Having a hard time getting started

SheilaPrebula

My doc has put me on a diet of 1200 or less calories a day. Finding this really hard to accomplish. Any suggestions? I would love to join a support group. SPrebula

Deej1020

Eat 5 small meals a day. You can eat the things you like just make the portions smaller. 3 small meals, 2 snacks, lots of water and multi vitamins. Stay active. Walking and exercising. Start small and work your way up. Maybe ask your doctor to speak to a nutritionist who can aide you in shopping for foods. Help you with a list. Either sign up for a gym or get online. YouTube has so many workout videos. Start with 15 minutes EVERY day. Then 20, and work your way up.

SheilaPrebula

Thank you for responding. All good helpful hints. I'm going to try to exercise more. I have neuropathy in my feet, so if I go out walking one day, I don't walk at all the next. :-) I am trying to find some easy on the feet exercises I can do. But I will check YouTube and see what I can find. Again, Thank you for your supportive message.

Montepulciano

Swimming is a good exercise if there is a pool nearby.

Rdsgoal16

1200 is tough not sure how long you have been on it, but it gets easier. My doc had me on 1000-1200, when I increased my exercise I set my limit to 1400-1500

Emerald_Wolf

Look up miracle noodles. They are wonderful and zero calories. You cook them in any soup or sauce for about an hour and they will take on the flavor of whatever you are cooking them in. I use them in place of noodles for many things.

Francl27

Do you have surgery coming or something that you have to eat so little? I would never have lost anything on 1200. I'd have given up after a week. Unless you have to lose fast for medical reasons, please ignore that advice, set up MFP to lose 1.5 or 2 pounds a week, and eat half your exercise calories back.

Rdsgoal16

Francl27 wrote: »

Do you have surgery coming or something that you have to eat so little? I would never have lost anything on 1200. I'd have given up after a week. Unless you have to lose fast for medical reasons, please ignore that advice, set up MFP to lose 1.5 or 2 pounds a week, and eat half your exercise calories back.

Ummm she is disabled, inactive and under a doctors care. I would think we would need more information to make this assessment.

J383

I am at 1220 a day and I am always under. It gets easier with time. Push more fresh veggies and fruit, 4 to 6 oz protein. Keep your water in check, that is a huge hunger factor. Sometimes we feel hungry and it is actually thirst that is causing it. Drink lots of water with your meals as well. Some examples that I have had for meals are spinach and egg omelet, oatmeal with blueberries, shred chicken salad, tuna and triskets, cottage cheese and fruit. As you eat less your stomach will adjust. After a few days you will start to fill full faster. Take it one day at a time. Feel free to add me. Good luck

JustinAnimal

Let this be motivation to exercise like a *kitten*! Log your exercise and eat those calories back. It's how I got through 1200 calories. Personally, I ate tiny meals throughout the day and was able to have a satisfying dinner at night. Not sure how many people would recommend that, but it helped me sleep and be less miserable if I could eat a bit more at night.

mk0212

J383 wrote: »

I am at 1220 a day and I am always under. It gets easier with time. Push more fresh veggies and fruit, 4 to 6 oz protein. Keep your water in check, that is a huge hunger factor. Sometimes we feel hungry and it is actually thirst that is causing it. Drink lots of water with your meals as well. Some examples that I have had for meals are spinach and egg omelet, oatmeal with blueberries, shred chicken salad, tuna and triskets, cottage cheese and fruit. As you eat less your stomach will adjust. After a few days you will start to fill full faster. Take it one day at a time. Feel free to add me. Good luck

I agree with this. I always forgot to drink water, but since I've made myself drink 1.5-2l daily, I'm also way less hungry. If you're similar, infuse your water with lemon or mint, it'll go down much easier.

I also get less hungry (and eat less calories) if I increase my protein intake and have tons of green vegetables. I'm quite boring, so I often have oven-baked fish or chicken with stir-fried or baked veg, lots of lemon and chili and maybe some natural yoghurt. Courgette spaghetti with bolognese is another one of my staples. Thick soups are also quite filling and if you leave out potatoes, cream or milk they're low calorie too.

