1200 calories a day and hungry, scared to up the calories
Replies
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Also OP, when I first started on MFP I realized quickly that if I cut out everything I enjoyed, I wouldn't last long. I decided early on that rather than cutting anything out per se, I would focus on adding things to my lifestyle. More protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. I found that by doing that, within a reasonable calorie deficit, I filled my day with a good balance of foods and still had room for treats in moderation. Taking too extreme of an approach, in either total calorie reduction or in making sweeping restrictions on foods, is what leads many people to give up. I found the process of losing weight to be pretty simple, not at all miserable, in fact, enjoyable. And the transition to maintenance was also really simple since I wasn't at a drastic deficit to begin with.2
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leanjogreen18 wrote: »laurenebargar wrote: »leanjogreen18 wrote: »For me eating a carb/fat/protein with each meal has helped me stay satiated on 1200. I also don't like breakfast and on the occasions I do eat breakfast it seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, so now I eat brunch and dinner and that has helped because now I can have higher calorie meals since I'm only eating 2x a day.
Thats interesting, I never was very interested in eating breakfast, I would have coffee and wouldn't be hungry until 11 or 12 when I would eat lunch, its very possible that eating breakfast is making me hungrier as well.
All I have for breakfast is coffee w/soy milk and low cal sweeter. I eat brunch somewhere around 10:30-11:30 and then an early dinner 4-5ish.
I should add...
I try to drink at least 48oz water
Get 7-8 hrs of sleep (less can cause stress hormones to increase thus you are hungrier)
I zig zag my calories so a couple days a week I eat around 1000 so a couple of days I can have closer to 1400 this just works with my social calendar.
Play around with your macros as well. Some need higher protein others fat. For me I just need a carb/protein/fat with each meal.
Having said all that I'm 5'4", 50 and sedentary so 1200 is ok for me. You may however need a bit more.
I cut off all coffee because I enjoy cream and sugar in mine, but today I decided to have a cup using flavored coffee cream (I plan on getting something different once I get to the store, this is all I had today) and I am feeling better, Sunday I didnt get nearly enough sleep, so I went to bed early last night, and I am feeling better today. I dont think I will kick coffee out of my plan, But I do think I will reduce the sugar and cream and learn to enjoy it in a new way. thanks for all the advice.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »laurenebargar wrote: »Judging from your diary, it is time to rethink what you are eating. If you aim for such a low calorie goal (which I do not think is realistic or necessary) you will need to eat more filling and nutritious food. You cannot waste 1/3 of these calories on treats. Nothing wrong with treats, but it is not just about calories, as you have figured out. If e.g. you eat 200 calories in cookies, you will be hungry, if you eat the same calories in grilled vegetables, you will feel fuller. It is a choice: either lose more slowly (which I would be doing in your place) or focus on changing what you eat so you are not starving.
I agree, I have decided not to cut everything off right away, and although my diary isnt perfect yet, I have successfully cut all soda and juice from my diet, and have started to incorporate more veggies and fruits. I have bumped up my calories to 1360 and will be eating my exercise calories (at least half of them) and adding in my pedometer steps since my fitness tracker doesnt sync. I am working on getting better food into my diet, specifically more protein, Planning on going to the store tonight and will stock up on some essentials!laurenebargar wrote: »Judging from your diary, it is time to rethink what you are eating. If you aim for such a low calorie goal (which I do not think is realistic or necessary) you will need to eat more filling and nutritious food. You cannot waste 1/3 of these calories on treats. Nothing wrong with treats, but it is not just about calories, as you have figured out. If e.g. you eat 200 calories in cookies, you will be hungry, if you eat the same calories in grilled vegetables, you will feel fuller. It is a choice: either lose more slowly (which I would be doing in your place) or focus on changing what you eat so you are not starving.
I agree, I have decided not to cut everything off right away, and although my diary isnt perfect yet, I have successfully cut all soda and juice from my diet, and have started to incorporate more veggies and fruits. I have bumped up my calories to 1360 and will be eating my exercise calories (at least half of them) and adding in my pedometer steps since my fitness tracker doesnt sync. I am working on getting better food into my diet, specifically more protein, Planning on going to the store tonight and will stock up on some essentials!
Sounds like a good plan. Don't forget to monitor that rate of loss, if you are still losing 2 or more pounds per week you may want to increase the percent of your exercise cals you eat back.
