What are you doing

megano_d

I do Nutrisystem because i work from home and need help with portion control. I dont do any exercise other than walking right now because it causes a huge hunger spike for me and since I am keeping my cals under 1200 I am already cranky from lack of food. Just hit 22 lbs lost though and feeling great!

Please don't take offense to this, but that is way too low and unsustainable.

Everyone is on a diet; your diet is what you eat. Some people have good diets and some people have bad diets. When you decide to make the change from bad diet to good diet, it has to be a lifestyle change, not a temporary thing. With that said, do you plan on only eating 1200 calories per day forever? If not, then the weight you lost will likely come back, plus some. Not to mention, since you are not exercising, much of your "weight loss" has likely been muscle loss. To lose fat, you should be eating a few hundred calories below maintenance and exercising (cardio + strength training).

Just my two cents.

I agree excercise is very important for our bodies health as well! Eating the proper amount of healthy cals is as well...eating less cals than our body needs doesn't mean losing weight faster. It will sometimes mean getting stuck and the weight stops dropping off.

2 words I noticed that don't quite seem to go together are 'Cranky' and "feeling Great".... that confuses me..:laugh: Lack of sleep makes me cranky, lack of food means I need to eat more and make wise choices when I do. Feeling great is a feeling I get from making healthy choices and from many other things in life besides.

I wish you well.....even adding in several hundred cals will help you lose the cranky feeling and your body will be sooooooo HAPPY!:drinker:

oops, I responded to Greg and didnt see that you responded as well! But as I said there, that is actually the recommended calorie count from this site. Some days I hit it, others days I go over it, and if I go over it I try to have vegetables be the reason.

And I can see how the cranky/feeling great seems contradicting. I deal with impulsive eating and when I ignore that impulse I get cranky (and whine unrealistically to myself about 'lack of food'). However, when I am not in the throws of that emotion (like I was when I wrote that post), I actually feel great. And yes, exercise is great for overall health. I generally exercise regularly (3-5 times a week) however it just isnt what I am doing to lose weight. Plenty of evidence out there, including that from the AMA, that indicates that exercise is not the best method for losing weight and women, in particular, need to work out like an Olympic athlete to see any real results from working out. Its all about the food. I know myself and I'll use working out as an excuse to overeat. But once I get to my goal weight and able to add some calories back to my diet, I'll be back at the gym. And I live in Chicago and walk everywhere so no worries that I am just on my couch all day. I am losing in the recommended range (1 - 2 lbs a week) so I am comfortable with what I am doing.

sunlover67

Ditto to pretty much what everyone else has said...exercise and try to eat "clean" 90% of the time. Meaning few processed foods or things that have a paragraph of unpronounceable words in it. Lots of fruits and veggies. I do indulge in sweets now and then but ones I made myself. Good luck on your journey. :flowerforyou: