We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!
Fed up of dieting...want to start enjoying
Replies
-
AuroraGeorge8393 wrote: »
Thanks for the warning, but I love onions. Onion-y recipes are not a problem in this household.
me too! But even though I love onions when I was mixing things I was a little worried... eating them dispelled that, though 0 -
This thread is why my food diary is all measured in angstroms^3 for volume and electron-volts for mass. No one tells me I'm wrong about any of it.0
-
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Research and people who have been successful here have determined otherwise I know you're young and think you have the answers to everything, but try listening to people who have been there and done that. You might actually learn something.
Has research determined that those who lose faster have a lower success rate? I'd be interested in seeing it.
0 -
AlabasterVerve wrote: »
There's reason to believe the speed of weight loss does not impact the rate of regain.
Science: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587%2814%2970200-1/abstract
Media: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141015190832.htm
That study is very flawed in the fact there was a group restricted to a diet of 450-800 calories a day for 12 weeks. No person should be eating less than 1,200 per day. Not only was this caloric restriction unhealthy, but it was unrealistic considering the possible metabolic damage and how it may have contributed to the weight regain.
Of course the initial weight loss tends to be rapid, but science also shows how plateauing comes into play. Most people do tend to regain the weight after an extended amount of time. I think more research needs to be done on a variety of weight-groups.0 -
Has research determined that those who lose faster have a lower success rate? I'd be interested in seeing it.
Nope, never been demonstrated.0 -
-
purpleposies wrote: »
I NEVER thought of it this way. Holy f&#k. TRUTH.
You've given me an epiphany! Thank you!
your welcome This is the best piece of advice I've been given (and it came from pinterest!) I apply it to everything... education (homework is hard, being uneducated is hard), happiness (working for your dreams is hard, being unhappy is hard), watching my favorite shows (staying up is hard, not knowing what happens next is hard) lol 0 -
MarziPanda95 wrote: »
You might be surprised to learn that even though MFP does do macros by percentages, 50g of protein is the absolute minimum you should get no matter how many calories you eat. Even on a medically supervised VLCD, 50g is usually the minimum. Protein grams aren't as affected by how many calories you're allowed as you might think!
There seems to be a lot of arguing for no reason, here. She accepted that she was wrong about your meatloaf and crepes, there was no need to continue the argument by saying she has a skewed view on portion sizes. Truth is that she was right. Most average portions of those foods have a lot more calories than what you said. All she was saying was that you said it was x amount of servings but they were smaller servings than she anticipated.
ANYWAY. OP. Dieting doesn't have to be boring! You can still enjoy treats and fit them in your calories, and there are a lot of fun healthy low cal recipes out there on the internet
That's some US-standard the rest of the world goes meh over. Here in The Netherlands, the guideline is 0.8 grams per kilo body weight. So for me that's ~43 g a day.
I also don't have much to lose as I gained my weight by going just over maintenance pretty much every day with a bag of potato crisps. I cut that out, eat 1200 - 1300 cal as I always used to do naturally and added a work-out every day. I'm not going to take four months to lose 8 lb, tyvm. I just want to drop the weight and get on with my life, minus the crisps. So yes, for me it is a sprint. Stop faulting people who are in a situation different from yours. You have no idea what our situations are like and how our bodies react. I'll trust my doctor and dietitian, if you don't mind, and live happily off of 1200 (plus a bit on heavy exercise days) for two months so I can go back to maintenance at around 1900 calories. Your truth is not universal, okay?
