I have 7 stone to lose. Is 1200 doable?

[fresherprincess]

So. I have PCOS, love to cook, have a sedentary lifestyle, am lazy, and enjoy wine.

I've gone from being 9 stone in 2010 to 16 stone now. SIXTEEN STONE. I'm literally double the weight of my same height 18 year old (5'4")

I've looked into injections but I'm a bit anxious about putting it all on again afterwards so I thought I'd try good old calorie counting. It's free and always worked in the past. MFP suggested 1200 calories and I've just done the first day and it's so little food!!!

I had a slice of toast and marmite, poached egg on toast, and chicken and mash and green veg for dinner. Many cups of tea at 20 calories each. I've got 89 calories left for an apple as a treat.

I haven't planned or shopped for this as I basically weighed myself accidentally today after being in denial for ages so I'm having to make do, but it's just hardly any food.

Does it get easier?

Please don't believe MFP, that is far too low! I've just joined Team RH to give me a bit of a kick up the bum. I'm only 5'2 and I am working with 1600 calories & losing.

I think you need to choose a calorie goal that is sustainable.

1200 probably isn’t.

It will cause a pattern of diet / binge IMO - because you will be starving and make bad choices.

You can do it for a while, but you’ll be miserable. I’m trying to stick to around 1500. Some days I naturally eat a bit less, but 1200 all the time is really hard.

I would suggest that you don't focus on weight. Take measurements (arms, thighs, waist etc) and focus on that instead.

Weight is misleading and will take you down a rabbit hole of calorie counting. Obviously you need to be mindful, but if you can get to a gym that has free weights, work out a balanced schedule of upper and lower body exercises and keep away from excess sugar / processed food you will lose weight, but more importantly you will see results faster by focusing on measurements.

I was unable to deny myself anything as I don't have the discipline, so I just moderated. Big breakfast meant no big dinner and vice versa.

Good luck.

I have similar amount. MyNetDiary is just under 1800. Totally doable. With exercise I get more. Its a great app, really helpful. So good in fact, I bought a subscription. 1200 is setting yourself up for failure.

You're losing on 1600? That's interesting. I just can't see me managing 1200. I work FT as well- and I was so hungry!

I'm 12 hours in and pretty bloody unhappy!

However I am utterly horrified that things have got this bad. Thing is, I never thought I had a "bad" diet- cook mainly from scratch, don't really snack, don't eat things like crisps or chocolate. I've obviously just had far too large portion sizes and too much wine (usually share a couple of bottles with DH over the weekend ).

I weighed out a portion size for mashed potato today and nearly cried!

I'll look at my netdiary then as well.
Exercise is a problem. I tend to start work at 8 and by the time everyone's home from school and work and has eaten it's 8.00pm and I'm exhausted.

I might see if I can carve some time out during the day.

16 stone was such a shock. I'd thought I was about 13.....

@fresherprincess Acceptance helps. I have made peace with my body and have stopped chastising myself. Breaking that guilt/eat/disgust/eat/guilt cycle was important for me. Now I think of it as an investment in my future.

I do take Mounjaro and that has switched off all the monkey chatter in my brain about food, and although I get hungry, I no longer feel the urge to eat immediately or eat everything. It has made me more considerate around food and I'm using MyNetDiary to retrain my eating and portion sizes. I'm losing just over a kg / week at the moment. This is the first time I actually feel I can do this.

Hi, I've managed to loose roughly 2 stone through calorie counting and moving a bit more. I did struggle initially with the changes but was surprised how quickly I adapted.
Things which have really worked well, moving breakfast to 9am. This is now a porridge pot on my working days then greek yog with toppings on my days off.
Increase of water and a daily walk, regardless of the weather.
Weighing my food has been an eye opener and I'm trying to only enjoy alcohol outside of the house. Once I open the wine, the snacks come out too, this has been much easier to manage then I imagined.
I've gone from 12.5 to 10.10 since new year. Averaging between 15-1700 calories per day. I'm able to maintain this too.

I have to stick to 1200 to lose weight but I am short and dong have a huge amount to loss. With 7 stone to lose that's far too little.

1200 is way too low and unsustainable. You need to ditch the wine and the carbs and get used to eating less. My tuppence worth:

Intermittent fasting- e.g. 16:8
Portion control (use a smaller plate if it helps)
No snacking and don't drink calories
No UPFs, wine, sugar
2/3 of each plate of food to consist of vegetables
Moderate amounts of lean protein
Limited amounts of unrefined carbs

And exercise - not to lose weight, but to gain muscle and facilitate an overall change of lifestyle. Try Lucy Wyndham Read to start with, progress to Growingannanas, and aim for Caroline Girvan)

If you can change your attitude and mindset, you can succeed.

