Tips on Eating Less?
aBlueCrayon
Posts: 120 Member
I feel like it's hard to stay full all day with a 1300 calorie limit! Help? 
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Replies
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What is your height, age, weight, and activity level? Do you know your bodyfat percentage?
See page 2 then post your info: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
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Your deficit is probably too large. How many pounds did you tell MFP you wanted to lose? With only 12lbs to lose you should probably be going only for a half pound loss per week.
The other thing is to be really honest about your activity level. Most people are at least lightly active unless they just lay around all day and watch tv.
Your diary is closed so I can't recommend any foods that might keep you fuller.
Good luck with however you choose to approach this.0 -
How's your fat and protein intake? If both are on the low end, then eat more fats and proteins. They tend to keep us fuller longer.0
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It might not be what you meant, but I think the first problem is thinking you need to be "full" all day. The best thing I ever did to eat less was start measuring out portions. One portion of a snack or one portion of a meat and veggie at meal time is usually enough to keep me satisfied. I don't eat until I'm full anymore, I assess whether or not I'm still hungry. If I am, I'll eat more, but usually I'm not. That has made a world of difference in how much I eat and helps me feel much more in control.0
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If you have the problem of being used to eating whenever you feel a bit hungry, first set some fairly strict eating time windows for breakfast/lunch/dinner or whatever meals you plan on having. Your body will adjust with some time and you won't get very hungry in between meals.
I don't know whether you mean 1300 net calories or 1300 + exercise cals, but you should be doing the second. I personally find that I'm able to manage with 1700ish pretty much regardless of activity level (within reason), and find 1300ish very unmanageable even without activity, so I just put in some sport and eat at a level where I'm not feeling hungry.
Obviously you won't feel full and sated all the time. Well, you can always feel full by drinking a lot of water and tons of leafy greens, but you are on a deficit, and at 1300 it's a pretty big deficit. If you are slipping too often, or feeling plain miserable, go with a smaller deficit and put in some more workouts.0 -
What is your height, age, weight, and activity level? Do you know your bodyfat percentage?
See page 2 then post your info: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
I'm 5'6", 21, 145-150 right now, which puts me at 30%. As a student, I'm fairly sedentary. I run for 30 minutes 5 days a week on average, do weight lifting for 20.0 -
Your deficit is probably too large. How many pounds did you tell MFP you wanted to lose? With only 12lbs to lose you should probably be going only for a half pound loss per week.
The other thing is to be really honest about your activity level. Most people are at least lightly active unless they just lay around all day and watch tv.
Your diary is closed so I can't recommend any foods that might keep you fuller.
Good luck with however you choose to approach this.
My bad, I thought my diary was public, just fixed it so you can see. I wanna lose roughly 15-20. My weight is fluctuating between 145-150, I'd like to be 130 again. I openly share my life as fairly sedimentary as I posted right above this
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ladymiseryali wrote: »How's your fat and protein intake? If both are on the low end, then eat more fats and proteins. They tend to keep us fuller longer.
I typically meet my daily quota on all my macros, protein included. I eat a protein bar after the gym every day to help with that!0 -
I suppose I should have reiterated, I'm hungry (or maybe I'm just thinking I am?) throughout most of the day. After Chipotle last night my stomach was the most satisfied it seems to have been in days. I was tired of the hunger pangs so I gave in last night and cheatedIt might not be what you meant, but I think the first problem is thinking you need to be "full" all day. The best thing I ever did to eat less was start measuring out portions. One portion of a snack or one portion of a meat and veggie at meal time is usually enough to keep me satisfied. I don't eat until I'm full anymore, I assess whether or not I'm still hungry. If I am, I'll eat more, but usually I'm not. That has made a world of difference in how much I eat and helps me feel much more in control.
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If you have the problem of being used to eating whenever you feel a bit hungry, first set some fairly strict eating time windows for breakfast/lunch/dinner or whatever meals you plan on having. Your body will adjust with some time and you won't get very hungry in between meals.
I don't know whether you mean 1300 net calories or 1300 + exercise cals, but you should be doing the second. I personally find that I'm able to manage with 1700ish pretty much regardless of activity level (within reason), and find 1300ish very unmanageable even without activity, so I just put in some sport and eat at a level where I'm not feeling hungry.
Obviously you won't feel full and sated all the time. Well, you can always feel full by drinking a lot of water and tons of leafy greens, but you are on a deficit, and at 1300 it's a pretty big deficit. If you are slipping too often, or feeling plain miserable, go with a smaller deficit and put in some more workouts.
