Going back to what has worked

I posted on 3FC about being hungry all the time and the consensus was that the myfitnesspal-recommended 1330 calories is not enough. Well, if I do nothing all day then it perhaps it is enough but if I exercise a few times a week with one of those times being a bike ride, I need to eat a lot more than that to stay happy.

Overall, I should be eating all the calories I "earn" through exercise because that will bring me up to 1500-1600 calories total, which is what I've discovered is a sustainable daily intake. At that range, I eat fulfilling meals, get some healthy snacks, and can sneak in a guilty pleasure or two. And that's what I need to be able to keep at it. 1330 just wasn't doing it for me.

Anywhos, eating all the calories I burn is good when it comes to running because right now I'm burning about 200 for each run, which bumps me up to the sustainable allowance. However, when I go for a bike ride, I "earn" 750-1000 calories a ride, which would bump my daily allowance to at least 2000 calories, if not more. And that's not a number I'm willing to consume even if it is all (or mostly) healthy. So on those days I'll stick with eating 1500-1600 (this excludes the food I eat during the ride for energy) and redistribute the rest of the earned calories for days I don't exercise at all. This way, I should still be at my goal over the course of the week.

At least that's the theory.

I believe that the last week of hunger was due to not eating properly and not at the right times. I was eating whatever was convenient instead of what I knew was filling and delicious. And I was also waiting until I was hungry to eat something, which is never a good idea. This made it seem like I was always hungry and that's not a good feeling to have when you're just starting out with weight-loss. And that feeling of "this sucks" was only exasperated by the scale not budging. All in all, not good vibes.

I've also found that I need to eat something that 1) I believe is delicious, 2) that is warm, and 3) that is a legitimate home-cooked or home-made meal for it to feel like it was fulfilling. Otherwise I won't think I've really eaten and even though I will have gotten the proper nutrients and calories, I will still feel hunger. Although I love my nut bars, bananas and smoothies, they are not sufficient meal substitutes for me for both lunch and dinner. At least one of those meals has to follow the rules stated at the beginning of this paragraph.

So today instead of microwaving a burrito or heating up potstickers, I made an old staple for lunch. It's cold because it's just a sandwich so Criteria 1 is not satisfied, but it's delicious and is a legitimate meal (my mom makes this for me all the time when I'm home). Two out of three isn't bad, especially since I know I will be stuffed (in a good way) when I finish it.

So colorful and delicious! And I even somewhat enjoyed making it.

Lastly, my faux plateau broke today when I went down to 208.5 lbs, which is FINALLY down from the 210 I've been hovering at for over a week. What a relief!