Is this too ambitious

vilyda123

Hi. I'm 5'3" and 240 lbs, hypothyroid but we'll controlled and pre-diabetic. I have had a lot of false starts. I need to lose weight for my sanity and my health. If i set my goal at 2lbs per week, it goes to 1200 calories. But when I set it for 2.5 or 1 lb a week I feel like there is too much room for me to stray and I go off on a tangent and give up. I'm contemplating reducing carbs to 100 a day because they are my weakness. Please give me some advice on how to proceed.

andysport1

Wow reduce carbs to a 100g, crickey how many do you normally consume ?
Maybe a complete change would be good, take a look at low carb high fat way of eating or keto as that’s seems even better at curbing cravings.

I’m 5’10” and very active my upper limit for carbs would be 100g to maintain weight, a lot less if I wanted to lose weight.

vilyda123

Actually MFP recommends I have 150 grams of carbs a day on a 1200 calorie plan.

seska422

Don't change more than you have to change. All that you need to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. Make things as easy and comfortable for yourself as possible.

Start from your comfort zone and make small, sustainable changes that you can stick to forever. Log your normal way of eating for a couple of weeks to collect some data. You can then look back through to see where you might reduce your portions and/or make satisfying substitutions. Use your weight loss time to experiment and practice how you plan to eat when you reach maintenance.

Losing slowly over time results in weight loss. Giving up doesn't result in weight loss.

lorrpb

If carbs are your weakness, limiting them to 150 will likely be challenging enough. Set yourself up for success by taking smaller steps that you can stay with.

try2again

Do you think you're more likely to stray with a few hundred extra calories to work with or after trying to hit 1200 week in and week out? That said, I'm really not sure about your situation. Most people at 240 would want to pursue a 2 lb/week loss, and if you have immediate health concerns all the more so. But if someone had told me I could only have 1200 calories a week when I started, I don't think it would have gone well. Many can and have done it, though. You know yourself... would you be able to stick with 1200, or would you be more likely to stick with it if your allowance was less restrictive? As for the carb thing, I think if you go with a 1200 calorie diet, that will be limiting enough in itself. You will likely find yourself passing on empty carbs in favor of more filling choices, or foods that allow you to have greater volume. But I consider oatmeal and my 150 calorie high-fiber pasta my friends What is satiating can be highly individual and will likely require some experimentation on your part. Wish you well.

NetiOne

I've had my share of false starts so I get it. Don't give up because -you got this. It's a marathon and not a sprint. Personally I think you may want to start with 1400 cals a day and add a little exercise. You may have to resort to 1200 cals at some point but hold that until you are closer to your goal and need to kick it into overdrive. For excersize I recommend: cardio for 30 minutes (5 min warm up/20 min target rate/5 min cool down) * 3 days, along with a 1 hour yoga or stretch class * 2 per week. Also, eat 5-6 smaller meals/snacks throughout the day rather then larger meals and at a minimum drink 8 glasses of water. Let me know how things go. I'm betting you will loose 2 - 2.5 lbs a week.

try2again

Regardless of the calorie allowance you end up going with, focus on accuracy in your logging (there are stickies about this at the top of the Getting Started and General Diet & Weight Loss sections) and eat back a portion of any calories earned through intentional exercise (even though MFP asks about your workout goals during set-up, it doesn't factor this into your calorie allowance).

Firefly0606

Carbs aren't magic. Reducing them isn't going to make you lose weight faster. Carbs are also not evil. They don't have any power over you, you are not weak to the power of carbs - often when people over restrict they experience cravings. If you are over restricting carbs, or calories in general, your body tells you what it needs.

So yes, it's too ambitious. Set your calories at maintenance, minus 10-15%.

At 240lbs, your current maintenance amount is likely to be over 2000 calories. Reduce by 15% and you're looking at about 1700 calories.

Set your calories too low and you will lose weight to start, get tired, lose "will power" and end up back where you started --usually plus some.

I get your frustration - you want it all gone NOW! But it's up to you what kind of journey you want and the options seem to usually fall in to two categories for people - Fast and really hard to maintain, or slow and steady and better success rate in maintenance.

try2again

NetiOne wrote: »

I've had my share of false starts so I get it. Don't give up because -you got this. It's a marathon and not a sprint. Personally I think you may want to start with 1400 cals a day and add a little exercise. You may have to resort to 1200 cals at some point but hold that until you are closer to your goal and need to kick it into overdrive. For excersize I recommend: cardio for 30 minutes (5 min warm up/20 min target rate/5 min cool down) * 3 days, along with a 1 hour yoga or stretch class * 2 per week. Also, eat 5-6 smaller meals/snacks throughout the day rather then larger meals and at a minimum drink 8 glasses of water. Let me know how things go. I'm betting you will loose 2 - 2.5 lbs a week.

Agree that it's nice if we can hold off on the ultra-low calorie allowance until later in the game, but exercise & meal spacing are up to you. Grazing keeps me thinking about food all day, so 3 larger meals that allow me to feel full work better for me and some others. Some also benefit from intermittent fasting, where they hold off eating altogether until later in the day. Again, these are things you'll learn about yourself as you go along.

jackiehauer24

2 lbs a week seems okay if you have a lot of weight to lose.

