Hunger, Calories, Restricted Exercise, & Weight

StaticNomad

OK, bear with me as I work through these questions. I'm new here and to the whole concept of watching what I eat. I'm highly enthusiastic about my weight loss plan, but finding some things questionable and challenging.

First question... why do some people (that I see) have a 1200 - 1500 calorie range for losing 2lbs a week, and mine was calculated to 1670 a day? I'm 5'10 and 294.8lbs right now (lost 5lbs the first week, I think just from increasing my water intake and cutting my sodium intake by half), and I set mine to aim to lose 2lbs a week with my current activity being listed as sedentary due to not being employed and living full time in an RV (small place = not much activity with moving around... and I'm working on getting out of here and into a bigger home so I can actually have a place to exercise, etc..). I'm just confused on how some people can have so few calories listed for them, and others can have way more?

My activity level for exercise is limited for a few reasons. I do what I can though, despite my limitations. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and my knees (since I was 16yrs old... back when I was a sprinter and weighed about 150lbs ... which was super skinny for me because I'm large framed for a female) are totally screwed up. My hips have also deteriorated along with my shoulders and my spine. I am not disabled though, and refuse to back down from the fight. I take no medications aside from ibuprofen for bad days, for person reasons. So, for my exercise, I have started to walk for 30 minutes a day. The other night, I walked in the rain because I didn't want to miss my window for exercise. I can't afford the gym memberships out here, and I keep a night owl schedule by nature. So I do all of my walking around 1am - 2am. It's quiet, cooler in the hot summer Texas days, and there's no traffic. Is walking once a day for 30 minutes really enough? Will I actually make an impact on my weight? I don't FEEL different, but it doesn't mean I'm giving up or stopping either because I know results aren't instantaneous. But I do have to wonder if walking is really enough. If it isn't, am I just stuck? Because I can't run anymore (no, seriously... I can't run because I have no padding for it in my knees, hips, ankles and very little left in my spine). I can't do heavy impact exercise and I don't have a swimming pool available to me. I feel like walking is better exercise for me than biking. I have a bicycle ... so which is better? It's just a one speed bicycle, and I live on flat land.. so no hills for the challenge around here. I'm looking for ways to accomplish calories burning (that doesn't involve high impact exercise) to get that exercise I need.

Also, I am at my calorie intake for the day. I've had a healthy breakfast, a snack, my lunch, another snack, my dinner, and now it's 2 hours later and I'm hungry. :-/ I don't like eating. I feel like all I do is eat since starting this change in my food plan. I used to only eat dinner, and just drink water. But because I wasn't eating often enough, I guess my body started to store the fat thinking there was a food shortage. So, for the last week now, I've switched to eating smaller meals several times a day, and seriously I feel like ALL I'm doing is eating. It's making me feel like I'm trying gain weight instead of losing! And the hardest part for me is cooking to meet my calorie intake. I find that shopping takes me three times longer to do because I'm staring at the labels of everything to check for sodium, sugars, carbs, and calories and comparing everything. If I can't find something that meets what I need, then I end up having to make it from scratch, which means also my cooking times have increased ten fold. I'm not a foodie at all. So spending that much time to cook for my family and make sure it's also something I can eat and doesn't destroy my goals... it's mentally exhausting. LOL! I hate shopping too, and so my shopping time increasing is also annoying, but I'm doing it for the end goal of losing weight to be healthier in the long run. So, I'm sucking it up... but I have to say, it's far more work involved than just eating right and now I see why so many fall off the wagon. How do I beat these challenges? Just stay positive and learn to love cooking/shopping? And how do I beat the hunger when I've managed to meet my caloric intake for the day? I drink tons of water (seriously... I have to pee like I'm pregnant). So I know it's not my water intake being low. And ever since starting this, I find myself craving things like cake, or ice cream, or chocolate! What is up with that???

I know this was all jumbled up, but I needed to just talk and ask the questions floating around in my brain. Encouragement, reasonable suggestions (meeting my limitations), and answers to the why's would be great and highly appreciated from the experienced folk out there.

Despite the many challenges I face, I am determined. I'm an Aries... stubborn and meant to defeat challenges put before me. So I'm set in my mind to not back down until I get what I want from my body. I'm just finding it mind boggling in some areas!

