People who eat less than 2000 cals...in need of support

Also, are you measuring/weighing your foods? It's blows my mind to even imagine five tablespoons of peanut butter on one sandwich! Is that really how much you use? If so, I'd highly recommend cutting about three to four of those out.

I also had a peek at your diary. i think you may be entering things wrong - there is no way you could put 5 Tbsps of PB on a piece of bread. And 10 oz of chicken - that is a lot. Use measuring spoons and a scale, if you have one, for at least a few weeks to start seeing what portions look like. And you can make some simple changes, ask your mom if you can go shopping with her and pick out a few healthier items like a low calorie fruit spread instead of high sugar jelly. Try milk in your coffee instead of flavored, sweetened creamers. These simple things add up and you will notice your calories dropping.

You're eating high calorie but not very filling food. Stop eating so much junk like peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on a regular basis (they don't keep you feeling full for long enough) and start eating loads of veg and things like lean meat or fish. You seem to have very few vegetables! Pre-exercise I'm eating around 1300 cals a day and some days am so full I'm struggling to actually make sure that I'm eating that. My exercise calories are generally my treats (treat size chocolate, Haribo and alcohol at a weekend). I make sure my meals are filling - an average evening meal will be something like a chicken breast with cajun seasoning, carrots, leeks, broccoli, green beans and courgette (zucchini if you're in the US) ie a huge plate fully of low cal, filling veg. If I have the calories spare I'll have a small baked potato or a few boiled potatoes (weighed and logged). Your diet is fully of processed stuff and you may want to think not just about losing weight but about keeping it off. Use this as an opportunity to change your eating habits for the better. That doesn't mean not having processed stuff sometimes, its about having things in moderation. Good luck

well, I took a look at your diary for the last 4 days or so and you are definitely eating quite large portions. 5 tbls peanut butter as a serving?? thats almost 500 calories.. that could be an entire meal. You should probably not be having 1000+ just for lunch alone. Sorry if this is harsh but its probably why you are not losing. What I would do if I was you would take the average calories you eat for the last week, and subtract 500 calories from that and start there. When you get used to that, subtract more. But you are not going to lose any weight if you are eating 2000-3000 calories a day....

How do you do it?

I always go up to at least 1800 and at most 2500 or more. I hear a lot of people having success from eating only 1200 or 1500 or something and I don't get how they do it. I always end up hungry if I manage to eat around 1800 or barely 2000 gross and getting exercise that day, and on a day when I eat what I consider normal, I probably eat 2500 cals. Do I simply eat a little too much at dinner and have snacks that are too high in calories? We don't always have fruit at home so sometimes there is not much I can do but eat high carb foods. Could it be because I am heavier so my body needs more calories to sustain my whole body and therefore I crave more food?

I am feeling very discouraged with continuing to work on losing weight because... well I feel like I just can't do it. Either I eat too much, or I exercise too little. I feel like I need to starve myself or work myself to death to get results.

I seriously am not, nor do I let myself get, hungry on my approx. 1300/daily intake. I took a look at your diary for yesterday and I basically ate similar to you except I didn't have a PB&J sandwich as snack ~ to give you an idea how I "do it" (you're welcome to look at my open diary).

For *me* I came to discover my previously super high-carb diet was actually making me hungry. I'd eat an entire box of mac & cheese, made with too much butter, and I'd feel even more starving! And so than I'd have buttered toast or PB&J ~ again and again all day in an effort to satiate my hunger. At dinnertime I assumed potatoes or pasta would fill me up, so I'd load up on that with a few dinner rolls. And yet I'd still feel famished. So while I cleaned up the kitchen I'd stuff another dinner roll ++ in my mouth. I'd go to bed so hungry, daydreaming about waking and making a box of mac & cheese for breakfast and starting the cycle all over again.

So for *me* a key to my success these past 6 months has been to lower my carb intake and up my protein. That is what helped me curb my previously un-curbable appetite.

MFP put me at 1830 calories a day, based on how many times I usually exercise per week and my lifestyle. I aim for about 350 calories for breakfast, including some protein. That usually means an egg, egg whites, or even hardboiled egg whites (I don't like hardboiled yolks, so I toss those out and usually have a few whites). Throughout the day, I eat when I'm hungry. It sounds like common sense, but that was a challenge to me at first, because I was used to eating at set times and was guilty of eating out of boredom or eating emotionally. Now I've learned to recognize actual hunger and to eat something that will help to fill me up without throwing off my calorie count for the day.

