Looking for others consuming less than 1200 calories/day

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met_in
met_in Posts: 17
in Introduce Yourself
Hi everyone,

I am kind of new to actively logging my food and exercise, I am trying to keep a 1106 calorie diet as advised by http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and I am finding it a little hard. It is not exactly the amount of calories I find hard to keep, more like the macronutrients. It turns out I only eat carbs and fat and no protein. My goal is to be able to eat the junk food I loove so much and adjust the rest of my meals to make room for it. Sometimes it works fine, however, sometimes I have no idea what to eat.

I would love to follow the diaries of others like me. I have no food allergies, although I do not really like vegetables on their own, processed meat (except for saussages that I get cravings for about once every 6 months) and pork. I love junk food, although I am trying to eat way less, I eat a lot of Turkish food (since I am Turkish), and I love seafood, lamb, chicken, turkey, potatoes, rice..etc.

Currently I am not exercising, but I will start swimming 3-4 times a week in about 10 days (when the weather gets a bit warmer) and I might start doing some exercises at home as well.

I am currently 51 kilos and 160cm, I would like to be under 47 kilos (the goal was till August, but I now see that it is going to take me at least 4-5 months unless I starve myself, which I don't want to).

I am really interested in findig out how others who were similar to me changed their eating habits and what their meal and exercise plans look like!
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Replies

  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
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    I think you have your numbers confused. You should be 15-20% from your TDEE...not trying to hit less than your BMR. Your calorie intake should be between 1513-1424, depending on if you are doing 15 or 20%..and that I calculated with having exercising only 3 times a week, if you exercise more than that then you will eat more. And I used the same site you did.
  • met_in
    met_in Posts: 17
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    I did not put in any exercise, since I haven't started yet. I will just eat back my exercise calories when I do start working out. I calculated it with a 25% deficit and it told me to eat 1106 net calories. Maybe I should do a 20% deficit?

    Edit: I calculated it here http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ when I was 52 kilos, with a 25% deficit and no exercise/desk job option for exercise.
  • SymphonynSonata
    SymphonynSonata Posts: 533 Member
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    Seafood, lamb, chicken, and turkey all have protein. :) It may be rough given so few calories, but try plugging some of them into your daily diet in the place of a cupcake. Maybe keep a cookie as your treat for the day. I think you'll find you're more satisfied and better able to meet your macros when you replace calorie dense, nutritionally void snacks with calorie light, nutritionally dense foods. Start slow, like, 50% foods just to meet your macros/50% to treat yourself. Each week, change the numbers (60/40, 70/30, 80/20, 90/10) and see which is easiest for you to maintain and still enjoy the pleasures of leisure foods.

    When you aren't able to handle 1106 calories anymore, check out http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ for a more realistic amount of calories to eat per day and not hate life.

    ( I found that you're 5'2 in another thread, and put your numbers in accordingly. According to Scooby's, with no exercise and 20% reduction, you'd be taking in 1276 calories per day. That extra 270 will really help. But because you have so little weight to lose, I'd go for 10% reduction )
  • spicegeek
    spicegeek Posts: 325 Member
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    at 160cms/ 51 kgs you are already borderline underweight - why are you trying to actually be underweight ? this is not healthy
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    at 160cms/ 51 kgs you are already borderline underweight - why are you trying to actually be underweight ? this is not healthy

    This.

    You may just be wanting to work on body composition. To do that you need to lift heavy things, and eat protein.
  • met_in
    met_in Posts: 17
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    at 160cms/ 51 kgs you are already borderline underweight - why are you trying to actually be underweight ? this is not healthy

    I kind of anticipated getting a similar response, because I know that on paper it looks fine, but at the same time, I have a lot of fat to lose. I weigh a lot less than I look, I alwazs have, and the only reason I have set a goal in weight is because I used to be around 44-47 kilos consistently for years (and still had belly fat and a chubby face) before I gained 7 kilos in 2 short months when I moved abroad to go to graduate school 2 years ago. I would at least like to get back to where I was before then.

