Its all mental

marnieinMB

I weighed in today and I'm still at 165. I'm guessing I am just not eating enough. I can't make myself eat more than 1300 even when I should be adding 2-3 hundred more calories in for excercising.

I know its in my head, but I am terrified if I eat say 1500 I will gain.

I just don't know what to do. I'm down 30lbs and I have 15 to go!

Kat120285

Seems this is the hardest concept for people to understand. I know it was with me. My goal is set at 1250 for the day before exercise, once I add in my exercise that number goes up to 1880 or 2000, my net at the end of the day is at 1250. A year ago, you could not tell me that I needed to eat 2000 calories in a day haha. Now, it's completely different, I'm feeding my body and losing weight the safe way. I weighed in last week at 120-121 and weighed in this week at 117.8. If you feed your body properly, it will let go of all the stuff it's hanging onto, but in a much safer way than if you don't feed it enough.

Adriane87

I am the same way! I dont know if you would call it an eating disorder or what, but for years I would just starve my body to lose the weight. It back-fired and I gained 25lbs. I also suffer the consequences in way of mood, energy, etc. So I have started P90X which requires for my size... 1800 whopping calories a day! This is SO hard for me to grasp. Instinctually, I feel as if eating all that (even if they are healthy calories) will make me gain. After forcing myself to eat 1600 calories, I lost 2lbs. When I stepped on the scale, I automatically thought, "I better eat less to maintain the weight I lost" before catching myself. It really is mental as you said... we're having to reprogram our thought processes to realize that in a world of 'eat less to lose weight', its not really about eating less... its about eating right.

Kat120285

I've done two rounds of P90X and am almost done with my second round of P90X Plus. Now that I'm feeding my body, I've got great energy for my work outs and for the day. I eat every 2-3 hours to get my calories.

taletreader

I weighed in today and I'm still at 165. I'm guessing I am just not eating enough. I can't make myself eat more than 1300 even when I should be adding 2-3 hundred more calories in for excercising.

I know its in my head, but I am terrified if I eat say 1500 I will gain.

First of all, congratulations for being 2/3 ways to your goal. You should be proud of your achievement!

Second, you're not the only one who writes about these kinds of feelings and fears. Here's a consideration: Once you've reached your goal, how much do you expect to eat to maintain? Can you anticipate moving into maintenance, and how you'll be eating then? Maintenance is a neglected topic for most of us who're working on losing fat, but really, your maintenance calorie needs are a useful thing to know even now -- because they set an upper limit on what you can eat without gaining RIGHT NOW (leaving aside short-term fluctuations that may happen if you give the body more after restricting for so long, of course).

Whether this is helpful for you I don't know, but I hope it might be.

marnieinMB

I weighed in today and I'm still at 165. I'm guessing I am just not eating enough. I can't make myself eat more than 1300 even when I should be adding 2-3 hundred more calories in for excercising.

I know its in my head, but I am terrified if I eat say 1500 I will gain.

First of all, congratulations for being 2/3 ways to your goal. You should be proud of your achievement!

Second, you're not the only one who writes about these kinds of feelings and fears. Here's a consideration: Once you've reached your goal, how much do you expect to eat to maintain? Can you anticipate moving into maintenance, and how you'll be eating then? Maintenance is a neglected topic for most of us who're working on losing fat, but really, your maintenance calorie needs are a useful thing to know even now -- because they set an upper limit on what you can eat without gaining RIGHT NOW (leaving aside short-term fluctuations that may happen if you give the body more after restricting for so long, of course).

Whether this is helpful for you I don't know, but I hope it might be.

marnieinMB

Honestly I plan to continue the way I am eating now. With an occasional cheat day here and there.

patattheshire

wow so glad you posted i never seem to be able to consume the 2000 calories i'm suggested to eat and there are days i eat only 800-900 and actually gain weight for 1 to 2 days thanks again for posting
pat

Kat120285

wow so glad you posted i never seem to be able to consume the 2000 calories i'm suggested to eat and there are days i eat only 800-900 and actually gain weight for 1 to 2 days thanks again for posting
pat

It can definitely be hard getting in so much food when you're not yes accustomed to it. I shoot for small meals that pack a high but healthy caloric amount. That paired with eating every 2-3 hours has done wonders. Although, sometimes I'll get a late start to the day and then have some catching up to do, which usually leads to an enormous dinner haha. I might say thought that all the food (fuel) has done wonders for my energy but more importantly, my work outs. Just today I got through my entire work out doing unassisted pull/chin ups, some of which I need to do the pull up and then pull my legs up so that I'm doing a pull up crunch.