Hard time staying within calorie goal...

What are you eating? Try going a little higher on protein and a bit more fat so you will stay satisfied longer and reduce your carbs. Give yourself a few more calories too maybe and try intermittent fasting.

I agree with poster #1--you've set your deficit too low and your weight-loss goal is too aggressive. With that little to lose, you should set your goal for .5 lbs per week. If you keep restricting your calories to that extreme, you'll be more likely to binge. A higher calorie goal and a little more protein will also help minimize the loss of lean body mass. Upping the % or protein and healthy fat and fiber will help you stay fuller longer.

I have had a similar hard time and have a similar lifestyle/ amount of weight to lose and I've found 3 major things helpful: 1. Eat really, really slowly. Savor every bite. Put down the fork between bites, take tiny bites at a time, etc. Try to make each meal last 40 minutes to an hour, time allowing. Take the time to eat and enjoy, and the bonus effects of this are better digestion, more enjoyment of eating, a better relationship with your food, and the list goes on. Honestly this one thing unlocked my ability to diet at all. 2. Starving yourself is never a good strategy. If it's between eating 1200 calories while feeling mentally or emotionally unsatisfied and physically hungry, which is unsustainable-and eating 1200 calories plus a small 150 calorie snack, ideally protein, eat the 1350 calories. You'll still be at a deficit, and it's far easier to stick to. (I do find eating protein at meals is satiating while carbs leave me wanting more in an hour and things that taste sweet are hard to put down at all). 3. I'm guessing you know what the macrostructure of a rock climbing location is, and I found this analogy helpful. The macrostructure of losing weight is hard. Make the microstructure-each move, each meal, each decision-as easy as possible for yourself. Don't waste energy in the first third of the route, y'know? You'll need it for the top third of that route. You already have a challenge in front of you. It's hard enough. Therefore, make each small decision as easy as possible. Make small easy moves that conserve your strength. Best of luck to you!!

I am also at a 1200 calorie goal. I cut out almost all of my refined carbs (pasta, bread, cake, cookies, etc) and I eat very little dairy due to the fact that i'm lactose intolerant. I eat LOTS of veggies (the steamfresh single serve are awesome, and the little 8-10 oz boxes are a great 200 cal snack). I snack mostly on deli meat, surimi, frozen grilled chicken strips (or the thawed purdue ones), and sometimes tuna. I will occasionally snack on fruit, which is low in calories but high in sugar. I substitute all of the rice in things like stirfry with cauliflower rice (all you need is a food pro), and I've become a huge fan of replacing pasta with zucchini noodles. A lot of people swear by greek yogurt and hard boiled eggs, I just can't abide them. I will say that oikos frozen greek yogurt is some fantastic stuff, and there are people here who love halotop (haven't tried it). I also substitute some of my eggs for egg whites. I can't abide a plate of scrambled whites, but I'll use 1-2 eggs and then a 1/2c or more of whites in order to get more calories and protein, but preserve the taste a little bit.

I find that on days I work out, i sometimes struggle to eat 1200 + half my exercise cals back this way, but I'm consistently getting 100+g of protein, which has been amazing for my body comp and muscle gains.

capaul42 wrote: »

With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.

1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.

I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.

Zedeff wrote: »

capaul42 wrote: »

With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.

1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.

I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.

But if the 1200 is difficult for the OP to stay at, it will take her longer anyway and she'll risk losing lean muscle. Slow and steady wins the race!!

I am in a somewhat similar situation - I had an accident last year, leaving me completely off my feet for around 3 months, and then slowly building up strength and basic fitness again - and by basic fitness I mean being able to walk my kids to school and back which is not much more than 500 metres from my house. In fact just being able to walk was a big thing just a few short months ago! I thought I was doing well at first, but that was just because the pain/drugs were suppressing my appetite and I physically couldn't get to the kitchen to get food. Once I was mobile that was when I put on some weight!!

I am on 1200 a day at the moment too (sedentary activity level). I have just reshuffled my eating schedule a little which has worked for me. I keep my breakfast and lunch small to leave me a decent amount for dinner and maybe an evening snack as that is my hungriest time of day. I find that more satisfying personally, and have never been a huge breakfast eater (skipped it regularly for many years) so it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. Other than that I just eat what I always ate but measured portions which are a little smaller than before.

Another thing I have done is look at what my maintenance calories are. It was just good for me to get an idea of what that is - it's a good reminder for me that if I do go over my daily goal by a hundred Cals or so, it's not actually going to make me gain weight as it's still under maintenance.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Zedeff wrote: »

capaul42 wrote: »

With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.

1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.

I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.

Too large a calorie deficit leads to unnecessary loss of lean body mass in addition to fat. Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily from each pound of body fat you have - if I recall correctly, it's around 30-some calories of fat per day per pound of body fat. If your deficit is greater than that, your body will find the extra energy somewhere, such as from muscle tissue.

Beyond that, too-rapid weight loss increases risk of adaptive thermogenesis, i.e., a long-term calorie burn (even after weight loss is done) that is potentially hundreds of calories less than similar-sized people who never adopted extreme calorie deficits.

Therefore, the less you have to lose, the slower you should lose it, if you want to stay strong and healthy, plus keep your metabolism robust. Your call, though.

The OP is around 140 lbs (goal weight 120, trying to lose 20). Assuming a 30% body fat percent, that gives her 42 lbs of fat or 1260 fat-calories per day that can be sustained in a deficit, using your numbers.

If she is only 25% BF, she still has 1050 fat-calories per day of sustainable deficit.

A 1000 calorie per day deficit, using the numbers you've provided, is entirely sustainable for her.

yogaski83 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I'm new on here, and struggling to stay within my daily calorie allowance (1,200). I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to be successful with this calorie goal. I know to some, 1200 may sound like a big allowance, but I'm having a very hard time staying at this goal.

I'm 33, no kids, and only looking to lose about 15 - 20 lbs so this should be easy, right?

I'm also pretty active (ski 5+ days a week in the winter; hike, run, yoga in the summer etc), and live at a relatively high altitude so I've typically been able to eat healthy(ish) without counting calories and stay within in the 120-125 lb range, which is a good weight for me, even though I'm only 5'2. However, over the course of the past 6 months, I've put on roughly 15 pounds due to a surgery that had me very sedentary. During this time the only exercise I was able to do besides my PT was very low impact aerobics and walking - which is an incredibly huge drop in my normal activity level. So this 15 lb gain is a loss of muscle and a gain of fat, so I'm ready to get rid of it!

Luckily, now I'm nearly fully recovered, have started working out again, but the weight keeps creeping on, which led me to this site. I've been tracking for the past two or so weeks and have only lost 1 lb, which is incredibly frustrating. I should mention that I do allow myself to eat all the calories I've "earned" by working out. Maybe this is to much?

Anyway, I was just wondering if there is anyone else who has felt these frustrations, and has found a path to success.

Thanks in advance!

Steph

I have felt these frustrations and you're smart to not "eat" your calories back earned from exercising. However, your maximum calorie intake is probably a lot higher than 1200 calories/day. Try resetting your 'Goals' from your home page. Choose 'active' or 'very active' because you are and then select a goal of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. You can double check the amount calculated by going to the Mayo Clinic Calorie Calculator where you would put in the same information; height, weight, gender, current weight and activity level.

The one pound loss could be just your body getting back into realignment and gaining muscle while losing weight. Just hang in there and give it a few months. In the meantime look for those NSVs (non-scale victories) like looser fitting clothes and compliments from friends and co-workers on "how thin you look." :-)

Zedeff wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Zedeff wrote: »

capaul42 wrote: »

With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.

1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.

I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.

Too large a calorie deficit leads to unnecessary loss of lean body mass in addition to fat. Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily from each pound of body fat you have - if I recall correctly, it's around 30-some calories of fat per day per pound of body fat. If your deficit is greater than that, your body will find the extra energy somewhere, such as from muscle tissue.

Beyond that, too-rapid weight loss increases risk of adaptive thermogenesis, i.e., a long-term calorie burn (even after weight loss is done) that is potentially hundreds of calories less than similar-sized people who never adopted extreme calorie deficits.

Therefore, the less you have to lose, the slower you should lose it, if you want to stay strong and healthy, plus keep your metabolism robust. Your call, though.

The OP is around 140 lbs (goal weight 120, trying to lose 20). Assuming a 30% body fat percent, that gives her 42 lbs of fat or 1260 fat-calories per day that can be sustained in a deficit, using your numbers.

If she is only 25% BF, she still has 1050 fat-calories per day of sustainable deficit.

A 1000 calorie per day deficit, using the numbers you've provided, is entirely sustainable for her.

If she's 5'2 and 140, TDEE around 2k to maintain the 140 if moderately active. Reducing by 1k leaves only 1k to eat, can you even get enough nutrition (vitamins, fats, protein, carbs) in 1,000 calories?

Already she feels crappy eating 1,200 and working out (I would too!)

OP I think you should try using the TDEE instead of MFP plus exercise? Get a standard amount you can eat each day that's slightly higher than the 1,200 and stick to it. See if that is easier to maintain.

ernestrodgers82 wrote: »

@janejellyroll it's not smart because exercise doesn't help you lose weight. That fact was an epiphany for me and backed up by lots of studies like this one. Exercise is good for a whole lot of other reasons, but weight loss isn't one of them. I regularly 'ate back' my calories earned from exercise (still do from time to time) but I realized that since I set my profile as 'lightly active' it's double dipping to "eat back my calories" because the expenditure has already been counted. There are a lot of resources backing up this notion but my favorite is aptly entitled "Okay Don’t Freak Out But Exercising Doesn’t Make You Lose Weight" published on March 22, 2016 in the New York Magazine.

Exercise, by itself, won't result in weight loss. You're right about that. But if the exercise creates or contributes to a calorie deficit, then that will result in weight loss. If you're including the exercise activity as part of your activity level (which isn't how MFP is set-up), then it is double-dipping to eat the calories back. But if you set-up your activity level the way MFP was designed to be used (your activity level based on your non-exercise activity), then you are not double-dipping when you eat the calories back.

For people on a very low calorie goal or people doing a lot of exercise, it's important to fuel activity. Not eating exercise calories back can result -- for these people -- in very low net calorie consumption.

Also, your post references a study but it doesn't indicate which study you are referring to. I don't think there is a study that shows that if someone is in a calorie deficit they won't lose weight if they eat back the calories burned during exercise, but I could be wrong.

The subreddit R/1200isplenty on Reddit.com is full of tips and recipes.