Balancing weight loss and low energy, mental health

sarko15

Sharing this here because sometimes I find commenters on the other boards to be kind of snarky and I'm hoping the motivation board will be a bit kinder.

After a job change that caused a lot of anxiety (and overeating), I've gained a few pounds. I have never had a lot to lose, but I would personally like to get safely in the "healthy" range and evaluate my previous eating patterns and gently coach myself back into order. I recognize that my story and journey is very different than those who have much more to lose, and I have a lot of privilege in this way.

TDEEcalculator.net says my "ideal" weight is 115-125 on my 5'3" frame, but that's never been sustainable for me--I've been there, but I was just the opposite of healthy as in it took seriously disordered eating and overexercising to get there. The joys of a perfectionist personality! I'm recovered from that (as much as I can be) but I will have to always be careful.

I'm hoping to drop from 147 to 130 or 133, where I've been most of my grown life. I know with my desk job I'm sedentary, no matter how active I am after work, but eating 1200 calories (what MFP recommends for a 1 lb loss a week) seems so low on my 2-3 weekly rest days, and I'm almost always hungry with slightly low blood sugar in those evenings. Gym days I tend to feel fine, as I eat back my calories.

I guess what I'm saying is I feel better eating at 1500-1700 calories whether I exercise or not, but I know that's barely a deficit and while I'm not here to rush, some regular progress would feel nice. I have to be really really mindful of what's triggering and making sure that I'm in touch with how I'm feeling despite the big red numbers on my MFP dash. Though I also know that going from eating 2200 calories a day and gaining to 1200 calories a day and losing is going to be an adjustment. For the sake of my own mental health eating intuitively is important, but sometimes I think I just need to recalibrate what's intuitive because right now after a particularly stressful day my intuition tells me to eat, eat, eat. Which is kind of my problem with people telling me that I shouldn't be doing this given my history, but I also know that disordered eating takes many different forms.

Does anyone have any thoughts on having low energy in the evenings when just starting out? Did it come back up after your body started getting used to your deficit? How have you been gentle with yourself in the beginning?

Fflpnari

I have low energy now. I have a fitbit and try to use that to encourage myself to move. Do you know what you tdee is? Maybe try a smaller deficit. if you eat 1700 cals a day will you still lose? Are you setting yurself up for long term success by doing that? This isnt a quick fix, but should be a healthy lifestyle. I personally have a 700 cal deficit with exercise included. It leaves me a good amount of calories. I also have a history of an eating disorder so I find these work for me. Find what works for me

sarko15

Fflpnari wrote: »

I have low energy now. I have a fitbit and try to use that to encourage myself to move. Do you know what you tdee is? Maybe try a smaller deficit. if you eat 1700 cals a day will you still lose? Are you setting yurself up for long term success by doing that? This isnt a quick fix, but should be a healthy lifestyle. I personally have a 700 cal deficit with exercise included. It leaves me a good amount of calories. I also have a history of an eating disorder so I find these work for me. Find what works for me

1657 is maintenance for me, apparently. I'm sure the 1200 number is simply because you should never go lower than that. I also have a Fitbit and it says my daily calories are anywhere from 2100-2300 but I have heard they run high. I regularly walk over 10,000 steps even on rest days even though I sit most of the day. I just wonder if I eat at what they say is my maintenance level, does that mean I'll stay overweight or lose some? So many variables.

kimny72

What do you have your weekly weight loss goal set at? With so little to lose, and being on the shorter side, 1 lb might simply be unrealistic. Unfortunately, 0.5lbs per requires faith in the process and patience, because it is really easy for 0.5lbs to hide behind water weight fluctuations, even for weeks.

I'm 5'4 and had @ 20 lbs to lose, and 1200 was simply not an option, I feel hungry and fatigued under 1500 cals. I ended up losing only 1 or 2 lbs a month, which was excruciatingly slow but better than quitting!

Another option is to find ways to increase your day to day activity. Add in a short walk whenever you can, do some kind of mild activity on your rest days, etc. You might also save 100 of your exercise cals to use on your rest days to even out the hills and valleys a little.

Regardless of what calories you choose, my tips for a shorty trying to lose the last few lbs, which all helped me greatly:

Use a food scale for every single darn thing that passes your lips, whenever possible.
Play around with meal timing to see if eating more meals/less meals, more cals AM/more cals PM, etc might help.
Check out your numbers and see if you are falling consistently short on either protein, fat, or fiber. All of these can help with satiety, so keeping them all at decent levels can help.

ETA based on your last post: If you are getting 10,000 steps even on your rest days, you are NOT sedentary. 1200 is definitely too little. Try lightly active

Elfinnyx

Agreed that you should try setting your activity level to lightly active if you're getting 10000 steps in even on rest days. I would also say try going for 1/2lbs a week loss. I'm 5'5" and had 12lbs to lose, also have a history of eating disorders and over exercise, so went for 1/2lbs a week to avoid the risk of seriously restricting and falling back into old habits. I was eating around 1500-1600 cals a day and ended up losing between 1/2-1lb a week. It was slow progress, but I had more energy. I also used measurements because toning up meant those changed more noticeably. I tried to only step on the scale every 2 weeks in the hope of seeing more of a change.

I found it helped to plan what I was going to eat and log in advance, at least for meals, because it took some of the thinking out of it. I could still eat intuitively in terms of timing, but I'd already decided what I was going to eat. Of course that comes down to what works for you. I second having a look at your numbers, particularly the protein/fat/fiber, for me increasing my protein intake massively improved my energy levels and I didn't feel nearly as hungry.

Try to focus on making the changes, not the number on the scale. I know, much easier said than done! I found that when I was focusing on getting my exercise in/meeting my calorie goal/meeting my protein goal, it was easier to stick to plan and not be thrown off by slow weight loss or even temporary water weight gain.

jgnatca

The low energy likely is from a too aggressive calorie goal. If you feel best eating at least 1500 calories and you are getting steps in daily, that might be your sweet spot.

I think food is your answer but if you want to try some vitamins, vitamin D and B12 helped me boost my energy the most. You could also check if you are low on iron.

New_Heavens_Earth

We have the exact same stats (5'3", 147 lbs). I've already lost alot, from 208 to 137, but regained 10. Now I'm working on getting to 125. My goal is 1370 calories per day for .5 lb a week. I also usually average 1500 to 1700 calories and lose slowly, even with a lot of activity (about 15000 to 20000 steps per day).

If you're always hungry or low on energy try adjusting your meal timing or your calorie goal. 1200 was not right for me.