Should I Restrict Cals--READ BEFORE YOU SAY NO

You have to find something sustainable or the cycle will continue. Find your TDEE -20%, log everything. weigh and measure everything and above all else, be honest with yourself. You need to create healthy habits. If you restrict, then relapse you're back at square one. This is a life long struggle, not just a "until I hit this goal" deal. I wish you luck on your journey!

How about find your appropriate calorie needs instead?

my question is , whats wrong with being a size 12 ??????

I think you should really watch what you are doing with your diet. Because MS is such an unknown disease there are millions of theories out there. One thing they all agree on, like with many other diseases, inflammation and stress can exacerbate the disease.

There also theories out there that you can control your episodes by eating a diet low in fat. They all start from there, and thing get more extreme, with exclusion of nuts, dairy, legumes, sugar, eggs, and so on. Theory behind excluding all of these is decreasing the inflammation that might be caused as a reaction to eating foods that are common to not sit well. With the eggs/beans it's something about the protein that mimics a protein that causes the body to attack. I am not saying you should get rid of all this food, just giving you some info on what's out there. In any case, practicing a healthy diet is key with MS. I would not set an extremely low calorie count, because that might warrant fatigue, and fatigue is one of the most common persistent symptoms of MS. You don't want to do anything that will overly stress the body and send it into fight mode. That's the issue with MS, your body is in fight mode too much to the point is attacking your own healthy cells.

I think personally the key to fight MS, along with taking medication, is to keep your body in balance. Don't give your body the need to go into attack mode. This means eating a healthy balance diet (which is why I am a bit against the "MS Diet", but do believe in a low fat/ low carb (please don't get rid of carbs, you need them for energy, make sure you follow the glycemic index for eating the right type of carbs), and eating fruits and veggies. Basically it's the classic healthy diet that really is a life-long diet. Don't get into the fad diets that will send your body out of whack and aren't maintainable. Included in eating right is exercising. You must exercise and keep those signals from your brain and your body working. Again this is only my personal opinion, I am from the school of if you don't use it you will lose it, and I think this is even more important when you are dealing with a neurological disease such as MS, where your mind has to adapt to the lesions and find other ways of communicating with your body. Our brains are amazing, and the power to improvise is amazing. In addition to the neurological importance of working out, there's also the physical. When you have an episode in some instances, you are more able to recover from it if you were in shape beforehand. Lastly, you need to get your stress under controlled. Stress not only exacerbate and often causes episodes, it also can prevent you from losing weight. If your body is in flight mode constantly, your body is going to store what it needs in the case of emergency, which means you aren't going to lose weight. It is of the most important to participate in activities that calm you. Maybe try yoga, that's a two-fer, you get you get physical and mental reward. When you wake up in the morning included in your things to do, should be "I will remain calm no matter what happens because at the end of the day my life is more important than a fleeting reaction that will cause permanent damage". I think the Serenity prayer is amazing in this scenario.
I conclude by saying you really need to learn how to read your body and know it’s limitation. So when it’s telling you it needs something you provide it before you cause unnecessary stress to it. For example, you gotta learn the difference from being lazy and cravings to warnings you are exhausted and hungry. Keeping everything in balance and harmony are key for living healthy with MS. You want to push yourself to be the optimal you that you can be, but you don’t want to overdo it either. Good luck in your weight loss journey!

God Bless!
Zakiya

my question is , whats wrong with being a size 12 ??????

Everyone's body type is different. A 12 on me means I'm overweight. A 12 on someone else may not mean the same thing.

I am 22 years old, size 12, 5'9." I weighed about 188 lbs. in January. I have been about that weight since I was 18, and have been trying to lose weight all this time; I ran and ate 1200 cals a day--nothing worked. I was diagnosed with MS in January and spent about two weeks at my grandparents house, not eating much because I wasn't really hungry. When I went back to college, I was down to about 174 lbs. I walked every day and maintained that until my graduation in May without much trouble at all. But I've been back at home since then, and got a job; a combo of my lack of every day exercise and my mom's homecooked food has put the weight back up to 186. I really abused my body all summer, eating everything in sight and not really doing exercise but maybe once a week. Now what I'm wondering is if I should have another period where I severely restrict my calorie intake until I get back to that healthier weight. Could that work?

I read your post and looked at your diary, including your current goal of 800 a day w/half being sweets like fudge, cookies and pudding.

And the answer is N.O. You should NOT do this. No, no,no! :noway: :noway: :noway:

Please, please, please do yourself a favor and do this the right way, or you are just setting yourself up for long term health consequences.

This is true. I am sorry to hear that about your dad. ......

The MS is much more of a serious issue to be worried about over the loss of a few pounds.

Thanks. My dad is now in a motorized wheelchair with difficulty even using his hands. It took him about 15 years to get there, but his vision is still good. It was very hard for him since he use to be quite active. The fact that he has diabetes doesn't help either. I know of someone from whom it progressed faster and that is now legally blind. I also know of someone else that is doing better than my dad is. It is, in a sense a very individual disease as progression is not easy to predict.

I hope OP doesn't have an aggressive form, especially at the young age at which she was diagnosed. As you said, staying strong and healthy should be much more important for her at this point than the number on the scale.
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OP, also don't forget to take care of your mental health. Depression and episodes of violence sometimes occur for certain people with MS (not everyone, but some do). MS is often as difficult mentally as it is physically, so don't be shy to ask help from a mental health professional if you feel that you need help coping. Some communities have support groups for people with MS and their families, and these can be a blessing.

my question is , whats wrong with being a size 12 ??????

Everyone's body type is different. A 12 on me means I'm overweight. A 12 on someone else may not mean the same thing.

Exactly, If I were (and I was) a size 12 with my height (5 ft 1 in) I was considered obese.
Everyone's body needs something different.

Also, w/women, there's the whole issue of vanity sizing. A couple of seasons back on Biggest Loser, they featured some of the finalists post-makeover in TV Guide, & listed their weights & sizes. There were some letters to the editor questioning how someone could be such a small size at a higher weight. They basically blamed vanity sizing. Usually the more expensive the label, the smaller the size you'd wear in it. Most of my clothes are from Penney's or Wal-Mart, mostly size 10P (I could wear an 8, but like things slightly looser). But a skirt I found on clearance at Banana Republic fits me & it's a size 2. You cannot go by size. BMI is a good estimate, unless you're doing more serious muscle building workouts. If you're doing the serious workouts, then a scale that measures body fat percentage is a good idea.

my question is , whats wrong with being a size 12 ??????

Everyone's body type is different. A 12 on me means I'm overweight. A 12 on someone else may not mean the same thing.

Exactly, If I were (and I was) a size 12 with my height (5 ft 1 in) I was considered obese.
Everyone's body needs something different.

Also, w/women, there's the whole issue of vanity sizing. A couple of seasons back on Biggest Loser, they featured some of the finalists post-makeover in TV Guide, & listed their weights & sizes. There were some letters to the editor questioning how someone could be such a small size at a higher weight. They basically blamed vanity sizing. Usually the more expensive the label, the smaller the size you'd wear in it. Most of my clothes are from Penney's or Wal-Mart, mostly size 10P (I could wear an 8, but like things slightly looser). But a skirt I found on clearance at Banana Republic fits me & it's a size 2. You cannot go by size. BMI is a good estimate, unless you're doing more serious muscle building workouts. If you're doing the serious workouts, then a scale that measures body fat percentage is a good idea.

Couldn't agree more with this^