What am I doing wrong this time....?

Honeyacid

I've been taking everyone's advice regarding to diet and exercise by trying to hit 1200 calories per day, and I've been doing 30 minutes - 1 hour of exercise per day (30 minutes of jogging/cardio and 20 minutes of a workout video(mainly abs) and sometimes 10 minutes of weight lifting). However, for the past few days I've been having extreme hunger and nausea. I tried eating some eggs to get some protein in hopes that I'd feel full, but my stomach rejected it and I didn't really even have a taste for it. In addition, I also tried to drink a lot of water thinking that It'd curb my appetite, but to no avail. Furthermore, I had a huge craving for sugar, from like fruits for some reason. Due to this, today I binged on a heap of oatmeal and nuts(a LOT of ALmonds and a few walnuts , but also a LOT of OATMEAL), gluten free pancakes (and syrup) , peanut butter and even fruit. I also had a little bit of okra and white rice unfortunately. I'm pretty sure that I ate around 2000+ calories, but I oddly don't feel as bad as I did during my previous binges months ago. And although I feel somewhat out of control, I'm determined to succeed this time .
So, my question is, what exactly am I doing wrong? I really want to lose weight in a healthy way this time and I'm willing to take any sensible advice.

kimny72

I feel pretty confident no one here advised you to "try" to eat 1200 cals while working out for an hour every day.

You binged because you are under eating.

You should eat at LEAST 1200 cals, PLUS log your exercise and eat back those calories.

Please get help.

Emmapatterson1729

Agree with above comments. Eating too low of calories combined with exercise is dangerous.

Put in a realistic weight loss goal (I try to set mine in the middle, I think I have mine set at a 1lb loss a week, slightly active, and it gives me 1689 to eat daily). Set honest activity level, hit calorie goal and eat back most exercise calories.

Eating that low and exercising is not healthy, I thought the same thing until I developed heart failure from doing this. I felt healthy and fine until waking up with 100 lb gain of water weight with deformed body and couldn't breathe. When your binge sounds healthier than a typical day, there's a red flagged problem.

FarahRahamtullah

Hey I am on a similar path as you... I am also eating 1200 cals a day but my workout is limited to walking outside. I started with walking one mile and in 12 days have been able to work up to 3 miles a day. But it's true if your body is feeling like you need to binge you're not eating enough. The thing that's helping me is, i have created a "cheat day" one a week to eat whatever I craved all week. I would write it down and on my cheat day I would include those in my meals and I want upto 1700 cals. So basically the unhealthy stuff like ice cream or chips I'll have very little where it's only between 100 to 180 cals as a snack on that day. So far I've lost 7 lbs - 5 inches from the waist.

FarahRahamtullah

Depends on my hunger level
Breakfast - Black coffee everyday is a must!
Sometimes I have a dragonfruit (superfood)
Sometimes its eggwhites
Some mornings when I have no self control I've had an ice cream sandwich (160 cals) that's the highest cal BF
Snack - clementines (35 cals)
Snack - yogurt
Snack - Quaker Rice Cake (35 cals per cake) (sometimes I add .5TBSP of Nutella)
Snack (Protein shake 230 cals)
Lunch - Carb Control Tortilla wrap with Shrimp and Mozzarella cheese little bit of taco seasoning
Snack - steamed and Mashed cauliflower with buttermilk ranch SEASONİNG (it tastes just like mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives.) Only 55 cals per cup
Dinner - Bell Pepper stuffed with shrimp and Quinoa with dried herbs.

There's all kinds of food i experiment with! Feel free to add me as a friend to view my diary.

Emmapatterson1729

Sedentary is meant for people in wheel chairs, bed ridden, desk job sitting literally all day going home and plopping down in front of tv until bed.

Slightly active is up moving around a little. Household chores even. So this doesn't include my exercise, it's a lifestyle setting.

I try to do 25 minutes of light cardio and 15-20 minutes of light strength focusing on core and arms, 3-4 days a week.

But when I do exercise, I eat most of the calories back.

When my heart failed at 25 years old, I was coming in around 1100 most days, and would walk 3-9 miles daily, or aerobics, and/or calisthenics.

My story in more detail is under this forum, thread called "Under 1200 for weight loss."

It was living through a nightmare, I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I had no idea, eating low calorie and exercising would lead to 100 lb gain of water weight, body deformities, and life long health issues. I felt healthy and just wasn't that hungry.

