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Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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20 Comments

  1. Biz

    Wow, I think I would pass out at only 1230 calories a day! Here are my two cents worth, and what worked for me when I lost my 70 pounds on WW. Do you remember the Wendy plan? Basically you took how many “points” you were allotted for the week and broke them up differently each day – but in the end you ate all your points in a week.

    Say 25 points are your daily goal. 175 points for the week. So one day you have 19 points, but then the next day you have 31 points, and change each day so it keeps your body guessing. I noticed if I had any plateau and saw my meal plans they were always almost exactly the same calories each day. When I shook up how I ate my points, the scale always moved.

    Hugs!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Agreed! I balked at reducing my calories that drastically, BUT I did it last week (post coming tomorrow) and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because I ate back some of my workout calories. So I wasn’t REALLY eating 1230 calories a day.

      I never did WW but I like your plan of changing up the activity points. I think doing the same thing every day is when it gets stuck.

  2. susan

    what about sodium etc? I see Lean Cuisine and shudder – even though the calories are few….

    I’ve tried things like half a sweet potatoes with a soft boiled egg (yes, reverting to childhood). But very filling, not a lot of calories and somehow to me an orange veggies (ok starch) is better than a piece of whole wheat toast.

    Just a thought – maybe change what the contents are

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yep I am changing up my foods, trying to find filling foods that are high in fiber and good fats. As for the Lean Cuisines–sure, they aren’t the best but they are portion controlled. I try not to eat them too much. Right now I eat them for lunch 1-2x a week and try and have leftovers or salad/soup etc the other days. Sometimes the convenience is just necessary.

  3. Ingunn

    Hmm, interesting. How about mixing up your workout routine? Trying something with lots of dynamic movements (I’m sure Portland has tons of parkour classes, because Portland)?

    You could always try to experiment with the starch intake, too (even though she said it was good), or eating beans instead of rice/potatoes/whatever.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yes, beans are a regular thing in our house, just not lately. I definitely don’t want to add a bunch of bread and potatoes in my diet. I am currently experimenting. I need to get some sweet potatoes because I’d rather do that than rice or bread.

      Being injured and sick lately I’ve altered my workouts. I really need to get back to weight lifting and I’m frustrated that I can’t do that right now. 🙁

  4. Lori

    I hear you. I can’t do the 1200 calories, either. That is what I am supposed to eat to lose 1 pound a week according to MFP – can you believe that? I just shoot for 1500 calories and only eat back some of my exercise calories on long ride days. It’s slow going, but working.

    It is also a point to consider about trying to maintain where you are. You may not mentally be happy with that, but your body might be. It could end up not being worth what it takes to get and *stay* at a lower weight now.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks Lori. I know you can relate. 1500 seems like a good number and it worked well for me for a long time–maintaining, not losing. I am willing to give this a try short term to see if it works (spoiler alert, it is working so far). I hear what you are saying about this is where my body just wants to be…and trust me, I’ve considered that. But like you said I am unhappy with where I am at and just want to get back to where I was before. If I can.

  5. emmaclaire

    Good for you for tackling this head-on, yet again, Lisa! It can be so frustrating, and I am going through a lot of the process that you are right now as well. I am about 10 pounds over where I want to be, and, although I have managed to not gain any in a couple of months, I am not happy with how it feels. My clothes aren’t happy with me either 🙁 I average around 1400-1500 calories a day, and try to keep my deficit around 500, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. I think I would benefit from shaking up my workouts, so I’m planning on getting back to Ripped classes after my half-marathon in 3 weeks. I’m glad to hear that it is working for you and look forward to reading that post for more ideas and inspiration!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks for the comment, EmmaClaire. It’s frustrating isn’t it? When you get stuck and clothes just don’t fit right…Ugh! I hope changing up your workouts helps out.

  6. Carbzilla

    I understand your frustration. I did the breath test (who knows how accurate) and it said I normally burn 1643/day. It’s very easy for me to go over that and stay steady at my high weight where is what I’m at now.

    For me, regardless of the calories, I need to find new ways to organize my eating which seems to help my weight loss (and manage calories without having to count). It also keeps it fun for me. I’m back on the Fast Metabolism Diet which makes sense to me even though I haven’t calculated the calories (and probably won’t as long as it’s working). I just started back but lost 1.5 lbs just after the first day. I no longer eat anything out of a box but almost 100% whole foods. I’m just more sensitive to additives every day.

    Mix it up for yourself, and I bet you’ll find something that works. 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I agree 100% with eliminating the processed foods the best you can. I think that makes a big difference. We try and eat most of our foods without processing (example: we don’t eat a lot of pasta, rarely eat rice, or things from a box). It’s hard though because the frozen meals are easy for me to take to work. I’m working on that!

  7. Carbzilla

    Also, are you eating snacks? I do best with 3 meals, 2 snacks and NO sugar/dairy/wheat. Getting strict like that really helps me.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yep I eat snacks! I’ve been doing smaller meals and still having snacks, usually some fruit or vegetable.

  8. Fran

    The second plate picture is what the nutritionists in Holland recommend for eating too. Personally I don’t drink milk anymore. I use a little in my cappucino and use it sometimes for cooking but that it’s. It seems milk isn’t that good for adults at all.

    I should be careful with eating so little calories for a long time because your body will notice and will go in “storage” mode.

    I think Biz’ suggestion is a good one and variation in your meals is important too.

    Good luck!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Oh yes, this isn’t going to be a long term thing. I know I can’t sustain it and it wouldn’t be healthy and you are right, my body would just get used to it. Switching things up is necessary.

  9. Kitty

    Do you use any type of activity monitor that would tell you how many calories you burn each day? For example, my life — other than an hour of exercise — is pretty sedentary. A lot of sitting at my desk and mostly sedentary hobbies (reading). So, I could not lose any appreciable weight at 1500 or 1600 calories. I actually do eat an average of 1200 calories a week (on WW, usually end up eating about half of my weekly points and none of my activity points). I am used to it and it doesn’t bother me to do so. I know what I need to do since my Fitbit tells me my calorie burn.

    Which is why I don’t eat back my exercise calories on MFP. With MFP Premium, you can actually set it so that it doesnt add in calories for exercise and you can set different calorie goals for different days of the week.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I used a heart rate monitor to track my workout calories burned and then log them in My Fitness Pal.

      I didn’t know that about the Premium service. I might have to check that out. Thanks for the tip!

  10. CARLA

    eager to see how you feel on that number too.
    Id be CRANKY CRABBY but but but we are all different and our bodies so unique.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      The first week I wasn’t too cranky. To be clear, I wasn’t just eating 1230 calories a day and then stopping, I was eating some of the calories burned in the gym too.

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