To quote Jeff again,

So, what is the best way to successfully count calories?

There is none.


Unless we lock you up in a metabolic chamber where we carefully monitor every single issue mentioned above. Or, unless you want to carefully weigh and/or measure every morsel of food and beverage that you put in your mouth.

Since this is not practical or possible for most people, there just is no real practical way for anyone to micro manage all these details on a daily basis and to count calories accurately.

I knew at the start that I was attempting the impractical and maybe even the impossible. But I did my best, in the name of science.

[strivn2bhealthy]

I appreciate the work you did very much!

I am still really new to this way of eating. I started Feb 20th. What I found so encouraging with your project is that your cron-o-meter almost identically mirrored my cron-o-meter input regarding total food weight, calories, and macros. I struggle a little more with getting all of my micros. Some of your foods are quite different from mine and I'm pretty sure that is the difference in the micros. I have been tediously weighing food for months, now. I record meticulously in an excel spreadsheet all of my data looking for trends, etc. I noticed that, in at least one of your recipes, you accounted for water loss in cooking. I do that, too. I like to bake sweet potato chips in the oven, so I weigh before and after to record the water loss difference when figuring my caloric density for the day. There are only a few of us that are that number geeky, I think!

I recently complained because I was having an unexpected weight gain eating at the same levels you are and I weigh 100+lbs more than you. I know that I am not nearly as active as you are, but my calorie deficits were ranging 600-1000. Before starting this woe, I was on a lower carb, lower fat, higher protein diet for 5mos. During that time, I lost 61lbs. I've concluded that the weight gain was my body still adjusting. I think I've read where others ebbed and flowed somewhat as their bodies cleansed/purged/healed. I want the weight to come off quicker, but, ultimately, I want health. It's a process. I am glad to know that I really am on the right track. My body will come around as it continues healing and correcting all the damage done through the years.

Your journal greatly encouraged me (and I'm sure many, many others as well)! Thank you for being so open and sharing it with all of us!

[Marla]

Hi Strivn,

Nice to meet another numbers geek. I don't come from a background of dieting, and up until now, I have not measured, weighed or tracked my food (except for a few days here and there, just for fun). I lost 70 pounds in my first year of McDougalling without having any idea how many calories I was consuming. Now that this project is over, I am happy to put my food scale away again. I have to say, it has been strange not tracking my food for the last two days. I felt a twinge of something like anxiety when I didn't know how heavy my sweet potato was at lunch yesterday! That is what I get for doing this too long. It was definitely time to stop.

At this stage in your journey, I would encourage you to focus on the foods you are eating, and the overall principles of calorie density, rather than calories. That is what I plan to do myself. Tracking like this was useful in helping me figure out what is (and is not) keeping me from getting the last few pounds off; now that I have more insight, I can go back to trusting the principles and guidelines that I know work. In the next few days I plan to post some more about the behaviors that were keeping my weight higher than I wanted it to be, and how I plan to address those issues.

I think you will start to see steady weight loss if you stick with it. With the calorie deficit you say you are creating, there is no way that you won't lose weight. For anyone, no matter who they are or what they are eating, weight is a product of energy balance. There is no magic to this plan....other than the magic of being able to feel full and satisfied on fewer calories (without even having to count them). Oh, and the magic of getting healthier, reversing illness, not needing medications, and feeling wonderful.

Another thing to remember that may be relevant to your recent situation is that changes in weight can also be due to fluid balance, levels of glycogen (which is stored with water), and the contents of your gut (which can be heavy, and there can be a lot in there even if you think you've just emptied it). If you are doing everything right and your weight seems stuck, or even goes up temporarily, it may be about to plummet back down to a new low. Just keep eating the right foods.

I've concluded that the weight gain was my body still adjusting. I think I've read where others ebbed and flowed somewhat as their bodies cleansed/purged/healed. I want the weight to come off quicker, but, ultimately, I want health. It's a process. I am glad to know that I really am on the right track. My body will come around as it continues healing and correcting all the damage done through the years.

