WTAF!

[feellikezerobucks]

Got on the scales today and my weight gives me a BMI of 31.6!

Needless to say after about 3 years of messing around I'm the heaviest I've ever been, and also the laziest and most unmotivated......however I need to do something as my weight is actually starting to effect my life. I wake up with a sore back which I think is from the sheer weight of my body, my knee hurts when I walk distances and my diet is so rubbish every morning I need "the toilet".

My husband loves me whatever, but I currently hate myself. I'm 35 and my kids deserve better, my husband deserves better and my body deserves better.

Anyway....decided to create this thread to record what I eat and how I feel. I might last a week it might last a year....as with everything right now, the future is unknown!

If anyone would also like to use this thread for accountability, please feel free, and if you do, I wish you luck 👍🏻☘️

My aim is 800 cals a day with an hours walk.
Today I shall be consuming;
Hot water with lemon
A pint of water between the hours of 8am-8pm
B-apple
L-leek soup, sandwich thin and cheese triangle
D-Thai chicken curry meal that was free with our muscle food order and lettuce leaves
S-fibre one caramel square
Total 792 cals

It’s brilliant when you wake up motivated and ready to go.
That’s a really low calorie intake though I would definitely struggle .

800 calories will serve you no purpose and you're body will go into starvation mode. It's too little intake and you will feel crap and stop after a couple of days maybe a week if you can stomach it. Set a small goal and think this is a long game. I say this as someone who has lost 5 stone. It's amazing you want to do this but honestly don't put such a huge amount of stress on you straight away. If you are looking for straight talking look James Smith on Instagram he has helped me loads. Good luck 😉

As obviouslymarvellous put it so well, this is a long game. You have to think if it as a permanent lifestyle change.

Only 800 calories will cause a quick weight loss in the short term, but you can’t do it safely to get your BMI to the healthy range. You will quit in at most a few weeks because you will feel horrible, and your body will have gone into starvation mode (lower than normal BMR for your weight) and your weight will go right back up, maybe even higher up. Very low calorie diets are what cause yo yo dieting.

I would use a BMR calculator online to find out about how much calories you need each day to stay the weight you are now.
www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?ctype=metric&cage=35&csex=f&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=10&cpound=160&cheightmeter=167&ckg=82&cmop=0&coutunit=c&cformula=m&cfatpct=20&x=71&y=20

Then deduct 300 calories per day from that amount. Do not count any exercise calories to “eat back”. After every stone of weight lost, go back and recalculate your BMR, deduct 300 calories, continue. You have to recalculate BMR as you lose weight because the smaller you are, the less calories it takes to maintain your weight. (This is normal BMR levels though and not to be confused with starvation mode where you push your BMR down to 80% of normal for your weight.)

When you get to your goal weight, use the BMR calculator to tell you the calories you can eat to maintain that goal weight. Then self adjust by weighing yourself weekly. The calculator might say you can eat 1350/day and maintain your goal weight (not lose or gain), but you might find that for you it is 1280 or 1380. The calculators are based on normal metabolism but individuals can vary due to genetics, past extreme diets, etc.

@obviouslymarvellous and @PlanDeRaccordement thank you both for your advice. The BMR advises that I need 1600 cals per day, so 1300, which seems a lot!

I'm going to try to stick to 800cal until Saturday (as this will be my weekly weigh day) and then maybe increase to 1000cal.

Thanks both for your input 👍🏻

800 cats a day is not sustainable. You will be more likely to reach your goal if you go for something more realistic.

Nor is 800 cals (thanks autocorrect).

If you want the feeling of severe calorie restriction, you'd be better off doing 5:2 intermittent fasting and having 600kcal twice a week and 1600 on the other days.

5 consecutive days of 800 kcal will not actually help you achieve a good weight loss.

Please don't restrict your intake for days on end severely at this time. Everyone's aim at the moment should be ensuring a good intake of all the vital nutrients and keeping as fit as possible.

Have a look at the 5:2 section on Mumsnet OP, 800cal is totally doable, just not everyday. There's loads of help and advice on there, with links to the science to back it up.
And 'starvation mode' has long been de-bunked.

“And 'starvation mode' has long been de-bunked.”

Er, no it has not.
“What people generally refer to as "starvation mode" (and sometimes "metabolic damage") is your body's natural response to long-term calorie restriction.

It involves the body responding to reduced calorie intake by reducing calorie expenditure to maintain energy balance and prevent starvation.

This is a natural physiological response, and the technical term for it is "adaptive thermogenesis" (2Trusted Source).

The term starvation mode is a misnomer, as true starvation is something that is almost completely irrelevant to most weight loss discussions.

Starvation mode is a useful physiological response, although it does more harm than good in the modern food environment where obesity runs rampant.”
www.healthline.com/nutrition/starvation-mode#what-it-implies

If you want to safely do 800 calories per day, do it properly with a VLCD like lighter life, Exante etc. It's tough for the first few days but after that your body goes into ketosis and you won't be hungry any more.

As long as you follow their re-feed plan when you come off it, you won't gain a significant amount back (the one I use suggests to expect half a stone gain when you stop the diet) but if you just go back to eating as you previously did then it comes back quickly.

Good luck OP I'll be doing this next week. We all know the theory but nothing wrong with a kick start to get you on the right track.

I suggest adding 2 eggs a day to your diet for the protein and the loads of nutrients they have.

lol at 800 cats a day 🤣 @eurochick OP how are you getting on?

How are you getting on @feellikezerobucks?