Trying to reduce my average calorie intake each day from around 2150 to 1900 is easier said than done.
Tag: weight control
Calorie-Deficit Diet
Joel Fuhrman, my nutritionist guru, maintains that the best diet for longevity is one with a slight calorie deficit.
I use cronometer to record everything I eat, and it gives me a very precise picture in terms of calories. I know that if I eat 2100 calories, my weight remains extremely stable, so in order to attempt this slight calorie deficit routine, I’m shooting for between 1800 and 1950 calories.
So far, I’ve found that it is easy to do, as it only takes taking out one or two foods that I normally eat to meet the requirement, and I can alternate which of those foods I’m going to remove, so that the nutritional profile remains very consistent.
For weight loss purposes, I think a slight calorie-deficit approach is much better than severe dieting with large calorie deficits, because with severe dieting, one typically ends up binging and regaining whatever weight was lost in the first place. But with a slight calorie-deficit, one is getting plenty of regular nutrition, and so there is much less risk of uncontrolled binging for regaining weight that was lost very gradually.
Weight Control
Not weight loss but weight control — what can you do to stabilize your weight, not to lose weight per se, but instead to help ensure that it doesn’t creep back up?
One thing that I do is once a week, on a designated day that I know I’m obligated to use for that purpose, I have a low-calorie day. I shoot for 550+ calories lower than what I usually eat (Cronometer helps a lot with this). Tuesday is my low-calorie day, and I usually eat the same assortment of foods, which tend to be very low in fat calories. But there are little nuances on that particular day that help me get to minus 550 calories. For instance, instead of my usual 3 prunes I only have 2, instead of 2 figs, just the 1. Instead of my usual mouthful of walnuts, I’ll skip nuts entirely, and have an extra slice of lean turkey. With enough of these nuances, it is surprisingly easy to have such a low-calorie day — and you don’t feel deprived.
Having such a lean day one day a week means that on those other days when you inevitably go “over budget,” sort of speak, it all gets compensated for in the end — and the weight stays amazingly stable, no longer so erratic.
Henry's Views 