I think I don't know how to eat

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csec6pak
csec6pak Posts: 54 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I gained a lot of weight in college and lost it all when I was 24 years old by religiously eating only 1200-1300 calories per day, Sunday-Thursday. On Friday and Saturday I'd eat (and drink) whatever I wanted for dinner and not count the calories. I worked out 1-2 hours per day, 6 days per week. Cardio every day and weight training in the gym with a trainer 2-3 times per week.

You may say that isn't sustainable, but I sustained it for 6 months, lost 60 pounds, and then moved to a more moderate maintenance plan. I maintained within 10 pounds of my goal weight for over a decade.

So now following the birth of my second child, I seem to have fallen off the wagon. I lost weight quickly after he was born, but since he was nursing, I was still eating like I was pregnant and not finding much time for exercise. Once he stopped nursing about 6 months ago, I started packing on the pounds. I'm now 15-20 pounds over where I'd like to be. I'm almost back to my pregnancy weight and I'm definitely not pregnant.

So I went back to what worked in my 20's. I tried to maintain 1200-1300 calories per day with 2 cheat meals per week, and workout 6 days a week (although it's under an hour a day due to time constraints). I have lost some weight but I feel like crap. I am just completely exhausted. My muscles ache, and not in the good "just worked out" kind of way. They ache in a completely worn out, worn down, kill me now kind of way.

I'm too tired to do anything and every aspect of my life is suffering. I tried going up 1500 calories per day for awhile but didn't really see a difference.

I'm about ready to give up and go back to being fat and happy. I thought I had this diet thing down; it worked so well when I was younger. But it's not working now.

I have never paid attention to what I eat in terms of percent fat/protein/carbs. I really have no idea what I need there; I always just counted calories and it just worked. What do I need to do there?

If you tell me that I need to eat more, please provide the math to prove it. I'm a numbers person and I'm having trouble figuring out how I'd lose weight eating more than 1500 calories per day.

Yes, I do weigh my food. My entries may look generic because I choose a generic entry that has approximately the right number of calories for what I actually ate. Same with exercise. I calculate calories with a HRM and mapmyrun and adjust the minutes in MFP to get the right number of calories. I am also doing strength training twice a week but I haven't been logging it.

I'm 37 years old, 5'10", about 183 pounds and I'd like to get down to around 165-170 and just generally tone up. I've got the "mummy tummy" and I'm sick of it.
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Replies

  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
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    You need to make your food diary public.
  • csec6pak
    csec6pak Posts: 54 Member
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    It is set to allow "everyone" to view. Is there something else I need to do to make it public?
  • sweetd6
    sweetd6 Posts: 74 Member
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    What works in our 20's never works in our later 30's and works even less in our 40's and 50's, lol. You could be feeling like crap because you're not getting the proper nutrition from your calories. I know they say it doesn't matter what you eat as long as there is a deficit for losing weight, but it does matter for how you feel.
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
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    It is set to allow "everyone" to view. Is there something else I need to do to make it public?

    Settings->Diary Settings, then set Diary to Public (near the bottom of the Diary Settings page)
  • 115s
    115s Posts: 344 Member
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    Start strength training and stop worrying.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
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    You are where I was a year and a half ago. Ate while I was breastfeeding like I was still pg, and didn't slow down when I stopped breastfeeding. Then what worked when I was in my 20's no longer worked.

    I found a better way, and it was taking care of my body instead of hating and abusing it because it was "too" fat.

    I eat a lot and don't exercise an hour a day, but I love my body anyway, and now I'm smaller than I was in my teens, before 3 kids, 3 pregnancies and 3 c sections.

    You can friend me if you want to see how.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,663 Member
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    Based on numbers your BMR alone is 1606. If you add in regular daily tasks and exercise, you're more than likely over 2100 calories a day in TDEE. So if you're a numbers person, eating a 1200 calorie intake may be too low for you.
    I'm also betting that you lack sleep and that's a major contributor to fat loss since rest is when the body burns more fat than at any other time of the day.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • pg08302
    pg08302 Posts: 1 Member
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    I went through something similar in my 30's after having my first baby. In my 20's I ate a lot of lean cuisine and frozen diet foods for convenience and the weight fell off. In my 30's I switched to focusing on quality of food over calories. Focus on vegetables, protein and fat in every meal. Healthy carbs like quinoa. Don't go overboard on fruit either. Try to eat in the morning and concentrate on berries. I also went organic as much as possible. Hope that helps.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Somehow work out your days and nights so that you get more sleep. Things will be easier if you are sleeping.
  • neverevergiveup81
    neverevergiveup81 Posts: 2
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    What works in our 20's never works in our later 30's and works even less in our 40's and 50's, lol. You could be feeling like crap because you're not getting the proper nutrition from your calories. I know they say it doesn't matter what you eat as long as there is a deficit for losing weight, but it does matter for how you feel.

    ^^^ THIS!!! :wink:

    Never a truer statement.
  • JoanneKendrick
    JoanneKendrick Posts: 151 Member
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    You have not long had a baby so give yourself a break. Women's body change once they have a baby and your shattered as you have a child to look after. Eat a balanced meal, cut back on sugar. Drink 2 litres of water a day. Exercise between 4-5 times a week at a minimum of 30 minutes per work out. Use weights, do squats, sit ups, plank, press ups as well as cardio. Also try and get as much rest as you can when you have a child. You will get there but take it day by day :-)
  • kducky22
    kducky22 Posts: 276 Member
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    I'm also betting that you lack sleep and that's a major contributor to fat loss since rest is when the body burns more fat than at any other time of the day.

    Interesting! I've never heard this before! Can you give a little more info, or an article to read?



    PS - As a Seahawks fan I am obliged to say Niners suck..
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    What works in our 20's never works in our later 30's and works even less in our 40's and 50's, lol. You could be feeling like crap because you're not getting the proper nutrition from your calories. I know they say it doesn't matter what you eat as long as there is a deficit for losing weight, but it does matter for how you feel.

    ^^^ THIS!!! :wink:

    Never a truer statement.

    i was going to say exactly the same thing. i had great success losing weight in my late 20's, now i'm battling for every pound. having kids throws a monkeywrench into everything too (as i've come to find out).
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I think it's going to be hard to recommend a calorie amount to you if you don't count your "cheat meals". You could be doing 1500 5 days a week and 3000 the other 2, averaging 1900. And 1900 might be good for you to lose on (I'm 5'9" and 160 and can lose on 2000). So first step I think, is tracking on weekends.

    Second step is paying attention to macros. I'd go for at least 100 grams of protein and 50 grams of fat.

    Next, micros. Try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Foods with high nutritional value for their calories, which generally means less "processed foods" but you don't have to give them up completely.

    And lastly rest. Try for 7-8 hours of sleep a night (I know it's hard with a baby) and make sure you are taking adequate rest days. Don't strength train the same body part 2 days in a row. If you are just not feeling it, take the day off. You don't need to kill yourself in the gym to lose a little weight.
  • csec6pak
    csec6pak Posts: 54 Member
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    Thanks for the responses so far.

    I actually don't have a baby anymore. He was born in May 2012. But he just stopped nursing this year, which was where my problems started. Sometimes I think that I should have kept pumping breast milk after weaning him, just to keep the calorie deficit going, ha ha.

    I get 7-8 hours of sleep per night. My kids sleep through the night so it's not like I'm up with a newborn or anything. I go to bed between 10-11 and get up between 6-7. I still wake feeling exhausted, but with working full time and having 2 kids, I don't think more than 8 hours per night is realistic (at least not a weeknights).

    I am logging my "cheat" meals, for the most part. There have been a couple of weeks where I was too lazy to do it on the weekend. I actually didn't cheat much this past weekend, so that may be why you are not seeing it. Even on cheat days I haven't been going over 2000 for the day most of the time.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Hrm. Well I'd still recommend paying closer attention to your macro and micro nutrients. If you are doing 2000 on weekends and 1500 on weekdays, that's an average of 1642, which isn't that low. But you aren't a small woman, you could probably go higher, maybe an average of 1800 or 1900. You could also try taking a week off of working out, and see if that helps, or even a week off of dieting as well. A lot of people recommend a "diet break" occasionally (but this depends on how long you've been at this).

    Have you been to the doctor recently to check for hormonal issues that could be causing the fatigue?
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Try this calculator to show you how you can lose at more than 1500:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    I would say work on your accuracy in logging.

    You say you are weighing your food but your diary does not reflect that at all. For example, how many grams is .5 medium banana? I sure as heck don't know. Weigh the banana and then choose the entries without the * unless there isn't one, in which case, look for the entries with the most confirmations. And again, enter it by grams, not size or dimension.

    Also, entries like your "meghans - lettuce wrap" with no carbs, fat, protein, sodium, etc? You know that entry isn't accurate whatsoever just based on that. So don't use it. If it's a wrap you're making yourself, use the recipe builder. If it's store bought, look for the store brand. Otherwise, if there's nutrition information on it and there's no entry in the database, create one.

    It's inaccuracies like these that can really add up. This is why your should log accurately and consistently, every day, regardless of being a cheat meal or not. It's fine to guess on things like takeaway, because let's face it, when will those ever be 100% accurate? But you should still enter your foods in in a more accurate manor and leave the 'abouts" and "approximates" out of the equation.

    Good luck!
  • csec6pak
    csec6pak Posts: 54 Member
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    As I explained, I believe I am logging accurately. I weigh my banana, look up the calories for that number of grams, and then adjust the portion size on MFP to match that number of calories. I didn't realize about the asterisked foods; can you explain better what that means and how to use it?

    I have also created some custom foods (like the lettuce wrap) where I measured out all of the ingredients, looked up the calories for each one, and then created a custom food with that number of calories so that I do not have to log the many components individually each time I make it. I didn't bother adding all the other nutrients to the custom foods because like I said, I haven't been tracking them. That may need to change, but the calories at least are accurate.

    I have taken some shortcuts with how I logged because I never expected to be sharing it with anyone. The only reason I started using MFP at all was because I wanted something easy to use on my phone. Previously I had just used an Excel spreadsheet and tracked only calories.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    There's a really good guide here on the forums about the * thing and logging accurately...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

    It's pretty simple to follow and even has pictures to follow.

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