Daily Calorie Intake

ALS_1980

MFP sets a goal for me of 1,930 calories per day. Not only is this hard for me and scares me to be honest it's also impossible to do while staying under the fat gram allotment of 37g. I have been dieting since 1/1 and started at a weight of 306. I am now 288. I am eating on average 800-900 calories per day. I freak out as I get close to 1,000 and stop eating as I find myself approaching that number even if I'm hungry. That 1,000 just scares me. To me 1,000 is a lot of anything...money,weight,calories,degrees..just such a high number. It is definitely getting harder as I go to stay true to the diet which consists mostly of grain breads,very little natural butter,cashews,almonds,peanut butter (organic),tilapia,salmon and veggies. I consume coffee,water and diet soda. I used to love fruit juice but don't want to waste calories on liquid. whey protein powder (1x per day,mixed with water immediately after wake up/AM muscle building workout that lasts 10m). I then proceed to eat exactly every 3 hours. Breakfast is my post workout shake,lunch is a Luna bar or vegan sandwich,dinner is usually a piece of meat,serving (or 2) of veggies sprayed very lightly with butter and a slice of rye or wheat bread. Snacks are either a Luna bar or handful of cashews or almonds or 4 wheat crackers with peanut butter. Yes I generally feel a bit hungry but not to the point of nausea. I usually drink water or coffee,no creamer when I feel very hungry. I don't want to slow my metabolism but I have no interest in being big any longer than need be. I know for a fact other severely obese people my size have lived off of less, specifically a friend that had a stomach stapling surgery who consumed nothing more than protein drinks for 2 weeks post op and now eats a portion of food for each meal the size of her palm minus her fingers. The size of her stomach vs. mine is irrelevant. If she can survive and shed serious weight without even exercising..what on Earth is wrong with my worthless body when I'm not even eating enough to be satisfied and exercising until I am exhausted and only loosing 3-5 lbs a week?
I exercise 7 days a week with the exception of this week when I felt the need to have a rest day due to muscular pain. 30 minutes of cardio (Zumba,Step or low impact hasfit video) and 10 horrible minutes of serious,intense muscle building exercise each day. I am well over my daily calorie burn goals and well under my calorie intake goal. WHY is this coming off so slowly?!

LauriePar

Because you are not eating enough.

SezxyStef

TBH I stopped reading when I saw you were only consuming 800-900 a day.

If MFP set you at 1900 eat that and you will still lose.

Ninkyou

Stop putting your body into undue stress with eating so little. Your body needs more than 900 calories to function properly. Do you think you'll be happy with yourself when you pass out or collapse from dizziness?

Do your body some favors and eat the food. As long as you stick to your MFP goal, you WILL lose weight.

anabet88

You can not starve yourself thin, you have to eat lean healthy foods in order to keep losing weight. You will crash in burn at this rate....listen to MFP it works!

Mr_Excitement

You really, honestly, don't need to be miserable. You don't need to beat yourself up with a lot of strenuous exercise, and you certainly don't need to limit your caloric intake to 900 calories/day.

If you're measuring your food and really know exactly how many calories you're getting, that number MFP gave you will almost certainly work just fine-- even if your exercise is limited to a 30 minute walk each day.

The weight will come off more slowly, but you'll be forming new habits in a sustainable lifestyle as you do it.

golian99

Like everyone else is saying: EAT!!! 1000 calories is too few calories. 1900 sounds a good number to lose weight. If you starve yourself (likeby eating 1000 calories) your metabolisms slows down because your body starts feeling that it does not have enough energy and it starts saving energy because it feels that there are scarce times coming.Where do you think the body stores energy for the long term? Body fat.

Then it will start 'eating' lean muscle and that lean muscle is what you need to try and keep so that more lean muscle starts eating away the stored body fat.

Be careful and start eating more. You will still lose weight, and the most important part, body fat.

I would recommend getting a scale with body fat measurement capability. Although it is not very precise, at least it is a good tracking tool to make sure that you are losing fat and not lean muscle.

Good luck

frabeco

3-5 pounds a week is too much! You are not your friend who had surgery and under a doctor's care, plus everyone is different, so it is never wise to compare to one another. I suggest you go see a nutritionist and have them create you a healthy REALISTIC diet....one that is sensible, incorporates healthy life style choices, and is satisfying. "Dieting" doesn't have to be awful, but it does have to be realistic and doable.