Good luck!
Thanks! I think its a work in a progress that will take some tweeking along the way, since I plan on this being a Lifestyle and not a diet.0 -
laurenebargar wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »laurenebargar wrote: »Also should I be adding my calories that my fitness tracker says I burned throughout the day from walking (between 6-10K depending on the work day) my tracker doesnt link to MFP
I popped your stats into this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ which is a good one.
Called you 3-5 hours/week of "moderate exercise" (the setting that corresponds to the level of activity described above).
To maintain your current weight, you'd need to eat ~2,700 calories/day. To lose 2 pounds/week (the most that is recommended), you should aim to eat 1,700 calories/day. This is consistent with your observation that you're losing weight very fast on a 1,200 calorie/day diet (which would correspond to losing 3 pounds/week - not far off from what you're observing).
Set yourself to "active" on MFP. Make sure your height, weight and age are accurate. And follow the recommendation. It won't be as low as 1,200. Recalculate the calorie target every 10 pounds or so because your body needs fewer calories once it gets smaller.
The advice to reduce hunger by increasing fat, protein and/or fibre is good advice. Play around with increasing those three things - separately or individually - and see what helps. But, fundamentally, 1,200 is too low a target for you and that's part of the problem.
All of this...
You've chosen the most aggressive calorie deficit and are cutting to the minimum recommended calories. You don't have an insignificant amount of weight to lose, so you need to find something that is sustainable long term, and that has room to tweak the numbers if you hit a plateau. Going immediately to the lowest calorie target, especially when you are young, not extremely petite, and not sedentary... is not necessary or advisable.
I am shorter and started at a lower weight than you but I also have a desk job and my activity is mostly walking and hiking on weekends (now weights). I ate between 1600-1800 calories and lost > 30 lbs to reach my goal weight and am maintaining with a TDEE of 2200.
You are new here but a wise rabbit used to say, "the winner is the one who eats the most and still loses the weight". 2-3 lbs/week is too rapid, you are likely losing lean body mass in the process. Eat more. Stay at a reasonable deficit. I never felt hungry while losing, it's not necessary to be miserable during this process.
I guess since I'm sitting at a desk all day I dont consider myself active, most days I try to get the dog on a few mile walk and the weekends consist of of being outside with my husband and dog pretty much all day. But when Im home I am just hanging out around the house, doing homework (college classes all online) and then doing normal household chores. I think the descriptions for activity level on MFP are what threw me off, sedentary is described as an office job, but im learning this may not be the right choice.
That definition throws a lot of people off and it threw me off too at first, I also was set at sedentary. But when I got my FitBit and was averaging (at the time) 8-10k steps a day, I got the good advice that anything above 4,000 steps really isn't sedentary. It's your overall lifestyle activity level that matters, not the 8 hours/day that you spend at work. Even at work, I make conscious efforts to get up and move, take walks at lunch, so that now I'm actually averaging 15k steps/day and am set at active for my activity level in MFP. I think you could go with lightly active for now, or you could keep yourself at sedentary and eat back the exercise cals, but monitor and adjust after 6-8 weeks when you see how quickly you're losing.
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WinoGelato wrote: »Also OP, when I first started on MFP I realized quickly that if I cut out everything I enjoyed, I wouldn't last long. I decided early on that rather than cutting anything out per se, I would focus on adding things to my lifestyle. More protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. I found that by doing that, within a reasonable calorie deficit, I filled my day with a good balance of foods and still had room for treats in moderation. Taking too extreme of an approach, in either total calorie reduction or in making sweeping restrictions on foods, is what leads many people to give up. I found the process of losing weight to be pretty simple, not at all miserable, in fact, enjoyable. And the transition to maintenance was also really simple since I wasn't at a drastic deficit to begin with.