Yes, exactly. You will find what works for you as you get more experienced with this way of eating. Hang in there.

[WeeSpeck]

Hi Marla,

Thank you so much for publically documenting this personal project with such authenticity and honesty. I will truly miss reading your posts each day. What you shared has profoundly affected how I view my own health and weight loss journey. It is both comforting and eye-opening and has caused me to take pause and reflect on the possibilities.

This was exactly what I needed at this point in time!

Congratulations on your achievement!

[Anna Green]

Marla, I just started reading back here a bit. When I have loosely paid attention to calories in/out I tend to lose what I think I will. But I have never included the low cal veggies in the counting...probably because I remember hearing ages ago that you burn more in digestion than what's in the food. This probably came from my mother who was in weight watchers and had "free" foods she didn't have to count. The idea of eating only 1200 cal and including those veggies makes me feel a little despair. Maybe I'll get there in a year or so after losing 50 lbs. For now I'm just focusing on eating the right stuff. But you seem pretty darn fine so I'm going to continue reading back here and see how it's been for you. I can see that maybe one day I'll choose to go on the low side of weight/bmi too and will need to understand just what I have to do to get there.

Anyway, thanks for all this. love your attitude.

[Marla]

Hi Nancy, Thank you for your feedback. I am glad if you found something useful here. I tend to be like a magpie, collecting bits and pieces of insight here and there, and using them when I am ready. I have found much in your journal that has been valuable to me. I look forward to seeing the next update on your own journey.

Anna, I know where you are coming from! If I had looked at this journal a few years ago I would have thought it was not for me. Uh-uh, no way. And it wasn't, then. But it is now. I guess I started going down this road in about 2011 (after 8 years of "lazy McDougalling") when I decided to go low sodium and try to drop my BMI in order to lower my stubborn blood pressure. So it's been a progressive tightening up of my diet, not an overnight change.

I did not set out to try to eat 1200 calories a day. I wanted to see how far I could take the principles of calorie density and still satisfy my hunger drive. When I logged my first few days in the CRON-o-meter and saw how few calories it was, I thought about increasing my starches. But then I thought, why? I am not suffering. I am getting enough nutrients. Besides that, I know that some of the Star McDougallers report maintaining their weight at around 1400 calories a day. If and when I get to a BMI of 20, I will only burn about 1400 calories on the days when I don't do any intentional exercise. So looking ahead, I am going to need to know how to feel satisfied and be well-nourished on a fairly low calorie diet. It will also come in handy if there is ever a time in the future when I can't exercise for whatever reason.

[Crider]

What a nice-looking bunny. Bunnies really get into my heart. Such great personalities!

[strivn2bhealthy]

I was hedging on trying the Japanese Sweet Potato until I realized how much you enjoyed them and how often you were eating them. They are amazing! Going to give them a go in the garden this year (if I can get shoots quick enough, that is.) Have you found a reasonably definitive source for their nutrition facts? Your calories/gram seems higher than what I am seeing in articles on the web. Wasn't sure if you found a reliable source or were using regular sweet potato info. Thanks!

[Marla]

Hi Strivn,

I am glad you tried the Japanese sweet potatoes and like them! If you grow your own, I will be very jealous.

Regarding the nutrient information, I had to create a custom entry for them in CRON-o-meter.

Remember the Okinawan dietary study I discussed earlier in this thread? It seemed to suggest that the Okinawans were eating sweet potatoes that were relatively more calorie dense than the ones listed in the USDA nutrition database. That made me want to find out more about the Satsuma-imo, or Japanese sweet potato.

This is a nice article: http://tokyokitchentales.wordpress.com/ ... tsuma-imo/ It says "according to the Glico Nutrition Navigator a 100 gram serving of steamed satsuma-imo has only 131 calories but contains 3.8 grams of fiber, 490 milligrams of potassium, and 1.2 grams of protein." Unfortunately, the database it cites is all in Japanese. But, if it has 131 calories per 100g, that is around 600 calories per pound.

