HELP get me to my goal or does it matter

Rogansmommy7
Rogansmommy7 Posts: 5 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there!
My calorie goal for weight lose is 3,490 calories a day. So far I've only made it between 1,700-2,400 a day. I cook pretty heathly foods and drink only water with a very occasional crystal light truvia water. I want to start making fruit infused waters once I figure out how. But I am stumped on how to get to my calories in a healthy way. I feel like I have to eat tons of the foods I cook but by the time I'm done with the small amount of food I do eat at every meal I no longer want food. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. I don't want to start throwing in stuff like potatoes, noodles, bread, chocolate, stuff like that just to help make it to my calories. I don't think that would actually help me. I have a lot to lose. So far I've been doing calorie counting for 23 days and the last 2 weeks i've been stuck at a 14lbs weight loss. I haven't lost anything the last 2 weeks. I have been walking up to a mile everyday. With the exception of the last week ( Yes I am sure this has something to do with a stall in weight loss) But I am just trying to figure out. Should I really be worried about making it to my 3,490 calorie goal? or should I just continue with what I am doing and just try to walk more? I feel like letting my calories stay low my body will begin to think it needs to hold food and it won't help me lose weight! I am trying to add in healthy fats (avacado, nuts, coconut oil, bacon grease) that I think will help up my calorie intake a little more. Not quite sure.
Thanks for any info!
Lensi

Replies

  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    Where did you get 3490 cals from?
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    I've never seen a calorie setting that high for someone trying to lose weight. Where did it come from?
  • Rogansmommy7
    Rogansmommy7 Posts: 5 Member
    myfitnesspal. It's also what my dr recommended between 3200-3500. I am very heavy, so my calories are higher than normal sized people.
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    Ah. I can't see you eating more when you're already full just in order to reach that. Maybe look for a list of calorie dense foods to help you reach your goal (or close) without stuffing yourself. Things like oils, nut butters, avocados. Can't remember the rest but you can Google it if no one posts the list
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,763 Member
    The number seems high to me as well, but either way, are you using a food scale and selecting the correct entries for your food diary? In other words, do you know for sure that you are currently eating between 1700 - 2400 calories per day?

    Also, fruit infused water is simple: put a pitcher of water in your fridge and drop in whatever fruit you want. I love using cucumber also. There are fancy water infusers available to buy so if you want to use those go ahead, but you certainly don't have to.
  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
    Weigh your food.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,522 Member
    Yeah. NO. Find a doctor who specializes in weight loss (without drugs and surgery.)

    This site and most BMR or TDEE calculators really lose their effectiveness when a user who is morbidly obese attempts to use the tools as is. The TDEE calculator is a dumb tool and will just spit out numbers. With the amount of body fat you are carrying, you should be able cut your calories way back - like to 1200 a day. You have plenty of body fat to use as fuel, and your life is at risk with your excessive weight.

    It will be difficult to get sufficient nutrition at that number - so find a weight-loss doctor today who can set you up with a Registered Dietician.
  • Rogansmommy7
    Rogansmommy7 Posts: 5 Member
    Yes, I use a food scale and scan the bar code on anything and everything I can onto MFP. If no bar code I simply use the food scale and input how much of each thing I eat. I make tons of homemade foods, so right now I am slowly learning how to devide the food into serving sizes and figure out exactly how much is in each serving. but I am in the round about figures with the homemade. But I am pretty good at keeping track. I am definitely sure I am only getting within 1700-2500 a day. The most i've done since using MFP is 2,558. I feel like the number is high myself. When I first was going to start counting calories I figured i'd have to eat around 2500 or so. So when I seen how many I was quite shocked. It has been extremely difficult to figure out how to get that far in calories!
  • she_lived_wholly_forevermore
    she_lived_wholly_forevermore Posts: 179 Member
    Do NOT listen to the person blatantly telling you to eat 1200. Good lord no. Work with your doctor and as some have said make sure you are weighing EVERYTHING.
  • benevempress
    benevempress Posts: 136 Member
    I suggest you talk to your doctor about this and share your food log. Do you have some sort of medical situation that requires you to eat that many calories in order to get the nutrition you need? It seems to me that you could have a very nutritious, satisfying diet at 2,400 calories, so I wonder if the doctor's recommendation to eat 3,200-3,500 is based on a reduction from what you used to eat or if s/he would really insist you eat that many if you showed her/him your food log full of nutritious food.

    Also, the advice is always true, now and when you've lost more weight. Get a food scale, weigh all solid foods in grams, and look at the MFP database with jaundiced eyes... many entries are wrong, claiming too little calories so people end up eating more than they think they are. The USDA has a database that I use to check foods like meats, fruits, and vegetables.