Thats the approach I had, I knew soda was bad for me, and was causing me daily headaches so I cut that not only for calories but to feel better. I decided to start MFP right before my birthday, then Easter and then had a family member pass away, so the food hasn't been perfect with all of this, but im working on incorporating more things into my diet and not feeling too guilty if I eat something most people classify as "bad"0 -
You have lots of great advice here. I would add that as women especially we tend to stay away from fat and that is the most satisfying thing to eat. Add a little butter here and there not lots but you know what I mean. Nuts or string cheese are very good snacks in moderation and stick with you. I am 60 and ate at 1200 calories for a year. I finally plateaued for 3.5 months! I had no where to go so I increased my calories for a week then dropped down again. I finally started to lose again. I am now eating 1350 a day and slowly losing. Going super low can paint you into a corner. While it's great to see the scale move you have to find something you can stick with for life. I agree with everyone here raise up your calories a bit and lose at a pound a week or less. You will get there and at the same time you will learn how to eat for the rest of your life.1
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laurenebargar wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Also OP, when I first started on MFP I realized quickly that if I cut out everything I enjoyed, I wouldn't last long. I decided early on that rather than cutting anything out per se, I would focus on adding things to my lifestyle. More protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. I found that by doing that, within a reasonable calorie deficit, I filled my day with a good balance of foods and still had room for treats in moderation. Taking too extreme of an approach, in either total calorie reduction or in making sweeping restrictions on foods, is what leads many people to give up. I found the process of losing weight to be pretty simple, not at all miserable, in fact, enjoyable. And the transition to maintenance was also really simple since I wasn't at a drastic deficit to begin with.
Thats the approach I had, I knew soda was bad for me, and was causing me daily headaches so I cut that not only for calories but to feel better. I decided to start MFP right before my birthday, then Easter and then had a family member pass away, so the food hasn't been perfect with all of this, but im working on incorporating more things into my diet and not feeling too guilty if I eat something most people classify as "bad"
Again, this is something that a lot of people struggle with but I really believe there are no "bad" foods. Anything can be incorporated into an overall balanced, nutrient dense diet. Labeling foods as good and bad often lead to those feelings of guilt that you're having, and it's hard to maintain perfection in any aspect of our lives. As you said, holidays happen. Deaths happen (sorry for your loss by the way). Without consoling yourself with food, you can still eat chocolate at Easter or have a soda at a wake and not feel like you have completely failed and need to give up altogether.
I lost > 30 lbs and while losing still ate things like pizza, ice cream, and drank wine. I also eat Greek yogurt, eggs, fruit, granola, chicken, fish, pork, salads, vegetables, rice, quinoa, etc. it's all about balance.
You'll get there. It's a work in progress for all of us.
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WinoGelato wrote: »laurenebargar wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »laurenebargar wrote: »Also should I be adding my calories that my fitness tracker says I burned throughout the day from walking (between 6-10K depending on the work day) my tracker doesnt link to MFP
I popped your stats into this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ which is a good one.
Called you 3-5 hours/week of "moderate exercise" (the setting that corresponds to the level of activity described above).
To maintain your current weight, you'd need to eat ~2,700 calories/day. To lose 2 pounds/week (the most that is recommended), you should aim to eat 1,700 calories/day. This is consistent with your observation that you're losing weight very fast on a 1,200 calorie/day diet (which would correspond to losing 3 pounds/week - not far off from what you're observing).
Set yourself to "active" on MFP. Make sure your height, weight and age are accurate. And follow the recommendation. It won't be as low as 1,200. Recalculate the calorie target every 10 pounds or so because your body needs fewer calories once it gets smaller.
The advice to reduce hunger by increasing fat, protein and/or fibre is good advice. Play around with increasing those three things - separately or individually - and see what helps. But, fundamentally, 1,200 is too low a target for you and that's part of the problem.
All of this...
You've chosen the most aggressive calorie deficit and are cutting to the minimum recommended calories. You don't have an insignificant amount of weight to lose, so you need to find something that is sustainable long term, and that has room to tweak the numbers if you hit a plateau. Going immediately to the lowest calorie target, especially when you are young, not extremely petite, and not sedentary... is not necessary or advisable.
I am shorter and started at a lower weight than you but I also have a desk job and my activity is mostly walking and hiking on weekends (now weights). I ate between 1600-1800 calories and lost > 30 lbs to reach my goal weight and am maintaining with a TDEE of 2200.
You are new here but a wise rabbit used to say, "the winner is the one who eats the most and still loses the weight". 2-3 lbs/week is too rapid, you are likely losing lean body mass in the process. Eat more. Stay at a reasonable deficit. I never felt hungry while losing, it's not necessary to be miserable during this process.
