New & A Dietary Nightmare

undeludedwish

Good morning!

Getting the advice that I desperately need has been difficult in person and on MFP because I am already in a healthy BMI range. More often than not I am left feeling guilty for trying to pursue weight loss at all. So thank you for reading this, for giving me your advice based on what has worked for you, and what you think might work for me, and for not judging, I appreciate it!

For a long time I have been living life in a very bipolar way with no consideration for the future. I would eat whatever I wanted, drink excessively, and then adopt quick fixes. Then in August, I got a high stress desk job at a law firm, hit my mid twenties, became depressed for unknown reasons, and put on fifteen pounds! For a 5"2, petite person, who has been easily maintaining 100lbs for her entire life, it was a big wake up call. Then everything sort of hit me. If I don't start taking care of my body now, I'm not going to have this body years down the line (who doesn't want to be a cougar?), and my health is going to be seriously compromised. It's time to grow up.

I'm not ready to address the emotional underlying factors made me into a binge eater and alcoholic for the last 3 months, but I am ready to address the binge eating and alcoholism, and hopefully with time, the mental health will come. For starters, I am not drinking at home anymore. I am running and weight lifting. But the eating is where I need your help.

My goal is to get back to where I started: 100lbs (I am there in my photo).

What is your opinion on:

1. How many calories a small woman, with a healthy BMI, should eat to lose? (aka. Is 1200 too high to work?)
2. (Related to 1) What has your weight loss rate been like at that caloric level?
3. Cleanses? (ie. Juicing)
4. How to get motivated when you are in a slump? (I am in a slump, a very deep and miserable slump).
5. Preventing holiday/emotional weight gain in the long run over your maintenance weight range (probably the most important question of all)?

I know the short answer to all those questions is "You have to find what works for you". I get that. I'm simply looking for anything you have to say on any of the above topics that you find helpful personally. Anything would be a tremendous help for me on my path to finding "what works for me".

I know you all have your stories, and I want to hear them.

katevarner

You may have seen it elsewhere, but this is what has worked for me.

First, find out what your TDEE is. The calculators can help, particularly since you are young, but if you can afford it, get a device. I have a BodyMedia Fit Link and have had it since February. Lost 24 lbs. I'm a fan. There are less expensive options out there, but I don't know about their accuracy. The Jawbone Up is less expensive and can be worn in the shower. A friend of mine is looking into it, and my son used the Fitbit, but he's a teenager and wouldn't wear it consistently.

Then calculate your BMR. I am guessing that yours is very low because of your size. That's good, because that should mean you can eat pretty low if you need/want to. I would not suggest eating below BMR and would suggest that you eat back your exercise calories if you use MFP to calculate, because not eating them will likely dip you below BMR. You don't have enough extra fat to sustain that for any length of time.

When I had what I thought was 15 lbs. to lose, I was able to eat 500 calories per day under my TDEE and lose almost a pound a week. At the time I was 5'3" and 133.5, so not too far from where you are. I NEVER ate 1200. I started at 1650 because I calculated my TDEE to be around 2150. That worked for me for the first almost 4 months. Then when my son graduated from high school and I didn't have the excuse of being home to wake him up every morning, I started going to morning classes at my gym, upped my workout days from 2 to 6 and upped my calories to 1850 per day. Still lost about .8 lbs. per week and at that point was around 120. By the first of August, I had reached my goal and decided I wanted to lose a little more. This fall I have cut out a workout day--now I work out 5 days and as a result only average about a 2250 TDEE, so that's what I'm eating now, and I'm essentially maintaining (I gain or lose about a pound per week, but it's more water than anything else).

I find that I lose better on lower carb--when I dieted in the past, Atkins always did the trick, I just didn't stick to it after I reached my goal. I don't think it works for everyone, but it certainly doesn't hurt to cut out processed carbs in favor of real food. And whole grains are best, of course.

If you want a lifestyle change, cleanses are bad. You need real food. If you try them, do a day or two, not a week.

I work out first thing in the morning because it's easier not to talk myself out of it then. I also go to a gym for most of my workouts, and the money that is automatically deducted from my account every month motivates me as well.

I am going to log Thanksgiving as best I can in order to try not to eat too crazy, but I'm going to plan to go WAY over and try to eat less and exercise more the rest of the week. Same with all the other holidays coming up. And I don't drink any more, so that helps.

Hope this helps. Feel free to message me if you have questions.

oakfruit

I can eat 1400-1700 calories and still lose weight (I'm 5'7" and 116 - practically at my goal weight). Please don't get into the pattern of starving yourself to the point where other areas of your life just get ****ty (others will know what I'm talking about)! It's pretty easy to eat at a huge deficit when first starting out, but then your body will inevitably rebel and you'll either gain the weight back or enter into a very dangerous/disordered mindset. If 100 is really your natural weight, you shouldn't have to kill yourself getting back there; conversely, if your body/metabolism has decided it wants you to be 120, it's going to be harder. For more info, The Fat Trap (an NYT article that you can get online) explains the process in pretty harsh detail. Hope that helps

FlaxMilk

1200 is definitely not too high for a healthy woman, even a short one. I'm shorter than you, and currently weigh somewhere between 110-115, and I lose weight easily on 1200, and I can also get away with eating exercise calories (though I only eat them if I want them.)