Thanks everyone! i feel like I have crossed another hurdle and the last couple of days have been easier. Very glad I let go of the guilt over the binge - it's made a big difference in my day.
And YES - I am IN for the May challenge!!!
Like @senorpanqueque, I have an event to train for. I just registered (today) for a 100km bike ride (60 miles for you Americans :) ) in the beginning of June and I HAVE TO START TRAINING seriously! This is my 8th year doing the ride, but also the latest I have ever started training. We had some awesomely beautiful days in March, but now we have miserable and cold weather. It usually takes me 5-6 hours in total to ride this and I am very nervous this year. My friend and I agreed that if we are not ready by then, we will scale back to do the 50km ride. I know healthy, nutritious eating AND losing some pounds will make this ride easier on my body so I have to be serious about this. A bit nervous abut carving time out for training as my DH is not going to be able to train with me this year. My bff is doing the ride and we plan to train together. Hoping we will both be as available as we plan!
My May challenge will be to stick to my 1230 net calorie plan on MyFitnessPal. Also, I am challenging myself to use extra calories on more nutritious fruits/veggies with some empty calorie junk mixed in.
Love reading everyone's plans for May!
@alleykat That water hack is super useful and I have used it many times. I also do herbal teas/black coffees at my desk as something hot sits in the stomach longer. The best part is - water is SO good for our bodies!!
Can I ask about your plan to eat 1230 net calories a day? That sounds pretty low to me. I am not judging - just want to understand how you came to that number. Is that something you can sustain over the long term?
I am only 5ft tall - so I agree this would be unrealistic for someone taller. This is what MFP's calculator gives me when I ask for a 1lb/week loss (pretty slow) as a slightly active person and based on my analysis of my daily weight for the past 4 months, it has been pretty accurate for me (there was a 4 week stretch where I lost EXACTLY 1 lb a week LOL!). I eat back ALL my exercise calories even though I know the number is slightly inflated. That said, I am pretty sure I am more active than I told MFP so this balances out the overestimation in exercise calories.
1230 net works out to about 1300-1400 cals a day in practice. I also track over a week, which balances some higher cal days with lower cal days. When i start biking seriously, I will be burning 400-800 cals each ride and will be eating all that back.
It actually feels good and overall sustainable - when I am on track with eating healthy overall. It's when I start consuming junk and binging that it is not enough calories. When I am eating healthy to plan (about 80-90% of the time), I am sometimes too full to eat all my allotted calories! (Crazy, I know) I have been learning to cook a lot of veggie based dishes that are very nutritious AND yummy (thank you skinnytaste!) so that has helped a lot.