Low calorie requirement
Minkymoo2019
Posts: 6 Member
I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
Anyone else in this situation?
16
Replies
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are you weighing EVERYTHING you eat? at your weight if you were truly eating 1200 calories weight would be flying off. this is most likely a measurement error - tighten up your weighing/logging and you'll notice a difference.12
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When people say "I can only lose on extremely low calorie diets", I tend to think that they haven't given reasonable eating a good amount of time to work. (I.e - "I tried eating reasonably for a week and didn't lose a thing, obviously this means I must practically starve myself.")
Unless you have a medical issue, it's highly unlikely that you are unable to lose weight eating at a health deficit. If you've been at this a few months, and it sounds like you've been switching up your calorie goals during this time, it may just be that you need to stick with something and give it more time.13 -
Hi, yes. Have been doing this as I got so frustrated trying to work out why no budging on scales. Even if my measurements were slightly off it wouldn't come to more than 200 calories, so with a margin of error I couldn't be eating over 1200. You seem very sure I am getting it wrong, but I am certain I am not, this is the most organised I have ever been regarding my diet.19
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Has the scale not moved at all in three months? or just very little?
It's because 95%+ people who insist they eat 1200 over a long enough period of time and do not lose weight are actually eating more than 1200.
are you are weighing ALL foods on a food scale? carefully selecting entries in database? daily for three months?
The other 5% would be someone with medical issues or crazy short and/or sedentary. Have you had a health check recently with bloodwork?
Would you be open to making your diary public for a little bit to see if any of the more experienced users can see some possible issues?7 -
I tried 1500 for 3 weeks. Nothing, not even the initial drop you get when you first start a diet. So I tried 1200 for a month. I lost just over a pound. Weight is coming off now I am going for 1000 - 1100. This is not a satisfying result, especially as I love food & wine so dieting makes me completely miserable!15
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A lot of women have thyroid issues after pregnancy. Maybe look into that with your doctor.10
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I might share food diary in the future when I've got a few weeks on here, I've only just started with mfp this week. I used a different app before this.8
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I might share food diary in the future when I've got a few weeks on here, I've only just started with mfp this week. I used a different app before this.7
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When I first started logging, I found it irritating people would suggest I was weighing food incorrectly. Over a few months though I learned I was doing a few things wrong. Not counting cooking oils, trusting that a 'cup' on the package was actually a cup (it isn't, you need to weigh it) and other things like weighing the banana before removing the peel. Some of that can really add up, especially if you think you're within a band of 200 calories or so making the difference between weight loss and maintenance.
That said, I would definitely check with a Dr.
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1500 VS 1000 is quite the drop. Being miserable means it's highly unlikely to be sustainable for very long, not long enough to reach your goal (and then there is the "then what" when you do reach goal, you need a plan for maintenance).
I'd start at 1200 for a few weeks. weigh regularly and don't look at individual numbers but trend over 3 weeks.
Get a check up with your doctor, check that your bloodwork is all good and everything is well.
Use a food scale for all foods. ALL. even packaged. Carefully select entries in MFP database as there are many errors. do not use database entries for recipes or "mixed foods" if you cook, use the recipe builder. always log individual ingredients unless you are eating out and can't (even then I try with some meals to take apart and log individual items in there).
I know it sounds like I am harping on the food scale because it SOUNDS super crazy simplistic that a toddler could do it. But there IS honestly and truly a learning curve. Over the year of using a food scale i've found errors. MANY errors. They didn't matter as much at first with more to lose but as I got closer to goal and had a smaller calorie deficit they DID add up to a significant number of errors. Issues with raw VS cooked. Issues with entries I selected. On lazy weighing. a whole number of errors.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
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A lot of women have thyroid issues after pregnancy. Maybe look into that with your doctor.
This. I was diagnosed a few years after my son was born and it took 3yr of doctors appointments and labs to get a proper diagnosis.
