Will this work?

christinasoonmrsnewton

I am eating about 1850 cals a day. I weigh 15 1/2 stone.

I tried much lower calorie amounts and it ended up with me feeling panicky and binging.

I have managed to stick to 1850 (sometimes less!) Cal's a day for several weeks and I am feeling happier and healthier. I don't feel panicky about not being able to eat enough and I am eating healthy and nutritious meals and healthy snacks with the odd treat.

I don't weigh myself (yet) as I find I will either think a) I've lost 5lbs so time for a treat or b) I haven't lost as much as I wanted to, so what's the point!

So the question is, so these higher calories work eventually? Obviously slower. My mum is part of the 1000 Calories a day brigade and says I def won't lose anything on 1850. MFP says I should lose 1 pound a week. I don't count any of my exercise calories.

Thanks

juliebowman4

What the heck is 1000 calories a day brigade??

quiksylver296

I shoot for 1750 to 1930 calories per day. My TDEE is ~2200, so as long as I am lower than that, I'm making progress.

Do you know your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)? You can calculate it at websites like scoobysworkshop.com. Then, as long as you are eating less than that, you will lose. You will lose more slowly if you eat closer to your TDEE, but that is more sustainable, imo.

quiksylver296

juliebowman4 wrote: »

What the heck is 1000 calories a day brigade??

People who think you can't lose weight unless you are eating at a serious dangerous caloric deficit?

That's my guess.

MsAmandaNJ

I don't understand those who say they're good with 1000 a day. That's neither healthy nor sustainable. If you're comfortable with what you're doing, keep doing it! Sure, the weight will take longer to come off, but by eating right you will be able to keep it off. Unless your mom is educated about nutrition and weight loss (which does not sound like the case), don't worry about what she says. Some people believe their own nonsense and think others will benefit from it.

What you said about not weighing yourself makes sense. It's good that you know how you will react to either outcome and you don't torture yourself by getting on the scale. I often go by how my clothes fit.

CoffeeNCardio

MsAmandaNJ wrote: »

I don't understand those who say they're good with 1000 a day. That's neither healthy nor sustainable. If you're comfortable with what you're doing, keep doing it! Sure, the weight will take longer to come off, but by eating right you will be able to keep it off. Unless your mom is educated about nutrition and weight loss (which does not sound like the case), don't worry about what she says. Some people believe their own nonsense and think others will benefit from it.

What you said about not weighing yourself makes sense. It's good that you know how you will react to either outcome and you don't torture yourself by getting on the scale. I often go by how my clothes fit.

I was and usually am fine on 1200 a day, but I'm TINY. No average-sized person should go this low. And as I get closer to goal even I don't. If you can't lose on 1400 or higher, you aren't mathing correctly.

Vegplotter

The more calories you eat the longer your diet will take. An eight or twelve week bout of a much lower calorie intake will see you losing more. (And is quite safe). It depends how good you are at nutrition. A low cal diet MUST be balanced.
The secret is to gradually add extra 100cal portions of food as you get close to your target weight. This will bring your metabolism back up.
I'd guess that panic comes from the fact that you haven't experienced hunger for a while. Experiment - there's nothing wrong with feeling hungry, in fact if you do feel hungry when you sit down to eat, you'll enjoy your meal that much more.
In my experience bingeing comes because you are either denying yourself something - don't cut ANY FOODSTUFF from your diet. Just eat smaller portions of your favourite foods. Bingeing can also be triggered because of a nutritional deficit. MFP is very good at giving you a full nutritional breakdown of everything you eat. Most important is to eat protein, carbs AND fat. The body can't do without these.

quiksylver296

Vegplotter wrote: »

The more calories you eat the longer your diet will take. An eight or twelve week bout of a much lower calorie intake will see you losing more. (And is quite safe). It depends how good you are at nutrition. A low cal diet MUST be balanced.
The secret is to gradually add extra 100cal portions of food as you get close to your target weight. This will bring your metabolism back up.
I'd guess that panic comes from the fact that you haven't experienced hunger for a while. Experiment - there's nothing wrong with feeling hungry, in fact if you do feel hungry when you sit down to eat, you'll enjoy your meal that much more.
In my experience bingeing comes because you are either denying yourself something - don't cut ANY FOODSTUFF from your diet. Just eat smaller portions of your favourite foods. Bingeing can also be triggered because of a nutritional deficit. MFP is very good at giving you a full nutritional breakdown of everything you eat. Most important is to eat protein, carbs AND fat. The body can't do without these.

Don't do this, @christinasoonmrsnewton. You're doing fine. You can't affect your metabolism by any noticeable amount. No reason to feel hungry if you can still lose weight. Being hungry sets me up to binge, which negates any positives I had previously.

One of my very favorite MFPisms - "He who can lose the most (in the long term) while eating the most, wins!"

christinasoonmrsnewton

Yes sorry, mum is one of those people who think you only lose weight if you are starving yourself and hardly eating. But then mum has battled with losing and gaining the same stone for as long as I remember!

Thanks so much for your useful replies, I will keep going! I feel
Absolutely fine doing this, and don't feel desperate for anything :-)

Aaron_K123

1850 a day is totally reasonable. If you weigh 217 pounds chances are you can still lose weight eating that. That said without more information hard to say what your deficit actually is there.

1000 calories a day is pretty ridiculous and chances are your mom isn't actually eating that little and if she is she must be a stick.

People seem to have a very skewed idea of how many calories most people intake every day. 1850 is still on the low end.

silverfiend

how effective an 1850 cal diet is depends entirely on you. Your height, weight, muscle mass, and daily activity level including exercise.

For me, I would still lose weight on 1850 a day, but I run or walk a total of about 30 miles a week, plus general activity. If you aren't weighing yourself, then the only way to measure progress is in how your clothes fit. It takes a LOT longer to see changes there than if you are weighing on a scale, but you have to make your own choices that work for you.

middlehaitch

Sounds like you have found your sweet spot- losing a little slower, but eating enough to be satisfied.

You don't say what you weigh, your goal, or how much you would like to lose, so I will just pop this in-
If you have 40+ lbs to lose reasses your calorie goal on MFP every 10lbs.
If you have 40- lbs to lose reassess your calorie goal on MFP every 5lbs.
As we lose weight we need fewer calories, and by doing a regular reassessment your calorie goal will drop slowly and will be much easier to manage.
Much easier to cut back 20 cals every few weeks than stall and find you have to cut out 200.

When you get to 15-20 lbs from your goal switch to losing .5 lbs a week. We generally don't have the fat supply to sustain a larger loss, and it helps transition into maintenance.

Cheers, h.