I honestly feel like I can't do this.

bdenitto

You can do it! You just have to figure out what works for you. It takes some time, trial, and error to make plan that will work. I really hope you weren't trying to get by on 800 calories a day. Take the time to read the boards on here and read some of the success stories. Typically they explain what they did to lose the weight.

Danny_Boy13

If you are at only 800 als then anyone would be wanting to grab any kind of food that they see. The human body is in self preserve mode at this time. Just take it in small steps. If before dieting you were consuming 2000+ cals a day make a goal to eat no more then 1800 for a week or two. Then drop it by 100 cals a week until you get to the recommended cals that MFP suggests.

trufaith01

You can do this! You have to eat at least 1200 calories a day. Anything under that will slow down your metabolism. Try doing maybe 1500 calories to start until your body adjusts to a smaller intestine and the hunger pains will eventually lessen. Dont drink away your calories. Always drink diet pop if you are addicted to having some type of taste because they are usually 0 calories but water is always best! You can also look for flavored water but check the calories because not all flavored water has calories of zero. Hope this helps!

sapl31

First of all you can do it. I am a life long food addict (for real, not to be funny). I have struggled with this my entire life. I had a lot more to overcome as far as weight to lose than you and I am doing it. I wish I had dealt with the addiction sooner and may I wouldn't have gotten to 290 and had gastric bypass.

Two options to consider, see a counselor and/or attend an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Start to find ways to deal with the obsession. It is now easy and you won't be perfect.

Get your hands busy. I taught myself to crochet to avoid tv snacking.

kelseyhere

sounds like you just need to find something else to keep your hands busy. look for a new hobby- try knitting while watching TV. see if your local dog shelter needs volunteer dog walkers, etc. i obsess about food too, but i've realized it's most related to boredom. also higher sugar foods and processed foods spike your blood sugar, then you crash quickly afterwards making you want to eat again. try to eat more protein, and less sugar and processed foods.

i would also encourage you to keep a diary for at least a week. everytime you eat blog about what you eat, how you felt at that time, what you were doing, etc. it will help you notice your patterns so you can figure out a plan to break those bad habits.

snacking is a habit, just have to break that habit. it's not easy, but you CAN do it.

erd1954

I would use your maximum calories to start. When I first started using MFP I felt more fixated on food that when I wasn't watching calories. That caused me to be more hungry, I decided to just focus on tracking what I was eating first and increasing my water intake. I didn't lose weight but I started thinking more about what I was choosing and what were good choices to satisfy my hunger. I really like Mac and Cheese and I have difficulty eating a regular portion, the carb count is also high and I end up getting hungry sooner. That was a food I decided to stay away from. Carrot sticks don't satisfy me when I am hungry so I would try something with protein and fat when really hungry. Don't be so hard on yourself either. Sometimes you just start by making smaller easy healthy changes like more excercise and then build from there. Good luck!

toaster6

If there's something you want to make sure you don't eat, DO NOT buy it when you do your grocery shopping. If you know you can't keep yourself from eating hot dogs, mac and cheese, etc. pass them up. Worked for me-- I really like the Red Baron single serve cheese pizzas but I know they're horrible for me so I just don't buy them anymore.

irisheyez718

Like so many others have said, you do NOT need to starve yourself or go hungry to do this. Get some exercise, count your calories, and you'll be fine. If you know you want a snack at midnight (like I do), save some calories for that snack. It's not a bad thing. If you want to take a look at my diary, its open. With exercise I usually eat around 1800-2000 calories a day. Plenty of food.

Yes2HealthyAriel

you can still have snacks just have healthier ones like celery or baby carrots with either peanut butter or hummus, light string cheeses, low fat yogurts, grapes, apples, oranges

secretlobster

Please don't feel like you need to give up all food that you love, or eat way too little. If you spend a couple of weeks not changing your eating at all but JUST logging... You'll gain an awareness of where your food dangers lie, what you need to avoid, and what you need to work on. I can't see your diary so I'm going to trust that other people aren't wrong when they see you are eating 800 calories a day. Why not shoot for 1500-1600 instead? Unless you are already very small, you can lose weight on in intake of 1600 calories. There is no need to be hungry all the time. Will you ever experience hunger? Yes. Sometimes. But recovering from being controlled by hunger (brain hunger, boredom hunger, but not actual hunger) is part of the process, and taking control back will be extremely rewarding.

NoleGirl0918

Bump for later

Ichristini

well as others have said, of course your hungry eating that little.
make a lot of good choices and you can eat more and still have a reduced calorie intake, without resorting to mac and cheese.

but here's my tip:
Since I've cut out all/most sugar and a most bread, I hardly ever crave anything. When I DO crave something though, PROMISE yourself you can have it in the morning.

By the next morning, you'll probably forget about it. but even if you don't, you'll be well rested and you'll know you can either indulge a little, or eat breakfast and move on with your day and feel good.

I think there is really something to your point about cutting sugars and breads. I get sugars from fruits and veggie and I usually have a chocolatey granola bar as a snack, but since I've been on MFP I haven't had many sugars or breads, nor have I wanted them!

Ready2Rock206

If I only had 800 calories in a day I might eat the tv remote along w/the Hot Dogs and Mac & Cheese!! Up those cals a bit - be sure and eat filling foods rather than junk and go to bed earlier (says the girl who was up at midnight last night and most nights)....

Its_Nat

You have had soooo much good advice given to you in this thread. I really hope you take it all on board.. and give yourself a chance to do this! Good luck to you xx

ash8184

Are you eating enough protein? If you are, and are still hungry, fill yourself with fruits & veggies. You can eat A TON of produce for not very many calories and it will fill you up!

pwittek10

Make a deal with yourself,
You have to change your triggers

zebisis

Please add me-
I am eating about 1200 cal daily, and exercising almost daily (5-6 times/week... sometimes my little one sabotages my plans!)

