What's the Plan Man?!?!

I've been here for a few days now, but have yet to outline "the plan" here on Bizzy Fit, so here's the deal:

My eating plan is to consume no more than 1600 calories/day at least 5 days a week. Why not the entire week? There are a couple of reasons. I am a firm believer that eating more every few days actually helps weight loss. It keeps my body from getting used to a lower number of calories. Second, mentally, I need to know that those "splurge" days are there if I'm going to be able to stick with this long range. I need to be able to look forward to those days. In my book, splurge is not synonymous with go crazy and lose my mind! I will still count calories on those days. For me, one mid-week and one weekend day have worked, not that I might not change it up as I see fit.

There are times when I like to use intermittent fasting as part of a weight loss regimen. If you haven't heard of it, hit the internet search engines. It's more or less where you only eat during a small window, like 6 to 8 hours, and you don't eat during the remaining 16-18 hours. There is nothing magical about this. If I were to have an 8 hour window, but eat 3,000 calories during that window, it wouldn't work. It's not really having the small window of designated eating hours that does the trick, it's more about inducing self-control. For me, it keeps me from the mindless eating and snacking that I often do at night not to mention the eating I do to accompany studying or hanging out with my little tot man. It keeps me from reacting to fake hunger also known as a sudden craving for food triggered by food commercials on TV. Do you know how many food commercials are on television? I'm going to count them one evening and then blog about it. ;)

That's the eating plan. On to exercise...

Exerise, hmmmm, I'm going to be starting slow with this. Something I've learned is that the scale doesn't show weight loss as fast when I'm also working out. I've heard many many people say "it's because you're gaining muscle." Yeah, no, not that quickly, you're not, not if you're just a week or two into your program. It's because muscle cells are trying to adapt to the workouts and make them more efficient, so they hold on to extra water. Aren't our bodies awesome? But, psychologically, I don't care what the reason is, when the number on the scale ain't budging, it's tough. So, I'm going to give myself a couple of weeks or so to get some positive reinforcement from seeing the scale move before I start my exercise regimen. When I do start the regimen, I'll post it here, and I know it will consist of at least two days of lower body toning work.

Then, friends, I'll be ready for this!

 

Source: Forever 21