Eating too little?

LaBori7

I am new at dieting I don't think I have ever dieted in my life, I always ate what I wanted and now I'm paying for it. I have recently started a diet which consists of a whey protein shake in the morning, one snack, healthy lunch, one snack, and whey protein shake for dinner. I am eating all together between 900-1200 calories daily. I joined another site for help and they laughed at me and said that I'm consuming too much protein and and eating too little and will loose lean body fat. I don't have money for weight management clinics, or a nutrisionist or a personal trainer so I need to do this on my own.

I'm 5'6 and 27 years old 245 pounds. According to this site I burn 2520 calories from normal daily activity. I'm also working out 6-7 days a week. So my daily goal is to eat 1520 calories a day and as you can see I eat way less than that. My question is should I eat more and try to stay at the 1500 calorie mark or can I continue to eat 1200 calories a day and still be fine. I'm supposed to consume 57g of protein a day and I'm afraid I almost double that some days. Is too much protein bad for you? I really want to loose this weight and be at a healthy weight I'm tired of being obese. I don't really care how long it takes me to loose it I just want to loose and tone up at the same time and keep it off permanently.

This is all so confusing and complicated for me. When I work out I try to do cardio and strength machines/work outs as evenly as possible. I haven't stepped in the weightlifting section of the gym yet because I don't have a clue to what to do.

ironanimal

You're too young to be eating that little, being so active.

kobob

I would suggest you eat the minimum of 1200 cal per day. I had to learn what I needed to do to make the food work with my body. I started by eatling less than 1200 and after MFP and my friends constartly telling me that I wasn't eating enough calories, I decided to listen. As soon as I changed my habits, the weight has started coming off. The main focus has to be is monitor what is making your body work to burn and not "starving" your body of the nutients it needs to work. Good luck

LaBori7

I just started going to the gym 6-7 days a week because it gives me energy and when I go 3-4 days I tend to skip more days and the eventually stop working out. I don't want to stop being so active so now I have to find out ho much and what to eat to help me nurious my body and still loose weight.

mrmoustache

900-1200 is far too low for anyone. You could eat 2000 daily and still lose a pound a week, which might be your best bet. You can also eat double that in protein. How much do you work out now/what do you do?

mandylooo

Don't panic Lucy. I don't think what you're doing is too bad. Since you have quite a lot to lose, eating 900 - 1200 kcal isn't going to hurt you too much, though really you would be better off upping it to 1200 being the absolute minimum you eat on one day. The closer you get to your goal, the closer you should eat to the recommended amounts as this is the phase in which you're most prone to losing lean body mass (ie muscle). This will include eating back your exercise calories, so if your MFP setting is 1520, you will need to eat this AND the amount of calories you burn through exercise.

Moving to a more varied diet will be more healthy in terms of getting the micronutrients you need, but in terms of weight loss, it's only really the calorie count which matters.

With regard to exercise, using strength machines and doing some CV is a great combination. Remember to keep pushing the weights up when they get too easy. Using free weights would give you a more concise routine, but it isn't essential if you don't feel comfortable with it.

MinMin97

Wow, that's so awesome how motivated and dedicated you are!! It is my understanding that a person who is very heavy will lose quite quickly ! To be sustainable in your efforts, you should not underestimate your calories, or overestimate your exercise...not necessary! Just start with your stats...age, weight, height, etc, and establish your eating program around that. You will get results! As for exercise, weight training is a great idea...like 3 times per week, a different muscle group each day. Do some cardio, but don't overdo! Like maybe do 3 times per week also. Take one day of complete rest from your exercise program. Log your food and exercise well...so you can measure your progress. I know you will do very well!

yarwell

Have a go at the body fat calculators at http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/ and use the result in their BMR calculator to see what the Katch-McArdle formula says.

There are guidelines on daily protein per lb of lean body mass or per ln of body weight, but usually the total protein should be in the range 15-30% of your calories. One guideline is 1g protein per lb of lean body mass.

LaBori7

I would suggest you eat the minimum of 1200 cal per day. I had to learn what I needed to do to make the food work with my body. I started by eatling less than 1200 and after MFP and my friends constartly telling me that I wasn't eating enough calories, I decided to listen. As soon as I changed my habits, the weight has started coming off. The main focus has to be is monitor what is making your body work to burn and not "starving" your body of the nutients it needs to work. Good luck

How did you go about finding exactly what you needed to eat?

