Broken body?

No it’s not broken. Weight loss takes time. You can’t lose if you can’t stick to it for more two weeks. It takes consistency and dedication.

I want add this. 1200 calories maybe too low for you. What are stats?

storminacoffeemug9 wrote: »

snowflake954 wrote: »

storminacoffeemug9 wrote: »

Just set it to 1lb loss per week and it says 1750 calories. This seems very high

You need to try it for several weeks and see how it goes. You can always add or subtract calories then. However, for someone that eats 3500-4000 calories when "letting go", 1750 seems a lot less. As we're all saying--middle of the road, not extremes. You need to change your mindset.

Yes I understand.
I honestly never thought of it as going from one extreme to the other, I just thought going from a lot of calories to a little would equal a big weekly loss for the first few months.
Thank you.

I mean, you're right, it would. The problem is that that's not safe or sustainable - you've seen yourself it's not sustainable for more than a couple of weeks for you, and I think that's true of most people, anyone would be hard-pressed to sustain that for very long. Extreme calorie restriction puts a lot of stress on the body, which makes life in general much harder than it needs to be. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Speed isn't the name of the game here, it's sustainability.

When you reach GW, you will still need to eat and food will still have calories. So, in the process of becoming a person who weighs 10st, you need to learn how to eat like a person who weighs 10st. But jumping straight there will just result in you starving and suffering the whole time, and then when you get to 10st you'll feel like you're "done" doing whatever it is and go back to your normal life...which is how you got to 17st. So, start eating like someone who weighs 16st until you weigh 16st. Then start eating like someone who weighs 15st until you get there. It's a gradual process, I'm sure you've seen people use the term "lifestyle change" and that's what it really has to be.

This really resonates with me.

When you succeed in losing, you celebrate and fall off the wagon. When you don't lose, you despair and fall off the wagon. I think (for me at least, maybe for you) it is because of an unhealthy mindset with regards food which diet alone can't fix. For whatever reason, for some of us food becomes our reward, our comfort, our coping mechanism. And so when we have to moderate it, we're not just moderating how full we feel or how our bodies feel. We're having to moderate our emotions and our feelings and the thing we've relied on to support them.

And that's tough. Really tough. So first off, give yourself a break. Go easy on yourself and forgive yourself when you get it wrong. You're asking a lot of your body and your mind.

I haven't it sussed yet. I'm a month in to trying to restrict calories to lose 2lbs a week (I'm 5' 8" and started at 220lbs). I'm on 1750 calories a day on average. It is frustratingly slow. After my first week with lots of water weight loss, I've averaged 4lbs in three weeks. Lower than I want, and lower than my calories in/calories out imply I should be losing. But I've tried to change my mindset this time: it's a marathon, not a sprint. There's all sorts of things going on in my body that I don't understand with water weight or other fluctuations. So I'm sticking to my plan for at least a few months to see how I get on.

But I absolutely understand the impulse to ditch it all when the scales seem to go in the wrong direction (or the right direction too slowly) and to celebrate with food when it goes well. This is the longest I've lasted on this sort of approach - starting week five.

Things that have worked for me, that might be worth trying for you:

(1) Don't rule anything out. If you want chocolate, have chocolate. Just have it within your calorie limit.

(2) Do baby steps. Start by getting your meals right. If you snack loads around your meals, fine - just focus on one bit at a time. Maybe spend a week or two making sure you're getting a good filling breakfast. Then maybe add focus on your lunch. Then a few weeks later focus on dinner. Or do it all at once if you can manage it. It's not about saying you're not allowed to snack, it's about consciously giving your body the best chance of not wanting to snack - except as part of planned snacking within your calories.

(3) Give yourself LOTS of water. When you want to reach for crisps, drink a glass of water. When you want a chocolate bar, give yourself a glass of water first. You're not saying NO to the snacking, you're just saying 'later, after I've drank this 500ml of water'. You might still want the snack afterwards. Of the drink might just remind your body that it doesn't need the snack, and you remember that you'd prefer to have your chocolate later on after dinner when you'll enjoy it more.

(4) Log everything. Before you have it. By logging all my meals for the day in the morning, I know how many calories I can then use for other things, including snacks. That again means that nothing is forbidden, you're just making a choice about which snacks you want on a specific day. And logging in advance is great at giving you pause to think 'do I really want these crisps now when I could have two small chocolate bars tonight instead'. Seeing the calories in black and white before you eat something is a great way of stopping grazing and making better decisions but without telling yourself that certain things are verboten.

(5) Allow yourself some time each week when you can have a bit more freedom without thinking of it as a cheat day or a free for all. Still weigh and log everything. Still aim for three solid meals. Just give yourself some extra calories to play around with. This will mean you can still have those high calorie treats that you might not fit into your calorie allowance most days, and avoid feeling deprived. For me it's cakes and biscuits - during the week I have some go to chocolate bars that are low calorie but nice and satisfying (Curly Wurly's are only 97 calories!) but sometimes I just want a nice chunk of buttery shortbread or cake. Knowing that I can incorporate them into my week helps me avoid feeling like I'm on a diet.

(6) Find something you like doing that you can't or won't do while eating. Go for a walk. Knit. Play video games. Have these activities on reserve for when your head hunger is getting to you. And when you just can't shake that 'I want to stuff my face but i can't because it will put me over my calories' feeling, do your activity. Something to take your mind off it.

(7) Understand your strengths and weaknesses. My strength is that I don't need variety in my meals. I can have really boring meals and that's ok with me. So I can do really predictable calories, and make choices that make my meals more dull but cut calories. My weakness is sweets. Once you know what your strengths are, you can maximise them. And you can use them to combat your weaknesses.

I'm still early on - so these might still fail me. And I have not yet grappled with the emotional side of my eating. But these rules have helped me for the last month, so fingers crossed they'll keep me going.

What I would address is your depression and anxiety. Which likely is leading to your inconsistency with eating behavior. Therapist here would help to identify and help you get through it. Which then intern helps with self confidence and weight loss. It's a double win.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition