Advice / Guidance
Replies
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@rieraclaelin
Looking at my nutrition report for the last month, my daily iron intake averaged out at around 18.3mg. That is around 2.3 times the RDA, but still far less than the maximum threshold.
Here is the science.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for all age groups of men and postmenopausal women is 8 mg/day; the RDA for premenopausal women is 18 mg/day. The median dietary intake of iron is approximately 16 to 18 mg/day for men and 12 mg/day for women. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults is 45 mg/day of iron, a level based on gastrointestinal distress as an adverse effect.
So to cut the long story short, don't worry about this at all. Also, even if you DO pass a tolerable limit for a certain micronutrient, have in mind the following:
1. If you feel fine, don't worry about it. Only some people have acute symptoms, and the levels published are based on the lower range of tolerability, so that those people are protected. Sure, eating a whole Polar Bear liver is not a good idea for your health (1) - unless you are an Orca Whale, that is, but slightly going over your iron DRI is nothing to get anxious about.
2. Your body does not work in 24hr increments. One day rolls on into the next. If you eat over on Tuesday and under on Wednesday, you will be square on Friday.
Hope that helps!
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Thank you so much for the advice! I really appreciate it! ♥️2
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Hi gang!
I need some scale advice. Disclaimer this may have TMI.
I started my period again for the second time in two weeks. I have an endocrine disease that gives me insulin resistance and too much testosterone.
I have been limiting my carbs to under 30% per day so more protein and fat.
I have been at or a tiny under my daily calorie allotment of 1410.
But with my irregular periods, I’m literally afraid to step on the scale.
My question to you... would it be detrimental to my success if I weighed in only once a month?
I think seeing the scale go up and up while I’m eating 1410 calls or under per day will cause me to say forget the whole thing.
Thoughts? Advice?1 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »Hi gang!
I need some scale advice. Disclaimer this may have TMI.
I started my period again for the second time in two weeks. I have an endocrine disease that gives me insulin resistance and too much testosterone.
I have been limiting my carbs to under 30% per day so more protein and fat.
I have been at or a tiny under my daily calorie allotment of 1410.
But with my irregular periods, I’m literally afraid to step on the scale.
My question to you... would it be detrimental to my success if I weighed in only once a month?
I think seeing the scale go up and up while I’m eating 1410 calls or under per day will cause me to say forget the whole thing.
Thoughts? Advice?
You do you. If the daily scale numbers are freaking you out then don’t get on it daily. Personally I have to see it everyday and track my trends.
Once a month seems so far, maybe every other week? Though really it’s what works for you and your brain to stick with it!1 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »Hi gang!
I need some scale advice. Disclaimer this may have TMI.
I started my period again for the second time in two weeks. I have an endocrine disease that gives me insulin resistance and too much testosterone.
I have been limiting my carbs to under 30% per day so more protein and fat.
I have been at or a tiny under my daily calorie allotment of 1410.
But with my irregular periods, I’m literally afraid to step on the scale.
My question to you... would it be detrimental to my success if I weighed in only once a month?
I think seeing the scale go up and up while I’m eating 1410 calls or under per day will cause me to say forget the whole thing.
Thoughts? Advice?
It's all up to how your brain works. For me, if I don't weigh every day, I start to game the scale, eat differently the day before I weigh, etc. and that's silly and unnecessary stuff, which I can eliminate by just weighing every day and seeing what the number is. It's been interesting because I can watch it vary due to sodium intake and to doing heavy work that left me sore, and get a much better feeling how my body is working day to day. Sometimes I weigh at night and am starting to get a feeling for what my daily variance is (about two pounds). I didn't weigh this morning because I got up an hour early due to a mental health crisis (not mine) and had drunk a large glass of water before I thought about it. Eh, I'll get it tomorrow. No big deal.
If weighing daily will mess with your head, don't do it. I would say weigh every other week or every week, and see if you can be good with that. Give it a try, and see what works for you one way or the other. Every one of us is experimenting to see what works and is good and sustainable for us while we're on this journey, and sometimes it just takes trying stuff to see what works.2 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »Hi gang!
I need some scale advice. Disclaimer this may have TMI.
I started my period again for the second time in two weeks. I have an endocrine disease that gives me insulin resistance and too much testosterone.
I have been limiting my carbs to under 30% per day so more protein and fat.
I have been at or a tiny under my daily calorie allotment of 1410.
But with my irregular periods, I’m literally afraid to step on the scale.
My question to you... would it be detrimental to my success if I weighed in only once a month?
I think seeing the scale go up and up while I’m eating 1410 calls or under per day will cause me to say forget the whole thing.
Thoughts? Advice?
There are two schools of thought:
1) Weighing daily will eventually desensitize you to fluctuations and you will be able to be more objective. In addition, you won't be as likely to miss low weights.
