let's be real, here

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jamiek917
jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
in Food and Nutrition
i see so many threads about people who want to lose weight who "simply cannot eat all of the 1200 cal" allotment they they give themselves. they CANT! they are just SOOOO full!

sorry to sound mean, but i HIGHLY doubt that. those who gained weight (myself included) didnt gain weight from 1200 cals a day, or even 1500-1800 cals a day. we gained because we were far exceeding that range- and doing it often.

so many people just assume that to lose weight, we have to eat so little, so they try to program themselves to think they just cant eat more than that. The result? they end up eating in manner than will do more harm to their bodies than good. aside from internal bodily problems from eating so little, they are whittling away at their lean muscle mass, which in the end- doesnt look nearly as good as someone who is toned..

reading the forums- everyone swears between different calorie goals. im not saying you HAVE TO eat your TDEE, TDEE-20%, your BMR...etc. but stop kidding yourselves by saying you are just too full to get to the bare minimum of 1200ish. set your calories for something that is healthy and sustainable- and ACCURATELY TRACK your calories. the weight will come off- you dont have to starve yourself.
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Replies

  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    If you've eaten all your "healthy" foods for the day and still "can't" reach 1200 calories . . . . .

    Have some ice cream.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
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    If you've eaten all your "healthy" foods for the day and still "can't" reach 1200 calories . . . . .
    Have some ice cream.

    Or wine.

    Jesus.
  • ellygolightly
    ellygolightly Posts: 61
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    To those peeps, I say EAT A SLICE OF PIZZA, that should help get you there ;)

    Also, totally agree on losing weight and not starving. I went to a nutritionist who told me I was eating too little. I was like "EH? BUT I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT", now I'm eating more food, my tummy is full, I'm not starving and still losing weight.
  • roseymacdoo
    roseymacdoo Posts: 113 Member
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    If you've eaten all your "healthy" foods for the day and still "can't" reach 1200 calories . . . . .

    Have some ice cream.

    Or wine.

    Jesus.

    ^^^^^ So much this!!
  • BigAndTallSection
    BigAndTallSection Posts: 46 Member
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    I think you are so correct. I just replied to a topic about this but I was thinking more of myself than someone at 1200 or 1400 calories. I am I am a big guy. I am not embarrassed to tell you that I am currently abut 380lbs but I do feel shy to say that I am expected to eat about 3200 calories a day based on my exercise, an hour long walk.

    So when I sympathize with someone saying it is hard it is because I am thinking from my own shoes. And hell, to be honest it isn't even hard for me to go well beyond that 3200 if I wanted. All it takes it the right/wrong food choices which just happens to be why I am here.
  • lilmissymoo90
    lilmissymoo90 Posts: 324 Member
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    meh im one of them people i usually end up about 100 calories under 1200 and i eat ... i just eat alot of fruit and veg which is less calories that what i was eating before .. saying this every now and then i get a day where im just hungry and eat way over my cals i just listen to my body .. not everyone needs 1200 calories what works for you doesnt work for others
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    exactly! there isnt a sane person in the world who is too full for some wine or chocolate if they just simply cant reach the bar minimum calories :) or bacon...mmmmmm bacon
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    I couldn't agree more.
  • zerot0nin
    zerot0nin Posts: 5 Member
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    You know, I was talking about this fairly recently with a work partner. The more mindful I become of my own nutritional needs, the more I realize how deeply problematic our eating habits really are.

    I think that the main reason that people feel so full when they're eating a low-calorie diet of ~1200 calories is because they're being conscious of what they're putting into their bodies. Its easy to graze throughout the day and over-eat the wrong foods because you're not thinking about it, but much harder to concentrate and actively consume things that are healthy and nutritious.

    For a lot of people, eating healthfully is a totally new and probably daunting task and reconfiguring your eating habits obviously isn't easy. The fact that 1200 calories is toted as being the a sustainable and healthy route is pretty messed up, too. I think the problem is less that folks feel like they're "too full" to eat 1200 calories per day, but that they have a mental block due to a lifetime of misinformation regarding what their bodies actually need to be at their best. I'm really liking the forums and blogs here because having access to so much educational material has totally changed the way that I look at eating.
  • pandorakick
    pandorakick Posts: 901 Member
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    If you've eaten all your "healthy" foods for the day and still "can't" reach 1200 calories . . . . .

