You won't be able to do it successfully if you don't let go of what you probably don't know anyway. That being what you think is going to happen and the only way to lose weight.

Why do you think 1200 is the way to go?

Because you've always done it?
Is one route to work the only way, or even the best way, over other possible routes?

How much do you even know about the body's response to food, and lack of it, and the feedback loops it creates?
Even Dr's are only required to take 1 course on nutrition and body effects, and unless in the biz, don't keep up on recent research.

So what's most important, actually getting something from your exercise so you can be fit, being healthy for family, feeling better about yourself, having a good relationship with food and your body? Or being scared to eat more?

Until you have clearly made up your mind, the process could cause effects that will stress you out enough you'll actually cause your worst effect yourself.
Like attempting to jump across a rain washout in parking lot, if you hold back from fear of getting wet and don't power jump like you could, you guarantee you land in the water and splash yourself wet.

Well, 1200 came from your choices in the setup, and your body size potential.

Are you truly Sedentary outside exercise?
- That means 45 hr weekly desk job/commute time with no kids or pets keeping you active in evenings or weekends.

Did you take the recommended 1 lb weekly loss, or wanted faster results so selected 2 lbs weekly?
- Bigger is not better, if it's not reasonable for your exercise level and amount to lose.

Don't let the typical diets fool you, that always start at 1200.
That's what has been found is about the required calorie level for average eating habits merely to get all your required nutrient levels in, it is no comment about desired calories levels in. So that has no bearing on size in it.

But average gal at healthy weight and activity has daily burn of 2000. If bigger and/or exercise more, then it's higher than that. But even at 2000, that's a 40% deficit, eating 40% less than body would like to maintain weight. But when overweight, that's probably closer to 50%.

That should sound scary - eating half of what your body would like to get by on.

So why are you selecting 1200, or estimating your TDEE (and I'm betting not honestly either), when you have a device right there that gives you infinite TDEE each and every day?
You must only correct it for non-step based exercise - swimming, rowing, biking, elliptical, ect.
Yes, you need to manually log that elliptical, as the Fitbit estimate of calorie burn is underestimated.

So you are NOT Sedentary according to MFP - what did you select?
- Where you honest, or trying to play it safe?


Weigh yourself 5 times daily and go overload on how useless frequent weigh-ins are when there are totally expected reasons for water weight fluctuations.
Write them all down and keep a written journal, see how annoying it is to care about useless data noise, which is what it is. It would only be useful with about 2-3 months worth of data to indicate a trend.


So why are you even trying to lose weight when at a healthy weight already for your height? 5'2" and 115 lbs?
Or is it the composition of the body after these years of dieting you are unhappy with, and you think losing more weight will take care of it, no matter what the weight actually is?


I'm betting you have not been correcting your Fitbit - but even though underestimated, what does it say a healthy body with your stats would be burning?

I say it that way - because you don't have a healthy body burning that much. But it's reflecting the potential you could be at.
Just curious how much a stress you are causing on your body.

And if you ate that much eventually and did your workouts, then you'd actually get some good improvements from them.

I suggest you go the the beginning of this group and read some of the information under the announcements section ... if you have not yet done so ...

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less

There is a bit of reading to get through but you may find answers. May I as a question?

What are you trying to do with your weight? Gain, lose, stay the same?

I went to a BMR calculator online ... just googled it ... and got this ...

http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=33&csex=f&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=2&cpound=115&cheightmeter=180&ckg=60&x=80&y=18

I don't know how old you are but I put in 33 (BMR decreases a bit every year with age) and 5'2" and 115 pounds and it came back that your BMR is 1800 calories a day ... that is the basal metabolic requirement ... what your body would need to maintain itself at rest in bed for 24hours.

From this, it sounds like 1200 is grossly below your nutritional needs, especially given that you are active with your job and family more than someone who sits in front of a desk all day and in front of a TV all evening.

Just saying ... I've read that the more you deprive your body of the calories it needs for survival the more slow your metabolism will get and the more any good coming in will tend to be converted into fat storage ... I've read.

This was personally proven out for me when I was your age and kept yo-yo dieting while leading a full and active life to keep my weight down and myself in a size 9 ... I was so ticked that I didn't fit into a 5 anymore like I had some 12 years earlier. It got to the point that I was going hungry all the time and still kept getting heavier ... until my physician told me to stop the merry-go-round and EAT until I was not hungry. When I complained that I would gain weight he said "Good ... and keep on eating until you are not hungry until you stop gaining weight. At that time ... cut back just a hundred or so calories a day and keep at it."

Unfortunately, I didn't listen to him for long. I finally stopped gaining weight when I got to 160 pounds, but then I started that dieting busines all over again ... and now I am 70 years old (almost) and weigh 245 pounds.

Do you want that? I don't think so.

Didn't mean to scold you @adrbar ... just hate to see a woman just entering the prime of her life mess up her body. You are an RN .... go back and rely on your medical training to do the right thing.
Niki

@adrbar ... You have been on my mind since I posted to you last evening and you responded that you are very, very scared. Then I read back over your first post ...

adrbar wrote: »

I have been mfp member for a while. I am looking into idea of eating more to loose. I am a full time rn mother of 2 who works out 30 min eliptical 5 days a week with some minor weights who eats about 1200 cal a day. who also has been anorexic and bulimic for 22 years. I despratley want to fix my metabolism but need people to help me. I'm 5'2 and 115. wishing to get in " fit" shape and be healthy for my family, but super scared to eat more.

It zoned in on me that you have had a long-standing eating disorder. Please tell me you are under a doctor's care for this condition.