    But I would also be fine with losing however much I can and looking better, which is why I would like to exercise. I am not too concerned with the amount of weight I lose, I have the goal weight because keeping track of something motivates me, and it is easier to keep track of my weight than it is to keep track of how much fat I have lost from my belly or face, since that is a very gradual change.
  • cbhubbybubble
    cbhubbybubble Posts: 465 Member
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    I don't consume that little, so I have nothing helpful to add there, but with your current stats, I find it hard to believe you are "chubby" as your profile states If anything, given your diet, you have more fat that you need from poor eating and little exercise, but you aren't overweight. I'm no expert, but my advice would be eat more (but not all "junk") and start lifting weights. You'll likely see results in your body composition that will make you happy without having to lose weight.
  • kchan82
    kchan82 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hello! I am on a less than 1200 per day goal. I am eating protein, vegetables (unlimited), fruits (limited), green tea every 2-3 hours and I've successfully lost 9lbs in 3days and I don't feel deprived. I totally would love to share diaries!
  • Sun_Wukong
    Sun_Wukong Posts: 131
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    at 160cms/ 51 kgs you are already borderline underweight - why are you trying to actually be underweight ? this is not healthy

    This.

    You may just be wanting to work on body composition. To do that you need to lift heavy things, and eat protein.
    ^QFT

    As a rule of thumb, the following weekly targets would give a balance between minimizing these negative side effects and seeing a reasonable weekly weight loss:
    More than 75 lbs: 2 lbs/week
    40-75 lbs: 1.5 lbs/week
    10-40 lbs: 1 lb/week
    Less than 10 lbs: 0.5 lb/week

    Obviously, the deficit that is right for you will depend on your personal circumstances and how well you deal with the deficit. For example, for someone who is morbidly obese, the health benefits of getting the weight off quickly will often outweigh the possible negative impact and, as such, a higher than 2 lb a week deficit may well be appropriate.

    Some links to help hopefully...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Setting Your Calorie and Macro Targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1072049-thoughts-on-tdee-calculators-and-switching-from-mfp-to-tdee

    Exercise calories

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    ETA: Protein consumption is essential to maintain LBM whilst losing body fat!
  • kjo9692
    kjo9692 Posts: 430 Member
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    I did not put in any exercise, since I haven't started yet. I will just eat back my exercise calories when I do start working out. I calculated it with a 25% deficit and it told me to eat 1106 net calories. Maybe I should do a 20% deficit?

    Edit: I calculated it here http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ when I was 52 kilos, with a 25% deficit and no exercise/desk job option for exercise.

    You don't need such an aggressive deficit if you only have to lose about 4 kilos. Try a lower deficit of 10%. If you have such a large deficit you risk losing lean mass along the way as well, and that's not good for you for many reasons: your metabolism decreases, your bone density is reduced, etc etc.

    If you are going to gradually add exercise figure out how much you burn per workout (with an HRM) and on the days you exercise eat back those calories, and on the days you don't stick to TDEE - 10%.

    Also, if you are trying to lose weight because you feel "skinny-fat" the best you can do is have a really small deficit while you lift heavy for body composition, you'll feel and look so much better.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    Hello! I am on a less than 1200 per day goal. I am eating protein, vegetables (unlimited), fruits (limited), green tea every 2-3 hours and I've successfully lost 9lbs in 3days and I don't feel deprived. I totally would love to share diaries!

    You've mostly lost water weight which will just come right back.

    Do you plan on eating less than 1200 for the rest of your life?

    To keep weight off you both need to make lifestyle changes, not "I'll do this until I reach my goal" changes. Which means to learn how much you should be eating when you are at that weight, plus a deficit until you get there.

    Though OP - I'd suggest eating more protein and lifting heavy things.

    The goal is to lose the weight and keep it off right? In order to do that you have to do it healthy. See links posted above.
  • tbresina
    tbresina Posts: 558 Member
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    No one should ever go below 1200 cals, unless of course you are pro ana and this is your thing.......not healthy!
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    Options
    I did not put in any exercise, since I haven't started yet. I will just eat back my exercise calories when I do start working out. I calculated it with a 25% deficit and it told me to eat 1106 net calories. Maybe I should do a 20% deficit?

    Edit: I calculated it here http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ when I was 52 kilos, with a 25% deficit and no exercise/desk job option for exercise.

