New to dieting, feeling so frustrated!

MeaghanAnderson
MeaghanAnderson Posts: 22 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hey everyone,

I have tried different things over the last 6-8 months to lose weight. First I was exercising like a mad woman but didn't really adjust my diet and did not see the results I wanted (wrong way to do it I know). Than I tried hardcore dieting/starving myself... I was pretty much living on carrots. I lost 8 pounds in about 3 weeks. Yay right? Not really though, I was so lethargic I had to take naps constantly and I was so crabby! Than I made the mistake so many of us make where we get lose some weight and start eating a little more than we should since "it's ok, I won't gain it back that fast" So..... I have gained about 6 of the pounds back. At this point I am ready to start going about this the right way, eating healthier, in smaller portions, and exercising on a regular basis. I have logged my food for only a week but I am already frustrated at the 1200 calories. I feel like to stay under this I need to skip lunch completely which doesn't seem like the way to go. I do know I need to cut down my dinner portion. A typical day for me is a cup of oatmeal in the morning with some splenda and cinnamon, a protein bar and a yogurt for lunch, and than for dinner I usually make a meal at home. I am a vegetarian so unfortunately I rely quite a bit on carbs to "fill me up". Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated. I see now why so many people give up, and gain the weight back, or continue gaining because this whole healthy thing is way harder than the non healthy lifestyle. Thank you :-)

Replies

  • marjoleina
    marjoleina Posts: 189 Member
    Hi there! I am vegetarian, leaning toward vegan, and there are lots of complex carbs you can eat. Vegs, fruit, steel cut oats, I make a lot of things for dinner that include whole grain (Lundberg) rice, sweet potatoes, black beans and things like that. Feel free to add me if you like. I can sent you some recipes and the recipe builder tool on here is super awesome, that way you can see how many calories are in the recipes you make. Handy.
    Really eating healthy is not harder or more expensive, but it does take some planning. It's worth it!
  • ahaley48
    ahaley48 Posts: 54 Member
    Hey lady! welcome..i'm pretty new to the MFP world, but it's been an awesome journey thus far! I am not a vegetarian rigth now..but i was. And i would suggest you eat legumes or beans, and try to liimit the bread and rice. eat veggies, steamed, or raw. they tend to fill you up more raw i think, personally bc all the enxymes are in tact. but yeah, and stay away from frying them if you can. :) I've noticed just in the past week, a difference, in the choices i make, by using htis program to track everythign i put in my mouth. ANd if i work out, i burn it off, and can treat myself, or eat another serving. But really,it's alot to do with what you put in versus what you burn off.. ( I'm no expertby any means) but.. just my two cents :)
  • drakechic08
    drakechic08 Posts: 156 Member
    If I were you, I would check out the road map 2 in the forums. It will show you how to calculate your TDEE and everything else, so that you can eat the proper amount of calories to meet your bodies needs and lose weight. For a lot of people, 1200 calories is not enough food and your body is probably trying to tell you that. If you are working out, you should be eating back some, if not all of those calories, so that your body is getting the proper fuel it needs. Do not try to eat under 1200 calories. That is not enough for your body on a daily basis. Listen to your body.
  • sussexbythesea
    sussexbythesea Posts: 1,335 Member
    Hi my breakfast is similar to yours but maybe you could eat a more sustaining lunch my typical is soup (usually home made) with ryvita crispbread and a low cal cheese spread plus piece of fruit- sometimes put plain yogurt on it. That way you will feel fuller longer and not need such a huge dinner? Brown rice typical portion 125g cooked weight and wholegrain pasta 60g dry weight.

    I have stuck to the 1200 for 4 months just gone to maintenance as most weight now lost (15lbs) and not always eaten excercise back (just do walking)
  • jogy
    jogy Posts: 77 Member
    I'm on the 1200 calories per day myself. If I don't exercice, I am always over my limit. But guess what? It is still less than what I was eating in the past anyway so I still loose weight. So, everyday I log my foods and try to hit the 1200 calories mark but if I don't achieve it, I don't beat myself up. I'm not a vegetarian but I don't like meat that much so I do eat quite a lot of meals without it. I like nuts (high in calories I know but you don't need much to fill you up), legumes (same as nuts but high in fiber) and quinoa. I eat my oatmeal in the morning with a a lot of berries. They are low in calories but high on water content and it fills me up quite a bit too. You can add me as a friend and let's do this together!:bigsmile:
  • emtjmac
    emtjmac Posts: 1,320 Member
    I'm not a doctor so go see one before you start dieting and exercising. Take my advice at your own risk but it works for me:

