I know that my problem is one that most of you wish you had. I know this. But I'm worried.
I think I'm losing too much weight too fast. I've lost almost 20 pounds since I started trying to lose weight in mid-December. That's like 2 months. If you say it's 8 weeks, it's not just 2.5 pounds a week. I'll maintain 5 pounds for a week and then drop 5 pounds in a week. I'm trying to eat healthy, but I've lost 4 pounds since Monday. I regularly gain one or two pounds during the day and then lose two pounds overnight.
I should note that I'm taking Adderall (perfectly legit) as well as a couple other mood medications (bipolar and ADD). Like I said, I'm trying to eat healthy and get as many of the food groups as possible, but according to Fitday I've been getting like 600 something calories a day. I feel like crap today, but I took a multivitamin this morning and I started feeling ill right after I drank a 5.5z can of V-8 veggie juice. Is it possible to get sick from a sudden and unusually large intake of vitamins and minerals? Yesterday I started feeling dizzy in the afternoon and I started getting kindof worried.
FWIW, I eat a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats in the morning with skim milk, a fruit parfait cup (by Dole) and a piece of fruit (an apple or a pear) during the day and a chicken breast for dinner, usually with a side of steamed veggies. Is this enough? What am I doing wrong that I feel like crap?
if you're putting all your food in to fit day (and any drinks too) and it says your getting 600 calories you are essentially starving yourself. while it's great you're eating fruit and veg you need protein and carbs too!
that could be why your weight loss is so up and down. be careful
and yes, if you take too many vitamins it can make you sick.
if you're putting all your food in to fit day (and any drinks too) and it says your getting 600 calories you are essentially starving yourself. while it's great you're eating fruit and veg you need protein and carbs too!
that could be why your weight loss is so up and down. be careful
and yes, if you take too many vitamins it can make you sick.
Well I do eat cereal in the morning and chicken at night. Doesn't that count for something?
I'm trying to find a good balance between eating enough but not overindulging. I have a bad habit of overindulging when I eat... I feel bad for complaining about this though (which is why I came to Featherweights instead of the 20-somethings). But I also tend to freak out a little when the scale goes up and hold back for the next couple of days.
I don't mean this to be snarky, but do you have any suggestions for how I can increase my intake without going overboard? Any healthy foods that will do good for me? I don't like eating a lot at night, so I actually do most of my eating during the day at work. Yesterday I got some of those little fat-free-tuna-salad-and-crackers lunches and some smaller, single-serve cans of albacore, cause I don't eat fish often enough.
I look at those diet suggestions online, but it's all about servings of food groups, rather than actual foods (X servings of veggies, Y servings of meat, etc) that will help.
I have a friend who is taking Adderall and she has lost a lot of weight. It decreases your appitite. You are not eating enough to get the vitamins you need. If you are taking vitamins they can make you feel sick if you dont eat food with them. They do that to me. Try adding more into your diet. Not eating enough can leave you weak and not feeling good.
You feel like crap cuz you aren't eating anything...
I'd die on that little bit of food...
I joined sparkpeople.com and it's got great diet plans and recipes and so on. I won't lie to you though- you will probably gain a bit of weight back at first because your body will try to hoard the calories- but if you keep at it you should start losing again.
The nice thing about sparkpeople is it gives you the grocery list you need each week- so you can buy all you need and know exactly when to eat it. I just joined yesterday and this weekend will do a grocery list and follow it. Right now I'm just putting in what I eat and seeing how many calories I'm eating- yesterday I ate about 1500 calories You should be eating like 1200 calories a day.
You need a minimum of twice the calories you are getting, and to be honest, probably a bit over that.
I understand that your medicines are making you just not hungry. If you're not going to eat a lot of food, you're really doing yourself a disservice by having the food you DO eat be so low in calories. Try changing out your skim milk for whole milk and adding a spoon or two of peanut butter with your breakfast - this will add some healthy calories (and healthy fat, which your diet is basically missing), but won't feel like you're eating until you're stuffed. Have a real lunch instead of just a piece of fruit - could you add a sandwich at some point during the day, and drink a glass of milk with your lunch? Then for dinner, maybe swap the chicken breast for a higher-calorie piece of meat like a leg quarter, and add a potato with the veggies, and another glass of milk. Those changes should be enough to move you into a healthy calorie range, without making you feel too full.
You could double your intake and not be even close to going overboard. Seriously. If you really need something super simple just to get you started, just double everything you're having.
