What Size Will *You* End Up If *You* Lose Weight?

Today, I'm going to discuss the issue what what size *you* should expect to be if you lose weight. I personally dabbled into size 18 for about a month, but I have been the following sizes for more than a year in a row: size 16, size 14, size 12, and size 10. I have personal experience of what lifestyle it takes to stay, long-term, in each of these sizes.

Friends, if *you* lose weight how much will *you* ultimately lose? I think that's what everyone wants to know, not how much weight I lost but how much weight *you* will lose.

It depends on you!
Tough love here: The more you cling to or revert back to your current eating ways, the more your weight will tend to stay the same. Sad, but very true. If you are unsure of whether you cling to or revert back to your eating patterns that got you to an undesirable weight, ask yourself: Is my weight staying the same or am I gaining? If the answer is yes, then you are still using those faulty eating patterns.

If you change your eating a little bit, your weight will change a little bit. For example, if you eat about 100 to 200 less calories per day for a very long-term basis, your weight should eventually go down about 10 to 20 pounds.

If you have a significant lifestyle change, you will see a significant weight loss. For example, if you eat 300 to 400 less calories per day for a very long-term basis, your weight should eventually go down about 30 to 40 pounds, which is usually very noticeable.

From my experience, if you are going for a dramatic weight loss, the reality is that you have to dramatically change your entire lifestyle. If you are trying to lose 50 pounds, you will probably have to eat 500+ calories less per day than you currently eat. For a 60 pound loss, eat 600 less calories per day. For 70 pound loss, eat 700 less calories per day on a consistent long-term basis.

I currently eat about 700 less calories per day than I did at my heaviest weight--resulting in a dramatic weight loss. 

Me as an Example of Differing Lifestyle Changes and Corresponding Sizes
Like I said, I've been several sizes, each on a long-term basis. The amount I weighed depended upon my lifestyle at the time.

When I was size 18 for a month or so, I just had to get a little frustrated with that to turn it into size 16. Size 16 allowed me to eat an entire bag of family-sized candy by myself on Saturdays. I estimate that I ate about 2400 calories per day during those years.

However, getting to size 14 required a significant lifestyle change of regularly going to the gym and stopping binging. I exercised 6 days a week, and consistently ate about 1800 to 1900 calories per day.

Size 12 was achieved by going to the gym 6 days per week, including heavy weightlifting, and tightening my calories down to 1600 to 1800 calories per day.

But getting to size 10 required dramatic lifestyle changes. I still go to the gym for at least 5 hours per week, plus at least 100 man push-ups at home once a week. I do not eat many carbs anymore. I consistently food journal. Every. Single. Day. I average about 1500 to 1700 calories per day, with more lower calorie days per week. I am physically hungry (I'm not talking about carb cravings, here) during certain times of each day.

Each Size Down Requires Lifestyle Changes
Each size down requires lifestyle changes. When I was size 14, I really couldn't fathom making even more lifestyle changes because I was doing all I could handle at that time.

Yay for You!
If you make the lifestyle change that allows you to go down one size for a long-term basis, you should be very proud of yourself because you had to change to accomplish that. :D

Not So Excited About This...
However, don't get too excited if you barely tolerated a recent weight loss. If you can't tolerate it, it won't be there very long.<<Don't kill the messenger for this, but absorb the truth of it. Down inside, you know this to be true.

Mad Scramble To Eat Much Lower Calories!
Last year, when it really occurred to me that I still ate too many calories, I had to learn how to eat much less each day! A significant calorie reduction per day usually means that a person has to switch out their customary foods that kept them fat and substitute an entirely new menu of food. So, all of a sudden, my pantry didn't have anything on the shelves that I should have been eating! All of those cookies, crackers, pasta, rice, breakfast cereal, salad dressings, etc... no longer applied to my eating. Most things in our family's fridge and freezer were on the "No List" too.

I had to purchase an entirely new set of food for me to eat. Generally, people who eat lower calories per day tend to eat mostly unprocessed food--simply because an orange only has 70 calories when a very small (processed) granola bar has at least 150 calories. Every single calorie adds into the daily calorie amount. As a person gets slimmer, you get fussier about squandering 50 to 100 calories on anything!

Does This Post Make You Feel Grumpy?
It's Only Because I Care. 
I had to learn to eat in an entirely different way than I used to eat to get to size 10. If this post makes any of you feel grumpy when you read it, trust me, I would have felt grumpy reading it a few years ago too--because I was personally in denial about how many calories I ate. At a certain point of my life, I honestly felt like eating 1800 calories per day was a small amount--but, in truth, it never was. That was just my delusion talking. I want you to personally succeed, so I tell you the truth.

What do *you* think? Was this helpful to see me as today's lab rat with my own failures and successes for everyone to see? And, of course, anything else you want to say.

Have a Marvelous Day!

:-) Marion

P.S. The struggle has been averted! I was completely back on track yesterday, putting cookies on extremely high shelves, and eating my oranges again. I'm happily back to my normal eating. :D