I'm angry

spiriteagle99

You really don't need to obsess about food or make it the center of your life. Just figure out a simple menu of foods that you enjoy that you or your husband can fix quickly. I don't especially like to cook, but I like to eat and my husband hates frozen food so I do cook dinner every day. Because I'm lazy, none of the meals take more than about 15 minutes prep time. It's easy enough to stick a chicken or a pork roast in the oven. There are a lot of easy meals that satisfy my desire for meat, veggie and some starch. I have learned to minimize meals out because they have a lot of calories, but we still go out once a week or so. Most breakfasts and lunches are the same most days: cereal for breakfast and sandwiches or soup for lunch, so logging is quick and easy.

As you've learned, exercise is good, but it takes a lot before you are burning a significant number of calories. However, the benefits go well beyond just burning calories. Health, mental and emotional well being, strength, a nicer physique, they all are results of regular exercise. And if you do enough, you can burn enough calories to enjoy a few more of your favorite foods, like pizza. My maintenance is supposed to be about 1500, but I actually eat 2000-2800 most days because I run 35+ mpw.

JeromeBarry1

Beth, you're missing the point. We're not doing this 'for' or 'about' food. We're doing this for our life.

Francl27

Get lean cuisine instead of pizza then. Same amount of time, less calories.

amtyrell

1. Plug stats into mpg and then make an easy follow plan for what to eat every day to hit the mfp goal calories.
2. You sound like you might benifit from seeing a therapist.
3. Once you have an easy plan stick with it

lionessncubsx3

:::sigh::: It says I need 1200 calories a day. I ate 2 eggs for breakfast, a banana for snack and 2 cups of stir fried veggies with rice and I have like 309 calories available for dinner. Any suggestions on 309 calorie dinner?

kimny72

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

:::sigh::: It says I need 1200 calories a day. I ate 2 eggs for breakfast, a banana for snack and 2 cups of stir fried veggies with rice and I have like 132 calories available for dinner. Any suggestions on 100 calorie dinner?

If you legitimately need to start at 1200 cals, I would strongly advise working more activity into your day, a lunch time walk, a workout in the morning, etc to buy yourself more calories. Having said that, your numbers don't add up. 2 eggs is around 150-200 calories. A large banana might be as much as 200 calories. Even if the whole two cups was rice, 2 cups of cooked rice would be maybe 450 calories, plus maybe 50 cals of veggies? That's 900 calories plus was there some cooking oil or butter involved? There i s also nothing but carbs after those 2 eggs. Fat and protein combined with fiber will help you fill up.

I would take a walk around the block and eat a 250-300 calorie dinner and feel good about it if I were you

My tips for anyone with a lower calorie goal:

1. Work on becoming more active in any way you can to increase your TDEE
2. Focus on getting a good combo of fiber, protein, and fat in every meal. Once you get the hang of it, it's actually pretty intuitive and easy, but it takes some practice to start.
3. Log as accurately as you can, because overestimating and leaving calories on the table can leave you hungry and underfueled, which can be just as bad as overeating.

I'm sorry you are struggling, hang in there :flowerforyou:

shaunshaikh

I buy frozen grilled chicken breasts and a lot of bags of frozen vegetable steamers. For that many calories, I'd pull out two chicken breasts, microwave them for 2:30, eat them with some hot sauce (0 calories). Then I'd microwave the vegetable steamers bag for 5 minutes while I'm eating the chicken, eat half the bag, and sve the rest for the next day. That'd be right around 300 calories.

janejellyroll

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

:::sigh::: It says I need 1200 calories a day. I ate 2 eggs for breakfast, a banana for snack and 2 cups of stir fried veggies with rice and I have like 309 calories available for dinner. Any suggestions on 309 calorie dinner?

What did you choose for your weekly goal for weight loss?

People tend to get 1,200 when they choose an aggressive rate of loss (or when they're already really close to goal).

lionessncubsx3

I don't know. It says the 2 eggs were worth 109 calories, the banana was 105 and the stir fry was 677? It didn't ask what I put in the stir fry (red, yellow, orange & green peppers, water chestnuts, broccoli, cauliflower, and a sauce made of low sodium soy sauce, low sodium chicken broth, garlic, sesame seed oil, cornstarch and rice vinegar. But that sauce recipe made like 1.5 cups of sauce and thats all I put into a TON of vegetables and 2 cups of rice. I made a huge batch (my mother, my husband and I all ate it for dinner last night AND there was enough left over for 2 lunches) so I can't imagine that the sauce contributed that much to calories of rice and veggies?

lionessncubsx3

I dont remember a weekly goal. It asked how much I weigh now, how much I exercise etc. I'm already walking as much as I really can tbh. I dont move much at my job so at the end of the work day I have like 4500 steps. Been getting on the treadmill and getting to 10,000 in about an hour and a half. That's moving as fast as I can without actually running---which no one wants to see.

