How am I supposed to eat so much?
meharmahshahid
Posts: 107 Member
So guys, as some of you may know, I am 18, 5'5, and weigh around 139 lb. Up until now, I had been eating 1200 calories daily, even less than that. I realised that it may be too low, so I decided to go to 1400. Firstly, is that the right choice, or should I go to 1300? Secondly, it is absolutely exhausting for me to eat 1400 calories in a day, like, seriously... I try to eat all during a 4-7 hour period, and prefer not to snack in between, keeping it to 2 big meals. Can someone tell any high calories but LOW CARB foods that I can include in my meals
This is what my day one of 1400 calories looks like...
AND I HAVEN'T EVEN SUBTRACTED MY EXERCISE CALORIES YET
This is what my day one of 1400 calories looks like...
AND I HAVEN'T EVEN SUBTRACTED MY EXERCISE CALORIES YET
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Replies
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Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?3 -
What does MFP tell you to eat? Instead of eating 1200 then 'deciding to go to' 1400 then wondering if you 'should go to' 1300, go to Home - Goals - Guided Set Up and enter your info. Make sure that what you select as your activity level is based on what your day normally looks like without intentional exercise. Select your goal. MFP will tell you how many calories to eat to achieve your goal.
More importantly, what is your goal? You are already a very healthy weight so I really hope you're not trying to lose. If you are trying to lose a little (vanity pounds), your Goal should not be set to anything higher than 0.5 lb a week. If you're set to maintain and you're just toning up, that's good but you're not clear.
As for high cal, low carb - drizzle oil into your salad, use it in your cooking, eat nuts, eat cheese. But is there a reason why you specifically want low carb foods when you've only eaten 78g today, according to your diary?
One point to note - you're using ounces for some of your measurements which isn't as accurate as grams. Cups are even less accurate. Weigh your strawberries and almonds - it's highly unlikely that 4 strawberries, twice in one day, will have weighed exactly the same. Is your omelette entry a recipe that you created or did you choose that from the database? If the latter, how much oil or butter did the person who created the entry use vs how much did you use? Did they add milk? Did you? Did they use 2 eggs or 3? How many did you use? were they medium or large? As someone who eats eggs every day, I know that a medium egg is 66 cals so an omelette that's 161 cals must be 2 eggs (possibly 2 large eggs) plus 'something'; is that what you did?
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Strudders67 wrote: »What does MFP tell you to eat? Instead of eating 1200 then 'deciding to go to' 1400 then wondering if you 'should go to' 1300, go to Home - Goals - Guided Set Up and enter your info. Make sure that what you select as your activity level is based on what your day normally looks like without intentional exercise. Select your goal. MFP will tell you how many calories to eat to achieve your goal.
More importantly, what is your goal? You are already a very healthy weight so I really hope you're not trying to lose. If you are trying to lose a little (vanity pounds), your Goal should not be set to anything higher than 0.5 lb a week. If you're set to maintain and you're just toning up, that's good but you're not clear.
As for high cal, low carb - drizzle oil into your salad, use it in your cooking, eat nuts, eat cheese. But is there a reason why you specifically want low carb foods when you've only eaten 78g today, according to your diary?
One point to note - you're using ounces for some of your measurements which isn't as accurate as grams. Cups are even less accurate. Weigh your strawberries and almonds - it's highly unlikely that 4 strawberries, twice in one day, will have weighed exactly the same. Is your omelette entry a recipe that you created or did you choose that from the database? If the latter, how much oil or butter did the person who created the entry use vs how much did you use? Did they add milk? Did you? Did they use 2 eggs or 3? How many did you use? were they medium or large? As someone who eats eggs every day, I know that a medium egg is 66 cals so an omelette that's 161 cals must be 2 eggs (possibly 2 large eggs) plus 'something'; is that what you did?
However i put my rate of weight loss on MFP, it still shows 1200, so I had to move it manually to 1400. I'm trying to lose 20 lb as I look very obese, especially my face.
