Have I already sabotaged myself?!!!

36jessica

The article (700 cal a Day and not Losing) was very informative and I understand the message - I hope - but I have a question. I've been on a 900-1000 cal a day diet for the past 11 days. I'm a 1.70 mt. tall 39 year old woman standing at 101.5 kgs. My BMI is around 37% So, I'm obese (I HATE THAT WORD)! I've had three children. I've lost 1.5 kgs so far (what a rush), but now I'm concerned. My BMR is at 2000 cal. daily (counting my sedentary life style), so I figured that by cutting 1000 cal. daily I'd be able to lose 1/2 kg. a week. The idea was to 'kickstart' my body for the first two weeks and then start integrating some exercise and maybe up my calorie intake to 1200-1400 cal. daily. Am I wrong? Have I already sabotoged myself? I take a multivitamin every day. At lunch I eat two 'weight loss' bars (around 230 cal total). In the evening I eat fish, chicken or tuna and some kind of vegetable (lettuce, tomatoes, cooked veggies of some type). The eating 4-5 times a day thing is completely out of the question for me because my job doesn't permit but I still try to eat three times a day. In fact, I forgot to mention that breakfast is a huge mug of partially skimmed milk (134 cal.) with some coffee. Being so hugely overweight, I didn't think I was in 'starvation' danger.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can turn this situation around before I do some damage? I know it's only 1.5kgs lost so far, but I'm so proud and I know that it would be a major psychological downer to gain them back. Please help...

canaussie

Start eating your recommended calories... 900-1000 is half what your BMR needs are.

JillSymes

Hello I too thought that if i ate less than the calories mfp said then i would lose even more weight but i was wrong because they already work it out for you and if i went below then my body seemed to hold on to the weight. When i started eating a little bit more and even eating up to half of my exercise calories i began losing the 1.5lb that i wanted to each week. So now i can enjoy the odd little treat and as long as it is within my calorie count its still working for me. Hope this helps. Best of luck. Jill

wingchunrick

You really do need to eat 5-6 times a day to kick start your metabolism. Even if its a piece of fruit or a handful of peanuts or a protein shake. You must also try to incorporate some exercise into your daily routine, even if its walking briskly for half an hour at first. You're definitely not eatig enough at the moment, keep within your totals on here and eat healthy foods. Do not starve yourself as it will only make it worse. Hope this helps.

AnneMelody

I Think you should up your calorie intake to at least 1200 a day, Less than that will have alarm bells ringing in your body! Also you should try and have food for breakfast and lunch, Not just coffee and weight loss bars, your body needs something to work with, and maybe having some proper breakfast and lunch will help you to lose faster! I really wish you all the success in the world. Good luck on your journey!

zeeeb

i would also up the calories. i was losing really quite slowly to start with, and then i just upped my calories by a couple of hundred a day, and the weight started shift alot faster.

also, eating regularly is good. and if you need to, just stash half a museli bar in your pocket and have a quick bite at work to keep your metabolism going.

starving yourself will be really hard, but if you eat the calories you should, you will probably never be really that hungry that it makes you binge. i find i make bad decisions if i'm too hungry and at the shops, always better to stuff a bit of fruit into my mouth before i enter the supermarket, so i'm not hungry while i'm roaming the aisles.

laddyboy

You've put yourself right at the 50% of your maintenance calories which is right where you need to be in order to gain more weight by starving yourself.
LISTEN TO ME...READY, ARE YOU LISTENING? YOU HAVE TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look, I know you're tired of being over weight. I was too. I know you want all that nasty fat off your body RIGHT NOW. I did too. I know you woke up one morning and it just appeared....what...what that you say? It didn't appear over night. It slowly crept up on you over the years. Ohhh,....mine did too. So..............................it's going to take some time to come off. I HATE WAITING...REALLY HATE IT.
But be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. This summer will be 2 years since I completed my 1st round of P90X and I was no longer the fat guy. You can do it too.
Find a way to put you and your health 1st. Eat 5-6 times a day even if you have a cheese stick walking to the bathroom, or eat a banana sitting on the toilet. Find ways to make it work.

beckajw

You have NOT sabotaged yourself already. Don't panic or be concerned. Just start adding in more calories now.

I know your job doesn't allow it, but are you able to take a quick break every 3-4 hours? If yes, can you grab a quick granola bar or a protein shake or even a stick of cheese during that time. I agree with the other posters, you need to eat every few hours so your metabolism stays high all day long.

However, if you really can't do that, don't lose hope. You can still lose weight.

Start eating more calories today. You'll find that you have more energy and you will be less likely to fall off the diet wagon, because you won't feel like you are starving.

