opinions on my calorie intake

lydt5880

Im on a veg. Diet primarily because fruit and veg has the lowest calories so I can snack all day. I have a picky pallet. I love meats but they are high calorie so its logical to drop them to mantain my calories. Theres not many fruit and veg that I like ad when it comes to meat Im aprimary chicken eater. I dont like beef fish brocolli brussel sprouts asparagus any berries. When I make a salad it typically consists of lettuce spinach tomato and maybe carrots... And a little fat free dressing... i also eat beans for protien... This is prolly all just water weight Im whining abonut anyway...

OK, I don't think I've ever advised someone to eat meat but... I don't think your logic is logical here. Eat lean meat! If you like it, if you are not vege for any coherent reason other than weightloss, you're setting yourself up with an unsustainable long term diet. Your dietary diary frankly doesn't *look* like a vegetarian's - and now I know why. You're not one! :-)

Lean meat is going to make you feel fuller, increase your protein, and if you intend to go back to meat eating, then it makes sense to learn to do so in a healthy way now.

^^I totally agree!

Jutta26

Keep up the exercise. I had the same struggle initially. The weight was just not going down, but people started commenting on how much slimmer I looked, when I myself hadn't noticed it so much.

A great motivator for me was when I googled muscle vs. fat on google images. It shows a five pound piece of fat and another one of muscle. It clearly shows the massive difference in volume, whist the weight is exactly the same.

Looking at your diary I just think where is the actual food, i.e. nutrition?

If there are not many vegetables you like, maybe try and see how friends are preparing theirs. Very often it's a case of having eaten something that wasn't nicely cooked and then we don't try it again. So it's definitely worth reading up a fee receipe and trying again.

Good luck and keep up the exercise.

cppeace

lol the veg diet started as a cleansing vegan diet for two weeks I got used to not eating meat. I dont miss it. I dont feel deprived how I eat now. Im not tempted by people eating meat or junkfood in front of me. I have amazing will power. When I set my mind to something I quickly achieve it. I planned on slowly introducing chicken and ground turkey back into my diet once I lost into the 190s. Like I said fruit ad veggie eating allows me to eat often . Another example: a potato with cheese leaves me full but a chicken breast doesnt give me the carb burst of energy or keep me fuller longer so logic dictaes the potato is the better choice for me.

klynn22091

looking at your log, you miss breakfst quite a bit which is bad for you, add you dont log any water? Drink water, as for not eating meat, thats fine but you should definitely find a way to make up for the protien you are missing!!!

meerkat70

OK, well, if you're persisting with a vegetarian lifestyle, you need to eat more veg. Bottom line. Unless the last week or so of your diary is some weird anomaly, you're not eating enough vegetables.

meerkat70

Alright, but you have to look at more than just calorie intake. You're not getting your micronutrients and you're not getting your protein. If you want to eat like a vegetarian, you have to eat like a vegetarian. If you don't up your veges, and if you don't get sufficient protein from vegetarian sources, you're not going to lose weight in a reliable manner, and perhaps more importantly, you're going to end up very unhealthy.

Up your veg. Up your protein. Potatoes aren't a good substitute for lean meat - they're potatoes.... :-) Seriously, I'm about 99% certain this is your problem. Not enough veges, primarily, and protein as a secondary issue.

DanielleC1231

1200 calories is too low for your weight. It is not recommended for women to go below 1200 calories ever so in theory, once you start to lose weight, your caloric needs will go down. If you're only taking in 1200 now, when you start to lose weight, you'll have nowhere to lower to. I know it seems counterproductive(and also contradictory to the recommendations from MFP ) but you need to actually be eating more. You're doing a lot of cardio activity and your body is holding onto water and fat because you aren't giving it enough fuel. So extra weight you're holding onto is water weight and not muscle gain, especially if you aren't getting enough protein. The most muscle a woman can hope to gain is 1 pound per month. And that is under absolute optimal conditions - meaning getting adequate protein and strength training. I'm sorry that I didn't read the entire thread in-depth but from what I saw, you may not be getting enough protein and that is really important. Regardless of recommendations you've read, you should be getting at least 1g of protein per pound of body weight. Hope this helps!

Sidesteal

Hello there!

I'm going to just mention a few things, but you can take it or leave it. Good luck with your goals!

Im on a veg. Diet primarily because fruit and veg has the lowest calories so I can snack all day.

and

Theres not many fruit and veg that I like

^ The above two quotes concern me. You should be able to find foods that are not calorie dense that aren't exclusively fruits and vegetables.

I love meats but they are high calorie so its logical to drop them to mantain my calories.

No offense at all m'am, but this is not logical and not true, either. Lean chicken breast is not calorie dense, since you mention that you like it, you should eat it, regularly.

This is prolly all just water weight Im whining abonut anyway...

I don't think you're whining, I think you're concerned. But I also don't think you're making good decisions. You need to increase calories a bit, but you also need to keep exercising and you need to make food decisions that, at the very least, meet the following circumstances:
1) Provide you at least some level of enjoyment.
2) Allow you to meet your macro needs.

