Cannot survive on 1200! Food diary included
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livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
Thank you I will, let's see what I've got left for dinner now3 -
Thanks for comment, I do gym classes and cycle to and from work 3 days a week so that'll help a lot on those days. The other four days however, I've got my two daughters to look after all day so find it difficult to fit anything in
You would be a good candidate for IIFYM on a weekly basis. Go over to iifym.com, use their free TDEE calculator, enter in your stats along with your exercise you do, how many days a week you do it, and the intensity. It'll calculate your Total Daily Energy Expendature ALL WEEK rather than just a day at a time. That's the amount of calories you burn in a day to stay your same weight. Then take that number x 7 and you'll have your weekly calories. Subtract 3500 calories from that for each pound a week you want to lose.. that'll give you a daily calorie amount that you can manually enter into MFP.
That way on days you don't exercise you still eat the same as you do on the days you don't. Of course there's a catch; you must be consistent with the exercise you entered or you either won't lose weight at your expected rate. The 2nd catch is that you can't enter exercise into MFP after entering your calorie goal using their calculator. You must either zero out the calories or simply not enter your exercise into MFP otherwise you'll get more calories for exercise that's already calculated into your daily goals. That would mess up your weight loss goals for sure.
For me, I do 5 days a week for a minimum of 90 minutes at a time at a "Difficult" intensity. So for me, 6'2" tall, 188 lbs, goal weight of 175, with a sedentary lifestyle it puts me around 2706 calories a day.
2706 x 7 = 18492 calories per week (7 days)
If I eat that much, keep my exercise the same, I'll stay at 188 lbs. But, I want to lose weight at a rate of .5lbs per week (I know, not very aggressive). So that's 3500 (this is how many calories a pound of fat is expected to be) / 2 = 1750.
So, subtract 1750 from the 18492 = 16742
Divide the 16472 / 7 = 2391.7 calories per day
So I can go into settings, edit my goals on MFP, change the daily calories to 2391 (actually I chose closer to 2300 to edge in a bit more loss per week) then I set my macros in standard percentages below that of 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, and 30% Fat. It's not super difficult to do this manually, and it can certainly help someone with a lower calorie goal be more consistent. I hated starving on rest days, so I found this method more to my liking.
Try it and see if it helps you. Again, the catch is you can't add in exercise to MFP and expect to eat those calories back because you'll be double dipping on them unless it's something extra you don't normally do. For instance, I don't figure in mowing my grass or extra workouts, so whenever I do more than my 5x90 min workouts I allow those calories to stay in MFP and I eat those calories as a treat.
Good luck!
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TavistockToad wrote: »MommaGem2017 wrote: »Do you exercise at all? Do you track steps with a pedometer or fitness band? You may be able to eat some more based on exercise calories.
No proper 'exercise' as such today, just spent day playing with girls and a bit of cleaning. I don't but I definitely want to invest in a Fitbit
I hope you aren't set to sedentary then?
I think I am because I've got a desk job (three days a week)
Nope0 -
I put in 2lbs per week and sedentary
With so little to lose, 2lbs per week isn't suitable, and not possible as mfp calorie floor for women stops at 1200 unless your maintenance calories is 2200. You need a 1000 calorie deficit to lose 2lbs per week, so if your maintenance is let's say 1800, you won't lose 2lbs per week eating 1200 as it is only a 600 calorie deficit.
For nutrition/health, it is not recommended for women to go below 1200, and men 1500.
Set to lose .5lbs per week and eat back half of your cardio calories.5 -
OliveGirl128 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.
I would be sick of whatever veg it was after half a cup...
I average 800g- 1,000g of veg/fruit a day and don't get tired of it at all. It's what I base my days around. Stir frys, wraps, green smoothies, cut up with low calorie dressing, salads etc etc
To each their own :drinker:2 -
243 calories is still a lot to work with for your last meal or snack but you have to make it count!
Greek yogurt and (healthy, nutritious) cereal/granola is my new favorite combo.
Not sure where you're from but wal mart has full size tortillas that are low carb and 50 calories each! My go-to quick dinner is a cheese & veggie quesadilla (I'm vegetarian)... you can make one for less than 300 calories. If I have extra calories I use black beans too.