36jessica

Thanks you all for replying. I will definitely reorganize myself starting with lunch today! I've read in other posts that a minimum a person should eat daily is 1200 cal, so I see that I've started out on the wrong foot. Well, I'm here to learn and improve. Now how do I factor in exercise? If I burn, say 300 cal. exercising, would that put me at 1200 cal eaten - 300 cal exercise = 900 cal.? I would need to eat another 300 cal. to keep to the limit, right? Or not?

Thanks again everyone!

laddyboy

Eat your workout calories. If you want to know right where you want to be add me as a friend and let me run some numbers for you.

Liatush

bump

ladyhawk00

This was my reply to you on that thread

I wouldn't say you've sabotaged yourself, but the strategy you're using doesn't take into account some important factors. Even if you have a lot to lose, you still don't want too large of a deficit. Your body still needs a minimum of nutrition and energy (cals) to run at an optimum level. So that you can understand the calculations, I'll go over them to see why MFP gives you the numbers it does.

With your BMR around 1700, that is what you require just to live, as if you're in a coma. Then you add daily activity level (what you do for work, cooking, doing laundry, sitting on the couch etc), sedentary, active, etc. At sedentary, it would add around 300-400. So 2000 isn't your BMR, it's your maintenance calories - what you would eat to maintain your current weight. (I did the calculations for your BMR+activity level under Tools, and sedentary activity level is BMR*1.2).

Now, because you're smaller (shorter) and your maintenance calories aren't all that high, MFP would give you a cal goal of 1200. This is because they've set the lower limit at 1200 because it's recommended by health experts as the minimum amount of food for the average woman to receive adequate nutrition - in macros (protein/fat/carbs) and micros (vitamins/minerals). It isn't a good idea to go below 1200 unless your meals are planned for you by a dietitian because it's easy to end up short on some nutrients that your body needs.

So, at 1200 you'd have a deficit of 800. That allows for a little over 1.5 lbs weight loss per week - which is plenty. Yes, you can try a low cal diet and lose weight quickly and probably wouldn't have to worry about starvation mode for a while. But rapid weight loss carries a lot of risks, including but not limited to: gallstones, arrhythmias, loss of muscle mass, hair/skin problems, excessive loose skin, and weight regain. MFP aims to help you with healthy weight loss and to retrain your eating habits. Crash diets don't work because you don't learn how to eat a healthy amount of healthy foods - so you end up going off the "diet" and regaining weight when you go back to your old eating habits. Learning new eating habits means that you can lose weight at a slower, healthy rate and make new habits that you can maintain for life - and therefore maintain a healthy weight for life.

I would recommend going back and redoing your goals/settings (under update diet/fitness profile in settings) and choose either 1.5 lbs or 2 lbs per week loss goal (MFP will still give you a cal goal of 1200 or slightly over.) Just let MFP do the work for you and follow the calculations it uses. It's the safest and easiest way to get a moderate deficit that is healthy and sustainable.

Two other things - a good breakfast is important. It helps to get your metabolism started in the morning and sets the stage for the rest of the day. When you don't eat a good breakfast with protein/fat/carbs, you'll usually end up crashing in the afternoon - which often leads to poor choices later in the day (evening bingeing). Also, even if your job makes your schedule difficult, try hard to get in 3 meals and at least one snack. The snack can be in the evening if necessary. The more often you eat, the more stable you keep your blood sugar and the more likely you are to avoid getting really hungry - another cause of poor choices and bingeing.

Good luck to you and congrats on making the commitment to get healthy!

arosegeo

if your body isnt getting enough calories it will not just let them go, it will think you are going through a "famine" and cling to as much as it can.

callipygianchronicle

Yes, you can try a low cal diet and lose weight quickly and probably wouldn't have to worry about starvation mode for a while. But rapid weight loss carries a lot of risks, including but not limited to: gallstones, arrhythmias, loss of muscle mass, hair/skin problems, excessive loose skin, and weight regain.

This is the really important information that I think is usually missing from these discussions. Reducing body size is one thing, but the way we do it can have longterm effects on the way our body looks and our health. Thank you for including it here. Your responses are always so thorough and helpful, especially to new users who are trying to wrap their heads around things.

ladyhawk00

Yes, you can try a low cal diet and lose weight quickly and probably wouldn't have to worry about starvation mode for a while. But rapid weight loss carries a lot of risks, including but not limited to: gallstones, arrhythmias, loss of muscle mass, hair/skin problems, excessive loose skin, and weight regain.

This is the really important information that I think is usually missing from these discussions. Reducing body size is one thing, but the way we do it can have longterm effects on the way our body looks and our health. Thank you for including it here. Your responses are always so thorough and helpful, especially to new users who are trying to wrap their heads around things.

Aww thanks! :blushing:

36jessica