Hi! Day 7. Need advice- hungry all the time. Vegetarian, into nutrition and cooking.

speaktothequeen1

(This was also posted in the discussion "1200 calories.) Today is day 7 for me. So myfitnesspal, because I am 55 and my metabolism is slower and I want to lose 1.5 lbs. a week said 1200 calories a day. You DON'T have to be malnourished at this caloric intake but you are going to have to know a lot about nutrition and be willing to eat a ton of bulky, low calorie vegetables like Swiss chard and cauliflower and include superfoods in your diet every day.

The very first day of the diet I made a casserole with cooked brown rice noodles placed in a lightly oiled glass dish topped with Indian seasoned cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, onion and fresh ginger. It took me a while to figure out the nutrition and calories in the dish but it was only 275 calories for a good size serving- about 5" x 4" and 3" tall- similar in size to a portion of lasagna. I forgot to add Tempeh (fermented soybeans) as I had intended so it was pretty low protein! I made sure to have a boiled egg or fat free organic Greek yogurt with fruit and a few chopped up nuts. I am cooking a lot and choosing things with great flavor and using lots of dried herbs and spices such as basil, oregano and cumin. I am also using small amounts of siracha, tamari, and Torchy's Diablo suace and counting those small caloric additions too. No sacrifice of flavor! I also swear by Beast Burgers (I am vegetarian) which are delicious. They are not low cal but they have tons of protein.

I found the crazy low calorie goal and how hard it was to achieve made me really motivated to exercise. Once I started exercising I had enough calories to mix a tablespoon of coconut oil in my morning meal and/or have a whole small avocado with a squeeze of lime juice later in the day. Healthy fats speed metabolism and create a feeling of fullness, although they should not be overdone.

I was completely out of shape and in the last four days I walked 2 miles, 2.1 miles, did 40 minutes of Pilates out of a book (probably 25-30 minutes of exercise if I knew the routine well), and today walked 2.8 miles. Even with "buying" the extra calories through exercise, I have only met my net calorie goal one time. But I have only generally been about 100 calories over except for today when I was WAY over. I think the Pilates, which made me sweat, and todays's long walk (at least it was long for me) has my body going crazy. I am famished. I was out and had a Juiceland medium smoothie, a Soul Boulder, around 6 PM, but of course smoothies are easy to digest and are gone relatively quickly. I got home feeling very hungry and just had an Amy's individual pizza and a 5 oz pour of red wine at 9 PM. I tried the trick of drinking a glass of water 15 minutes before dinner and I cut the Amy's pizza in half, intending to only eat half, but after eating half and waiting 5-10 minutes I was still famished and ate the other half.

So today my net calories are way over. I basically had supper twice. I am in this for the long haul and I am not worried about today as long as this does not happen often. I had planned to have a cheat meal once a week anyways. I am still almost always eating really clean (the 7 oz. vegetarian pizza and glass of wine are by far the naughtiest things I have had, and the first alcoholic beverage I have had in a week). I am still eating about half of what I ate before. Gone are apple pie, chocolate bars, cinnamon rolls, chocolate cake, biscuits, home fries, eggs Benedict, queso and chips, margaritas...the list of naughty foods I have said Ciao to goes on and on. I was eating whole bags of chips a couple of nights a week. Not the little bags, either. So overall I am pleased. I am hungry a lot of the time. I am looking forward to having a new set point and my stomach shrinking and feeling satisfied with more of my meals. It is taking a huge amount of willpower to do this and I am proud of my accomplishments overall.

kommodevaran

You might be attacking this completely wrong. Weightloss is not supposed to make you more hungry - your deficit is taken from your fat stores, your body is designed to do this, and it does on a smaller scale every day in maintenance too. If you undereat, however, your fat stores can't keep up, and you feel hungry.

You'll have greater chance of success if you rely on good habits and not willpower.

It feels good to feel proud, but that feeling wears off when you've been tired and hungry long enough. A more senisble goal is to eat and exercise in a way that makes you feel snug. Not smug.

Set point is bunk and your stomach is elastic, it doesn't shrink. You can't undereat for long. You can however become used to just the right amount of food.

Your metabolism is fine. You definitely don't speed it up with avocado. Weight gain and failing to lose weight is up to eating more than you need, eating more than you think, over time, being more sedentary than before, unrealistic weightloss expectations, impatience.

Superfood is bunk. Eat a balanced and varied diet.