If you are 100% positive your logging is accurate you should see a doctor3 -
What was the change in your rate of loss between 1200 calories and 1000 calories?0
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Minkymoo2019 wrote: »Hi, yes. Have been doing this as I got so frustrated trying to work out why no budging on scales. Even if my measurements were slightly off it wouldn't come to more than 200 calories, so with a margin of error I couldn't be eating over 1200. You seem very sure I am getting it wrong, but I am certain I am not, this is the most organised I have ever been regarding my diet.
When I started here, I was POSITIVE I was eating no more than 1400 cals per day and not losing weight. After reading the advice over and over, I got a food scale and started double checking the database entries I was using. Turns out I was actually eating 1700-1800 calories per day, which is my maintenance,
Check these out when you get a chance, they changed everything for me:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p110 -
Weigh every last bite. EVERYTHING.
Your cooking oil. Your broccoli. Your onions. Everything.
You want three strawberries? Weigh them. I just found out that my estimates for strawberries, of all things, were way off, and I eat a lot of strawberries in the summer. That error may be negligible if I only ate three strawberries and no more, but when we go through a flat of strawberries per week, it adds up. Little errors can have big cumulative effects.11 -
Read this. Blunt but true. Gave me a good ol' fashioned wakeup call: http://physiqonomics.com/eating-too-much/6
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Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I might share food diary in the future when I've got a few weeks on here, I've only just started with mfp this week. I used a different app before this.
A week of data might be enough for us to spot common logging errors that cause people to not lose weight. At that point, do change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings4 -
No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!2 -
TallGent66 wrote: »No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!
It is better to have a solid eating plan in place and treat exercise as a bonus. Exercise can be interrupted by injury and temporary changes to schedules.16 -
TallGent66 wrote: »No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!
OP says she's only eating 1000 cals. If that is an accurate figure, the last thing she should do is exercise more on top of that. She is either not waiting long enough to see results before changing things, or she is eating more calories than she thinks, or she has a medical condition. Whichever it is needs to be fixed before throwing another variable into the mix.16 -
TallGent66 wrote: »No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!
OP says she's only eating 1000 cals. If that is an accurate figure, the last thing she should do is exercise more on top of that. She is either not waiting long enough to see results before changing things, or she is eating more calories than she thinks, or she has a medical condition. Whichever it is needs to be fixed before throwing another variable into the mix.
^^^ hit the nail on the head.2 -
TallGent66 wrote: »No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!
OP says she's only eating 1000 cals. If that is an accurate figure, the last thing she should do is exercise more on top of that. She is either not waiting long enough to see results before changing things, or she is eating more calories than she thinks, or she has a medical condition. Whichever it is needs to be fixed before throwing another variable into the mix.
Yes, have a medical evaluation.
In today's world, we also have many people even below classic "sedentary" business jobs. Jobs from home, where excercise is walking to the mailbox. So I think many would still benefit from 30 minutes, even 15 minutes, walking FiFi. (Bring water if concerned.)5 -
Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I feel your pain! I am in the same boat. I am faithful about weighing, measuring, logging and get my blood work done every 3 months. The only thing I can recommend is patience. Even people I know who go to weight watchers and stick to the plan may only lose .5 lb (or less) week and say it is very slow. But at least it is going in the right direction. I am already getting tired of being slave to my scales (both food and body). I am on my 3rd week. If I could just lose 5 lb. I would feel much better about everything. Without much success, I am concerned about everything I put in my mouth - irrational I know!
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TallGent66 wrote: »TallGent66 wrote: »No one has mentioned excercise?
Years ago I got back in gear. Lost 10 pounds, stalled. Eating low fat cottage cheese, one small healthy burrito, etc. Not much for a man 6'6".
Choosing to walk large flights of stairs at mass transit helped shed more pounds.
Upping cardio from 30 minutes to 1 hour was a big key for me.
Eating wise, one of my downfalls was large amounts of coffee creamer. Sometimes chips.
Good luck!
OP says she's only eating 1000 cals. If that is an accurate figure, the last thing she should do is exercise more on top of that. She is either not waiting long enough to see results before changing things, or she is eating more calories than she thinks, or she has a medical condition. Whichever it is needs to be fixed before throwing another variable into the mix.
