Day 2 of diet - advice appreciated

bakes0310

Im 36 years old, 6ft,0inches and weighing in 16.3stone (228lbs). I Need to lose weight which is something ive never tried to do before. I go to the gym 4 times a week and try to eat reasonably well, but these last 6 years i have been a bit rubbish in terms of diet so need to get back on track. You really cant outrun a bad diet as i never miss a session at the gym and i always walk out knackered so i know im working out hard. I have downloaded fitness pal today and put in what i have had so far. Whats changed is ive gone from a physcial job to an office job and i have started eating sweets and takeaways which i never used to do. I have started walking (first walk this morning) at a brisk pace with enough speed to get a bit of a sweat on, just deciding to do that everyday or just on the days i dont go to the gym.

According to fitness pal i should be consuming 2003 caleries a day. I do Intermitting fasting (8 hours a day of eating) I break my fast at 12:00. The only liquids i consume ever is water and coffee. I dont drink alcohol or smoke.

Day 1:
2 coffees and a huel black drink
Minced lamb, carrots, cauliflower cheese all home made
Calories=1290 protein=81g consumed out of a 100g fiber 13g consumed out of a 25g Carbs=99g consumed out of 250g

Day 2:
2 coffees and a huel black drink
2 large scrambled eggs with 1 tin of Princes tuna with some Tabasco sauce sprinkled on
Added a rump steak to it as well as it's in the fridge
Calories=1090 protein=113g consumed out of a 100g (13g over the limit) fiber 13g consumed out of a 25g Carbs=66g consumed out of 250g

My questions:
1) Am i eating enough or too little, i only feel a little hungry in the morning but thats normal for me on IF then im fine by the time it gets to 12:00?
2) Will i lose weight if i carry on eating less than 2003 calories?

goal06082021

You are eating too little. If you feel OK now, you won't soon enough, especially for as active as you say you are. Eat your full allotment of calories and see how your weight trends over the next month or two, then make adjustments.

zombieblondie

I don't do IF, but I do count macros and crossfit workouts 4 times per week. I am 5ft 8in, and weigh 165-168lbs. Based on my macros I consume an average of 1740 calories per day. You're a bit taller than I am, so I would think your 2003 calorie goal is probably close to accurate. You may want to reach out to a nutritionist, or check out a macro calculator to see if you receive similar information. The main thing is giving your body time to show you if it's working. If you decide to stick with 2003 calorie goal per day, give it a few weeks before changing anything.

Getting away from the sweets and takeaways will definitely help you get back on track. Good luck!!

Lietchi

Assuming you told MFP your desired rate of loss, eat what MFP tells you to eat, not (way) less.

You're eating ridiculously little for someone of your weight and size. 1200 calories can be appropriate for short/older/sedentary women, not for you.
For perspective: I'm a 5ft5 143lb woman and I'm eating 2000 calories a day on average and still losing weight (slowly).

musicfan68

I'm 5' tall and what you are eating isn't enough for me. Eat more calorie dense foods, like avocado, oils, peanut butter, nuts, etc. You will hit a wall eating so far under your goal.

bakes0310

Thanks for all the replies, super helpful.

I'll look at adding peanut butter into my diet as I used to really like that. I've googled healthy breads so I can have the peanut butter on. It came up with sourdough bread, would that be a good option. I don't want to get fat eating bread everyday, I'm thinking peanut butter can be my snack, so 2 slices of sourdough bread with peanut butter. Is that a good idea?

Lietchi

Bread doesn't make you fat, eating above your maintenance calories makes you fat. So I'd say go for it, bread and peanut butter.

lesdarts180

In addition to the advice above; ie eat more, I would add Eat more fruit and veg, your diet is sadly lacking in fibre and all the vitamins and nutrients in vegetables. Your Day 2 has no veg at all - not sure where you got your 13g of fibre?
Wholemeal bread is nutritious, potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, fibre, even protein. Lots of leafy green veg is good for you. Fill your plate with lots of colours.

