Which food scale to use
Hi Heather! Thank you so much for your show. You give such sensible sustainable advice. You are truly an inspiration. I am having trouble with my good scale- it is digital and just does not seem to give reliable numbers. Which one do you use? What is your recommendation for making sure the weights are accurate? Thanks so much! Amy
Maintenance vs Losing Weight - Setting Calories
I lost about 15 lbs between January and early April (a little over 1 lb per week on average), then took a month maintenance break while I was travelling in April for almost 4 weeks straight which helped me figure out my maintenance calories (about 2100/2200 calories) and learn how to actually maintain my weight for the first time in.... forever? :) Thanks again for talking about the importance of maintenance and how important it is not to just either lose weight and then hope for the best or simply have a "free for all" period while gaining parts or all back again. Listening to your approach and attitude about weight loss and maintenance has been so, so useful for me!! Anyways, my question is about approach/mindset. In an ideal world, I would like to lose another 15 lbs or so, but much, much slower and in smaller chunks. So, when I restarted taking a deficit in May after the April maintenance break, I set my calorie target to losing about 1/4 lb a week in "Lose It". I tried sticking to it for 2 weeks, but because of many invitations out, visitors, etc., I kept going over by a bit and unintentionally maintained and got very, very frustrated. More important than losing more weight is maintaining what I lost. So, to avoid getting frustrated and quitting tracking etc altogether eventually, I took a step back, set my calorie goal back to maintenance, and.... was able to either stick to maintenance or take a small deficit every week since then. This led to another 1.5 lbs lost in 6 weeks. I know it's not a lot, but it makes me super happy as it's a pace I feel I can sustain even in the summer (with many, many trips, weekends away, visitors, evenings out, etc.). So, basically, my new goal is "maintain or lose a bit" from now through mid-September which is when summer officially ends and normalcy returns here in Italy (where I live). I'd love to hear your thoughts on the strategy of using your maintenance calories basically as a maximum ceiling per week, trying to take a deficit when it doesn't feel too restrictive and otherwise following my minimums (track everything in Lose It & some movement every day). I suspect it's just lower brain chatter, but I sort of wonder if setting maintenance calories and then trying to stay under when possible will somehow be harmful in the long-run.... like.... maybe I'll start seeing being at maintenance calories as not good enough and then get frustrated with that? I think it's just my lower brain looking for a "fault in the system" of how I'm progressing while actually feeling good about it, but maybe not? It's making me a bit nervous. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for all you do!
Happy Scale Maintenance
Hi Heather, I can’t thank you enough for your very logical and practical approach to weight loss and maintenance. You are an extremely skilled coach and your clients and podcast listeners are so fortunate to have you in our lives. Here’s my question: My maintenance range is about 4 pounds since I have a small frame. When I look at the Happy Scale log sheet, it throws me off a bit to see that arrow pointing up AND pointing down. I have an emotional reaction - unhappy when it’s up, happy when the arrow is down. I know it’s not realistic to see the flat line everyday. How can I curb my emotional response to the arrows. Thank you Heather, Jena
Ice cream binge
Hi Heather My question is about ice cream! After listening to all of your podcasts it got me thinking about myself with ice cream…. I can’t seem to have a tub in the freezer without always thinking about it until I have some, I tried delaying the time to eat some but seems to not help. Then when I do eat some I just want more and could end up eating a huge portion even to the point of not feeling well but the next day I would still eat more. What should I do about this? Should I not buy it at all? Looking forward to hearing from you and thanks for all you do!
Conquering the weekends
Hi Heather, thank you for everything you do! My question is about conquering the weekends when you're trying to lose weight. I find that I do extremely well during the week, but tend to trip on the weekends, eating excessively, eating out of plan and adding in a glass or two of wine. Come Monday, the scale has moved up. It feels like taking one step further and two steps back. Although I still manage to stick to my workouts over the weekend, I still notice a sizeable gain. Any tips that can help me be more disciplined over the weekends and continue on the downward trajectory? Alternatively, any episode you can point me to for more help? Thanks again!