Upping my calories in order to lose weight. Help, please!

Up your calories.

Definitely up your calories! Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is about 1600-1700 calories with your stats, meaning you would burn that much even if you were in a coma (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/). Your'e not in a coma, so your body actually burns a lot more than that every day from your daily activities and functions.

1500 sounds like a good number, and I would also say eat back at least half of your exercise calories. I eat back all of mine, but I know that's not too popular around here since MFP can overestimate the calories you burn.

You MIGHT see a temporary gain on the scale when you start eating more. Don't let that freak you out, your body is just adjusting. The scale will start moving downwards again soon enough. Your health is more important than a temporary scale gain, and eating more is definitely the healthier option for both your physical and mental health. Good luck!

How can I eat/ lose weight without feeling restricted? I feel like that is what causes my binging, the feeling that I CAN'T eat something really causes me anxiety, and I end up eating it anyway.

Is why I am here on MFP because I gained 200lbs. Believing I am supposed to diet and restrict to loose weight, I ended up binging on the food anyway. Since I learned to eat within my limit, I have yet to binge and I'm loosing faster than ever. If you want to eat 1500, eat them. As long as you are eating at a deficit, (which i think you are at 180lbs) you wont gain. If you are still worried, eat 1500 and burn a few hundred calories everyday. Worrying will cause stress and stress causes weight gain.

Breathe. Eat more. Eat more vegetables (they're low calorie and will fill you up!). Easy ones are greens that cook cook down - raw it looks like a lot but add lemon juice, salt and fresh chopped garlic and saute and you're in heaven! Have a little bowl of icebreaker each day - or whatever your poison is! Mine is ice cream - yum. I put it in a little ramican that holds maybe 1/4 cup and that was my treat every night for the first month.

Set a water goal. You drink 3 8 oz cups of water a day now? Drink 4 next week. 5 the week after until you reach for goal. Don't like water? Drink it super cold or add flavoring to it. Be mentally healthy as well as food healthy through this!

Oh and my tip for water is to get a cool water bottle and keep it with you at ALL times. I used to drink maybe only a cup of water a day and now I drink a gallon a day because I take my bottle to school, work, and everywhere else and just keep sipping from it and refilling it. This is the bottle I have, I love it:
http://www.amazon.com/Camelbak-Products-Groove-Bottle-0-6-Liter/dp/B00G46CK0M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425773103&sr=8-2&keywords=camelbak+groove

sugarsugarhownow wrote: »

-Any tips about how I can get more water in my diet? I really don't drink enough water, and it's terrible...

Why is it terrible? Do you have dark colored urine, have dehydration issues? If your urine is pale and there's nothing else going on, you don't need to force feed yourself extra water.

i upped mine to 1500 from 1200 and am MUCH happier. and not nearly as hungry and snarly. LOL

In order to UP your calories and still lose weight, you have to be certain of how much you are eating. This is the only way to ensure you stay at a deficit.

If you are not losing weight now on 1300 calories, then you eating more than you think you are. This happens by underestimating food intake and overestimating calories burned. In this scenario, you will not lose weight upping your calories to 1500.

Do you weigh your food and log everything you eat, including calorie beverages, condiments? Do you do your own research to ensure that you are choosing correct entries for your food log?

Do you log your calories burned via cardio? If so, where do you get those estimates from?

If you are dong the above and are sure of how many calories you are eating, then you can up your calories and eat more while staying in a deficit and lose weight at a slower rate.

Good luck!

So here is my question: My body has been used to consuming about 1,200-1,350 calories a day for a couple of months, minus the binges. I can't eat that little anymore, because I need more food.

Then dont, eat more. You cannot diet on an amount you cant sustain. You will have to accept 1lb a week weight loss, which is fine.

-What will happen if I upped my calories to 1,500 a day?MFP said that would be a good amount for me to lose about a pound a week, but I'm scared that my body will get confused and I will gain weight. I'm afraid to eat this much!

Yes thats fine, im on similar and manage ok. Your body is smarter than you, no need to worry it wont get confused and if you eat at a deficit you will lose over time. 1500 calories is eating at a deficit= you will lose. your reasoning and fears are unfounded.

-Do you think this will make me gain weight? If I exercise, should I eat more?

If you are at a deficit, then you will lose over time.

Exercise is where you are really missing out. Its hard to say with exercise because we dont know what you are doing, the frequency, intensity or duration.

Some people do fasted cardio, but the benefits imo are too small. If it suits you try it. the idea is that the body has no choice but to burn fat.

My preference is to make sure ive eaten 1-2hours before so i have some carbs in me to fuel a workout. If its only an hour workout you can avoid that. Just be smart and pick a suitable breakfast or pre workout snack, google has many suggestions and articles. the fastest and one that i still use is simply a banana. If you arent running out of energy then you probably dont need anything. Hydrating is just as important for an effective workout. Hence people carrying round water bottles.

-Any tips about how I can get more water in my diet? I really don't drink enough water, and it's terrible...

If you gym it you drink water there, before and after, if you push the exercise then water is a boon and the most refreshing thing. The requirement to be hydrated is 1.6L for a woman and 2l for a man. It is fluid i.e just about all drinks as well as water contained in food. Look at the colour of your urine as a rough guide it should be light straw or lighter.

- I'm a pescatarian that does not eat dairy or butter. I can eat a lot of fruit, but any tips about how to get more vegetables in my diet?

Am I missing something here? err just eat more fruit and veg? Soup, boiled veg and big portions, just go for your 5-7 a day. Stews as well.

-How can I eat/ lose weight without feeling restricted? I feel like that is what causes my binging, the feeling that I CAN'T eat something really causes me anxiety, and I end up eating it anyway.

Dont restrict yourself then, its bonkers and you know the result is binging or quitting. Plan your meals so you get enough nutrition and select food that also fills you up. fruit and veg is good, but you should also consider fibre 20/24+ grams and make sure your protein is c50g+. If you are exercising then you will need more. you should also do mixed cardio and resistance training.

Your aim is to eat at the deficit, so of you arent restricting then your choices are:

1. Moderate the amount you eat.
2. Find an alternative that gives you most of the benefits.
3. exercise and burn more calories so you cna eat more food.

Weigh your food using scales and log it all.
be wary of how you calculate exercise burns and for the moment eat a max of 50% back.
I get the alarm bells that you are suffering from eating more than you think. If you were truly on 1250 calories you would be losing. You need to tackle this issue as well as the binging.

Exercise is your friend. Its also got many benefits including dealing with moderate depression. You have to get off your behind and go and do it though, but then you have to want to lose weight and get healthy enough to take responsibility. That requires you to commit.