Try having your cereal & milk in the morning with fruit, then another bowl later with the fruit parfait cup for a midmorning snack. Then have your chicken breast and veggies for lunch AND for dinner.
You'll feel so much better. And from there, you can start improving the nutritional content of your food even more.
But guaranteed, 650 calories a day is the reason you feel crappy and are losing too fast. There are serious medical complications that can occur with such extremely low calories and fast weight loss.
The reason you're getting dizzy isn't the vitamins - although you definately can't be getting enough of those on 600 calories a day! When you're essentially starving yourself, your body goes crazy when you finally feed it: juice (even V8) has some sugars and because it's liquid you digest it really fast. Your body grabs on to the sugar because it's simply not getting enough energy, and you actually get low blood sugar because your body is panicking! It's no wonder you're feeling dizzy.
This site has great advice from people who are losing weight healthily, including their meal plans. It might be helpful to look at what other people are doing in the long-term. I use the food guide (food pyramid in US) to give me a good idea of what balance of foods I should have. The foods you are choosing are healthy, but you need at least twice as much! The general "healthy eating" idea involves eating lots of veg and fruits, whole grains, lean meats and dairy, things like nuts and seeds, and a moderate amount of liquid oils. Just pick your favorites and aim for more calories!
I think you should add some protein during the day. Try packing a handful of almonds and a piece of string cheese along with the fruit, or some healthy food bars, like Kashi TLC bars or Luna bars. These are things that can be easily pre-portioned and add some healthy calories during the day to keep up your metabolism and keep your blood sugars level.
it's been said that you're not eating enough, so I'll leave that alone. I know personally I need between 1200 and 1600 to feel good.
I've had a problem with the metals in some multivitamins. They really upset my stomach and i've thrown up after taking them before. What has helped me is eating a little more, cutting the vitamin in half and taking one right after breakfast and one right after dinner. It's really cut back on the ill effects
You should never eat less than 1200 calories a day and in your case you should probsbly be eating about 1500 or a little more. Try spreading your meals out. About 3 hours or so after breakfast have a snack could be yogurt, fruit or veggies, for lunch you need something more nourishing thsn those tuna crackers and salad. maybe some string cheese or veggies , you need more calories than you are getting, now.
You must be very hungry come dinner time. Add a healthy lunch in there and a snack or two- try some fruit/almonds (or other nuts)/raw veggies/low fat cottage cheese. The list is endless.
The others pretty much said what I was going to say
Best wishes.
Last edited by bananapancakes; 02-24-2009 at 03:00 PM.
I tend to not want to eat during the day, and then get hungry at night, and night time is when I want to eat too much. I'm learning, slowly, to eat more earlier in the day...the problem is that once I start eating, I want to keep on eating. But I was like you when I first started, and was undereating, and after about a month of starving myself, I was getting dizzy every day. I had to up the calories. My weight loss has slowed down, but I'm not feeling weak and dizzy any more. I'd much rather eat more and lose slower and not feel sick. You aren't just losing fat the way you are doing it. You are losing muscle, like your heart muscle, lungs, everything.
I'm eating between 1200 and 1500 now a day and feel much better. I'd suggest you start planning out some daily meals to ensure you get everything you need. If you have a well defined meal plan, it's easier to stick to it than just trying to figure it out as you go. I have a spreadsheet and just add up my calories as I eat throughout the day, and make sure I always leave enough for evening that I don't have to go all night without eating. I try to eat veggies to fill in when I want to eat but don't want the calories, because I don't count non-starchy veggies.
And as suggested above, you need to get some healthy fats in your system too (fish, olive oil, nuts, seeds, etc.) because your body can't even utilize the vitamins you take (or eat) without them.
Last edited by recidivist; 02-24-2009 at 03:17 PM.
Wow.
I agree with the other posts. You are definitely NOT taking enough calories. I used to take Reductil (Sibutramine) and although I was not hungry most of the time I tried to eat during meal time, keep nutrition balanced, and took vitamins everyday. Even back then I was eating at least 1,200 kcal a day, but I'd still feel faint and get dizzy when I bend down and stand up.
A side effect that I've noticed from malnutrition is that, I've had yearly checkups in the past 3 years and my red blood cell count is on the low side. Even if you think the diet pills would only be temporary, it's hard to recover/reverse the effects once you harm your body, so watch out how you feed yourself!!
Last edited by my3monthchallenge; 03-03-2009 at 04:34 AM.
A problem you wish you had...
You should be eating like 1200 calories a day.
