1000 calories or less diet

Colofit

In looking at your food diary I would suggest you eat more "real" foods!! Good lean meat, veggies, fresh fruit and so on! Lean cousine is full of processed stuff and high in sodium! The calorie content is low because it's a small portion!! Get a good healthy cookbook and start teaching yourself how to make good quality healthy food! It honestly takes NO time at all to cook a healthy meal!! It THE most important gift you can give yourself that will last a lifetime!!!!!!!! Good luck!

witchieboo

If you don't eat enough your body goes into starvation mode and stores fat. Try weighing and measuring your food. A lot of times serving sizes are smaller then you think..

LizKurz

Why not add higher calorie foods to your diet such as peanut butter, avocados, trail mix, butter /oil in your cooking, etc? Eating 900 calories a day isn't maintainable for the long run.

I learned this slowly but this is the best tool I have learned from switching over from a low calorie diet a few years back. With some planning you can choose higher caloric foods that fill you up and give you those extra few calories needed.

Love peanut butter. Want to avoid butter.

Hate trail mix and avocados...Any ideas?

Why avoid butter? One of the most heart healthy fats out there.

Whao there nelly, what? Butter is not a heart healthy fat. And actually any solid fat is bad for you, which is why you should eat it sparingly. Im not advocating cutting it out, and will actually enjoy 1-2 tbsp melted on popcorn every now and then, but it is not heart healthy. Usually, what is a good rule of thumb is plant based fats (think olive oil, nut butters) are good, which animal fats (think things like butter, cream, full fat milk, etc) are not so good.



All fats are not alike. Some types of fats are essential for good health.
Other fats can raise blood cholesterol levels or have other negative effects on cardiovascular health. Eating too much fat of all types can add excess calories and lead to weight gain. This handout will help you sort out the “good” (heart healthy) fats from the “bad” (unhealthy) fats.*
HEART HEALTHY (“GOOD”) FATS
The fats in this category are unsaturated fats (the term unsaturated refers to the chemical structure of these fats). Unsaturated fats are found in plant foods or in fish that eat microscopic plants. One type of polyunsaturated fat -- omega-3 fatty acids -- has been found to have many positive effects. For example, omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, help keep blood vessels flexible and reduce excess blood clotting. Other polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats will lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol when used in place of saturated fat. Foods rich in these “good” unsaturated fats are listed below:
❤ Omega-3 Fatty Acids (a type of Polyunsaturated Fat) • Fatty fish such as salmon, herring, sardines and trout
The American Heart Association recommends eating at least two 3 oz. servings of
fatty fish per week.
• Flaxseed, walnuts and canola oil (all contain a less active form of omega-3)
❤ Other Polyunsaturated Fats (called Omega-6 Fatty Acids)
• Vegetable oils: corn oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil • Soft (liquid or tub) margarine, ideally one that is trans fat-free
• Walnuts
• Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds
• Soy “nuts” (roasted soy beans), soy nut butter and tofu
❤ Monounsaturated Fats
• Vegetable oils: olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil
• Nuts: almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, pistachios • Avocado
• Peanut butter and almond butter

Very outdated information. Butter contains high amounts of stearic acid, which is a very heart healthy fatty acid. Saying "saturated fat = bad, unsaturated fat = good," is extremely simplistic and untrue, the saturation level of fats doesn't matter, there are both good and bad saturated fats, as well as good and bad unsaturated fats.

Lol! No it's not. Certainly more and more nutrition experts are advocating eating real organic butter over eating margarine filled with a ton of crap that should never pass your lips.

This does not make butter GOOD for you. Only about a third of your fat should contain sat fats, and butter has 7gm of sat fat per tbsp.

Is butter the evil is was once thought to be? No. But being good for you? Lol! No. Like all things high in sat fats and cals, in moderation.

Elizabeth_M

Well I see a couple of things that you should (NEED TO) change.

1) Stop eating just a banana or yogurt for lunch. How can that be satisfying?? Start having lean proteins, whole grains, veggies...


2) Stop eating chips as a snack every day. Yes, you obviously have the calorie allowance for it, but that's because you're having a banana for lunch! Here, have your banana or yogurt. Have some hummus and carrots. Something more than chips to give your body more nutrition than from chips.