I commend you for taking this step and wanting to make changes...but as the old adage goes....there is no quick miracle weight loss...its healthy diet, exercise AND TIME!!!!

Good luck!

bwogilvie

You need to figure out why 1900 calories scares you. Here's some perspective: You were eating way more than that when you put on the weight.

I also strongly recommend this thread:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

ALS_1980

I am DEFINITELY going to invest in the scale you mentioned. Does the scale calculate your BMI? or does it calculate fat another way? I am looking for one on Amazon immediately! Perhaps if I knew some of the slow weight loss was due to lean muscle being formed as opposed to fat gain I'd be a bit more at ease. This process is so scary and foreign to me. There was a time where the issue was the willpower and the stamina and now that I have decided to lose it I'm determined and really don't want to backslide.
It's driving me insane..I think my brain hurts more than my body at this point,really surprised I'm not 118 again just off of the stress alone! Thanks for the info about the scale! ♥

Skrib69

OK, so relax.... THe key things have already been said and from your last post you seem to have taken this on board, namely.....

Weigh EVERYTHING you eat.
Log EVERYTHING you eat
Eat UP TO your MFP Calorie limit
Log ALL your exercise
Eat BACK your exercise calories
RELAX!!!!!

MFP works when you follow it. Remember, you didn't put the weight on overnight - it was over a long period of time. To be a sustainable and enjoyable journey, it needs to come off slowly too. You are clearly putting in so much effort at the moment, it would be a shame to wipe out all your hard work because you crashed and burned.

Happy hunting with the bathroom scales; there are also kitchen scales with calorie counters built in if you really want to get OCD about it!! Personally I find the info on packets is enough, but some people like them if they do a lot of home baking and stuff.

Good luck!!

snowmaniac

It seems you do want to learn which is good. Check out the article shared in this post and I think it will help you to gain proper perspective.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1017045-a-very-interesting-and-informational-read-on-deficits

And another great read can be found at
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Nenny1985

some great responses on here so far. a tip with exercise; Do stuff you enjoy, and try to mix it up each time so you don't get bored and so you keep challenging yourself. I go to the gym 5 to six days a week cos I love it. I do a 35 to 40 min workout each time consisting of 10 -15 mins cardio, 5 mins of abs, and about a 20 min circuit with weights (lunges, squats, leg extensions, various arm exercises, boxing with weights, side pulses with weights etc) and star jumps, squats jump, split jump etc.
You can sooo do this. And maybe consider having a chat to a professional. All the best!

missomgitsica

You are definitely not eating enough. And even if you manage to not screw up your metabolism and get to your goal weight doing this, I'd be willing to bet that you gain it all back and then some because, bottom line, 900 calories a day is not sustainable for the rest of your life! Better to get where you want to be slowly and stay there than quickly and end up right back where you are now.

Just my two cents.

snowmaniac

While I am here I would like to point out that adopting a healthy lifestyle in large part comes down to balance. The reason you hear about people who take weight off slowly and steadily tend to keep it off while those who drop the pounds as fast as possible tend to gain them back and then some is really quite simple.

Starving yourself or depriving yourself significantly may get initial results, but eventually you will reach a point where you feel you have reached your desired goal and then return to your old habits. Eating at a moderate deficit of your daily caloric requirements (aka TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure, which should not be confused with BMR), WILL allow you to lose weight. It will be easier to stick with as you will not feel deprived all the time.

When you do reach goal, eating at maintenance will mean only increasing your intake by a moderate amount which will be an easy adjustment to make, so it will be easier to keep the weight off instead of binging and packing it back on. Slow and steady allows you to develop good habits for lifelong change. Drastic measures may accomplish a short term desired goal, but do nothing whatsoever to prepare you for the long term.

2spamagnet

At nearly 300 lbs, you are not going to screw up your metabolism by eating 900 cal/day. Your body is going to consume (mostly) stored fat (stored excess calories) in order to fuel your body, as it needs it. You won't pass out, as I'm sure you have found out, if you go hungry for a period of the day. Your body converts fat into energy as you need it, like a spare fuel tank on a car.

