To think eating 1500 cals daily is unsustainable?

[savedbythewell]

And if you disagree, how do you do it?
How do you satisfy your appetite and what weight loss is reasonable monthly, if three stone overweight

Really surprised by this thread but then again perhaps that is why we have so much obesity in the UK. 1500 calories is absolutely achievable (depending on your height and lifestyle). If I ate 1500 calories a day losing weight would be impossible.

Sample:

Breakfast: Omlette with mushroom and fry light (2 eggs) - 160 Cals (approx)

Mid morning: satsuma - 25 cals

Lunch: homemade soup - 300 cals
With slice of bread - additional 100 cals

Afternoon - protein yogurt - 100 cals

Dinner - spag bol/curry/chilli with veg instead of rice/pasta - large portion can easily be done for 700 cals

Pudding/snack - 2 finger kit kat or pack of wotsits etc - 100 cals

Total = 1,485

If you are average ISH height, have an office type job and exercise moderately around 3 days a week and think you'd be 'starving' from that, then you should work on your relationship with food and food choices.

Most women need 1500 cals per day. Moderately active, average size I. E. 5'5

I've been eating 1000-1200 a day for the last two years. Anything above 1200 on a regular basis and I gain weight.

You find a way to make the calories work for you, and drink plenty of water.

My personal method is a big breakfast using up 1/3 of my calories, then the rest on my evening meal. No snacking in between, just water. You'd be amazed at how much veg you can stack on your plate for 600 calories.

However I do allow myself freedom on occasion, so just being sensible on a night out rather than purposefully choosing the unhealthiest option because I'm having a "day off" and if I really want something, I'll have a smaller portion than I used to...but count the calories in so I can see any worrying patterns about returning to poor eating habits.

I've dropped from BMI 42 to BMI 33. It's slow going but combined with exercise it's the healthiest I've been for years and feel much better for it.

This is what My Fitness Pal tells me to eat when I want to lose about a pound a week. I find it pretty easy to stick to. I eat about 200 calories for breakfast (porridge and fruit), about 300 at lunch (soup and crumpet/thin bagel, veg curry, something like that) and about 500-600 calories for dinner (normal things but weighed with small portions of the carb). That leaves me plenty for snacks because I love snacks - I'll eat several pieces of fruit, cucumber/cherry tomatoes/carrot sticks, hummus, a couple of biscuits, greek yoghurt, popcorn or pretzels, a hot chocolate in the evening, that sort of thing. As long as I eat plenty of vegetables and some protein at every meal I feel full and I don't feel like I'm depriving myself. I'm about to do this starting tomorrow for a few weeks to deal with holidays and Easter overeating. Once I've lost the extra weight I can switch to about 1900 to maintain, which means I can eat fairly normally and stop weighing things.

@Autumndays123

I would be starving on that amount of food and unhappy. I maintain on 3000 calories a day, I’m 5 foot 7 and a size 10-12. I have plenty of muscle and I personally think I look great.

I have no desire to be smaller and eat nutritious foods on a daily basis.

I have a poached egg and some brocolli for breakfast (c120cals). Fills me up until lunchtime when I have 2 scoops of Huel (c400cals). Easy, easy to prepare and relatively cheap (as opposed to buying something on the day as too crap to make lunch otherwise).

My TDEE is 1500 (or probably less as am menopausal and underactive thyroid so struggle with weight).

So this leaves me 900 calories ish to eat dinner. More if I take into account a run done that morning (though I don't tend to think like that) And I eat anything. Fully butter/cheese loaded risotto, chicken and veg, pasta, pie, salads, mediterenean fish stews. Anything.

I tend to avoid bread Mon - Friday. I may have "proper" lunch at the weekend.

I maintain my 60kg weight with shoving in a few runs during the week.

If I veer off this I slowly put on a few pounds....but it goes again once I start back again,

I don't feel like I am in any way on a diet. The breakfast/lunch work well for me. Evening meal is diet free. Never hungry. Or Hangry.

So it is sustainable - if you can find something that works.

Oh and my 120 cal breakfast has been a revelation. Seriously keeps the hunger at bay - more than any porridge/cereal/bread based breakfast has ever done.

You can do it by moving mostly to plant based diet…

Height
Weight
Age
Muscle
Exercise /activity

1500 could be too much, too little or just right

Competitive under eating in the second post. On 1000 cals you're just destroying your lean muscle rather than fat 🙄 1600 should generally be the lowest sustainable cals, get in 10k steps a day and you will lose weight

I am menopausal and fairly short so calorie requirement pretty low compared with some. Been on 1200 cals most days for around 1 1/2 years. I do have 1-2 days per month where I eat lots more due to hormones and don’t count on holiday but otherwise I eat quite well.

