Low Calorie deficit

Elizabeebee

I need friends on here

to be encouraged by. Iʻm struggling.

jimmyh2342

I’ve tried so many diets in the past. Water fasting, intermittent fasting. Carb free, nothing worked. Ive set my goals small, around 2lbs a week and have gone from 250 to 234 in 2 months. I’m eating everything I want to, just less and maintaining my recommended calorie deficit to keep me at a loss of around 2 pounds a week. Set your goals small and for the long run. It’s a never ending battle against your mind and in the end, you have to be in control with self control. I’m 2 months in now and it’s so much easier. Keep it up, watch your calories and you will start to see results

yirara

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48585858#Comment_48585858

I'm sorry nothing worked, and congratulations to your success. But just a note as also other people will read this: 2lbs/week is the HIGHEST weightloss goal MFP will give anyone. It's not a small goal, but massive. Someone who has less to lose won't lose weight so quickly, and for you it will eventually get slower as well. But yes: keep it simple; that's the way to go. Thus again: Congratulations.

cmriverside

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10937692/low-calorie-deficit

What kind of struggles?

First of all, "Low Calorie deficit," might be a problem. Set your Goals to "Lose 1 pound per week." That's the recommended start point. You may lose faster or slower, but start there. Too-low calories will be hard to stick to. We know nothing about you, though. Height, current weight, age, what you do all day, exercise plan. "Low Calorie deficit" is a stumbling block for a lot of people though - tell us about yourself.

You tagged "anxiety" in your tags…if you have a lot of stress in your day to day life that definitely makes weight loss (and life in general) more difficult. I find it difficult to find actual support from very many people. They either want to tell me what to do or invalidate my experiences.

One thing I found with weight loss is I don't discuss my plan with people out there in the world. As I already mentioned, they want to tell me either, 1.) How I should do it, or 2.) What I'm doing is wrong.

"No, eat this instead,"

"You don't have to count calories,"

"MY Special Diet is the only way," (Low carb/ certain types of named diets/ apple cider vinegar/ GLP drugs/ etc.)

"Oh, you can have a [piece of cake, chicken wings, cocktail, whatever] and go back on your diet tomorrow." - - - No, if I could do that I wouldn't have this weight problem. Which is why I don't talk about my "diet" with outside people. People on this site understand. Family and friends seem to want to sabotage. Maybe they don't mean to, but feeding people is a social bonding thing. If I just say, "Oh, no thanks," with a smile - and not mention "the diet" - that usually ends it.

So I just don't discuss it outside of these forums. Log food, study your food diary, take a walk outside. Learn about yourself and your habits, it's not really hard - just takes time and practice.

Can you tell us a little bit about your "struggles" so we can better help?

You can do this. Anyone can. Find your inner Warrior.

AnnPT77

All of the above, especially two aspects, partly the subtext (I'll explain) and the offer to help you figure out a way past whatever the actual challenges are.

About the subtext, I'd make something implicit above maybe more boldly explicit: If it's too hard, make an easier plan. A slow loss rate is part of that. You don't say, but sometimes there's more making it too hard beyond just trying to lose weight fast.

People often show up here with that deep calorie cut, plus some extreme set of restrictive eating rules: Maybe one of the trending named diets, maybe stuff like "eat no white foods" (what the heck?), eat all "diet foods" and zero treats, blah blah blah. None of that is necessary for success, and it can literally be counter-productive.

Then some people stack new, punitively intense, miserable daily exercise on top of that. Don't get me wrong, exercise is a wonderful thing for a body. But weight loss is usually easier to manage on the eating side of the equation, with exercise alongside to burn a few more calories so we can eat a bit more and get better nutrition while losing at the same sensibly moderate rate, plus get fitter, healthier, and more attractive-looking. Totally worth the benefits! But the sweet spot is fun, manageably-challenging exercise, exercise that leaves us energized rather than exhausted for the rest of the day. If fun is totally out of reach - about which I'm skeptical - the minimum is something tolerable and practical.

Misery. Is. Optional. That's true of the whole plan. Being overweight isn't a sin we need to expiate by punishing ourselves. We just need to find new, relatively pleasant new routine habits that will gradually take us to goal weight, then can continue (with a few more calories added) to stay at a good weight long term. That's a different mindset.

Gradual loss, using a tolerable/pleasant eating and activity routine, can get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme thing that theoretically will cause fast loss, but in reality is more likely to cause bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether because it's. just. too. hard.

Bonus of that line of thinking: Requires less motivation, willpower, or discipline. Some, sure. But mostly patience and persistence, commitment to pursuing the goal. Not some white-knuckled superhuman effort.

By the way, another common thing that can trip people up: A general thought that huge weight loss per week is to be expected, especially when "trying really hard". That expectation is sadly often followed by disappointment and giving up. The blogosphere, tabloids, and reality TV shows create the impressing that losing many pounds per week is achievable. LOSE TWENTY POUNDS THIS MONTH!!!! No. Not happening, at least not when below many hundreds of pounds/kilos. Not happening while staying reasonably healthy, especially. Not alongside a stressful, demanding real life, especially (in contrast to being isolated at a remote site where someone else controls the food/exercise and weight loss is the only "job"). NopeNopeNope.

