[mysticshaz]

ok so i dont know if this is the right forum for this but here goes

i started dieting around a month ago and have lost around 6 pounds which is great however i have hardly eaton anything compaired to my usual diet especially at lunch time and work out on my wii fit 30 mins a day.

i was feeling great untill i got dizzy and sick last week and got moaned at i wasnt eating properly so at the start of the week i have eaton a small light lunch rice cakes etc and now this week the weight hasnt budged

the thing is i now feel like if i cant eat what i want why eat at all!

also does is my metabolism screwed up or something i should be able to eat healtily and lose weight but it seems i cant. the thing is its not like i ate like a pig to put all the weight on in the first place. i saw a dietician before christmas who said i was focusing too much on what i ate and not enought on excercise so i tried eating the same and a little excercise but nothing.

i now feel guilty when i do eat i feel like im screaming inside what the **** is wrong with me

sorry if this all sounds a little confused but i need help

much love

mystic

[Lori Bell]

You NEED to eat, (and not rice cakes!) real food! If you don't you're doomed. Please see a different dietitian who will teach you how to eat properly and not shove exercise down your throat. Exercise is great, but there will be times in life you can't...you need to know how to eat property to compensate.

[butterflywings34]

Ok this is what I did. I looked up how many calories I need a day to lose 2 pounds a week without exercise and with exercise. I have been counting calories. If you dont eat enough your body will hold on to the fat because it thinks it is starving. I hate trying to eat 6 small times a day but its when I started losing weight. I know they always say you have to eat to keep things working and guess what they are right.
I enter my food intake into mydailyplate.com and it keeps track of everything for me. I love the website, it makes it so much easier. I hope this helps but honestly you do need to eat even when you dont want to and that was hard for me too.

[nelie]

Do you know how many calories you are eating right now? That would be a good place to start.

[LittleMoonRabbit]

I think it's sad how many people have somehow gotten the message that they need to starve themselves to lose weight.

Mystic- you have to eat... AT LEAST 1200 calories a day. Your body needs fuel, or else your body will go into starvation mode, and it will hang onto the fat it already has in order to "survive". Oddly enough, eating food helps you lose weight Your body needs energy. Eating the right foods is important too. Maybe you should create a profile on a website like the daily plate. Then you can count your calories and make sure that you are getting the right combination of macronutrients to keep your body nice and healthy. Try to figure out what your BMR is, and like another poster said here, figure out how many calories you need to eat a day to lose 2 lbs a week (without exercise). If you do exercise, do it in moderation, and up your calories a little bit to compensate.

[Glory87]

I dieted unsuccessfully for 20 years. I always thought, if I can cut some calories and lose some weight, I can cut MORE calories and lose MORE weight. My goal was weight loss - as fast as possible, by whatever means. It meant not eating foods I liked, being hungry, staying "perfect."

And I did that for 20 years. Off and on. Diet, stop dieting, diet stop dieting. Binges, fasts, 800 calories a day, dexatrim. Did I lose weight? Sometimes, up to 50 lbs once. Did I keep any of it off? Did I treat my body well? Was I healthy? Did I ultimately feel successful? No, I gained every pound back and more, I abused my body and I felt like a no will power loser.

So, what changed in July 2004 for me? I ready this book called Super Foods RX which talked about using food as preventatives for cancer and disease. That's how I started - I concentrated on EATING for the very first time (instead of my usual diet where I concentrated on NOT EATING). That mind shift change changed my life completely and here I am, 70 lbs lost and kept off for FOUR YEARS.

We all have to find our own path but I can definitely say that NOT EATING is not going to get the job done for you long term and might only derail and hurt your chances of success.

[mysticshaz]

ok so i guess i better explain a little about what i used to eat and where i am now

before
breakfast- cereal bar
mid morning snack - crisps or small chocolate bar usually low fat like quavers
lunch- brown bread sandwich maybe blt or cheese salad usually low fat version

dinner- this would vary i like spicy food so i eat chicken curry , fajitas or if i am being lazy just something i can quickly shove in the oven like chicken nuggets or pizza whith chips

dessert- usually some form of chocolate just a couple of pieces


now

breakfast- still cereal bar i like special k bliss bars atm

lunch- hum well i feel bread bloats me so i have been having like philidelphia splendips or something like that if i eat at all

dinner- similar food really just much smaller portion swaped chips or jacket pots with no butter and plenty of extra veg instead of carbs been trying to eat more fish

desert- low fat chocolate mouse

activity lvl, well before i didnt excercise and gained 2st in two years. now wii fit 30 mins a day. when i have not been eating lunch i lost 2 pounds a week. however this week i have and have not lost anything yet.

if anyone can shed anylight on where i was going wrong before because i dont know what i can cut down on when i ate low fat versions of stuff anyway u know!

much love

mystic

[Glory87]

So, 100 calorie breakfast bar, no lunch, potato (100 calories), vegetables (max 200 calories), I dont know what a splendip is, let's say 200 calories? and a low fat chocolate mousse (100 calories).

700 calories?

For me, that would be the problem.

[jahjah1223]

Thats how i started my diet BAD idea because i got very sick and felt like my body was shutting down and it that much harder getting back on the right track of eating healthy , i did get discouraged from not losing for a few weeks but better that then having a ED which i was on the road to.

[KforKitty]

Special K bars and Splendips are SNACKS not meals. You are not eating enough to give your body even basic nutrition. No wonder you are getting dizzy. For your metabolism to work effectively you need to eat every 3-4 hours. Plan what you are going to eat based on something like:

Breakfast: 250 calories
Snack: 100 calories
Lunch: 300 calories
Snack: 100 calories
Dinner:450/500 calories

Try getting the best 'bang for you buck' and eat food that is low in calories so you can get greater quantities.

