problems with diet: staying under 1300 calories a day
Lately, after about two months of dieting, I've been having problems staying under around 1200-1300 calories a day. I feel hungry all the time lately and feel like eating junk food which is not good at all. I also feel very tired all the time. I'm really struggling with my diet and I'd appreciate some help. I do keep exercising about 45 minutes- 1 hour a day.
Why did you pick that number? It's possible your body is hungry because it really needs food - and good food, not junk food. I also have a VERY hard time staying in the 1200 range, it's just not enough food for me.
I agree. You need more calories. If I go below 1500 my blood sugar plumits and I start craving all kinds of crap. Add some mini 150 calorie snacks (like a wasa crisp with a wedge of laughing cow cheese) you'll get some good protein/fat and good whole grain to keep you satisfied between meals. There are a ton of calculators out there that give you correct calorie amounts for your body type/age/height. I'll post when I find em.
Ok, so I took the info you gave and went out to a BMI Calorie Calculator (I didn't know your age so I made it up -- as far as I could tell the difference for various ages was only about 100 calories.) It said that someone your height, who does close to an hour of exercise a day, and who weighs 180 needs about 2400 calories to maintain.
Even the most EXTREME weigh loss that is considered safe is a two pound a week loss which equals around a 1000 calorie deficit a day. That means that at a MINIMUM you should be eating around 1400 calories a day. That is why you are tired -- your body is starving. Even a 500 calorie deficit will lose you around one pound a week. That would be something like 1900 calories for you everyday. While you will likely lose weight at 1200 a day. You will lose too fast (or you will plateau as your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism drops so radically you simply cannot lose), your metabolism will keep going down and you will feel icky -- oh, and it won't stay off when you begin to raise your calories a bit when goal is achieved.
While everyone's bodies are different, so the numbers above might have to be tweaked a little bit for your particular case, it gives you a good idea about what is going on.
I'm 21...I burn around 500 calories when I exercise an hour a day and have been eating lately more calories than usual..so around 1600 calories.
I just heard that the women on the biggest loser do a whole bunch of exercise (way more than I do) and only eat around 1200 calories a day if I'm not mistaken. So I thought since I exercise less, I'd have to eat that amount too.
EAT MORE! Incorporate about 2-300 calories more of healthy foods - almonds, low fat cheese or yogurt, an extra slice of avocado on your sandwich, an egg white omelet, etc. You will feel better and probably lose at a steady pace.
Remember, Biggest Loser show is not very realistic. Unfortunately most of the contestants have not been able to fully maintain their losses. Good luck!
I am a couple inches taller than you and weighed about the same when I started. I am 37. I average around 1500-1600 calories everyday (Actually I do what is called calorie cycling which means that in a week period I eat as little as 1300 one day but I have a day that I eat 1800 -- but average around 1550 a day for every seven day period. Research has shown that this type of cycling helps confuse the metabolism because it does not "get used" to a lower calorie level. It, in essense, tricks the body into not knowing you are dieting. It also makes it easier to diet for me because I get days that I never feel hungry at all.) I do 30 minutes on my exercise bike everyday, a brisk walk three days a week and strength training every other day. It averages out to just under an hour a day of exercise. I have averaged around 2.2 pounds of weight loss a week since I started. Because I am losing more than 2 pounds a week, I have actually added about a hundred calories to my daily routine in the last couple of weeks because I definitely do not want to lose too fast. I plan to keep this weight off forever, and taking it off too fast destroys a high percentage of your lean muscle mass and drops your metabolism -- bad, bad idea. That is a formula for regaining the weight and then some.
Anyway, I hope all this info helps a little. Good luck!
Kaytlin, sweetie, how many times are you going to ask the same question over and over and over and over and expect to get a different response.
You've been on this site for 4 months now and you keep asking this same question in variations. You keep talking about how you're having problems eating such low calories, that you're dizzy, that you're tired, that you can't seem to complete your workouts, that you have leg pains.
Every single time you ask the same question, people ask you to provide the same information in response: How tall are you, how much do you currently weigh, how much exercise are you getting. And then they tell you that you need to eat more.
And a week or so later, you're asking a variation of the same question over again, still without providing the information that you have to know by now people need to answer properly. And you have to know by now that the answer is going to be the same: you're not eating enough calories.
problems with diet: staying under 1300 calories a day
