How on earth do I lose weight? How did you?

[JustTheLemons]

Apologies for starting an AIBU but I have posted before in weight loss chat and not got much response.

I need to lose about 60 pounds, and I'm determined. I've recently got a binge eating habit under control, and for the last two weeks I've been sticking with 1500 calories a day as well as an hour long walk every lunch. I've gained 2 pounds!

I really don't understand how I can go from bingeing loads of calories a day to cutting them out and walking and gain weight! What am I doing wrong? I had been told that CICO was the easy way to do it but it's not seemingly working for me- I am now considering Atkins but I worry that's too restrictive for day to day.

Any help much appreciated!

My normal intake without losing weight is around 1500. I have to go down to 800-100 to lose weight, I am older though so my metabolic rate is slower.

maybe you are simply still eating too much.

Your hour long walk unless you are going at 4mph or more and doing gradients will only use around 200 cals- 2 slices of bread or 2 sweet biscuits.

When I need to lose a few pounds I cut out most carbs except for one small portion a day of either wholegrain rice or oats. (small portion is 30gms.)

I eat eggs, chicken, fish, loads of fruit and veg (but not grapes, bananas or other high sugar fruit), nuts, full fat Greek yoghurt, small piece of cheese. eg a lunch could be 25gms hard cheese and an apple.

3 meals a day with a combo of all of the above.

1500 is too much.

I go down to 1200 maximum to lose weight.

List a day's food intake with quantities and maybe we can help?

Are you weighing your food and really measuring calories? Not just guessing?

Most people underestimate portion sizes and the amount exercise uses up.

Thanks both- I worry that if I start at 1200 now then when my weight loss slows I will find it harder to keep losing?

My walk is up hill on the way, down on the back, but a reasonably gentle pace.

I definitely eat too many carbs so will look at that.

Have you thought of a VLCD? It’s the only way I can lose weight tbh.

I have to go to 1200 as well. I log it on My Fitness Pal and I weigh it.

I have to start again today to lose the two stone I've put on in the last year. How the hell did I manage that?

need to eat 1200 cals or fewer to lose weight.

1500 cals would either put me at maintaining or small increase.

I always find it tough the first couple of days, but soon get used to the deficit. Typical day for me would be

Banana

Apple and Yoghurt

Go Ahead bar- or something similar

Chicken/avocado salad

Save some cals for a mini ice cream

2 litres of water minimum
usually a diet fizzy in the evening to stave off cravings

I use scales and measure everything so my calories are very exact.

Here's what I ate yesterday;

Breakfast: porridge with seeds and a banana, 297
Lunch:Tuna mayo sandwich on wholegrain with veggie crisps and galia melon, 464
Dinner: Lasagne with salad, 499
Snacks: Latte, 71. Yogurt, 99

Defo carb heavy, which I did initially to help wean myself off bingeing. I guess I need to bite the bullet and start lowering my carbs.

Down load my fitness pal and track what you eat look at the nutrients section and see what your eating to much of I tend the eat my max fat allowance and about 40% of the protein I should get if I dont pay attention to it.

Join a gym do work out u til your sweaty and out of breathe

You might find you have not lost weight but iches if you started walking. I recently lost a dress size but the scales didn't move at all.

I've tried VLCD but my concern is keeping it sustainable.

It sounds like 1200 is the way to go. I'll do some adjusting!

Well done on getting started. It is definitely a case of reducing calories further. At 5 foot 3 I find 1200 sustainable and that covers breakfast, lunch and tea easily. I found it helped to move to water and plain tea or coffee too. Worry about plateauing when you get there.

Are you guessing 1500? My friend was and found out that on one day he thought he was having 1500 cause he wasn’t thinking about milk in tea/guessing at portions of pasta/ not considering oils in cooking he was having nearer 4000!

In my point of view you have 2 options: either stick with 1500 cals and up your exercise or go down to 1200 and stay with the 1 hr walk.

The math is rather simple: calories in-calories out.

Good luck, OP

I lost just over r stone on slimming world, I found it very helpful.

What worked for me was getting an Apple Watch and actually upping my activity properly in terms of calories burned alongside cutting out crap from my diet.

You might find that despite your hour walk you are actually very sedentary. Walking burns very few calories.

My maintainance is around 1700-1800 but that's with going to the gym and running regularly. If I want to drop a couple of pounds I up the cardio and reduce cals to around 1200.

Weighing everything is exactly the way to go. Don't forget to include any drinks - milk in tea, etc.

I would try dropping down to 1400 first (or you may feel ravenous and binge) then weigh in another week. 2 pounds up or down isn't anything to panic about. Slow and steady wins the race in this case, and is the best way to embed lifelong habits.

That should read 3 stone!

You could try Michael Moseleys Fast Diet- 2 days a week you eat 500 cals and the rest of the week it's a normal diet (but that means being sensible and sticking to around 1200 cals). It was partly developed to stop his own diabetes. It's an 8-week plan with recipes and ideas.

A gentle paced walk will not use many cals at all- you need to up the pace to 4mph so you are breathless and sweaty for it to have any real impact on weight and even then it might only be 200 cals used.

What's your normal daily diet like?

Just as an example, I am not trying to lose weight but am trying not to gain any. My BMI is 19.

I have an egg for breakfast with 1 slice toast or oatcakes, or small bowl porridge (weigh the oats) with berries.

Lunch is a salad always with some fish (tuna or prawns or cold meat) and loads of green leaves, pepper, etc.
Small portion yoghurt , maybe an apple.
Dinner is fish, or chicken, with veg, and fruit or yogurt if not had any during day.

Snacks are a few nuts or an apple or other fruit during the day.

I’m the same op and I also have to go down to 1200. 1500 to maintain.
Not only that, but it makes a big difference where those 1200 cals come from. It has to be mainly wholesome food and I can have a slice of bread and a bit of chocolate as part of it but if I go more than 200 cals on the junk then they Wright loss stalls.
That’s why it’s so hard and I’m still struggling!

I'm defo not guessing calories, using MFP and scales for every tiny thing. I'm also not eating back exercise calories. I used a calorie calculator to determine 1500 as a figure, I think it said '1560 to lose weight, 1230 to lose weight fast' so I went with the higher figure.

I tried slimming world but found I ate too much, I really need to be restricted.

I was going jogging/running early in the year but the heat has made it too much! I'll aim to start that up again.

The resounding response is to go for 1200, so I think I'll cut out breakfast as I never used to have it- just a coffee.

2 pounds can be water retention (due to pms for exampls), colon contents.

do you count all calories? also those in drinks?

do you snack?

good luck!

Try the Lose It app - finding it better the MFP. Don't go VLCD as messes with your metabolism

What height are you?

I'm 5ft 3 and wouldn't lose weight on 1,500 calories.

Download MyfitnessPal. I did that after my last baby and lost it quite easily.
It's such an eye opener, because it makes you accountable for every single calorie.
After a few weeks, you won't even need to use it, because it will have taught you everything

I can recommend Michael Mosley’s Fast 800. I have lost 20lbs in 5 weeks. It’s hard at first but the food is really tasty and the portions are satisfying. It is up to 12 weeks (so you can just do two if you like) at 800 calories a day, before switching to 5:2. I would recommend the cook book too because I have not found a dud recipe yet. Good luck!

I spent a year in the run up to my wedding doing sweaty, intensive exercise 3/4 times a week and just eating smaller portions of food, ensuring there were always lots of fruit and / or vegetables in each meal. I also cut right down on eating red meat and drinking alcohol. I didn't do anything too severe as I know I can't maintain a low calorie diet (and life's too short) but I lost a dress size to become a size 12 and looked healthy and toned for my wedding day.