Xmas Banquet Dress photos!

Well damn, damn, double damn. After reading your comments on yesterday's post I am super bummed. I have been reading about calorie deficits all day and then I read your comments and it all makes sense. I figured up my TDEE (maintenance calories) and it's like 1940. I know the rule of thumb is to do a 500 calorie deficit from that number to lose fat/weight. So that would mean I should consume 1440 calories per day to lose weight steadily without slowing down my metabolism. And obviously I am eating 500 less than that number and that's not good. I know!

It also said to NEVER go 1000 below your maintenance calories so I think a 600 calorie deficit sounds ok. So I am going to increase my calories to 1300 a day and hope and pray I don't gain tons of weight doing that. I don't think my metabolism has been shot in just 2 short weeks of this low-cal plan I have done. But I still want to gradually up the calories so I will probably do 200 calories for a few days and then go up another 200 calories and that should do it. I am going to increase my exercise too hopefully making up for that increase.

@ Sandy Lee: Yeah I know my body responds to low carb but the higher fat bypasses that I think. In the past I have tried to lower my carbs to very little and then increase healthy fats and I still seemed to either gain or not lose at all. That probably has alot to do with all those calorie dense foods I was eating too. Lately I have been under the recommendation on my carbs and over on my protein. I like that though. I am going to try to keep that trend going but just up my calorie intake.

@Janelle: I hate that I have been losing muscle. I hoped that would not happen. But the more I read about it, the more I believe that's  why my weight loss has stalled again.

It's depressing when it seems like I am either eating too much or too little and never just right. I feel like back in July when I was really watching my calories then, that I was eating about 1400 calories a day which is what is recommended to lose (as stated above) and it worked for about a month and then all of a sudden I plateaued again. So that's why this time I drastically decreased my calories because before that amount stopped working for me. I hate having to test things out over and over to find just the right thing for me. I feel like when I think I find it, it changes again and then I am back to square one looking like a frickin do-do bird.

Well I said I would post photos of my in the 2nd dress that I bought for my employer Christmas banquest this weekend. Here it is:

It was fairly tight when I tried it on in the store and I had to have the bestie help me zip it (side zipper) by sucking in and doing other amazing tricks to get it done. Last night when I tried it on I zipped it myself and the top half is loose now. I will probably have to pin it to keep it up this weekend.

Menu for today:

Breakfast: Click Protein shake (120 cal.)

Lunch: Pineapple greek yogurt and 1 tbsp of gourmet nutty fruit mix (230 cal.)

Snack: 1oz mild cheddar cheese and 3 small pickles (121cal)

Dinner: Chicken broccoli rice and cheese casserole (1 cup serving is approx. 400 calories!)

Snack: Unsure but I am going to try and make it something for about 150 calories to up my intake starting today.

That's it for now everyone. I hate to sound like a broken record on every post bitching and whining about this but like anyone, I hate it when I can't figure out how to do something right. So please bare with me and thanks for the comments in advance.

smooches***