    My advice, first, would be to stop being a vegetarian unless you have a legitimate health reason for not eating any meat. Meat is good for you and necessary, vegetarianism is not natural for a human being under normal conditions. Stick to lean meat such as chicken, turkey, and low-mercury fish. Secondly, realize that you will not lose weight without a consistent and reasonable and HONEST deficit. I have seen a lot of people who log thousands of calories burned doing "light housecleaning" eat those calories back and then lament the fact that they don't lose weight. Keep things quanitifiable whenever possible. This applies to both food and exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is the easiest to quantify because it is a constant activity. I do not eat back most of my exercise calories though I do eat back some. Rarely more than 50% though I do have a cheat meal now and then especially as we are entering the holiday season. Diet is the most important factor in all of this. Exercise will help you lose weight faster than diet alone, but make no mistake that a deficit in calories created by your diet is the most important factor. Having said that, eat a balanced diet consisting of as many whole foods as possible but there's not need to be fanatical about it. Good luck.
  • crystalflame
    crystalflame Posts: 1,049 Member
    As has been mentioned, you probably need to eat more. 1400-1600 cals/day would probably make you feel a lot better. But if you decide to stick to 1200, go after the high-protein foods first: tofu, quinoa, beans, mushrooms, etc. And fill up by doubling or tripling your veggie intake rather than eating a second slice of bread or another cup of rice. Also, lots and lots of water!

    Good luck!
  • MeaghanAnderson
    MeaghanAnderson Posts: 22 Member
    So I am hearing that I need to eat more, but why does this website put me one a 1200 goal if that is too low?
  • Jim_1960
    Jim_1960 Posts: 399
    I had a similar experience recently. For over 3 weeks no weight reduction but measurements told me different
    Once I worked on the detail below, it became clear my body was in starvation mode!!

    @Drakechick is right, this site genrally uses BMI and BMR to propose a figure and in all honesty it is a little more scientific than that.
    By using these links to a forum and tools, I calculated an extra 350 cals per day over what MFP suggested. I adjusted my figuers manually and am ina 2 week review period to see if it does in fact start the reductions!!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

    Good luck.
  • sandradev1
    sandradev1 Posts: 786 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Above is the link to the Road Map 2 referred to by other poster. Most important thing you need to do is find out how many calories your body needs to exist if you never moved (i.e. in a coma) - this is your BMR figure. Then you need to find out what your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is (the amount of calories your body uses in a 24 hr normal period)- this is your TDEE figure.

    You eat above your TDEE figure you will put on weight
    You eat below your BMR figure, you may lose weight but will likely have long term health issues to deal with
    You eat between the two numbers and you lose weight in a healthy way.

    Its quite simple really

    Its no use quoting 1200/1600/2000 cals that other people do or suggest, you will have numbers that are personal to you and your body's needs. Use the calculators on the above link and even check other sites calculators to make sure.

    It is possible to lose weight using a number of methods BUT not all of those methods are healthy one.

    I have lost 7 lbs over 8 weeks eating healthy foods and I have never been hungry.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    So I am hearing that I need to eat more, but why does this website put me one a 1200 goal if that is too low?

    The website uses 1200 because YOU want to lose weight (relatively quick) and 1200 is as low as it will go. If you plug in "I want to lose 1/2 pound per week" .... the number should be higher than 1200 (provided you have more than 10 or 15 pounds to lose total). You choose .... as long as you are cutting back .... you are making progress

    Losing weight has a pretty steep learning curve (I think) ..... but the beauty of "learning" how to lose weight (in a healthy manner) ... is that the information you will learn while losing, are the "tools" you will need to keep the weight off in the future.

    Baby steps ...... you don't have to change every single bad habit today. You didn't get to be over weight .... over night. Just work on 1 healthy habit at a time..... then add another healthy habit and so on. All of those healthy decisions will add up to weight loss.
  • Frances4646
    Frances4646 Posts: 22
    I'm on the 1200kcal diet at the moment too. I think it would have put on it if you put 2lbs loss is what you want per week, because this is supposed to be the lowest safe amount of calories that you should have before your body goes into starvation mode. This is then coupled with exercise so you should burn 200kcals and not eat them back to lose 2lbs a week as a general rule. This is because the net kcals for the day would then be 1000kcals, which would cause a daily deficit of 1000kcals. I'm doing pretty well at the moment, but I love vegetables and fruit. I've also stockpiled quite a few healthy recipes. There are loads of low calorie filling meals online, you could stick to 200kcals for breakfast (eg. ~50g porridge), 300kcals for lunch and 400kcals for dinner, and then you'd have 300kcals leftover for snacks or extras for your meals.

