Is 1300 calories enough? How long before I'll stop being hungry?

[Wannabemamas]

Used to be a size 10 now I am a big 12 and and generally a bit out of shape. I am never consistent with my workout routine and food regime so I normally alternate weeks when I eat very well and workout regularly with months when I don't and tend to gain weight.
A bit of a cliche but with the new year I really want to get back into a better shape and shed a few kg. I am using myfitnesspal to cal count and the app tells me I need 1300 cal per day (on days when I don't go to the gym). I am used to eating way more than that and I feel hungry :( How long will it take before I adjust? I only started yesterday so perhaps I just need to be patient.

Also, what is going to happen if and when I reach the goal weight? Wouldn't increasing calories again bring me back to where I started from? This is something about diets I never really understood.

Go on tdee calculator online and it will give you what you should be on. I survive quite easily on 1200 Cals and the weight comes off as it should.

Once you get to your goal weight, to stay the same, you just eat your maintenance calories from the same tdee website.

It takes me about a week to re-set appetite

1300 sounds fine.

When you reach your target weight, you very definitely don't go back to how you were eating before.

You increase to a sensible level, either by using a calculator as suggested by pp, or by trial ans error (weighing yourself at least every fortnight and going back to a weight loss level of eating for a couple of weeks if you creep up, plus not eating quite so much in between times so the upwards creep doesn't start).

The right amount for you to stick at a steady weight will be somewhere between the amounts that led to weight gain, and the deficit required for weight loss

I was the same as you size-wise and did Noom for a few months last year to get back to a size 10, also with 1300 calories a day. I found it really helped to encourage me to zone in on what I was eating, as when I made poor food choices I really felt the hunger, whereas there were plenty of days where I didn't feel deprived at all. Drinking a lot more water also helped me. X

No one call tell you 1300 is fine as we don’t even know how tall you are. Unless you are very very short you will be pretty hungry, especially if you are exercising. MFP will tell you how many calories to eat based on what you put in as your weight loss goal so if you put in 2lbs a week you will probably manage this for a few weeks but this doesn’t mean it’s going to do you any good. Are you exercising just to lose weight or to make/improve muscle and be healthy? As if you want strong muscles you have to have a decent diet or you will also lose your muscle as well as fat. It would likely be more sensible to eat more calories, in a smaller deficit and keep your muscles and lose weight slowly

you need to work out your TDEE as someone else pointed out and start from there. How much energy you expend, then how many calories will put you in a sustainable deficit. Your body will gain weight if you eat more than it can burn. However exercise calories on MFP and fitbits are not correct so you can’t eat those back, they are over inflated calories.

Use a British app like nutracheck and it is really helpful to make sure you are getting sufficient macros to keep your body healthy. I cycle through Fast 800 so 1300 cals is generous to me. You shouldn't be hungry if you eat plenty of salad and veg. But it's worth checking with your practice nurse your own individual requirements. I'm monitored by the GP quarterly to make sure everything is ok. Suffering some hair loss at the minute so extra protein advised.

@Menora I am 5.2 tall and weight is 66kg. I have a desk job and currently not exercising although I am planning to go back to the gym this month. Having a FT job and DC I cannot go to exercise classes regularly as I used to unfortunately but when I manage, I usually do Body Pump or Combat. I am thinking of doing shorter workouts from home 2-3 times per week to try and increase current levels of fitness. I'd eat a bit more on the days when I work out as I know by experience that 1300 calories do not keep me going if I also do a 1 hr class in the gym, it simply isn't sustainable for me and would be more likely to give up

Use the james smith calorie calculator. It gives around a lb a week weight loss, with a sustainable amount of calories. I lost 4 1/2 st last year using the amount this calculator gave me. Unfortunately I put over a stone back on in the last couple of months since my dad died, but will be starting back on Monday, and will lose what I have gained, and the extra half a stone to meet target.

I'm the same height as you and weight 60kg. 1200 is the amount I need to stick to if I want to lose. I lost 4 stone last year doing this with the odd bit of exercise here and there (mainly walking). I have another 20lbs to lose.

I do have to be a bit more conscious of what I eat; if I load up on carbs and eat junk as part of this calorie allowance I absolutely feel hungry. If I fill myself with fruit and veg and protein I don't.

Maybe try reducing your calories to 1300 slowly over two weeks or so, so it feels more manageable. All progress is something and in that time, you can figure out what to eat to make sure you don’t feel hungry. You’ll get back there OP

Yes 1300 sounds about right for the weight to slowly come off at 5'2 if you're 66KG.

I'm the same height, and ate around 800-1000 to lose weight,(went from 64KG to 48KG!), it was hard at first, but after the first couple of weeks it gets easier, especially once you weigh yourself and you see the result which is encouraging for me.

My weight crept back on recently, and have just started eating 1,000 calories again. It feels tough after eating what I wanted/no exercise for a year (oops), but I know it will be worth it when I've stuck to it a couple of months.

Everybody is different obviously, and dont go too hard too fast, take it at a pace that's manageable...whether that's changing your food to be healthier > then counting calories > then adding in exercise etc.

