New to MFP...major struggles

Try buying a food scale and weighing out your food. I used to not eat portion sizes at all and now I weigh and check the calories in everything. It will make you more aware of how much calorie intake you are getting

Try not to feel overwhelmed. This is a new system to you and it will take a little time to learn the basics.

In addition to what the others have said:

1) Give yourself permission to go over your calories right now as you dial all this in. It doesn't mean you won't lose weight unless you wipe out your entire deficit. If you have selected to lose 1 pound per week your deficit is 500 calories, if you selected to lose 1.5 it is 750, and if you selected to lose 2 it is 1000. This means you can eat up to that much more and still lose some weight it just won't be at your full rate.

2) Your calorie goal is pretty low but assuming it is correct how is your protein intake and fiber? Many people find those two things help control their hunger. Others find fat helps and still others carbs.

When I started out I gave myself a range of between 1600-1000 (I had issues with not eating as well as binge eating) what you are essential wanting to do when you start is develop a habit (and break some bad ones) don’t kick yourself for being hungry. Our bodies tend to want comfort and it’s hard to retrain the brain to identify what that is. I started counting calories each meal, supplementing with whey protein shakes until I got used to dropping portion sizes. I never used to eat during the day and would over eat dinner, so doing a smoothie for breakfast and one for lunch helped cut the initial calories, leaving more to work with for that one meal. I drank a lot of water to curb my desire to eat even when I knew I wasn’t really hungry. Didn’t even exercise in the beginning month just because I wanted to just focus on one thing. But be vigilant on entering what you eat in the food diary, over time you will notice patterns of what you eat and how you feel. I know for me, I had a huge amount of inflammation and it flares up if I go over 200 g of carbs. So I stick to under 100/150. Do I sometimes go over? Of course, but I know it will mean more achy the next day. The slower you go, the more sustainable the life long healthy eating can be. It’s not a DIE -it but a LIVE-it. I’ve been doing this over a year, and just passed my 100# mark. I added in walking a mile a day (which started with just 5 minutes walking each morning-think building the habit first then increase time/distance) and if your brain says “I don’t want to.,,” tell yourself “so” you’ll selftalk any excuse to quit but be mindful that if you give in to the excuse today, you’ll have one tomorrow and nothing will change. Be strong, you are fighting yourself and you know all your tricks.

HappyHealthyMeS wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

How much do you weigh and what is your goal?
Your calorie goal is very low, but that might be because you have chosen an aggressive rate of loss, which might not be appropriate.

Also, how active are you in daily life? What activity level did you choose on MFP?
And are you exercising or not? If you are exercising, are you logging it on MFP and eating back (part of) those calories?

I weigh 11 stone and want to get down to 9.7. I chose to lose 1lb a week. I have an office job so not very active so I chose that. However, working from home during lockdown has meant that we have been going for long walks each day.

Are you logging your exercise and eating back those calories? That's how MFP is designed to work. You also have the option to choose a more reasonable weight loss goal -- that will give you more calories each day. Many people find it is easier to lose weight consistently when they have more calories per day because it reduces the number of days where you "break" due to hunger and go over your calorie goal. It's better to regularly hit a goal that puts you at a moderate deficit than to just sometimes hit a goal that will put you at a steeper one.