To eat or not to eat? I am just not sure what to do.

TabbiToo

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do about calories? I am 45 in a few days (I am 5'1 and at 225 pounds as of today) and started tracking my food and exercise on the 21st of June. So far I have lost 11 pounds. I typically eat 3/4 of the calories set by MFP (1200) and exercise one to two hours per day 6 days a week. My main exercise is swimming laps continuously for at least one hour per day; I swim 40 ft laps. My time is never over 20 minutes for 40 laps and some days I can cut about 3 minutes off of that time. I also have been doing kayaking 5 to 8 hours per week. I do not eat any of the calories added back to my total by exercising. I have lost 11 pounds so far, but am not sure if this is the right way to go about my goals. I would love to know what others are doing. I typically eat about 900 calories per day, but some days I eat around 700 and other days I eat 1100. In general, I eat in the 700 to 900 range most days. 90 % of the time I eat vegetarian food like pinto beans I never eat more than one serving of cheese in a day and i have a very high fiber diet. I do like to drink soda, but I limit myself to 24 oz of soda max each day 4 or 5 days a week. I am new to counting calories and have never been on an official "diet" and used to eat only one meal a day and my total calorie intake was around 600 to 800 calories a day. Vegetarian beans, 14 to 21 corn chips, and two table spoons of hot sauce, one Pepsi, and various fruits or vegetables if I did not eat the beans. I would also drink about 64 oz of water with Mio in it. I have a high stress job and while I was busy and on my feet all day very little actual exercise besides walking less than a mile a day was being done on a regular schedule. I also have a hard time sleeping and get about 5 or less hours of sleep a night. So, I started a regular exercise 1 hour per day at the beginning of June and counting calories with this site to see if I could just find some way to get the extra 80 to 90 pounds I am carrying around off. Any help with these questions would be greatly appreciated. Should I eat the full 1200 calories MFP is telling me to eat? Should I be eating more calories because of extra calories I am burning by exercising? Should I continue to eat less than the 1200 calories per day? Prior to exercising daily I was stuck at my highest weight 236 pounds for the past 6 months up from 225-230 for a year prior to the 6 pound weight gain that caused me to panic about more weight gain. For most of my life I weighed 98 to 118 pounds then I gained 80 pounds in a year about 15 years ago because of some health problems and I have been slowly gaining weight each year... the less I eat the more I seem to gain.
Just looking for some advice from others that are losing weight and have had some of these same problems.

ladynocturne

So that is really hard to read.

I'm going to just let you know that you're not suppose to eat less than 1200 NET calories a day, you're doing yourself a great disservice.

The way this website is designed is that the goal calories it gives you is what you're suppose to eat to lose weight, you don't even have to exercise. If you exercise, you add that to your calorie goal and eat them. This keeps your daily deficit at a safe level for consistent weight loss.

So if you are suppose to eat 1200 calories, you burn 400 calories exercising, you would then eat 1200+400=1800 calories.

This way 1800-400=1200 NET calories, which is your goal, you will lose weight.

herblackwings39

MFP expects you to reach your calorie goal AND eat back exercise calories. It's how the program is set up. My opinion, and it's just my opinion: eat your goal, eat at least a portion of exercise calories.

FitnessBeverlyHills

It sounds like you are not eating nearly enough calories, especially if you are exercising 1-2 hrs a day. I would suggest eating even more than 1200 calories. Do you feel hungry? I think eating a bit more will actually help jumpstart your weight loss.

caridixon

hmmm... look at it another way, people who get gastric bypass eat next to nothing and lose weight, so keep doing what you are doing, why eat more if you're not hungry? Starvation mode is a myth for overweight people. Get that body you deserve!!!

caridixon

11 lbs in a. month is awesome btw

ladynocturne

hmmm... look at it another way, people who get gastric bypass eat next to nothing and lose weight, so keep doing what you are doing, why eat more if you're not hungry? Starvation mode is a myth for overweight people. Get that body you deserve!!!

A lot of people who get weight loss surgery are not happy and struggle everyday with getting proper nutrition because they never learned. There are a lot of miserable side effects.

If we could rely on our hunger cues, none of us would be overweight in the first place.

Losing massive amount of lean muscle mass, lowering your metabolism is not a myth, please don't give unhealthy and incorrect advice. Thanks.

TabbiToo

No, I almost never feel hungry. I have very little sense of smell and when I was young I almost never ate, so my body does not get the same hunger signs most people get. When our kids were small I did better with eating because they would always remind me to eat when they were hungry and I made regular meals for them. If it were not for my best friend and husband I would forget to eat for a good part of most days. I always make dinner for or with my husband so that is when I usually eat my meal.

TabbiToo

Thank you. I am very happy with the 11 pounds and want the loss to continue. I am just trying to make sure I am doing weight loss the healthy way.

TabbiToo

Thank you, sorry it was hard to read. I just wanted to give some background. I can be way to wordy at times.

aliphatic

In addition to keeping your weight loss relatively safe, the point of doing it over a long period of small loss is for you to form new healthy habits that wont go away when you decided you are done losing. Otherwise the odds of rebounding are pretty high. Crash diets and heavy excersize will take their toll on you physically if you do them long term. You need to be aware your body needs nutrients to replace damaged muscle and bone tissue in addition to the calories expended from excercizing. Be careful, take it slow, you'll be better off for longer.

