900 calories a day

[BroadDaylight]

I run around 100 miles a month and do a 30-minute HIIT three times a week, and 15 minute dumbbell workout every morning.

I eat healthily, no junk food, nothing processed and cook from scratch. I log my food and my daily calories are between 1200-1500 a day but I'm just maintaining, even with exercise.

I am still a stone (maybe a little more) overweight and it's making me depressed. I can't shift it.

I've read that because of my height (5'1) I need to reduce my calories to 800-900 per day, has anyone had success this way?

@bumblingbovine49

OP, you're not overweight, your body is fine. Try working on your mind rather than obsessing over getting smaller and smaller

Thank goodness someone finally talking sense. Hardly anyone on here has suggested what is by far the most obvious solution. OP with a BMI of 24 You are not overweight , you sound pretty fit and your life would be.much much happier if you could learn to like yourself and your body as it is .Maybe expend some time on that rather than trying to literally disappear

Am so glad someone else has thought / said this. BMI is a pile of shite anyway, most professional athletes are overweight (or even obese) according to BMI.

Your resting heart rate is low, very low! So I would hazard a guess at you being very fit. Ignore your BMI, ignore your weight. Take body measurements and use those as a means of scale not some completely made up non sensical number or your weight!

@Doublefunmum

Where do you get your information? Have you got any links? I'm a trained PT and I don't really get what you're saying. Weight loss usually plateaus due to altered metabolism, as I said above. Here's an article from the mayo clinic, one of the most respected medical and science establishments in the world.

www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss-plateau/art-20044615

From everything you’ve said, it’s your attitude to your body that you really need to change.

If you want to be extremely think then yes. Eat nothing and exercise for 4 hours a day.

Hi,
Just to say please congratulate yourself for the progress... Well done you! You will get there in time.

So, first please enjoy your new body and don't forget to appreciate yourself for the care you're putting into your life and health. What's the point if you don't stop and smell the roses you have planted yourself 🌹

Then, try to find out/see a doc to find out if that is body fat or extra skin.

I also can swear by intermittent fasting - 5:2 to be more precise (the Michael Mosley one). I eat less and spaced those two days according to the diet, plenty of veg and I'm obsessed with the wonderfully low cal mushrooms. You sound v organised and probably are a much better meal planner so should be v easy for you. The rest of the days I try to eat well and a little bit of everything and I do have treats as well. After a while, the 5:2 almost reduced my appetite for crazy things on the non diet days too... I particularly enjoy knowing I can have wine other days or chocolate or a lovely takeaway, but I appreciate it more.

Eating less on those 2 days of reduced calories (500 for women) also makes me eat mindfully, enjoying it and slowing down. Trying to be positive and to recognise my progress. I try not to beat myself up over slips - and be kinder to myself so that I don't...mourn by abusing my food to soothe again.

And yes as everyone suggested, before anything, have a little breather. Eat a little more. My housemate had been trying to lose weight and with all her fast walking plus exercising plus eating well (loads of salads and veg foods but my God if you calorie count it wasn't enough to sustain the amount of walking she did) she still couldn't lose the extra little bit. So yes..take a break for a while. Your body has probably got used to what you do now. Perhaps if you're sad/unhappy about that too and think about it a lot, your stress hormones might be kicking in too. I even read bad sleep and stress in women would lead to accumulation of fat round the waist. Anyway, whatever it is, do not worry too much! You'll get to your goal! It will happen...

But more importantly, enjoy your body, your hard work and determination. Take time to look after yourself in the other ways too and I mean by addressing how you feel about yourself. What would you tell yourself if this story was told to you by a friend? You'd be there cheering them on and wanting them. To acknowledge how wonderful they have been on their journey. You'd want them to see themselves as a whole being whose beauty comes from who they really are, inside and out. See that in yourself, tell yourself how wonderful you are (if you try to verbalise it in a session of mini self positivity you might find that you struggle and even well up a bit with the newness of it all..we're used to telling ourselves how awful we look or are so seld love is alien). You should be seeing your accomplishments and the great effort you have put in.

Well done! Walk straight, and like my yoga friend says, back straight (not overarched), shoulders down and head up! You deserve to feel proud 🌟

Are you post or peri-menopausal ?

I have a belly I cannot shift, its depressing.

Have you read Michael Mosley on High Intensity Exercise? Less is more, apparantly.

Another one saying Team RH. Loads of videos and they’ll give you personalised help and coaching if you need it.

@Eckhart, Ok I guess your PT training trumps my BSc then. The funny thing is, I actually said in my original post to the OP that her metabolism was the issue so we actually agree. Maintaining a healthy metabolic rate is the exact reason I suggested she need to eat more while doing the level of exercise she is doing. Or are you suggesting that eating 900 calories a day while already at a healthy weight is advisable? In which case we most certainly do disagree.

I’m in the exact same situation. I had a c-section 3rd time round and that’s the Only difference this time. I haven’t been able to shed the weight around my middle, despite being fit and healthy. I’m a size 10 with an obese middle; people keep asking me if I am pregnant. I now starting to think surgery is the answer.

Are you on any medication?

Yep Team RH all the way. I was running everyday on 1200 cals and plateaud. Now Im on 1800 cals a day hitting protein, carb and fibre targets and loosing each week. Its completely educated me on food.

Hi OP, I did. I am 5’3 with a small frame (narrow hips and shoulders, “small boned” as my mum says). I’m early 40’s and currently at my ideal weight of 8.5 stone having lost a stone and a quarter last year.