ElHombre23

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY....and try to keep youself between 1000 and 1200 ...if you start to feel lethargic crank up the cals a little more with healthy foods i.e. Nuts and Fruits...

UFOmaven

Calorie-dense foods vs. nutrient-dense foods -- thanks, I hadn't thought of the situation that way. I'm also having trouble reaching MFP's daily calorie goal on some days. The lack of hunger is welcome, but I have to force myself to eat three meals a day. I'm (re)discovering that food choice + portion control = success.

Kell_Smurthwaite

If I'm a little low on the day but not feeling hungry, rather than forcing myself to eat something I might regret, I drink a glass of milk instead. It adds a few calories, protein and carbs, but no fat (I only use skimmed milk at home). A small 200ml glass will add 70 cals to my day, so if I have a couple of those, there's 140 straight off. If you prefer semi-skimmed or even full fat milk, you can drink those (assuming you have no lactose problems) and MFP will calculate everything for you. It'll also get some extra calcium into you whic hwill help keep your bones and teeth strong.

I sometimes have a problem netting over 1200 after my exercise, but I'm getting there - I'm slowly learning how to make sensible choices that will leave me feeling satisfied (but not stuffed) in proper portion sizes that will not lead ot me being in an unsustainable eating pattern, because if you eat very few calories, as soon as you go back to "normal eating" you'll put weight back on. The aim is to re-educate yourself so that you make healthy choices and create a lifestyle and eating pattern that will be sustainable for the rest of your life.

CurveAppeal86

Looking at your diary.. Where is your lunch? One banana is not lunch, 27 special k cracker chips is not lunch, 1 container of yogurt is not lunch. I'm not sure how you aren't starving? That's insane.

You really need to up your calorie intake to lose weight.

kperk91

Many people will say eat a higher number of calories (I eat a higher amount of calories), but if you don't/can't eat that many in a day...

at least find out what your BMR is and eat that amount of calories so that you can maintain muscle.

beckajw

I think when you first begin to lose wight, you have this rush of motivation and this desire to just lose weight.

I think for the short term, eating so far under your daily calorie amount probably isn't going to do any real damage to your health.

For long term I recommend starting to eat more as you lose weight. You will feel better. Combine this with maybe a little more exercise and a regular eating schedule.

I agree with this. At first, it seems easy not to eat 1200 calories, but are you really satisfied? How was it so easy to eat more than 1200 before you started MFP? What have you cut out that you didn't need to cut out?

Are you getting enough protein? Enough fat? Enough Carbs? You need all of them to be healthy.

Also, I find that restricting that much, even when I don't feel like I need more at first, leads to big binges a couple weeks later.

Edit: I agree with others, don't eat "diet" foods. Eat whole, natural foods with most things (except leafy veggies) the calories will actually add up pretty quickly. Nuts are good for your heart and 1 little ounce has about 200 calories. Adding olive oil, coconut oil, etc. (healthy oils) to your cooking also helps to add up the calories, and keep your hair and nails looking great.

SirBen81

If you feel fine eating 900 calories and you have enough energy to workout and get through the day then just keep on doing what you're doing. I wouldn't worry about your body going into starvation mode and "canabalising" itself because it's a very slow process and is nothing you'll drop dead from.

geetabean

Hey Sara! I think that the typical "dieting" mentality is to eat as little as possible and you'll lose weight.....and you might actually lose weight, at least for a little while. If you're anything like me though, you don't want to be on a "diet" but want to be healthy and eat nutritionally! At least that is what I get from reading your thread.

Your body WILL function on 1000 calories, but at some point you are going to want to eat more than that, and as soon as you do, your body will start packing whatever weight you've lost (and then some) back on. So, the idea is to eat as healthy as possible while still losing weight so that you don't have to deny yourself things you like and your body gets all the nutrients it needs to keep you going. And you mentioned previously in this thread that you were used to eating whatever you wanted, mostly fast food.....if that is the case then you were consuming at least 500 calories a meal (probably more than that) so it stands to reason that your body is more than capable of taking in over 1000 calories a day. You just have to learn what to add to your meal to make it well rounded and balance out your cals.

