Lost 73 pounds, something is broken, help!

Erikalynne18

my calorie goal is 1510 so I agree that you should probably be higher. MFP seems to have low calorie recommendations which doesn't always work and can be hard to maintain long term. I would recalculate, and maybe change your goal to just lose 1 lb/week. Hope it works out for you and congrats on the 73 lbs so far

Try http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

emtjmac

Man, I'm with you all the way. I'm nominally on 1560 cals/day, and I'd been trying to not eat more than 200 of my exercise cals (most days I'm in the 600-900 cals burned range). Seems like not enough net cals, but I've been feeling energetic enough and it was working well until recently. I'm having a little harder time now sustaining that 1.3 lb a week like clockwork loss, and there are days when I'm just really hungry. So yeah, I'm eating back a bit more of the exercise cals and seeing where that takes me.

However, after scanning your diary a bit, and the one thing I can suggest is something that does kind of work for me. I literally stuff myself with veggies at lunch and dinner to get that full feeling. At lunch, it's a good double handful of baby carrots (150 grams worth) and some mini peppers to go along with my sandwich and fruit. Really low cal, but very filling. At dinner, usually always a big salad that I try to make interesting with a variety of stuff and my own low sodium vinaigrette or a low cal store-bought. Or it's some other vegetable we cook in a low cal way that I fix up with a variety of spices and such. I add to that enough protein and carbs to meet my macros. While making dinner, to take the edge of hunger I'll pull out the celery and cherry tomatoes. For me the trick is to not try to discipline myself to not eat, but rather to "overindulge" in the stuff that won't hurt me.

Good luck. I feel your pain. But 73 lost already is amazing and a tremendous accomplishment and proves you've got what it takes to do this thing. Keep on keeping on...

You know, I've been thinking about how low in calories most vegetables are. I'm definitely going to try and up my fruit and veggie intake big time. Thanks a lot Joe, your advice really helps.

LdyPsych

Ditto what Erika said... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Erikalynne18

Find the balance by eating a balanced amount every day. Take a look through your diary. Do you see a pattern? I do. You have a couple days where you are 800 or 900 calories below your goal. Then you binge. Then you have a couple days way below your goal. Then you binge. I still suggest changing your target, but at the very least eat all your calories every day.

I used to do this before I started watching my calories, some days I would overeat and other days I would undereat to make up for those days. But that led to alot of issues like weight gain, fatigue, head aches, nausea, etc. I would suggest trying to keep it close to your calorie goal everyday. Of course there are the occasional cheat days or cheat meals, but try to keep it sensible and I think it will be easier to avoid the binge

Proyecto_AN

Get some whey in, plus lifting. You'll see!

metacognition

Several things can mess up your hunger. Working 24 hour shifts can wreck havoc on your body's hormones, especially if you find yourself craving carbs and sweets near the end of the shift or when you are tired. I also notice that lack of sleep will make it easier to overeat.

I used to binge and it followed a pattern. It only happened when I was losing 1.5 lbs / week and cutting a decent deficit each day. Now, hitting 1600 - 1800 calories / day, I have no desire to binge.

I found that after several 1200 calorie days I would feel the urge to eat a large meal. Only after that large meal, it was like flipping a switch and I could find myself at 2,500 or 3,000 calories easily with no feeling of fullness. It's not your fault; it's just that your body wants to get out of a deficit. The harder the deficit, the more inevitable a binge.

Try to eat a little more each day so you are not in such a large deficit. Pre pack foods in portioned sizes so you can't eat more of it than that portion. Avoid temptation. Avoid very large meals at the end of the day. Try to eat more protein at meals; that seems to control my hunger a bit.

pwittek10

Once you let the hungry monster out it is hard to pull it back!
I have found it is better NOT to do it in the first place.
But it does happen to all of us.
It is a battle that you know you can win.
I feel for you

emtjmac

Several things can mess up your hunger. Working 24 hour shifts can wreck havoc on your body's hormones, especially if you find yourself craving carbs and sweets near the end of the shift or when you are tired. I also notice that lack of sleep will make it easier to overeat.

I used to binge and it followed a pattern. It only happened when I was losing 1.5 lbs / week and cutting a decent deficit each day. Now, hitting 1600 - 1800 calories / day, I have no desire to binge.

I found that after several 1200 calorie days I would feel the urge to eat a large meal. Only after that large meal, it was like flipping a switch and I could find myself at 2,500 or 3,000 calories easily with no feeling of fullness. It's not your fault; it's just that your body wants to get out of a deficit. The harder the deficit, the more inevitable a binge.

Try to eat a little more each day so you are not in such a large deficit. Pre pack foods in portioned sizes so you can't eat more of it than that portion. Avoid temptation. Avoid very large meals at the end of the day. Try to eat more protein at meals; that seems to control my hunger a bit.

Working 24 hour shifts definitely wreaks havoc with my system, especially if the overnight sucks. Back when I was eating more because I weighed more, I would go a month sometimes without a cheat meal. I hope I can get back to that.

sbrownallison

You're doing a fabulous job, so good on you! One thing I found out for myself, over many years of trying to lose weight, is that I have trigger foods that start me off on a binge. The binge pushes me off the wagon and then I give up for awhile, usually gaining weight. What I do now is limit my home environment so that I don't have trigger foods around. These are the usual foods that you might expect: candy, cake, desserts, etc. In the last year, I also did two different (for me) things: I incorporated exercise (routine and consistent,) AND I more or less eliminated bread from my diet. So far I have lost 48 lbs and am close to my goal weight. Good luck on those last few pounds; they will be the hardest but I am confident you'll be successful.

Alta2000

most people binge on highly processed foods. Looks like that's what you did today. Cut it out or limit it.

Are you saying that when I binge I should binge on whole foods as opposed to junk food? I'd like to not binge at all and instead just find a balance where I can lose weight and never have to feel like I'm going to lose my mind between meals because I'm craving sugar so badly.

Find the balance by eating a balanced amount every day. Take a look through your diary. Do you see a pattern? I do. You have a couple days where you are 800 or 900 calories below your goal. Then you binge. Then you have a couple days way below your goal. Then you binge. I still suggest changing your target, but at the very least eat all your calories every day.

I noticed the same thing in your diary. You need to eat a lot more vegetables and fruits. 4 strawberries? 3cups of spinach is under 100 calories. Could it also be stressed at home? 4 children under 5 is stressful for both you and your wife.