weight loss so slow

Hi. Hope you are doing okay.

Firstly, you have to work out your BMR. You are Female, 5ft 2 and your starting weight was 172 pounds. Your starting BMR should have been 1,567 and I will have to presume that given your condition exercise may be limited so I will presume activity levels are low (apologies if not) but based on this we can work out that including exercise your daily calorie goal should have been 1,880 calories per day to maintain your weight.

However you want to lose weight. A pound is 3,500 calories, so with your height and weight it would be best if you were to lose 1 pound per week, so you have to divide 3,500 by 7 which equals 500. Then take your maintaining weight which is 1,880 calories and take 500 calories per day off that, so your goal should have been 1,380 to lose 1 pound per week.

So knowing this, lets work out what your goal should be today.

You are currently 144 pounds.

Your BMR plus your activity level equal's 1,734 calories. That is to maintain your current weight.

You have not said what your target weight is, however based on your height a good healthy weight for you would be 124 pounds, so let's say you have another 20 pounds to lose, even if your goal is lower or higher the following information applies.

So to maintain your weight you need to eat 1,734 calories per day. I would recommend losing 1 pound per week. So you need to eat 3,500 calories less per week which is 500 calories less per day.

This is 1,234 calories per day. This is quite low but accurate for your height and current weight.

However you say you are finding weight loss quite difficult so here are a few things to keep in mind.

You are very close to an ideal weight so the last few pounds are always the hardest and weight loss is a bit more difficult because you have much less fat to lose! Do not eat less than 1,200 calories, it is unhealthy for you and will make weight loss in the long run harder, so try to stick to the above goal as it is healthier. If you do get some exercise make sure you eat the extra calories you earned from exercise, or as close as possible. This creates a routine for your metabolism which will help defeat hunger when on a diet and in the long run it will shrink your desire for food!

I would not be confident enough to give dietry advice with your condition as I do not know enough about it, however if possible try and get the nutrition from fruit and veg with other food types that you can eat. Look for foods high in the following - Fiber, Iron, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Hope this all helps :-)

So nice of you to take so much time to help another!!

The way the biologists get calorie counts is by drying and then burning foods. They measure the energy the food puts out when burned, and that is its caloric, or energy, value.

I don't think most humans actually gain every calorie out of what they eat.

But with your slow bowel, it is entirely possible that you do. Heh. My daughter had a lazy bowel from birth, and she has always had rotten trouble with weight gain.

I've just noticed that the Optifast chocolate bars I'm eating have one gram of fibre per bar. it's about 200 cals, very filling, it kind of gives me the runs, it's a nutrition bar. is this a thought for you?

Not actually selling anything, it's just I was staring at my diary today thinking the cappucino ones had 4 grammes of fibre, why did the chocolate ones have only 1? And you with your fibre problems, I wondered if swopping one or two meals a day for these or some similar plan might assist.