Low Calorie Limits

WinoGelato

Libby283 wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

Libby283 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Those numbers only look to be right for a very sedentary person. Are you sedentary OP?

Yes I work a desk job.

So do I. Doesn't make my lifestyle sedentary, and from what you described in another thread, neither are you. You're a working mother of young kids that likes to hike on the weekends. Me too! That's not sedentary. You mentioned before having a FitBit. How many steps do you average/day? What does FitBit say your total calories burned is?

I no longer have a fit bit, but my phone says I am doing 3000-5000 steps a day.

I see so many parallels between you and me. When I started (at 153 lbs) I was also pretty sedentary. I was the same weight, and I had a desk job, and I thought that my weight gain was due to the fact that I was just older, and had two children, and I was resigned to that fact - just like you seemed resigned to the fact that you have to eat low calories in order to lose. MFP set me at 1200 based on the stats I put in and the activity level I chose (sedentary). After reading these boards and seeing so many people eating more and still losing, and not really loving cutting as low as 1200 calories (even 1200 NET, but I wasn't getting much exercise at that point because I was "so busy, I just didn't have time to exercise, I mean, I had two kids and a full time job!".) I decided to up my calories a bit (1400 NET) and try to get out and move more. I kept losing, about 1 lb/week, and about 6 months into this, I had lost about 18 lbs and got myself a FitBit. I was taking about 8K steps/day, at this point, much of it coming from just being a busy working mom, and got good advice (from @heybales in fact) that that wasn't really sedentary. I changed my activity level to lightly active and changed my goal to 0.5 lb/week because at that point, I had less than 20 lbs to lose (I was 135 by then with my original goal being 125, similar to yours). I kept losing, even eating upwards of 1700-1800 calories, at a very appropriate and steady 0.5 lb/week. I also kept working on increasing my step count through things like parking in the back of the parking lot at work, taking laps around the building a few times a day with a 20 min walk outside at lunch time, and walking around the park while my kids are at soccer practice (or even jumping in to help the coaches out) instead of sitting on the bleachers and gossiping with the other moms (I often ask them to join me, most of the time they say no and look at me like I'm crazy especially if I'm still in my work clothes!). I ended up reaching, and then passing my original goal, within about a year of joining MFP, and have been maintaining ever since. Now I average 15K steps/day and get up early every day for either a walk or circuit training (I use light weights, doesn't have to be lifting heavy all the time if that's not your thing).

The point is, that I achieved the goal you are trying to achieve, in very similar situation to you, and I did so while eating (and still drinking wine) far more than 1000 calories/day.

You don't have to be sedentary. You don't have to eat less than 1200 calories/day. You are choosing all of this.