Am I eating enough?

kimv1188
kimv1188 Posts: 40 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all. This is gonna be a long one! I have a question but first some information. I am a 35 year old female. I am 5'2" and weigh 194 lbs. I restarted MFP back on January 9, 2017 @ 203 lbs. I now have a mostly sedentary job (I take care of an elderly woman in her home). I lost all my weight in the first two weeks back (water weight, I'm sure). I never went over my calorie goal for the first few weeks and I even tried to do a little (okay, very little) amount of exercising. I have my goal set to lose 1.5 lbs per week. Now that I have put in my new weight, MFP has me eating 1200 calories a day. Most days, as I've always done, I try to leave myself a buffer in case I chewed some gum or something and forgot to log it. I weigh everything and log everything I eat (even on bad days when I am embarrassed). I drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. I have had some days where I go over my calorie budget by over 1000 calories (but not many). I had stopped using the scale for a while to try to surprise myself and my doctor in April but found that it's a tool that keeps me accountable. After hopping on the scale this week, I realized I haven't lost a thing in about 3 weeks or so.
Finally, to my question....am I eating enough? I know that you're not supposed to go below 1200 calories but it is sometimes hard for me to get in every last one. Am I asking too much by trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week? I know this is a journey and a lifetime of work so am I expecting too much? Is this much of a restriction on calories the reason that I can't stay away from foods that just throw me completely off the deep end?
I'm sorry this was so long, but let's be honest...you fellow MFPers know your stuff! Any help/advice would be much appreciated. I read these threads daily to keep me motivated.

Replies

  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    If you feel it's too aggressive and you have problems adhering to1200 I would set my goal to lose 1 or 1.5 lbs per week. As you stated you know this is a lifestyle change so no need to rush anything.

    Going over 1000 calories can wipe out your deficit. So yeah I'd reduce rate of loss and eat a few more calories.

  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    First, you lost 8 pounds in 5 weeks, so congratulations on that.

    What would your daily limit be if you set your loss to 1 lb per week? The 1200 is the MFP minimum, so it may not actually be low enough for a 1.5lb per week loss, so I'm wondering what 1 lb gives you.

    And it may be the 1200/1.5lb is too low for you, leading to the binging. I'm thinking 1 lb may be a better goal, but it may not be enough of an actual change in the calories MFP gives you to make a difference.

    Might be helpful to open your diary so we can see what it looks like.

    When to weigh is up to you. I like daily weighings to track my averages etc., but others don't.

    Besides that, try to add some walking to your day.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    Good for you for trying to get back on track!

    I don't think you are eating enough because you are going over by 1,000 calories. If you are eating enough you would be able to stick to your limit.

    Tell me what you think of this idea. Weigh and log the way you were eating when you weighed 203 pounds. Do this for a few weeks to figure out your baseline, then cut back by 300-500 calories. This might be more sustainable then cutting back to 1,200. 1,200 calories a day is not much food!
  • kimv1188
    kimv1188 Posts: 40 Member
    @leanjogreen18, thank you. I'm looking into slowing things down and upping my exercise. It's not a race. It took me years to pack on the pounds, it'll take me a while to take them off.

    @Tacklewasher, thank you very much. I changed my goal to 1 lb a week loss and I now have 1400 calories a day. I will try and stick towards the 1200 but it will be nice to have a buffer for days when I feel extra hungry.

    @ugofatcat, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately that would be like starting all over for me and that would be really difficult. I think I may allow for 1400 calories a day and see if that helps my crazy binges.
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