320 pounds on 1,700 a day?????
Replies
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There's been some fantastic advice on here already so I'll just throw in a couple of things that worked for me. First is that this is not a diet. You are not losing weight over a few weeks and then going back to your old habits - you are making a lifestyle change. Otherwise, don't bother.
With that in mind, it's still to think that you can go from eating 3500 or more calories a day to 1700 and then stick with it. If you do, you will likely feel frustrated and will give up on it. I took two or three weeks of practice with logging stuff. There were many days where I'd get incomplete logs or whatnot and that's ok for starting off. It's not that I couldn't log everything, it just takes time to be honest with yourself that yes, you really are eating that many calories - and how the hell do I log in a chicken in a crock pot?!? And yes, I ate fries but did I count all the ketchup too?
Once that time is up and everything is being logged, don't even worry about your goal. What I did instead is that I planned to eat normally for a couple of weeks. What an eye opener. That honestly didn't last as long as I had anticipated. It was probably two or three more weeks before I was consistently hitting my goal but that time allowed me see exactly why I was so fat and two bring my body into this gradually. This allowed me to learn what the different types of hunger felt like and what I needed to do to deal with them slowly and without feeling like I was letting myself down.
The last part of that is the exercise. Start off with simple stuff - like a walk. Once you see that adding calories back on, I at least, started getting almost addicted to it.
*shrug* Take it or leave it but that's just some tips that helped me.
OH! I have also started drinking a BIG glass of COLD water several minutes before every meal and whenever I feel hungry. This doesn't always stop me from snacking but it's sure helped me cut down on the times I do.0 -
There's been some fantastic advice on here already so I'll just throw in a couple of things that worked for me. First is that this is not a diet. You are not losing weight over a few weeks and then going back to your old habits - you are making a lifestyle change. Otherwise, don't bother.
With that in mind, it's still to think that you can go from eating 3500 or more calories a day to 1700 and then stick with it. If you do, you will likely feel frustrated and will give up on it. I took two or three weeks of practice with logging stuff. There were many days where I'd get incomplete logs or whatnot and that's ok for starting off. It's not that I couldn't log everything, it just takes time to be honest with yourself that yes, you really are eating that many calories - and how the hell do I log in a chicken in a crock pot?!? And yes, I ate fries but did I count all the ketchup too?
Once that time is up and everything is being logged, don't even worry about your goal. What I did instead is that I planned to eat normally for a couple of weeks. What an eye opener. That honestly didn't last as long as I had anticipated. It was probably two or three more weeks before I was consistently hitting my goal but that time allowed me see exactly why I was so fat and two bring my body into this gradually. This allowed me to learn what the different types of hunger felt like and what I needed to do to deal with them slowly and without feeling like I was letting myself down.
The last part of that is the exercise. Start off with simple stuff - like a walk. Once you see that adding calories back on, I at least, started getting almost addicted to it.
*shrug* Take it or leave it but that's just some tips that helped me.
OH! I have also started drinking a BIG glass of COLD water several minutes before every meal and whenever I feel hungry. This doesn't always stop me from snacking but it's sure helped me cut down on the times I do.
Thank you for the honesty
I feel better knowing that you overcame it. I should be able to as well. I need to start looking for lower calorie foods. The high density stuff is all I'm used to, but I need to retrain my pallet. 0 -
Try a walk after work and before cooking or eating - I always find a little bit of exercise stops me feeling as hungry . As well as drinking heaps of water try blending a banana with a cup of low fat milk and lots of ice which is quite filling0
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ditsyblond17 wrote: »Original_Beauty wrote: »Why are you eating so little? You need to eat more!!! You do not need to be hungry to lose weight.
What's sad is 1,700 appears to be right for 2 pounds a day! So weird. I know a 170 pound woman eating more than me!!! Why is this backwards???
Unfortunately our bodies burn little to no calories by holding onto fat, so your sedentary calories will be pretty low. However, you'll burn more calories with the extra weight than if you didn't have it. So, try to work out more often and eat back half of your exercise calories!
Feel free to add me as a friend on MFP! 0 -
I think the calorie suggestions on MFP are way too low. It suggests 1500 or so for me to lose a pound a week. But I'm about 190lb now, losing about 6lb a month on what averages out at about 1800 a day, net. I have my calories set lower than that but I know I'm going to go over. And there's room to do that. (Recovering from eating disorders so my approach might be different to most. This works for me, even if lots of weeks end up in the red. I still lose at a really good and consistent rate. No plateaus so far. )
I am sure you could eat way way more and lose lots, and lose consistently.
