eating schedule - meals per day

I was doing 1200 from Feb.-this week and upped to 1300. It's not hard. I'll have breakfast, a snack before lunch, a small lunch, and dinner, then maybe dessert. I like doing smaller meals because it keeps me full so I'm not starving and over eat at "main meals." Feel free to add me if you'd like, I have an open diary. I was a little all over the board last week but usually pretty good. It can be done.

I usually eat something very small on the way to work, sometimes not. Then I eat a small lunch and maybe a snack at work. Then I eat right when I get home a smallish meal or protein shake before I workout. Then I eat whatever calories are left after I workout.

But I've also gone for long periods of time with only eating one meal a day but for the same calories. Results were the same either way. It's just whatever happens to fit my schedule best at the time. But the frequency of meals doesn't really matter much.

Also- why do you only have 1200 calories? are you exceptionally short?

thats what MFP gave me to lose 2lbs per week. im not short, im 5'9 and 190lbs

If you're down to your last 19, do you think it is wise to continue at the 2lb/wk guideline? I'd think 1lb would be more reasonable.

Also- why do you only have 1200 calories? are you exceptionally short?

thats what MFP gave me to lose 2lbs per week. im not short, im 5'9 and 190lbs

If you're down to your last 19, do you think it is wise to continue at the 2lb/wk guideline? I'd think 1lb would be more reasonable.

this is going to sound stupid, but im not in my last 19. it makes me feel good to see the ticker moving along. once i hit 170 ill be considered a healthy bmi(for the first time ever!), but ill reset my goal after that. i still want to lose about another 40. i dont like to go slowly, it kills my motivation. to keep my head in it i need to keep seeing good results to encourage me to keep going. I still have a huge amount of belly fat staring back at me in the mirror. its taken me over 2 years to lose this first 80. I havent been dieting the whole time. for 14 months of it i was in a relationship and was eating like a pig because my boyfriend ALWAYS had obscene amounts of unhealthy food around 24/7.

If you go quickly, you may not like the end result.

Going to quickly gives you higher odds of jeopardizing muscle along with fat. Retaining muscle is important. It helps you look leaner at goal. You may even find you don't have as much weight to lose as you thought.

If you aren't, I highly suggest picking up into a weightlifting or resistance training routine to help retain lean body mass and reduce fat.

I'm assuming your goal is fat loss, not necessarily weight loss. As, no one knows what you weigh unless you tell them.

For example, in high school I was 125 lbs and a size 5. I'm 121 lbs now and a size 2. Keeping and having muscle makes a huge difference.

As far as your stomach, your fat loss is determined by genetics. It took losing my last 10-15 lbs before I saw a good amount of change in my stomach. It's commonly the last place to lose.

There are no "unhealthy" foods. Just unhealthy eating habits. How you fit food into your life is what determines whether or not it's healthy or not. So you can't really blame that. I understand that, to an extent, some people suffer from control issues over certain foods, I am certainly guilty of eating one too many chips if they're in front of me but part of this is to learn sustainability. When you start labeling food, you give that food control over you. " I can't eat this or that's bad."isn't a good mindset to have.

Pick foods that help you feel satiated and maybe fit some fun stuff in there along the way. That way, when you're at your goal and need to switch to maintenance, you aren't relapsing on bad habits because you've learned how to moderate those foods that gave you issues in the past

Hi, thanks for the add.

I eat about 1200 calories a day, too. Usually less as I am not hungry enough to eat more than I do. My food is nutrient dense and I'd rather eat 1200 calories of nutrient-dense food than add another 300 calories of whatever just to get to 1500.

To answer your question, the idea of grazing is that you keep your sugar levels rather stable throughout the day. Some folks have sugar spikes and drops and it affects how they feel.

If this isn't you, no need to worry. It isn't me, but if I need a snack, I eat a peach or an apple.

Hi, thanks for the add.

I eat about 1200 calories a day, too. Usually less as I am not hungry enough to eat more than I do. My food is nutrient dense and I'd rather eat 1200 calories of nutrient-dense food than add another 300 calories of whatever just to get to 1500.

To answer your question, the idea of grazing is that you keep your sugar levels rather stable throughout the day. Some folks have sugar spikes and drops and it affects how they feel.

If this isn't you, no need to worry. It isn't me, but if I need a snack, I eat a peach or an apple.

Your body is like a machine it needs X amount of calories for it to function properly. Eating less than your body needs to function right isn't the correct course of action, just because you've got some skewed view of food sources. Your body doesn't care where it's getting it's nutrients from, only that it's getting it and a proper amount to function.

Also- why do you only have 1200 calories? are you exceptionally short?

thats what MFP gave me to lose 2lbs per week. im not short, im 5'9 and 190lbs

Your problems:
1.) You're not eating enough
2.) You're using MFP's recommended calorie limit
3.) You think losing 2 lb/week is reasonable

Also, it doesn't matter how many times per day you eat, nor does it matter what time of day you eat. Calories in vs. calories out.