Right now you're not doing either.


Lastly: Have you been to a physician to get your thyroid hormones checked, and to have a fasting blood glucose test done?

cppeace

lol ok what ya'll aren't understanding is the following, and keep in mind I am taking no offense to anything said or offered. I always take account of advice and accept or reject as I see fit When I say I have a picky pallet I am dead serious. Here is a list (shortened) of stuff I will not eat simply because I don't like the taste.
celery, bell pepper, pasta, rice(unless mixed with creole food) pork and beans, green beans, beef, sausage, brussel sprouts, asparagus, squash, caulaflour, berries(yeah all berries including cherries but not tomatoes), most versions of stew, gumbo, fish,several varieties of cheese, ... Theres a lot more I'm just not thinking of...

Except for chicken I am incorporating most of what I like to eat in my diet.I love potato, the cheeses I'm eating, guacamole, peanut butter, grapes, bananas, cantaloupe, Certain varieties of beans like bush's with brown sugar, cashews and other nuts, honey dew melon, I'm drinking the whey protien junk for protien, I switched to chipins, I have some fruit ice cream pops.

With such a picky pallet how did I gain such weight you may ask? I love fried food. I'm a cajun. We pan fry everything. So my chicken would be- you guessed it pan fried. Now tell me, is it still logical to put it in my diet? Bread, fresh rolls like bread, Pizza.. Yeah can really eat that on a healthy diet lol
I never said I felt hungry and didn't eat. I'm feel fine on this diet. All I was basically asking was if I should be eating back more of my exercise calories in the beginning. It became this epic discussion about my veg diet.

I'm never hungry when first up I eat about two or three hours later and classify that under snacks most of the time.
I drink between 6-12 cups of water a day. I sometimes forget to log it is all.

I exercise with aerobics and jogging in place some crunches and pushups, bicycle if my feet hurt too bad and a little stair stepping.

Well that's about all I can think of for now.
Kimmy

cppeace

oh and I never said I fasted, if I used that word I did by mistake. I went on a two week cleansing diet of nothing but fruit and vegetables.. Eating 1800 calories or more. Energy went through the roof and felt super healthy so at the end of the two weeks all I did was add in some dairy and canned/frozen veg like beans and such. As I stopped losing on this diet I slowly lowered my calories. first down to 1600 started losing like half a pound a week, went down 10 1400 started losing about a pound a week went down to 1200-1250 started losing close to pounds... There was about a month between each drop in calories. Always kept my water intake the same. I've been on my veggie kick for about 4 and half months- losing if we say 236lbs a total of 34lbs and feeling healthy and energetic.. The surplus energy is why I decided hey let's add in some extra exercise besides work(Cause I work hard at work all night ) and I figured if I add exercise might kick it up to 2.5lbs a week.
I expected to not lose the first week. I figured I'd just come in neutral as my body adjusted and with sore musles and such.. WRONG I gained 2 lbs.. It almost stopped my exercise right then and there. I forced myself to continue though the nnext week lost 4lbs so means shed the water weight and lost my normal two pounds both weeks.. Kept exercising and now steady gaining. I'm guessing it is all water weight and hoping this week the weight will be back where it is supposed to be.

meerkat70

I think you probably need to decide whether you want to be healthy, or picky. if healthy, re-educate your palette. being picky isn't a medical condition.

It's pretty clear why the weight isn't coming off. it's really you decision what you do with that knowledge.

cppeace

so I should force myself to eat stuff I gag over? I mean I equally dislike bad for me food. I don't like cake or pie or sausage or donuts or pasta ect... If I majorly disguise the taste I can eat like cauliflower and brocolli, by adding cheese and sauce of some sort but that's cause I simply can't taste it.
Sigh I am trying to make the diet healthier and healthier. that's why I sought out protien substitutes about two weeks ago and have been buying like green giant steamers mixed veggies.. It is just rough not liking the taste of most things.

rosied915

OK, I'll give this a go~

Try doing this: scan over these forums for people who have lost a decent amount of weight indicated by their ticker.

Click on their name and if their diary is open, take a look at it.

PERHAPS you will get some ideas for yourself.

What you are doing is NOT working so ya gotta do something, right?

You are getting some GREAT advice and it seems that none of it is what you WANT to hear~ that's the impression I'm getting.

PS~ HUGS Meerkat......

cppeace

lol I thank you all for your advice. Yes it was good advice. Yes I appreciate it all and will try to apply as much as I am able.What I was doing was working just fine before adding exercise. lol that's why exercise it getting harder and harder to push on myself.I've always hated it to begin with. I don't get any endorphin rush or great feeling once it's done. It's not given me more energy than I already had. It's not helping me get ,more restful sleep. It's screwed up my period and given me a back ache when I never had one before and messed with my weight loss psych. I continue it because I can see it is making some difference in my "toning" Such as I've noticed my back fat is shrinking. The weight gain has no other explanation but being water weight from still exercising. I'm glad to have gotten so many opinions as I stated. I thank you all.
Kimmy