Feel free to add me so you can check out my diary
it looks like you're vegetarian too. I am and stick to 12-1400 calories per day (depending on activity)
ETA might want to go back a couple days if you look at my diary, yesterday was an off day as my fiance and I went out to eat at the restaurant we're having our rehearsal dinner at and I got 0 exercise >_< lol3 -
My advice is to be pickier with your snacks. One of my current favorites is yoplait greek 100 protein. They are only 100 calories for a serving (container), and are high in protein so they help sustain you for longer. I am 5'0 and started at around 167 and am down to around 134 on a 1200 calorie budget (and some exercise). Feel free to add me if you'd like to see my diary or want to share any meal or snack ideas!2
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This is what I suggest, of course you don't have to do it this way. Eat at maintenance at least for a couple weeks until you get the hang of logging accurately. Then subtract from there. That's what I started doing after wasting so much time with trial and error.
If not, @livingleanlivingclean has great advice too! Good luck 3 -
The breakfast is a little low in fat which might be setting you up for crisps later. Even adding a teaspoon of olive oil when cooking your egg will make such a difference.
Some people feel full with extra fiber (veggies, oatmeal), others with extra fat (nuts, oils), and others with extra protein.
You are on the higher end with carbs and on the lower end of the three filling categories mentioned above.
I'm a snacks person so in order to fit them in I made a relatively thin lunch. I'd have a salad or a soup. But then I needed a protein based snack by mid-afternoon!4 -
Losing weight is like saving for a holiday or a new car- you can tighten your finances as much as possible, in order to put aside the amount needed as quickly as you possibly can- and spend three months beforehand absolutely miserable, surviving on beans on toast, and unable to fit in even a packet of crisps.
Or you can put aside smaller amounts of money over six to nine months, and still have a good quality of life in the meantime.
It's your choice. Fast and hard, or easy and slow. But you cannot have fast and easy.
Switch up your activity to 'lightly active' and drop your goal, which you set, to "1lb a week" or "0.5lb a week".7 -
My protein afternoon snack is a boiled egg. That's only like 70 to 80 calories and it makes a huge difference in my day. That way I don't have the horrible drowsy slump or a growling stomach when I drive home from work.5
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DananaNanas wrote: »243 calories is still a lot to work with for your last meal or snack but you have to make it count!
Greek yogurt and (healthy, nutritious) cereal/granola is my new favorite combo.
Not sure where you're from but wal mart has full size tortillas that are low carb and 50 calories each! My go-to quick dinner is a cheese & veggie quesadilla (I'm vegetarian)... you can make one for less than 300 calories. If I have extra calories I use black beans too.
Feel free to add me so you can check out my diary it looks like you're vegetarian too. I am and stick to 12-1400 calories per day (depending on activity)
ETA might want to go back a couple days if you look at my diary, yesterday was an off day as my fiance and I went out to eat at the restaurant we're having our rehearsal dinner at and I got 0 exercise >_< lol
Thank you yes I'm veggie, ok I'll try add but I'm new to app still trying to figure it out
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I'm about your height and I lost 75 pounds with my goal usually around 1350 plus I ate back exercise calories. I would usually eat about half of my calories for breakfast and lunch and the other half plus exercise calories for dinner and a snack after dinner. I still do that in maintenance. I think with your stats your goal is too aggressive. There is really no reason you need to be at 1200 calories. It might take a little longer, but it will be easier and more sustainable if you switch your goal to 1 pound per week.0
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The breakfast is a little low in fat which might be setting you up for crisps later. Even adding a teaspoon of olive oil when cooking your egg will make such a difference.
Some people feel full with extra fiber (veggies, oatmeal), others with extra fat (nuts, oils), and others with extra protein.
You are on the higher end with carbs and on the lower end of the three filling categories mentioned above.
I'm a snacks person so in order to fit them in I made a relatively thin lunch. I'd have a salad or a soup. But then I needed a protein based snack by mid-afternoon!
Totally! An hour after breakfast I spied the crisps lol
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Oh! Also make sure to drink plenty of water! I don't know what your water intake looks like currently, but sometimes our bodies confuse thirst for hunger. I find a lot of times that when I am feeling hungry earlier than I think I should be, I drink some water and I feel fine. You may already be drinking enough, but just a thought.3
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@dlharris1 Do you cook without oil?0
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khenik6064 wrote: »Oh! Also make sure to drink plenty of water! I don't know what your water intake looks like currently, but sometimes our bodies confuse thirst for hunger. I find a lot of times that when I am feeling hungry earlier than I think I should be, I drink some water and I feel fine. You may already be drinking enough, but just a thought.
