Who does the Zone or eats more protein....

mccmdl

Just wondering how in the world people stick to the 1200 calories a day diet. I am a mom of 2 little ones and cannot live or function on anything less than 1500. I have tried. I have done the Zone Diet back in 2002 and went from a size 6 to a size 2 so I know it works. But it seems that now that I have 2 kids and cannot find time to exercise I am just eating tooooooo much. Sometimes when I eat lean protein I feel great but I get hungry again in 2 hours so I eat lean protein again. This goes on all day - I eat small meals and then I add up the calories here,,,, and it's usually 1800. I also never and I mean never have chocalate or candy (I just don't like it) I guess this should of been on the support page, Suggestions Anyone!!!

mccmdl

Just wondering how in the world people stick to the 1200 calories a day diet. I am a mom of 2 little ones and cannot live or function on anything less than 1500. I have tried. I have done the Zone Diet back in 2002 and went from a size 6 to a size 2 so I know it works. But it seems that now that I have 2 kids and cannot find time to exercise I am just eating tooooooo much. Sometimes when I eat lean protein I feel great but I get hungry again in 2 hours so I eat lean protein again. This goes on all day - I eat small meals and then I add up the calories here,,,, and it's usually 1800. I also never and I mean never have chocalate or candy (I just don't like it) I guess this should of been on the support page, Suggestions Anyone!!!

Razboo

I eat pretty high protein (my goals were 25%, but I usually go over that). I was feeling pretty lethargic lately, though, so I've upped that to 35% and my goals to reflect a more active lifestyle. I'll make more modifications if needed.

As I had my settings (desk job, aggressive weight loss), I was gradually feeling more and more lethargic each day, getting stupid (er?) when I got really hungry, and feeling really tired and unrested in the morning. Last night I got tired of that and deliberately ate up to my supposed BMR and damn the calories! I felt really good this morning.

So, although I do have a desk job, something isn't right and I upped my values. I need to find the correct balance for Me. It just goes to show that each person is an individual and you need to use recommended levels with care. For you, you seem to need those calories.

I plan to try this for a week. If required, I will add or reduce as needed and find some balance with exercise that give me weight loss, yet don't leave me feeling so under nourished.

And, yeah, I know I should probably see a nutritionist.

kjllose

Now I'm confused,( maybe I didn't eat enough razboo lol). I haven't been paying attention to BMR at all so when I saw your post I went and checked it and it said 1400 something calories. Which one am I supposed to be doing? The 1200 or the 1400. I too have been feeling tired lately and I just figured it was because I wasn't exercising enough because I usually feel pretty lively after I exercise. So when I was tired I'd get on the treadmill. Today though I just feel mentally tired to the point where I just want to sit in front of this computer and not do anything. ~karen

apaden4

Your BMR is the number of calories you would burn if you were to lay in bed ALL day long, and no one does that. They suggested 1200 calories to create a calorie deficit for you so you would lose weight. If you feel like that is not enough for you, you can eat the 1400 and exercise more to create that deficit.

Make sense? i hope so, I am not very good at explaining things

Razboo

Well, I'm new at this, so if any one corrects me, I won't be offended.

BMR is what you would burn just lying in bed all day, not doing a thing. However, we burn more than that from daily activities (work, making supper, etc.). Thus, your Normal Daily Amount will be more than your BMR. You can see that on your Goals page. On the Food (or the Goals) page, it shows what your target calories are to lose weight at the rate you want for your lifestyle. That is the number you want to hit and it is based on your NDA, not your BMR.

In theory, you should still lose weight going for your BMR since your NDA uses more calories than that. Easy, huh?

For me, my BMR is 1896. This did not change when I adjusted my goals. My NDA changed a lot when I adjusted my lifestyle to be one up from what it was (I don't recall exactly what it is named). This affected the target calories on my Food page by pushing them up by about 200 calories per day.

I think that will be more realistic for me. I beleive I have undervalued the calories I am burning during and resulting from my work outs. I shall have to put some work into that to see if I can manufacture something that is fairly accurate.

I also beleive that, although I have a desk job, my desk is in my home upstairs, so I am burning a lot running up adn down for coffee, having a smoke, and whatever else I get away from the desk for. Plus, I'm generally pretty active after hours puttering around my workshop, etc.

In all, I have probably been in that "hoarding" state. I've been losing, but not what I would call aggressively. Plus, I just don't think a healthy plan should be leaving me that fatigued. I checked over my various food values and vitamins, so I know it was not that.

I believe I've been undernourished, as opposed to malnourished. Eating the right things, just not enough of it. I am also trying the 6-meal per day method in hopes it will equalize me even further.

Razboo

apaden beat me to it.

kjllose

thanks for the help, I think i get it better now, I have been eating three meals a day with 2 healthy snacks in between. All the proportions have gone down from what I was eating though. I get 45 minutes of cardio a day or two videos of strength training. one for arms one for legs. I'm losing weight just fine but I just find i'm tired lately. I drive a schoolbus so I'm not super on the go and mostly do housework inbetween so I guess all my settings and goals are right. I just don't like being tired.

pamelawh

what is the zone diet? were you eating six small meals a day? check out some of the posts there are suggestions for keeping your calories at 1200 stay on it for a two week period and you won't be hungry any more. i think i stopped feeling hungry after the first few days and the results were great.

12Sarah2015

I have two little ones and a seven year old. Feel free to add me and look at my diet. I think it depends on your height. I’m 5;2 and I often do 1200 to 1350 calories with exercise. I eat what foods I enjoy. I keep my meals very simple. My husband is a lot taller and men aren’t supposed to do 1200. This time I am trying keto with an added piece of fruit a day. So low carbs-50g or so (no rice bread or potatoes) and no added sugars. I like porridge so I might have that every so often. I have never done low fat dairy or mince and always lost weight. In the past I did Michelle bridges-she was great for portion control.

neanderthin

You need to eat fat with lean protein, basically don't eat lean protein.

zebasschick

kjllose wrote: »

thanks for the help, I think i get it better now, I have been eating three meals a day with 2 healthy snacks in between. All the proportions have gone down from what I was eating though. I get 45 minutes of cardio a day or two videos of strength training. one for arms one for legs. I'm losing weight just fine but I just find i'm tired lately. I drive a schoolbus so I'm not super on the go and mostly do housework inbetween so I guess all my settings and goals are right. I just don't like being tired.

are you logging your exercise?

if you're doing cardio or resistance training, you should be eating back some of your exercise calories. working out for 45 minutes per day on 1200 calories doesn't seem sustainable or healthy.

penguinmama87

This might be the oldest zombie thread I have ever seen! (OP posted in 2007.)

Wynterbourne

penguinmama87 wrote: »

This might be the oldest zombie thread I have ever seen! (OP posted in 2007.)

Yeah, when I saw the title I had flashbacks to seeing it all over the bookstore I worked at, two decades ago. I was very confused for a moment.