this is a cry for help :(

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  • cakemewithyou
    cakemewithyou Posts: 132 Member
    I just want everyone to know that I (very sadly) upped my calorie intake to 1500. I also ate scrambled eggs for breakfast and added paprika. (fried with EVOO rather than butter)
    I also think I kind of understand the way it works.

    Basically, if I want to lose one lb a week, and 1 lb is 3500 calories, then I have to BURN 3500 calories with my exercising, not by starving myself? Is that right?
    No, you don't have to exercise those calories off. As long as you have a deficit of 3500 at the end of the week, whether through diet, exercise, or a *combination* of both, then it's correct.

    If I'm sick and can't exercise one week, I just eat fewer calories to maintain my deficit. If I'm back to burning calories through exercise, I know I can eat a little more.

    Hope that helps. :)

    It does! I see what you're saying! LOL I'm a horrible dieter. Thanks for breaking it down for me. :)
  • cakemewithyou
    cakemewithyou Posts: 132 Member
    First of all - let me say congratulations on your baby :D Babies are a blessing - and a big energy drain.

    Like others have said, if you are an active young mother that is hungry all the time then you may not be eating enough. If you are breastfeeding then you definitely are not eating enough.

    I was like you when I first joined and took the 1200 as gospel. It took me two weeks to figure out that despite an excellent diet I was starving hungry far too much for it to be sustainable. That's when I looked closely at the roadmaps thread someone above me mentioned.

    First thing I did was re-examine my activity levels and decided I set them far too low. Next step was to reset MFP to reflect my true activity level INCLUDING exercise so I didn't have to log it separately. My calories jumped up to 1330 and that was still with a 1 pound a week weight loss. At this level I lost easily and did not feel like I still needed to gnaw my arm off to get sustenance. I also manually reset my ratio of carbs/protein/fats to get a little more protein into my diet. (This is in the goals tab when you are in My Home). I changed mine to 40/30/30 and I have found that more satisfying food wise.

    As for food...my breakfast is usually egg on toast or baked beans on toast (not really a cereal girl since having my children) or vegemite on toast (yep I'm an Aussie :) ).

    Lunch is usually a salad with a protein source like lamb/chicken/chickpeas/tuna

    Dinner is usually something I would have eaten before MPF like homemade pizza/curry/stirfry/pasta. The only difference now is I have put my recipes into the recipe tab and worked out how much I SHOULD eat of it and serve it like this for me. Portion size has always been my downfall and I am slowly re-educating myself on what a portion should look like.

    One thing I did find handy was to go to my diary and work out roughly how many cals I wanted from each meal section and input into my recipe section a handful of recipes that met these cal levels. When I cook something that I know will have leftovers, I take the leftovers out straight away and freeze them. I don't put them in the fridge (too tempting when you are hungry).

    Good luck - and if you are breastfeeding then search the forums for the breastfeeding mothers group as they have some great advice.

    Wow, Thanks so much for all this input! Also, Thanks on the congratulation!

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