I feel like I do slip pretty often, but lately I've come closer to staying under my goal.... Though it seems to be coming with some serious hunger throughout the day. 1300 calories+exercise every day- I opened my diary so you can see. I don't include my weight lifting in MFP.
I'm just torn because after a week and a half I don't yet see a difference, even on the scale. Perhaps I'm just being too impatient.0 -
Hm, after looking through a couple of days, you should probably tone down the carbs and put in some more fat. If you like eggs (you had one breakfast with them), you should have those at breakfast, maybe with some toast and ham/etc instead of cereals. Do keep the fruit though.
For the quest bar... frankly it's likely not necessary to take in all those carbs again, but do ask your trainer about this. It depends on what you're doing for a workout. But I'd recommend going with a protein shake, which will give you all that protein without so much sugar.
Eat more salad - with iceberg/cabbage etc, best with just some olive oil and vinegar instead of creamy dressings. Take advantage of the season.
edit: lastly, there is a lot of junk food there. It's not that you cannot lose weight while eating it. But it's practically designed to make you want to eat more. I don't know how much time you can put aside for cooking, but you can literally grill some meat in a pan in minutes, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, steam some broccoli etc. Buy a 15 min cookbook or something like that if you don't have the time, and you'll find yourself feeling a lot fuller.
edit2: If you just started exercising, don't worry too much about the weight. You're likely keeping some excess water in your muscles. Sugar will also make you keep more water weight.0 -
Hm, after looking through a couple of days, you should probably tone down the carbs and put in some more fat. If you like eggs (you had one breakfast with them), you should have those at breakfast, maybe with some toast and ham/etc instead of cereals. Do keep the fruit though.
For the quest bar... frankly it's likely not necessary to take in all those carbs again, but do ask your trainer about this. It depends on what you're doing for a workout. But I'd recommend going with a protein shake, which will give you all that protein without so much sugar.
Eat more salad - with iceberg/cabbage etc, best with just some olive oil and vinegar instead of creamy dressings. Take advantage of the season.
edit: lastly, there is a lot of junk food there. It's not that you cannot lose weight while eating it. But it's practically designed to make you want to eat more. I don't know how much time you can put aside for cooking, but you can literally grill some meat in a pan in minutes, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, steam some broccoli etc. Buy a 15 min cookbook or something like that if you don't have the time, and you'll find yourself feeling a lot fuller.
edit2: If you just started exercising, don't worry too much about the weight. You're likely keeping some excess water in your muscles. Sugar will also make you keep more water weight.
Great response, thank you! I've never had a protein shake, but I'll take a look into it and getting in to see a trainer, haha I didn't think iceberg really had any benefit, but the past few kale salads I had included some cabbage. I just used the bar code on the bag instead of logging every detail in the bag.
A 15 minute cook book sounds like a good idea actually, I think I'll hit up the book store tomorrow! My family is eating homemade tacos tonight- fried corn tortillas, cheese, ground beef, Spanish rice.... And I've just been sitting here thinking, "What could I be eating instead right now??" I feel like I've sincerely improved on my other two meals of the day though, breakfast and lunch. I mainly eat the cereal 5 days a week since I have early morning classes, but I'll work on doing eggs again.
I started exercising about last Wednesday after taking a slight hiatus for my finals and a family vacation. How long do you think before I see some difference at least on the scale? I've heard needing to wait 4 weeks before.0 -
What about a taco salad for dinner? Use lettuce instead of the friend tortillas, and salsa for dressing. You'll eat way less calories, and taco salads taste better than tacos in my opinion...
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Not a bad idea! Thank youkellycasey5 wrote: »What about a taco salad for dinner? Use lettuce instead of the friend tortillas, and salsa for dressing. You'll eat way less calories, and taco salads taste better than tacos in my opinion... they do taste way better!
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aBlueCrayon wrote: »What is your height, age, weight, and activity level? Do you know your bodyfat percentage?
See page 2 then post your info: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
I'm 5'6", 21, 145-150 right now, which puts me at 30%. As a student, I'm fairly sedentary. I run for 30 minutes 5 days a week on average, do weight lifting for 20.
So you're about 1600 calories per day to maintain. If you worked out every single day a little bit, you would be closer to 1900 calories per day to maintain.
To lose weight, subtract 10-20% from that calorie goal (1600-1900 depending). Weigh your food in ounces and grams and use the bar scanner whenever possible. You will reach your goal in no time if followed.0 -
aBlueCrayon wrote: »I started exercising about last Wednesday after taking a slight hiatus for my finals and a family vacation. How long do you think before I see some difference at least on the scale? I've heard needing to wait 4 weeks before.
