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

I think it would be ok if you were sedentary. If you were sporty or did an active job then I think it would be miserable and you would become quite under-nourished in a couple of months, as I doubt you could meet all of your nutritional needs.

I think its a diet designed for the NHS seemingly dream woman, the woman who barely moves and when she does so, she does so elegantly but slowly. I'm fast and muscular and I couldn't sustain it. I eat less when I want to lose weight.

It depends what you get used to and if you eat loads of veg which largely tends to be low cal. I have just lost a stone on 1200 cals a day, eating low cal meals and drinking lots of water. I wasnt hungry. I'm now planning to maintain on 1500. I know I will definitely put weight back on if I go over 1500. Its just how my body is and I've learned that this is what works for me.
Comparisons and competitve eating doesnt really make much sense as we are all different.

I calorie count and aim for 1600. Im 5 foot 2 and slightly overweight. I walk 2 hours a day and have an active job. I run 10km 3 times a week too but eat 1800 on those days, I’ve put a couple of pounds on recently.

I agree on reframing mindsets away.

Speaking of "treats", that's when I see people really making money and profit off of others - the absolute millions poured into creating and marketing stuff which is highly processed, addictive, fattening, cheap to produce, and offers no nutritional benefit.

And there are reasons it works, because it's tasty and addictive and normalised - within just a few generations our western diets have been transformed dramatically and almost everyone is getting fatter.

(No shame on anyone who's hooked on junk food by the way - I used to be and probably could have put anyone to shame back in the day! I ate mostly bland processed stuff and Coca Cola and chocolate, and it was only sheer blinding terror of covid that made me change my diet and lifestyle.)

It's sustainable if you're not very active. The secret is to measure portion sizes and limit snacks to no more than 100 kcal.

I do manage it if I eat food that are water based rather than just dense hard foods. Basically if you just eat hard dry foods you get to eat a lot less of them than if you eat wetter foods. So 1500 calories goes further if it’s vegetables, eggs, lean meats

I probably eat less than that most days and have 3 meals
I eat:
Cereal skimmed milk
Tea biscuits with tea ( no sugar red milk)
Brown bagel or thins, wafer ham , low fat spread amd low fat yogurt
Dinner is 5% mince or chicken low fat sauce, smal portion , brown pasta or rice
Maybe slice of toast at supper
Occasional Freddo / milkyway as treat

Its boring, rather than unsatisfactory?
Absolutely no takeaways , cheese and rarely booze but i lost 3+ stone after mu baby was born.

@yogacurl

I also think if you cut out processed food, 1500 calories is suddenly a LOT of fruit and veg. It's much more filling than a higher calorie processed diet will be.

I agree with this. If I ate junk food I would often feel hungrier whilst easily consuming double the quantity of calories. However, you can eat a lot of healthy foods for a small amount of calories. I have a fairly big appetite but my main meals are between 500-600 cals and that gives a good plate full of food.

Me too @EssexLioness lioness.

I ate only protein/ fat unprocessed yesterday (lots of chicken, eggs, salad) skipped dinner as I was still so full.

Today I had a massive roast with Yorkshire puddings, potatoes, dessert. Not ultra processed but carb and sugar heavy. I was starving again an hour after.

Low calorie high density foods. I eat more than that now by a fair amount, but when i was in a calorie deficit I ate a lot of stir fry and the like. Adding spices to stuff also helps as it adds flavour without loads of cals. I would personally find it challenging to stay on that amount for a prolonged period of time.

@nahnothanks

This whole thread is just such a sad read.

Can you imagine how much time women waste throughout their lives fretting over this stuff? About how many calories are in a bloody Kit Kat?

If you want to improve your relationship with your body, step back from the diet industry. The vast majority of people who lose weight will put it back on again, and then some.

Your life’s purpose is not weight loss. There are a lot of people making a lot of money from you hating your bodies.

@nahnothanks - this argument is often put forward, but it's not helpful.

There are a lot of overweight people whose health and life would be improved by being fitter and slimmer. Many of us end up living very sedentary lives and food is available everywhere. No judgement, that's just the Western world.

When I know I need to lose half a stone (like now) I do 5:2 (having watched the tv programme for free) fast at breakfast and make lots of veggie soups for lunch...

The slimming industry aren't making anything out of that.

And it's not sad to be mindful of your health and weight.

Just reduce carbs. I'm a "typical annoying munsnetter" on 1200 calories a day and size 12.

Breakfast - usually skip or fruit and fibre or peanut butter & banana on toast.
Lunch - soup or leftovers, sometimes a sandwich
Dinner- something huge (hence I normally dont want breakfast). Load of bolognese and courgetti. chilli without rice with guacamole and cheese. Pile of veggies on cous cous with hummus. Jacket potato, salad cheese & beans. Salad (a good one, none of those shitty packet leaves). Soup & bread. 2x bowls of veggie stew. Cottage pie without a bit of roof or without. Toast pizzas. Cooked breakfast (tomato, sausages, bacon, avocado, beans, mushrooms, omelette). A junk meal a 2/3 times a week.

Often but not always have chocolate cornice cream after.

I like big portions in the evening so eat as much veg then as I can and have afters if I want it. It took me ages to lean into eating when I wanted and stopping as soon as the thought crossed my mind rather than 3x meals and clearing my plate. I exercise 3x times a week and average 5k steps a day.