No wonder you are scared, dear child. You have a distored view of your body and are struggling to keep yourself as thin as possible. What you might consider is stop doing 30 minutes on the elliptical 5 days a week and instead do it for a shorter period of time ... like 10 or 15 minutes to warm you body up ... and then do heavier weights - correctly - with the help of a physiologist who can get the most bang out of your big-muscle workout.

Here is what I have read about eating and weight training ... More muscle equals faster metabolism and the ability to eat higher calories while maintaining your weight. (it doesn't make a great deal of difference but is cumulative and will not bunch up your muscles as much as tone them). Eat something with a combination of carbs and protein ... but don't exercise within an hour or 1 1/2 hours after your meal. The eliptical is good for cardio but doesn't do much for overall toning. The weight training is good for muscles .. gets more blood and air curculating in the muscle tissue ... but isn't going to burn through as many calories unless you are doing extreme weights .... which you don't need to do.

Do the weight bearing exercises every other day or only 3 days a week, with at least 1 day of rest in between. Do the cardio every day ... but keep it to about 20 minutes max at a time.

Take your kids outside during sunny days for a walk or to the park and push them on the swings. Or play ball with them in the yard. Or go with them on a bike ride. Or dance with them around your living room or kitchen. Anything to keep you moving for burst of time that will use your entire body. You have a husband ... good, grab him for some good time cuddles and loving ... often.

After you have done your warm up eliptical, then your weight bearing exercises - go back to the eliptical for another 15 minutes and then do at least 5 - 10 minutes of stretches. ...

These should stretch out your ham strings, your arms, your back. Don't over-extend your self on these cool-down exercises Just simple stuff like:

1 - sitting on a bench and putting one foot over the other knee and looking towards the other shoulder so you do a bend and stretch ... hold it for a minute. Release and do the other leg. Then go back and repeat 2 more times.

2 - Standing facing sideways next to a wall - about an arms length away ... place your palm against the wall, fingers together and pointed up, now move your feet so they are at about 30 degrees facing away from the wall ... so you are canted toward the front. Now slowly rotate just your body so you feel a stretch in your upper arm and down one side of your torso. You do this by looking over your shoulder that is away from the wall. Hold for a minute. Now do the same facing the other way with the other side of your body ... then do this 2 more times with each side.

3 - Put your toes up on a platform about 2 to 4 inches tall ... if you are at a gym, the legs of a bench for barb lifting might do. Now, with your feet angled up from that platform, and your heels on the ground, bend forward ... (like a stand-up plank over a support with your toes up in the air) supporting yourself against something about waist high ... The bend forward will strech your achilles tendon and calves. Hold for a count of 60. Come up from that bend, rest a few counts, then repeat ... do this 3 times.

Do not over stretch ... you should feel a comfortable pull, not a "rip-it-out of your socket" ... that goes for all of them.

Now drink a glass of water ... actually, you probably will want to be drinking some water throught out your workout .... and while you are doing all your exercises and stretches and workout .... do not forget ... BREATH.

This is the regiment a personal trainer I had who is a physiologist hade me do and it really helped me a lot.

Good Luck. ... Please do talk to someone about your eating situation. Go slow, don't incread your calories too much at a time ... and use the tape measure instead of the scale to figure out if you are doing good. It'll take at least 6 weeks of working at it before you see or feel anything.

Niki

NK1112 wrote: »

I went to a BMR calculator online ... just googled it ... and got this ...

http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=33&csex=f&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=2&cpound=115&cheightmeter=180&ckg=60&x=80&y=18

I don't know how old you are but I put in 33 (BMR decreases a bit every year with age) and 5'2" and 115 pounds and it came back that your BMR is 1800 calories a day ... that is the basal metabolic requirement ... what your body would need to maintain itself at rest in bed for 24hours.

MFP has a BMR calc too BTW - under apps.

Also, that is NOT a BMR figure.

Adrbar -
Mifflin BMR for 38, 115 lbs, 5'2" female is 1155.
Non-exercise TDEE with 40 hr on-feet work week would be around 1600.
With 150 min of cardio exercise weekly, TDEE would be around 1800.

This is from spreadsheet on my profile page.

What would improve the stats is a bodyfat estimate, which it will help get. Because likely you have burned off a fair amount of muscle mass through the years, and those figures for an average person would be right, you are not anymore.

Stay on the Simple Setup tab, and Progress tabs only.
Look at sample data in yellow cells, then delete all yellow cells, and input your figures that you have.

And again, most importantly - what is your goal?

I hope not weight loss, or you are still dealing with some issues and should be talking to a professional if you really believe that.

If you have fat where you don't want it - that's because of the way you've been dieting and eating - you've lost muscle mass with any fat, leaving you likely skinny fat.

ONLY way, I mean the ONLY way to change that is to forget the time doing cardio, and do some serious strength training.
That is the ONLY way to gain muscle back. And you can start out eating at maintenance to do so. This will allow losing fat while gaining muscle while still new to strength training. You will NOT get this opportunity after lifting for a while.
And while the trade would only be at best 1 lb in 6-8 weeks, 1 lb of fat in the right place gone can be very obvious.

And if eating more scares you, doing lifting burns less than cardio for equal time, so you won't be eating as much. In fact doing 6 days of 30 min lifting would make TDEE about 1700.

But you need to increase calories slowly.
100 extra per day for a week at a time.

I guess heybales knows all the answer and is the expert on everything. Guess Im leaving this group also. Not what I expected it to be ... however, I do believe in the concept of eating to fuel the body correctly, especially for those with metabolisms that are out of whack from years of innapropriate maneuvers in attempting to control weight.
Good luck to those who use this group. Good luck to me also.