The way I see it is you can eat more but keep going for months or years because you don't feel deprived, but eventually you will reach your goal. Or, you can eat less, lose fast, give up because you're hungry and bingeing, put the weight back on, plus some more, start again, eat less, lose fast, give up because you're hungry and bingeing...0 -
allenpriest wrote: »
It's just IF, which is exactly what our bodies evolved to do. Doesn't imply "binge approach" at all.
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are you sure you are sedentary activity level?
Just because you do no exercise and have a desk job doesn't mean you are "sedentary" by that classification.
Many mothers using the activity trackers discover that with their kids and family, on non-workout days they are lightly active.
Because indeed, 2 lbs is reasonable if you can take it, but that's 1000 deficit off best estimate of what you really burn daily.
If you are actually burning a bit more than expected - no wonder the hunger.
You can also do a range of course, on days not hungry, you get closer to lower goal, on other days you hit a slightly higher goal.
Both goals will lead to weight loss eventually. It's not like it was going to be exactly 2lbs weekly anyway.0 -
I think all of the advice here were very good especially when people say that you are eating too little.
I'm 190 and I'm still losing on 1800 on most days (I do intermittent fasting and eat less some days). 1700 seems very low for the beginning and your starting weight.
The only advice I would add is don't do everything all at once. Start by controlling your binges and hunger, before trying anything else (exercice, some eating patterns, etc). Give yourself time!
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ditsyblond17 wrote: »Thank you for the advice. I can afford to lose aggressively since I'm obese. But sadly, I can't overcome my binge at the end of the day. During breakfast and lunch I'm not hungry. I feel I can go strong for days. Then 5:00 hits and I am so ravenously hungry (only a few hours after eating a high protein lunch) that I accidentally go over my calories by 500-800 each day. I almost feel like my body is telling me 1,700 isn't right. But May be I'm wrong. Does 1,700 sound like the right number for me?
It sounds to me like you're in a binge eating cycle. You wait too long to eat. Everyone is different and intermittent fasting/ skipping meals works for some people... but its clearly not working for you. I believe you when you say you have no appetite for breakfast- because youre training your brain to get high on waiting for a big caloric payoff at the end of the day. Pretty classic ED symptoms. Eat protein, fats and carbs sometime earlier in the day. Then some more. Then at dinner time... you wont feel ravenous. You wont binge, regret, guilt, shame cycle... but the new habits may cause feelings of depression... you're not getting the intense reward anymore. See a therapist or counselor if that happens! Good luck0 -
You've gotten so much great advice!
You mention binging at night - do you tend to like to eat at night? Personally, I do. I'm where I can only eat 1300 net now to lose 1 lb/week so I have to plan really carefully. For me it works best to eat a very small breakfast (but I HAVE to eat breakfast, that's just how I am), a small lunch and small afternoon snack. I leave as many calories as I possibly can for dinner and snacking in the evening.
If you find you are an evening snacker, it might really help to take this approach. It lets me have a bigger, more extravagant dinner, and I try to save 200-300 calories for post-dinner snacking on whatever I want.0 -
iwearthejumper32 wrote: »ditsyblond17 wrote: »Thank you for the advice. I can afford to lose aggressively since I'm obese. But sadly, I can't overcome my binge at the end of the day. During breakfast and lunch I'm not hungry. I feel I can go strong for days. Then 5:00 hits and I am so ravenously hungry (only a few hours after eating a high protein lunch) that I accidentally go over my calories by 500-800 each day. I almost feel like my body is telling me 1,700 isn't right. But May be I'm wrong. Does 1,700 sound like the right number for me?