I don't get it, is 78g low? I try to eat low carb as it is easier to lose weight that way, due to glucose and etc.
About the ounces issue, I use google to convert grams to ounces when the food I'm logging in doesn't have grams option, as most of my food is from a desi cuisine, making it harder to find.0 -
Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?
Ok sure! How do we do that? Btw I don't add my subtract my workout calories because I feel like it is better not to, and mostly I'm not even sure how much I am burning, as I work out to YouTube vids like BODY PROJECT0 -
meharmahshahid wrote: »Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?
Ok sure! How do we do that? Btw I don't add my subtract my workout calories because I feel like it is better not to, and mostly I'm not even sure how much I am burning, as I work out to YouTube vids like BODY PROJECT
You should be eating back your exercise calories, and you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit. Low carb helps you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit.1 -
meharmahshahid wrote: »Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?
Ok sure! How do we do that? Btw I don't add my subtract my workout calories because I feel like it is better not to, and mostly I'm not even sure how much I am burning, as I work out to YouTube vids like BODY PROJECT
You should be eating back your exercise calories, and you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit. Low carb helps you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit.
OK! I made my diary public0 -
meharmahshahid wrote: »meharmahshahid wrote: »Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?
Ok sure! How do we do that? Btw I don't add my subtract my workout calories because I feel like it is better not to, and mostly I'm not even sure how much I am burning, as I work out to YouTube vids like BODY PROJECT
You should be eating back your exercise calories, and you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit. Low carb helps you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit.
OK! I made my diary public
Are you accurately logging everything that you eat? Are you using a food scale? Many of your calorie listing seem really low.1 -
I thought an egg was like 80 calories. I am seriously miscalculating my cals. I eat 2 normal omelettes with nothing added except for a pinch of salt. I chose it from the database. I used desi ghee, also known as butter oil, or clarified butter, in my omelette (1 tbsp) . I used 2 medium eggs.Strudders67 wrote: »
One point to note - you're using ounces for some of your measurements which isn't as accurate as grams. Cups are even less accurate. Weigh your strawberries and almonds - it's highly unlikely that 4 strawberries, twice in one day, will have weighed exactly the same. Is your omelette entry a recipe that you created or did you choose that from the database? If the latter, how much oil or butter did the person who created the entry use vs how much did you use? Did they add milk? Did you? Did they use 2 eggs or 3? How many did you use? were they medium or large? As someone who eats eggs every day, I know that a medium egg is 66 cals so an omelette that's 161 cals must be 2 eggs (possibly 2 large eggs) plus 'something'; is that what you did?
0 -
meharmahshahid wrote: »meharmahshahid wrote: »Your weight loss goal should be set at .5 lbs a week, and you should be eating back your exercise calories.
Can you please make your food diary public?
Ok sure! How do we do that? Btw I don't add my subtract my workout calories because I feel like it is better not to, and mostly I'm not even sure how much I am burning, as I work out to YouTube vids like BODY PROJECT
You should be eating back your exercise calories, and you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit. Low carb helps you lose weight be being in a calorie deficit.
OK! I made my diary public
Are you accurately logging everything that you eat? Are you using a food scale? Many of your calorie listing seem really low.
I try to eat less of anything, like 2 tbsp cream in my smoothie, 2 tbsp greek yogurt, 5-6 strawberries, and the rest is water.0 -
You're 5'5 and weigh 139lbs (63kg) which, at 18 years old, gives you a BMI of 23.1 which is bang in the middle of Normal. You are NOT obese, you're not even overweight.
That aside, so MFP tells you to eat 1200 cals a day in order to lose at a minimal rate per week. So why do you want to eat 1300 or 1400? Eat the 1200 cals a day PLUS your exercise calories, which is how MFP is designed.
If you want to understand how this works, change your MFP setting to Maintain Current Weight and see what it gives you. It's going to be about 1450, possibly under. To lose 0.5lb a week, MFP takes 250 cals off your maintenance number. As it's not safe to eat less than 1200 it will not ever give anyone less than 1200 calories to eat. That means your deficit will be a maximum of 250 and, as you lose weight and need fewer calories to fuel your new weight, your deficit will gradually get even smaller.
