Feeling confused

TheeAshmeister

So I started my journey to a healthier, thinner me last week. 1st thing I realized was how high calorie, sugar filled and carbed ridden drinks I was consuming. Basically I was drinking a gallon+ of Ice Tea a day. Now I've quit Ice tea and all other beverages (minus my weekend margaritas that I'm moderating, but not ready to cut out completely) and I keep completing my journey at the end of the night and seeing the MFP app yell at me for not reaching 1200 calories (my goal). I've never been a breakfast eater and HAVE since forced myself to eat breakfast each morning. I HAVE made unhealthy food choices in the past and have now gone to more healthier choices and I have switched to more veggies and this week have gone to cutting the white carbs, since using this app I've only registered (in food) between 500-900 cals/day. I'm not feeling hungry, I guess I've always "fed" myself in drinks over the past few years and just not realized it... My problem is I feel odd having to eat more than I have in the past. What should I do to fill in the gaps? I've gone from sedentary to making strides towards active, and I had already posted prior some days I do feel drained or tired, but not hungry I'm wondering what to put in my body.. I don't want to not have every minute spent active count because my body goes into starvation mode like the app suggests, but at the same time I don't want to now start overeating... Also, I'm already thinking due to my sedentary lifestyle and years of going low on actual food calories if I've jacked up my metabolism to the point where it is just slooooooow, what can I eat/do to speed it up? Something in my body is out of wack.... Just wondering if any1 out there has this in their experience... I can't be the only one to drink myself into obesity and could REALLY use advice... Thanks for reading this all...

craftylatvian

After being away from MFP for a while, in my experience you will feel like you have to eat eat eat all day (good healthy foods) to reach your calorie intake goal. Sometimes it felt like I was eating all day long! You will get used to it. Just don't get your calories from 1) drinks like juice or soda, 2) from any processed foods, 3) from refined sugars. Of course it would be easy to reach your calorie intake by having a burger, but a wiser choice is out there and you just need to find what works for you. I am not big on breakfast either. Coffee in the morning and I do bring some dry Cheerios, an apple and some peanut butter to work and eat those all morning long.
It may take a while for you to find out what works best for you but you will succeed!

Mokey41

You don't need to get carried away with low fat, diet foods to lose weight. Eat what you want/like but stay in your budget. Full fat dairy, nuts, peanut butter, meats, avocado, eggs to name a few. You don't have to increase volume to increase your calories, just make wise choices.

KevinsCatie

I had the same problem the first week I started counting, and someone suggested to me to have some peanut butter. One table spoon is about 100 calories. Its jsut an easy way to get your body the calories it needs to function properly. Once that starts and you get your metabolism back to working right, you will notice that you are actually hungry. I didnt realize until I started on MFP that I have been getting less than 1200 cals a day for a while, because I basically put myself on a low cal diet without realizing it. And since I wasnt monitering how many a day I was really getting, I was starving myself just enough to make my body keep my current weight on and when I would splurge it would try to keep all of that as well. I think I have actually lost about 5 lbs in the 3 weeks I have been on here.

TheeAshmeister

I had the same problem the first week I started counting, and someone suggested to me to have some peanut butter. One table spoon is about 100 calories. Its jsut an easy way to get your body the calories it needs to function properly. Once that starts and you get your metabolism back to working right, you will notice that you are actually hungry. I didnt realize until I started on MFP that I have been getting less than 1200 cals a day for a while, because I basically put myself on a low cal diet without realizing it. And since I wasnt monitering how many a day I was really getting, I was starving myself just enough to make my body keep my current weight on and when I would splurge it would try to keep all of that as well. I think I have actually lost about 5 lbs in the 3 weeks I have been on here.

I have lost 3pounds just cutting out the tea and drinking water since I started last week, but I imagine this will end soon esp if my body goes into conserve mode... I have heard the peanut butter the problem is I am allergic to peanuts so I can't work that. But I will try to bulk up on my meat.. I'm not much of a meat eater always been into those evil white carbs, a lot of rice, pasta, bread, cheese and potatoes in my world. Those are what I've moved away from and have now bulked up my salad and veggie intake... I need to find something a little more cal filled but less carbs and I think that should help me get back on track on for now. This has def been an experience for me, no wonder prior attempts at dieting haven't been prductive for me. Thank you all so much for the feedback...

krumpli

If you're a carb eater, don't stop eating them! I eat TONS of carbs and it hasn't stopped me losing weight. I just try to eat healthy ones now: whole grain bread/pasta, quinoa, barley, rice, rice noodles, and so on. I also have a fluffy piece of white bread covered with cheese and pasta sauce (a Hungarian treat called a pizzas csiga) at least once a week because I love it. I used to eat one every day, though. I don't mind having one or sometimes two a week.

I'm not a huge breakfast eater, either. What I eat, pretty much every day, is two fiber crackers spread with cream cheese and topped with ham. It's about 200 cals, and it keeps me full until 9/10. Then I eat some fruit with yogurt or veggies with hummus. Lunch varies, but is usually vegetable and carb-based. In the afternoon I usually have another snack, fruit with yogurt/veg with hummus/nuts/half a sandwich/banana with peanut butter. Then I have dinner, which is more veggie and protein based, with just a bit of carb. Then usually in the evening I'll have a bit of something sweet. I usually also have a glass of milk at some point throughout the day (or try to, at least). I don't eat much meat, honestly, besides my breakfast ham: 3 oz or so of chicken/white fish/tuna a few times a week.

So, as you can see, while my two main "meals" change, my breakfast and snacks are the same like every day. And that's ok (awesome for me, actually) but it DID take me awhile to figure out what I liked and what gave me the energy and nutrients I need. I also eat ALL DAY LONG. Smaller meals and snacks than I used to, but seriously all day long... I am addicted to the gym, so I usually eat about 1900 cals a day! This takes planning. This takes caring around a ridiculous number of tiny tupperwares. It can be a pain in the butt, but it helps me to control my diet and get what I need from the food I eat.

So, to sum up my advice: eat often. Experiment with breakfast/snack ideas and find a few "go to"s you like. Don't cut out everything you love. Don't try to fundamentally change how you eat, at least not all at once! Ease into it. If you normally have pasta, have whole grain pasta mixed with chopped vegetable and topped with a simple, low-sodium, homemade tomato sauce. It's health food! And it's delicious!

TheeAshmeister

Krumpli, thank you so much for all of it.. I guess it takes time and experimenting, but in the mean time I should keep SOME of my old favs, while trying to add in newer, healthier foods. I don't eat a lot fruits and prior to this diet I barely ate veggies, so that IS something I'm adding in there, I also seldom eat meat, I only like chicken, turkey, seafood and some beef but even those I 've only had maybe a few times a week in the past. I'm only in week 2 of this hopefully in a month I'll have it down... all the replies have helped so much! A lot of different perspectives to look at here and I love that, I always am able to take something with me from members here this is making it feel so less lonely to do...

MJackson54

I never pay attention to the numbers. I eat when I'm hungry and I don't eat when I am not hungry. When I eat, I make sure I eat food that is as close to its original form as possible. That's it . . . simple. Don't stress. :smooched: Believe me you will lose weight.