There's no set period. It's more like this:
You have 12 lbs to lose, so let's say you're expecting 0.5 to 1 lb a week loss. You just started exercising, which can pack on some water weight. So can things like finals, and vacations, and your menstrual cycle. Plus, weight loss is not linear... sometimes we don't see the losses when we expect them.
So, in a month, you might lose 2-4 lbs (or a bit more, as this is your first month, so you may lose a bit faster because of extra water weight that will drop). 2-4 lbs is EASILY masked by water weight and other fluctuations (like changes in digestion).
I doubt you'll need to wait 4 weeks to see a change, but I'd wait 4 weeks (ideally after a menstrual period) before concluding that your current approach isn't working. If you haven't lost anything by then, or lost something extra small (like half a lb only), re-evaluate. You'd want to go over your logging to verify that you ARE hitting target, and you'd want to take a look at your adherence (maybe you have huge off-target days that are slowing you down), as well as a look at your exercise burn estimates (especially if you're eating the calories back). I know being patient is hard, but you don't want to start eating less or killing yourself on the treadmill or panicking or saying screw it and quitting or whatever, when there was really nothing to worry about all along. Scales are really not great indicators of fat loss like you'd think. (You may want to take measurements and photos if you haven't, as well!)0 -
aBlueCrayon wrote: »Hm, after looking through a couple of days, you should probably tone down the carbs and put in some more fat. If you like eggs (you had one breakfast with them), you should have those at breakfast, maybe with some toast and ham/etc instead of cereals. Do keep the fruit though.
For the quest bar... frankly it's likely not necessary to take in all those carbs again, but do ask your trainer about this. It depends on what you're doing for a workout. But I'd recommend going with a protein shake, which will give you all that protein without so much sugar.
Eat more salad - with iceberg/cabbage etc, best with just some olive oil and vinegar instead of creamy dressings. Take advantage of the season.
edit: lastly, there is a lot of junk food there. It's not that you cannot lose weight while eating it. But it's practically designed to make you want to eat more. I don't know how much time you can put aside for cooking, but you can literally grill some meat in a pan in minutes, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, steam some broccoli etc. Buy a 15 min cookbook or something like that if you don't have the time, and you'll find yourself feeling a lot fuller.
edit2: If you just started exercising, don't worry too much about the weight. You're likely keeping some excess water in your muscles. Sugar will also make you keep more water weight.
Great response, thank you! I've never had a protein shake, but I'll take a look into it and getting in to see a trainer, haha I didn't think iceberg really had any benefit, but the past few kale salads I had included some cabbage. I just used the bar code on the bag instead of logging every detail in the bag.
A 15 minute cook book sounds like a good idea actually, I think I'll hit up the book store tomorrow! My family is eating homemade tacos tonight- fried corn tortillas, cheese, ground beef, Spanish rice.... And I've just been sitting here thinking, "What could I be eating instead right now??" I feel like I've sincerely improved on my other two meals of the day though, breakfast and lunch. I mainly eat the cereal 5 days a week since I have early morning classes, but I'll work on doing eggs again.
I started exercising about last Wednesday after taking a slight hiatus for my finals and a family vacation. How long do you think before I see some difference at least on the scale? I've heard needing to wait 4 weeks before.
Time is irrelevant long term on the scale; it won't take you 4 weeks to lose weight. If you eat less than your body requires in a time frame greater than, say, 3 days, you will lose weight. I say three days to account for fluid exchange fluctuations.
I would say just educate yourself on energy expenditure. Do some research on TDEE, BMR, nutrition science and Conservation of Matter. I am more educated now than I ever have been because I spent a lot of time researching and conducting personal experiments. I know some things about how my body operates, and it really gives me a sense of control.0 -
On the issue of salad, it's not some inherent benefit of cabbage or any other particular vegetable by itself. Sure, vegs have vitamins and minerals, and it's probably better to get those in your food rather than in a pill, but I was considering them more in line with your particular problem. Raw vegetables in particular are full of fiber. Fiber, although technically carbs, cannot be digested by humans (since we're not herbivores, our stomachs cannot deal with untreated plant cells' walls). Your body will be putting a lot of work to digest what it can from the vegetables, feeling full, while drawing very little nutritional energy from it. It also helps slow down the digestion of other stuff you eat together with the salad, making nutrients absorb into your system slower over a longer period of time.