I'm a lot shorter than you, and older, but as a working example, at the weight I am now, my maintenance cals are 1340. If I wanted to lose weight (which I don't, as my BMI is in the middle of Normal), deducting 250 cals would give me 1090 a day, but MFP would give me 1200. It wouldn't matter what rate of weight loss I select, that's what I'd get because 1200 is the minimum anyone should be eating. BUT, my deficit would only be 140 cals. So, whilst eating 1200 a day, I couldn't possibly lose at a rate of 0.5lb a week. If my logging was 100% accurate both for what I eat and what I expend on exercise, the best I could hope for would be 0.25lb a week but, even then, as my weight went down further, my maintenance calories would get lower and my deficit would get even smaller so my rate of weight loss would decrease further.
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I suggest you weigh yourself tomorrow morning. Enter the figure in MFP as an update. The, eat 1200 cals a day plus your exercise cals, for 6 weeks. Then weigh yourself again and see how much you have lost. Don't try to do anything else in that time, don't chop and change your cals or anything else. You need a solid baseline to understand whether you are losing at a small amount per week, on average, or whether you are staying the same weight. At such a small deficit, the scales won't move daily or even weekly.
Personally, I think that what you need to do is strength training and toning up, not try to lose more weight.4 -
You are vegetarian? Try adding full fat dairy to your diet, and don’t skimp on the ghee. In general if you have trouble taking in calories, fats have more calories per gram which makes it easier. Avocado, nuts, nut butters. A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds can add calories to a meal. Eating low carb as a vegetarian can make it tricky to add protein since vegetable proteins are half carb, but as long as you are getting plenty of fiber you probably don’t need to obsess over carbs, since fiber helps keep your blood sugar steady.0
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meharmahshahid wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »What does MFP tell you to eat? Instead of eating 1200 then 'deciding to go to' 1400 then wondering if you 'should go to' 1300, go to Home - Goals - Guided Set Up and enter your info. Make sure that what you select as your activity level is based on what your day normally looks like without intentional exercise. Select your goal. MFP will tell you how many calories to eat to achieve your goal.
More importantly, what is your goal? You are already a very healthy weight so I really hope you're not trying to lose. If you are trying to lose a little (vanity pounds), your Goal should not be set to anything higher than 0.5 lb a week. If you're set to maintain and you're just toning up, that's good but you're not clear.
As for high cal, low carb - drizzle oil into your salad, use it in your cooking, eat nuts, eat cheese. But is there a reason why you specifically want low carb foods when you've only eaten 78g today, according to your diary?
One point to note - you're using ounces for some of your measurements which isn't as accurate as grams. Cups are even less accurate. Weigh your strawberries and almonds - it's highly unlikely that 4 strawberries, twice in one day, will have weighed exactly the same. Is your omelette entry a recipe that you created or did you choose that from the database? If the latter, how much oil or butter did the person who created the entry use vs how much did you use? Did they add milk? Did you? Did they use 2 eggs or 3? How many did you use? were they medium or large? As someone who eats eggs every day, I know that a medium egg is 66 cals so an omelette that's 161 cals must be 2 eggs (possibly 2 large eggs) plus 'something'; is that what you did?
However i put my rate of weight loss on MFP, it still shows 1200, so I had to move it manually to 1400. I'm trying to lose 20 lb as I look very obese, especially my face.
I don't get it, is 78g low? I try to eat low carb as it is easier to lose weight that way, due to glucose and etc.
About the ounces issue, I use google to convert grams to ounces when the food I'm logging in doesn't have grams option, as most of my food is from a desi cuisine, making it harder to find.
