New and confused.

mondayeyes7
mondayeyes7 Posts: 2 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi, so I'm new to this - not necessarily new to the site, just being more active on it.
A little background for me is that I'm a female, 20, 5'9 and 180lbs (although, I don't tend to focus on the scale as much as I do on how I feel I look). I started really focusing on my health a little under a year ago and lost a decent amount of weight. However, in the years that preceded that, I had bulimic tendencies and would purge and starve a lot and so my self-image and eating patterns are somewhat warped and my relationship with food is delicate to say the least as I tend to be quite obsessive with small things.
I'd also like to add that sometimes I don't finish my logging for the day - but I do make sure I don't go over 1200.
Anyway (apologies for the length) I have a couple of questions I would like to pose directly - although I have tried to find out for myself, rather than being a bother, I'd much rather be certain so I'm not obsessing over small details, thinking I have it wrong.

Q1: What would be the ideal daily caloric intake for me? I understand than my BMR is somewhere around 1600 and I understand that eating 1200 is possibly problematic - which is what I am aiming for now. Should I be eating at my BMR or under? Could anyone clear this up for me?
Q2: Is one ''cheat'' day a week going to impede my journey drastically if I ignore calories (with the way my mind works obsessively, it's somewhat nice to take a day to not feel bad when I eat what I want - other than this day, I eat as well as I can).

If there is any other, helpful information that you can give to ease my mind, that would be fantastic and I'd be extremely grateful. I apologise in advance if my questions are something I could work out for myself, but I just would greatly appreciate some type of reassurance regarding what track I should be on. Thank you.

(Also I apologise if I posted this on the wrong topic).

Replies

  • ransaka
    ransaka Posts: 135 Member
    Hello!

    You should check this thread out:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

    If that's all overwhelming as there is a lot of information then at least read this one as it's awesome:

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

    Cheat days are up to you. Weight will come off slower if you eat over your calorie goal but if you can live with that then it's fine. Just don't do what I did a while back and let a cheat day become 2, then 3, then a week etc. :)
  • LeafyEdge
    LeafyEdge Posts: 41 Member
    First of all, I'm just really thrilled for you that you're moving in such a positive direction with your past of self-image and eating issues. Seriously, you deserve congrats for that.

    So about your caloric intake. BMR is absolutely base. You sit and do nothing all day? You burn around 1600 calories. So if you did nothing, 1200 is not a problematic intake. A 400 calorie deficit is definitely maintainable in the long run. However, you probably have a job where you do some moving, probably do some stuff around the house, go shopping, etc. So you're going to be burning more than 1600 calories total on most days. MFP lets you set an activity level to get a better estimate of calories burned. I have a FitBit, which tracks my general movements throughout the day and factors in my BMR. My BMR is about 1250, but throughout the day with no exercise, I burn about 1500. So if I eat around 1200 calories, I have a deficit of 250, not 50.

    A cheat day is totally fine, as long as you don't eat your entire weekly deficit in a week. (Not joking. As someone who has had some binging problems, I've easily eaten an extra 3500 calories in a day.)
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    Sorry, LeafyEdge, that's wrong - what you're describing is a sedentary TDEE, not BMR. BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the approx # of calories your body needs to cover basic functions like digestion, breathing, brain function, healing, etc - as if you were in a coma. This is not a number you want to take a deficit from. Being slightly below (within 100 cal) is ok given a lot of the figures are estimates anyway but I wouldn't suggest a calorie goal less than 1500 per day. 1200 is far too low for OP.

    mondayeyes, it's likely you got 1200 per day because your weekly weight loss goal is too agressive. You shouldn't expect more than 1 pound per week with the amount of weight you have to lose and should set your goals as such.

    OP, if you find you're getting obsessed, given your past history of ED, please consider counseling. I'd hate to see you relapse.

    Take care and good luck
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    if you cut 500 calories a day out of your regular eating, you'll lose about a pound a week. if you have a cheat day where you eat 3500 calories - easy to do if you eat at restaurants - you can eat up all the calories you skipped the rest of the week and end up not losing any weight at all.

    as far as cheat days, everyone is different. some people here do a cheat meal instead of a cheat day, but for me - with a history of binging and also anorexia - i found it easier to create new habits and keep going without any cheating at all.
  • mondayeyes7
    mondayeyes7 Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you all, I really appreciate the help.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    I wouldnt do a cheat day. A cheat DAY can ruin a week of good work. A cheat meal is OK. I actually fast the day I know I am gong to have a "cheat" meal. I hate calling it that because you shouldnt consider it cheating.

    There is no reason why one cannot eat the foods they enjoy and still lose weight. The night I have my biggest and best meal of the weak still ends me at my TDEE of 2200-2500 that day. That is with a great meal, dessert (or two) and so on. A win win.

    I would maybe wait a couple of weeks before you do that though.

    and, for the love of God, dont do a cheat meal the day before a weigh in. I see some very stupid things on here where people ***** and moan how they gained weight when they cheated on their plan 1-2 days prior. If you are going to do a big meal like that, do it the evening after you weigh in. One big meal wont ruin you, but if you step on the scale that next 1-2 days you may see some startling numbers but it starts to even out and if you stay on task each week a good loss on the scales.

    Goodluck

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