Anyone else discovered low calories are their only option?

JAT74

Sorry to disappoint but the only reason I gain weight is because I like eating and drinking nice food and eat out a lot with friends. After a while of being healthy I start eating what I want again and the weight gradually creeps up. I also love the taste of sweet foods and all the things we are told not to eat, that's it. Period. I want to lose weight because having had a taste of being thin for a while I like how I feel, how clothes fit me and how I can wear what I want and know I look great. I also like being fit because it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for my health.

I don't know why my body fat hasn't changed with all this training either and I'd love to know the answer but it's the reality. The only thing I'm stressed and anxious about right now is my weight as apart from the usual money worries in times of recession I have nothing else to stress about. Not everything has to be psychoanalysed you know, call me shallow but i just love food and that's it. My mum tells me my favourite word when I first learned how to talk was 'more'. By rights I should be 100 lbs overweight but I've managed to keep it in check to a certain extent.

madrose0715

I just don't feel comfortable carrying visible fat and I find it horrible to look at on other people too. It isn't healthy and I don't like it. Obviously a small amount of body fat it normal for most people who don't exercise and even my thin friends have it but 31% like I am now it's just not nice!

I've been 178 lbs before and I didn't care so much, I never went to hot places so I could cover up and people always commented on my clothes so I didn't really think about how bad I looked. I dread to think what my body fat was then. To be honest since losing some of the weight and having been 122lbs when I got compliments about how amazing I looked I am not prepared to stay like this and I'm not happy as I am now. I look at other people and know I don't look as bad as many others but it's not good enough for me. I can't look at pictures of myself now if my arms or showing or if I'm in a bikini.

If I was lazy and didn't try to improve my body then I wouldn't care so much because it would be my fault but when I'm putting in all this work I want it to show. Personally I don't like looking at fat, whether it's on me or someone else! Since being bigger and losing I've realised that it just isn't pretty or healthy to carry so much excess. I wouldn't accept it if my boyfriend was fat and I wouldn't find him attractive or feel he's doing the best for his health so I I'm not happy to accept it on myself either. A friend of mine is super fit and looks great but her husband is fat and doesn't exercise with a beer belly. She says she loves him like that so he just keeps on eating and getting fatter and now he's been told he's got very high cholesterol. It's partly her fault in my opinion.

Everyone is different but how you look on the outside as well as what you're like on the inside is important to me. I know someone who is fairly overweight and spends all her money on designer clothes and hair, make up etc. Material things like that don't matter when her health is suffering due to being overweight.

WOW. After reading this entire thread, I do believe your writing here captures the problem. OP - start healing your mind and your body will follow. That is alot of self-loathing and negative projection in that piece of writing. Awful, really.

rosiereally2

To the last poster not sure who you're referring to but firstly I am not talking about eating 8500-9000 calories - 3000 for calories burned as that would be way too little. I was actually talking about eating that amount in total.

Hmmm... Here you said:

My weeks total needs to be lower though ie. around 8500-9000 for the week instead of 1000-11000 which I have been eating.

And here you said:

In addition I add up my total calorie burn for the week and subtract 20% to allow for overestimation anyway. so when I say I burn off 2500 calories it's actually over 3000 ish and if I burn less another week I'll do the same and eat less to make up for it.

8500 to 9000 calories intake per week minus 3000 calories burned per week equals a NET daily caloric intake of 786 to 857 calories, just like I said.

But I'm glad you at least agree that it is "way too little".

Joehenny

You just have to give it time. Think how long it took to put on that weight. You're actually losing it at a much faster rate.

JAT74

edited due to posting twice

JAT74

Re. numbers maybe it's still not clear but my weekly figure of 8500-9000 is after subtracting the 2500-3000 foe calorie burns. Before taking that off the numbers are 11500-12000. Up until last week my total calorie intake for each week was 10000-11000 on total for a few weeks.

To the poster who talks about self loathing, I don't know one single woman who is happy with their body or looks 100%. It's nothing to do with self-loathing, just about taking pride in your appearance and doing the best you can for your health. If that didn't matter to people then there wouldn't be websites like this or TV shows like Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover or 10 years younger. I read fitness magazines because I think it's amazing to know you're getting stronger and fitter through training and part of it is eliminating unhealthy and unnecessary fat from your body. What you eat is important too. I wish I'd been educated about healthy eating as a kid and about the importance of exercise and maybe I might not be in this position today.

slkehl

If you're on a very low calorie diet, you'll have to be extra diligent about choosing nutrient rich foods to make sure that you're getting everything you need in the small volume of food that you are eating. I'd also recommend taking a multivitamin as well, though they certainly aren't as effective as whole foods.

JAT74

Hi, I do take a multivitamin daily as well as omega 3 tablets. I also try and eat low fat foods and only cook wirh good fats plus I try and aim for 20g fibre each day mainly from fruit and vegetables. I try and keep red meat to 1-2 days a week and eat mostly chicken and a little fish plus nuts for protein. I have a protein shake too on weights days and drink at least 2 litres of water each day.

FATJAKE5

Would you open your food diary for a minute?

JAT74

I can open it but I' doing 5:2 so I have some very low calorie days in there and each day is different so different intake and generally I have some days which are more relaxed due to eating out etc.

FATJAKE5

I just need to see sodium. Maybe you know your daily average for sodium over a 30 day period?