Here is another Japanese site also listing them at 132 calories per 100g: http://shizuokagourmet.com/2011/02/24/j ... %E8%8A%8B/

Finally, here is the only site I found (in English) that had full nutrient information: http://slism.com/calorie/102006/ This is "a site dedicated to bringing you the latest diet, exercise, weight loss trends from Japan," and I imagine they get the data from a Japanese nutrition database (but I cannot be sure). Again, the energy value is 132 calories per 100g.

I could not tell whether these values were for raw or cooked, but I have a hunch they are for cooked (probably steamed or baked).

The sweet potato entry in CRON-o-meter lists boiled sweet potatoes as only 76 calories per 100g, or 345 calories per pound. That is a big difference! Maybe the orange fleshed "yams" that we eat in the US are less calorie dense. But I still choose to eat the Japanese sweet potatoes almost every day because they are so delicious and satisfying. They satisfy my hunger and my sweet craving at the same time. I do have to be careful not to pig out on them though.

[Marla]

My top 10 reasons for not losing weight

One of the reasons I did this CRON-o-meter project was that I hoped I would be able to diagnose the factors that were keeping my weight higher than I wanted it. Unfortunately (?), I found that the activity of logging resulted in much better eating behavior! That meant I wasn’t able to “catch” myself doing many of the things that had been keeping me from losing.

What I was able to do though, was to reflect on what was different about my eating habits before and after I started the project.

Here, in no particular order, are some of the things I tend to do (or have done) that contribute to me not losing weight or actually gaining. I know, these are no-brainers, but I think I need a reminder so I am posting it here for my own future reference.

1. Unplanned, mindless, or “recreational” eating when not truly hungry. This is a big culprit, and it can sabotage me even when all the food is completely on plan. Granted, I don’t mindlessly eat celery. I’m talking about seeing half a cooked sweet potato on the cutting board and eating it; cutting the edges off of freshly baked oatmeal squares that I make for my family and eating them; nibbling on leftovers instead of putting them away; seeing something appealing in the cupboard and having some, even though I don’t need to eat; eating while cooking; snacking in front of the tv on popcorn, homemade potato chips or tortilla chips, banana ice cream, etc. Why do I do it? Well, the food tastes good and I want the pleasure of eating it. Many healthy foods can give you a little dopamine hit and a good feeling when you taste them. That’s all there is to it. I am vulnerable to this type of eating at any hour of the day, except when I have just finished a big meal. But an hour after that meal, as soon as I’m not “full,” I can nibble. I think the only way I can combat this problem is to make a rule for myself that I can’t eat between meals, period, unless I am genuinely hungry (which shouldn’t ever happen if my meals are large enough).

2. Keeping “food magnets” in the house. These are foods that may be on plan, but that I always overeat or eat for pleasure. I can’t resist them and will eat them until they’re gone. My food magnets include dry cereal, pretzels, crackers, nuts, dates/prunes/raisins, rice cakes or corn thins, "top chips" (microwave oil-free potato chips), and many more.

3. Not following the principles of calorie density. When I start to get off track, I eat fewer veggies at mealtimes, and the overall calorie density of my diet goes up. I also choose more meals made with flour products, creamy sauces, tofu, and other calorie dense ingredients.

4. Coffee. I have cut down my consumption to one mug per week since January 1 (plus an occasional “oops”), but before that I was drinking a mug of lightly sweetened decaf with soymilk every day. Once in a while I would also have one in the afternoon or even go to Starbucks for a “treat” of a flavored soy latte. This was not doing my weight any favors.

5. Wine. Alcohol is not good for me, I know that. But like many people, I enjoy it. The problem with wine for me is that it very quickly turns from a “special occasion” indulgence, to an every weekend habit, to an every night habit. My DH drinks it often (although he has cut down recently), which makes it harder for me to say no. In addition to being a poison and a carcinogen, it has a lot of calories. I need to stay away from it.