2) Weighing more infrequently will teach you to trust the process. You will come to focus more on NSVs and other more meaningful forms of measurement. You run the risk of having a block of time be met with zero loss or a gain if you manage to retain water at the wrong time.
You aren't marrying the decision. You may change how you feel about things as time progresses. You can weigh monthly for a time and then try more frequently again. If monthly still works better for you, you can switch back. I weighed very infrequently in the beginning and as my confidence grew and my relationship with the scale improved I was able to weigh more often. That could happen to you, or it might not.
It also does not have to be only once a month. You are free to get creative with it because you are in charge. You can wait 30 days and then weigh daily for 3 or 4 days then wait another month before doing a few days of daily weighing again.
People lose weight without ever weighing at all. As long as you remain open to this being an educational process that will have hits and misses there is no reason to think it will be detrimental to your progress.
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FWIW - I do a hybrid of the two schools.
I keep two logs of my scale weights. One of them is a TDEE spreadsheet where I am being absolutely dogmatic about daily weigh-ins and careful counting of calories - I'm treating that sheet as a scientific experiment on myself. I can see how my body reacts to nutritional intact, overages, times when I'm under on calories, and I do that with full recognition that it is going to swing up and down. For example - last Thursday, I weighed 321. Two days later - 328. Today, 323.4... so I don't allow those numbers to be discouraging at all because I'm doing a second sheet that keeps track of my Wednesday morning weigh-ins only. That enables me to see the overall downward trend without all the fluctuations. I enter my Wednesday morning weights on MFP.
I opted for Wednesdays - because when were more social (thanks a lot Pandemic) we would spend time with friends and family Friday and Saturday evenings, and I tended to intake a bit more calories, so it took a couple of days for the real weight to re-establish.
That sheet is what I look at - if I see an increase trend in that sheet - then I adjust what I'm doing. Because that means the weekly average is on the up, particularly for a couple of weeks - then I need to make an adjustment to CICO.
The daily fluctuations are just what it is, I try not to pay too much attention to them with regards to adjusting the process - despite feeling a tiny punch in the gut when I got on the scale Saturday morning and saw that 7 pound swing. I knew it would swing back - but wasn't sure how long it would take.3 -
Thanks guys!!1
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Quick q for those of you who have TOM come visit!
My calories dipped recently and I'm having a lot of trouble sticking to them during TOM. I'm thinking about lowering my deficit to a 1-1.5lb loss just during this week of my cycle to give myself some more leeway. I'm cool with a slightly slower rate of loss but I was wondering if anyone had tested this out or had any thoughtful suggestions for me?1 -
emmyjaykay wrote: »Quick q for those of you who have TOM come visit!
My calories dipped recently and I'm having a lot of trouble sticking to them during TOM. I'm thinking about lowering my deficit to a 1-1.5lb loss just during this week of my cycle to give myself some more leeway. I'm cool with a slightly slower rate of loss but I was wondering if anyone had tested this out or had any thoughtful suggestions for me?
Personally I find it impossible to stay at my calorie goal the day before I start + the first day of my period. So those two days I shoot for maintenance calories instead. I haven't seen any noticeable difference in my loss rate by doing this and even if I did, I would keep doing it just for my own sanity. The hunger and cravings on those days are massive and weight loss is hard enough as it is, so I've chosen not to fight that fight.2 -
emmyjaykay wrote: »Quick q for those of you who have TOM come visit!
My calories dipped recently and I'm having a lot of trouble sticking to them during TOM. I'm thinking about lowering my deficit to a 1-1.5lb loss just during this week of my cycle to give myself some more leeway. I'm cool with a slightly slower rate of loss but I was wondering if anyone had tested this out or had any thoughtful suggestions for me?
This is exactly what I do. My “normal” rate is at 1.5 week I am during period week I said it up to .5. It’s been working great and hasn’t noticed noticeably affected my overall rate of loss and has made it much more sustainable.3 -
While I cannot comment from direct experience on TOM I have seen the same advice about lowering deficit or just eating at maintenance by many many successful losers on MFP.
Sustainable and miserable just do not mix. Miserable is sacrificing everything to hit a specific number day in and day out to lose weight at a specific rate. Sustainable means that the rate will be variable some weeks or even that a week might not have any losses at all. We aren't just trying to lose weight but learn how to effectively manage ourselves through the process to avoid misery and deprivation.
I do not know for sure but I would suspect there is a greater bodily energy requirement during TOM. It probably varies from woman to woman which is why some women never mention a struggle while others are white knuckling it if they try to stay at full deficit.
This is more than I ever wanted to comment on this subject...7 -
While I cannot comment from direct experience on TOM I have seen the same advice about lowering deficit or just eating at maintenance by many many successful losers on MFP.