If your hormonal balance is working fine having that slow and steady trickle will keep your body sated and not signaling for food like crazy. Fat and protein are also slower to digest, hence a lot of the current low-carb trends, since highly-processed carbs are very quick to digest and simple sugars can be practically instantaneous. So to feel fuller and sated for longer it's best to eat plenty of vegetables and a good mix of the rest of the nutrients, preferably complex carbs.
The opposite of that is having a lot of sugar often. If you put a lot of it into your bloodstream when your body doesn't have a need for it there and then, it will be stored as fat pretty quickly because the body doesn't like having high blood sugar. Then over some period of time you will use up some energy, your blood sugar will start getting lower and you will feel the need to eat. This is the body's normal response, check if there is food first and go to fat reserves next. And your body doesn't really know how much fat reserves it has, even if they are more than enough.
Post-workout can look a bit different for carbs, since your body needs to replenish glycogen. So if you want to have some good old sugar, post-workout is the best time for it. However, a lot of the time it's not necessary, we keep way more glycogen than normally goes into a workout, so you're not leaving your body struggling out there. It is still best to eat a meal shortly after a workout, but it doesn't have to be a sugar bomb.0 -
My biggest tip on eating less (calories) would be eating more (nutrient dense foods). 1,300 calories isn't a whole lot, so I know your struggle - I used to somehow manage on 1,200 and it was awful at first! When you're hungry try to have a big bowl of greens, as they don't have many calories per ounce/gram/whatever you measure in. Also choose leaner cuts of meat (grilled chicken or turkey will become your best friend), but make sure you still are careful with your portions, and keep your focus on the vegetables (without loading them in butter).
Still treat yourself occasionally, but swap out full fat versions for lower fat. Frozen yogurt instead of regular ice cream, for example, will be a lifesaver! A little piece of high cacao % dark chocolate will also prove more satisfying than milk chocolate. Some powdered hot chocolate mixes are also pretty low in calories and can help kick that sugar/chocolate craving and fill you up since it's mostly water.
Same goes with regular foods, too. When using milk, cheese, or yogurt, try to keep it lower fat. Don't eliminate fats from your diet, just try to reduce them since they provide more calories per gram.
For breakfast you could also try mixing one egg with half cup of egg whites for a heavier meal lower in calories.
Last but not least, if you're still struggling: exercise! Cardio will help you get some extra calories you can eat back, and strength training will help you stay lean and build muscle, which burns more calories per pound of body weight than does fat.
Good luck, stay healthy! 0 -
exercise and earn additional calories and eat more.0
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If you are getting hungry in between meals, a handful of nuts/seeds usually do the trick for me. Hope this helps.0
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My biggest tip on eating less (calories) would be eating more (nutrient dense foods). 1,300 calories isn't a whole lot, so I know your struggle - I used to somehow manage on 1,200 and it was awful at first! When you're hungry try to have a big bowl of greens, as they don't have many calories per ounce/gram/whatever you measure in. Also choose leaner cuts of meat (grilled chicken or turkey will become your best friend), but make sure you still are careful with your portions, and keep your focus on the vegetables (without loading them in butter).
Still treat yourself occasionally, but swap out full fat versions for lower fat. Frozen yogurt instead of regular ice cream, for example, will be a lifesaver! A little piece of high cacao % dark chocolate will also prove more satisfying than milk chocolate. Some powdered hot chocolate mixes are also pretty low in calories and can help kick that sugar/chocolate craving and fill you up since it's mostly water.
Same goes with regular foods, too. When using milk, cheese, or yogurt, try to keep it lower fat. Don't eliminate fats from your diet, just try to reduce them since they provide more calories per gram.
For breakfast you could also try mixing one egg with half cup of egg whites for a heavier meal lower in calories.
Last but not least, if you're still struggling: exercise! Cardio will help you get some extra calories you can eat back, and strength training will help you stay lean and build muscle, which burns more calories per pound of body weight than does fat.
Good luck, stay healthy!
Good advice, thank you! 0 -
metric butt tons of nonstarchy vegetables as filler.0
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I agree about eating much much more low calorie veggies. Examples include green beans, snow peas, spinach, broccoli, romaine, cauliflower, yellow squash, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, eggplant, asparagus, cucumbers, mushrooms, cabbage, spaghetti squash.0
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Load up on veggies! And make sure that you're getting lots of protein and high fiber stuff.0
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I feel stuffed at my deficit. I eat lots of protein from meat, eggs, and fiber from oat bran and veggies.
If you're craving something weigh it out take into consideration the nutrition info and how it'll fit into your diary. Just seeing that I'll be over my limit or that I won't be getting any nutrition from it makes me able to put whatever it was away.0
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