KathryneJY

I am 5'3", started at 210 lbs, and have dropped 19 in the last two months. I am a swimmer (3x week), I do aquacize (2x week), lift weight (3x a week) and mostly walk daily. My calories are about 1550 a day and I eat my exercise calories back because I couldn't live on nothing for my activity level.

Here's what I suggest. Cut the soda. Keep your carbs under 120-150 per day, add something different exercise-wise to the day to confuse your body, eat your calories and eat half to 2/3 of your exercise calories back. Get a HRM to more accurately gauge your calories burned. I have found the swimming calories they say you burn here are way too high, by at least 1/3. Especially if you have been swimming for a while and have an efficient stroke.

Walk, and walk lots.

But most of all, eat your calories and eat as clean as possible. Drink lots of water.

I have followed this plan and have dropped .5 to 1.5 lbs per week consistently. No, we are not the same person, but it looks like you aren't eating enough.

TabbiToo

To Ladynocturne,
I know my metabolism has been messed up and that is why I am asking how to go about this the right way to get healthy weight loss while building more muscles.

EngineerPrincess

Usually eating under 1200 calories can hurt your body because it's very little food. However, you're 5'1. You don't need 2000 calories a day to maintain, and I don't see why your minimum food level might not be lower than most people's too. Talk to a dietician or your doctor! They can tell you if what you are doing is healthy based on how much you have to lose.

ladynocturne

To Ladynocturne,
I know my metabolism has been messed up and that is why I am asking how to go about this the right way to get healthy weight loss while building more muscles.

Well, it's nearly impossible to put on muscle while eating at a caloric deficit. The way to maintain the most lean muscle is to calculate your BMR and not to eat below that (NET), and doing some weight lifting and a little cardio to maintain what muscle mass you do have. Yes you weight loss will be slower, depending on how much you have to lose, but you'll be losing a higher fat to muscle ratio.

It is possible you may gain some weight from sodium and general waste storage in your bowels from upping your grams eaten of food. Depending on how much lower your metabolism has gotten from under eating, you may even put on some fat, it's impossible for me to know.

It will eventually even out and you'll start to lose again, how long? Can't say for sure, but there are a lot of people who have used MFP, realized they were under eating and are on a new journey to repair their metabolism, maybe you can find some of their posts by searching the forums.

I wish you health and luck and if you have any other questions anytime you can message me, I'm heading to bed now

gaddy125

Eat:happy:

TabbiToo

Kathryne thank you for your information as I too thought the site was giving too many calories to the swimming exercise I am doing. Yes, I agree soda is my enemy; I go off and on drinking it based on stress at work. I usually don’t drink it in the summer and on weekends. Less stress. I appreciate your exercise breakdown and advice. ☺

TabbiToo

To Aliphatic, I have upped my calories to 700-900 a day and have not done any dieting to lose this weight. I have just added exercise daily and increased my calories, but the extra food makes me nervous eating so much makes me feel guilty, but I want to lose weight and build more muscle so I am trying to make some changes. I appreciate your advice.

TabbiToo

Thank you Ladynocturne,
Calculated my BMI and I burn 1709 calories, so that does tell me I need to add more calories to my diet. I will try to do that this next month while keeping up the exercise and see what happens. Thank you for your advice.

TabbiToo

Herblackwings, you have lost a ton of weight have you done it by eating at least your goal calories each day? What do you do for exercise thank you for your input on my questions.

vec2013

Hi! The reason I am on MFP is because I spent close to 3 years eating a diet ver similar to yours. Mine wasn't by choice though. Eating a diet like this caused me to be in a constant state of starvation which made my body hoarde calories and seriously screwed my muscle tone. I am now out of school and able to eat what my body needs and am losing weight. You need to eat AT LEAST your goal calories if you are exercising.

FitnessBeverlyHills

hmmm... look at it another way, people who get gastric bypass eat next to nothing and lose weight, so keep doing what you are doing, why eat more if you're not hungry? Starvation mode is a myth for overweight people. Get that body you deserve!!!

People eat less when they have Gastric Bypass Surgery because their stomach is smaller, so it takes less food for them to feel full. It doesn't however teach eating a healthy well balanced diet or teach living a healthy lifestyle through exercise. The majority of people who get Gastric Bypass Surgery gain much of the weight back once their stomach increases in size which it will eventually do. If you just learn to become more active, choose the right foods, and eat other foods in moderation you wont have to diet, or count calories. But starvation or never eating is not the best solution.

Since it is the case that you just dont often feel hungry or remember to eat, it might be a good idea to pre-make a few meals and snacks so you remember to eat them. I think you would see great results and not gain any body fat by simply adding in some extra protein and vegetables. Maybe even a smoothie with fruit and spinach. If you have difficulty eating you might also consider juicing to make sure your body is getting all the vitamins it needs.