Yes, have a medical evaluation.
In today's world, we also have many people even below classic "sedentary" business jobs. Jobs from home, where excercise is walking to the mailbox. So I think many would still benefit from 30 minutes, even 15 minutes, walking FiFi. (Bring water if concerned.)
Whether or not walking would have health benefits for OP is a different question than whether or not it is necessary for her to lose weight.
At OP’s stats, it is not possible that she is unable to lose weight on more than 1000 calories unless she has an undiagnosed medical issue. It’s more likely that she is eating more than she thinks, which is the case for most people who think they need to eat below the minimum number of calories per day; it’s also possible that she is experiencing normal water weight fluctuations.
Adding exercise is not the solution to her calorie intake concerns. The solution here is to see a doctor if medical problems are a possibility, to tighten up logging if medical problems have been ruled out, and to give it enough time to see change on the scale.6 -
To has only been logging for 1 week! That's not enough to see if something works. Before that she did Slimming World, which I think has zero point foods. Plus TOM could play a role, more working out, any other reason for water retention.7
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Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I’m really hesitant to reply to you because I’ve posted in a very similar way before and, like you, have been shot down as an idiot and/or a liar. I am neither.
I’m shorter than you, at just on 5ft and lighter too, but still need to lose 2 stone to be where I would prefer to be. I’m 58 now but like you say, I used to be able to lose weight easier than I do these days. Back when I was 30 something and with 4 small children it was easy. I basically just stopped eating and the weight came off!
Even since my 20s I’ve been aware that unless I drop to sub 1000cals I do not lose weight. Closer to 800 if I’m perfectly honest. I’ve been weighing and logging (pen and paper before the internet and Apps like MFP were even thought of), so no, I’m not stupid - I know how to use a scale, I know the rough calorie counts of things from years and years of looking them up pre internet so I can sanity check the dodgy database. Anything new I log I check as many ways as I possibly can that the data is accurate yet still the stock answer here is ‘logging errors’.
There are definitely some shorter women out there who do not fit the safe 1200 cookie cutter mindset. I doubt we’ll change things so I choose to know my body better than they do (why wouldn’t I?) and not rock the boat with my apparently disturbing reality!
I wish you the very best on your journey. If you can figure out what works for you, then go with that. If that’s less than 1000 cals then don’t worry. If you think about it in terms of fuel and liken it to petrol (gas) consumption, bigger engines use more fuel than smaller ones so why is it surprising that smaller bodies require less fuel (food) than larger ones? I’ve been eating at sub 1000 cals most of my teen and adult life and I’m still alive and perfectly healthy. Ok, so I’m overweight right now, so not perfectly healthy, but that’s down to a recent hysterectomy and the enforced slow down, but I’ll get that back down soon enough, because I know how my body works and it works on less than some others say it ought to! Which changes nothing, it’s still how it works!
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BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I’m really hesitant to reply to you because I’ve posted in a very similar way before and, like you, have been shot down as an idiot and/or a liar. I am neither.
I’m shorter than you, at just on 5ft and lighter too, but still need to lose 2 stone to be where I would prefer to be. I’m 58 now but like you say, I used to be able to lose weight easier than I do these days. Back when I was 30 something and with 4 small children it was easy. I basically just stopped eating and the weight came off!
Even since my 20s I’ve been aware that unless I drop to sub 1000cals I do not lose weight. Closer to 800 if I’m perfectly honest. I’ve been weighing and logging (pen and paper before the internet and Apps like MFP were even thought of), so no, I’m not stupid - I know how to use a scale, I know the rough calorie counts of things from years and years of looking them up pre internet so I can sanity check the dodgy database. Anything new I log I check as many ways as I possibly can that the data is accurate yet still the stock answer here is ‘logging errors’.
There are definitely some shorter women out there who do not fit the safe 1200 cookie cutter mindset. I doubt we’ll change things so I choose to know my body better than they do (why wouldn’t I?) and not rock the boat with my apparently disturbing reality!