    Have some ice cream.

    Or wine.

    Jesus.

    ^^^^^ So much this!!
    Dito. I love having enough room in my budget at the end of the day to enjoy some wine, whisky or chocolate. Sometimes all of the above!
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    It really depends. The lower in sugar (processed sugars specifically) foods I eat I tend not to be hungry. I could easily be full on certain foods like if all I did was eat oatmeal, cottage cheese, vegetables, and egg substitute I'd probably wouldn't want to eat more than a certain amount. Randomly I wasn't paying attention and my calories were 1200-1400. They're 1800 now, but in some ways I feel hungrier on 1800 than at 1250.

    I usually fill in the extra calories, but sometimes eating for no reason can cause you to get cravings you never had previously and cause a disconnect between real hunger and mental hunger. I'm a huge fan of people who set their MFP to 1200 and wouldn't recommend it, but for some they don't want to exercise and they want to weigh a certain amount. I don't give a **** about my weight as much as I care how I look. If I'm lean and built I don't care if I'm 150 or 230 lbs. My preference would be over 200 and lean, but you know :P

    I wouldn't stress over a 1200 calorie day if there is a pretty big cheat day since weight loss can be averaged weekly and not be looked at daily.
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    You know, I was talking about this fairly recently with a work partner. The more mindful I become of my own nutritional needs, the more I realize how deeply problematic our eating habits really are.

    I think that the main reason that people feel so full when they're eating a low-calorie diet of ~1200 calories is because they're being conscious of what they're putting into their bodies. Its easy to graze throughout the day and over-eat the wrong foods because you're not thinking about it, but much harder to concentrate and actively consume things that are healthy and nutritious.

    For a lot of people, eating healthfully is a totally new and probably daunting task and reconfiguring your eating habits obviously isn't easy. The fact that 1200 calories is toted as being the a sustainable and healthy route is pretty messed up, too. I think the problem is less that folks feel like they're "too full" to eat 1200 calories per day, but that they have a mental block due to a lifetime of misinformation regarding what their bodies actually need to be at their best. I'm really liking the forums and blogs here because having access to so much educational material has totally changed the way that I look at eating.

    i completely agree. it was programmed in our heads (especially women) early on. i was fit, active and healthy growing up. ive never been heavy, but i became self conscious and worried about my weight as a teenager- and the more i worried, the more obsessed i became with food, dieting, etc. i wish i never picked up a health/fitness magazine when i was younger. i would have a totally different relationship with food than i do today.

    right now, i feel like im trying to undo years of obsessions and get to a healthy, happy relationship with food- where i eat good healthy food that i enjoy, and have treats without overindulging. its a process....

    but i agree- i love MFP and what ive learned on the forums and through my new MFP friends. you guys all rock!
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
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    I truly think that most of these people just like the way it sounds because for the first time in their life, they "just can't eat enough". They'd like to make an announcement, thank you very much. Because even if it were true (and it could be - see article regarding junk-food addicted rats who had no appetite for healthy food even when it became their only choice: http://www.naturalnews.com/029382_junk_food_rats.html) it isn't rocket science to figure out the solution. So the more patient among us repeat, every day, that if you don't want more bulk then you need to eat more calorie-dense foods.
  • lilmissymoo90
    lilmissymoo90 Posts: 324 Member
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    why does it bother you what other people eat ? i ate 1100 yesterday i had to force myself to finish my fruit calories i might be eating less but im eating better and if im hungry i eat my doctor is saporting me on my diet and advices me he has hever once told me off for eating less that the 1200 cals that all people must not eat under .. weather they are 6ft or 5ft
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    im not saying its abnormal to sometimes eat less, im saying that people are trying to make themselves believe that they are too full to eat such a small calorie limit, when they obviously ate A LOT more than that for years to get them in the situation where they want/need to lose weight.