So, 3-5 lbs/week is pretty aggressive, but you can probably do it for a while without a problem. Look at the math: 3,500 excess calories over what your body needs will be stored as 1 lb of fat. So, if you eat 500 cal/day more than your body needs, in one week you will store 1 lb of fat that you can use later.

Alternately, if you eat 3,500 cal less than you need, your body will convert 1 lb of fat into calories. Also, your body is smart enough to convert stored fat into the forms it needs (protein, fat, carbs, etc.). So, if you eat with a 500 cal/day (3,500 cal/week) deficit, you will convert 1 lb of fat into energy in one week. Do a 1,000 cal deficit per day, and you will convert 2 lbs of fat into energy in one week.

Until you are under weight, you are not going to hurt your metabolism by eating 900 cal/day. Will it "slow down"? Well, by definition, I guess so. Your body is processing 900 cal/day, rather than, say 2500 cal/day. Um, I guess you could say it needs to slow down for that, but it is not harmful.

Some people say you don't need to feel hungry to loose weight. For me, feeling hungry at some points in the day was my way of knowing that my body is converting fat to energy. That thought made me feel less grumpy. Sounds like you are dealing fine with hunger, so why change if it is working for you?

"what on Earth is wrong with my worthless body when I'm not even eating enough to be satisfied and exercising until I am exhausted and only loosing 3-5 lbs a week?"

Absolutely nothing is wrong with your body! 3-5 lbs/week is an awesome accomplishment! That is 150 to 250 lbs in a year. That is awesome.

As you lose weight, you will begin to lose more slowly. That is simple math. As you weigh less and less, your body needs less and less calories to maintain your weight. If you are still trying to lose weight, your deficit gets smaller and smaller. For example, say you need 1900 cal/day to maintain your weight (probably is much higher, but that's not the point). So, you eat 900 cal/day and have a 1000 cal/day deficit, which is 7,000 cal/week or 2 lbs/week of fat burned.

You drop 50 lbs, and maybe your need is 1400 cal/day to maintain that new weight. If you continue eating 900 cal/day, you are now at a 500 cal/day deficit, which is 3,500 cal/week or 1 lb/week of fat burned.

I'm not saying that you need to then go down to 400 cal/day. The point is don't be discouraged when you lose weight slower the closer you get to your goal. Go in to your "Goals" tab and re-adjust the numbers if necessary. As you get closer to your goal weight, 1 to 2 lbs/week is recommended.

It sounds like you are doing great. Keep up the good work! You will reach your goal. And once you get there, you will be better suited to maintain your new weight. With the discipline it will take you to reach your goal, you will have the tools to eat at maintenance for the rest of your life. You will also have the tools to lose weight if you gain some back.

kagevf

i agree with everyone above me and maybe the ones below me...EAT

it also takes time and patience if you started 1/1

let me help you calculate your BMI / BMR and TDEE

let me help you get back on track... the right way

golian99

It just measures your body fat (a healthy body fat percentage is between 8 and 21%). It sends a very small electric current through your body (in the case of a scale) and measures the resistance of your body to that current.

Measuring body fat is not an easy thing, so do not think that the number the scale gives you is accurate. It is a good tool to track your self. That is why it is important to always measure at the same time. I do the morning right when I wake up. I do that twice a week.

Also, BMI only takes into account weight and height, so it is not an indication of how much fat you are carrying.

This is the one scale I got myself: http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Capacity-Recognition-Technology/dp/B004L6NTHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390230327&sr=8-1&keywords=body+fat+scale

I like it but I gguess that I got it at a special price because i did not pay 100 dollars for it.

TavistockToad

1000 calories is not a lot...

eating fat does not make you fat... eating too many calories does.

TavistockToad

It just measures your body fat (a healthy body fat percentage is between 8 and 21%). It sends a very small electric current through your body (in the case of a scale) and measures the resistance of your body to that current.

the OP is female... you're saying 8% fat is healthy for a woman?!

TavistockToad

Perhaps if I knew some of the slow weight loss was due to lean muscle being formed as opposed to fat gain I'd be a bit more at ease.

no

golian99

Oh sorry, no. For a woman the healthy body fat range is higher (~15 to30% if I remember correctly)