LaBori7

900-1200 is far too low for anyone. You could eat 2000 daily and still lose a pound a week, which might be your best bet. You can also eat double that in protein. How much do you work out now/what do you do?

I wanted to loose 2 per week, is that a bad idea? If you think 1 a week is better can you explain why if you can. I work out for 60 mins mon-fri and 90 mins on Saturdays. I do a combo or cardio and strength machines. I haven't done any lifting yet because I'm not sure how.

feistyhorsegal

I don't know how you have the energy to work out so much, live such an active lifestyle, and still only eat 900 - 1200 calories a day. Omg I'd be starving. I would replace the eveing protein shake with a healthy dinner and eat a minimum of 1200 calries a day NET. So you'd have to eat back all your exercise calories.

C00lCountry

Good reason to eat more.

Wife was at 1200 and couldn't lose weight.
Increased to 1400 and same results.
Increased to 1500 and dropped 2 lbs.
Has not hit her goal weight.
You maybe hurting your weight lose by eating to little. Your body thinks it is starving.

tmaldo843

1200 cals is good as a base but take the exercise into account. The tool will add extra calories to compensate for your actvity so you don't go into starvation mode.
Tere

picimadar

Don't freak out too much, Lucy! It didn't take you a week or probably even a month to put the weight on, it won't come off in a jiffy even if you do starve yourself! I'm 5'1" and 142lb, and I eat about 1500 calories a day. That STILL puts me in an 800 calorie deficit, but I make double sure I get enough protein. I've lost 7.5lb in the last two weeks.

If you treat your body right and make sure you're giving it all the nutrients it needs, the weight will come off, it's just not going to happen overnight!

PLUMSGRL

If you really want to loose the weight in a healthy way (not go up and down the rest of your life), read this blog by a member of the MFP group Eat More To Weigh Less:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

it has a lot of good info and links.

Good luck with your endeavors!

Edge57

I agree with Kobob, eat an absolute minimum of 1200 calories a day; if your exercise is more intense allow more food. I would limit workouts to between 45 minutes and an hr a day; after this amount of time the body generally begins to produce cortisol which promotes fat storage. My daughter a yr ago was walking up to 8 miles a day and seeing no weight loss , was frustrated. I told her to cut back a day or 2 a week and cut back her time per walk to an hr. She did so and began losing weight again. The most important part of your exercise routine is recovery, without that , exercise becomes catabolic, or continuosly tearing down, and the body goes into survival mode. Be Yourself, everyone else is taken.

cherrybomb_77

I started out at a similar size (5'7" and 240). At your weight, 2 pounds a week probably isn't unreasonable, but I've also found it's important to shift my thinking towards long term success, as opposed to immediate satisfaction, if that makes sense. Because see, I've already done this once before. I lost over 80 pounds in a fairly short amount of time by significant calorie restriction and lots of exercise...and I gained it back and then some. So this time I'm eating more and exercising less, which means I'm losing more slowly...BUT, it's sustainable weight loss. Yes, it will take me longer to get to my ultimate goal, but my odds of staying there are much higher.

I highly recommend the Eat More to Lose Weight group. There's a wealth of information on healthy, sustainable weight loss there. Good luck!

bathsheba_c

You may want to check out a group on here called "Eat More, Weigh Less." You definitely should be consuming more calories!

Yes, it is possible to consume too much protein, but it is pretty difficult to do. However, it sounds like you could quite easily substitute two of your protein shakes for a real breakfast and a real dinner, and you would still have enough protein.

As for the correct things to eat, the pat answer is "as large a variety as possible." MFP allows you to see how much of your daily calories you are getting from carbohydrates, protein, and fat. It sets your daily targets according to US government recommendations, so that might be a good place to start. A lot of people feel the protein settings are low, so if you want to play around with your settings, you would be fine reducing carbs to 40% of total calories and upping protein to 30%.

yarwell

I wanted to loose 2 per week, is that a bad idea?

Not to start with, you have plenty of fat reserves to supply the 1,000 calorie deficit implicit in 2 lbs/week. The (older) ladies below ate 1200 calories and averaged 1.25 lbs/week for 16 weeks :

LaBori7

Thanks everyone for your helpful advise I'm reading them all and will take them all into consideration.