Totally! I am naturally just an extremely thirsty person so drink pints and pints a day..
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I am a pescatarian (most meals are vegetarian) and I am on 1,200 cals a day. Please add me to see my diary. I make sure I hit my protein macro each day (as much as possible) and try to "spend" my calories on foods that will not trigger a blood sugar spike and then crash because that WILL make me hungry. Also, some days, I am hungrier than others and on those days, I do allow myself some extra calories. Weight loss is not linear and your body is not a machine with preset daily needs. Some days, you may need to eat more and that's okay, just make sure you are feeding your body things that will satisfy that hunger for a longer period of time, like protein and high fiber vegetables, fruits and grains.0
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I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.
^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1
Also, on the days you are home with your girls...what are you doing with them? How old are they? If they are teeny-tiny, strap one in a carrier and the other in a stroller and go walk a few miles. If they are younger, take them on long walks or to the playground, and run around and play with them. It kills me when I think back to all the bike rides we took as a family, and my husband towed the kids in the Burley behind his bike--oh, the calorie burn I missed out on! My 8-year-old son absolutely delights in playing tag with me, and running a "mommy bootcamp" at the playground, where I have to follow him through all the tunnels, do various calisthenics as he instructs, do balancing exercises, etc. He kicks my butt and I then log it as circuit training.
My 11 year old daughter is in cross country, so sometimes I will run and walk with her; fortunately her primary talent is as a sprinter, so I can still pace her somewhat over long distances.
To provide background, I lost my weight (25+ lbs) on a 1280 calorie base (I am 5' 6"), not perfectly (I think I was probably set to lose 2 lbs a week but generally lost closer to a pound), and I fully admit I would exercise for calories the way a trained monkey dances for nickles. However--I lost successfully and have been maintaining in the middle of a normal BMI for over a year. I have revolutionized my previously sedentary mom-life so that my TDEE is 2500 or so calories, and I make sure that I am an outstanding role model for my kids, whether with my food choices or just making them get off their behinds and get moving.
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French_Peasant wrote: »I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.
^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1
Not knocking veggies, because I seriously love my veggies, but I just don't think I could possibly eat 800g of veggies a day. I mean seriously. Right now I eat about 150g a meal, so about 300g a day, but 800g - wow. I think I would really get a good cleansing. I'll definitely have to check out your thread to see how everyone accomplished that.
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I would agree with what @livingleanlivingclean said... drop your rate of loss to 1 Ib a week (the 2Ib tends to be for those with more weight to lose) and set your activity level to lightly active. That will make this a lot more sustainable for you and will help maintain your sanity. It is always best to find out the maximum you can eat whilst still losing weight rather than to shoot for the lowest number.2
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you have less than 25lbs to go to your goal weight - a .5-1lb a week weight loss goal would be more appropriate and correct activity level (sedentary is typically less than 4k steps in a day, so if you had at least that, you are lightly active) - plus eat back workout calories2
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I'd recommend eating a bit more protein and a bit less carbs.1
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MommaGem2017 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.
^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1
Not knocking veggies, because I seriously love my veggies, but I just don't think I could possibly eat 800g of veggies a day. I mean seriously. Right now I eat about 150g a meal, so about 300g a day, but 800g - wow. I think I would really get a good cleansing. I'll definitely have to check out your thread to see how everyone accomplished that.
I was a part of that challenge, (with my previous account), and I went into it thinking I'd have no problem hitting the target and jumped in head over heels-oh my gosh it about killed me lol
So afterwards I made it a personal challenge to work up to the target and over the course of several months I focused on adding veg/fruit to my meals. Now, I can easily hit 1,000g a day and have several days a week where I get around 1,400g. There was definitely a learning curve involved, but now I can do it no problem. I'd highly recommend taking things slow though, your body needs time to adjust for the added fiber and such.
As a little example of how I fit it all in, here's part of my eating plan today-
lunch was a large skillet full of (frozen) carrots and broccoli, 1 1/2c riced cauliflower (I use this instead of white rice now-gets in the veg and super low calorie!), 1 whole package of mushrooms, green onion and then 3 ounces of chicken breast, shredded (with 1tsp olive oil to coat the pan and then sweet n' sour sauce and a few shakes of seasoning). Huge bowl of food that will keep me full for hours, at under 400 calories.