I started my weight loss plan at 1200 calories per day (minimum myfitnesspal would allow) but I just wasn’t shifting any weight. It only started to shift once I dropped to 1000 calories per day during the week (some days I would only have 900 if I wasn’t particularly hungry, and usually on the 2 days of the weekend I would have 1500 or so).

I’m not as active as you - I don’t run (tried it, hated it) but as part of my weight loss plan I did (and still do) about a half hour of weight training at home 2-3 times per week and also a medium level 30 minute step aerobics routine in front of youtube a couple of times a week.

The key thing for me at 900/1000 calories per day was to not allow myself to get hungry because then my resolve would go. To avoid hunger I had to change what I ate - I didn’t ‘waste’ calories on food that wasn’t going to fill me, so I cut out absolutely all sweet treats, biscuits etc - that was the most difficult thing really. I only ate ‘real’ food, plain food, eggs, avocado, porridge for breakfast, nuts and prunes, cottage cheese for lunch, chicken or salmon or lean meat, one small potato for dinner, with lots of veg, no sauces, no takeaways. I massively upped my vegetable intake, piles of broccoli with dinner etc. The veg really filled me up and it also helped with appetite reduction - no one craves broccoli. I weighed and recorded absolutely everything I ate on myfitnesspal. I listened to my body - if there was a day that I was really hungry, I just ate more. Then there’d be days when I wasn’t hungry at all and could happily make do with 800-900 cals.

I lost the weight over the course of about 6 months. Once I got to my target I went back up to 1200 and I’m now maintaining on about 1400 plus the weights/bit of cardio. I’m not rigid about it, I have treat days and meals out (before covid!) but I still have the odd 900 cal day if I feel I need to reign myself in.

This is just my experience of what worked for me as a fellow shorty with a small frame - everyone’s metabolism and body shape is different. What works for one person may not work for another. I would say if you're going to try lowering to that level, just be careful and pay attention to your energy and hunger levels, don't be rigid about sticking to 800-900 cals, adjust if you have to. It worked for me.

And definitely definitely don't under eat a lot while exercising much more.... Do think about talking to a professional before going further and have some...proper eating days while you reflect on all of this

@DoubleFunMum

I think the Mayoclinic trumps us both. I still don't get what you were saying about calories burned with no exercise are different from calories burnt with exercise. Do you have a link? I didn't say I disagreed, I said I didn't understand.

Blogilates Casey Ho on Youtube is amazing as well as Bohobeautiful for yoga and pilates.

I'd go back to normal eating for a couple of months. Still being reasonably careful not to overeat. I wouldn't go to 900 calories a day.

I am 5'7", over 16st since pregnancy weight gain 10 years ago, I eat 1200 a day and do 30 mins crosstrainer and 45 mins aerobics every morning plus 2 pilates classes a week, on the weekend I go to 1800 cals as long term this makes it doable and still do my exercise on the weekend. The crosstrainer and aerobics is around 700 cals altogether.

The NHS calculator says I would lose weight eating 1900 cals a day, I eat far below that and my calorie count is definitely correct. My deficit means that I should lose more than the 1-2 pounds I lose per month that I do, after 2 years it is fucking. Depressing.

Why is it accepted that there are Naturally V slim people who struggle to put on weight but the other way round then you're obviously lying or so stupid you must be unable to work out your calories, or so greedy, lazy and in denial.

'The crosstrainer and aerobics is around 700 cals altogether'

This is part of the issue, overestimating calories burnt during exercise or using figures for it from things like MFP.

I've lost a stone and a half so far this year by doing 3 whole body weights workouts a week and eating more lean protein, some fat and some complex carbs. I've done this with a gym that specialises in weight loss and building lean muscle, including throughout lockdown with zoom workouts. The workouts are really tough - I have my own weights, some people are doing bodyweight workouts, but it's only 45 minutes including warm up and stretching afterwards. Slogging away at hours of cardio isn't necessarily going to achieve what you want @maddening. We're encouraged to get 10000 steps in a day through walking and some people run instead.

I'd done the Blood Sugar Diet successfully in the past, but failed to maintain the weight loss and had gone back to bad habits. Anyway, I've been eating more than I had for ages and although I feel I still have more to lose, my body shape is better than when I weighed half a stone less. I haven't ever felt hungry. My goal now is to reduce my body fat further and build more lean muscle.

I wish I had done this sooner I feel and look so much better for it.

Try a reverse diet? I suspect I messed up my metabolism from years of fad diets and existing on a stupidly low number of calories. Was tracking every calorie strictly and couldn’t budge a pound. Very gradually added 50 calories a week over about 12 weeks (did gain a few pounds during this) however at the end when I reduced calories again we were back in business. Takes a bit of time and I know it can be difficult to stay motivated without that immediate payoff but got me over a plateau!

HeyBlaby, that would be true if I was eating the 700 cals, but I am not. The calories are estimated by my fitbit automatically and at my weight it will take more calories that and 8 stone person to do the same 45 min aerobics.

My calories eaten are specific as I eat 2 weetabix with Skimmed milk for breakfast (ibs and dietician advised to start day this way) veg soup 300 cals for lunch, half veg soup and 300 cals veg soup dinner. I am not over eating or adding calories and even if the fit bit was estimating 200 cals too high that would still leave me on 700 calories net so a deficit is still considerable based on my height and weight etc to calculate my bmr.

Sorry 300 cals bread with my soup at dinner

maddening, go take a look at Team RH. 💐

I have found the timing of the meals affects my loss, I am following 18/6 and eat healthily but all my meals are in a 6 hour window between 11 and 5, its really sped up my weight loss but im eating a similar amount.

Isn't there a danger of long term damage to knees/hips with jogging and running?