Personally, I've had a lot of luck with the keto diet, so I recommend you research it and see if it's something you'd be interested in trying if you're looking to lose a bunch of weight. There's a lot of people that have tried it and loved it (myself included), so I thought I'd mention it to you. I LOVE carbs too, so when my coworker introduced me to keto, I thought she was crazy. Surprisingly though, restricting carbs via keto hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. After limiting my carbs, I found that I stopped craving them as intensely as I have in the past. I didn't have a lot of weight to lose, so I dropped a pound every 1.5-2 weeks, but I've heard a lot of people have lost a bunch of weight pretty quickly (water weight) then a pretty steady 1-2 lbs a week. Personally, the diet has been successful for me because the foods you eat keep you satiated for longer periods, and you don't eat as much (because everything is so filling). On a regular low fat diet, I found myself struggling to stay under 1400 cal, but with keto, I have the opposite problem of struggling to eat _enough_ to hit my macros. The main idea for keto is high fat, moderate protein, and low carb (20-50g). Basically, eating more wholesome foods and taking out all the unnecessary sugars that are basically added in everything we eat in foods in the US. Keto is pretty contrary to basically we've learned in the past decade or so about health, but I suggest researching it. Let me know if you have any questions

amusedmonkey

andysport1 wrote: »

Wow reduce carbs to a 100g, crickey how many do you normally consume ?
Maybe a complete change would be good, take a look at low carb high fat way of eating or keto as that’s seems even better at curbing cravings.

I’m 5’10” and very active my upper limit for carbs would be 100g to maintain weight, a lot less if I wanted to lose weight.

I have lost a lot of weight consuming more than twice that much carbs and did not change my diet much. Carbs are a personal preference.

To OP: Why are you afraid to stray if you eat higher than 1200 calories? While at your weight it's safe to lose 2 lbs a week, if you wish to lose slower and eat more it should be okay. Being afraid to stray indicates you tend to restrict too much, so no wonder you end up taking the opportunity to overindulge whenever you have a little more room. Maybe consider looking at your mindset around eating and learning to cultivate a more relaxed mindset around food, slowly learning what kind of eating feels easier and more pleasant while still being able to control calories. Some people achieve that equilibrium with low carb and some don't.

Don't narrowly focus on things like "I need to eat diet foods", "I need to restrict carbs", "food X is forbidden"...etc. These are temporary measures and willpower is fleeting. Focus more on things like "is this making dieting easier for me?", "do I see doing this long term even when I lose motivation?", "is turning this into a habit possible, does forming this habit take a reasonable amount of energy to where it's worth it?"...and so on. This way you will get to figure out a way of eating that works for you without limiting yourself to a pre-set non-customized set of rules.

fighting2bfit89

Also make sure you are drinking plenty of water. I'm going to add you as a friend.

quiksylver296

seska422 wrote: »

Don't change more than you have to change. All that you need to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. Make things as easy and comfortable for yourself as possible.

Start from your comfort zone and make small, sustainable changes that you can stick to forever. Log your normal way of eating for a couple of weeks to collect some data. You can then look back through to see where you might reduce your portions and/or make satisfying substitutions. Use your weight loss time to experiment and practice how you plan to eat when you reach maintenance.

Losing slowly over time results in weight loss. Giving up doesn't result in weight loss.

This^^

leggup

What's your goal weight? I put your numbers in another calorie counter and it says that to lose 1-2 lbs a week you need to net 1600 to 1800. Double check your numbers.

AnnPT77

seska422 wrote: »

Don't change more than you have to change. All that you need to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body uses. Make things as easy and comfortable for yourself as possible.

Start from your comfort zone and make small, sustainable changes that you can stick to forever. Log your normal way of eating for a couple of weeks to collect some data. You can then look back through to see where you might reduce your portions and/or make satisfying substitutions. Use your weight loss time to experiment and practice how you plan to eat when you reach maintenance.

Losing slowly over time results in weight loss. Giving up doesn't result in weight loss.

I have given the above advice to quite a few people, but never so clearly and succinctly.

I endorse this advice (. . . from the perspective of my 2nd, creeping up on 3rd, year of maintaining a healthy weight after losing about 1/3 of my bodyweight, BTW).

vilyda123

My goal is 150.

kimny72

OP, if someone else mentioned it I missed it, but if mfp is giving you 1200, that's 1200 + exercise.

Usually over restricting hurts compliance, not helps. But you know you better than anyone else. I'm also a big fan of small incremental changes. Many people quit because they make huge changes and cut out all their fave foods, then they hit a wall when that first jolt of motivation fades and their body begs for a break. Obviously health concerns play a factor there though.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

dwilliamca

I am older, 63, 5'6, and started around 200 pounds. I want to lose 2 pounds per week, but at 1200 calories I'm only at a deficit of 600 calories. I try to do a little exercise every day like aerobics or yoga, or sometimes just an activity like cleaning or yardwork. That gives me about 250 extra calories above my normal sedentary numbers. I use these calories to add to my deficit and as a buffer. This way if I'm hungry one evening and have already gone over 1200, I still have 250 calories to play with, otherwise it goes to my weight loss. I typically eat less than 100 of those calories back, but almost always eat the 1200 calories. This is my 2nd month (this time around...another story) and I'm losing 2 lbs./week doing it this way. As for the carbs I find I naturally only eat about 100 grams/day now that I don't eat sugar and watch my amounts on white carbs. This of course makes my fats go up. I just changed my percentages to 45%/35%/20% but it is not in stone, and I don't worry much about the macros. Ironically today I ended up higher in carb and lower in fat. I'm more concerned that I keep protein at 20% and my micronutrients balanced.