I also used the james smith calorie calculator, you should be able to find on google. I lost 5 stone in total in around a year and a bit and was keeping it off well… then I had a baby and now i’m pregnant again. But the calorie amount sounds normal to me! I actually started on 800 calories a day for a month, then increased gradually to 1200/1300ish, it took a few weeks for my appetite to adjust. I used to eat a huge portion of salad at lunch, have a pepsi max as a mid afternoon pick me up and mostly avoid carbs like bread and potato too.

Thanks all and sorry for your loss @YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake 🌸

I do want to lose weight but I also would like this to be a permanent lifestyle change so am a bit concerned that eating too few calories will eventually result in me giving up and going back to what it used to be :( I hope that seeing the changes will give me motivation though

I was worried about this but I haven't gained anything since I stopped last June. I just maintained. I will say that I didn't race to the finish point, I didn't deny myself things either, if I wanted some chocolate I had it, I just made sure I counted it. This way I didn't feel like I wasn't denying myself anything. It's the longest I have ever stuck to a diet and think that's why. As soon as I get into all or nothing I fall off the wagon. And as a previous poster mentioned, once you see the numbers on the scales going down and your clothes feeling different it gets easier!

*didn't feel I WAS denying myself anything

@showmethegin did you still follow a plan to maintain? was it many more calories than before?

1300 calories a day is not enough for an active adult. And if you’re not active then I would suggest you focus your efforts there rather than calorie counting because it will be more beneficial in the long run.

This website is full of people on diets though, so I’m not sure you’ll get balanced answers - diet culture did an absolute number on women who came of age in the 90s/ early 2000s imo.

@ItMustBeBedtimeSurely yes I take this with a pinch of salt - I read of a lot of people doing 1000 cal per day, for me it's madness, unless you are seriously obese and are being followed by a professional. My idea is to use myfitnesspal more as a guidance so for example, if I'd usually eat 2200/2300 cal a day without even thinking and was gaining weight and MFP now recommends 1300 cal, I think that eating around 1500 cal per day would still help me shed some weight whilst being more manageable, iyswim.
On days when I will work out (need to get back on track with that), I'd be inclined to eat back some of the calories as I know that I wouldn't be able to cope otherwise. The main difference will also be that before I was mindlessly snacking on whatever I had around me (i.e. in the office we always have lots of chocolate, biscuits etc) and DH and I would often have take always in the evenings whereas now I am just going to try and stick with healthier and more balanced options and eliminate junk. I hope this approach will pay more in the long run than starving myself to less than 1300 cal per day

You need to move to a healthier diet, add in veg and fibre and cut out refined carbs. That'll help you cut out the calories without being starving all the time.

As for what happens once you've lost the weight, you already know that: you said that you swing between weeks where you eat well and workout regularly and months where you don't, and gain weight. All you need to do is swap the weeks for the months and vice versa and you'll maintain your new weight. (You're not planning to lose enough weight to have a significant impact on your maintenance TDEE).

I'd eat a bit more on the days when I work out as I know by experience that 1300 calories do not keep me going if I also do a 1 hr class in the gym, it simply isn't sustainable for me and would be more likely to give up

Please be careful with this. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't fuel your body for exercise, but it's so easy to eat back the exercise calories and then some. Wrist trackers and online calculators for calories burned during exercise are often wildly optimistic and make you think you've burned more than you actually have.

Exercise should be increasing your calorie deficit, and hopefully burning your fat stores to fuel it. Personally speaking, I'd rather not go to the effort of the exercise if I had to eat back the calories in order to not feel sick/weak/headachey etc!

@Sparklfairy but I wouldn't just exercise to lose weight, I do it because it's good for you, makes your healthier, more toned etc

1300 is not very much and it sounds like you are struggling with hunger. Why don’t you start out at say 1600 for a couple of weeks and see how you go. If no weight loss reduce to 1500 and so on. This way you will,gradually get used to the lower amount rather it being a shock to your body and risking you falling off the wagon.

1300 calories for me was perfect. I'm 167cm tall and around 55-57kgs (dependent on how good I've been 😂)! If you're hungry you might need more protein in your diet perhaps?

@Wannabemamas you sound pretty sensible as I have concerns some of the VLCD’s are borderline restrictive ED’s tbh.

I will use Kim K as an example, apart from some Abs as she is tiny, lean and low body fat, can you see ANY muscle definition on her for someone so lean? No. And muscles are important to maintain for strength, health, mobility, aging so I agree it’s sensible to fuel your body not just being thin. Being thin and frail isn’t an aspirational goal..

it May be a little trial and error to get yourself comfortable in what is a good deficit for you with exercising. I know from my own experience that working out on an empty stomach will make me feel sick and get a headache and more likely to quit. I might not have lost weight on a scale from exercise but I got inches off my waist and thighs by exercising and it’s so good for your mental health too.

No not really! I found that the time counting calories made me much more aware of portion sizes etc so I was still aware of what my body needed. I just let myself have more treats if I wanted them and wasn't so strict with a glass of wine here and there!

I did weight myself once a week to check it wasn't creeping back on.