How do you stay within your calorie budget?
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sugarfreesquirrel
Posts: 268 Member
I tend to be quite greedy and don't want to stop eating. I'm not sure how to stretch my calories out and what changes to make. My tendancy is to make a goal to burn thousands of calories a day but it hasn't been sustainable. I'm like, yep, I'm do 15,000 steps everyday, but then I wake up and I don't want to do it. I can't do most sports or gym because I have never ending covid like symptoms and no one wants to be near me. I just need to learn how to eat less or lower calories and I don't know how. I also want to lose weight quickly which means a deficit of at least 500 calories a day which I know is dumb as well. I have about 52kg to lose, so I know the weight will come off faster at first but I don't know if I need a bigger deficit.
If anyone could point me towards some posts about stretching out your calories or making better food choices that would be good. Thank you
If anyone could point me towards some posts about stretching out your calories or making better food choices that would be good. Thank you
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Replies
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Losing weight quickly is not a good idea. Cutting your calories too much can lead to overwhelming hunger and binging cycles---and yes an ED. Exercise isn't necessary for weight loss, but you'll have a better body at the end, and it helps mentally while doing the process. You have to make your body your friend and have it work for you. Feed it the correct amount and you'll soon feel the difference.
First off, you don't need to burn thousands of calories a day. Start smaller and you can always ramp up. Pick something you like doing and can keep up--form a habit.
If you decide not to exercise, then your body needs fewer calories. You'll have to try different foods and combinations to see what works for you. There are many threads on the subject if you do a search. I live in Italy and we have the Mediterranean way of eating, so I work within that.
Wishing you luck. You'll need to be persistent and just never give up. That's the way to success.2 -
@snowflake954 I already walk 20-30 minutes a day. Once I've lost another 6kg I'll start using my scooter again. Pokemon go keeps me outside.
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sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »@snowflake954 I already walk 20-30 minutes a day. Once I've lost another 6kg I'll start using my scooter again. Pokemon go keeps me outside.
Curious. Why would you use your scooter after you lose 6 kg? People who think they'll lose the weight and then go back to life as usual regain--with friends. The better way to think is to establish habits and a way of eating that you can continue long term. After weight loss, many people find maintaining hard. People on here that are successful have a plan for the end so they'll keep the weight off. I'd encourage you to do that.1 -
@snowflake954 Theres a weight limit for the scooter
I'm not planning on ditching the changes I make once I hit goal, I just need to figure out how to stay within my calories. I'm making a plan but I feel like I still need a bit of help.
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Easy. I dont eat over processed hyper palatable *kitten* mega companies invest billions of r&d on
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Willpower is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets
That being said, it does pay to make things as easy as possible for yourself. Setting unrealistically high exercise goals doesn't help, nor does it help to try and lose weight very fast. Slower weight loss = more calories to eat!
While calories are king for weight loss, the food choices you make can have a huge impact on how satiated you feel. Increasing protein and fiber intake tends to help many people feel more satiated. Some people enjoy 'high volume' eating: lots of lower calorie high volume foods (like vegetables) to bulk up your meals. Some people feel more satiated eating low carb.
Meal timing can also impact how satiated you feel. For example: I tried to follow the '6 small meals spread over the day' recommendation and I was miserable because those small meals never filled me up. What works better for me: a small breakfast or none at all, a larger lunch and dinner and an evening snack.3 -
I’m going to come out of the closet and say, an exercise disorder is no better than an eating disorder, and that’s where you’re headed with that kind of thinking.
It’s also painful, due to nonstop wear and tear on joints muscles and body. Plus, you spend so many hours a day working out, life becomes nothing but a snack bridge between the next workout. And then there’s the numbing exhaustion.
Don’t go this route.
Eat less, exercise less, live more. The weight will still come off.
And do it all slow and mindfully, creating habits you will keep forever.
Never thought those words would pass my lips. Hi, I’m Spring and I exercise too much. Heed my words. 😬
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springlering62 wrote: »I’m going to come out of the closet and say, an exercise disorder is no better than an eating disorder, and that’s where you’re headed with that kind of thinking.
It’s also painful, due to nonstop wear and tear on joints muscles and body. Plus, you spend so many hours a day working out, life becomes nothing but a snack bridge between the next workout. And then there’s the numbing exhaustion.
Don’t go this route.
Eat less, exercise less, live more. The weight will still come off.
And do it all slow and mindfully, creating habits you will keep forever.
Never thought those words would pass my lips. Hi, I’m Spring and I exercise too much. Heed my words. 😬
I can so relate to this. For most of my life, I exercised to keep weight off but always ran into problems when I couldn't exercise. I kept eating the same and then gained it all back. I knew I needed to fix my diet but kept up the pattern for years. When it finally sunk into my brain that I cannot exercise away a bad diet, I was able to keep the weight off. And my diet wasn't terrible - I ate a lot of fruits and vegetables but I ate excessive portions of everything. And probably more sweets than I should.