SaintChubbkins

I feel your pain in oh, so many ways, darling.

1. Calories -The human body needs a bare minimum of calories to run upkeep day to day (basal metabolic rate) plus the calories needed to maintain weight because of activity through the day. All weightloss calculations start out by finding what your maintanance calories are. This is going to vary hugely from person to person. The more a person weighs, the more calories are needed to keep a person at that weight. So we find out how many calories we need a day for our weight, so our body can just exist, then we factor in our activity level, how much calories we burn in day to day life from grocery shopping, dealing with kids, exersize, etc. Add those two together and you have a basic level for maintanence calories. It's generally recommended to put the calories down by 500 when trying to lose weight, but again this can vary. Someone who weighs 135lb and wants to lose 5 lb, but only needs maybe 1650 calories cause they don't exersize,...500 cal down is far too much. Really, they could just exersize a little and lose weight by keeping their food the same. But me for example, with my activity level, my maintanence comes to about 2200cal, and I feel ok with a 500cal deficit. Calorie needs are always going to be hugely different for everyone.

2. Injuries and limited space/funds - Oh Jesus, I totally feel you on this one. My left hip, knee and ankle are all really messed up because of a biking accident when I was a teenager, I completely understand the need for lack of impact. First off, yes, walking will help. EVERYTHING helps. Try doing some walking intervals some days, walk faster for a block, then ease up the pace for the next. It'll probably be annoying to find a pace and rythym that doesn't aggravate your problems, but you can do it. Also, bodyweight exersizes will be your new best friend, and you don't need much space for them. Things like Squats, lunges, pushups and holding plank will be great. (Note* With things like squats and lunges, even bodyweight, go online and look up a form guide. With hip problems, this can get a bit tricky, so make sure you're doing them right) Also, A great cost effective workout is yoga or pilates. You've got access to the internet, so bust out the YouTube. When I very first started, I went with beginner stuff from Blogilates, she's really mindful of beginner variations. Also, annoyingly chipper, but it's good. Biking is an excellent workout for the legs, and you can always do intervals to challenge yourself, hills aren't necessary. They're optimal, but you can get a good workout in no matter what.

3. Food - Mmmmm, oh loved and hated food. *sigh* Eating all the damn time. I know...I know, it's aggravating, but it's better for you than 1 meal a day. That being said, you don't have to split it into tons of tiny meals. It's often touted as being the most optimal way to eat, and I understand the premise behind it, but really, the best plan is the the one you can stick to. I had the same problem when I first started, tons of tiny meals, then hungry enough to try to eat my husbands face at the end of the night. So I don't do that. I have 3 larger meals and 1 small snack. It's all about playing around with stuff til you find out what works for you. - Cooking. I personally despise cooking, i'm terrible at it, and I tend to burn everything. I lit rice on fire once. But realisticly, this is one thing we just have to suck it up and do it. Not everything is enjoyable lol. Can you get your family involved somehow? Maybe they could help you cook or clean, and you get some extra family time in that way. My husband used to hate that he did the dishes while I cooked, but now we kind of enjoy it, we just talk and laugh about how i'm ruining the food. (He will not cook, which is so wrong because he's an amazing cook. He says I need to learn :P) Shopping does take longer, and the cooking will take up more time. These are things that are just part of the sacrifice we have to make to get healthy, so we may as well learn to enjoy it Cravings are also a part of life, especially if you've just started out recently. Your body is used to certain foods, and maintaning a certain amount of weight. It's usual to have cravings for high fat and high carb food, as your body doesn't want to let go of fat, it's how the body is. Especially women, we're generally made to store up, so your body sends out signals to crave things that will retain that fat when you start losing weight. It's pysiological and mental as well. We like cake, we want it. The cravings will get easier to deal with over time.



I'm pretty well done now, I think. Research is going to be a good thing, it always is. I would really recommend staying clear of crap like womens magazines though, even the so called "health" magazines. They're a sink of roundabout bull**** at best and outright lies at worst. Always remember, this stuff takes time, and there will be trial and error to find out what works best for you in your situation We're gonna be ok.