So I eat a lot more than I thought....

bananabeannn

Since I've been accurately logging every single day, I'm very surprised at how much I can consume. I've mentioned before that I would not always log my "bad days". Well now that I have been, I either see that a) they're not actually that bad or b) they're a lot of calories! Gosh, really a dirty martini has THAT many cals? Anyway.

The point of this is that I'm not gaining or losing weight. I'm literally 133.4, not 0.1 of a pound difference in about a week or so. I have always had in my brain that I had to stick to 1200 calories. But now, I'm thinking I'm probably going to lose with 1500! Maybe even 1600!

This is huge, for somebody who has routinely beat themselves up for a 1600 calorie day.

Lessons learned....

BB

GaleHawkins

Hey the more we learn the more we know. I just wish I learned about dieting when I was younger but better late than never I hope applies. 1200 would be low for most I expect for life. Research shows we guess about 500 calories on average low when we do not count. Your post supports that we tend to underestimate our daily intake.

williams969

What a great revelation to get past your fear and log accurately to see the "real" calorie needs. Yep, I'd bet 1600 is a losing number (or maybe more). I can lose on 2,000 (albeit, VERY slowly, like 1-2 pounds a month). And I'm not extraordinarily active nor a power lifter or anything like that. Just a "normal", 137 lb, 38yo mom.

The women's blogs and such touting "1200" without any science to back it up are such powerful, yet erroneous messages to us, aren't they?

NoelFigart1

The problem with those 1200 calorie diets is that there are very few people really eating 1200 calories. They THINK they are, but unless you're weighing and measuring every damn thing that goes in your mouth and logging it accurately, you probably aren't eating that little.

I'm, short, middle-aged and a yo-yo dieter and I lose extremely comfortably on 1600.

970Mikaela1

williams969 wrote: »

The women's blogs and such touting "1200" without any science to back it up are such powerful, yet erroneous messages to us, aren't they?

And I bet they are not accurately logged either. Good for you on figuring out what you need to eat.:)

terbusha

It's great that you can eat more. I always tell my team that they should east as much as possible while still making good progress towards their goals. That's 1 reason I love tracking my food intake. It really shows you what you can handle. Great job!

williams969

970Mikaela1 wrote: »

williams969 wrote: »

The women's blogs and such touting "1200" without any science to back it up are such powerful, yet erroneous messages to us, aren't they?

And I bet they are not accurately logged either. Good for you on figuring out what you need to eat.:)

Very true! We're not dumb, just human. We only can be accurate as our eyes our without a scale (which isn't very much for many of us, right?) Before I got my food scale, I was SO sure I was eating 1200-1400 calories/day. AND I was as accurate as I could be with measuring cups. Nope, it was more like 1600-1700. Good thing that was still my weight loss number.

SteveMFP123

When I first started losing weight I knew I overate day to day but I honestly thought only by a little, it wasn't until I actually logged everything that I realised I was a greedy pig lol, I was eating twice the calories I needed per day, often even more. It wasn't that I was eating massive amounts, I was just eat high calorie foods. For example a common dinner for me was a stick of garlic bread and a frozen calzone (folded pizza), this alone was around 1500 calories. It didn't seem like a massive amount of food at the time, but looking back it really was.

Angierae75

I tried eating at 1200 for years and never could lose any weight. I finally set myself to 1 lb a week even though I have sixty to lose - and I've lost 13 pounds in ten weeks.

Sometimes, a lower calorie diet just isn't sustainable for whatever reason. I'm happy losing slower if it means I can actually DO it.

cityjaneLondon

I can eat 1800 calories a day and slowly lose. I do quite a lot of exercise though. I guestimate a lot of my meals, but I weigh most ingredients and have a lot of experience to guess with. I am now at target, but I am continuing on the 1 pound a week regime because so many eating opportunities are coming up over Christmas I want to have a couple of pounds in hand. I find now that I feel I have a lot to eat and I rarely feel as if I am on a diet. Sometimes in the evening I eat a piece of cheese just to make up the calories. I always weigh cheese. I do cook nearly everything from scratch so it is easier to keep the calories down. If you exercise it is definitely not necessary to go hungry.