Revising calorie limits

Wednesday:

Two good things. Firstly, I got through games night last night only using the 200 extra calories I'd planned - half chocolate, half sour lollies. Big improvement on the past couple of weeks when I overdid it. And secondly Thor only woke once last night, around 4:30, so I am feeling a lot less zombie-like today. Yay! Although it was really hard to get out of bed this morning, my body wants more of this lovely sleep invention.

Not quite so good; I don't expect a loss this week when I weigh in tomorrow. Firstly, it is that time of the month which means water retention. And secondly, it is that time of the month so I want to eat more. And thirdly it is freezing cold here so I want to eat more. And fourthly I have been slacking off a bit on my daily cognitive therapy tasks - reaffirming why I want to lose weight, not reading while I eat, sticking solidly to my calorie limit without giving myself a choice about it. I just got a little bit complacent, I think, because it was feeling fairly easy. For the first three or four weeks I spent a lot of time each day concentrating on my weight loss; rereading my book and advantages card and planning healthy food etc. Without any conscious decision I just put less focus on it over the past week or so. I've still been doing pretty well, but a few extra calories have crept in each day, usually in mid-afternoon.

In the first Beck book she doesn't give you any diet guidelines to follow, she just helps you stick to whatever diet you have chosen. But the second book, which I bought recently, has the addition of a diet plan, some recipes, and a formula for working out how many calories you should be eating (which goes down when you lose weight). I was quite happy sticking to 1400 calories for the first few weeks, it seemed like the right amount to satisfy me as long as they were nourishing balanced calories. But the formula Beck uses says I should be eating 1800 a day, and that no one should go below 1600 (at least not without consulting a nutritionist, it's true it is very hard to get in all the national guidelines on dairy, fibre etc if you are eating less than 1600). And other people (hi Marion) have said 1600 is better. So now I'm not sure. I have been very hungry this week and I have had 1800 a couple of days but I was ok on 1400 before that. I think its hormones and the cold weather. Should I eat more in winter?  I feel like I won't lose any weight on 1800, I haven't this week. But I don't want to keep trying for 1400 and failing because that feels bad. But maybe it won't be so hard the rest of the month. Arg.

I guess the sensible compromise is to increase to 1600 for this week and see how I go with hunger and with weight loss. If I don't lose any weight next week I'll have to rethink again. But I will try it, while refocusing my energy. It is worth the time and effort.