I guess since I'm sitting at a desk all day I dont consider myself active, most days I try to get the dog on a few mile walk and the weekends consist of of being outside with my husband and dog pretty much all day. But when Im home I am just hanging out around the house, doing homework (college classes all online) and then doing normal household chores. I think the descriptions for activity level on MFP are what threw me off, sedentary is described as an office job, but im learning this may not be the right choice.
That definition throws a lot of people off and it threw me off too at first, I also was set at sedentary. But when I got my FitBit and was averaging (at the time) 8-10k steps a day, I got the good advice that anything above 4,000 steps really isn't sedentary. It's your overall lifestyle activity level that matters, not the 8 hours/day that you spend at work. Even at work, I make conscious efforts to get up and move, take walks at lunch, so that now I'm actually averaging 15k steps/day and am set at active for my activity level in MFP. I think you could go with lightly active for now, or you could keep yourself at sedentary and eat back the exercise cals, but monitor and adjust after 6-8 weeks when you see how quickly you're losing.
I think I will be updating to a fitbit in a few months, right now my husband is applying to medical school so I dont have too much extra room in the budget! But I think having the two will make a huge difference, my fitness tracker is great, but I think it would be much more helpful to have one that actually links to MFP0 -
Your calories are too low and if you cut out carbs and sugar you won't be that hungry. You do need to meet your protein and fat goals. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.
Boost to 1500 calories to start and glide into 1400 within a few weeks as your body gets used to low carb / low sugar high fat / protein.
For me because I knew from my own past experience that carbs and sugar are the devil. If I eat one sweet thing, then, I can't stop. I know that if I eat simple carbs (like bagels / white potatoes) my heart will race. If I eat complex carbs (like canned white beans) then I feel okay, but I don't really lose weight. I have restricted sugar and carbs before and knew that by restricting them, I am not craving them and I feel better.
The eating plan that does this for me is Paleo / Keto (low, low sugar/carbs and high protein/fat/fiber); my ratios are: (45% protein, 40% fat and 15% carbs/sugar).
See this website for a list of paleo websites: http://paleoiq.com/best-paleo-diet-blogs/
I started by making incremental changes last November (one meal at a time), with the end goal being that I would hover around 1400 calories because as an older woman my skin doesn't bounce back as it did when I was younger.
By losing the weight slowly, I have minimized the sagging skin.
It took several months of tweaking before I finally found my "sweet spot" in terms of balance between carbs and protein and (since January I have lost about 23 pounds). And... I am only complaint calorie wise about 75% - 80% of the time. I have some health issues and can't really exercise. Despite this and being tied to a desk all day, I have lost and continue to lose weight.
For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:- I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
- My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
- By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.
I used Paleo Leap and Paleo Tribe for the recipe ideas (they have some great low calorie recipe options) but this isn't necessary. I do think preparing and eating food that I make as opposed to boxes or eating out has helped me a lot. Boxes say they are low carb (but they have lots of other additives in them to make them taste good.)
I also take 7-keto DHEA (fat burner), desiccated adrenal (80 mgs -- I started and maintain a very low dose) and desiccated adrenal cortex (250 mgs). I have more energy and they have helped my allergies and my hormones.
See this website: https://www.yourhormones.com/signs-symptoms/
Most women suffer from advanced adrenal fatigue and adaptogenic herbs don't work. To rebuild your adrenals desiccated adrenal extracts are very helpful. (I was on prednisone, but was able to stop taking it.)
See these websites:
http://www.drnorthrup.com/adrenal-exhaustion/
https://www.yourhormones.com/adrenal-fatigue/
IMO in the beginning, you shouldn't "train hard" you should balance gentle cardio (like brisk walking) with strength training. With keto you burn stored fat because that's what you burn for energy.) Look at reducing unnecessary drama that makes you crazy.
Also, explore the term "estrogen dominance". Body fat makes you hold on to excess estrogen.
See these websites:
http://www.drnorthrup.com/estrogen-dominance/
https://www.womentowomen.com/hormonal-health/estrogen-dominance/
https://www.drlam.com/blog/estrogen-dominance-part-1/1704/
I got rid of all of the chemicals in my home. Everything is fragrance / dye free or natural cleaners. Frebreeze and similar products are endocrine disruptors and can actually make it difficult for people to lose weight. I also gave up scented lotions and perfume.