And OP? Restricting sucks. And as much as it's a life style change, it will probably only feel like that once you go into maintenance. All the tools you learned while restricting should help you over indulge then. You can do this!0 -
@kateyb94 I've read through this thread....I think you're doing it well from recipe building to portion control, to eating back exercise, to variable daily intake ...true you could eat more and slow your weight loss a touch using the rough 1% bodyweight guideline and that would be my personal preference but it's not a hard and fast rule and you're netting a minimum of 1200. You're not asking but I'd also say your protein is probably a touch low for defecit and I would up it to a minimum 0.64g per lb bodyweight and make sure your micronutrients are generally in line
Anyway just wanted to say I thought you handled this thread quite well and your attitude has the hallmarks of success0 -
Thanks, I appreciate the positive feedback@kateyb94 I've read through this thread....I think you're doing it well from recipe building to portion control, to eating back exercise, to variable daily intake ...true you could eat more and slow your weight loss a touch using the rough 1% bodyweight guideline and that would be my personal preference but it's not a hard and fast rule and you're netting a minimum of 1200. You're not asking but I'd also say your protein is probably a touch low for defecit and I would up it to a minimum 0.64g per lb bodyweight and make sure your micronutrients are generally in line
Anyway just wanted to say I thought you handled this thread quite well and your attitude has the hallmarks of success0 -
Op. I find the whole thing tiresome whatever the label but it's worth it in the end. I do miss eating endless amounts of snacks with all my meals but it doesn't make sense to go back there. Being obese with that extra weight was hard. I am not missing any food's just all the volumes I used to eat. So until I have fixed that I stay here to remain focused. Good luck and keep at it.0
-
This content has been removed.
-
This content has been removed.
-
BACK TO THE OP58 years old and cant remember a time i wasn't thinking about/worrying about what i ate. Basically feast or famine!!! Enough now...watch this space!
Not sure what..."watch this space" means???
We all want to enjoy life. I think that is why many of us are here. We know that if we get the excess weight off...become more fit...rid ourselves of the reasons that we became over weight...that we can enjoy that life so much more and hopefully for a longer period of time.
It is hard some days...you bounce along...eating less...moving more...and then one day it becomes overwhelming. You can't count one more calorie...weigh one more gram of food...plan one more day of eating...and that is when it gets hard...that is when you are at a crossroad. Do you give up or do you put on your big girl panties (ok guys...or your big boy briefs) and keep moving forward.
Many of us have battled the weight for years...we have success...we have failure. We give up...we try again. In the end we each have to make a choice...do I win this time...or do I just give up entirely and resign ourselves to a life hiding behind our food and our fat.
I think you have to ask yourself...which is going to help you enjoy yourself for the rest of your life...continuing on as you are or working toward a healthier fitter you in the future.
The choice is yours...
0 -
I think @kateyb94 should make a new thread and share her favorite recipes, including how to cook the food. Both the crepes and the meatloaf sound yummy ^^
And OP I hope you find that balance that you are looking for. I am still finding it myself, but it seems to be getting a tad easier.0 -
Well this thread has certainly belied the notion that it's "simple" figuring out how to eat so as to lose weight. It also demonstrates why all of this can be very tiring, especially if you're not a teenager dieting for the first time, but a near-60 woman who has been on this train for decades, like OP.
Is 50 grams protein sufficient or a recipe for failure? Exactly how many pounds should you lose each week and how do you configure your diet lifestyle change so that you're neither losing too fast nor too little, especially when as little as 100 calories (or a few crisps) can make a big difference? Weighing and measuring every gram and counting everything to the calorie, breakfast, lunch, dinner, every morsel, every day, every where, on vacation, at work, at the baby shower, at your in-law's house and so on and so forth for the rest of your life (because stopping at maintenance is what makes the weight come back)....it can be tiring and not fun after a while, for some people. You also have to figure in the cost in time, money, and effort. And there is never a point where you get to just stop, it will never be over, and that's the biggest and hardest thing to deal with sometimes.
Actual, physiological fatigue is an extremely common effect of calorie restriction, so it's not just psychological fatigue, a person may actually not have much energy at all on 1400 or whatever calories a day. And that doesn't make them lazy, or "excuse-makers".
I mean, some parts of it can be enjoyable. I too love the feeling of eating a delicious day of food and feeling satisfied and knowing that I could achieve that feeling on 1000 calories less than I used to eat. It can be fun doing things that you know are beneficial to your body and health and turning your body into an ally, a useful tool, rather than viewing your body as something that (literally) weighs you down and needs to be fought against. And it's always nice to set a goal and reach it, and to learn how to set reasonable goals that take shorter periods of time to reach. So there's a lot of learning and I personally find that enjoyable. Best of all is creating a "lifestyle change" that has flexibility and grace built into it.