6. Healthy desserts and baked goods. These are too irresistible to me, and they are calorie dense as well. This includes quickbreads, muffins, oat bars, homemade artisan bread or rolls, McDougall-friendly cinnamon rolls, brownies, Larabars, rice pudding, chocolate tofu pudding, sorbet….basically, any on-plan sweets. It is sad that I can’t have them, but I am not easily able to control how much of them I eat.

7. Restaurants. Once I give myself permission to eat some restaurant food that is “almost” on plan, such as Chipotle, Subway, cheeseless veggie pizza, or certain Vietnamese restaurant dishes (which are “not very” oily), I get into trouble. For one thing, I shouldn’t be eating this food at all. For another thing, I always underestimate how frequently I am doing it (i.e. in my mind it is less than once a month, but in reality it may be twice or even three times in a month).

8. Off-plan food. This is an infrequent thing for me, but as with restaurant food, it is easy to underestimate how often I indulge in it because I conveniently forget, especially if it was “just a little bit.” I am talking about eating some chips and salsa at a party, a bite of this or that at a potluck, a handful of processed snack food that someone else brought into the house. Even if it is not a common occurrence, it adds up.

9. Candy. I am putting this in its own category, because I have a special problem with it. Years ago, when I first read all of Dr. McDougall’s books and articles, I came away with the impression that sugar was – how should I phrase this – the least of all possible evils. In the Quick and Easy Cookbook he says “sugar has very little to do with fat gain,” and he says it is not the cause of obesity or diabetes. I didn’t notice him discussing any damaging health effects (apart from high triglycerides in sensitive people, which I have never had). He allowed sugar in recipes, and praised the Rice Diet which included rather large amounts of it. So, I convinced myself that if I was going to cheat, it was not that bad to cheat with fat-free, dairy-free candies like jelly bellies, licorice, hot tamales, ginger chews, hard candy, Charms lollipops, fruit pectin jellies, etc. After all, they didn’t contain any fat or animal products – just sugar. When I learned, quite recently, that sugar can be damaging to your endothelium, that helped a LOT with my motivation to avoid these. But, I am still tempted sometimes, especially when I have already gotten off track in other ways. Off-track eating seems to snowball for me once I go down that path. I am proud to say that I haven’t had one single taste of candy since January 1. I think complete abstinence is the only way for me to deal with my candy addiction. I should add that I suspect it does, in fact, contribute to weight gain for me, but I admit that I have never tested this by adding sugar/candy to an otherwise perfect diet to see what happens. Whenever I have been in candy-eating mode, I’ve also typically been eating too much fat and other processed food as well, so I can’t say for sure that sugar by itself causes me to gain weight.

10. My last item is not related to diet – it’s about exercise. Every time I’ve regained weight, I haven’t been exercising. In fact, there seems to be an inverse correlation between calories and exercise in my life: when I exercise, I eat fewer calories. You’d think it would be just the opposite, that more exercise would trigger my brain to make me eat more calories to fuel my increased activity, but it doesn’t work like that. Exercise seems to blunt my appetite and make me less hungry. In addition, there is a psychological effect that makes me want to eat better if I have exercised that day (I guess I don’t want to negate the benefits of the exercise by eating junk). All I know is that getting off track with my food is generally accompanied by slacking off with my exercise also. This is a terrible combination! As I have mentioned a couple times in this journal, during the holidays I was only burning about 1500 calories a day, because I was not doing any intentional exercise most days. Yet that was a time period when I was probably eating 2500 calories a day or more, depending on how much I was engaging in behaviors 1 through 9 above. If I’d increased my calories OR decreased my exercise, I wouldn’t have gained as much, but I did both. Note to self: if I am too busy to exercise for a while, then I need to pay even more attention to eating the right foods and not overeating. If I find my diet slipping a little, that is not the time to start skipping workouts. Duh!

I think that each of us who struggles with weight maintenance probably has his or her own personal list of behaviors that contribute to the problem. These are mine. I hope that by calling myself out on them, here and now, I'll be more likely to recognize these trends if they begin to surface again.