LaBori7

I don't know how you have the energy to work out so much, live such an active lifestyle, and still only eat 900 - 1200 calories a day. Omg I'd be starving. I would replace the eveing protein shake with a healthy dinner and eat a minimum of 1200 calries a day NET. So you'd have to eat back all your exercise calories.

I take an OxyElite Pro 30 mins before my work out and that gives me a ton of energy!

samntha14

Congratulations for taking control of your health and weight. I always get concerned when I here about people below 1200. I think what you are doing is fine to kick start you new life-style, but you will need to slowly add more calories and real food to your diet so that your new life-style becomes sustainable. Too often folks focus on getting the weight off now, instead of keeping it off for a life time. As your weight goes down, your calorie count should go up. I forget the rule of thumb there, but maybe someone else can post it for you. I know that for me being less than 10pounds from goal I set the system to only lose .5 a week but eat for .25. For you 2lbs to start should be fine, but as others suggested, you want to add more real food. High amount of protein is a good thing.

LaBori7

Good reason to eat more.

Wife was at 1200 and couldn't lose weight.
Increased to 1400 and same results.
Increased to 1500 and dropped 2 lbs.
Has not hit her goal weight.
You maybe hurting your weight lose by eating to little. Your body thinks it is starving.

I think that is exactly what I'm doing. I was telling my coworker the other day that I didn't understand why when I ate little and healthy I wouldn't loose any weight but when I "cheated" and ate something bad for me like pizza or Chinese one day food I lost weight.

LaBori7

Don't freak out too much, Lucy! It didn't take you a week or probably even a month to put the weight on, it won't come off in a jiffy even if you do starve yourself! I'm 5'1" and 142lb, and I eat about 1500 calories a day. That STILL puts me in an 800 calorie deficit, but I make double sure I get enough protein. I've lost 7.5lb in the last two weeks.

If you treat your body right and make sure you're giving it all the nutrients it needs, the weight will come off, it's just not going to happen overnight!

I put this weight in the last 5 years. And I really don't care how long it takes me really. I just want to be healthy I have the rest of my life to do this I don't want to loose weight and look horrible I want to look good and healthy. It's just that I don't know what to eat and such. Before I had my daughter I could eat all I wanted and not gain a pound so I didn't have to diet. After having her I became a junk food addict and now I'm paying the consequences. I want to do what's right for my body. But I don't want to stop going to the gym 6 days a week because I just know that i will start slacking off and eventually stop going like I have done in the last 5 years.

LaBori7

If you really want to loose the weight in a healthy way (not go up and down the rest of your life), read this blog by a member of the MFP group Eat More To Weigh Less:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

it has a lot of good info and links.

Good luck with your endeavors!

Thank you I will read this tonight.

AimersBee

Congratulations for taking control of your health and weight. I always get concerned when I here about people below 1200. I think what you are doing is fine to kick start you new life-style, but you will need to slowly add more calories and real food to your diet so that your new life-style becomes sustainable. Too often folks focus on getting the weight off now, instead of keeping it off for a life time. As your weight goes down, your calorie count should go up. I forget the rule of thumb there, but maybe someone else can post it for you. I know that for me being less than 10pounds from goal I set the system to only lose .5 a week but eat for .25. For you 2lbs to start should be fine, but as others suggested, you want to add more real food. High amount of protein is a good thing.

^^^ Agreed...

First I'd like to say, kudos to you for stepping up and doing this for yourself.. that's great!

If you're going to drink shakes, just from coming off of a diet of "eating anything you want".. you'll want to also try getting in the habbit of eating regular food as well. You don't want to do shakes.. find out you lose all the weight.. then say hmm I can eat what I want again because I'm at a healthy enough weight.. I've seen this all too many times with people where they go on a diet plan that isn't really sustainable for every day life for the rest of their life.. and then all of a sudden they fall off the wagon and gain twice the amount of weight back that they just lost.

I'd say.. if you're eating 1200 and you find that you aren't feeling hungry at all. Then keep on it. Until you feel that you're feeling hungry.. up the calories a bit. I started with 1200 calories myself, and also ate back my exercise calories.. so a total of around 1400 approx everday, and for the first 3 weeks I had lost 5 lbs. But I felt lately that I was feeling hungrier, so I'm going to change a few foods around.. see how I feel.. if it doesn't work.. then I'll boost the amount of calories. You should NEVER starve yourself.. once you start feeling that hungry feeling, you are definitely not going to lose any weight.. and if you do lose weight.. it won't be as much as if you were eating healthier and not having the hungry feeling.