Now, when not hungry and sitting at 1100, I force myself to get at minimum another 300 calories. Couple of servings of nuts, peanut butters, egg with cheese and olive oil...

These low calorie diets are not practical for long term maintenance, screw with hormones and metabolism, can cause heart failure or death. It's just not worth the risks. I wish someone had warned me this was even a possibility.

phx92

It sounds like you need to eat more, and try to do that consistently. If you have the discipline to stick to 1200 for a few days, you can probably also stick to 1500 (or whatever your mfp calorie goal is) and you might rebound less if you don’t restrict as much. I’ve also found sometimes it’s better to give in to a craving and go a little over for a day (ex craving fruit but being out of calories, have some grapes or melon or something) than to restrict and go overboard a couple days later. Or if I crave something really badly, and try to compromise with another snack, and end up just eating a ton of other things bc I never ate what my body needed/wanted.

lgfrie

I've been following your posts though not commenting on them as much as others.

It's good that you're trying to do things right, but you need to make some further adjustments.

If you're doing an hr of cardio, that's around 400 calories of burn. Eating 1200 cals, you have thus netted 800 calories for the day. That is why you feel sick. 800 is nowhere near enough to fuel your system, so it is starting to malfunction. Nowhere. Near. Enough. Calories. You are harming your body.

That 1200 everyone always talks about is the rock-bottom, bare minimum, and that is net calories, meaning you have to eat 1200 plus any exercise calories. If you want to "ignore" your exercise calories then you need a number like 1500-1600.

You have GOT to start eating more food or you are going to land not on the MFP boards but in the ER. Take your pick, 1500-1600 calories, or 1200 and log and eat every calorie of exercise.

As far as feeling like you're teetering on a binge, please go get yourself some real food. You can still eat the eggs and okra and gluten-free whatever if you want, but go get yourself some cold cuts and a nice roll, or some pizza, or something else filling and real. At 1500 you can even work in a candy bar. One small candy bar, not a bag of them LOL

You've got to get past this torture-or-binge mindset. Really. I've been reading all your posts, and the problem is just so clear. You're either torturing yourself with concentration camp rations or binging. That is the whole problem. You need to learn to hit a pleasant mid point where you're eating a healthy amount of calories. Please go have one 1500 calorie day, precisely measured, with REAL food, not egg whites and quinoia, but actual foods that humans want to eat. Use real mayo. Have a piece of steak. Whatever you want, just in small portions. Just get one day under your belt of trying this and come back and post and let us know how it went.

BarbaraHelen2013

Honeyacid wrote: »

I've been taking everyone's advice regarding to diet and exercise by trying to hit 1200 calories per day, and I've been doing 30 minutes - 1 hour of exercise per day (30 minutes of jogging/cardio and 20 minutes of a workout video(mainly abs) and sometimes 10 minutes of weight lifting). However, for the past few days I've been having extreme hunger and nausea. I tried eating some eggs to get some protein in hopes that I'd feel full, but my stomach rejected it and I didn't really even have a taste for it. In addition, I also tried to drink a lot of water thinking that It'd curb my appetite, but to no avail. Furthermore, I had a huge craving for sugar, from like fruits for some reason. Due to this, today I binged on a heap of oatmeal and nuts(a LOT of ALmonds and a few walnuts , but also a LOT of OATMEAL), gluten free pancakes (and syrup) , peanut butter and even fruit. I also had a little bit of okra and white rice unfortunately. I'm pretty sure that I ate around 2000+ calories, but I oddly don't feel as bad as I did during my previous binges months ago. And although I feel somewhat out of control, I'm determined to succeed this time .
So, my question is, what exactly am I doing wrong? I really want to lose weight in a healthy way this time and I'm willing to take any sensible advice.

The bit I’ve bolded in your post confuses me a bit.

You say you had a craving for fruit yet you ate lots of things that aren’t fruit instead of satisfying that craving with fruit - apart from where you say ‘and even fruit’ as if that might be a last ditch attempt to satisfy your craving. Have you picked up an idea somewhere that the sugar in fruit is ‘bad’?

It’s not...unless you have a medical reason to avoid dietary sugar (such as diabetes). Far better and healthier in so many ways to eat fruit than try and sublimate the craving by eating a bunch of other stuff.

alung2k3

It can be over complicated. Just stick to the goals set by MFP and use a digital scale to remain accurate. I've lost over 5 stone just doing that.