deannalfisher

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

I don't know. It says the 2 eggs were worth 109 calories, the banana was 105 and the stir fry was 677? It didn't ask what I put in the stir fry (red, yellow, orange & green peppers, water chestnuts, broccoli, cauliflower, and a sauce made of low sodium soy sauce, low sodium chicken broth, garlic, sesame seed oil, cornstarch and rice vinegar. But that sauce recipe made like 1.5 cups of sauce and thats all I put into a TON of vegetables and 2 cups of rice. I made a huge batch (my mother, my husband and I all ate it for dinner last night AND there was enough left over for 2 lunches) so I can't imagine that the sauce contributed that much to calories of rice and veggies?

that's because you used someone else's stirfry recipe - you can make your own recipe and save it for future reference which will help

lucerorojo

When on the 1200 calories per day, be extra careful with the sauces, oil, butter. A tablespoon of olive oil or butter (and it´s not that much) can add 100 calories to a dish. If divided by 3 people that´s not bad, but how much butter, olive oil, or some other sauce is there? Usually more than 1 tablespoon. Getting a non stick pan would be an easy way for your family to cut that down right there, or making more broiled, baked or grilled food that doesn´t need the sauces/butter/oil.

MaddMaestro

If you like pizza and cereal, just try to eat less of it. You're right that your life will revolve around food, but once you know how many calories are in x-amount of servings, you think about it less and less as you retrain yourself to eat smaller meals.

lisasimpsonfan1971

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

I like exercise. At least I did, until I kept running across the phrase "You can't outrun your fork". Is there even a point to exercise?

You can lose weight without exercise. It's just eating less calories then you use. But if you want to be healthy you need to exercise. It's just not about looking good but about improving your health and improving your life. I hated exercise but then I started on this journey and realized I wanted to be healthy not just lose weight. Plus if you exercise you can eat more.

vlnielsen519

Here's a good article on weighing from the MFP blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/dietitians-take-weighing-vs-measuring-portions/.

kimny72

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

I don't know. It says the 2 eggs were worth 109 calories, the banana was 105 and the stir fry was 677? It didn't ask what I put in the stir fry (red, yellow, orange & green peppers, water chestnuts, broccoli, cauliflower, and a sauce made of low sodium soy sauce, low sodium chicken broth, garlic, sesame seed oil, cornstarch and rice vinegar. But that sauce recipe made like 1.5 cups of sauce and thats all I put into a TON of vegetables and 2 cups of rice. I made a huge batch (my mother, my husband and I all ate it for dinner last night AND there was enough left over for 2 lunches) so I can't imagine that the sauce contributed that much to calories of rice and veggies?

You are using bad entries. Most average size eggs are @ 70 cals per whole egg. When you are starting out, you need to be a little detail oriented and it can be tedious, but you will start building up your own personal database of good entries in your Recent Foods lists. Check your entries to the packaging. And don't use recipe style entries in the database that you didn't create, as you noted, you don't really know what they put in. Create your own recipe logging each individual item or just log the individual items separately - rice, veg, chicken broth, oil. And you should only be logging what you ate tonight - if you used two cups of rice for the whole recipe, and you split it with two others, you ate less than 2 cups of rice yourself.

And while you are getting the hang of it, cut yourself some slack. Just get through the first month, once you learn, you will be set for the long haul.

kimny72

lionessncubsx3 wrote: »

I dont remember a weekly goal. It asked how much I weigh now, how much I exercise etc. I'm already walking as much as I really can tbh. I dont move much at my job so at the end of the work day I have like 4500 steps. Been getting on the treadmill and getting to 10,000 in about an hour and a half. That's moving as fast as I can without actually running---which no one wants to see.

And are you logging that treadmill time and eating back some of those calories? MFP gives you your calorie goal so that you will lose weight without exercise. They expect you to log exercise and eat back those calories

Tolamarie

I understand your anger. I also have felt anger that I must monitor what I eat if I want to feel better. I can no longer eat what I think I want and as much as I want.

The feelings you are having are a normal part of grieving for the loss of a way of life you have had until now. There are stages of grieving we pass through after experiencing a loss of anyone or anything we value. It can be as complex as the death of a family member or as simple as dropping a contact lens down the drain. The stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance of the loss. You can go back and forth through the stages. You are at the beginning and so it is normal to feel angry, but you will not always be angry. It will get better.

dawn_westbury

I had thyroid cancer too, totally removed along w several lymph nodes .. well if you’re happy eating pizza and cereal eat pizza and cereal .. just eat the amount that will still allow you to lose weight. I think (if I had to guess) the thought of having to actually think about what you’re doing (eating) rather than just doing (eating) it is overwhelming? That’s how it is for me, wake up and all of a sudden anxiety because you realize you’re trying to lose weight and can’t just eat.... you’re whole life is going to be about food no matter what, everyone NEEDS to eat, it’s having to “watch” what you eat that you’re worried will forever consume your life. But if you want to lose weight it’s something that has to be done! You can do it, start with doing that just a few times a week maybe ..