Am I eating enough?

pianofire

After a bit of a hectic semester, as well as wisdom teeth extraction, I stopped following my diet so strictly. I was still eating as healthily as I could, but the exercise definitely dropped off.

Anyway, I've been back on track now for about 3 weeks and I'm starting to see some results, little by little. I've been encouraged by looking back at photos from February and I can see a noticeable difference. I'm just worried that I'm not eating enough. I'm here to make sure I'm doing the best I can to keep the weight off when I start eating normally again.

I am 5'3", weigh around 61kg (goal weight is 55kg) and I'm a 21 y.o female. I eat around 1200 calories a day, but I probably up it 100-200 calories on the days I work out IF I'm feeling hungry (to the point of feeling faint). If I'm only feeling slightly peckish, I won't eat more after dinner, I'll just go to bed early. Weekends is a bit of a different story. 4 meals out of 6 will be pretty normal, but I'll splurge on one or two meals with pizza or Indian food plus drink more than my fair share of alcohol (though I've become a bit of a light weight!)


I'd say my diet is pretty well rounded, but I'm just worried there's not enough of it for the amount of exercise I'm doing.

An average weekday goes something like this:

Breakfast (8am): 1/2 cup quick oats with 3/4 full fat milk with banana, apple or mixed berries.

Mid-morning snack (10.30ish): I don't always have a snack, mainly only on the days I work (M, W, F). I'll have a banana if I've eaten a savoury breakfast or some cottage cheese or hummus and veggies if I've eaten a sweet breakfast.

L (1pm): 1.5 cup of lentil and barley broth with carrot, celery, that sort of thing. Maybe some mountain bread.

Afternoon snack (3pm): Once again, I only snack when I'm at work. I might have a single square of dark chocolate if I'm REALLY hungry. Afternoon snacks probably only happen once a week.

Dinner (6.30pm): 1/2 a roasted chicken breast, a small potato or 1/2 a cup of pasta or brown rice and as many green vegetables as my little heart desires. I might have a beer or a small glass of wine on a Wednesday night to get me through the rest of the week sane!

My exercise regime goes something like this: I walk to the gym (around 50 minute round trip) to use the elliptical about 3 times a week, do bodypump 1 or 2 days a week and do zumba on Sundays. If I'm really tired after work and don't feel like going to the gym, I will at least walk to the supermarket (about a 30 minute roundtrip).

So do you guys think I'm doing okay? i'm terrified of going into starvation mode and just putting all the weight back on when I stop exercising so much/stop measuring everything I eat.

littlekitty3

First of all 1200 is way too little to be eating, that's what you should be consuming min, just to stay alive if you were lying in bed all day. I'm fact some nutritional experts in more developed countries say women shouldn't be eating less than 1400 calories a day if bed ridden.
With that being said, focus more on eating healthy than counting calories.

Liftng4Lis

With so little to lose, 1200 plus exercise calories is fine.

MamaBirdBoss

You're fine. You are NOT going into "starvation mode."

If you're not happy with what you're eating, though, you can choose to lose a little more slowly by eating more.

I eat anywhere between 1000 and 1600 a day, depending on how hungry I am.

You're also not burning nearly as much in exercise as you likely think you are. Your long walk is maybe 100 calories. Your elliptical 200. Your bodypump or Zumba probably 350 if it's an hour-long class. And that's the upper limit. I may be seriously overcounting. You calorie burns are low because you're just not that heavy.

MamaBirdBoss

littlekitty3 wrote: »

First of all 1200 is way too little to be eating, that's what you should be consuming min, just to stay alive if you were lying in bed all day. I'm fact some nutritional experts in more developed countries say women shouldn't be eating less than 1400 calories a day if bed ridden.
With that being said, focus more on eating healthy than counting calories.

That's nice, because there are plenty of shorter women whose TDEEs are less than 1400 calories a day. Should they all get fat, then?

malibu927

That isn't how starvation mode works. However, with 14 pounds to lose, your deficit might be too high, which will cause more muscle loss as you don't have as much fat to lose. I would change it to half a pound a week, and eat the amount plus half your exercise calories.

liftingheavy

pianofire wrote: »

After a bit of a hectic semester, as well as wisdom teeth extraction, I stopped following my diet so strictly. I was still eating as healthily as I could, but the exercise definitely dropped off.

Anyway, I've been back on track now for about 3 weeks and I'm starting to see some results, little by little. I've been encouraged by looking back at photos from February and I can see a noticeable difference. I'm just worried that I'm not eating enough. I'm here to make sure I'm doing the best I can to keep the weight off when I start eating normally again.

I am 5'3", weigh around 61kg (goal weight is 55kg) and I'm a 21 y.o female. I eat around 1200 calories a day, but I probably up it 100-200 calories on the days I work out IF I'm feeling hungry (to the point of feeling faint). If I'm only feeling slightly peckish, I won't eat more after dinner, I'll just go to bed early. Weekends is a bit of a different story. 4 meals out of 6 will be pretty normal, but I'll splurge on one or two meals with pizza or Indian food plus drink more than my fair share of alcohol (though I've become a bit of a light weight!)


I'd say my diet is pretty well rounded, but I'm just worried there's not enough of it for the amount of exercise I'm doing.

An average weekday goes something like this:

Breakfast (8am): 1/2 cup quick oats with 3/4 full fat milk with banana, apple or mixed berries.

Mid-morning snack (10.30ish): I don't always have a snack, mainly only on the days I work (M, W, F). I'll have a banana if I've eaten a savoury breakfast or some cottage cheese or hummus and veggies if I've eaten a sweet breakfast.

L (1pm): 1.5 cup of lentil and barley broth with carrot, celery, that sort of thing. Maybe some mountain bread.

Afternoon snack (3pm): Once again, I only snack when I'm at work. I might have a single square of dark chocolate if I'm REALLY hungry. Afternoon snacks probably only happen once a week.

Dinner (6.30pm): 1/2 a roasted chicken breast, a small potato or 1/2 a cup of pasta or brown rice and as many green vegetables as my little heart desires. I might have a beer or a small glass of wine on a Wednesday night to get me through the rest of the week sane!

My exercise regime goes something like this: I walk to the gym (around 50 minute round trip) to use the elliptical about 3 times a week, do bodypump 1 or 2 days a week and do zumba on Sundays. If I'm really tired after work and don't feel like going to the gym, I will at least walk to the supermarket (about a 30 minute roundtrip).

So do you guys think I'm doing okay? i'm terrified of going into starvation mode and just putting all the weight back on when I stop exercising so much/stop measuring everything I eat.

Starvation Mode is ridiculous. Listen to your body. When your stomach growls (hunger) eat some protein and veggies. When you have a sweet tooth, eat cherries. If you stay out of box and food cans, you win. I will not tell you how many calories I eat these days, but I started out at 1200

pianofire

Thanks for your help guys. You've reassured me that I'm doing the right thing. There's just so much differing information out there, but the main thing is I'm not feeling overly hungry between meals. My problem in the past has been an inability to know when I'm full, so I've always eaten until I'm stuffed. Now that I'm trying to retrain my body, I wasn't sure what is actually "enough".

liftingheavy wrote: »

Starvation Mode is ridiculous. Listen to your body. When your stomach growls (hunger) eat some protein and veggies. When you have a sweet tooth, eat cherries. If you stay out of box and food cans, you win. I will not tell you how many calories I eat these days, but I started out at 1200

I agree. I have NEVER been one to eat things from a box or a can, even before I started working out etc. My main problem revolves around my undying love of surplus amounts of dairy!