The bolded seems really doubtful, for half a pound a week. I'm 5'5" like you, age 64, and it's barely true for me. At your age/size, MFP estimates your BMR at 1401. The activity multiplier for sedentary, the lowest activity level, will add more than 100 calories, and 250 is the "half a pound a week" deficit. Then you're supposed to eat back exercise, on top of that.
Some sources suggest "low carb" is anything under 150. Of course, there are extreme low carb advocates recommending much smaller carb levels. There are people recommending all kind of things for all kinds of reasons.
The idea that it's easier to lose weight at low carb is oversold. For some people, it helps control appetite. If that's not true for you, there's no reason to worry about it "due to glucose, and etc.". That's just mythology. People on low carb diets tend to see an initial drop in water weight (because metabolizing carbs in the body ties up some water weight temporarily). Water isn't fat, and fat is what we're trying to lose, so who cares? Study after study shows that after that intitial water weight adjustment to a new way of eating, fat loss is the same low carb or no, as long as protein is consistent. That initial water weight drop is psychologically rewarding, sure, but it's illusory, not fat loss at all.
Unlike some, I can understand being 5'5", and wanting to be a little lighter . . . if you have a narrow/slight build. I'm currently 130, in maintenance, and I could lose another few pounds. But you are not obese, or anywhere near obese. "Obese" has a definition, and you don't even remotely meet it. I get that you're not happy with your body - which is common among young women, no matter what the objective truth, sad to say. I'm not saying you shouldn't lose a few pounds, though. I don't know. Maybe you should. But very slowly, for sure. And improving fitness will have a much better payoff in appearance . . . though it is a slow thing. However, just being ultra-thin, with no glow, vitality, tone - also not a good look.
If you need to eat more, but are full, eat more nuts, nut butter, oils/fats, avocados. And there's no physiologicial reason you shouldn't eat bread, rice, starchy vegetables, etc. You need enough calories. It's a basic need for health.
I'm concerned about you. I'm concerned that you maybe feel out of control, and are trying to control one thing you feel you can, by driving calories ultra low. That's a road to a bad place. Don't take it.
Best wishes, sincerely.11 -
I am 163 cm, about 5 ft 4 in and I currently weight 62 kg - and I am 56 yrs old and have MFP set at lightly active.
To maintain my weight I get 1710 net calories.
When I was losing, at 1/2 lb per week, I was on 1460.
Not sure how it is setting you on 1200 ??4 -
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meharmahshahid wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »What does MFP tell you to eat? Instead of eating 1200 then 'deciding to go to' 1400 then wondering if you 'should go to' 1300, go to Home - Goals - Guided Set Up and enter your info. Make sure that what you select as your activity level is based on what your day normally looks like without intentional exercise. Select your goal. MFP will tell you how many calories to eat to achieve your goal.
More importantly, what is your goal? You are already a very healthy weight so I really hope you're not trying to lose. If you are trying to lose a little (vanity pounds), your Goal should not be set to anything higher than 0.5 lb a week. If you're set to maintain and you're just toning up, that's good but you're not clear.
As for high cal, low carb - drizzle oil into your salad, use it in your cooking, eat nuts, eat cheese. But is there a reason why you specifically want low carb foods when you've only eaten 78g today, according to your diary?
One point to note - you're using ounces for some of your measurements which isn't as accurate as grams. Cups are even less accurate. Weigh your strawberries and almonds - it's highly unlikely that 4 strawberries, twice in one day, will have weighed exactly the same. Is your omelette entry a recipe that you created or did you choose that from the database? If the latter, how much oil or butter did the person who created the entry use vs how much did you use? Did they add milk? Did you? Did they use 2 eggs or 3? How many did you use? were they medium or large? As someone who eats eggs every day, I know that a medium egg is 66 cals so an omelette that's 161 cals must be 2 eggs (possibly 2 large eggs) plus 'something'; is that what you did?
However i put my rate of weight loss on MFP, it still shows 1200, so I had to move it manually to 1400. I'm trying to lose 20 lb as I look very obese, especially my face.
I don't get it, is 78g low? I try to eat low carb as it is easier to lose weight that way, due to glucose and etc.
