Am i really not eating enough ?

ashleyljl

Hi everyone, decided to join out of curiousity yesterday after years of excerising and not really getting anywhere! Anyway, i just had my 3rd baby 8 months ago and am desperate to get in some kind of shape, after having the baby i immediatly started a low gi diet and since January i have followed slimming world only to lose 3lb, all this despite running around after 3 children and doing Zumba 4/5 times a week. Obviously this is really depressing as im also getting married at the end of June and really wanted to look my best :-(
Anyway yesterday i decided that i would do a 1200 calorie diet and up my excersie, but i really struggled to eat so much food and was snacking on crisps etc. that i would never usually do, but after coming on fitness pal this morning it is telling me that for wanting to lose 2lb a week on the extreme weight loss i should be eating 1544 ! Now to me that seem so much and im scared that if i follow this i will actually put on more weight, i have never eaten alot tbh only eating 'normally' when pregnant but i have always dropped the baby weight immediatly after giving birth. Im so stuck on what to do, is Fitness pal right in suggesting i eat that much, as the last thing i want at the moment is to put anything on ? Any advice would be great, thanks

Ashley

ili_s

Hi Ashley!

One advice I can give you is to not be scared of eating food. If you are active food is your friend. The whole notion of a 1200 calorie diet is rubbish. Most people need to eat between 1400 and 2100 calories a day depending on how active they are, age, height and muscle mass.

Pop over here http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and plug in your numbers and it will tell you around how many calories you should be eating a day depending on your activity level.

It sounds to me like your main struggle will be eating all the food, especially since you are struggling with just 1200calories sometimes. Just get yourself some good quality food which is dense in calories, like nuts and eat those instead of crisps.

Also.. you have the rest of your life to get healthy. Don't rush it, because if you do and you reach your goal by whatever unrealistic time you have set, you will put it all back on. Wouldn't you rather get to where you wnat to be slowly and then be guaranteed to stay there for the rest of your life?

All the best!

bridgie101

I never ate and couldn't lose weight for years.

Of course I was eating, just not in a regulated way. I would be exhausted, and eat a chocolate bar. That chocolate bar would disappear into the mists of time.

So tired all the time, running around after the children.. a handful of nuts from the cupboard. A couple of handfuls of raisins...

It all added up, it's just that I didn't add it up.

Going on a diet makes you think 'gosh I'm eating all this food' because due to the fact that you're recording your intake, you naturally don't eat all the snacks you normally don't notice yourself eating. you're being conscious. and it's amazing how much real food you can consume and still lose weight.

The science does not lie. You have processed your weight and your desired weight loss, and the physics and the maths are not to be disagreed with. The only difference is the level of consciousness you actually have while dieting.

Be at peace, dude. Your 1200 cals a day will not make you gain weight unless you're four foot three.