Sustainable and miserable just do not mix. Miserable is sacrificing everything to hit a specific number day in and day out to lose weight at a specific rate. Sustainable means that the rate will be variable some weeks or even that a week might not have any losses at all. We aren't just trying to lose weight but learn how to effectively manage ourselves through the process to avoid misery and deprivation.
I do not know for sure but I would suspect there is a greater bodily energy requirement during TOM. It probably varies from woman to woman which is why some women never mention a struggle while others are white knuckling it if they try to stay at full deficit.
This is more than I ever wanted to comment on this subject...
And being a mostly-cis woman, I can say that I suspect that the degree of hormonal drop, and the degree to which women have inappropriately used food for comfort and as a panacea, are going to play into how TOM hits you when you're dieting. Habit's very strong, and if you're used to eating All The Chocolate every month, just deciding to change your habit isn't going to change that until you've dealt with it several times and established a new pattern.
I will add that a lot of us have a lot of undiagnosed gyn disorders, and that is going to definitely play into it. And then, of course, starting in our forties we start having the entire thing begin to shut down, and that is its own set of weirdness. I'm very bloated this month, to the point I am up a size in pants and my fingers are swollen. I am not normally bloated beforehand, but apparently we're trying it out this time. Who knows?
All we can do is just get more data and keep an eye on the long term and know that it will average out.1 -
AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »While I cannot comment from direct experience on TOM I have seen the same advice about lowering deficit or just eating at maintenance by many many successful losers on MFP.
Sustainable and miserable just do not mix. Miserable is sacrificing everything to hit a specific number day in and day out to lose weight at a specific rate. Sustainable means that the rate will be variable some weeks or even that a week might not have any losses at all. We aren't just trying to lose weight but learn how to effectively manage ourselves through the process to avoid misery and deprivation.
I do not know for sure but I would suspect there is a greater bodily energy requirement during TOM. It probably varies from woman to woman which is why some women never mention a struggle while others are white knuckling it if they try to stay at full deficit.
This is more than I ever wanted to comment on this subject...
And being a mostly-cis woman, I can say that I suspect that the degree of hormonal drop, and the degree to which women have inappropriately used food for comfort and as a panacea, are going to play into how TOM hits you when you're dieting. Habit's very strong, and if you're used to eating All The Chocolate every month, just deciding to change your habit isn't going to change that until you've dealt with it several times and established a new pattern.
I will add that a lot of us have a lot of undiagnosed gyn disorders, and that is going to definitely play into it. And then, of course, starting in our forties we start having the entire thing begin to shut down, and that is its own set of weirdness. I'm very bloated this month, to the point I am up a size in pants and my fingers are swollen. I am not normally bloated beforehand, but apparently we're trying it out this time. Who knows?
All we can do is just get more data and keep an eye on the long term and know that it will average out.
Yup; my body changes up on me a lot. When I was a teen/young adult, I skipped pretty badly, but things evened out in my 30's, and I've been regular for the last 10 years with the occasional blip. Course, it turns out I had been hypo thyroid for years, and its been so long now I can't really tell if the straightening out came with that diagnosis and medication or not.
And now that I'm entering my 40's things are changing, too. I don't go as long as I used to; nowadays, 3 to 4 days is pretty much it; when I was younger, I'd go 7 or 8 days. All summer, I was like clockwork, too - I'd count 28 days, back up 2 and be right on the money for about 4 months; then my body decided to change, and I was a week late. Then for a couple of months, it was 28 days on the dot. This month? 27 days. Can't just stay predictable at all!1 -
AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »While I cannot comment from direct experience on TOM I have seen the same advice about lowering deficit or just eating at maintenance by many many successful losers on MFP.
Sustainable and miserable just do not mix. Miserable is sacrificing everything to hit a specific number day in and day out to lose weight at a specific rate. Sustainable means that the rate will be variable some weeks or even that a week might not have any losses at all. We aren't just trying to lose weight but learn how to effectively manage ourselves through the process to avoid misery and deprivation.
I do not know for sure but I would suspect there is a greater bodily energy requirement during TOM. It probably varies from woman to woman which is why some women never mention a struggle while others are white knuckling it if they try to stay at full deficit.
This is more than I ever wanted to comment on this subject...
And being a mostly-cis woman, I can say that I suspect that the degree of hormonal drop, and the degree to which women have inappropriately used food for comfort and as a panacea, are going to play into how TOM hits you when you're dieting. Habit's very strong, and if you're used to eating All The Chocolate every month, just deciding to change your habit isn't going to change that until you've dealt with it several times and established a new pattern.
I will add that a lot of us have a lot of undiagnosed gyn disorders, and that is going to definitely play into it. And then, of course, starting in our forties we start having the entire thing begin to shut down, and that is its own set of weirdness. I'm very bloated this month, to the point I am up a size in pants and my fingers are swollen. I am not normally bloated beforehand, but apparently we're trying it out this time. Who knows?