I wish you the very best on your journey. If you can figure out what works for you, then go with that. If that’s less than 1000 cals then don’t worry. If you think about it in terms of fuel and liken it to petrol (gas) consumption, bigger engines use more fuel than smaller ones so why is it surprising that smaller bodies require less fuel (food) than larger ones? I’ve been eating at sub 1000 cals most of my teen and adult life and I’m still alive and perfectly healthy. Ok, so I’m overweight right now, so not perfectly healthy, but that’s down to a recent hysterectomy and the enforced slow down, but I’ll get that back down soon enough, because I know how my body works and it works on less than some others say it ought to! Which changes nothing, it’s still how it works!
If you are perfectly healthy how do you explain having the calorie requirement of someone who weighs 80-85 pounds? If you are correct and you actually do maintain your weight at around 1000 calories you have damaged your metabolism with your 40ish years of under eating. I am not sure everyone knows exactly to what degree adaptive thermogenesis can slow a metabolism but you might make for an interesting case study.
OR
You never leave the bed and your activity and BMR are almost identical.
OR
Logging errors. It is nothing to be ashamed of really. It is VERY hard to capture every single calorie that passes our lips accurately. There are plenty of things I don't even bother to log right now like gum, mustard, vinegar, vitamins, herbs, spices, and tea. I do log my black coffee but I always just log the same amount even if I drink more of it. I am sure there is a day coming when I will have to be super diligent but it is not today. I don't look forward to it because it does seem pretty tedious to weigh and record everything... including that bite I of food I steal off my wife's plate occasionally. I have a large deficit so it is not required of me quite yet.
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Novus, are you so sure? Really? And yes, a new potential scientific breakthrough.
There have been times when I was younger, ate minimally, and sometimes I lost weight... and sometimes I didn't. This, with 30 minutes of StairMaster and lifting weights 5 or more days a week. And I was operating under the belief I needed 2200 calories a day... not 2700 or 2800. (I'm 6'6".) But I hit several walls.
The Atlantic: A Potential Hidden Factor in Why People Have So Much Trouble Losing Weight
A new study in mice points to how cell biology, not willpower, might be the root of yo-yo dieting.
By Amanda Mull
"The American conventional wisdom about weight loss is simple: A calorie deficit is all that’s required to drop excess pounds, and moderating future calorie consumption is all that’s required to maintain it. To the idea’s adherents, the infinite complexity of human biology acts as one big nutritional piggy bank. Anyone who gains too much weight or loses weight and gains it back has simply failed to balance the caloric checkbook, which can be corrected by forswearing fatty food or carbs."
"Endocrinologists have known for decades that the science of weight is far more complicated than calorie deficits and energy expenditures...."
"...In a new study published today, *** Schmidt and her team have unlocked a molecular mechanism controlling weight gain and loss in mice: a protein that shuts down the animals’ ability to burn fat in times of bodily stress, including when dieting or overeating.*** This discovery might hold the key to understanding why it’s so hard for humans to lose weight, and even harder to keep it off."
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/weight-loss-rage-proteins/594073/
I agree that many people aren't up on food quantities; some cheat; periodically sneak food; or other issues.17 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I’m really hesitant to reply to you because I’ve posted in a very similar way before and, like you, have been shot down as an idiot and/or a liar. I am neither.
I’m shorter than you, at just on 5ft and lighter too, but still need to lose 2 stone to be where I would prefer to be. I’m 58 now but like you say, I used to be able to lose weight easier than I do these days. Back when I was 30 something and with 4 small children it was easy. I basically just stopped eating and the weight came off!
Even since my 20s I’ve been aware that unless I drop to sub 1000cals I do not lose weight. Closer to 800 if I’m perfectly honest. I’ve been weighing and logging (pen and paper before the internet and Apps like MFP were even thought of), so no, I’m not stupid - I know how to use a scale, I know the rough calorie counts of things from years and years of looking them up pre internet so I can sanity check the dodgy database. Anything new I log I check as many ways as I possibly can that the data is accurate yet still the stock answer here is ‘logging errors’.