A few pieces of advice I have: be careful of portion sizes, of eating too much bread, and of drinking your calories. Also make sure you're eating complete, well-balanced meals. It looks like you don't eat enough at meal time, which could be part of the reason you snack so much.

As others have said, going with your mom to do grocery shopping would be great. Healthy options aren't always expensive, and you can help to choose foods that will last a few weeks if your mom doesn't shop at the same places or for the same things every week. Whole wheat pastas and brown rice can give you complex carbs (better for you than the simple carbs from white pasta, white rice, etc.). Try to get whole wheat bread with as few fillers as possible and whole wheat tortillas rather than white ones. Beans can be a good way to add protein to a meal, and if you're willing to cook them yourself, they're really cheap. Even canned aren't bad, but watch the sodium in some brands. While some fruits and vegetables don't last as long as others, carrots and apples can last a few weeks. Canned fruit in juice (not syrup) might be a better option than no fruit at all. You can also stock up on frozen vegetables. Try to avoid a lot of peas, lima beans, and corn, since they're starchy, and getting plain ones rather than ones with sauce will help you keep calories down (and they're usually cheaper). Single-serve packets of oatmeal can have a lot of sugar, but buying rolled oats and cooking them yourself can give you better control of what goes into them.

Making lifestyle changes can be really tough at first, but healthy habits become second nature over time. You just have to stick with it and not give up on yourself if you have a bad day or even a stretch of bad days.

Ask to go shopping with your mom. She'll probably enjoy the company. Then grab some healthier items and ask her if she minds if you throw them in the cart.

I had a look at your diary..its shocking...I wouldn't eat single thing from your diary even if they were paying me for it.....I AM IN SHOCK

I had a look at your diary..its shocking...I wouldn't eat single thing from your diary even if they were paying me for it.....I AM IN SHOCK

You wouldn't eat peaches, plums, and salad if you were paid?

I am on 1320 calories/day. I stocked up on low-cal foods to make sure I don't go crazy. I have also learned that 9 times out of 10 when I think I'm hungry, drinking a bottle of vitamin water makes the hunger pangs go away. Sometimes you THINK you're hungry when you aren't, but if you eat every time you think you're hungry, your body will think it needs all that food. Don you like Greek yogurt? I hated it at first, but Dannon Light&Fit Greek is SOOO good, they have many fruit-on-the-bottom varieties that are 80 calories each. It's packed with protein too so one cup of that keeps me full for a long time. I've also tried FullBars but they don't work for me. Plus I feel deprived when I'm on those =/

The OP could very easily have a TDEE of 3000 with 'light exercise'. When I started I was at 300lbs at had a TDEE of 3500. I would've been very hangry eating 1200-1500, so there is no need to be immediately advising her to eat less, without additional information. As for WHAT she's eating, I think it just needs some tweaking, make some small steps in a healthy direction. She can hardly change her entire diet when she does not buy the groceries. Personally, I would eat any and all of what she's having, and I think her choices are mostly fine, just perhaps excessive, but I am not part of the clean eating crowd. I believe in the: if you like it, eat it, philosophy, providing you make it fit in your calorie and macro goals. You have to think about what you can do for life, not as a diet.

Someone may have already suggested this, but fiber is a good thing to keep you feeling full. Are you tracking your fiber? Many nutritionists suggest eating much morer fiber than MFP suggests, ie 25 grams a day or more. I had a quick peek at your diary and don't see much in the way of vegetables, fruits and grains - these foods can really help you. They taste yummy, make you full, and keep you healthy.

I don't have too much trouble keeping within my calories when I am cooking at home. I can control what goes in my meals and stick to foods that aren't too calorie dense, as well as getting lots of fiber. When I'm eating out a lot it is much more challenging.

Good luck. It is totally possible, but it may mean reconsidering some of your food choices.

Bump!

1. do the TDEE - 20% thing and make sure you set your MFP macros to include a bit more protein than they suggest on "custom."
2. get a food scale
3. weigh and measure everything.

Even if you can't control what is in the kitchen, you can still stick to your calories and macros and lose weight. It does not have to be painful.

Another option would be to take a week to log everything you are eating now, correctly. That means weigh and measure everything. Then, just subtract about 100 calories a day (subtract it from your fats and your carbs, not your protein requirement). Start there. It will be slower than TDEE - 20%, but you will lose weight and you will barely notice the different in food intake.

The next thing I'd do after all this, is to make sure you are getting around 30g of fiber per day. Use a supplement like psyllium seed husk if you need to, but try to get as much of the fiber through your food choices as you possibly can.

Good luck! This is all really simple - once you get strict about weighing and measuring so you know exactly what you are actually doing.