All we can do is just get more data and keep an eye on the long term and know that it will average out.
Also the hormone changes caused by prolonged calorie deficit. It could be that if you add that into the rest of the mayhem it becomes too much for some. Eating maintenance even for a few days would give some relief even if the levels are not fully restored.
It is funny that the body does have a famine or starvation mode but it is definitely not the mythical starvation mode that says the body won't release fat.1 -
Help please! I need to know the minimum amount of calories I must have per day to be ok.
I’m at 972 Cals today and I’m just not hungry.
45, female, 5’1 283.2 lbs. sedentary I cannot figure out the calculators.1 -
You need to be eating at least 1200 calories a day to give your body enough fuel to function properly.....If you are doing any kind of exercise you should add a few calories to your day...1200 is the absolute minimum amount....1
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Thank you Connie1
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Today I am really struggling with swelling. My wedding ring is tight. I’m not sure where the water retention came from but how do I get rid of it?1
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_inHisGrace wrote: »Today I am really struggling with swelling. My wedding ring is tight. I’m not sure where the water retention came from but how do I get rid of it?
Force water consumption....the more you drink, the more you will go....elevate your feet and drink drink drink0 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »_inHisGrace wrote: »Today I am really struggling with swelling. My wedding ring is tight. I’m not sure where the water retention came from but how do I get rid of it?
Force water consumption....the more you drink, the more you will go....elevate your feet and drink drink drink
Drink water to get rid of water? I’ll try it!1 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »Today I am really struggling with swelling. My wedding ring is tight. I’m not sure where the water retention came from but how do I get rid of it?
I agree with #conniewilkins and I will also drink dandelion tea when the swelling gets uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it really works or just coincidence...but it feels like it helps.
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Tea iced or hot helps , too!1
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I also heard that eating a banana helps with the swelling from water retention, too! Or, well, eating more potassium helps with it, I should say2
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_inHisGrace wrote: »Help please! I need to know the minimum amount of calories I must have per day to be ok.
I’m at 972 Cals today and I’m just not hungry.
45, female, 5’1 283.2 lbs. sedentary I cannot figure out the calculators.
@_inHisGrace
There is no set minimum for a day. In fact, you could not eat anything at all for a day.
However, there are a couple of potential gotchas.
1) Energy management - you could end up fatigued today or tomorrow.
2) NEAT suppression - related to one but you may also not burn as many calories when you eat less
3) Hunger management - you could end up ravenous tomorrow.
@conniewilkins56 is right that your absolute basement bottom needs to be 1200 without a doctor's okay and monitoring but it is an average of 1200. So if you eat 1000 calories today and 1400 calories tomorrow your average is 1200. Over the course of a month or more your true basement needs to be close to your assigned or calculated calorie goal.
While I still had more to lose I had many low hunger days and I ate below my goal. I watched my 7 day average and if it was getting too low I simply ate something calorie dense. This was often pizza day.
I learned through trial and error not to allow myself to have two very low days in a row so I did force a minimum the second day.
I also learned that energy management is not as easy when you get closer to goal so I do not, unless I am sick, allow low calorie days anymore. That is not an issue since I never have low hunger days anymore.
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@NovusDies thank you for this. My appetite is back lol
I have such a hard time understanding neat and tdee.1 -
I’m working on figuring out what my long term weight loss goals look like.
I have been obese since I was 12 years old. I’m 45 now.
This time around I’m looking at this day by day. Sometimes minute by minute.
I have disordered eating and food is my drug of choice.
I’m not sure about my goal weight anymore. I thought it was 125 but now I look at the weight charts and I am supposed to be like 105-110.
It’s unmanageable for me to think I have so much weight to lose.
Is it wrong to not make long term goals at this point?2 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »I’m working on figuring out what my long term weight loss goals look like.
I have been obese since I was 12 years old. I’m 45 now.
This time around I’m looking at this day by day. Sometimes minute by minute.
I have disordered eating and food is my drug of choice.
I’m not sure about my goal weight anymore. I thought it was 125 but now I look at the weight charts and I am supposed to be like 105-110.
It’s unmanageable for me to think I have so much weight to lose.
Is it wrong to not make long term goals at this point?
I didn’t even think about long term goals until very recently....my long term goal was to just get thru one more day!...I didn’t do any exercise until this past summer after I had been on MFP for over a year....my recommended weight is around 155 to 165 and I have no intention of getting that low....I want to get under 200 and that is my focus....I do not want to have excess skin removed so I think around 190 to 195 is pretty reasonable for me not to look like I am in someone else’s skin!...I want to feel comfortable!....you are too short that is the problem lol....hugs!3 -
Lol I agree!! I am too short!!!2
Be sustainable! I want to be healthy 10 years from now, not just 10 days from now.