There are definitely some shorter women out there who do not fit the safe 1200 cookie cutter mindset. I doubt we’ll change things so I choose to know my body better than they do (why wouldn’t I?) and not rock the boat with my apparently disturbing reality!
I wish you the very best on your journey. If you can figure out what works for you, then go with that. If that’s less than 1000 cals then don’t worry. If you think about it in terms of fuel and liken it to petrol (gas) consumption, bigger engines use more fuel than smaller ones so why is it surprising that smaller bodies require less fuel (food) than larger ones? I’ve been eating at sub 1000 cals most of my teen and adult life and I’m still alive and perfectly healthy. Ok, so I’m overweight right now, so not perfectly healthy, but that’s down to a recent hysterectomy and the enforced slow down, but I’ll get that back down soon enough, because I know how my body works and it works on less than some others say it ought to! Which changes nothing, it’s still how it works!
If you are perfectly healthy how do you explain having the calorie requirement of someone who weighs 80-85 pounds? If you are correct and you actually do maintain your weight at around 1000 calories you have damaged your metabolism with your 40ish years of under eating. I am not sure everyone knows exactly to what degree adaptive thermogenesis can slow a metabolism but you might make for an interesting case study.
OR
You never leave the bed and your activity and BMR are almost identical.
OR
Logging errors. It is nothing to be ashamed of really. It is VERY hard to capture every single calorie that passes our lips accurately. There are plenty of things I don't even bother to log right now like gum, mustard, vinegar, vitamins, herbs, spices, and tea. I do log my black coffee but I always just log the same amount even if I drink more of it. I am sure there is a day coming when I will have to be super diligent but it is not today. I don't look forward to it because it does seem pretty tedious to weigh and record everything... including that bite I of food I steal off my wife's plate occasionally. I have a large deficit so it is not required of me quite yet.
I would never argue that I may have damaged my metabolism over the years but, if so, that damage is done and still leaves me where I am - having to restrict still more to shift the pounds. Interestingly, when questions exposing the worry about damaging the metabolism come up on these forums (usually in the form of ‘starvation mode’) it is almost always dismissed as ‘a myth’ so it’s refreshing to see someone actually acknowledge the fact that the issue can be a little more complex than the calories in vs calories out mantra.
I can assure you I’m not bedbound! Whilst I’m not out running marathons or pumping iron, I’m a lot more active than many women my age. I walk well over the recommended 10k steps a day, cycle 15-20 miles on average 2-3 days a week (depends on the weather). I do a lot of housework, heavy gardening and all the diy and decorating. I also dabble with yoga in the confines of my bedroom! I live rurally so the availability of classes is very limited and I’m not much of a class joiner anyway!
I do log everything, even my black coffee, cup by cup, all the spices I use, if I use oil to cook then I log that too, although I tend to avoid cooking methods that require frying in oil, preferring to get my healthy fats in other ways. Logging errors are absolutely not accounting for the 500 calories (give or take) that would make the day by day difference between maintaining and losing!5 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I’m really hesitant to reply to you because I’ve posted in a very similar way before and, like you, have been shot down as an idiot and/or a liar. I am neither.
I’m shorter than you, at just on 5ft and lighter too, but still need to lose 2 stone to be where I would prefer to be. I’m 58 now but like you say, I used to be able to lose weight easier than I do these days. Back when I was 30 something and with 4 small children it was easy. I basically just stopped eating and the weight came off!
Even since my 20s I’ve been aware that unless I drop to sub 1000cals I do not lose weight. Closer to 800 if I’m perfectly honest. I’ve been weighing and logging (pen and paper before the internet and Apps like MFP were even thought of), so no, I’m not stupid - I know how to use a scale, I know the rough calorie counts of things from years and years of looking them up pre internet so I can sanity check the dodgy database. Anything new I log I check as many ways as I possibly can that the data is accurate yet still the stock answer here is ‘logging errors’.