My personal motto now is "Eat a variety of foods but everything in moderation." Nothing is forbidden. But instead of a plateful of pasta, I have a reasonable portion. I may mix in a cup of cooked veggies into it to make it seem more substantial. A couple bites of cake or ice cream keeps the sweet cravings away. I have now kept the 25# off for almost 5 years when I used to regain it every 6 months like clockwork. I still exercise but it is not the main way I keep the weight off any more.
Good luck!
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Thanks everyone. My thinking has definately been disordered (going on 20 years!), but I need to lose weight because I have fatty liver and diabetes, and I also want to inspire my family to be healthy because I'm scared they'll drop dead or something.1
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I get annoyed when I can't exercise that day or if my weight goes up, even though I know weight is supposed to fluctuate.1
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Like we were saying in your pasta thread, upping your protein and veggies may help fill you up better.
Understanding satiety: feeling full after a meal
...Tips on how to feel fuller
So how can we best try to enhance these feelings of fullness to help us control how much we eat? Here are some top tips for helping you feel fuller:- Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied. Foods high in protein include meats such as chicken, ham or beef, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
- If you are watching your weight, opt for lower fat versions, using leaner cuts of meat, cutting off visible fat and avoiding the skin on poultry as this will help reduce the energy density of the diet, which can help to enhance satiety (see below).
- Foods that are high in fibre may also enhance feelings of fullness so try to include plenty of high-fibre foods in the diet such as wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruit and vegetables.
- Alcohol seems to stimulate appetite in the short-term and therefore drinking alcohol is likely to encourage us to eat more. Alcoholic beverages can make you forget about your intentions to eat healthily by making you lose your inhibitions. Alcoholic drinks are also calorific, so you should cut down on alcohol consumption if you are trying to control your weight.
- The ‘energy density’ of food has a strong influence on feelings of fullness or satiety. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food. Lower energy density foods provide less energy per gram of food so you can eat more of them without consuming too many calories. Low energy density foods include fruit and vegetables, foods with lots of water added when cooking such as soups and stews, and lower fat foods. Click here for more information on energy density.
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Any smart food swaps or snacks or whatever?
Things I've heard of:
-Have sweet potato instead of potato
-Brown bread instead of white bread
-Cauliflower rice instead of white rice or mixed with, or brown rice
-Remove burger buns from burgers and just eat the middles
-Order thin crusts on pizzas1 -
sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »Any smart food swaps or snacks or whatever?
Things I've heard of:
-Have sweet potato instead of potato
-Brown bread instead of white bread
-Cauliflower rice instead of white rice or mixed with, or brown rice
-Remove burger buns from burgers and just eat the middles
-Order thin crusts on pizzas
This Is one I've never understood. Similar calorie amounts, and I personally find sweet potato so easy to overeat while potato is much more filling.2 -
sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »Any smart food swaps or snacks or whatever?
Things I've heard of:
-Have sweet potato instead of potato
-Brown bread instead of white bread
-Cauliflower rice instead of white rice or mixed with, or brown rice
-Remove burger buns from burgers and just eat the middles
-Order thin crusts on pizzas
This Is one I've never understood. Similar calorie amounts, and I personally find sweet potato so easy to overeat while potato is much more filling.
I feel like sweet potato has more flavour, so you add less toppings to it and don't need to eat as much to be satisfied.1 -
sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »Any smart food swaps or snacks or whatever?
Things I've heard of:
-Have sweet potato instead of potato
-Brown bread instead of white bread
-Cauliflower rice instead of white rice or mixed with, or brown rice
-Remove burger buns from burgers and just eat the middles
-Order thin crusts on pizzas
This Is one I've never understood. Similar calorie amounts, and I personally find sweet potato so easy to overeat while potato is much more filling.
I feel like sweet potato has more flavour, so you add less toppings to it and don't need to eat as much to be satisfied.
You mean baked whole? That's not the way I usually eat my (sweet) potatoes, so usually no toppings involved for me. I tried eating baked sweet potatoes once (without toppings). I could eat a lb or more, hence my conclusion that they are way less satiating than regular potatoes, at least to me.2 -
OMG so many substitutions……
Diet soda for full sugar
Sugar free lattes with skim versus the calorie laden coffee shop drinks
Low fat yogurt and cottage cheese versus full fat
Lower cal cuts of meat versus the fattier ones
Liquid egg whites for eggs
Applesauce for oil or butter when making cakes or brownies
Part skim cheeses versus full fat
Full fat “soft ball” mozarella versus shredded. The stuff you shred yourself is lower cal, even full fat, than the part skim shredded. Happy day when I learned that!
I cut my homemade pizza crust recipe in half and still make a satisfying full sized pizza.
