1000 calories a day?

[Babs48]

I have had a problem with food my entire life and I am now at my heaviest weight at over 21 stone.

I have put on 11 stone in 2 and a half years (no joke!) as I have lost 8 stone before.

I have tried every diet going and I have found my problem to be that if I am not following a planned calorie controlled diet I can't get my head round what I need to be eating.

I usually eat around 5000 calories a day, I know this is horrendous but I cannot stress how big the problem is that I have with food.

I have been looking into the slim fast diet and I would be looking to be eating around 1000 calories a day.

I think because I am that much bigger I can afford the big cut in calories without any problems, what do you think?

I need to seriously start something and I need to routinely know what I have got to eat as that is what I am like without being on a diet.

[TheQueenOfSparta]

1000 calories is too low. Join myfitnesspal. It has been a real help to me and I've been losing 1 kg per week steadily, healthily and without feeling hunger. Upon joining, the app will ask you to put in your height and weight and it will return wit the amount of calories you need to eat in order to lose weight. Log in everything you eat, it will count your calories so you know how much you are allowed to eat. It does work. You can pm me if you want. Good luck!

[specialsubject]

please, please don't. Please, please please.

you don't give your height, but most women need about 2000 calories a day. Obviously you are eating 2.5 times as much which is why you are very fat.

please get some help with basic nutrition, meal planning and suitable exercise - at the moment you need to be careful not to hammer your joints. (can you swim?) this will get it off and stop the yo-yoing which is murderous for your health.

sounds like some psychiatric help would also be good - don't know what your issues are but faddy scammy diets won't help.

good luck.

[TooBigNow]

I would suggest that you get a copy of Paul McKenna's Freedom From Emotional Eating.

I bought it and have been amazed at how I have changed towards food.
Just like you I have always had a bad relationship with food and would binge eat foods like cheese and chocolate.
Since reading the book cover to cover, listening to the cd's and watching the dvd several times, I no longer crave foods.
I do listen to the track "Listen while you eat" with at least one meal a day still.
If I feel myself wavering, I listen to the cd again.
The dvd is fantastic for changing how you react to triggers.

Starving yourself just sets you up to over eat again.

[kellymu]

5000 to 1000 is too drastic. You'd be constantly hungry. I am into fitness and I have 12 calories per pound of body weight. I weigh 110 lbs and eat about 1320 calories a day. If you are 21 stone/294lbs eating 12 calories per pound would allow you to eat 3528 calories a day. I think this would allow you to loose weight. Good luck, don't be so hard on yourself :)

[sydlexic]

Agree with Kelly.

You are setting your self up to fail. Have you tried slimming world? It teaches you how to eat well but not count calories.

[piscivorous]

Please don't do that!
Two years ago I reached my heaviest ever which was not far short of what you are now and I felt just as desperate. I realised however that a crash diet would not be a good solution as I was likely to yoyo. I decided I had to change my way of eating permanently and develop a healthier long-term lifestyle rather than a temporary change

I began by cutting back on carbs as they are my weakness, I later joined the bootcamp threads on MN which give great support on reduced carb eating. I began going to the gym just once a week and trying to be a little bit more active inbetween times. I am now 3 to 3 1/2 stone down and I eat a very natural, healthy diet of meat, fish or eggs, yoghurt, fruit and veg. It has been a slow and steady progress whereas before I have always lost weight quickly then given up and regained it.

You need to find a way to make a permanent change to your life, SlimFast is just a sticking plaster. I agree that there is a lot of psychology behind weight gain and loss so you need to have some support, either professional, a weight loss club (like WW or SW) or like I did with the bootcamp threads.

Good luck OP. Join bootcamp if you think lowering carbs may help you. I can say honestly it's the best thing I ever did

[Sleepwhenidie]

The last thing you need is another diet...of any kind. You say it yourself in your OP, they do not work. You may need educating on portion size and what foods are best to choose and why but more importantly you need to work through the issues behind your relationship with food and body. The PM method is supposed to be very helpful for emotional eating and works for many, there are also several books you could read (Overcoming Emotional Eating, On Eating, The Gift of Our Compulsions are three for a start), or seek out some counselling, your GP could maybe refer you if you can't afford private.