    After reading the other responses (sorry, not good with metric conversion in my head, I am US), you would do best with a 10% deficit then. You are wanting to recomp your body, lose body fat. Which would still put you at 1300 without exercise.
  • met_in
    met_in Posts: 17
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    No one should ever go below 1200 cals, unless of course you are pro ana and this is your thing.......not healthy!

    I think I am as far from being anorexic as possible, if you guys saw me in person, you would not be thinking that I am anorexic for wanting to lose weight. I think I am going to upload a few images in my profile that show how my body looks right now and how it used to look when I was 44 kilos. But if it is as unhealthy as people have been suggesting, I will add 100 more calories and be on a 1200 calories/day regimen.
  • kchan82
    kchan82 Posts: 2 Member
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    oh I agree, my plan is to get back to ~2000 in 3 weeks, when I return back to work from my maternity leave. Just kick starting to get the postpartum weight off. This so that I can feel lighter when I start working, being able to go to gym in June. I was a distance runner up until my pregnancy, so just trying to get back into my old habits, routines after the baby :D
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    Options
    No one should ever go below 1200 cals, unless of course you are pro ana and this is your thing.......not healthy!

    I think I am as far from being anorexic as possible, if you guys saw me in person, you would not be thinking that I am anorexic for wanting to lose weight. I think I am going to upload a few images in my profile that show how my body looks right now and how it used to look when I was 44 kilos. But if it is as unhealthy as people have been suggesting, I will add 100 more calories and be on a 1200 calories/day regimen.

    You should still be eating more than 1200 a day, especially when you add exercise. Please read the links above.
  • met_in
    met_in Posts: 17
    Options
    at 160cms/ 51 kgs you are already borderline underweight - why are you trying to actually be underweight ? this is not healthy

    This.

    You may just be wanting to work on body composition. To do that you need to lift heavy things, and eat protein.
    ^QFT

    As a rule of thumb, the following weekly targets would give a balance between minimizing these negative side effects and seeing a reasonable weekly weight loss:
    More than 75 lbs: 2 lbs/week
    40-75 lbs: 1.5 lbs/week
    10-40 lbs: 1 lb/week
    Less than 10 lbs: 0.5 lb/week

    Obviously, the deficit that is right for you will depend on your personal circumstances and how well you deal with the deficit. For example, for someone who is morbidly obese, the health benefits of getting the weight off quickly will often outweigh the possible negative impact and, as such, a higher than 2 lb a week deficit may well be appropriate.

    Some links to help hopefully...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Setting Your Calorie and Macro Targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1072049-thoughts-on-tdee-calculators-and-switching-from-mfp-to-tdee

    Exercise calories

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    ETA: Protein consumption is essential to maintain LBM whilst losing body fat!

    Wow, thank you so much! I will read these right now, this is really helpful.
  • LoveMyLife_NYC
    LoveMyLife_NYC Posts: 230 Member
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    Also, if you are trying to lose weight because you feel "skinny-fat" the best you can do is have a really small deficit while you lift heavy for body composition, you'll feel and look so much better.

    ^^This. If you are in a healthy weight rage, but unhappy with the amount of fat on your body, you need to build muscle. Recomping will help your body look leaner and stronger. Lift heavy!
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    Options
    oh I agree, my plan is to get back to ~2000 in 3 weeks, when I return back to work from my maternity leave. Just kick starting to get the postpartum weight off. This so that I can feel lighter when I start working, being able to go to gym in June. I was a distance runner up until my pregnancy, so just trying to get back into my old habits, routines after the baby :D

    You can still eat more and lose weight.
  • met_in
    met_in Posts: 17
    Options
    No one should ever go below 1200 cals, unless of course you are pro ana and this is your thing.......not healthy!

    I think I am as far from being anorexic as possible, if you guys saw me in person, you would not be thinking that I am anorexic for wanting to lose weight. I think I am going to upload a few images in my profile that show how my body looks right now and how it used to look when I was 44 kilos. But if it is as unhealthy as people have been suggesting, I will add 100 more calories and be on a 1200 calories/day regimen.

    You should still be eating more than 1200 a day, especially when you add exercise. Please read the links above.

    I am planning on eating at least half of my exercise calories back, especially since swimming is my choice of exercise and I heard that it makes you really hungry.

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