I eat 3 meals a day plus snack. Trick is plenty of protein and half plate of veg with your meals. I rarely eat out anyway so that want a problem. It’s also important to pre plan your meals as if you just grab things it’s easy to go well over your calories. I always use oil in cooking too as I think fat helps with satiety: 1 Tsp oil is only 40 cals and does for most things eg roast potatoes, roast veg, salad dressing.

I’m on 1,200 a day. It’s my maintenance level of calories to stay a size 8 (5 ft 7, 8 stone 10)

[quote JollyWilloughby]@Autumndays123

I would be starving on that amount of food and unhappy. I maintain on 3000 calories a day, I’m 5 foot 7 and a size 10-12. I have plenty of muscle and I personally think I look great.

I have no desire to be smaller and eat nutritious foods on a daily basis.[/quote]
If you are muscly then you don't fit with that example I've given do you 🙄. I quite clearly said that would be someone with a sedentary type office job and exercises 3 times or so a week

I’m really surprised by some of these replies.

I’m classed as overweight and eat 1200 a day.
I would either put on weight if I ate 1500 a day or maintain.

When I lose another stone I am planning to go up to 1500.

It obviously depends what you’re eating but you can fit quite a lot of food into that.

A lot of dismissive patronising posts here. If you're 25, very tall and very active you can definitely eat a lot more calories than someone a lot older, shorter and more sedentary.

No way. 1500 kcals is just my alcohol consumption.

Oh and I have also started weight training and built visible muscle during that time. I’ve read so many times that you cannot build muscle in calorie deficit but that hasn’t been a problem for me. I think a high protein intake must help with that

@Autumndays123

Hmm point taken but when I had that office life (and I didn’t train) I used to do silly diets and aim for 1500 and it used to make me feel nauseous and dizzy.

I think women fuck their metabolisms up so they have no choice but to eat like birds for the forseeable.

If anyone is interested in a way to improve your metabolism, lose weight and not eat like a bird please read Dr Jenkinsons book “why we eat too much”.

I lost 4 stone following these principles.

I'm 50 and need to eat around that to maintain my weight.
I use the nutracheck app to track my calories, and by exercising more I can eat more calories, which is all worked out and shown in the app.
Also eat more protein - it fills you up. I need a daily chocolate hit so choose a protein chocolate bar.

It is hard and it's no wonder so many are overweight. Our lifestyles are generally sedentary too with 8 hours of the day stuck at a desk in a sedentary job.

My TDEE is around 1600, or closer to 2000 with moderate intensity, regular exercise. I'm short and have a desk job. Currently overweight, have previously been much smaller but really have to think about what I eat to stay at a size 10 or smaller.

I have happily managed to eat that every day for over a year in order to lose weight. I had lots of protein and fats, and reduced my white carb intake considerably. I was poorly last year and for 2-3 months I consumed circa 600-800 calories a day because I couldn't eat any more as my stomach shrank. Yes my weight plummeted but I wasn't hungry. I wouldn't say it is sustainable long term but it certainly is for long enough to lose three stone.

I’m 5’3” and 8st 4. Slim build. Sedentary job. 50s.

I don’t count calories, but I have at times when I wanted to lose weight (after children, after an injury when I was inactive, after an emotional period of my life when I did, frankly, eat my feelings).

When I wasn’t running regularly (the injury) I would gain on 1500.

That’s not competitive under eating 🙄 it’s just fact.
When losing weight I ate around 1000 a day and yes, it was sustainable and no, I wasn’t hungry - after the first few days 🤣
The point when it wasn’t sustainable was when it was no longer necessary to lose weight.

OP, nobody can say if it’s sustainable for you as we have no idea of your height and weight, let alone your more individual factors.

Surely it depends on who you are, what you do in a day and what you eat.

I eat a lot less than 1500 cals a day just fine. I am ~40-years-old, 5"1 and have the metabolism of a dead sloth. I eat mostly low-carb veg, lean protein and good fats. I'm not hungry and tired.

My TDEE is 1569 so I'd need to eat less to lose weight.

I ate 1000-1200 for 2 months to lose 2 stone between January and March and honestly it was the easiest and most sustainable diet I've ever tried. Loads of veg and fruit for snacks, porridge, some lean meat, a few treats, kept some calories for milk in my coffee.

I need to lose a bit more so I'll go back to 1200 calories again.

I’ve previously done the Michael Mosley 800cal a day diet and didn’t really struggle with it.

More recently I’ve been eating a very natural diet with almost no processed food. I started with a personal trainer a few weeks back who asked me to log food to track calories and protein, in case I needed to tweak my levels. She gave me a target of 1800 cals and 100g protein. First week my normal meals averaged about 1200. I’m having to eat a lot more than I want to to get the calories up!

I agree completely. 1500 would be too low for me. I eat 1650 - 1750 when trying to lose weight and around 2000-2200 when I’m not. I work out a lot (around 5 times a week) but apart from that I virtually don’t move because of my job.