If you read this article, it will give you a clue to what may be your trouble
.http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU00284
I was eating 1200 calories/day and not losing weight. When I got my sodium intake below 1200 mg/day, the weight has been coming off @ 3 lbs/week.

Had to edit 1200 mg sodium/day not 120

JAT74

Ok, I wasn't tracking sodium before but I've changed it in the settings to track this, does it really make that much of a difference? I'll read the article you posted later about it to find out a little more.

Looking back over the last couple of weeks it's been quite variable. Some days with 2500 mg and other days with 800! I'd say on average it's been about 1500 mg but that doesn't take into account salt added to food and I do like salt on things (although I use low salt). I have no idea how much sodium is in a 'pinch' of added salt either so even if I can keep it below 1200 on here I need to know that too, although I'm gonna try and cut down on salt anyway.

By the way I haven't actually had a full week of eating 1200 calories yet, this is my first week but so far still no weight loss!

JAT74

Wow, scary reading! I didn't realise sodium was so bad and that there was so much of it about!

FATJAKE5

Sorry it took so long. We live in the country and computer is slowwwwww!

For the last 7 days your sodium intake average = 1,741 mg/day.
I think that if you get it down below 1200 and keep it there you will see better results. It worked for me and my wife so far. She has lost 19 lbs in 9 weeks.

FATJAKE5

Ok, I wasn't tracking sodium before but I've changed it in the settings to track this, does it really make that much of a difference? I'll read the article you posted later about it to find out a little more.

Looking back over the last couple of weeks it's been quite variable. Some days with 2500 mg and other days with 800! I'd say on average it's been about 1500 mg but that doesn't take into account salt added to food and I do like salt on things (although I use low salt). I have no idea how much sodium is in a 'pinch' of added salt either so even if I can keep it below 1200 on here I need to know that too, although I'm gonna try and cut down on salt anyway.

By the way I haven't actually had a full week of eating 1200 calories yet, this is my first week but so far still no weight loss!

Those little pinches of salt = 295 mg of sodium each. I add salt to nothing. If you add salt to your salad, potato and meat thats 885 mg of added sodium

FATJAKE5

Wow, scary reading! I didn't realise sodium was so bad and that there was so much of it about!

I had no idea either until a friend told me about that article and that I need to get my sodium below my calorie intake. Sodium is important so I try and keep mine @ 1000 mg/day. I aslo got off 7 different blood pressure meds in the first 3 weeks after lowering the sodium

It is late and I need some sleep. I am online at least 2 times every day. If you want to stay in touch ,send an FR or a message and I will get back to you.
Later:glasses:

JAT74

Wow really! Did your wife have trouble losing the weight before lowering sodium? I drink a lot of bottled water and the bottle says 6mg per 100ml and i normally drink at least 2000ml every day so that's an extra 120mg per day right there. Plus the added lo salt and what's already in food so maybe I'll look at some low sodium brands of water and try adn stop adding salt to food and that will be enough as I put salt on everything!

taiyola

You say you have tried all these other options but you've only been doing this for 4 months? If you change your calorie intake you should give it at least 6-8 weeks for your body to adjust.

Often when people have been on low calorie diets when they increase their calories they see an initial weight gain maybe as much as 5 pounds. This scares people and they think they are gaining when really their body is just adjusting. After staying on the TDEE - 20% calorie amount you should start losing again once your body makes the adjustment and gets used to eating more calories.

Or you can just eat less long term. I would not find that sustainable if it were me so I would give these other approaches a more realistic try than just a week or two.

This. For 12 years I had various eating disorders. During recovery and now being recovered, I was certain I couldn't ever eat more than 1500 and lose. I started on 1000 and gradually increased to 1500 in stages. Any time I went over 1500, I would gain.

Now, a few months later, I eat up to 2027 calories a day (my TDEE) and workout 2-3 times a week in the gym (mainly strength and then a bit of HIIT). For the first month or two I stayed roughly the same or gained a couple of pounds. Now after 3 months, I lost 1.4lb. I'm not in a rush. If I can lose 1lb a month, then I'll be at my goal weight in 3 months. My net calories for the week are always over my BMR.

Ofc, there is the question as to how you work out your burnt calories and consumed calories - weighing foods, HRM etc.

If you have no medical condition as you stated, then you have no reason to eat 1300 calories a day and never more.

pinksparklefairy

There you go, maybe it's all water retention rather than fat. How cool would that be

JAT74

Yes that would be amazing but I'll believe it when I see it! That said I know it's not good to eat too much sodium so I'm gonna cut down and if I has the added benefit of water loss then great! The does does funny things. For example this morning first thing after going to the loo I weighed myself and I was 146.5lbs and 32% body fat. I had a coffee, went into the gym and did my weights workout, drank lots of water and then had a yogurt as it's my fast day. I drank more water and went to the loo another 3 times and had a shower. Got back on the scales which now read 145.5lbs and 30% body fat. Not quite sure why this happens but I suppose it's to do with water loss.

I work out my calories consumed by weighing and measuring the majority of the time and calories burned via a heart rate monitor. I'm currently reading a book called Dr. Abravanel's Body type diet which I've had for ages but wanted to re-read it. It basically says that my body type is a thyroid type and I should completely avoid eating refined carbohydrates ie. white carbs and sugar. It also says to eat eggs every day, steer clear of too much fruit and eat fresh vegetables and plenty of protein in general with every meal. I have ben thinking about lowering carbs for a while but I think I'll do this a little more now and stick to the other things he suggests too while sticking within my calories for the week.