I'm a little old lady (5'1", 70 years) and I can eat 1,800 calories a day in maintenance and 1,400 to lose weight (providing I get a reasonable amount of activity/exercise). Eat more.

bakes0310

lesdarts180 wrote: »

In addition to the advice above; ie eat more, I would add Eat more fruit and veg, your diet is sadly lacking in fibre and all the vitamins and nutrients in vegetables. Your Day 2 has no veg at all - not sure where you got your 13g of fibre?
Wholemeal bread is nutritious, potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, fibre, even protein. Lots of leafy green veg is good for you. Fill your plate with lots of colours.

I'm a little old lady (5'1", 70 years) and I can eat 1,800 calories a day in maintenance and 1,400 to lose weight (providing I get a reasonable amount of activity/exercise). Eat more.

Oops typ 6grams on day 2 and 13 on day 1.
I get it from my huel drink at 6g fiber and I do get quite alot of vitamins and minerals 26 in total from that drink. Will add some veg and fruit though can't hurt.

cwolfman13

You're eating way too little...like by a lot too little. You're eating what an older, short woman would eat to lose weight. You will eventually run into problems. You need calories just to fuel your existence.

bakes0310

Yesturday was my best day so far with managing to eat 1563 calories out of my 2003. I made sure to add veg and fruit and I also had some almond nuts as a snack.
Today I've bought some rye sourdough bread and crunchy organic peanut butter. See how I do today but hopefully it will be a good number.

bakes0310

Been managing to up my calorie intake to 1600 calories but then today I only managed 1021 calories, and I don't feel particularly hungry in this heat, but I was good it wasn't any ice-cream.

Frank_Just_Frank

My two cents, it’s already well known that very low calorie diets don’t work. They mess up your health, your metabolism and working out 4 times a week on this will get you injured. I’d stop fasting on a daily basis since you can’t manage to get your calories in line yet. Get yourself capable of eating your calories and macros and then tinker with IF slowly.

goal06082021

bakes0310 wrote: »

Been managing to up my calorie intake to 1600 calories but then today I only managed 1021 calories, and I don't feel particularly hungry in this heat, but I was good it wasn't any ice-cream.

There are no "good" or "bad" foods and you are not good or bad for eating or not eating anything in particular. Please let go of the idea that you can "be good" by abstaining from a food like ice cream.

MargaretYakoda

I have a habit of not eating enough. Logging my meals helped me realize that.
Not eating enough leads to lots of problems, malnutrition, binge eating when hunger overtakes you completely, and injuries from being weak while trying to exercise. I’m sure you don’t want any of that stuff.

I use protein shakes. It really helps me when I don’t feel like eating.

westrich20940

You are eating WAAAAAY too little. I used a basic TDEE calculator and used the stats you provided (I assumed you are Male...but correct if that's wrong) --- and your maintenance would be somewhere around 2400 cals/day.

So, if you used MFP to calculate your daily calorie goal -- of ~2000, then it's already got your deficit included there. That is a calorie GOAL, not limit. 2000 is the NET amount of calories you should consume. That means that if you do additional intentional physical activity, you *should be eating at least some of those calories back too.

For reference...I'm female, 5'3", 116-120lbs and on a day that I do not workout I eat 16-1700 calories per day and maintain that weight.

EDIT: if you are simply not more hungry -- then you can sneak in more cals to your current meals by using full-fat cheese, dairy, oils --- or adding in some other calorie dense foods like peanut butter, dates (other high cal fruit)...etc. Have a candy bar every now and then, lol.

I actually do have some trouble sometimes - especially if I workout and burn a good amount of calories - eating enough from whole food (like if I burned 600 calories doing something then I'd have to eat like 2200 cals that day --- which is a lot of food for a petite woman). I have a weigh gainer shake mix that I will use in a pinch if I don't think I can eat a full extra meal (3 scoops is ~700 cals with a good mix of carbs/protein/fat).

gallicinvasion

What if you try thinking about what you would NORMALLY eat on a day-to-day basis, in your regular routine (not on a "diet")? And from there, try to make a few tweaks to your portion sizes to hit 2000 calories (if that's your goal)?

That way, you would be far less likely to start yo-yoing back and forth between "super restrictive" and "eating sweets and takeaway every single day and going above maintenance calories."
he yo-yo is a hard thing to break, and it would be great if you didn't have to break it at all!