Walden Farms zero cal syrups and salad dressings
Sweet balsamic vinegar in leiu of salad dressings or syrups (it’s fabulous over fruit)
Salsa is very low cal and can be used as everything from a sauce to a salad dressing to a marinade
I threw a pork roast seasoned with honey aleppo, liquid smoke, salt and pepper in the crockpot a couple of days ago, intending to add some bbq sauce at the end. It was so fragrant I didn’t have to add anything else and it was delicious on toast.
Lewis Bakeries low cal breads are quite good. I often use a single 30 cal slice in leiu if a hotdog or burger bun. Serving that shredded pork in the toast was also delicious.
A Carb Smart type soft tortilla as a wrap for lunch sandwiches or as a tortilla. A large tortilla is about 35 cal or so.
Stir fry on cauliflower rice, or even better, “real” rice mixed with cauliflower rice. It’s also great with red beans and sausage poured over it, and cauliflower is negligible calories. It’s so visually similar to rice it even tastes like it if it’s mixed with rice. Great bulk extender.
Browning meat? Invest in a Ninja nonstick skillet (no Teflon etc). If you preheat it very hot for five minutes or so, you can brown meats or stir fry with no oils and it cleans up with a simple swish of the sponge. It also goes straight in the oven.
When you put your mind to it, there’s almost always a lower cal substitution.
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springlering62 wrote: »OMG so many substitutions……
Diet soda for full sugar
Sugar free lattes with skim versus the calorie laden coffee shop drinks
Low fat yogurt and cottage cheese versus full fat
Lower cal cuts of meat versus the fattier ones
Liquid egg whites for eggs
Applesauce for oil or butter when making cakes or brownies
Part skim cheeses versus full fat
Full fat “soft ball” mozarella versus shredded. The stuff you shred yourself is lower cal, even full fat, than the part skim shredded. Happy day when I learned that!
I cut my homemade pizza crust recipe in half and still make a satisfying full sized pizza.
Walden Farms zero cal syrups and salad dressings
Sweet balsamic vinegar in leiu of salad dressings or syrups (it’s fabulous over fruit)
Salsa is very low cal and can be used as everything from a sauce to a salad dressing to a marinade
I threw a pork roast seasoned with honey aleppo, liquid smoke, salt and pepper in the crockpot a couple of days ago, intending to add some bbq sauce at the end. It was so fragrant I didn’t have to add anything else and it was delicious on toast.
Lewis Bakeries low cal breads are quite good. I often use a single 30 cal slice in leiu if a hotdog or burger bun. Serving that shredded pork in the toast was also delicious.
A Carb Smart type soft tortilla as a wrap for lunch sandwiches or as a tortilla. A large tortilla is about 35 cal or so.
Stir fry on cauliflower rice, or even better, “real” rice mixed with cauliflower rice. It’s also great with red beans and sausage poured over it, and cauliflower is negligible calories. It’s so visually similar to rice it even tastes like it if it’s mixed with rice. Great bulk extender.
Browning meat? Invest in a Ninja nonstick skillet (no Teflon etc). If you preheat it very hot for five minutes or so, you can brown meats or stir fry with no oils and it cleans up with a simple swish of the sponge. It also goes straight in the oven.
When you put your mind to it, there’s almost always a lower cal substitution.
Thank you sooo much! such a helpful post 2 -
Up your protein and veg, and reduce your carbs. I have 1520 cals a day to play with and I struggle to eat them because of doing this. Carbs spike your sugars so they make you feel hungry when they do the sudden drop. Stopping them, or reducing them dramatically prevents this happening in your body. Your body becomes calmer, and you stop craving food, you only become hungry when your genuinely hungry. It's brilliant.1
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Snap, I've got a medium term goal of 40kg loss, but ultimately I need to lose just over 50kg to see a "healthy" BMI.
I'm a volume eater too, so I load my plate with veggies. It's not unusual for me to have close to a lb of vegetables with dinner! I also keep my carbs on the law side and eat a hefty serve of protein with each meal - bah to this "palm sized piece" malarkey!0 -
Lots of veggies. A big "side" salad (with very light dressing) before the meal. Higher protein (it is more satiating for me - so the veggies help fill me up at first, and the protein kicks in later and helps me stay feeling full). Lower carbs. It doesn't take much fat to hit your target, so reducing added fat is an easy way to trim calories (so mashed potatoes with the cooking water instead of butter, low fat sour cream instead of some high calorie sauces and butter, etc).
Exercise helps, so does building muscle overall as it increases your metabolism (aka your 24/7 burn). I find exercise is key to being able to eat enough to feel satisfied, but it's NOT there to burn up my bad diet - like others have said, you can't outrun a bad diet forever.
Low or no calorie snacks - pickles are a favorite for me (as long as sodium isn't an issue).0
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