Yes 1200 sounds too low for your height /weight. It may be suitable for a shorter women who has less to lose depending on how active or not they are.

I use something like this to calculate my calorie allowance https://tdeecalculator.net/.
I just use MFP for logging food.

@TinselTarTars that's a great result , can I ask how long you walk for roughly or how many steps you get in and how tall you are? It took me ages to lose just under two stone.

My friend managed to lose 4 or 5 stone without exercise. She works from home in a sedentary job and until recently drove everywhere . She is now looking to incorporate gentle exercise into her routine. That said I think exercise is good for your health anyway, and can speed up the process. Are you able to walk for 15-30 minutes on your lunch break? Can you walk or do other exercise on weekends?

Losing weight is mainly about diet, not exercise. You have to exercise a LOT to make any difference. Focus on diet and nutrition. That said, exercise is obviously super important but don't focus on it for weight loss.

For me, daily exercise was life changing. It told my brain that I'm someone who takes their health seriously and doesn't eat crap.

I started out with Lucy Wyndham Read who is so lovely and calm, and most of her workouts are very short and easy.

As I got fitter I tried lots of online trainers: popsugar fitness, Heather Robertson, Sydney Cummings, Rebecca Louise. All useful, general, middle of the road, excellent to get you moving and improve fitness.

But it was weight training with Caroline Girvan that really upped my level of exercising. I'm 70 now but superfit. You can be too! All you need is a mat and a pair of dumbbells that challenge you.

I'd also recommend Growingannanas for HIIT/cardio. Like Caroline's, her programmes are very well structured, and some also include dumbbells.

Building muscle is sooooo important, especially as we age.

You have to find what works for you and your lifestyle but I would recommend reading the Fast 800 and Ultra Processed People. It certainly opened my eyes.

I've not read Fast 800, but Ultra Processed People is definitely eye opening. It's sickening how much crap food manufacturers put into the food to sell. All designed to make us crave more crap. The Sugar Solution by Mark Hyman is also very informative, and I like the short videos by Dr Becky Gillaspy on YouTube.

UPFs also severly impair our taste buds, to the extent that normal, real food seems to taste bland. One has to consciously reawaken them by getting used to the subtle taste of vegetables. However, I also use a lot of herbs and spices to enhance flavours.

Time saving hacks for making real food:

• pan frying or oven roasting chicken and salmon (enough for several meals)
• making up batches of different salad dressings and marinades
• boiling quantities of legumes at a time - to add to salads, wild rice or use as a side dish
• slow-frying lots of onions until caramelised
• use herbs, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, chili to enhance flavour

You could definitely do 1200 if you swapped out carb heavy mash potatoes and toast for veg and protein.
Have the poached eggs on top of a big mushroom or just make an omelette. Caesar salad with cheese, bacon, chicken and lettuce for lunch. Meat sauce on a bed of aubergine for tea. It's enough and it's tasty enough without triggering you to think ...I'd just love another slice if toast.

Do you mind sharing your weight? I'm 5ft 2 too. How many steps have they put you on?

1200 is completely unsustainable. I would work.out how many calories you would need to eat a day to maintain at your ideal weight amd then stick to that. If you are fairly sedentary then it might be as low as 1750 or a bit more but you should be able to work it out. Then I would stick to that. You won't lose weight as quickly but as it's not a diet but a lifestyle change you are much more likely to stick to it and keep the weight off.

The James Smith Academy free calorie calculator is good for working out a more realistic calorie goal.

And the silver lining is, the more you weigh the more you can eat and still lose weight! Though you’ll need to adjust as you lose.

eat much more protein and you’ll feel full for longer. Four turkey rashers or bacon medallions on two small pieces of toast or one big one, with tomatoes and z scrape of butter is around 300 calories. Eggs, tuna, prawns, are all great. Use salsa instead of mayo. Turkey mince chilli. Sounds like you’re a good cook, so just switch to stuff like this so food is still enjoyable!

If you're worried about putting weight back on after injections why do you think it would be sustainable to eat so little and not put weight on after?

You need to find a sustainable way of losing weight. That means find out your TDEE and reduce it by no more than 500. 1200 is WAY too low.

Just a little tip. If you are having toast have seeded. It's higher calories but will actually fill you. Try to have as little sugar as possible. You will find after a few days your all will adjust a bit. Really avoid sugar though as it just causes cravings

Do you think without the Mounjaro the “acceptance” and “making peace” with your body would have had a significant impact , if any on reducing your weight?