It sounds to me like you're in a binge eating cycle. You wait too long to eat. Everyone is different and intermittent fasting/ skipping meals works for some people... but its clearly not working for you. I believe you when you say you have no appetite for breakfast- because youre training your brain to get high on waiting for a big caloric payoff at the end of the day. Pretty classic ED symptoms. Eat protein, fats and carbs sometime earlier in the day. Then some more. Then at dinner time... you wont feel ravenous. You wont binge, regret, guilt, shame cycle... but the new habits may cause feelings of depression... you're not getting the intense reward anymore. See a therapist or counselor if that happens! Good luck
That's what I think as well. It took time for me to change my eating habits to once per day (at night time) I'm sure my body is trained for that caloric pay off at the end of the day. I must retrain it. But Like a few people have said, I seriously think 1,700 is too little for someone my size. Even at sedentary, It still means I have no room to go any lower. I would much prefer to eat 2,200 and lose weight than 1,700 and struggle. I think I may just bump up for about a week and see if that does anything. Eating roughly 500 each meal until dinner where I'll eat more until I can gradually keep it at about 500-700 calories. I think Its all in my mind as far as bingeing goes. Out of habit. But the actual physical part is due to restrictive caloric intake. Far too low for my large size.0 -
I know this thread is already past this, but I just wanted to offer my support.
It's better to lose slower and have a calorie goal you can stick to, than to lose faster while being miserable and binge eating because your goal is too low.
Slow and stead wins the race. You CAN eat 1700 calories and lose two pounds a week. Does that mean you SHOULD? The answer is "whatever will help you stick with it in the long run". Some people will stick to it longer if they see quicker results. Some people will stick to it longer if they can eat a little more and feel more satisfied. It's ok to lose slower, it really is.0 -
SingRunTing wrote: »I know this thread is already past this, but I just wanted to offer my support.
It's better to lose slower and have a calorie goal you can stick to, than to lose faster while being miserable and binge eating because your goal is too low.
Slow and stead wins the race. You CAN eat 1700 calories and lose two pounds a week. Does that mean you SHOULD? The answer is "whatever will help you stick with it in the long run". Some people will stick to it longer if they see quicker results. Some people will stick to it longer if they can eat a little more and feel more satisfied. It's ok to lose slower, it really is.
Thank you for that advice!! I definitely agree. I should be able to lose more, but Maybe I'm just not one of those people that lose 10 pounds the first week. I'm okay with that. I've bumped up my calories to 2,200 to see if anything changes. I already feel less stressed about hitting that goal which means I feel less OBSESSED too. Which for people that tend to binge, is a great thing.
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I won't spend a lot of time, I just wanted to say to Ditsyblond that I've had the same exact problem and I've researched it (I'm a scientist) and discovered some new health studies that show that artificial sweeteners can cause the same insulin surge as sugar. In other words, if you drink a 16oz+ of diet soda for dinner, your body reacts by producing insulin, which lowers your blood sugar dramatically (because you did not drink sugared soda) and therefore your body goes into a low-blood sugar state which causes you to intensely crave carbs and feel ravenously hungry. This subject has been covered by Purdue University and the John Tesh radio show. I cut out diet soda, added more protein and fixed my problem, and so can you. Good luck. Here's some info and links:
Diet soda is making us fat. That’s the news from Purdue University neuroscientist Dr. Susan Swithers, who says that artificial sweeteners make it tough for our brains to regulate our calorie intake. It’s a complicated process, but it works something like this: When you taste something sweet – even a sugar-free sweetener – your body preps for a surge of incoming calories. Your insulin levels rise, your body begins to release hormones that trigger fullness, and your brain gets a rewarding blast of feel-good dopamine. But when you don’t get the expected calories, your system stays flooded with chemicals that it now needs to get rid of.
Eventually, if you consume a lot of artificial sweeteners, your body starts to treat your taste buds like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. And it stops paying attention when you taste something sweet. Which means, when you take in real sugar, your body can’t properly metabolize the calories. Because it doesn’t bother to produce enough insulin or hormones to do the job. More importantly, your brain no longer gets a full-strength dopamine jolt from eating something pleasurable.
So, you don’t feel satisfied, and keep on eating, which can really pack on the pounds. To make matters worse, artificial sweeteners cause something psychologists call cognitive distortion. Simply put, we fool ourselves into believing that the calories we save by ordering a diet drink make it okay to supersize everything else. Which, again, leads to overeating.
Bottom line? Soft drinks - both regular and diet - are NOT good for you. So, skip the soda pop, and stick to Dr. Swisher’s “go to” beverage: Plain old water.0 -
Think about whether or not you have any behavioral triggers for binge eating. for me the worst spot in the entire house is at night at the kitchen island with the TV on - if i'm there something bad is going to happen.
