Shocked by calories

[FasterMichelin]

I haven’t felt body confidence for a few years and have decided to make an attempt to lose a dress size, even if short lived. I’ve reinstalled Myfitness pal and am reducing my calorie consumption to 1200cals a day.

Saying I’m shocked by how much I normally eat is an understatement! For context, pre kids I was a size 10 and found it easy to maintain my weight, post kids im a wobbly 12, predominantly on my tummy. I was convinced until recently that it’s just my “mum-bod” and that having two pregnancies has taken its toll and my metabolism must have slowed.

But with my new found insight, I can honestly say that I have been massively overeating. A few biscuits here, toast every morning, slice of cake there, always accepting any offers of food, regardless whether I was hungry or not. I completely lost sight of how many calories I was eating and it’s shocking how quickly it all adds up.

Its made me realise that I can’t be alone. There must be so many of us who consume way too many calories through mindless eating. Especially when juggling a young family.

Do you calorie count? Do you know how many calories you usually eat everyday?

Granola is another shocker one, isn't it!? It's marketed as so 'healthy', I think they call it a 'health halo'.

A good friend of mine couldn't lose weight, no matter what she tried. I'd seen her very healthy lunch and dinner meals and thought 'wow, she must have a thyroid issue or something' because there was no way she was eating enough to be that overweight.

Well, then I went travelling with her, and at breakfast time, I watched as she poured a very large bowl of super sugary granola. It was easily 100g of granola. She then topped it with a huge portion of full fat Greek yoghurt, loads of honey, added almost half a cup of extra nuts etc. It would have been about 1000 calories worth of food in that bowl. Later in the day, she made comment like 'Oh, I might have an ice cream later because I just had a bit of granola for breakfast'.

'A bit of granola'.

Obviously I didn't say anything, because it's none of my business, but it shows how much food marketing can mislead people. I did that with peanut butter, another 'health halo' food, for a long time before I actually started weighing it out.

Mine's that Lizi's one, I have honestly til today never looked. It's nearly 300 per 50g. 13g fat. Unlucky 13!!

Like others have said I will sprinkle a teeny bit on some overnight oats or a yogurt until I've used it up, there's not much left its on my thighs ffs then never again will it darken my (cupboard) door

Your post about your friend's granola breakfast @movinghomeadvice reminds me of Secret Eaters. A reminder how important it is to measure and weigh everything when trying to lose weight.

I’m Im aiming for 1200 as I want to see some results fairly quickly. I’ve lived years feeling uncomfortable in my skin and I’m done with it. I don't want to feel uncomfortable, self conscious, and have nothing that looks good on me. Hopefully once I’ve lost the weight, I can increase to 1500 and maintain. I think that would be much more doable…

1200 is hard as it definitely means no treats but it’s proving ok at the minute. Wouldn’t be able to keep it up long term!

You get used to not snacking though

my mil is incredibly rigid - she eats a roll and cold meat for breakfast, has a slice of cake as a late lunch and then a normal dinner but she does not eat a bite of anything outside that time. And she hasn’t changed size in the 30 years I’ve known her!

Unless her evening meal is extremely veg heavy it doesn’t sound like a particularly healthy diet though! Weight isn’t the only barometer of health.

Tbf it is and she has fruit with her breakfast (and the cakes are very fruity!). She is a picture of health so she’s doing something right! And I tell a lie, she does sometimes have a snack but it is always an apple and only one a day!

Haven't RTFT but MyFitnessPal is known to recommend a too-low calorie goal. It will be really difficult to do 1200 cals, and it might lead to restrict-binge cycle. If you want long term change, would you be willing to aim a bit higher, for a bit longer? You can work out the cals you burn every day using a TDEE calculator, then reduce that by 10 - 20%. Yes it will take longer but it's less risky. And as the current popular saying goes: the downside is that it takes time; but time passes anyway.

Urgh, yes I’m in a very similar boat. I haven’t calorie counted for a long time but I know it is probably pretty terrible.

I would be eating 1300 a day to lose half a pound a week. Interminably slow. Easy to give up when its so slow. I'd rather eat far far less and see some quick wins over a shorter period and feel more motivated. To lose a stone I would have to eat that every single day for 6 months.

And how we’ve gotten to the point of so many people in WLI.

Our next generation need much more education. There’s just too much temptation out there!

I’ve tried to remember when the opportunity for a treat arises that chocolate and cake isn’t going anywhere. I can have in whenever I want in the future so no need to have it today… it’s working ok so far but the test will be whether I can maintain any weight loss!

Can you suggest the best vegetarian proteins? I’m also vegetarian and find I’m always lacking protein.

Egg is pretty good protein even the whites only if you want to reduce calories
Seitan/tofu/tempeh are the best vegan sources
Quark/cottage cheese are good low calorie vegetarian sources
Plain pea protein powder added to things

Yes me too! Tofu, eggs, Greek yoghurt, lentils and beans really. I do struggle to hit my goal but persist. I don’t like protein powers.