You HAVE to learn to listen to your body. Your stomach will growl when you are truly hungry. Once I got into the rhythm of eating when I was HUNGRY, not when I was bored, or when something yummy was offered, I started doing much better. I realized that I had not felt that hungry feeling much in the last 4 years, because I was always snacking.
AND- once you start eating only when you are actually hungry- you will find that ANYTHING you eat tastes fantastic. Raw baby spinach, broccoli, chicken breast- I look forward to eating these things, when before, when I was eating all the time, regardless of what my body needed, these things did not appeal to me.

You have to retrain your brain. If you know that you are up late, eat light early, then save a good chunk of calories for late night.
I cook up a bunch of chicken breast for the week and buy baby spinach, a solid block of pecorino romano, and I like Drew's dressings (especially garlic peppercorn and shiitake ginger), and eat 1 or 2 big salads a day- 130 grams of baby spinach, 7.5 grams of grated pecorino romano, 3-4 oz of chicken. I dress the greens in 1T of dressing, and then cut up the chicken in 3/4" cubes, then coat them in the grated cheese. Toss it up with fresh ground pepper and a sprinkle of Himalayan Pink Sea salt, and bob'syouruncle.

I would recommend that you cut out sugars and carbs for two weeks to start out. Some people will disagree with this, but, I found that it killed my cravings for carbs and sugar. Carbs and sugar act like a drug in the brain, and tell you to eat more of them even if you are full. It is much easier to tackle this journey when you are in control of your cravings a bit more.

I am a night owl as well- usually up until 3-4 am EST, so do add me if you like. I will be up and around MFP latenight.

This is possible!!!

TheCaren

Well, you've heard it a thousand times. You didn't eat enough at 800 calories a day to keep yourself going even if all you did was lie in bed and do nothing, unless you're like 3'9" and 75 pounds! When you set your profile for MFP, don't request to lose more than two pounds in a week and it should give you a reasonable suggested calorie intake. Or go to one of the online calculators to find out your BMR and TDEE (you can google those acronyms). Base your intake on that.

If you aren't getting enough calories, you're gonna be hungry. That's just your body saying "feed me".

And as for the lifestyle change to healthier eating not being doable. You only have to do it for today. You can do anything just for a day, right? Then tomorrow do it again. Don't look at a lifetime of "dieting". That won't work long term for most people. Just one day at a time.

You can do this!!!!

c3js80

It must be something about Ohio girls. lol Cleveland is my hometown. I'm not going to address exercise, your calories, etc. I will just tell you that I am a snacker. My nightly snack used to be Haagen Daz coffee ice cream and potato chips. I lost 50 pounds over 2 years ago - the same 50 for about the 10th time - and have not put any back on. I knew I would never be able to eat dinner and eat nothing else in the evening. I replaced the Haagen Daz with Skinny Cow cones and sandwiches and a while later I would have a 100 calorie bag of popcorn. I would always plan for my snacks, and still do. It gives me something to look forward to. You don't need to stop eating after a certain time. You can't deprive yourself. That was always my mistake in the past. You can definitely do this. Don't worry if it goes slower than you'd like. You'll get used to eating differently and will keep it off long term. Good luck.

Hourglass_Lass

There are two words I want to say to you, first and foremost. I understand!

Everyone on here has given the best advice they know how and to see that is truly heartwarming. This is my first post on this forum, as a new member, but I couldn't have chosen a better topic. Your post reminds me of every day of my life since I was in my middle teens. I'll describe the whys and whatfors in my blog, but you need to know that you're not alone in what you're feeling.

I'm not going to tell you you're eating too few calories. I'm not going to suggest a menu to follow or an exercise regimen. All of the above and more has been caringly suggested, so I'd like to take a different approach. While it is true that we tend to overeat and choose the wrong foods when we're hungry, I don't think this is the root of your problem. I'm thinking it either comes from finding emotional happiness/satisfaction through food, a well developed habit during pregnancy (or possibly even before that) or boredom. From the tone of your post, I'm going to lean towards the first.

If you could find a good behavioral therapist in your area, that will go a long way towards sorting through some of the reasons behind the behaviors. If you cannot do this for any reason, that's okay. In lieu thereof (or at the same time), I'd suggest picking up a couple of credible books that explain this type of binge-like behavior. Not only will they give you some insight, but can also give you renewed faith in the fact that you can overcome your obstacle and possibly, some tools on how to do this. I wish I could give you a list of books, but someone here may be able to do that or just a search on Amazon.com for binge eating, bad eating habits, etc. may turn up some good hits. As a side note, perhaps you would find the subject matter interesting enough that it would lessen your desire to eat until you can sleep.

While you are working on the actual behavior, I can only suggest what has worked for me in the past and what works for me currently: 1.) I've removed all unhealthy foods from my house. 2.) I write down everything I put in my mouth. MFP.com has made this very easy. That way you can see what your diet lacks. Cravings can often be caused from eating too many refined sugars and carbs or deficiencies in some vitamins/minerals. 3.) I've refused to buy any new clothes until I can fit back into the ones I already have. While it sounds like punishment, it's not for me. It gives me something to look forward to, especially when I see older pictures of myself in the outfits of which I've 'out' grown.

I'm not telling any of this to you as gospel or as any sort of medical professional. Your post just really hit home with me and I wanted to off help in the best way I know how. I wish you every bit of success and I believe you CAN do this. Feel free to add me as a friend and I'll be happy to support you any way I can! :flowerforyou: