My mom & 1200 calories/day
CafeRacer808
Posts: 2,396 Member
I get that 1200 cal/day is the minimum MFP allows for women and I understand why that's the case. But here's the deal: My 70 year old mom is 5'2", approximately 140 lbs (she wouldn't tell me how much she actually weighs) and is overweight. She is trying to lose 10-15 lbs, which would place her close to the middle of a healthy BMI range.
Her maintenance TDEE (based on "sedentary" - she doesn't do any exercise) is 1350 calories/day. Obviously, aiming for a .5 lb/week loss puts her at 1100 calories/day. Given her stats and activity level, would 1100 calories/day be unhealthy for her?
Her maintenance TDEE (based on "sedentary" - she doesn't do any exercise) is 1350 calories/day. Obviously, aiming for a .5 lb/week loss puts her at 1100 calories/day. Given her stats and activity level, would 1100 calories/day be unhealthy for her?
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Replies
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Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.7
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I would advise her to see a doctor or even a registered dietitian. Advice for healthy young/middle-age adults doesn't always translate well to older adults, who have different dietary needs.3
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ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?4 -
CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?1 -
ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?3 -
VintageFeline wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
We're getting second hand info here. The dr could have told her to cut calories, and a way to possibly help that is to cut carbs as they can be high calories. Additionally, it's carbs that can add on to blood sugar, which they'll want her to cut back on being on her way to type 2 diabetes.
I'd have her check with her Dr/dietician to see if they okay with going to 1100 calories, or if they believe that will be too few calories for her. I'd say .25/lb a week wouldn't be too absurd for her to try for, because that's at least better than no loss!1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
We're getting second hand info here. The dr could have told her to cut calories, and a way to possibly help that is to cut carbs as they can be high calories. Additionally, it's carbs that can add on to blood sugar, which they'll want her to cut back on being on her way to type 2 diabetes.
I'd have her check with her Dr/dietician to see if they okay with going to 1100 calories, or if they believe that will be too few calories for her. I'd say .25/lb a week wouldn't be too absurd for her to try for, because that's at least better than no loss!
She's "on the road" to developing type 2. We don't even know what that means contextually. If IR is even an issue. And usually, reducing carbs is totally unnecessary unless you are already type 2. The doctor doesn't seem very dietary requirement smart.
So really, starting the process to lose weight should be sufficient. I'm actually quite surprised that at only 10-15lbs above middle of the healthy BMI range and being the age she is (where having a little "in reserve" is becoming more the prevailing ideal for the elderly in case of illness) she's had such a stark warning but I'm not a doctor.4 -
I had a really long post written and it just disappeared on me! The general gist of it was that my mom is around the same age and she's only 5 foot. She has lost almost 30 lbs on 1200 calories. It was very slow but it is possible
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VintageFeline wrote: »
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
She used to walk frequently, but recently developed some pain in her ankle which is limiting her mobility. My parents have a rowing machine at home, so I suggest she try that if it doesn't aggravate her ankle pain.ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
She lives with my dad, but she does 95% of the cooking and food prep. I think the carb recommendation from her doctor was more about the type 2 than it was about weight loss but as @Afura pointed out, I'm getting that info second hand.1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
We're getting second hand info here. The dr could have told her to cut calories, and a way to possibly help that is to cut carbs as they can be high calories. Additionally, it's carbs that can add on to blood sugar, which they'll want her to cut back on being on her way to type 2 diabetes.
I'd have her check with her Dr/dietician to see if they okay with going to 1100 calories, or if they believe that will be too few calories for her. I'd say .25/lb a week wouldn't be too absurd for her to try for, because that's at least better than no loss!
Did you read what her mother said was her doctors recommendations on carb intake? The dr said to lower them according to her mother. That's why.0 -
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ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
We're getting second hand info here. The dr could have told her to cut calories, and a way to possibly help that is to cut carbs as they can be high calories. Additionally, it's carbs that can add on to blood sugar, which they'll want her to cut back on being on her way to type 2 diabetes.
I'd have her check with her Dr/dietician to see if they okay with going to 1100 calories, or if they believe that will be too few calories for her. I'd say .25/lb a week wouldn't be too absurd for her to try for, because that's at least better than no loss!
Did you read what her mother said was her doctors recommendations on carb intake? The dr said to lower them according to her mother. That's why.
Dr said to lower them, but I'm unclear about whether it was in the context of weight loss, type 2 diabetes, or both. (I'm a guy, btw...
)
Thanks for the responses so far. If my mom's comfortable with .25lb/week, then I'll probably have her go with that until she decides to see an RD. I do still worry that such a small deficit might be hard to maintain because of logging inaccuracies and whatnot but like I said, she's meticulous AF.
Teaching her how to use the food database and recipe builder is going to be an exercise in patience...0 -
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CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Hmmmm.... has any discussion with her doctor taken place? I would start there.
Her doctor advised her to lose weight because her recent blood work showed that she's on the road to developing type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, she didn't offer any useful advice regarding how to go about losing weight beyond, "Eat less carbs." Her health care provider is Kaiser and in my experience, they're generally not very good. I suspect their dietitians aren't great either, but I've no personal experience with them so I can't say for sure.
She actually just texted me saying she's totally comfortable aiming to lose .25 lb/week. Obviously, her logging has to be very accurate in order to maintain such a small deficit. On the plus side, she's a very meticulous and detail oriented person (which made for a very annoying childhood, I must say).
Maybe aim for .25 until she can get an appointment w/ a dietician? Is .25 lb/week even realistic given the inherent inaccuracies in the logging process?
Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
We're getting second hand info here. The dr could have told her to cut calories, and a way to possibly help that is to cut carbs as they can be high calories. Additionally, it's carbs that can add on to blood sugar, which they'll want her to cut back on being on her way to type 2 diabetes.
I'd have her check with her Dr/dietician to see if they okay with going to 1100 calories, or if they believe that will be too few calories for her. I'd say .25/lb a week wouldn't be too absurd for her to try for, because that's at least better than no loss!
Did you read what her mother said was her doctors recommendations on carb intake? The dr said to lower them according to her mother. That's why.
Dr said to lower them, but I'm unclear about whether it was in the context of weight loss, type 2 diabetes, or both. (I'm a guy, btw... )
Thanks for the responses so far. If my mom's comfortable with .25lb/week, then I'll probably have her go with that until she decides to see an RD. I do still worry that such a small deficit might be hard to maintain because of logging inaccuracies and whatnot but like I said, she's meticulous AF.
Teaching her how to use the food database and recipe builder is going to be an exercise in patience...
If she mentioned Type 2 that is most likely the reason. Maybe you could get her to let you come to an appointment with her so you can get some real info. I have a grandmother who tells us all kinds of tales and most of it is not accurate.0 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »I had type 2 diabetes for years and while weight loss ultimately was the reason for it now being gone from my life, i think if she took the slow route.. .25 pound loss per week and maintained a great balanced diet, lower in carbs to keep her sugars from spiking, i think she would successfully get down in weight eventually without carbs impacting her potential to become diabetic
Congrats on beating it. We're Japanese and my parents' diet is made up mostly of Japanese foods, so it's already pretty balanced from a nutritional standpoint. And thanks for your additional comment above. She's already taken the class, but maybe there's another one I can attend with her.0 -
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »I had type 2 diabetes for years and while weight loss ultimately was the reason for it now being gone from my life, i think if she took the slow route.. .25 pound loss per week and maintained a great balanced diet, lower in carbs to keep her sugars from spiking, i think she would successfully get down in weight eventually without carbs impacting her potential to become diabetic
NICE! I love it when people post things like this. I believe it gives a lot of hope to others who have been given no good information on how to reverse it from their doctors. Congratulations on your success!1 -
The 1200 cal min is for "most" women. A woman who is older, short, and sedentary may very well need to eat a little less than that to lose weight. The key will be for her to get the most nutritional bang for the buck in what she is eating. I'm no professional, but I think this is exactly the kind of situation where 1100 cals is reasonable.
1/4 lb per week is difficult because she could easily go 2 months without seeing any proof whether what she is doing is working. When I was losing my last 10, I was losing about a lb a month and I am a very patient person but it was still frustrating.
The RD is a good idea, so if she does need to eat a lower amount, she will have a better understanding of what foods to prioritize. Maybe a recumbent bike would work for her? It depends on whether the ankle pain is from putting weight on it or not, but a stationary bike or swimming might be options if she is open to that.
My mom is 5' and 70 and needs to lose about 15 lbs and is struggling. She was also told she was borderline prediabetic. Very frustrating because her doctor is a putz and my mom is at a place in her life where she doesn't see why she should have to change anything, she just wants it to happen LOL. I offered to show her how to log and was seriously thrilled when she said she didn't want to, because there is not enough wine in the state to get me through that process! Good luck :drinker:2 -
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The 1200 cal min is for "most" women. A woman who is older, short, and sedentary may very well need to eat a little less than that to lose weight. The key will be for her to get the most nutritional bang for the buck in what she is eating. I'm no professional, but I think this is exactly the kind of situation where 1100 cals is reasonable.