Oh yes love quark!

My children are a similar age and it’s the first time I’ve had the mental space to consider losing weight. Raising small children takes all your energy, doesn’t it!

I find I struggled when they were little because I didn’t have the inclination to cook myself a nutritious vegetarian meal when I was cooking the rest of the family a meat dish so would end up just eating the carbs

You don't have to eat a lot extra to increase calorie intake at all, handful of nuts and full fat dairy can add a lot!

Absolutely does! Every good intention of getting some exercise in at home once he goes to bed but in reality I wash up the lunchboxes and collapse on the sofa

I have tracked today though, so thank you again!

I used to calorie count years ago, had to start again to try to understand my weight given I felt I wasn’t eating that much, turns out I was eating 2200 calories a day. Which given I only really want to lose a stone (which is still a stone heavier than I should be) kind of cheered me up, means I should be able to maintain happily on 2000 calories. The problem is cutting the calories, I often feel like I’m starving at 1500. It’s really easy to overeat calories, only takes a few hundred calories more than you need to gain a few stone over time.

I’m trying to stick to 2 meals a day (plus a mini pack of m&s chocolate buttons, 100 calories), I try to make very high protein lunch usually chicken or tuna with protein pasta and a protein yoghurt and try to just prioritise protein at dinner. It’s the only way I can eat under 1600 calories. Managed about 1200 today and 123g protein.

You’re very welcome, best of luck!

I also really struggle to stay under 1500. Thankfully, other than losing the baby weight three times, I've only ever had to maintain, which I seem to do pretty well on approx 1750.

When I was doing 1500 to lose weight, it would also be something like:
B: Egg white omelette (1 egg, 100g egg white) no butter or oil in pan + slice of low cal toast
L: 120g grilled chicken, 150g steamed squash + other steamed veg and some kind of 0% greek yoghurt herby sauce that I'd make
AT: 170g skyr
D: 120g steak with the same 150g squash + veg combo
Some fruit
D: 1 tiny tube of mini M&Ms and a collagen hot chocolate.

Every single day for 3-4 months. Argh. I'd let myself have a full-cream milk flat white on a Saturday but that was it.

However, it worked and I lost the weight quickly. Thankfully, the extra 250 calories makes my life far more pleasant. It equates to two extra (very small!) snacks, an ice cream, or... my dirty secret is that I sometimes save the 250 calories and eat 250 calories worth of peanut butter at the end of the day, from a small cup with a teaspoon! DH thinks I'm mental but it's just so so good.

It's scary isn't it? I lost a lot of weight last year on Mounjaro and have been maintaining for the last 9 months but in order to do that without constantly calorie counting I have had to move to intermittent fasting (16:8) and no snacks.

Snacking was my downfall when I was overweight and obese. I could eat really healthily for my main meals but easily consume an extra 500 calories a day in snacks. A couple of biscuits here and there, some crackers and cheese after the kids had gone to bed etc and lo and behold I couldn't lose weight and instead it was actively creeping up.

I can't be bothered calorie counting anymore so it is much easier to tell myself that I eat at mealtimes but don't snack outside of that. I will have some dark chocolate after dinner once a week on a Saturday night but that's it. Doing 16:8 also helps and only eating in an 8 hour window as that's effectively knocked eating later in the evenings on the head.

I will relax a bit on holiday and at Christmas etc but I still weigh once a week and have an upper limit with my weight that if I go over, I have to shift as quickly as possible. What was happening previously is I'd put on say 6 lbs on a holiday, would lose 3 lbs but then stay at a slightly higher weight and slowly over time my weight was creeping up here and there in stages.

I think it's about finding what works for you to regulate how much food you eat, for some people it's calorie counting, others it's cutting processed foods, for me it's time restricted eating etc.

I have found weight has crept on with my children. I’ve recently restarted calorie counting and it has stopped me from:

1. hoovering up some of their leftovers
2. joining them for an icecream or bit of birthday cake.

I do think kids are tempted so often by junk just given the number of parties. It’s so easy to suddenly add quite a few empty calories each week by just eating a bit of their cake etc. it is really hard to be controlled when eating out or doing something socially as so much revolves around food.

In the past I’ve gone for 1200-1300 calories to lose weight but I’m trying a much slower approach at around 1600-1700 this time round with the hope that the gap between deficit and maintenance isn’t so big and it’s easier to maintain. 1200 feels like you have to be properly restrictive but 1600 feels like eating pretty normally.

Gosh, off the back of this thread Ive decided to install nutracheck and did my TDEE weight loss calories.

I ended up nearly 300 calories over and ended up eating a rice cake before bed to try and soothe my hunger!

Today I have bought a scale and I am shocked at my weight, the heaviest Ive ever been in my life.

So far today I have 798 calories left for dinner and snacks after a much more restrained breakfast and lunch.

Goodness me though. Shocked at my weight today 😐