I try to just have 3 meals a day (small meals don't fill me up so I avoid snacking altogether), and always leave enough calories for a big(ish) dinner and a small dessert or something (fruit yoghurt, popcorn, hot chocolate) after dinner, as that's when I'm most likely to eat lots. Generally, I feel like having a meal plan (or in my case a couple of ideas what you can eat throughout the week) really helps as you're less likely to just got for fast food when you have a fridge full of healthy food that would otherwise go off.

In terms of exercising - I have no idea what you can and can't do; Swimming is often a good option. There should be tons of videos or plans for yoga which you can do sitting on a chair as well. Maybe also light exercises with small weights (which you can increase whenever you feel like you're able to)? And what about cycling? Or does that hurt your feet too?

Good luck! I've been quite sick recently so haven't exactly had the most exciting food ever, but feel free to add me or have a look in my diary for inspiration as well

dluberts

Francl27 wrote: »

Do you have surgery coming or something that you have to eat so little? I would never have lost anything on 1200. I'd have given up after a week. Unless you have to lose fast for medical reasons, please ignore that advice, set up MFP to lose 1.5 or 2 pounds a week, and eat half your exercise calories back.

Please never ignore your drs advice. They are medical professionals for a reason.

kacowgill99

I went from eating 5000-6000 calories daily to 1200 for two weeks and now I am currently eating 760 calories per day. Now before someone jumps me for eating too few calories, I need to say I am on a medically monitored Very Low Calorie Diet that uses meal replacements for weight loss. It is not a long term solution but will help me to lose the weight I need to become more active while learning to make better eating choices when I transition back to real food. What this has to do with you is, I always thought for years that I would have to continue eating as much as I was to be full and satisfied. These meal replacements have proven me wrong. I have been on this for 35 days, lost 25 lbs so far and I am seldom hungry. I usually have trouble eating all 3 meals, not because of the taste but because I am full.

Here are the important factors of my meal replacements that you may apply to your daily diet:

Limit Carbohydrate Intake to 60 g or less. This is bread, potatoes, soda, sweets, candy, anything that has a lot of sugar/starch. You can monitor this on myfitnesspal.

Your calories should have mainly protein and fat. Yes, fat is OK! Don't go overboard on Fat but in this method it is better than Carbohydrates. I would suggest chicken, lean beef (steak is fine), fish (I don't like fish), pork for your meat. Actually a bigger portion of meat is OK as long as it is in your calorie goal.

With meat being the majority of you calories, you just need to fill in the blanks with green vegetables and some fruit. Be careful with fruit as some as carbohydrates, but if used as a snack you should be OK. I like green beans and asparagus. I also like corn but limited amounts as corn is high in starch. Nuts are great too, again, in small portions. I'm not sure what you like for breakfast, but 2 fried eggs and 2 strips of bacon are perfectly acceptable. That breakfast is high in protein & fat, and very little carbs. It is a total of 260 calories.

As I mentioned above, I was eating 5000-6000 calories a day, and I was doing everything wrong. I ate bread with every meal, I loved pasta with high fat sauces, I loved potatoes and drank a lot of soda. I was in a sugar haze for 10 years, but I snapped out of it finally. The suggestions I have made above will not be easy the first few days, but if you stick with it after your body flushes all of the existing overages of carbohydrates or excess sugar, your cravings will go away and these low-calorie, nutritious foods will leave you feeling satisfied while your body taps in to your excess fat for additional energy.

I am living this right now, and still have a lot of weight to lose. But, I believe if you apply these suggestions it will help you to get over this hump.

GsKiki

Eat more soups! It's a great way to eat lots of veggies, they fill you up, and they are usually low calorie. Feel free to check out my blog here at MFP http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/GsKiki. All of the recipes have around 300 calories. I try to add more every week. Feel free to add me