About the ounces issue, I use google to convert grams to ounces when the food I'm logging in doesn't have grams option, as most of my food is from a desi cuisine, making it harder to find.
I think you did something wrong. When I put your stats in https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided with a weekly weight loss goal of a half pound per week, I get 1,510 calories per day.
Your maintenance calories for 139 pounds are 1760 per day, so clearly at one point you were able to eat that much. Perhaps limiting your eating window to 4-7 hours per day is making things unnecessarily difficult for you.
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I recognise you from other threads, @meharmahshahid, and I know you're really struggling with every little weight fluctuation, and days that the scale doesn't move the way you want it to. I understand you're also consistently eating under your calorie allowance, even before taking exercise calories into account.
I'm worried about you. I am. I see how anxious you are, and I know you're trying to do something positive by taking control of your health, but I don't think you're doing it in the right way. To be honest, I think things have spiralled to the point now where you're going to struggle to find that right way without additional support. I would be so happy if you would just consider talking to someone in real life, like your local doctor - I feel like you would benefit from a medical professional seeing you in person and telling you that you are actually a good weight for your height and age, because I know you can't see that for yourself.
Is there anything else going on with you at the moment? You don't need to say what it is, but I can't help but wonder if there are stresses in your personal life that are making it difficult to think rationally? Maybe even lockdown related? I know being BAME during the time of coronavirus makes me feel anxious about my health. Not everyone has their diet messed up by emotional factors, but I know I sometimes struggle to eat when I'm upset, and I can forget to eat when I'm really super busy. Sometimes it's worth taking a step back to figure out if there's anything messing with our state of mind that we can identify.
You're a healthy weight as it stands, so if you want to work out to gain muscle definition, all you really need to do is eat normally, and eat a bit more on the days that you do your exercise. That's really what your plan comes down to - you don't need to lose any weight. You just need to keep refuelling.
Something I really want to point out to you is that when you exercise and your muscles get a proper workout, your body clings onto water to try to repair itself. I know you weigh daily, and that exercise water weight is really going to mess with your mind given how anxious you are. Would you be open to ditching the scales and instead measuring your journey through tape measures and photos for yourself? Given you're a nice healthy weight, there's no real need to use the scales to track your progress, and I feel like those numbers are hurting you each time you see them. Tape measures might be kinder.
And speaking of kind - please try to be kind to yourself. I get the sense that you struggle with that. I know you have issues with how you look, but if a friend was in your position, what would you say? I bet you tell her she was beautiful the way she looked and she had nothing to worry about. If you can't be kind to yourself, pretend you're being kind to a friend. It's a silly little trick, but maybe it will work for you.8 -
^^^^ Far better worded than I've managed, but exactly how I feel too and, from the many comments on other posts, how others feel as well.
I'd be concerned about @meharmahshahid using a tape measure too though, as not losing inches or cm quick enough may be just as bad as having not lost any weight in 5 days.
My suggestion above is to weigh today, follow what MFP says to do, track food intake and exercise consistently for 6 weeks, then re-weigh. I like the idea of taking photos though. Work on muscle definition and take daily pictures - same angle, same pose, standing up straight each time2 -
thelastnightingale wrote: »I recognise you from other threads, @meharmahshahid, and I know you're really struggling with every little weight fluctuation, and days that the scale doesn't move the way you want it to. I understand you're also consistently eating under your calorie allowance, even before taking exercise calories into account.
I'm worried about you. I am. I see how anxious you are, and I know you're trying to do something positive by taking control of your health, but I don't think you're doing it in the right way. To be honest, I think things have spiralled to the point now where you're going to struggle to find that right way without additional support. I would be so happy if you would just consider talking to someone in real life, like your local doctor - I feel like you would benefit from a medical professional seeing you in person and telling you that you are actually a good weight for your height and age, because I know you can't see that for yourself.
