Afraid to increase calories....

PharmGirl522
PharmGirl522 Posts: 51 Member
edited November 14 in Health and Weight Loss
Yeah, you read the title correctly. I'm one of *those* people. You know, the ones who are terrified of eating above 1200 calories because she's been brainwashed into thinking that that's the magic number. *sigh* Yes, I know it's not always the case, and yes, I know there's technically nothing to be "afraid" of, but there you have it.

Here's the backstory, in a nutshell: Did WW from January 2011 to May 2013; lost 65 pounds. Only managed to keep it off for three months because WW became prohibitively expensive after I lost my job ($25 a week is a lot when you don't have it) and I figured I could do it on my own....WRONG; gained back 25 of those pounds.

I have been trying to lose those 25 pounds for nearly two years now, and I have gotten nowhere. Now, the "good" news is that no matter what I seem to do, my weight doesn't really fluctuate much in either direction, but since I haven't really been keeping track of my calories up to now, that doesn't help. I mean, I know that if my weight is staying more or less stable, then I've pretty much found my maintenance calorie level. But the problem is that I haven't really been doing this long enough to figure out what my maintenance level is.

I don't even really have a clue how to go about this. Like, for someone who lost a pretty good amount of weight, I am sadly clueless when it comes to this calorie business. I guess that's probably because WW does the whole "points" thing, and they're pretty tight-lipped about how that works out in terms of calories, so it was never something I had to figure out.

I know I'm rambling. I guess my main question is this: at my height (5 feet) and current weight (165), does anyone with any more knowledge than me (which, let's face it, is pretty much anyone) have any insight into how to figure out where I should aim, calorie-wise?

I'll say this flat out: I'm pretty much doing the whole IIFYM deal, and I'm not interested in doing clean eating simply because I did that the whole time I was on WW, and once I came off WW I was like, "WOO MAINTENANCE! BINGE TIME! BRING ME ALL THE FOOD" and so I have learned that deprivation doesn't work for me. What can I say? I'm simply not willing to give up the foods I love. Because really? A life without pizza is not a life worth living. ;)

Replies

  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited March 2015
    Just start tracking your intake, you can do this!! read these threads

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
    Best wishes!!
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Yeah, I'd just continue with what you're doing now food-wise, but track it so you know how many cals you're currently averaging. Weigh and measure everything and log it. That will give you your maintenance level, since your weight is staying steady. From there you can knock some calories off in order to lose :)
  • PharmGirl522
    PharmGirl522 Posts: 51 Member
    It doesn't help that I currently live with my mother, who is...shall we say, slightly disordered in her eating patterns. She eats next to nothing and is always making little comments about my eating patterns -- she thinks that I eat way too much, when she's comparing it to what *she* eats. Of course my intake looks huge next to hers -- I doubt she breaks 1000 calories a day. In fact, I know she doesn't. So obviously anything above that is going to be huge to her.

    I hate to say it, but her attitude towards food and eating is what has led me to being afraid to raise my calorie level. She's always had the attitude that "less is better" when it comes to eating, and it's rubbed off on me. How could it not? She thinks it's just great that she can eat breakfast (or, well, what passes for breakfast in her world) and then go seven or eight hours without eating anything else. And then she'll wonder why she feels like crap all the time (she's a type II diabetic, too, which, hello, should kind of wake her up to the fact that her way of eating is not, in fact, anything to be proud of.)

    ...Sorry. I love her, but she drives me up the wall when it comes to food. It's no wonder I have issues.
  • PharmGirl522
    PharmGirl522 Posts: 51 Member
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yeah, I'd just continue with what you're doing now food-wise, but track it so you know how many cals you're currently averaging. Weigh and measure everything and log it. That will give you your maintenance level, since your weight is staying steady. From there you can knock some calories off in order to lose :)

    Thank you for the input. :) I appreciate it!

  • PharmGirl522
    PharmGirl522 Posts: 51 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Just start tracking your intake, you can do this!! read these threads

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
    Best wishes!!

    Thank you for the links and the encouragement! It's appreciated more than you know. :)

  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
    WW may be tight lipped, but the points are pretty transparent. Unless they've changed the formula since I used it, its 60 calories/point, minus 0.2 per gram of fiber, plus 0.4 per gram of fat, then round to the nearest point. Of course, it's all pretty pointless. Just count calories.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    PharmGirl522 wrote: »
    It doesn't help that I currently live with my mother, who is...shall we say, slightly disordered in her eating patterns. She eats next to nothing and is always making little comments about my eating patterns -- she thinks that I eat way too much, when she's comparing it to what *she* eats. Of course my intake looks huge next to hers -- I doubt she breaks 1000 calories a day. In fact, I know she doesn't. So obviously anything above that is going to be huge to her.

    I hate to say it, but her attitude towards food and eating is what has led me to being afraid to raise my calorie level. She's always had the attitude that "less is better" when it comes to eating, and it's rubbed off on me. How could it not? She thinks it's just great that she can eat breakfast (or, well, what passes for breakfast in her world) and then go seven or eight hours without eating anything else. And then she'll wonder why she feels like crap all the time (she's a type II diabetic, too, which, hello, should kind of wake her up to the fact that her way of eating is not, in fact, anything to be proud of.)

    ...Sorry. I love her, but she drives me up the wall when it comes to food. It's no wonder I have issues.

    Sorry, that must be tough. Hang in there!! Who knows, maybe your new good eating habits may rub off on her.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    PharmGirl522 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Yeah, I'd just continue with what you're doing now food-wise, but track it so you know how many cals you're currently averaging. Weigh and measure everything and log it. That will give you your maintenance level, since your weight is staying steady. From there you can knock some calories off in order to lose :)

    Thank you for the input. :) I appreciate it!

    My pleasure :). And totally hear you on the mother thing :\.
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