There are definitely some shorter women out there who do not fit the safe 1200 cookie cutter mindset. I doubt we’ll change things so I choose to know my body better than they do (why wouldn’t I?) and not rock the boat with my apparently disturbing reality!
I wish you the very best on your journey. If you can figure out what works for you, then go with that. If that’s less than 1000 cals then don’t worry. If you think about it in terms of fuel and liken it to petrol (gas) consumption, bigger engines use more fuel than smaller ones so why is it surprising that smaller bodies require less fuel (food) than larger ones? I’ve been eating at sub 1000 cals most of my teen and adult life and I’m still alive and perfectly healthy. Ok, so I’m overweight right now, so not perfectly healthy, but that’s down to a recent hysterectomy and the enforced slow down, but I’ll get that back down soon enough, because I know how my body works and it works on less than some others say it ought to! Which changes nothing, it’s still how it works!
If you are perfectly healthy how do you explain having the calorie requirement of someone who weighs 80-85 pounds? If you are correct and you actually do maintain your weight at around 1000 calories you have damaged your metabolism with your 40ish years of under eating. I am not sure everyone knows exactly to what degree adaptive thermogenesis can slow a metabolism but you might make for an interesting case study.
OR
You never leave the bed and your activity and BMR are almost identical.
OR
Logging errors. It is nothing to be ashamed of really. It is VERY hard to capture every single calorie that passes our lips accurately. There are plenty of things I don't even bother to log right now like gum, mustard, vinegar, vitamins, herbs, spices, and tea. I do log my black coffee but I always just log the same amount even if I drink more of it. I am sure there is a day coming when I will have to be super diligent but it is not today. I don't look forward to it because it does seem pretty tedious to weigh and record everything... including that bite I of food I steal off my wife's plate occasionally. I have a large deficit so it is not required of me quite yet.
I would never argue that I may have damaged my metabolism over the years but, if so, that damage is done and still leaves me where I am - having to restrict still more to shift the pounds. Interestingly, when questions exposing the worry about damaging the metabolism come up on these forums (usually in the form of ‘starvation mode’) it is almost always dismissed as ‘a myth’ so it’s refreshing to see someone actually acknowledge the fact that the issue can be a little more complex than the calories in vs calories out mantra.
I can assure you I’m not bedbound! Whilst I’m not out running marathons or pumping iron, I’m a lot more active than many women my age. I walk well over the recommended 10k steps a day, cycle 15-20 miles on average 2-3 days a week (depends on the weather). I do a lot of housework, heavy gardening and all the diy and decorating. I also dabble with yoga in the confines of my bedroom! I live rurally so the availability of classes is very limited and I’m not much of a class joiner anyway!
I do log everything, even my black coffee, cup by cup, all the spices I use, if I use oil to cook then I log that too, although I tend to avoid cooking methods that require frying in oil, preferring to get my healthy fats in other ways. Logging errors are absolutely not accounting for the 500 calories (give or take) that would make the day by day difference between maintaining and losing!
The reason there is so much push back on "Starvation Mode" on the forums is that what you're describing i.e. metabolic adaptation from years of yo-yo dieting is not the same as "I ate 1200 calories for 6 weeks and now I can't lose weight because I am in starvation mode". Metabolic adaptation doesn't stop weight loss altogether, it slows it down. It is still a case of Energy In/Energy Out, just that your Energy Out would be lower than other people of your height and weight.11 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »Minkymoo2019 wrote: »I used to be able to loose weight quite easily. Since I have had my children this has changed. I've tried slimming world and other diets with no success unless I cut out a lot extra, which I didn't find sustsinable. I've put this down to me not following the diet properly. The last 3 months I have started good old fashioned calorie counting, weighing, measuring & logging. It's clear I don't start to loose weight unless I stick to 1000 calories or below! This is discouraging! At 1500 or even 1200 I just stay the same. I am 5ft 3in and 98kgs so have lots to loose. I have a seated job but walk a few miles daily.
Anyone else in this situation?
