New, and already struggling :)

nadineschneider969300

Hi fellow dieters

This is the first time in my life that I am actually starting to count calories and being on a diet.

Having been blessed with a very low maintenance body (I have pretty much always been on the edge of underweight all my life, without any exercise and eating whatever I pleased) until i reached the age of 26, I never really had to do a lot to keep in shape.
I'm 5'4 and have always weighed around 49 - 52 kilos, with 52 being my feel-good weight.
In the past two years though I have put on quite a bit, I'm now 58,5 kilos, and I suppose the lazy times are over
I'm not feeling very good anymore, and I can see the start of a little belly (I also feel very bloated when I eat) and my bum & thighs are totally to of shape and don't suit the rest of my body.

Because I never had to ever look at a calorie in my life, I'm finding it really hard right now to not go over my 1200 calorie goal. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now, and most of the days I have been really grumpy and feeling like I haven't eaten anything, but when I then put the food I have eaten into the diary I'm generally 80-200 calories over, and frankly haven't lost a gram so far.
I'm also finding it very hard at the weekends. I love going out with my friends, having dinners and an ice cream here and there, or having a few drinks. It seems like hardly any of this is possible though on a 1200 calorie diet

How are all of you getting on? Do you stick to the diet 7 days a week or do you build in one day a week where you allow yourself some treats?
Also, is it harder to lose weight when you don't have that much to lose at all? Even though I did go over my 1200 calorie allowance here and there, I was hoping that after 3 weeks of drastically cutting my diet, and doing a lot more walking & squats at the same time, would have at least shed a kilo or so. But nothing at all, I'd say I may probably even have put on half a kilo

Would be lovely to hear your experiences.

Nadine x

foreverwatts

Keep your chin up and keep pressing on. No one says it is going to be easy in the beginning. I went from 132 pounds to 192 pounds in a year. I know it's going to take time and there will probably be days I slip up, but the main thing right now is to stay positive and push forward. Old habits can't be changed over night, or even in a week. But in time, they can. You are not alone in your struggle..

nadineschneider969300

Awww thanks so much for your kind reply and wow, well done for your immense weight loss! That's very inspiring!
I'm glad that there is a community here as well and we can support each other, it is a lot harder than I thought, but well worth it too

foreverwatts

Oh no, that is not weight loss, that was weight gain. I have to lose 60 pounds.. But one day, I hope to be able to post that I did it..

Vivisexsymbol

The 1200 limit seems quite extreme - have you set yourself up to lose 1kg/week? If you're struggling with that, as you don't really have much to lose, start off at 0.5kg a week and see how you feel.

I don't really diet when I use MFP. All I do is log EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth, no matter how small! I have pizza, I have occasional treats (the Waitrose Creme Caramels are only 113 calories and are absolutely delicious, for example), but I log it. I try to go for healthier choices where I can (i.e. lots of veggies and only a little cheese on my pizza).

Vegetables especially have a lot of bulk with very few calories. Try swapping out some of your higher calorie choices (you should be able to see what they are after a week or so of using the app) with lower-calorie version of the same thing.

The other thing is: stick with it. You didn't gain all of that weight in one week, you aren't going to lose it all in one week. Stay motivated, drink lots of water and LOG EVERYTHING!

Welcome to MFP.

oORosadaOo

Have you maybe set your weight loss goal too high (more than 0,5 kg/week)? Have you calculated your TDEE? Are you doing exercise to "earn" more calories?

At first I started out with 1290 cal but then set my activity from sedentary to lightly active which gave me 1590 cal per day. I can eat normally and have treats in moderation, I also drink quite a lot of beer. In 3 weeks I have lost 2,6 kg, that is with walking almost every day for 30 minutes.

Don't worry, you can do this!!

nadineschneider969300

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the replies and all the tips. You all seem really lovely and I'm glad to be a part of this community now and take a step further into a healthy lifestyle and feeling more happy with myself again.

I just checked my "goals"section and have set my goal for 0.75kg per week.
I would be more than happy with just 0.5kg per week, but strangely my suggested calorie intake doesn't change, even if I put it to 0.5kg per week or 1kg per week. Is that normal?

nadineschneider969300

PS: I think if I'd change my profile to "lightly active" I would probably be able to eat more calories as well. I'm just not sure if my lifestyle can be classified as lightly active at the moment. I am a film maker and mostly sit in the office (unless I'm shooting, but that's maybe twice a month or less). I try to walk to work whenever I can, walk up escalators etc. and I'm doing the daily squat challenge at the moment, but I'd say I only spend about an hour a day actively moving and walking around. Compared to a teacher or salesman (which are classified as light active here) who are up on their feet quite a bit, that's not a lot.
What are your thoughts on that one?

Thanks x

Vivisexsymbol

nadineschneider969300 wrote: »

I'd say I only spend about an hour a day actively moving and walking around. Compared to a teacher or salesman (which are classified as light active here) who are up on their feet quite a bit, that's not a lot.
What are your thoughts on that one?

I find that a lot of the time we underestimate the amount of walking we do. I do a desk job as well but manage to get quite a bit of walking done according to my Fitbit. That being said, I've put myself as "inactive" but also gain a lot of extra calories to eat through my Fitbit steps per day (as many as 900/day if I am walking quite a bit, for example).

Personally, if you feel you're inactive I think you should leave yourself as inactive but then make an effort to measure your exercise over the course of the day. You'll end up gaining calories back and for the days where you don't do as much exercise you won't overestimate the amount you can eat.

I love my Fitbit but if you just want to count steps a pedometer would be great (and cheaper, too) as an option to passively track your exercise.

errollmaclean

I think it's just a glitch or something. Your net calories wont change unless you click on them. Definitely recommend setting your loss to 0.5lbs per week. It'll let you stick with your diet. I'd also recommend looking up IIFYM, it's a very flexible way of eating that still lets you have treats (and busts a lot of weightloss myths). Also double check your protein and fat daily levels, they're important. Don't give up, it'll just take a while till you get the hang of it