am I aiming too high

Phoebe1970

So, I'm back with 40 to lose but I'd be happy with 30, I set my calorie intake at 1200, but feel deprived. ,

malibu927

What are your stats? Did you set your goal to lose 2 pounds a week? That's going to be too aggressive, and you'll be better off with a deficit of 1 pound per week.

SexyKatherine73

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

segacs

It's fine to have a goal of 40 pounds.

What you should adjust are your expectations around how quickly you'll lose them. Instead of aiming for 2lbs/week, try aiming for 1lb/week and eat at that level for a while, see how you do.

Liftng4Lis

If you set your goal to 1 pound a week, you get more calories. This isn't a race.

Phoebe1970

I'm at 187, 5'6. I'm used to being around 145/150 lbs, my bp is high even with 6 meds per day, I'm just tired of being heavy. I saw photos from Xmas and nearly passed out. Yuck

segacs

Yeah but you didn't gain those 40 pounds in less than 6 months. Why pressure yourself to lose them that quickly?

Don't think of it as a time-limited diet. Instead, make a sustainable lifestyle change that you can keep up for life.

I agree that, with your stats, you should be eating more than 1200 calories/day. Aim for about 1450-1500 *net* calories and eat back exercise calories on top of that. You'll lose the excess pounds within a year, and you'll feel better and healthier doing it and be much more able to stick with it.

dopeysmelly

I aimed to lose 65 lbs, and did. Nothing wrong with setting yourself a really big goal and proving to yourself that you can do it!

rkcampbell

The amount you want to lose is definitely doable, but I'm not sure about the 1200. If you're feeling deprived after a week or two, I'd try upping it a bit. Feeling too deprived (in my case anyway) will only lead to binges. Personally I am currently 5'7" and 189 and eating 1500 per day.

Phoebe1970

Maybe deprived is the wrong word, more like grumpy and restless

DancingMoosie

Are you working out? Exercise usually helps with the grumpy and restless part, and gives you more calories to work with:)

jemhh

Eat more. There is no need to eat so little that you are grumpy and restless. I went from 202.5 to 150 (same height as you) and the lowest daily goal I used was 1750.

Are you doing any exercise?

TimothyFish

Even if you don't lose weight (though you probably will), exercise has a significant affect on reducing blood pressure. It also improves your attitude and allows you to eat more without gaining weight.

maggiegbrown

I understand what it like to be heavy when your use to being thinner. two years ago I was 130 today I am 160 as much as I was 9 months pregnant yikes!!!! So I get it. I don't see anything wrong with your goal. I'm doing the something. I'm at 1200 but I am doing low carb high fat and it seems to be working. I can barely get 1000 in but I feel full most of the time. So maybe give that a try. just a thought.

AmberAntoine

It is not impossible, you should have to do proper planning to achieve that. You should also do exercise daily.

Sued0nim

I'd be setting my goal to no more than 1lb a week

And I'd be eating back my exercise calories (MFP database 50 - 75% of calories given)

That should give you enough calories to get off the "feeling deprived" and avoid the "crash & burn"

too few calories can cause mood swings too

mymodernbabylon

I'm your height and was a bit less heavy than you but I lost weight at 1650 calories plus half my exercise calories. It didn't feel horrible at all. You can also figure out your TDEE and eat a 15% deficit - that will take you down a bit slowly but you'll maintain as much muscle mass as you can and feel so much more doable. I'm currently at 148 and I'm eating at a 10% deficit due to being close to my ultimate goal of being between 140-145. I'm eating around 2000 calories a day.

Phoebe1970

My tdee is 1873 according to the link.
I haven't gotten back into exercising yet, doing the food changes first, then I will add exercise in the next week or two, I get overwhelmed making all those changes at once, lol

mitch16

I started in kind of the same place... 5'7", in my 40's, about 183 lbs. I have reached my goal weight (55 lbs lost!) and am playing with maintenance currently. I did it on 1200 cals (give or take), but it wasn't always easy.

1200 calories a day takes a lot of commitment, mental strength, and discipline. You really have to eat as healthy as possible--lots of veggies and lean meat--because there isn't room for much more. The more you workout, the more you get to eat (although I try to not eat back more than 50% of my exercise calories)--I run a lot. There are very few days that I actually only ingest 1200 calories however--most days are much higher because of my workouts. I am rather obsessive and competitive, so I had the right mindset to push myself to lose the weight--I was ready.

Honestly? I would suggest upping your daily calorie goal just a bit (maybe to 1400?) and starting there--you are more likely to stick with it if you aren't miserable.

Good luck!

Phoebe1970

Thanks to all for the replies! :-)