But it's ok to be tired and acknowledge it and not feel bad about it. And to say "no one said it would be easy" and not use it to dismiss concerns, but to actually get started talking about what that means, that this isn't "easy".0 -
Mfp is my new hobby. I have a thin woman in my brain's photo album. I'm working on being her, so I don't feel deprived when I go out with friends and they order pasta and cheese or fried food and I I get a beautiful meal salad with no croutons. Perspective....0
-
HappyCampr1 wrote: »
Most people who offer help in those situations have been around a while and realize that when a diary says "servings", the user is using a personal recipe. they may ask to be sure that it's the poster's own recipe and/or ask how they got to that serving size. They're not likely to just assume the poster is logging incorrectly simply because they're using a recipe. All of us use recipes and have entries that say servings.
I certainly have those "serving" portions on some of my recipes.
The way that I see it is...my recipes and especially my diary is for my purposes. I am not real concerned if others understand it or not nor do I feel the need to explain why I do what I do.
If by some chance I needed help...which to be honest...I don't think will happen when it comes to food...I would search out someone whose opinion that I have come to respect and probably message them for advice. The answers that you get in an open forum are sometimes just too strange for me. I lose patience easily with some of this off the wall stuff.
0 -
Nerdycurls wrote: »
That study is very flawed in the fact there was a group restricted to a diet of 450-800 calories a day for 12 weeks. No person should be eating less than 1,200 per day. Not only was this caloric restriction unhealthy, but it was unrealistic considering the possible metabolic damage and how it may have contributed to the weight regain.
Of course the initial weight loss tends to be rapid, but science also shows how plateauing comes into play. Most people do tend to regain the weight after an extended amount of time. I think more research needs to be done on a variety of weight-groups.
Where as I will agree that more research should be done, no research was done before the recommendation that everyone go on a slow and steady method of dieting. I have yet to see a single study that shows that it is in anyway more effective than losing at a rapid pace. I kept at least a 2lb+ per week weight loss for the entire 9 months it took me to lose 100lbs and I have been in this weight range for 3yrs. Diets do not need to be sustainable to be effective and for people with issues with emotional eating a hardcore break the cycle diet may work better than a slow and steady diet. Kinda like most people are successful stopping smoking or drinking by doing so cold turkey as apposed to cutting back by 1 cigarette or drink. Emotional eating or reward eating is not about being hungry. They have to stop going to their trigger foods because new habits must be formed to be successful. Most people with a significant amount of weight did not get to that weight because they were hungry, they got there because they eat when they are happy, sad, mad, bored, nervous, stressed, or uncomfortable with silence.0 -
Where as I will agree that more research should be done, no research was done before the recommendation that everyone go on a slow and steady method of dieting. I have yet to see a single study that shows that it is in anyway more effective than losing at a rapid pace.
The results we have so far clearly show that losing "slow and steady" is NOT more effective than going fast and furious.
Some people are going to do better on the gradual path, others will do better getting it over with as quickly as possible. Some people do better on a smooth incline, others do better stair-stepping.Diets do not need to be sustainable to be effective ...
This is indisputable. I don't know how the exact opposite has become MFP gospel...0 -
I think you are my long lost twin! I could not have said this better myself.I totally feel the OP. I really dislike having to watch what I eat. I do it because I have to, but it gets really old. "Lifestyle change"?- here is my issue with that. MY lifestyle (if it did not lead to weight gain) would be filled with donuts, cheesecake, and fried chicken. I have learned to eat veggies. I have learned to stop eating when I am no longer hungry (instead of when I am full). I have learned to make "helathy" substitutes for my favorite foods-- they do not taste as good as the real thing (EVER), but they at least keep the scale from moving up. I have learned to put off eating by drinking hot beverages that feel "filling". But ALL of this takes effort--to me, "lifestyle" implies somehow it becomes easy. As far as I am concerned, it NEVER gets easy- losing weight and keeping it off is a lot of work.
0 -
This content has been removed.
