Worried that my diet is starting to affect my health

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  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    @fiddletime
    fiddletime wrote: »
    My maintenance is 1350. I maintained for 4 months last year until I slipped a little and gained some weight back. I suspect it'll be 1350 for life, which is tough but is what it is. I'm 5'2" and 62.

    You're 62? Holy Cow -- you look more like 30.

    Agree with beef + spinach. Add some blue cheese and walnuts and you have a delicious salad!
  • Lushchicken
    Lushchicken Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks guys! Timothy: I am as active as possible and am certainly burning more than I eat, otherwise I wouldn't have lost any weight. I'm well aware that the charts aren't targeted at disabled people, that's why I am not planning to eat anywhere near 1770 cals for maintenance as suggested by MFP. My base metabolic rate is around 1400 so I think that I shouldn't be gaining much weight eating around that many cals.

    Tons of good food suggestions, thank you! I don't think the 1300 cals were the issue, but simply what I ate. I maybe had beef or darker meats once a month, if that and didn't supplement with iron rich veggies or pulses. Had another consultation with my doctor and my iron levels are still a bit low but stable. He might put me on supplements for a short time but I'm determined to sort out my nutrition. My doc was kind enough to refer me to a nutritionist for a couple of sessions just because my situation is a bit out of the ordinary.
  • red99ryder
    red99ryder Posts: 399 Member
    one thing to remember is you wont undo all your weight loss at once ,, so if your over a little on calories the scale will catch it and you can correct , i have heard alot look at a 5 pound range for weight

    Good luck
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    It's your choice of calories, not the total qty. Eat iron rich foods or get a good multi vitamin (?)
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    edited January 2017
    If you've arrived at a body you can accept then why stay with a reduction diet? You ought to be able to move to maintenance, and eat a little more. That ought to help with all your nutrition, not just your iron levels. You'll have to experiment a little, since your actual calorie needs are going to be different from someone with no mobility issues, bit you can still do it.

    I say that because if you were losing on 1200, and only added 100 calories a day, that's unlikely to be your maintenance level and it sounds as if on some level you still intend to lose. Even my totally disabled son, about 5'8" and 145 lbs and who cannot get even the limited amount of exercise available to you, more or less maintains on 1500 calories. (We know exactly how many because he's tube fed, and that's how much formula he gets.)

    That sense of "heart palpitations" may well be stress or anxiety -- it sounds similar to my stress symptoms when they show up -- but you'll want to rule out a serious issue anyway.
  • Lushchicken
    Lushchicken Posts: 7 Member
    Thank you Ccsernica! I agree, my maintenance will be higher than 1300. I also feel like I'm still losing weight so yes, I need to up my calories for sure. Will take it slow, as everyone suggested and experiment a bit. I did talk to my doctor about the heart palpitations yesterday and he attributes them to the lowered iron/blood levels. I'm on supplements now and feel like they've already improved a bit. I also suffer from generalised anxiety disorder and have trouble managing stress, so that could be a factor.
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,884 MFP Moderator
    Lushchicken wrote: »
    ...I was discouraged by my doctor telling me that it's usually not possible to up your iron levels with food...

    I also have issues with low iron. My doctor told me our bodies have two iron levels. One of them is your baseline that should be in the body all the time, sort of like your reserve you need to function. The other is the one that fluctuates based on what you eat, etc.

    If your reserve iron level is too low then you may need medical intervention such as an injection or prescribed supplements to bring it back up. It's hard to get that level back to normal quickly with just diet. If your doctor is recommending medical intervention then please consider it in addition to adding high-iron foods to your diet.

    As someone else said, iron is best absorbed along with vitamin C. It's also best on an empty stomach, although that can lead to nausea. When I need them, I take my supplements with orange juice. Good luck!
  • Lushchicken
    Lushchicken Posts: 7 Member
    Ah fab, that makes sense! I am currently taking an over the counter iron supplement but he might prescribe stronger supplements. I'm totally fine with that.
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