    a friend of mine resorted to the HCG diet a few years ago. she ate 500 cals a day for a while (under a doctor's supervision) and obviously lost a good amount of weight. after she stopped, she gained almost half of it back over the course of the next few months, because it was unrealistic and nearly impossible to keep up. i reminded her- if she had the willpower to stick to something so low, she could definitely stick to a healthy 1500 cals a day and be consistent, and satisfied!

    im trying to point out that theres no need to restrict yourself so much- because its not healthy and not likely to be sustainable in the long run
  • lilmissymoo90
    lilmissymoo90 Posts: 324 Member
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    i dont restrict myself at all i eat between 1000-1450calories depending on how i feel im my eyes if im hungry eat if not dont im not going to sit at the end of the day eating cheese and peanut butter because i havent ate my last 300 calories i think part of the reason i feel full is because im eating a lot more food now than before a takeaway could easily blow me over calories where now most of my meals are made up with salad and im addicted to fruit salads which i get to eat alot more of than a 100 calorie chocolate bar or bag of chips
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    I think you're missing something here. My main problem with eating was too many snacks between meals, and the wrong sorts of snacks like potato crisps, chocolate biscuits (cookies), etc, not to mention a healthy helping of fries with my meals. I could eat my daily allowance in snacks alone. Cut out the snacks and what are you left with? Apart from proof I didn't need them in the first place. Add in taking the unhealthy foods out of your diet and I find I can eat up to 300 cals below my MFP calculated allowance of 1580/day eating more or less what I ate before I started on the program so I often get to the end of the day (or calculate my evening meal in advance) and have to have a piece of chocolate, some nuts or even a beer so I am not too low. Feels wrong to eat more than you want, but I accept that's necessary. The longer I do it, the better I get at it admittedly but I fully understand people unable to make their calories.
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    I think you're missing something here. My main problem with eating was too many snacks between meals, and the wrong sorts of snacks like potato crisps, chocolate biscuits (cookies), etc, not to mention a healthy helping of fries with my meals. I could eat my daily allowance in snacks alone. Cut out the snacks and what are you left with? Apart from proof I didn't need them in the first place. Add in taking the unhealthy foods out of your diet and I find I can eat up to 300 cals below my MFP calculated allowance of 1580/day eating more or less what I ate before I started on the program so I often get to the end of the day (or calculate my evening meal in advance) and have to have a piece of chocolate, some nuts or even a beer so I am not too low. Feels wrong to eat more than you want, but I accept that's necessary. The longer I do it, the better I get at it admittedly but I fully understand people unable to make their calories.

    i totally understand what you are saying. I guess our (i think i can speak for most people here) end goal is to be able to eat the healthy food along with treats that we love in moderation- so we dont have to completely eliminate those little things that we love and then possibly find it hard to reach a healthy calorie range. "moderation"- its a learning curve for us all.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
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    I always laugh when people say this. I can even remember when someone said something like: "Well, it's hard to eat 1200 calories when you eat a dinner of a twelve egg-white omelette with salsa! It's too filling!".
    Too filling? What about that whole pizza you ate this time last year and washed down with some galic bread, a chocolate sundae and - of course - a diet soda. It's all in their heads.

    People go out of their way to define "healthy" and "unprocessed" as low calorie. Full on egg whites? Eat wole eggs - amazing,y healthy. Buy full-fat dairy. Eat some nuts, maybe a nibble of dark chocolate. But - no, why do any of that when you can trick yourself into being full and undereating to "speed up" results? Fine, by all means, those who do that, go right on ahead - I look forward to seeing you on the forums in a week or so saying how your weight loss has stalled or you've even gained.
  • lilmissymoo90
    lilmissymoo90 Posts: 324 Member
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    my weights just over a stall =P i use to eat alot more and still loose weight but slowly ive started to fill up soon i have been dieting for 1.5years now ... im soo glad you know me better than i know my own body =D thanks brb goign to mcdonalds i have 300 cals left from last night ... pfft!

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