-
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Below are some threads you should take a look at. Maybe then you'll realize that netting under 1200 is not healthy and attempting to lose 1.5 lbs a week when you only have 17 lbs to lose is much too aggressive.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1318741/in-5-weeks-youll-lose-10lbs-why-is-it-not-working/p1
I'll leave this here as well:
Pound per week goals
75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range
As you see, you fall into the 0.50 to 1 lb loss per week range
Not sure where these guidelines keep coming from. I lost 40+ pounds all the way down to 6 pack abs at a rate of 1.5-1.75 pounds per week with no health problems or loss of muscle. 0.5 pounds a week is pretty much unnecessary and if I had to lose that slow I would probably give up because I wouldn't see any progress for a really long time. My motto for cutting has always been get it done as fast as healthfully possible so you can go to maintenance or a bulk which is where the majority of your time should be spent.0 -
Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
That's some US-standard the rest of the world goes meh over. Here in The Netherlands, the guideline is 0.8 grams per kilo body weight. So for me that's ~43 g a day.
I also don't have much to lose as I gained my weight by going just over maintenance pretty much every day with a bag of potato crisps. I cut that out, eat 1200 - 1300 cal as I always used to do naturally and added a work-out every day. I'm not going to take four months to lose 8 lb, tyvm. I just want to drop the weight and get on with my life, minus the crisps. So yes, for me it is a sprint. Stop faulting people who are in a situation different from yours. You have no idea what our situations are like and how our bodies react. I'll trust my doctor and dietitian, if you don't mind, and live happily off of 1200 (plus a bit on heavy exercise days) for two months so I can go back to maintenance at around 1900 calories. Your truth is not universal, okay?
And OP? Restricting sucks. And as much as it's a life style change, it will probably only feel like that once you go into maintenance. All the tools you learned while restricting should help you over indulge then. You can do this!
Your diary shows you consistently net under 1000 calories, but keep telling yourself that.-2 -
galgenstrick wrote: »
Not sure where these guidelines keep coming from. I lost 40+ pounds all the way down to 6 pack abs at a rate of 1.5-1.75 pounds per week with no health problems or loss of muscle. 0.5 pounds a week is pretty much unnecessary and if I had to lose that slow I would probably give up because I wouldn't see any progress for a really long time. My motto for cutting has always been get it done as fast as healthfully possible so you can go to maintenance or a bulk which is where the majority of your time should be spent.
Sorry but you most certainly lost some muscle. It's close to impossible to lose body fat but not muscle. Muscle loss is inevitable.-1 -
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Sorry but you most certainly lost some muscle. It's close to impossible to lose body fat but not muscle. Muscle loss is inevitable.
For the experienced weight lifter yes. For people like me who have not done it before, no.0 -
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Your diary shows you consistently net under 1000 calories, but keep telling yourself that.
Why do you keep attacking people?0 -
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Your diary shows you consistently net under 1000 calories, but keep telling yourself that.
Where did I say that caloric count was 'net'? And I don't buy the burn on my exercise for one minute, so my net is probably higher as well. Eat when hungry, stop when full. Repeat.0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »
I think it depends on your goal also. My initial goal weight was still in the overweight category (by about 5 pounds). It was much easier for me to lose the last 20 pounds that I wished to lose than it would have been for somebody already at the top of normal range wishing to get to the bottom of normal range. I also think it depends on your maintenance calories/TDEE. I have an active job and am in maintenance. My TDEE is 2600. I don't think I would have trouble losing a pound a week for ten more pounds, if I so wished, without harming myself.
Exactly, there's no one size fits all chart for how fast you need to lose weight. It's up to the individual and their goals. But you can sure lose a lot faster than 0.5 pounds a week safely and sustainably, even if you only have 10 pounds to lose.0 -
Diets do not need to be sustainable to be effective
There's a problem with "diets." It's not about dieting; it should be about a healthy, permanent lifestyle change. We've all heard "diets"-- the Beyonce diet, the cabbage soup diet, the cleanse diet, what have you. The problem here is none of these are actually sustainable because people want to be able to eat like a normal person. Like the OP. No one wants to restrict themselves to the point where they can't have a piece of cake at a birthday party, or enjoy a half glass of champagne at a wedding or can't go out to dinner with friends on the weekends. This is what a dieting mentality does. None of these things are sustainable, which is why people gain the weight right back.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 442 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153.1K Motivation and Support
- 8.1K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 927 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions