still hungry after 1500 calorie breakfast, what am i doing wrong?

lemurcat12

Nicolery9 wrote: »

PikaKnight wrote: »

emmycantbemeeko wrote: »

What synacious said is right on.

When you're eating at those very low levels- and 1200 calories is VERY low, 800 calories is starvation level- your body turns to itself for fuel, breaking down not just fat but muscle, too. When you lose muscle, your body becomes softer and larger (muscle is denser and firmer than fat, so when you lose muscle mass, it contributes to the rounder shape you don't like even at perfectly normal weights), weaker (making you less effective at physical activity- it's little wonder on so little fuel that you struggle to run the distances you used to), and also, paradoxically, uses fewer calories (muscle burns more calories than other tissues). Your body also shifts in to starvation mode- when you chronically under eat, your metabolism slows to make the most of what little you're giving it. Then when you binge, it's more likely to store those calories as fat than it would if you ate in a more balanced way that met your nutritional needs on a regular basis.

It's also tough at those low levels to hit appropriate macro and micro intake, and easy to become deficient in essential nutrients. You need protein to build muscle, and carbs and fat and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals for fuel, brain function, and essential functions like hormone production. Packaged shakes should not be substituting for whole foods in the majority of your diet- you're setting yourself up for all kinds of deficiencies that way, even when those products claim to be nutritionally complete. You need to be eating real food at an appropriate volume regularly to fuel your body- the physical changes you're looking for are to be found in strength training, not dieting, but I'm hesitant to suggest that you start that until you've got your eating sorted, because eating on this kind of starvation diet while strength training is even more disastrous for your health than your current tons-of-cardio plan.

It's great that you've identified that the core problem here is in how you're thinking about food. Restriction and treating eating at healthy volumes as a lack of self-control is setting you up for further weight gain and unhappiness in the future, and in the long term, this starvation diet can have serious health consequences and above all, just to reiterate, it will not get you the body changes you seek.

I really, strongly second shell1005's suggestion to talk to a therapist specializing in eating disorders. A good therapist, a trainer, and a nutritionist will be the keys to getting on a path towards health and happiness, but the therapist should come first.

Agreed with the bolded. Although I'd like to say I'd rather recommend a registered dietitian just for the fact that some nutritionists follow fads and may actually end up exacerbating the issues she has.

A nutritionist, dietician, trainer, are expensive

Since I have a free work dining hall, I have been spending less than $50/month on food (I would mostly just a large lunch there, then something small for breakfast and dinner, and the only thing I really paid for was blueberries, and the gas to get there as it's a 20 minutes drive from where I work so I don't have much time to eat if I go for lunch). This month I just bought a bunch of frozen dinners, slimfast, etc. so I'm probably spending like $150 or so on food, but I think it may be less than what others spend. But I don't usually spend a lot of food anyways because I don't eat that much and I can live off of certain things at trader joe's that are relatively cheap (chicken burritos, chocolate milk, yogurt, bananas, clementines, etc.). Also sometimes at work there's "free food" like people bring in bagels, or leave leftovers and extras at lunch sometimes from a deli place, etc. and I save some for the next day so I don't have to pay for lunch.

I am not sure what it will cost for a therapist, nutritionist, dietician, trainer, etc. but they aren't really within my budget now. I tried to do some research online about these things though, but I may have to live with whatever I can get with free information.

On frozen meals and slimfast, the cost of lunch + the 2 slimfast:
Each day:
0.83 Slimfast 1
2.5 frozen meal
0.83 Slimfast 2
3.535
$125/month

Snacks: ($4 pears, $6 almonds, $2 bananas, $8 strawberries, $4 blueberries, $3 water etc.)
Total maybe $150/month

If I just do burritos for the meals instead of the snacks and 2 slim fast a day, or a mix of frozen foods and burritos:
it's about $125/month total for the foods.

If I go down to 1 slimfast a day and just do my own breakfast (which is cheap, like a banana + something else)
then it might just be like $2-$2.5 for the food a day ($60/month).
For snacks I can usually find something so I don't really need to pay much for that, if it's just something like a banana which are practically free.

If I use frozen meals, that is the main cost.

If I just eat trader joe's burritos, then main cost is slimfast though since it averages like $1/day or $30/month.

I don't know where you live, but if you have health insurance and get a referral to a RD, it may not be that expensive and same with a therapist.

I also think focusing on body comp and not a scale # would be super helpful. Check out this group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/10118-eat-train-progress

cafeaulait7

At your level of musculature, you could build muscle all over and not even really notice it. It won't look like too much (I say that understanding the aesthetic you probably like). Think of a layer of muscle all over that looks like the muscle you have now. It doesn't look big.