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Just my two cents worth but I have the Garmin Vivofit2 and it links to MFP. I have been very happy with it and it was cheaper than the Fitbit. I have found it quite accurate too.
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cheryldumais wrote: »Just my two cents worth but I have the Garmin Vivofit2 and it links to MFP. I have been very happy with it and it was cheaper than the Fitbit. I have found it quite accurate too.
Looking into it now! Thanks for the suggestion!1 -
I got rid of all of the chemicals in my home. Everything is fragrance / dye free or natural cleaners. Frebreeze and similar products are endocrine disruptors and can actually make it difficult for people to lose weight. I also gave up scented lotions and perfume.
Me too. I use ewg.org to look up everything, because I have PCOS. I am super aware of everything I use on my body. I make my own cleaning products and I am super picky about the lotions etc. I buy.
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Your calories are too low and if you cut out carbs and sugar you won't be that hungry. You do need to meet your protein and fat goals. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.
Boost to 1500 calories to start and glide into 1400 within a few weeks as your body gets used to low carb / low sugar high fat / protein.
For me because I knew from my own past experience that carbs and sugar are the devil. If I eat one sweet thing, then, I can't stop. I know that if I eat simple carbs (like bagels / white potatoes) my heart will race. If I eat complex carbs (like canned white beans) then I feel okay, but I don't really lose weight. I have restricted sugar and carbs before and knew that by restricting them, I am not craving them and I feel better.
The eating plan that does this for me is Paleo / Keto (low, low sugar/carbs and high protein/fat/fiber); my ratios are: (45% protein, 40% fat and 15% carbs/sugar).
See this website for a list of paleo websites: http://paleoiq.com/best-paleo-diet-blogs/
I started by making incremental changes last November (one meal at a time), with the end goal being that I would hover around 1400 calories because as an older woman my skin doesn't bounce back as it did when I was younger.
By losing the weight slowly, I have minimized the sagging skin.
It took several months of tweaking before I finally found my "sweet spot" in terms of balance between carbs and protein and (since January I have lost about 23 pounds). And... I am only complaint calorie wise about 75% - 80% of the time. I have some health issues and can't really exercise. Despite this and being tied to a desk all day, I have lost and continue to lose weight.
For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:- I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
- My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
- By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.
I used Paleo Leap and Paleo Tribe for the recipe ideas (they have some great low calorie recipe options) but this isn't necessary. I do think preparing and eating food that I make as opposed to boxes or eating out has helped me a lot. Boxes say they are low carb (but they have lots of other additives in them to make them taste good.)
I also take 7-keto DHEA (fat burner), desiccated adrenal (80 mgs -- I started and maintain a very low dose) and desiccated adrenal cortex (250 mgs). I have more energy and they have helped my allergies and my hormones.
See this website: https://www.yourhormones.com/signs-symptoms/
Most women suffer from advanced adrenal fatigue and adaptogenic herbs don't work. To rebuild your adrenals desiccated adrenal extracts are very helpful. (I was on prednisone, but was able to stop taking it.)
See these websites:
http://www.drnorthrup.com/adrenal-exhaustion/
https://www.yourhormones.com/adrenal-fatigue/
IMO in the beginning, you shouldn't "train hard" you should balance gentle cardio (like brisk walking) with strength training. With keto you burn stored fat because that's what you burn for energy.) Look at reducing unnecessary drama that makes you crazy.
Also, explore the term "estrogen dominance". Body fat makes you hold on to excess estrogen.
See these websites:
http://www.drnorthrup.com/estrogen-dominance/
https://www.womentowomen.com/hormonal-health/estrogen-dominance/
https://www.drlam.com/blog/estrogen-dominance-part-1/1704/
I got rid of all of the chemicals in my home. Everything is fragrance / dye free or natural cleaners. Frebreeze and similar products are endocrine disruptors and can actually make it difficult for people to lose weight. I also gave up scented lotions and perfume.
Wow thanks for all the info! I agree that it may take a few months to get to a spot where I feel comfortable, ive been on MFP for less than a month and ive been making slow changes, I realize I will need to cut out or reduce some of the things I am eating, however I have decided not to do it all at once, so it doesnt lead to me feeling deprived and unable to enjoy life. Im hoping to find a balance that leads to a healthy BMI, being in shape, while enjoying life to the fullest
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