Then, late afternoon I'll have my daily green smoothie-1c skim milk, 1 banana, 5-6 large strawberries and then a greens mix (I blanch various greens and then freeze them in muffin tins, to make 'green disks'; I add two disks to each smoothie. Today's disks are made up of swiss chard, broccoleaf, kale and dandelion greens).
Then later tonight I'll have a whole wheat flatbread topped with red lettuce, black refried beans, tomato, red onion and black olives. With a bowl of sweet cherries as a side.
I'll easily hit over 800g of veg/fruit today. But, again-I had to work up to this 4 -
Thanks everyone , this is first time I've posted on here and really impressed with all the support! Taking everything into consideration and adjusted my goals giving me 1500 daily. Onwards and downwards! Here's to being skinny by Christmas19
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The app gives me 1200 for 1lb per week (I'm on a full diet break atm but fully considering switching down to .5lbs per week as I "only" have 25lbs left to go).
Fitbit has been my saviour as the extra calories from daily activity give me loads of motivation to be more generally active - personally I find that works better than setting a higher activity level, but each to their own.
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OliveGirl128 wrote: »MommaGem2017 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.
^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1
Not knocking veggies, because I seriously love my veggies, but I just don't think I could possibly eat 800g of veggies a day. I mean seriously. Right now I eat about 150g a meal, so about 300g a day, but 800g - wow. I think I would really get a good cleansing. I'll definitely have to check out your thread to see how everyone accomplished that.
I was a part of that challenge, (with my previous account), and I went into it thinking I'd have no problem hitting the target and jumped in head over heels-oh my gosh it about killed me lol So afterwards I made it a personal challenge to work up to the target and over the course of several months I focused on adding veg/fruit to my meals. Now, I can easily hit 1,000g a day and have several days a week where I get around 1,400g. There was definitely a learning curve involved, but now I can do it no problem. I'd highly recommend taking things slow though, your body needs time to adjust for the added fiber and such.
As a little example of how I fit it all in, here's part of my eating plan today-
lunch was a large skillet full of (frozen) carrots and broccoli, 1 1/2c riced cauliflower (I use this instead of white rice now-gets in the veg and super low calorie!), 1 whole package of mushrooms, green onion and then 3 ounces of chicken breast, shredded (with 1tsp olive oil to coat the pan and then sweet n' sour sauce and a few shakes of seasoning). Huge bowl of food that will keep me full for hours, at under 400 calories.
Then, late afternoon I'll have my daily green smoothie-1c skim milk, 1 banana, 5-6 large strawberries and then a greens mix (I blanch various greens and then freeze them in muffin tins, to make 'green disks'; I add two disks to each smoothie. Today's disks are made up of swiss chard, broccoleaf, kale and dandelion greens).
Then later tonight I'll have a whole wheat flatbread topped with red lettuce, black refried beans, tomato, red onion and black olives. With a bowl of sweet cherries as a side.
I'll easily hit over 800g of veg/fruit today. But, again-I had to work up to this
Just to add to this, there are a lot of "loopholes" that make it easier. For example, you are allowed one serving of legumes (like hummus or beans) or a 5-oz juice a day (of course, you can eat/drink all you want but it only counts as one serving). Or, a serving of dried fruit or veg is an ounce, not 80 g, so a box of raisins would count. For tomato paste, 1 tablespoon counts, as it is more nutrient dense than non-reduced tomato puree. My snack, instead of a bag of crisps, would be sweet potato chips and 2 oz of guacamole (1 2/3 serving). Pickles count, and are delicious. If I bring in a frozen dinner, like the chicken marinara I had today, I also add in lots of herbs, peppers, and heirloom tomatoes from my garden, and thus beef up (veg up?) both the flavor and the veg servings from what is already in the box.
I do spend a considerable amount of time gnawing my way through pure raw veg, however. SO. MANY CUCUMBERS. Our garden is going bonkers.
The more you study it out, the more you can adapt it to your palate AND successfully tetris it into your calories for the day.6 -
I am seriously impressed @OliveGirl128 and @French_Peasant - you've both given me some good food for thought!4
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@dlharris1 If you are not using a kitchen scale already, get one. They are cheap and necessary.
If you are suffering to lose weight, change your goals from losing 2 lb per week to losing 1/2 lb per week. Then eat as much as it allows. You will feel better and lose weight.2
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