I gained a lot of muscle after I had an extended illness and had lost a ton of muscle, and I couldn't tell a difference for a long time except on the scale. I weighed way too little, so the scale increase was definitely a good thing. People said I looked so healthy, but not a person mentioned that I looked muscular or anything. I gained it all over, and with a low amount of muscle to start with, the first 'layer' seems to just look healthy and young.

(I kept going and later put on even more muscle, but you wouldn't have to do that unless you liked it, of course )

kshama2001

Nicolery9 wrote: »

PikaKnight wrote: »

emmycantbemeeko wrote: »

What synacious said is right on.

When you're eating at those very low levels- and 1200 calories is VERY low, 800 calories is starvation level- your body turns to itself for fuel, breaking down not just fat but muscle, too. When you lose muscle, your body becomes softer and larger (muscle is denser and firmer than fat, so when you lose muscle mass, it contributes to the rounder shape you don't like even at perfectly normal weights), weaker (making you less effective at physical activity- it's little wonder on so little fuel that you struggle to run the distances you used to), and also, paradoxically, uses fewer calories (muscle burns more calories than other tissues). Your body also shifts in to starvation mode- when you chronically under eat, your metabolism slows to make the most of what little you're giving it. Then when you binge, it's more likely to store those calories as fat than it would if you ate in a more balanced way that met your nutritional needs on a regular basis.

It's also tough at those low levels to hit appropriate macro and micro intake, and easy to become deficient in essential nutrients. You need protein to build muscle, and carbs and fat and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals for fuel, brain function, and essential functions like hormone production. Packaged shakes should not be substituting for whole foods in the majority of your diet- you're setting yourself up for all kinds of deficiencies that way, even when those products claim to be nutritionally complete. You need to be eating real food at an appropriate volume regularly to fuel your body- the physical changes you're looking for are to be found in strength training, not dieting, but I'm hesitant to suggest that you start that until you've got your eating sorted, because eating on this kind of starvation diet while strength training is even more disastrous for your health than your current tons-of-cardio plan.

It's great that you've identified that the core problem here is in how you're thinking about food. Restriction and treating eating at healthy volumes as a lack of self-control is setting you up for further weight gain and unhappiness in the future, and in the long term, this starvation diet can have serious health consequences and above all, just to reiterate, it will not get you the body changes you seek.

I really, strongly second shell1005's suggestion to talk to a therapist specializing in eating disorders. A good therapist, a trainer, and a nutritionist will be the keys to getting on a path towards health and happiness, but the therapist should come first.

Agreed with the bolded. Although I'd like to say I'd rather recommend a registered dietitian just for the fact that some nutritionists follow fads and may actually end up exacerbating the issues she has.

A nutritionist, dietician, trainer, are expensive

Since I have a free work dining hall, I have been spending less than $50/month on food (I would mostly just a large lunch there, then something small for breakfast and dinner, and the only thing I really paid for was blueberries, and the gas to get there as it's a 20 minutes drive from where I work so I don't have much time to eat if I go for lunch). This month I just bought a bunch of frozen dinners, slimfast, etc. so I'm probably spending like $150 or so on food, but I think it may be less than what others spend. But I don't usually spend a lot of food anyways because I don't eat that much and I can live off of certain things at trader joe's that are relatively cheap (chicken burritos, chocolate milk, yogurt, bananas, clementines, etc.). Also sometimes at work there's "free food" like people bring in bagels, or leave leftovers and extras at lunch sometimes from a deli place, etc. and I save some for the next day so I don't have to pay for lunch.

I am not sure what it will cost for a therapist, nutritionist, dietician, trainer, etc. but they aren't really within my budget now. I tried to do some research online about these things though, but I may have to live with whatever I can get with free information.

On frozen meals and slimfast, the cost of lunch + the 2 slimfast:
Each day:
0.83 Slimfast 1
2.5 frozen meal
0.83 Slimfast 2
3.535
$125/month

Snacks: ($4 pears, $6 almonds, $2 bananas, $8 strawberries, $4 blueberries, $3 water etc.)
Total maybe $150/month

If I just do burritos for the meals instead of the snacks and 2 slim fast a day, or a mix of frozen foods and burritos:
it's about $125/month total for the foods.

If I go down to 1 slimfast a day and just do my own breakfast (which is cheap, like a banana + something else)
then it might just be like $2-$2.5 for the food a day ($60/month).
For snacks I can usually find something so I don't really need to pay much for that, if it's just something like a banana which are practically free.

If I use frozen meals, that is the main cost.

If I just eat trader joe's burritos, then main cost is slimfast though since it averages like $1/day or $30/month.

You have health insurance through work, correct? That's the place to get estimates for the cost of a therapist and dietitian.