Really struggling here

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gemheath2010
gemheath2010 Posts: 68 Member
Hiya -
I've decreased my calories and I'm finding that I'm absolutely starving in the evenings, today I have gone over by around 100 cals just because I was so hungry, and I'm starting to feel the old guilt starting to set in again, and wanting to restrict tomorrow.
Please tell me that it isn't bad for me to have gone over, and it's not going to affect my weight loss.

I really love the eating more to weigh less concept, and I'm determine to make this work.

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    How much is your deficit planned to be?

    How much is 100 calories of that?

    How much deficit was left?


    As to being so hungry, what is your workout type and time and frequency (there may be some eating changes to improve things)?
  • gemheath2010
    gemheath2010 Posts: 68 Member
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    How much is your deficit planned to be?

    How much is 100 calories of that?

    How much deficit was left?


    As to being so hungry, what is your workout type and time and frequency (there may be some eating changes to improve things)?

    Ok so my tdee is 2263 and I'm doing a 10% cut to 2000, I think I have eaten about 25g of Brazil nuts which is what has sent me over - I did have 73 cals left over so eating the Brazil nuts has made me go over by 99 cals.
    I am currently doing new rules for women three times a week and cardio twice a week, sometimes go to the gym for a hard letting session on weekends but only if I feel like it. On my feet all day at work which is 40 hours, I work out early morning so normal day for me is
    Breakfast - oats and barley porridge with blueberries and whole milk
    After gym - protein shake
    Mid morning - sunflower seeds and Brazil nuts
    Lunch - chicken breast with peppers and cherry tomatoes, natural yogurt with blueberries and porridge oats
    Dinner - spaghetti Bolognese (or some meat based dish with rice, pasta or potatoes
  • kathleenjoyful
    kathleenjoyful Posts: 210 Member
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    If you're on your feet at work 40 hours a week, I would guess your TDEE is likely to be much higher than 2263. My TDEE is around 2400 BEFORE working out and I have a desk job -- that is the burn I get from NEAT and making sure I get between 10,000-15,000 steps a day. If you're hungry you really need to eat, especially if you are lifting weights. I wish I could help you recalculate your TDEE but I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction, hopefully others here will be able to help you with that. If you can afford to, a BodyMedia or a Fitbit would be a good investment to get a closer estimate of your TDEE.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    So my point was - you still had a deficit. Probably more than you think, because ....

    Ditto to Kathleen's comment. You guessed the wrong TDEE level probably.

    The rough 5 level TDEE chart is exercise on top of sedentary job - yours is not.

    Your work by itself makes you Lightly Active.

    Your exercise (you didn't mention how long, which is kinda needed for 1-3 hrs or 4-6 hrs estimate) is at least Lightly Active if not Moderately Active.

    You must add the 2 together, figuring 2 hrs of exercise for the 40 hrs of work.
    So 2 hrs for work and your exercise is how many hrs total weekly?
    And where does that fall in the TDEE table?
    Is that the level you took 10% off of?

    As for eating and workout timing, you might see if you can do a smaller snack prior to lifting, and leave most of breakfast and that protein drink for afterwards. More calories available to use with repair.
    That may help a tad.

    I think what will likely help more is getting more correct TDEE level, unless you did.
  • gemheath2010
    gemheath2010 Posts: 68 Member
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    Thank you both for answering - when I last calculated I used the katch calculator which uses body fat, hay bales there was also a calculation that you gave me because I seemed to be right in between moderate and strenuous. Which was katch bmr x 1.64 so 1380 x 1.64 = 2263
    I wonder if I should just round it up and use the strenuous setting my workouts equal 4.16 so with 2 hours added on for work I'm in the next section - the extra 142 calories also looks very appealing

    Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone helping in this group - you are all stars -
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Thank you both for answering - when I last calculated I used the katch calculator which uses body fat, hay bales there was also a calculation that you gave me because I seemed to be right in between moderate and strenuous. Which was katch bmr x 1.64 so 1380 x 1.64 = 2263
    I wonder if I should just round it up and use the strenuous setting my workouts equal 4.16 so with 2 hours added on for work I'm in the next section - the extra 142 calories also looks very appealing

    Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone helping in this group - you are all stars -

    Ahhhhh - I would have already used the spreadsheet then and probably included 40 hrs standing if I knew about it.

    In fact that seems high enough I likely did.

    In which case, I'd look more at what you eat prior to being hungry and how long from that last meal when you feel hungry.
    You might need to just adjust eating times and amounts to help.
    Also keep measuring for new bodyfat % for new Katch BMR, that may change enough to allow more eating.

    Because doing lifting and asking body to make those improvements, it would really prefer you eating in surplus and gaining weight.
    It would accept being in maintenance though you still might be hungry.
    It really doesn't want a deficit and is showing it.

    So it may just be the hunger you'll have to train it to accept - which will go away eventually.

    And not the "I only eat 800 and don't feel hungry" type of go away mind you, just the body accepting it can't make all the changes it wants to as fast as it wants to.

    Sorry, hate to take the 142 calories from your hot little hands. It was a toasted poptart, wasn't it? :sad:

    After first month of program and seeing actual weight loss results, you can get best estimate of TDEE then, and it may indeed be higher.
  • gemheath2010
    gemheath2010 Posts: 68 Member
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    Thank you both for answering - when I last calculated I used the katch calculator which uses body fat, hay bales there was also a calculation that you gave me because I seemed to be right in between moderate and strenuous. Which was katch bmr x 1.64 so 1380 x 1.64 = 2263
    I wonder if I should just round it up and use the strenuous setting my workouts equal 4.16 so with 2 hours added on for work I'm in the next section - the extra 142 calories also looks very appealing

    Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone helping in this group - you are all stars -

    Ahhhhh - I would have already used the spreadsheet then and probably included 40 hrs standing if I knew about it.

    In fact that seems high enough I likely did.

    In which case, I'd look more at what you eat prior to being hungry and how long from that last meal when you feel hungry.
    You might need to just adjust eating times and amounts to help.
    Also keep measuring for new bodyfat % for new Katch BMR, that may change enough to allow more eating.

    Because doing lifting and asking body to make those improvements, it would really prefer you eating in surplus and gaining weight.
    It would accept being in maintenance though you still might be hungry.
    It really doesn't want a deficit and is showing it.

    So it may just be the hunger you'll have to train it to accept - which will go away eventually.

    And not the "I only eat 800 and don't feel hungry" type of go away mind you, just the body accepting it can't make all the changes it wants to as fast as it wants to.

    Sorry, hate to take the 142 calories from your hot little hands. It was a toasted poptart, wasn't it? :sad:

    After first month of program and seeing actual weight loss results, you can get best estimate of TDEE then, and it may indeed be higher.

    ok so the 2000 is already correct - dang it i was seriously looking forward to those extra calories - never mind. OK so i shall jiggle some of the food around, and stop it being to early day heavy. I need to spread my calories out throughout the day. At least i know that it is correct - although it is seriously difficult sticking to it - which is something that i would never have thought i would say a few months back, so that in itself is progress
  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 606 Member
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    I know they say to spread your meals and snacks evenly throughout the day, but everyone is different. That just doesn't work for me. I did a few weeks of juggling food around myself (I was always starving in the evenings with no calories left) and settled on a high protein/no carb breakfast, with several small snacks up until lunch. (I'm up at 5 am, so that's 7 or 8 hours to lunch for me). Then just a small protein snack in the afternoon on workout days. That usually leaves me with half my calories left (1000) for a hearty dinner and evening snack,and I rarely go to bed hungry any more. I often eat up to 8 or 9 times a day.