1/4 lb per week is difficult because she could easily go 2 months without seeing any proof whether what she is doing is working. When I was losing my last 10, I was losing about a lb a month and I am a very patient person but it was still frustrating.
The RD is a good idea, so if she does need to eat a lower amount, she will have a better understanding of what foods to prioritize. Maybe a recumbent bike would work for her? It depends on whether the ankle pain is from putting weight on it or not, but a stationary bike or swimming might be options if she is open to that.
My mom is 5' and 70 and needs to lose about 15 lbs and is struggling. She was also told she was borderline prediabetic. Very frustrating because her doctor is a putz and my mom is at a place in her life where she doesn't see why she should have to change anything, she just wants it to happen LOL. I offered to show her how to log and was seriously thrilled when she said she didn't want to, because there is not enough wine in the state to get me through that process! Good luck :drinker:
Thanks for this. Fortunately, my mom is a scientist in her own right - a double major in microbiology and chemistry, and she currently oversees clinical trials for Big Pharma - so I've been telling her to approach weight loss with a scientist's mind. She already weighs herself daily and views it as data collection, so I'm not worried about her getting discouraged by slow progress.
But yeah, teaching her the ins and outs of the MFP app is going to require lots of wine. Probably to much, if I'm honest.
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Just to add to info pot - I'm 66, 5"3" and started at 155 last year. I'm fairly sedentary and have a desk job. At 1200 calories I lose about .3 lbs a week pretty consistently and once I got in the habit I don't find I feel particularly deprived. I think. 25 lbs a week is both doable and sensible The very best of luck to both of you! 1
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CafeRacer808 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
She used to walk frequently, but recently developed some pain in her ankle which is limiting her mobility. My parents have a rowing machine at home, so I suggest she try that if it doesn't aggravate her ankle pain.ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
She lives with my dad, but she does 95% of the cooking and food prep. I think the carb recommendation from her doctor was more about the type 2 than it was about weight loss but as @Afura pointed out, I'm getting that info second hand.
I'm thinking that a rowing machine might aggravate her ankle, it involves some pushing. Does she have access to a pool?1 -
I just wanted to say as a grown up child to Asian parents....good luck on teaching them technology and apps, bud. My mom can barely post a Facebook status
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CafeRacer808 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »
Um, I don't understand this. Why would she need to lower carbs without calories?
I think a slower loss would be fine at this point. She doesn't have a huge amount to lose so it still won't take her forever if her logging is tight enough. Can she be encouraged to do some walking?
She used to walk frequently, but recently developed some pain in her ankle which is limiting her mobility. My parents have a rowing machine at home, so I suggest she try that if it doesn't aggravate her ankle pain.ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Well maybe start with lower carbs without lowering calories. Step the carb intake down a little each week until she is in the 100-125 grams per day range. Does she live alone and prepare her own meals?
She lives with my dad, but she does 95% of the cooking and food prep. I think the carb recommendation from her doctor was more about the type 2 than it was about weight loss but as @Afura pointed out, I'm getting that info second hand.
I'm thinking that a rowing machine might aggravate her ankle, it involves some pushing. Does she have access to a pool?
No access to a pool sadly, and she can't swim anyway. She used the rower tonight and apparently her ankle was fine, so hopefully she can stick to that for a while. 1 -
sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just wanted to say as a grown up child to Asian parents....good luck on teaching them technology and apps, bud. My mom can barely post a Facebook status
Ha! She's surprisingly tech savvy, all things considered. I'm usually an early adopter, but she got an Apple Watch before I did and was actually telling me how to use it when I finally got one.
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CafeRacer808 wrote: »sammyliftsandeats wrote: »I just wanted to say as a grown up child to Asian parents....good luck on teaching them technology and apps, bud. My mom can barely post a Facebook status
Ha! She's surprisingly tech savvy, all things considered. I'm usually an early adopter, but she got an Apple Watch before I did and was actually telling me how to use it when I finally got one.
Whoa! That's awesome.
Hope she finds ways to improve her health. Good luck with everything!
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It is possible to track calories with a pen, paper, and a reference. That's how they did it in the olden days. It's just harder, because a printed reference doesn't have as much info as the database. Still, if her diet is relatively unvaried, that might be more practical. Even simply logging often cleans up diet.
Also, at 70, just stopping weight gain will also be success. Aiming for a small deficit is a fine idea.0
This discussion has been closed.
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