Help needed to lose weight

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prehistoricmoongoddess
prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've just come back to MFP after a year away due to a difficult year.

During that time I was not taking notice of what I was eating and I put on two stone.

So I've started to lose again, at first without counting calories.

For 5 days I was away with my daughter, who is 42lb lighter than me, and 1 1/2 inches shorter. We ate the same home cooked food, she snacked but I didn't and we took lots of walks. At the end of the week she lost 2lbs and I'd put on 2lbs.

So I came home, continued to eat healthily and I began losing again. I'm on Garmin and I clock up a lot of intensity minutes when walking, my daughter gets none as she is fitter than me.

I've started again using MFP, but I'm worried about my calorie intake.

My TDEE is 1490. According to what I have read I will lose weight at 500 less, but that gives me too few calories.

So I looked back at when I was on here from Jan 19, and I was steadily losing but most of the time I was on less than 1200 calories.

And now it's the same again. I'm weighing everything and not snacking. I'm not adding sugar to anything.

I'm not at all hungry and trying to up my protein, hence the Skyr yoghourt.

I know I'll lose weight if I keep to lower than 1200 calories, but it's not healthy, so I don't know what to do.





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Replies

  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
    edited August 2020
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    Hi @yirara, thank you for your reply.

    I could not have eaten that much more than my maintenance calories if that, so I think you must be right and it was water weight. I lost it soon after I got home.

    My TDEE is 1490 due to being only 5ft tall.

    I've checked my maintenance calories in MFP and they come up at 1550. Changing it to losing anything between 1/2 lb a week and 2lb a week gives me 1200 calories as that is the lowest calorie level it will allow me to go to.

    Looking back to the 6 months I was losing weight, I only seemed to have any success when eating under 1200 calories.

    I've realised my protein has always been low and I'm trying to correct this. My sugar and fat intake is much lower than over the last year when I was comfort eating, and yes, I did gain 28lbs, in fact maybe more, but I started to lose weight before I felt I could stand on the scales.
  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    @yirara

    I've planned my eating for today and it comes up to 1197, and I will see if I can manage to eat all of that. If I manage ok I'll see how I get on. I guess I want to see results. When I first started to lose, it was at such a slow rate that the app showed I wouldn't get to my target weight until 2040! Now it says it will be next year, but that is at an aggressive rate.

    My food weighing is meticulous, but I will check that I'm using the right database entries. Potatoes and some other foods don't say if cooked or uncooked, I used the lower weigh as I know im coming up as undereating.

    Ive been losing on around 1000, but I do think for me that it is a fine line between under and overeating, so it's getting the balance right.

    I'm trying to walk each day, but don't like to walk in the rain! Most of my walking is a 20 minute round walk to the shops, on a good day I take a longer route.

    Thanks for the advice


  • mylittlerainbow
    mylittlerainbow Posts: 822 Member
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    I'm 5 feet tall also, and probably a lot older than you; my TDEE is 1350-1430. I lost my weight eating at 1000-1100 calories per day and still it was very slow (35 pounds in 10 months) because so close to my TDEE. It's not an unhealthy calorie ceiling for weight loss for people our size. The recommended 64 ounces of water a day can also be excessive at our height; my doctor told me I didn't have to aim for that much unless I was scrupulous about balancing with electrolytes. So don't worry about averages, which are targeted at people of average size.
  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    @mylittlerainbow

    Thanks for your reply. That's very interesting to know that you kept to a smaller calorie intake and managed to lose weight ok.

    My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose, but I have been losing when I track my food at less than 1200.

    I'm definitely not one of the younger ones on here, my photo was taken on a good day!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
    edited August 2020
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    yeah, what JBanx said.

    Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

    Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

    My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

    Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.
  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    JBanx256 wrote: »
    prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »
    @mylittlerainbow
    My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

    "Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

    Thank you. I have told her that she is wrong, but she saw what I was eating when I was with her, and her losing 2lb and me gaining 2lb convinced her even more.

  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    yeah, what JBanx said.

    Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

    Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

    My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

    Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.

    I have at least 3 stone to lose now, in fact my goal is to lose 3 1/2.

    I was on MFP before and I lost over a stone in 6 months, but put two back on since June 19.

    I'm back on now and aim to be accountable. I need to up my walking as that's slowed down. Usually I'd be on holiday now and out all day but now I'm in the house for far too long.

    I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,473 Member
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    prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

    I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

    James Kreiger wrote an AMAZING 4-article series in his research review on the myth of starvation mode; he's got a ton of studies (peer-reviewed, etc - actual scientific studies, not "an article I read in Cosmo") cited. weightology.net is his site; a lot of it is behind a paywall but there's a good bit of free info available too.

  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »
    JBanx256 wrote: »
    prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »
    @mylittlerainbow
    My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

    "Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

    Thank you. I have told her that she is wrong, but she saw what I was eating when I was with her, and her losing 2lb and me gaining 2lb convinced her even more.

    The thing is, there are multiple factors that go into our weight over time. Watching someone eat and exercise "about the same" for us for five days isn't enough to draw any real conclusions. Your and your daughter likely have different base needs for energy and even when it looks like we're eating the same things in roughly the same quantity, calorie intake can differ too.

    She seemed hungrier than I did, and despite eating more at each meal she was snacking too. I expect we must have had a different base needs. Plus as has been said, salt aids water retention and she doesn't add any to her food but I do.
  • prehistoricmoongoddess
    prehistoricmoongoddess Posts: 1,003 Member
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    JBanx256 wrote: »
    prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

    I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

    James Kreiger wrote an AMAZING 4-article series in his research review on the myth of starvation mode; he's got a ton of studies (peer-reviewed, etc - actual scientific studies, not "an article I read in Cosmo") cited. weightology.net is his site; a lot of it is behind a paywall but there's a good bit of free info available too.

    Thanks. I'll look for this
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
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    On "starvation mode"

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
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    One note... You gave a comparison of weight loss/gain for yourself & your daughter over a few days. If the weighins were not consistent, then they are not fair comparison points of data. To be consistent, your weighins should be taken using the same scale, at the same level of clothing, at the same point in your day. So if you weighed in at home in the morning before eating/drinking and naked and then 5 days later weighed in on your daughter's bathroom scale, wearing clothes in the middle of the afternoon: the data points are inconsistent. At any point in time, your weight is a combination of fat/muscle/bone/etc. as well as food/liquid/waste at some form of being processed. Change those details, and of course your weight changes.
  • kellykirby
    kellykirby Posts: 1 Member
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    I’ve just started using mfp again as I would love to loose 3stone. All the facts and figures are very confusing and a bit mind blowing if I’m honest. I’ll admit I have done NO exercise during lockdown and I probably still won’t do much going forward. MFP said approx 1500 cals but I have entered my own at 1200 so far since Saturday I’ve only managed to eat on average about 1000 and lost 4lb(I know it’s prob all water !!) but my NET is practically 0. Im told NET should equal CALS to loose weight. If I eat 1200 cals and still 0 net will I lose weight? I know I’m eating too little really and realise this is not advisable. But if I’m not hungry I was advised it’s ok don’t eat for sake of it. What do you reckon is best, what should I do ?? Tia x

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