When did you get 'more energy'?

My increased energy levels are more related to getting back to regular exercise, the fitter I am the more energy I have for both exercise and day to day activities.

If you are "hungry and tired" maybe you are trying to lose too quickly or for too long a period without a diet break?

How much weight do you have to lose? If it's a lot simply carrying around a substantial amount of extra weight is tiring.

Gradually.

It sort of feeds upon itself and it's not really all about the weight loss for me and may not be the weight loss at all.

I started logging because I was eating an obscenely low amount of protein and I wanted to see if upping that (not caring if I lost weight) helped me feel better. It did. I had fewer energy crashes and stopped taking naps. Then I started taking little casual walks in addition to my sports stuff (which I already/always did). Somewhere between not napping and some walking I started sleeping decently, at night. Those two things were the primary driver for more energy to start with. I got protein, I moved, I slept.

And I lost less than 5lbs a month most months, meaning my deficit was never crazy, even when I was obese, so I was still decently enough fueled to feel good.

"Hungry and tired" may very well be an indicator that your calorie deficit is too steep. Calories are energy. Regular exercise and eating well did more for my energy levels than simply losing weight. Losing weight just made day to day type of things as well as exercise easier because I wasn't hauling around extra pounds.

I started feeling like I had more energy when I started exercising regularly. I didn't really change much in terms of what I was eating, just how much, but--shock and surprise--turns out when you start your day by moving your body for half an hour, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

But 1kg a week weight loss still needs a huge calorie deficit to (try to) achieve that rate of loss.
Going back to your OP - hoping to feel more energised when you are trying to cut 1,100cal of energy out of your daily diet is very optimistic.

Direction not speed, sustainability not misery and failure.....

jenpobble wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your comments.

I think from what you have all said that my deficit is too great. It just feels easier to eat less than find time for more exercise (I do walk my dog at least an hour per day) but I think that's what I need to try to do.

I've also made my food diary public. My settings are to lose 1kg a week (SW 120kg, current 111.7) which is less than 1%. (I'm female, 43, 168cm).

It looks like just the last few of recent days are logged (that's not a criticism, just a statement that I don't have much recent diary there to comment on).

In those few days, you're a little under your goals for fat and protein, but not by extremely far. (Some people find those filling; some find them important for energy.)

But the main thing: You're eating hundreds of calories under your goal calories most of those days. Your goal - if you set up MFP per instructions - is a number to hit close to (little high, little low, no big deal), not a number to beat by hundreds of calories.

It looks like your goal may have been 1700 to start on Saturday. It looks like you have a device synched. The exercise calories don't seem particularly high for the lifestyle you describe, though it's hard to tell . . . and there are some issues with the Apple calorie adjustment, for some.

At your goal of 1700, on Saturday you logged 1388 calories (when your goal with exercise calories was 2069), Sunday 1209 (of 1860), Monday (which looks like it may be a full day, not sure since it's still Monday here; and looks like you might have increased your target loss rate or manually decreased your goal?) 1194 of 1200 with no exercise adjustment.)

When I do an estimate at Sailrabbit (https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/), the estimates for your BMR (basal metabolic rate, the amount you'd burn in a coma, just by being alive, immobile) are around 1800. There's not a hard and fast rule not to eat below BMR, but maybe sort of a caution flag, as a sign to give it a think whether your goal is too aggressive. (Oversimplifying, the higher the total all-source physical and psychological stress in your life, the more likely that you should avoid the added physical stress of trying to lose really fast.)

Please, at least eat up near (over/under) your calorie goal. If you're hungry and fatigued, I'd strongly suggest eating at least your estimated BMR for a while. Your daily life, including the dog-walks, burn calories too, so you'd still expect to lose weight, probably around half a kg a week, which is a fine loss rate. There's no need to target the fastest possible rate, especially if it's unsustainable. On top of that, low energy is a sign that you're probably burning fewer calories from daily life activity than you could if you weren't dragging, so the reduction in loss rate from eating more might not be as major as you'd think.

Eat more. Give it a week to see if you feel better. Let us know how you're doing.

If you see a small scale jump when you bump calories up a bit, don't let that worry you: It isn't fat, it's just adjustments in water weight and digestive contents from the added food. Fat is what you're trying to lose (I presume), so don't worry about weight bobbles that are about water or waste in transit.

Hang in there. You can do this. It always takes a little figuring out!