Dieting is horrendous

[SassyLemonFish]

Just looking for sympathy really.

I’ve a bmi of 28. I need to lose a lot of weight. For the last two weeks I’ve been good but MY GOD the hunger and sheer depressing nature of it all. My BMR is only 1600. Sticking to 1000 or less is so hard.

My husband, on the other hand, seems to have no hunger and amazing self control. Last night he ate a single sweet potato and declared that as his dinner. His BMR is 2700. I can see him visibly changing before my eyes.

I guess I’m just jealous.

Just a sweet potato?

1000kcal sounds incredibly low; are you very short OP? I find giving up bread and keeping other carbs lowish always helps. Lots of veg and protein like eggs, fish and beans. I do 16/8 naturally because I don't eat breakfast. Some days I do OMAD (one meal a day) where I just have 1 big meal that has all the macros needed in it. My problem is beer but it sounds like you already don't drink so you're fine there.

@purpleme12 , a sweet potato is fine but it's not a balanced meal.
It's far better for you than the equivalent amount in calories of pasta for example.

Nutrition Information
One cooked medium (114 grams or about 4 ounces) sweet potato with skin contains the following nutrition, per the USDA:

Calories: 103
Total Carbohydrates: 24 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Total Sugar: 7 g
Added Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 2 g
Total Fat: 0 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Sodium: 41 mg
Potassium: 542 mg
Vitamin C: 22 mg
Vitamin A: 1,100 mcg RAE

How can you think of that as a meal?

I'll get cottage cheese next time I guess

I'm not very good at this dieting thing

Obviously. You need something that looks like a proper meal even if it is low in calories.

Cottage cheese on its own isn't good either. It will say 'all I had was a little bit cottage cheese, I'm starving'.

Put the cottage cheese on a proper plate. Add several green leaves and something like a tomato and a tiny bit of good oil if you like, and eat it with a knife and fork, then it looks more like a proper meal.

Learn how to read nutritional values. Make your meals
veg + protein (+ tiny bit of fat).
Don't add things like dressing or sauces. Use good oil and a little bit of lemon juice instead.

Don't add 'carbs' (bread, pasta, rice etc), they are high in calories.

When you look at the nutritional information of a food item, bear in mind the portion size. The portion size is unlikely to be what you think is a portion.

It will say 'all I had was a little bit cottage cheese, I'm starving'

Put the cottage cheese on a proper plate.

and eat it with a knife and fork,

@AlbieJiggered why would you make these comments? There was no one there when I was eating it so I wasn't trying to say anything to anyone.

And why on earth wouldn't it be on a proper plate? I'm not sure what else it would be on?

I don't eat with my fingers..I didn't know anyone ate sweet potato or cottage cheese with anything but a knife and fork

It just comes across as rude and there's not really any need

@purpleme12 you’ve completely misread that post, it wasn’t rude at all.

Ok well I definitely thought those bits came across as rude

@purpleme12 she’s just explaining how to prepare something to look more like a meal so mentally you feel you’ve had something more substantial, a lot of people eat cottage cheese straight out the tub, she’s not assuming you eat with your fingers!!

Oh right ok

I eat a tub of cottage cheese (full fat Longley Farm, nothing else is worth eating) out of the tub, with a fork obviously, when I get it for lunch when out and about and it's just as filling as if it came off a plate because my stomach doesn't have eyes.

It would be nicer out of a bowl with cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, leave, carrots, black pepper and olive oil, but sometimes needs must and it's a healthier lunch than a prepacked sandwich.

But a sweet potato on it's own is never going to be an actual meal, how could it be?

This is ED advice. Please don't give that kind of advice to anyone, least of all someone who thinks a sweet potato is a meal.

@Bjorkdidit I don’t disagree. I was just explaining to the pp that she had misread the intentions of that poster, I was a bit bemused by the jump to rudeness and table manners when it’s just classic 90s dieting advice to help over come some of the mental barriers with lower calorie meals.

It's not. I'd not think anything of slapping a pile of lettuce and some cottage cheese on a plate and having it as a light meal.

100 calories isn't a meal. It's something like eating a large raw apple.

You are very light which I guess makes a difference in terms if kcals but it does seem very low.
I am 5ft3 and 9.9 stones. I also have a desk job but aim for 10K steps a day plus a couple of workouts per week (a mix of running or pilates/home workouts). I have been steadily losing weight at 1800 kcals since March. A very small and slow amount but I don’t mind because I want this to be sustainable for life. I have lost 0.8 stone in 4 months doing this and still losing

Sack off the high carb sweet potato. Have lean meat with a nice big salad. Focus on protein.