    Recently I've been swapping most carbohydrates for vegetables. I have courgettes cut into thin strips instead of pasta (really good and so mmuch lower in calories!), and cauliflower either grated for rice or mashed instead of potatoes, or celeriac mashed also makes a good substitute for potatoes. I have also unintentionally cut down on my meat, and just upped my veg intake more.

    Soups are brilliant and very low calorie, or I normally just make really healthy versions of my favourite meals. I'd invest in a good set of nonstick cooking equipment because it saves on oil use, I often make omlettes now with no oil at all, and a 3 egg white omlette with spinach/mushrooms would only be 100kcals, and you could add another egg white and salad for only 50kcals more!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    So I am hearing that I need to eat more, but why does this website put me one a 1200 goal if that is too low?

    How many pounds per week are you trying to lose? When you put in your height, current weight, and age, MFP calculates an estimated TDEE; remember, it's an estimate. In my case, I've had to manually adjust some things...definitely listen to your body...MFP calculated 1,780 calories for me based on their estimate and wanting to lose 1 Lb per week...I've found that I do best right around 1,820...only a 40 calorie difference, but it's the difference between my stomach growling and feeling hundry and being satisfied; though I'm eating a few more calories than suggested, I'm still averaging a bit over a pound per week.

    Also, are you eating back your exercise calories? You should eat most, if not all of those back; remember, that there is already a deficit built into your recommended calorie intake...when you log exercise, your net goal goes up. It's important to do this so that you are giving your body the energy and nutrition that it needs...also, you don't want to do your body the disservice of putting it into starvation mode and throwing a monkey wrench into your metabolism. When I log exercise, I only log quantifiable workouts...don't log stuff like vaccuming, unloading the dishwasher, etc...that stuff is already included in your estimated TDEE.

    Also remember that, while calories a very important, so are your macros. Protein is essential to building muscle and losing fat...it is equally important to get your carbs and fat (good fats) as well. Different macro ratios work for different people, and much depends on what exactly you're trying to do...but I don't recommend cutting anything out completely, like carbs or fat...you need them.

    Being that you are a vegetarian, you're going to have to find some alternative sorces of lean protein and focus on those pretty intensely. Protein is great in that it also fills you up and keeps you feeling fuller, longer. Legumes are an excellent source of lean protein, as are nuts. Also look to things like Quinoa and Millet. If you're not vegan, have some fish 2-3 days per week. Many of these things are also good sources of healthy fats...but look also to things like avocado and using good oils in cooking, like olive and canola.

    In RE to your carbs, try to eliminate the simple sugars and go for more complex carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains. You'll have the added benefit of lots of fiber as well.
  • KatieP1981
    KatieP1981 Posts: 3 Member
    I know this sounds very 1980's but I drink slimfast every morning for breakfast. It fills me up for almost the 4 hours it claims and is only 200 calories when using skim milk. I usually have 3 or 4 snacks from 11 am to 1pm and then a light lunch and healthy dinner. I cut out pop completely which was very hard to do-I was drinking over 64 ounces of Mountain Dew just during the day at work. I use a website called skinnymom.com and there are many many low calorie meals available many with not using meat. The snacks I consume are either fat free cottage cheese, carrots, bananna, yoplait light yogurt and reduced fat cheese its (this is about the only processed food I eat) I have been doing this since September 24th. The first 3 weeks 20 lbs came off right away, I hit a plateau for about 3 weeks where just the diet of 1200 calories was not cutting it. I added walking an hour a day about a week and a half ago and have lost 7 lbs in that time. I know it says only 19 on my tracker but my weight was higher when I started a few years ago...I lost a few lbs and then gained it back. Since September I started at 275 and now I have broke 250 and am around 249 or 250 today. I weigh myself twice a day. I have read getting a digital scale helps to show progress. A regular scale will not show you the half lbs weight and you might only lose a half a lb between weighing. I also managed to quit smoking on Septembre 22nd...Today I am wearing jeans that 3 years ago I broke the button off of them because I was too big for them. I am also wearing a shirt that I have never been able to wear properly buttoned up. It was always just an overshirt. Once you change your diet and add the exercise you will start to see results. It may take a week or two but it will happen. Good Luck!!!!
  • Derpes
    Derpes Posts: 2,033 Member
    Deprivation is unsustainable.

    Finding balance is difficult but you can do it!

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