Nerd Alert!

I decided to make an interesting choice when it comes to my calorie goals this time around:

Before I started this round of dieting I went to the calorie goal tab on Livestrong.com,

I entered in the age I'll be when I hope to hit my goal weight (31yrs, May 7th 2011)

I entered my goal weight (235 lbs)

I entered sedentary lifestyle (assuming absolute baseline, no workouts)

I set to maintain weight

My calorie goal was set at 2,883. (once again, I apologize to those 5'2" and such. I'm 6'6" and that skews my numbers)

I thought it would be a good idea to use that number as an absolute ceiling to my calorie intake for any given day from here on out. Whether I work out or not. This is my intake max, not a net max.

This will make maintaining once I am at that weight that much easier. This was very helpful in the beginning to lose a lot of weight fast because at my initial weight (345.6) I could have eaten some 3200 cals and lost 3 a week. By working out and setting a ceiling of LCGW (lowest calorie-goal weight) I lost a lot early. (10 1st week, 37 total over 8.5 weeks) Now, even though my calorie goal (2,666) is well below my LCGW, I use that number as a buffer to which I don't beat myself up over, because, hey at least I'm still under what I would be eating at my goal weight!

The trick is to use it for mental health, not as a cheat. In this manner I have been quite successful. I have only gone over my LCGW 5 times this diet (Jan 10th-present). It was twice early on (a couple of binges), two trips to St Louis, and one wedding reception.

Just another tool in my belt to help me stay sane throughout this process!