If I wanted to lose weight I know 12000 steps a day works for me and I normally feel hungry enough then for 3x meals a day (usually a big lunch then too like 2 sandwiches)

And I dont buy into "fruit is healthy so eat loads". I like fruit but I'd rather eat chocolate so I dont try and make swaps like that.

It's entirely sustainable @savedbythewell, but it's boring. In fact, 1,500 calories is 500 calories more than necessary. I had a phase of ingesting 1,000 calories a day and lost a stone (I had an ED, so not necessarily advisable, but easily possible).

Breakfast: One Shredded Wheat with semi skimmed milk (leave the milk in the bowl).

Lunch: tuna sandwich using two thin slices of wholemeal bread. An apple.

Supper: anything, really (as the DC were still at home then so I didn't want to model disordered eating), but a very small portion of whatever it was.

A pot of chocolate pudding to satisfy chocolate cravings (80 kcal).

Drinks: black tea, black coffee, herbal teas.

And lots of exercise (not the gym, as I hate them - walking and cycling everywhere, which adds up to about 10 miles per day).

Very boring, but perfectly do-able.

And I dont buy into "fruit is healthy so eat loads". I like fruit but I'd rather eat chocolate so I dont try and make swaps like that.

Same! I’d rather have a smaller choc bar or eat it less often and enjoy it than have an apple.

Your life’s purpose is not weight loss. There are a lot of people making a lot of money from you hating your bodies

It's unhealthy to be overweight though, it's not all vanity and buying into the media's perception of what looks good- I didn't hate my body when I was a tad overweight, but the opposite, I love my body and want to make sure it's as healthy as possible.

@Undisclosedlocation

Unsustainable long term, which is why the vast majority of diets fail.

Weight loss at a slower rate but while forming habits that you can live with for the rest of your life is the better way imo.

It’s not unsustainable! I wasn’t hungry or deprived on 800 calories. It’s 3 meals a day, of veg and protein.

The reason for losing weight changes though. If you go back to thinking you actually rather eat whatever you like then the weight goes back on.
It’s not that 800 -1000 calories is too little ( like 10,000 steps for most people). It’s just that we live in a world full of delicious calorific crap.

The reason for “dieting”

Calculate your daily calorie goal on the James smith academy free calculator. Aim to lose a pound a week.

Eat healthily with lots of protein to fill you up.

pressed too soon… The reason for “dieting” is people want to look good.

Whereas it should be health reasons, less risk of disease.

I always see people saying things like this and I do accept I'm completely in the minority here but 1500 is enough for three good meals a day so why shouldn't it be enough? If you can go without snacks or pick low calorie ones.

Meals out and occasions would cause issues but I think day to day it is doable!

@lightisnotwhite

pressed too soon… The reason for “dieting” is people want to look good.

Whereas it should be health reasons, less risk of disease.

Who cares what the motivation is? Whether it’s because you want to look better on the beach or reduce your risk of cancer/diabetes/whatever, you’ll still get the health benefits.

I'm 5ft and massively overweight. My TDEE is 1.4k. Also trying to lose weight and eating 1.1k. When it's on a plate it feels like LOADS because it's so varied and ticks all the nutritional boxes. I'm sure if I ate 1.1k of bread or chocolate I'd feel it was unstainable but my diet is interesting and varied. Here's a breakdown:

• Breakfast: Ground almond flour pancakes with mixed frozen berries & chia seeds
• Lunch: Caesar salad with vegan bacon
• Dinner: Salmon or haddock with roast sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, red onion, garlic
• Snacks (which I usually eat with lunch): 2x marinated chicken fillet pieces, sugar snap peas, guacamole, fridge raiders, cheese marmite bites, marmite cashews, a boiled egg, 1/2 a fibre one chocolate fudge brownie
• Drinks: Lots of water, a green tea, a lemon & ginger tea, a chamomile tea

Plus magnesium, multivitamins, probiotic, tumeric, vitamin D, and inositol.

I feel amazing. I have binge eating disorder and PCOS, and I'm eating much, much less but I've never felt so full. I look forward to eating every single day for the first time in my life. My meals and snacks are both delicious and very, very well balanced.

So yes, eating 1.5k cal is completely sustainable. Food and nutrition is never a one size fits all. Everyone will have different needs for their own body.

There are SO many threads about calorie counting at the moment. It’s so damaging.

If you eat fewer and fewer calories your body will adjust its base metabolic rate and conserve them (in simple terms). This is why there are so many threads on Quora by teenage girls asking why they are not losing weight when they only eat 1000 calories a day. It’s heartbreaking.

Please stop to think what you are doing to your body.

If you want to lose weight, eat good quality protein, good fat like olive oil and avocado, lots of veg and plenty of seeds, nuts and fermented foods until you are pretty much full. Then do the same at the next meal.

I would recommend losing at a slower pace so you can up your calories, and also introducing some kind of intermittent fasting programme in order for you to have a psychological break from eating low calories. So 5:2, or similar.

It is hard but I've given up on super low calorie goals and would rather lose weight at half the normal speed than give up and never lose it.

@ZeroCaffeine

No not at all. I eat around 1400 normally, 1200 if I’m trying to lose weight and those targets are recommended going by my TDEE. I’d GAIN weight on 1500 a day

This exactly. Perhaps depends on your age op, but I would maintain weight at 1500 cals and definitely not lose anything, but then I am sixty.

Doing Noom I'm sticking to 1200 most days and I'm still enjoying life. I thought it would be harder but making the right choices means a full tummy of veggies for less than 100 calories.