Believe me with moderate exercise you will lose weight.

I've lost 8 stone (112lbs) doing this (actually with 200/300 calories more a day but I'm taller than you).

Just to reiterate what Glory said: for long term success you need to learn how to eat, not how not to!

Kitty

[moonkissed]

Everyone gave such good advice already. I know it is so tough to eat more when you want to lose. Everything tells your brain no food = evil. But it is not so I had alot of trouble eating enough calories too and just now getting better at it.

I really recommend you start counting calories. There are tons of websites online that will tell you an average of how many calories you need to eat (I like sparkpeople.com) when you give your info- age, height, weight, how much u wanna lose.

Really learning portion control and counting calories is not too difficult and it really is like opening all the windows and seeing the big picture all lit up lol. You will easily see that you can still eat lots of yummy stuff and know that you are being healthy and getting enough to eat as well!

Maybe try special k cereal or another brand for breakfast just make sure to see the serving size and eat that and then maybe soymilk or 1% and then some fruit or I often like to eat a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter or cottage cheese for protein too.

I almost always have fiber one granola bar which is alot like the special k ones very yummy! for lunch with a huge chicken salad. Very yummy.

Goodluck hun!

[kaplods]

There are a couple possibillities I can think of (and surely I few I haven't).

Sometimes if you cut your calories too low, you may eat extremely low for several days, enough that you feel you're always on plan (say 9 days out of 10) and then when you're so hungry you go a bit mad and have a crazy binge day. The binge day, even though it seems like a lot of food, it doesn't seem like so much more that it could knock out 9 days of progress, but it can.

Another possibility (part of what some people call the starvation response, I think conservation may be a better term), is that you're eating so few calories your body is trying to conserve (reduce) your energy expenditures. It's not just your metabolism shutting down in some unseen way - it's also things that sometime can be seen, like needing to sleeping more or you may sleep more deeply (you may not notice that your sleep is different, or you may know you're more tired than usual, perhaps even exhausted). Perhaps, even without realizing it, you may conserve calories by taking more short cuts in daily activities.

Another possibility is an underlying physical condition(s) that can cause fatigue and/or lower metabolism more directly. Hypo(low)thyroid, diabetes/insulin resistance or other metabolic or endocrine disoders, PCOS (polycistic ovary syndrome, sleep disorders or deprivation, vitamin deficiency....)



In a nutshell, I think that if you can, I would suggest you see your doctor and ask for tests to check for all such disorders. A consultation with a dietitian would also be helpful (if you are insulin resistant and have insurance, your insurance may pay for at least one consultation with a diabetic educator - this would also be great).

Even if none of that is possible right now, you could try to self-educate on nutrition. My sister (a dietitian) recommended this book to me (I checked it out from the library, and I really like it - I'm going to buy my own copy, eventually):

The American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide.

[mysticshaz]

wow thanks for all the posts on this subject i dont know where to start! i guess it seems to me that i didnt feel i was over eating before and didnt know where to cut back etc.

i have seen my doctor several times in relation to my tiredness thirst and my weight gain everytime they take blood and never find anything.

i am really scared to try and eat more than i am as i know it will feel like i am eating too much and feel certain i will gain.

the thing is i have done weight watchers in the past and all i had was splendids etc for lunch then as soon as i went back to a sandwich and low fat crisps its all come back.

does anyone have anyideas on what i can eat for lunch as bread bloats me and i dont like soup and salad well its hardly exciting is it. thats why i just eat crackers. i also dont have an active job do you think 30 mins excercise a day is enough?

thanks you all for your wonderfull advice so far

much love

mystic

[Glory87]

If you are having difficulties eating enough nutritious food to stay healthy - I think you should see a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. I don't think you're sick or crazy or anything, but not eating is a serious issue and few of us here can give you the kind of help/advice you need. Scared to eat more than 800 calories a day is not a good place for you to be - mentally or physically. I hope that doesn't sound too heavy and serious, just something to think about.

As far as lunch ideas - if you aren't wild about bread, what about tortillas? Wraps are good. You can also have breakfast or dinner things for lunch, you don't have to be locked into the traditional "lunch" foods (sandwich/soup/salad). What about eggs?

[Violin Jenn]

Originally Posted by mysticshaz

does anyone have anyideas on what i can eat for lunch as bread bloats me and i dont like soup and salad well its hardly exciting is it. thats why i just eat crackers. i also dont have an active job do you think 30 mins excercise a day is enough?

mystic

Hi Mystic,
Lunches...I love a stir-fry for lunch, grilled chicken with left over steamed veggies or I'll even make a sandwich on a mini-whole wheat pita.

You sound like your in the same place I was 2 yrs ago when I first walked into a LA Weightloss center. After showing the dietitician a 3 day sample of my diet she said " dear, you're metabolism is that of an Ethopian child". I was eating exactly the same way you are...waaay to little.

All the advice given is right on. I count calories to make sure I eat enough. Right now with only dinner left, I am only at 1095calories for the day. I need to rethink dinner so I can get in 1400-1500 calories for the day.

The only advice I can add is to make sure you add in calories slowly and believe that adding more healthy calories is what your body needs.
I strive each day to make certian that 80%-90% of my diet is clean. Lean protein, Veggies, Fruit, Fat Free Dairy, whole grains, healthy fats (in that order) I try to avoid processed foods, but there are some, biscotti for 110cals, NutraGrain Cereal bars 130cals, FF cheese and limited Lean Cuisine/Weight Watchers.