Please help me.

theicephoenix
theicephoenix Posts: 6 Member
in Motivation and Support
I started my life change off really good from my perspective 500 calories a day and then I learned about keto and switched myself to focusing on Carb levels and what goes with that. now I am eating a lot more and am no longer sure if I am eating in a manner that will help me lose weight. I always feel like I'm gorging but when I add up my totals they also seem like a LOT. granted I am not being obsessive with keto just watching it. I also TBH suffer from depression and have a VERY low level of self-esteem and confidence so it may just be my mind working against me, this is why I would like the community to give me feedback if they are able to see my daily diary and if not I will share my info so that someone can advise me if I am overeating or if I am doing ok for not just keto but to be eating a healthy amount and not gorging.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    edited May 2019
    #1. Why do you have your FOOD goal set at 700 calories? It looks like you have quite a bit of weight to lose, so set your Goals to "Lose 2 pounds per week," and "Lightly Active." I'm assuming you have some sort of job? Lightly Active is a good place to start unless you're in a very active profession. Don't choose Sedentary. That is for housebound non-workers with no chores or kids.

    #2. Why Keto? Keto is fine, but Keto is about macros - nothing more. With your goals set so poorly, no way to know what's going on with your logging. One day you're at 500 calories and the next at 4000. Your carbs are all over the place. Keto requires a set amount of carbs over a long period of time - but you still need to get those calories up.

    Regardless, you have been seriously under eating and that's dangerous.

    Reset your goals and log food and exercise as accurately as possible for two months and come back and ask this again, no way to gauge much from your FOOD page. EAT ALL the calories you're given.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1



  • joezmom13
    joezmom13 Posts: 8 Member
    Hi 500 calories a day might sufficient for weight loss but is not healthy nor is it maintainable. Keto is a good option for weight loss but might effect your depression adversely. There are medications out there for depression that might also surpress your appetite. I will try and take a look at your food diary. But let me give you an example of mine.. I lose an average of 1-2 pounds a week and have lost 180lbs.. (full disclosure 120 of those were thanks to weight loss surgery.) So I fast. I eat an egg or two at what would be lunch time with zucchini or some other veg (low carb) and some fat so fat bomb or bacon or something like that.. Then I prep my dinner, for example today I am making keto chili and I will eat that with sausage and a salad. That is all I will have today, in total about 1500 calories, trying very hard to eat only as I am hungry. I am 6'2, I am female. I work out as well. I drink about 28 glasses of water a day.. I would drink more but I am afraid too internally drowned myself. :-) I know that depression can be a beast, and I would hope that you don't measure yourself by your weight but all the good you do and can do... Even when I weighed 450lbs I was an awesome person and no matter what you weigh you are awesome too.. Sending you lots of light and positivity. :smile:
  • theicephoenix
    theicephoenix Posts: 6 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I'm going to touch on something else because it is part of my life story as well.

    Depression is made 10,000% worse by alcohol. You logged 5-8 ounces of hard alcohol on nearly every day in those earlier diary days (in this past month.) I'm hoping you've quit drinking, but my guess is you just stopped logging it.

    When I drank that much I had serious self-esteem, depression and anxiety issues. CAUSED by all that alcohol and the resulting malnutrition and all the other bad things that too much alcohol causes. I am going to go out on a limb and say I bet you are drinking more than you're logging and up until just a couple weeks back you were logging way more than is healthy in the first place.

    Please consider getting help for this if you aren't able to cut it back to safe levels. It took me to very VERY dark places and when I quit drinking my world got so much better. Never mind that 500-1000 calories of alcohol on days you are intaking only 1400 calories anyway.

    your right i stopped logging the daily drinking. I eat more than 500 calories a day now. now minus the drinking im averaging about 1500 to 2000.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    As a man your calories should never go below 1500. Keto dieting is often done for health reasons (diabetes, epilepsy etc.). It is unlikely to make you lose any faster over the long haul. The first few weeks if you are compliant you will see a big drop in water weight. Some people find it helps to make them feel more satisfied from the high level of fat thus helping them eat less. Everyone is different. You can lose on Keto or on low calorie as long as you eat less than you burn.

    Alcohol is pretty calorie dense so in addition to not helping with the depression it is likely using up alot of calories that could be used for healthy food. If you are a heavy drinker and depressed, dieting and quitting alcohol could be dangerous to do at the same time without some form of support. If you drink heavily just quitting that could be very useful to helping you drop weight. I would suggest speaking to your family doctor for some help to get things under control as well as perhaps getting some meds for the depression.

    I believe I read somewhere that Wellbutrin is a good medication for depression that helps with weight loss but please speak to a physician to confirm that. Good luck and don't give up.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    edited May 2019
    Just as a heads up. My experience and the recommendation of addiction specialists is - quit the drinking first. Wellbutrin and any other anti-depressant cannot do its job while someone is applying copious amounts of alcohol. For that matter any therapist worth his/her salt would be hesitant doing counseling when someone is depressed and still drinking. The drinking has to be the first thing to go, and good nutrition comes next.

    The alcohol is the biggest culprit here - that and the poor nutrition in general. Drinkers deplete their systems just by drinking. If a heavy drinker isn't careful they can easily slip into malnutrition - despite eating 1500 calories- which is too low.

    Icephoenix, if you go to the doctor, be honest about your alcohol intake. All roads lead to Rome, here. No sense trying to treat mental illness with alcohol. That just causes more serious brain dysfunction. Alcohol is such bad news.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    edited May 2019
    ..and I'd say, start eating a regular meal plan with vegetables, fruit, dairy, nuts, beans, whole grains etc. Drinkers need B12, and other nutrients in higher amounts when actively drinking. Protein from lean sources like chicken, pork, turkey, seafood, cottage cheese or yogurt, whole grains.

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