Also, do you have a plan for what the do when you are feeling like binging so you don't do too much damage. For me its having baby carrots, sliced cucumbers and celery readily available at all times and then adding either low fat greek yogurt veggie dip or some tuna fish. Its not as good as sticking to your normal eating plan, but its a good way to avoid a calorie explosion.0 -
Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE? Never go under your BMR< thats just the minimum to breathe and sleep, Go 15% under the TDEE and try to eat protein rich food in the morning, Eat 6 meals daily incl nuts , fruits, dried fruits, no sugar added. Oats full fat yoghurts and you will succeed.0
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ditsyblond17 wrote: »I'm 5'7. 25 And 325 pounds. I will open my diary now. Please be nice, I'm very sensitive tonight
If you are a light office worker (Sedentary by MyFitnessPal, Lightly Active by CalorieKing), you need to eat 1900 calories to lose 2 lbs/week, 2100 calories to lose 1 lb/week. Can you try staying in that range, instead of 1,700 calories? You'll lose weight a little slower, but you'll be more comfortable.
As for hunger, I find that exercise (specifically cardio) helps me with hunger. I am less interested in food right after a run and I get more calories through exercise for later in the day.0 -
I'm glad you're eating more. Slow and steady wins the race! My first week here, I ate a whopping 3,000 kcal, which sounds crazy except it was already a small improvement over what I usually ate! Today you may not be ready for 1700 kcal. Next month you may be! Or perhaps you'll start walking 30 min/day, allowing yourself to continue eating more while losing. 0
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Keep in mind, too, that you can always change your intake as you go. Maybe right now, losing one pound is a better goal for you. Try that intake for a month and see how you feel. I'd bet money that your appetite will adjust as you get used to the lower intake, and you'll have time to break the habit of eating a lot after dinner. After 4-6 weeks, reassess how you feel. Maybe start adding in some exercise so you have more calories to play with, or if you've adjusted just fine, think about increasing your rate of loss to 1.5 pounds per week. (Or both, if that appeals to you).
Weight loss isn't about how fast you go at the beginning. In fact, lots of people try to go balls-out from Day 1 and end up burning out and giving up. Weight loss is about how long you can keep going. It's okay to start out slower if it means you can sustain your changes in the long run.0 -
RossinMaine wrote: »I won't spend a lot of time, I just wanted to say to Ditsyblond that I've had the same exact problem and I've researched it (I'm a scientist) and discovered some new health studies that show that artificial sweeteners can cause the same insulin surge as sugar. In other words, if you drink a 16oz+ of diet soda for dinner, your body reacts by producing insulin, which lowers your blood sugar dramatically (because you did not drink sugared soda) and therefore your body goes into a low-blood sugar state which causes you to intensely crave carbs and feel ravenously hungry. This subject has been covered by Purdue University and the John Tesh radio show. I cut out diet soda, added more protein and fixed my problem, and so can you. Good luck. Here's some info and links:
Diet soda is making us fat. That’s the news from Purdue University neuroscientist Dr. Susan Swithers, who says that artificial sweeteners make it tough for our brains to regulate our calorie intake. It’s a complicated process, but it works something like this: When you taste something sweet – even a sugar-free sweetener – your body preps for a surge of incoming calories. Your insulin levels rise, your body begins to release hormones that trigger fullness, and your brain gets a rewarding blast of feel-good dopamine. But when you don’t get the expected calories, your system stays flooded with chemicals that it now needs to get rid of.
Eventually, if you consume a lot of artificial sweeteners, your body starts to treat your taste buds like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. And it stops paying attention when you taste something sweet. Which means, when you take in real sugar, your body can’t properly metabolize the calories. Because it doesn’t bother to produce enough insulin or hormones to do the job. More importantly, your brain no longer gets a full-strength dopamine jolt from eating something pleasurable.
So, you don’t feel satisfied, and keep on eating, which can really pack on the pounds. To make matters worse, artificial sweeteners cause something psychologists call cognitive distortion. Simply put, we fool ourselves into believing that the calories we save by ordering a diet drink make it okay to supersize everything else. Which, again, leads to overeating.
Bottom line? Soft drinks - both regular and diet - are NOT good for you. So, skip the soda pop, and stick to Dr. Swisher’s “go to” beverage: Plain old water.
Very interesting concept. Makes complete sense. Thank you for sharing. I will DEFINITELY be getting rid of the Crystal light int he house now. thanks!0
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