I think the first thing to do is go to this site: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Fill out the info and get your BMR. You really shouldn't be eating below your BMR....I eat about 100-200 calories ABOVE my BMR daily and then add my exercise calories when necessary.

The next thing I would do is make out a rough plan for the week of what you are going to eat. It's much easier to get in the foods you need when you plan ahead. Try making a point of having protein, fat and carbohydrates at EACH meal. I looked through your food diary and honestly, not much on there resembled real food. Chips, cereal, Lean Cuisine, diet soda.....not much there that isn't highly processed.....I think those things are totally fine once in a while, but they really shouldn't make up the majority of your diet. There is hardly any nutrition in them. Go to the store and buy as much fresh veggies and fruit as you can afford. If you're picky, buy the veggies that you like and can tolerate and maybe once a week buy a veggie that you don't really like and try out a new recipe and see if you can get used to it. I used to hate mushrooms and zucchini but I just decided I was going to eat them anyway and now I really like both! Buy starches with whole grains....pasta, tortillas, bread. But ground turkey instead of beef, and fish is a great addition to your diet....I eat tilapia a couple times a week. Try and eat 3 full meals and 2 substantial snacks a day here are some ideas:

Breakfast:
scramble eggs up with your favorite veggies. I like mine with spinach, orange bell pepper, mushrooms, kalamata olives and a little shredded cheese. Have a yogurt or a slice of dry toast. Have a cup of melon or a banana. Mix it up. Natural oatmeal is also really good and there are tons of things you can have mix in with it.

Lunch:
make a turkey sandwich, a piece of fruit and some carrot sticks. My favorite lunch is a spinach and lettuce salad with veggies on it, a piece of tilapia and 1/2 cup brown rice. Make a big bath of brown rice that will last a few days. Have a wrap made on a whole grain tortilla. One piece of fruit for lunch is not enough to sustain your body and you need something else to balance out the sugars from it. Have a cup of yogurt too.

Dinner:
There are so many websites out there that have great ideas for lower calorie dinners. Make some whole grain pasta with chicken and broccoli with a low sugar tomato sauce. Make a cheese and chicken quesadilla with a whole grain tortilla, have a loaded salad. There are some great threads on MFP that show you pictures of what people are eating....if nothing else it can give you some inspiration.

I think that eating more while still losing weight is a hard concept to wrap your head around because that is the opposite of what we've always been told, and it seems counter productive. But honestly, it's true! Our bodies need a certain amount of fuel to help keep things running smoothly (this is your BMR) and while you can be successful eating way less than that, why would you want to? Food is good! It's a lot of fun to eat and it makes up a large part of our lives. Why cut back so strictly when you can lose even more weight eating a lot more food and a lot more often?

And as far as having my food diary private.....I'm not a big fan of strangers entering my personal space uninvited. If you want, we can be friends you can see whatever you'd like! I wish you the best of luck with your weight loss! )

hanna6774

how do you think you got fat in the first place?? overeating!!!! so please dont complain about eating too little. if eating too little was the problem, why would any of us be on this site in the first place??????

Totally! I think a lot of fat people overestimate exercise / underestimate eating. I had a very overweight friend who swore she didn't eat junk. She house sat for me and I saw all the junk food wrappers

ya- a lot of fat people do that. what a crap statement.

This fat prson understands where OP is coming from because when I'm in diet mode I mentally do not want to eat-- I'm out of my "fat people" mode of eating mentality.

those darn fat people-- they just can't figure out how to eat and exercise.

LMAO!!!!! If only it was that easy - darn, I thought I hid those wrappers!

chachita7

I understand that everyone will tell you that everyone is different.... If I would have gone in to your diary and seen that you are eating high protein foods I would have seen where your fullness is coming from but that is not the case...

if you start treating this as healthy habits rather than a diet you will find it easier to create habits which are healthier for you. I agree with those who have recommended you start adding things like peanut butter and things with higher calorie content... A banana for lunch is just not enough.... each meal should be balanced.

Though you wouldn't go in starvation mode, you are surely cutting lots of necessary nutrients from your body.