1500 calories a day is too much

SiyaManqele wrote: »

Justin_7272 wrote: »

SiyaManqele wrote: »

before you say I might not be measuring my food correctly trust me I am.

followed by "I haven't been using a food scale."

You're very likely eating more than you think. Buy a food scale that measures down to grams, weigh and log your food (everything) accurately, and get back to us.

I'm definitely getting a food scale but what puzzles me is how am I loosing weight if I'm eating more than I think. My issue is that I get full very quick. Remember I used to eat once a day now I'm forced to eat 3 times plus 2 snacks which is new to me. The weight I want to loose is from my bad eating when I do eventually eat something and also from drinking too much beers.

Two things can be true. You can be eating more than you think you are. You can be in a calorie deficit. These aren't mutually exclusive states.

Right now what you're doing is working. The potential concern for later is if you stop losing weight and need to adjust your calorie intake -- that's harder to do when you're roughly estimating what you're eating.

Trish1c wrote: »

Have you given up the beers?

One of the reasons that weight loss regimes encourage you to drink more water is that the liquid contributes to the feelings of being full. If you are drinking a lot of beer, then you feel full even though you have consumed fewer & better food calaories. Yes, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie but you have to look at the macros too to see that you are getting protein & fiber.

Your prior bad habit of eating only once per day may have triggered a starvation response in your body. If your system thinks there is no source of food it can hang on to every calorie it gets, thwarting weight loss. Good for you for eating more times per day.

Some of these changes take time to see. The things I'm learning is to let go of the "shoulds"; do what works for you & don't be a slave to some arbitrary #.

Hang in there.

Your body isn't going to think you're starving if you eat just once a day. Our bodies are remarkably adaptable when it comes to eating schedules. There are many people here who have great weight management results eating within a limited window (or even one meal a day) because it fits their lifestyle and preferences better.

Choosing how many times to eat a day can be based on preferences, it doesn't have to hit an arbitrary number for weight loss to happen.

I would suggest not futzing with the meal schedule, macros, and other diet administrivia for now. People, in general, not saying you the OP specifically, just people in general, tend to greatly over-complicate what is actually a fairly simple thing. You already know if you eat your 1500 cals you'll lose around a pound a week, and you seem happy with the weight loss. Divide up those cals however you want, 1 meal or 6 meals, 60 % carbs or 10 % carbs, lettuce or a box of processed food, none of it matters as far as losing weight is concerned. Just eat what you like but count those calories like a precise accountant-madman with numbers OCD and eat your 1500 (or count them loosely and continue to eat what you think is 1200 but is actually around 1500 - either way is fine). In X weeks, you'll have lost approximately (X * 1) pounds and then you can take stock of where you're at, savor the win, and fine-tune if you feel like it.

The thing is, you're losing the weight you want to lose. So ... rinse and repeat.