Just my 2 cents.

LaBori7

I agree with Kobob, eat an absolute minimum of 1200 calories a day; if your exercise is more intense allow more food. I would limit workouts to between 45 minutes and an hr a day; after this amount of time the body generally begins to produce cortisol which promotes fat storage. My daughter a yr ago was walking up to 8 miles a day and seeing no weight loss , was frustrated. I told her to cut back a day or 2 a week and cut back her time per walk to an hr. She did so and began losing weight again. The most important part of your exercise routine is recovery, without that , exercise becomes catabolic, or continuosly tearing down, and the body goes into survival mode. Be Yourself, everyone else is taken.

I didnt know this. I guess too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Do you think I should cut back to 4 days a week just 60 mins a day?

LaBori7

Have a go at the body fat calculators at http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/ and use the result in their BMR calculator to see what the Katch-McArdle formula says.

There are guidelines on daily protein per lb of lean body mass or per ln of body weight, but usually the total protein should be in the range 15-30% of your calories. One guideline is 1g protein per lb of lean body mass.

I will do this tonight thanks!

mfpcopine

I am new at dieting I don't think I have ever dieted in my life, I always ate what I wanted and now I'm paying for it. I have recently started a diet which consists of a whey protein shake in the morning, one snack, healthy lunch, one snack, and whey protein shake for dinner. I am eating all together between 900-1200 calories daily. I joined another site for help and they laughed at me and said that I'm consuming too much protein and and eating too little and will loose lean body fat. I don't have money for weight management clinics, or a nutrisionist or a personal trainer so I need to do this on my own.

I'm 5'6 and 27 years old 245 pounds. According to this site I burn 2520 calories from normal daily activity. I'm also working out 6-7 days a week. So my daily goal is to eat 1520 calories a day and as you can see I eat way less than that. My question is should I eat more and try to stay at the 1500 calorie mark or can I continue to eat 1200 calories a day and still be fine. I'm supposed to consume 57g of protein a day and I'm afraid I almost double that some days. Is too much protein bad for you? I really want to loose this weight and be at a healthy weight I'm tired of being obese. I don't really care how long it takes me to loose it I just want to loose and tone up at the same time and keep it off permanently.

This is all so confusing and complicated for me. When I work out I try to do cardio and strength machines/work outs as evenly as possible. I haven't stepped in the weightlifting section of the gym yet because I don't have a clue to what to do.

You wrote: "loose lean body fat" It's "lose," not "loose." They meant you could lose lean body MASS or muscle. It's hard to do, but 900 calories is difficult to sustain for a long time and your diet doesn't sound nutritionally balanced. Try going up to 1,200 and create a proper mix of protein, carbs, and proteins.

Eat enough vegetables (a type of carb.) Take a vitamin supplement. Exercise.

MinMin97

You wrote:

"I think that is exactly what I'm doing. I was telling my coworker the other day that I didn't understand why when I ate little and healthy I wouldn't loose any weight but when I "cheated" and ate something bad for me like pizza or Chinese one day food I lost weight."


It is my understanding that zig-zagging your calorie intake over a week helps weight loss. I started doing this just last week...my check-in day is tomorrow!

mfpcopine

I agree with Kobob, eat an absolute minimum of 1200 calories a day; if your exercise is more intense allow more food. I would limit workouts to between 45 minutes and an hr a day; after this amount of time the body generally begins to produce cortisol which promotes fat storage. My daughter a yr ago was walking up to 8 miles a day and seeing no weight loss , was frustrated. I told her to cut back a day or 2 a week and cut back her time per walk to an hr. She did so and began losing weight again. The most important part of your exercise routine is recovery, without that , exercise becomes catabolic, or continuosly tearing down, and the body goes into survival mode. Be Yourself, everyone else is taken.

I didnt know this. I guess too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Do you think I should cut back to 4 days a week just 60 mins a day?

I wouldn't cut back. I would try to get in 60 minutes of cardio 5 to 6 times a week. Use a heart rate monitor so you know that you are training at a high level of intensity for most of the workout. If you haven't worked out before, work your way up gradually over a few weeks.

I don't know what the other person's daughter was doing, but it isn't that complicated. If you create a calorie deficit and work out, you will lose weight if you're a healthy person.