Realistic: Lose 0.5-1% of current body weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that range unless health-threateningly obese AND under close medical supervision for deficiencies or health complications. Half a percent, at 150 pounds, would be three-quarters of a pound a week. At 200 pounds, 1 pound. Faster by a little? Maybe, if in excellent health, with a relatively low-stress daily life to start with, ideally fairly young or otherwise more physically resilient, and that sort of thing.

Repeat: Make an easier plan.

And on the other point: You mention struggles. Everyone has challenges, roadblocks. Whatever yours are, high odds someone(s) here have been through similar, and will have ideas you can try to get past the issue. We'd be happy to help if we can, but we'd need a few more details about what makes your path especially difficult for you. The struggles vary among people. What are yours?

I'm cheering for you to succeed: The rewards are worth the effort, IME. Best wishes!

springlering62

Agree with all Ann says above.

Weight loss isn’t self flagellation. You don’t need to pay penance for gaining a few.

I lost from a (very tight) XXL down to XS, where I’ve maintained for the past five years. I didn’t suffer. I simply looked for foods I enjoyed that were better for me than the foods I’d enjoyed that weren’t so good for me.

I still enjoy the occasional chocolate bar, and Thursday night pizza and Doughnut Sundays are writ in stone in this household. Nightly ice cream, too, although now it’s homemade with yogurts and fruits, as fun as I can make it. A couple of nights ago it was orange and Calabrian pepper ice cream. That had bite!

Along the way I tried various forms of exercise. I got up to 5k, but decided “not my thing”. But now it’s in my arsenal for when I’m traveling and don’t have access to a yoga mat. I took basic swimming lessons so I could swim laps. Definitely “my thing”! I got a dog who requires a nice walk every three hours (we’ve got no yard). It’s not punishment. It’s my time to dump on him and he listens happily. Weightlifting? Me? Never! Turns out I really enjoy it. ME, of all people!

Instead of making it a misery, cutting too hard here, overdoing it there, make it a pleasure, a joy, an experimentation, a chance to listen to your body.

This morning I was laying in bed, thinking “I can make that 6 am power yoga class if I get up now.” But I was unusually tired from yesterday, the dog was on my feet, the cat was on my head, and I was snuggled with the hubs. Nah.

Do I feel guilt for missing a class? Regret? Nope!

I’ve got dinner planned with a friend. I blocked 800 calories on my diary, removed a small snack, and ate a smaller breakfast. Guilt? Regret? Nope!

choose your battles. If you have to lose slower, so what? You’ll still lose- and have a much high chance of long term success if you do it slowly.

Who are you trying to impress with fast, brutal loss? I hate to break it to you, but no one else cares as much as you do.

springlering62

would also like to add, re: friends.

MFP killed friends and the friends newsfeed when they eliminated the newsfeed last June. There are no plans for a replacement. 😭

However nice friends were- and that was a lot of fun- I found my encouragement, help, listening ears here on the boards. I’d strongly encourage you to get active here on the boards.

If you notice, people with higher “post counts” tend to be more successful losing as well as maintaining. There’s a reason for that. Participation leads to support which leads to success.

No question is too dumb. My ears are still ringing from the imagined snorts of derision at one of my questions, but all I got were polite, considered responses. I’d been here enough that people knew I wasn’t a One Post Wonder.

Everyone here is here because of weight- most trying to lose, but a surprising number trying to gain. You’ll find very little, if any, judgment here.

If people’s answers might seem terse on occasion, just remember, when the 200th person has posted a ten word question seeking advice for a “quick way to lose 50 before my wedding/HS reunion/cruise in two months”, or how they can lose ten pounds fast before their beach holiday next week, sometimes, when our (particularly mine) patience level is low, they can get an equally to-the-point answer.

Ditto for the “I saw on TikTok” posts. Someone posted here a day or two ago about a particular food being “the devil”. Nope, the devil is these self proclaimed weight loss wizards on social media, flogging bad advice and worse products. Snake oil is alive and well in the 21st century.

And finally, forgot to say, welcome to MFP @Elizabeebee

dadsafrantic

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10937692/low-calorie-deficit

I'm in. I need to get back on the wagon myself. I have a theory. Figure what your calorie intake should be for your target weight and just eat that. Sedentary weight. That will be my goal. I have 2 problems. 1st is I love coffee with Silk almond milk creamer. I need to drop to 2 cups. 2nd is I love sweet snacks at night. I need to eliminate those. 3rd is I tend to eat conveniently/reactively. I need to go back to intentional cooking and eating without a screen in front of me. I'm a chef so this is easy, right?

Let's do it. Everyone posting so far has great advice and experience.

MFP just gave me a base goal of 1660 cals per day. Additional activity will boost the allowable cals.

BTW there are never just 2 problems…

mssprockets81

I would appreciate any feedback as well!! Elizabeebee, you can count on me. Let's make each other accountable!