I’m really hesitant to reply to you because I’ve posted in a very similar way before and, like you, have been shot down as an idiot and/or a liar. I am neither.
I’m shorter than you, at just on 5ft and lighter too, but still need to lose 2 stone to be where I would prefer to be. I’m 58 now but like you say, I used to be able to lose weight easier than I do these days. Back when I was 30 something and with 4 small children it was easy. I basically just stopped eating and the weight came off!
Even since my 20s I’ve been aware that unless I drop to sub 1000cals I do not lose weight. Closer to 800 if I’m perfectly honest. I’ve been weighing and logging (pen and paper before the internet and Apps like MFP were even thought of), so no, I’m not stupid - I know how to use a scale, I know the rough calorie counts of things from years and years of looking them up pre internet so I can sanity check the dodgy database. Anything new I log I check as many ways as I possibly can that the data is accurate yet still the stock answer here is ‘logging errors’.
There are definitely some shorter women out there who do not fit the safe 1200 cookie cutter mindset. I doubt we’ll change things so I choose to know my body better than they do (why wouldn’t I?) and not rock the boat with my apparently disturbing reality!
I wish you the very best on your journey. If you can figure out what works for you, then go with that. If that’s less than 1000 cals then don’t worry. If you think about it in terms of fuel and liken it to petrol (gas) consumption, bigger engines use more fuel than smaller ones so why is it surprising that smaller bodies require less fuel (food) than larger ones? I’ve been eating at sub 1000 cals most of my teen and adult life and I’m still alive and perfectly healthy. Ok, so I’m overweight right now, so not perfectly healthy, but that’s down to a recent hysterectomy and the enforced slow down, but I’ll get that back down soon enough, because I know how my body works and it works on less than some others say it ought to! Which changes nothing, it’s still how it works!
If you are perfectly healthy how do you explain having the calorie requirement of someone who weighs 80-85 pounds? If you are correct and you actually do maintain your weight at around 1000 calories you have damaged your metabolism with your 40ish years of under eating. I am not sure everyone knows exactly to what degree adaptive thermogenesis can slow a metabolism but you might make for an interesting case study.
OR
You never leave the bed and your activity and BMR are almost identical.
OR
Logging errors. It is nothing to be ashamed of really. It is VERY hard to capture every single calorie that passes our lips accurately. There are plenty of things I don't even bother to log right now like gum, mustard, vinegar, vitamins, herbs, spices, and tea. I do log my black coffee but I always just log the same amount even if I drink more of it. I am sure there is a day coming when I will have to be super diligent but it is not today. I don't look forward to it because it does seem pretty tedious to weigh and record everything... including that bite I of food I steal off my wife's plate occasionally. I have a large deficit so it is not required of me quite yet.
I would never argue that I may have damaged my metabolism over the years but, if so, that damage is done and still leaves me where I am - having to restrict still more to shift the pounds. Interestingly, when questions exposing the worry about damaging the metabolism come up on these forums (usually in the form of ‘starvation mode’) it is almost always dismissed as ‘a myth’ so it’s refreshing to see someone actually acknowledge the fact that the issue can be a little more complex than the calories in vs calories out mantra.
I can assure you I’m not bedbound! Whilst I’m not out running marathons or pumping iron, I’m a lot more active than many women my age. I walk well over the recommended 10k steps a day, cycle 15-20 miles on average 2-3 days a week (depends on the weather). I do a lot of housework, heavy gardening and all the diy and decorating. I also dabble with yoga in the confines of my bedroom! I live rurally so the availability of classes is very limited and I’m not much of a class joiner anyway!
I do log everything, even my black coffee, cup by cup, all the spices I use, if I use oil to cook then I log that too, although I tend to avoid cooking methods that require frying in oil, preferring to get my healthy fats in other ways. Logging errors are absolutely not accounting for the 500 calories (give or take) that would make the day by day difference between maintaining and losing!
Did you ever have a metabolic testing done? That would tell you really where you area (provided you didn't starve yourself beforehand as that falsifies the results). Would be interesting to see what your resting metabolic rate really looks like5
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