Is there anything else going on with you at the moment? You don't need to say what it is, but I can't help but wonder if there are stresses in your personal life that are making it difficult to think rationally? Maybe even lockdown related? I know being BAME during the time of coronavirus makes me feel anxious about my health. Not everyone has their diet messed up by emotional factors, but I know I sometimes struggle to eat when I'm upset, and I can forget to eat when I'm really super busy. Sometimes it's worth taking a step back to figure out if there's anything messing with our state of mind that we can identify.
You're a healthy weight as it stands, so if you want to work out to gain muscle definition, all you really need to do is eat normally, and eat a bit more on the days that you do your exercise. That's really what your plan comes down to - you don't need to lose any weight. You just need to keep refuelling.
Something I really want to point out to you is that when you exercise and your muscles get a proper workout, your body clings onto water to try to repair itself. I know you weigh daily, and that exercise water weight is really going to mess with your mind given how anxious you are. Would you be open to ditching the scales and instead measuring your journey through tape measures and photos for yourself? Given you're a nice healthy weight, there's no real need to use the scales to track your progress, and I feel like those numbers are hurting you each time you see them. Tape measures might be kinder.
And speaking of kind - please try to be kind to yourself. I get the sense that you struggle with that. I know you have issues with how you look, but if a friend was in your position, what would you say? I bet you tell her she was beautiful the way she looked and she had nothing to worry about. If you can't be kind to yourself, pretend you're being kind to a friend. It's a silly little trick, but maybe it will work for you.
I have never received this much kindness from anyone, and honestly, I am at a loss of words on how to thank you. I do have some personal problems, but they are mainly related to my weight. I know I'm near a healthy weight, but the people closest to me don't think so. In the past, I have been verbally abused by my own family, on how bad I look, and that seemed to punch my already low self esteem to the ground. I just hope I can lose 20 pounds and reach my goal one day.😢9 -
meharmahshahid wrote: »I have never received this much kindness from anyone, and honestly, I am at a loss of words on how to thank you. I do have some personal problems, but they are mainly related to my weight. I know I'm near a healthy weight, but the people closest to me don't think so. In the past, I have been verbally abused by my own family, on how bad I look, and that seemed to punch my already low self esteem to the ground. I just hope I can lose 20 pounds and reach my goal one day.😢
If your family really can't see that you're at a healthy weight, then that's their problem, not yours. Please don't let other people's skewed perceptions affect the way you feel about yourself. I promise, you're worth more than that. There's a really damaging link between their validation (or lack thereof) of you and your self-worth. If you can work at loving yourself and appreciating who you are, you'll understand eventually that other people's opinions really aren't worth that much. I know it's difficult for you right now to look in the mirror and love that reflection, but if you work at re-seeing who you are, I promise you will love that reflection one day, and you'll realise that's what matters.
You've posted your numbers here and absolutely everyone has told you that you're a healthy weight and not to keep losing any more. We're not experts, we're just fellow travellers on this weight management journey, but when a bunch of strangers who have absolutely no reason for lying to you all tell you unanimously that your weight is fine, I think that's a good moment to stop and take stock.
Like I said, if you speak to a doctor, that's an independent medically-trained person who can put your mind at ease and confirm that you are really a healthy weight. People are saying confusing things to you, you don't know who has your best interests at heart, but a doctor is only able to want you to be healthy. That's a voice that you could do with hearing.
Speaking to a doctor will also allow you to access more support - your family don't seem to be providing it, and whilst that's all kinds of challenging, it doesn't mean there's no support out there for you. I urge you to tell your doctor how you are feeling, including all your anxieties about your weight, and the way your family's words has made you feel.
Scary as hell, I'm sure, but you've coped with a lot to get to this point, and this is just one more hard thing you have to do for yourself. Be brave and book an appointment. Please. You really don't owe anyone anything, but if you do want to do something to repay the kindness of strangers, do please schedule that appointment - I'm not sure you can imagine how happy that would make us all, to know that you've made that first step into getting that additional support you need and deserve. Everyone here is rooting for you.4
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