Diet help Please!!!

You need to eat at 1200 calories a day to not go into starvation mode.... now saying that, eating back your calories is a good idea as well. I think sticking around the 1500 mark or above would be a good idea.... and yes cheat days arent a bad thing because if you restrain yourself too much, thats when binging comes into play.... as long as you don't have too many cheat days lol

Hey there, I'm a 34yo woman currently size 14 wanting to get to size 10 so lose around 14kg. I aim to eat 1200 calories a day and find for me I find that it is enough. You have to make sure that the calories are wisely spent though...eg drink skim milk to save calories in your coffee, eat low fat cheese to save calories there etc.

The secret to stopping your grumbly tummy is to make sure there is enough protein (google protein foods) and fibre in every meal and that you are drinking plenty of water and that should help your stomach feel full until your next meal. Make sure you eat wholegrains eg...grain bread instead of white...eating wholegrains (low GI foods) release energy slowly and take longer to digest so this will also aid in feeling fuller longer.

For example...have an egg on 7 grain toast for breakfast...if you find you're still hungry perhaps you might need to eat 2 eggs on the toast. Another protein food you could have here is baked beans....you could also consider avocado on toast as healthy fats can also satisfy your hunger. In 2-3 hours you may well be hungry...have some yoghurt and fruit as a snack...the yoghurt has protein in it. Or else, crackers and low fat cheese...cheese has protein in it. For lunch you could eat a lean meat and salad wrap. Or else sometimes I stir fry some chicken or beef and keep it in a container in the fridge and then heat it up and toss it through a garden salad to add protein to it. Add a small and measured serving of pine nuts or almond flakes to a salad to add some healthy fats/protein to your meal to help you feel full...chick peas or legumes such as four bean mix will also add protein to your salad to help you feel fuller. For an afternoon snack, you could have a small measured serving of almonds but only if you didn't add nuts to your lunchtime salad because although nuts are healthy and filling and a good source of good fat, they are calorie rich and eating them for lunch and afternoon tea will blow out your daily calorie intake. If you had them in your lunch salad then perhaps have crackers and cheese for arvo tea...or a piece of fruit or some yoghurt. For dinner lean meat and vegies/salad combinations.
If you want to be my friend on myfitnesspal, go into the friends section and add me gidget5 ljbrady@tpg.com.au - this way you can see my food diary each day. I think it helps to see other people's food diaries as it gives you fresh ideas of meals and snacks to eat. And also we can learn from their mistakes...eg I once ate a wendy's hotdog when out only to come home and find it was 800 cal just for that hotdog - YIKES! Won't be doing that again. My food diary isn't perfect...especially seeing as though I aim for only 1200 cal a day. Most days I'm within my limits, some days I'm not but even if I'm outside of it by 300 calories I know it's not the end of the world so long as those days are less than the days I'm within my limit. I've only been on here for 2 weeks and have lost 2.3kg already so I'm very pleased Best of luck in achieving your goal

Look at how you feel. If you feel like crap, you're not going to stick with it. If all you're focused on is reaching a particular weight as fast as possible, you're going to regain once you "go off your diet."

If you feel good at 1200 and can picture yourself eating that way the rest of your life, then maybe it's right for you. More likely you're feeling like you're denying yourself everything. Better to be less aggressive in that case. You've got your whole life to do this right, and the moment you start eating right and exercising, your body is reaping benefits, even if you haven't lost the weight yet.

If you plug in your goal weight and calculate how many calories it takes just to maintain that weight, how many does it recommend for the various activity levels?