    Lastly, I suggest you do not think of some foods as "good" and others as "bad" unless you have a physical issue with that food. I believe you increase your chances of maintaining your loss if you begin as you mean to go on. So if you are never ever going to have a piece of bread, a potato, or a piece of chocolate again in your entire life, then it is smart to eliminate them right from the beginning. However, restricting certain foods while losing weight with the intention of bringing them back when you are "done" means you haven't practiced the life skill of eating reasonable portions of what you like, and you increase your chances of gaining weight back and having to lose it all again.
  • Rogansmommy7
    Rogansmommy7 Posts: 5 Member
    Yeah I definitely don't think I need to scale back to 1200 calories. I am looking into getting an appointment with my dr to discuss this better with her. She has actually lost over 150lbs herself in the last few years doing this calorie counting! She was very heavy also. I feel good when I finish my days with 2300-2500 calories, but I am afraid it is going to halt my weight loss. But we shall see!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,522 Member
    edited May 2016
    Rogansmommy7 wrote: »
    Yeah I definitely don't think I need to scale back to 1200 calories. I am looking into getting an appointment with my dr to discuss this better with her. She has actually lost over 150lbs herself in the last few years doing this calorie counting! She was very heavy also. I feel good when I finish my days with 2300-2500 calories, but I am afraid it is going to halt my weight loss. But we shall see!

    Not saying 1200 is the magic number...but I AM saying that number is possible. It is possible to get good nutrition on that much. I know because I did it. It's not easy, but it is doable.

    For amelia - 1200 is the number frequently used for bariatric patients. YMMV, but it's not always wrong. Morbid obesity is life-threatening. That's why I said find a weight-loss doctor and a Registered Dietician.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    A couple of things: starvation mode (what you're talking about when you say "I feel like letting my calories stay low my body will begin to think it needs to hold food and it won't help me lose weight!") doesn't exist. The danger in eating way below your calorie target is that you may not be getting adequate nutrition, and that by losing weight way too quickly you're going to lose a lot of muscle mass.

    Because your calorie target is so high, I wouldn't necessarily worry about getting adequate nutrition if you're eating 2400(ish) calories (this is more of a concern when you see people trying to hit 1200(ish) or below). Keep making sure that you're getting a wide variety of healthy foods, including healthy protein/fat sources and good fruits/vegetables, and you should be okay on this point.

    The other point -- muscle loss -- could be a concern, but in that case I'd look at your rate of loss. Generally speaking, you don't want to aim for more than 2 pounds per week or 10% of your total body weight (since you're heavier, you could probably safely lose more than 2 pounds per week, but not a lot more). If you start seeing crazy losses that can't be attributed to early water weight losses, slow your roll and eat some more calories.

    The other thing to look at is satiation/adherence. How do you feel on your 2400 calorie days? Could you stick to that target for a year, realistically? The goal is to stick with a moderate deficit over time, NOT to starve yourself for a short period of time. Slow and steady loss is always better.
  • hypodonthaveme
    hypodonthaveme Posts: 215 Member
    I would ask your dr why so many calories. I would also inform your dr how you feel on the days you ate the 2500 calories. Perhaps with your entry ( if you are keeping a home food journal) you can insert at the end of the day. your exercise and how you felt throughout the day. Perhaps you needed a nap at 2pm. perhaps you weren't hungry at supper, etc. the more information you give your dr the better help he/she will be. I have heard of people being allowed calories like yours, but it was because they don't like many veggies or fruits so dr cut their "old" calories down and allow them to eat a very high refined carb diet due to the fact of pickiness. with a high refined carb diet it doesn't take much to eat up some calories.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,260 Member
    Rogansmommy7 wrote: »
    Yeah I definitely don't think I need to scale back to 1200 calories. I am looking into getting an appointment with my dr to discuss this better with her. She has actually lost over 150lbs herself in the last few years doing this calorie counting! She was very heavy also. I feel good when I finish my days with 2300-2500 calories, but I am afraid it is going to halt my weight loss. But we shall see!

    I am glad that you are going to talk to your doctor. A lot of times when we are very overweight and first start losing, there's a bit of a honeymoon period where eating a much lower calorie level feels super easy because we have so much fuel on hand (i.e., fat) to make up for the missing calories. At a certain point, though, you can kind of burn out on that. Now I am not sure if 2300-2500 is so low as to get you to that point so it may not be something to think about at all. I'm just not sure so I would really talk to your doctor to see what she says.
  • Rogansmommy7
    Rogansmommy7 Posts: 5 Member
    AliceDark wrote: »

    The other thing to look at is satiation/adherence. How do you feel on your 2400 calorie days? Could you stick to that target for a year, realistically? The goal is to stick with a moderate deficit over time, NOT to starve yourself for a short period of time. Slow and steady loss is always better.

    I definitely could stick to 2200-2400 calories a day no problem! I feel like that is the calorie goal I should just continue to get to and just stop looking at the 3490 that MFP has for me. As long as I can get in a high calorie breakfast usually 600 to 700 calories my day goes by great with not getting hungry until I need to eat another full meal. I eat nuts/yogurt/popcorn/granola/fruit for each of my 3 snacks during the day. I really enjoy this calorie counting and I feel a lot better now than I ever have. Even though I am not losing weight fast. I still feel like I am losing. I am also not second guessing getting another plate of food. It's always one small plate and that's it..Right now I've just been worrying about having to get to the 3490 goal and that's why i've even been worried about eating more than I do now.
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