Need some advice

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fiberopticjellyfishmfp
fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
edited February 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
I am trying to figure out some things about my current plan. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder, I am just now getting my true hungry/full signals back, more than three years into recovery. Before, I would restrict so much I would lose 3-5 pounds a week, which obviously is not healthy at all.

Currently, I have my plan set to 2 pounds a week, but I keep reading about how 2 pounds a week is not healthy for most people, so I was wondering what everyone's recommendation would be for me.

I am eating 1200, and am not finding that I am too hungry eating that amount. I also have a food scale and measure what I eat.

My stats:
Age: 22
Height: 5'2
Weight: 160
BF%: 28
Goal: Still thinking about this, but I am thinking around 135 since that is the high end of my BMI.

I get about 7,000 steps per day and I currently do not work out as I am a student and stay at home mom and I do not have much time for exercise.

Replies

  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
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    Not that i listen to my own advice, Because i like being on 1200 but i do eat back exercise calories, However most people say with so little to lose drop down to 1 pounds/ 0.5 pounds. Especially with your history restricting to much may be an issue. May be beter to practice smaller calorie restriction of 0.5
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    With your past and current weight, I'd go for 1 pound a week.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Honestly, if you have less than like 75 lbs to lose, 2 lbs is really aggressive. With 25 lbs to go, I would say no more than 1 lb per week personally. At 5'2" your calories will be a little lower than most, but you're so young I'd bet you could eat quite a bit more and still lose.

    Obviously, all of this hinges on the approval of your recovery team. Take care of yourself, and best of luck :drinker:
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,867 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Given what you said what you need to do is find a permanent eating plan.

    Calculate the calories you would get as.lightly active no other exercise at goal weight.

    Start by aiming for that plus ~75% of exercise calories above your lightly active (which comes from your 7k steps) and adjust if you need to after 6-8 weeks.

    Weight loss will be slow. The point is that you don't need to.learn how to lose weight and restrict. You're already too good at it.

    You DO need to learn how to eat normally for your future weight.

    So consider this as "on the job" training.

    Use a trending weight app or web site's to guage your progress.

  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
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    When MFP sets your calories to 1200, it usually means your goals are too aggressive. 1200 is the hard-coded minimum it will allocate for women, so most probably the number it actually computed for you is lower than that.

    As @JaydedMiss said, you're best off changing your goal to 1 lb/week. That's the rate at which I lost my 25 lbs., and it worked out well.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    Are you okay with eating more and exercising more?
    Also, as a coach who works with a few EDs in recovery, how are you with counting calories?
    Does it cause unwanted stress or inner dialogue issues?

    The hungry/full signals are crucial for recovery. Awesome job coming in and taking about your story.

    At 135 and your height with moderate activity, you'd maintain at around 1600-1800kcal a day.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    How long have you been eating at 1200, and how much are you losing?

  • fiberopticjellyfishmfp
    fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
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    Thanks for the advice everyone! I do agree that I need to find a permanent eating plan, and that's what I'm struggling with right now. To be a little more specific about my eating disorder, I have ENDOS so I kinda went back and forth between restricting, binging, and purging in the past. Even though I haven't purged in well over three years, I still went through binging and restricting phases frequently. I currently haven't binged since September, and I am proud of that accomplishment. I still have days where I overeat, but it ends up being around 2,200 or less so I don't gain. Before I could easily consume 5,000 during a binge day.
  • fiberopticjellyfishmfp
    fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
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    Dan_Rollins_ACE_PN wrote: »
    Are you okay with eating more and exercising more?
    Also, as a coach who works with a few EDs in recovery, how are you with counting calories?
    Does it cause unwanted stress or inner dialogue issues?

    The hungry/full signals are crucial for recovery. Awesome job coming in and taking about your story.

    At 135 and your height with moderate activity, you'd maintain at around 1600-1800kcal a day.

    I am still feeling a little attached to 1200, but I am getting more comfortable with the idea of eating more calories. I have a Fitbit, so I can keep up with my calorie burns pretty easily. I usually use MFP for calorie counting and counting actually helps my stress levels because if I think I ate a lot, most of the time I log and see it wasn't as bad as I thought.
  • fiberopticjellyfishmfp
    fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    How long have you been eating at 1200, and how much are you losing?

    Close to a month and a half, and I've lost 6 pounds.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    So you are already losing at about 1lb/week. This happens because you are short (me too), lighter (not me), and not too active (I wouldn't say you're sedentary though). The program won't go below 1200, so 2lb/week just wouldn't happen for you without increasing your activity level considerably.

    If you are happy with your progress and how much you are eating, I would just stay with it, for now. In a few more weeks, you could revisit and try adding a few more calories to see how that goes. If you are losing 1lb/week at 1200, then your maintenance level will be around 1700. So as you get closer, you will want to slowly transition to that amount.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Given what you said what you need to do is find a permanent eating plan.

    Calculate the calories you would get as.lightly active no other exercise at goal weight.

    Start by aiming for that plus ~75% of exercise calories above your lightly active (which comes from your 7k steps) and adjust if you need to after 6-8 weeks.

    Weight loss will be slow. The point is that you don't need to.learn how to lose weight and restrict. You're already too good at it.

    You DO need to learn how to eat normally for your future weight.

    So consider this as "on the job" training.

    Use a trending weight app or web site's to guage your progress.

    I think this is excellent advice.

    You sound like you're addressing your recovery with intelligence and self-awareness. Wonderful to hear!
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    I'm going to echo the others who said reduce it to a pound a week or even to half a pound a week. With your history it might be easier and less disruptive for you to lose the weight slowly.

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