So I'm starting the dieting thing over once again, hence why I'm here! I've been tracking my calories on FitDay since I started and I'm averaging around 1,500 a day. I am still nursing my son, but only a couple of times a day at this point. Last night I overate but not too badly, kept under 2000 cals. Today on the other hand, I hit 2,132, I always do WAY worse when DH is home

Does 1500 cal a day sound right for me to loose weight? Should I be eating less? This is so confusing!

Hey!

At the top of this forum page are some Sticky Threads. Here's one you should read:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120806

This has lots of answers!

Jay

Nursing changes things a bit - there's a special forum for pregnant/nursing here

1500 might be a little low....

As for "blowing it"....that was yesterday...move on. And try to figure out why it's so much harder when DH is around and try to plan for the next time.

Thanks! I think part of my problem with DH is that he loves fast food, and he wants 3 big meals a day, on the weekends we usually end up going out to breakfast for some unknown reason, and if we're out all day lunch too. Since moving we've been a lot better at not eating out though!

Hello thar, My wife weighed 236 pounds when she started losing weight and she was doing 1500 calories in the beginning of that if I remember correctly , she adjusted calories as she lost and is down 65 pounds since last Jan. I eat 1700 per day and have dropped 165 pounds since Jan 1st of last year myself I think everyone is a little different but the basics are the same, I think if you eat 1500 calories for 2 weeks and lose then yes its the right amount for you but give it a couple weeks to see results before giving up on a range and adjust accordingly. Its hard to say whats right for a person as we are all a little different Just remember to stay honest with the calorie number and you will see results.

also just because you had one bad day or even a bad week iis no reason to give up or feel bad, we all have those days, the thing is to limit them. I wish you luck with your weight loss. Check out my blog if you are interested, it starts Jan 1st last year and brings ya right on up to today and 165 pounds gone, maybe you can get some info or ideas from some of my experiences.

As Ever
Me

A few suggestions

Research online what is a decent choice to order at any given fast food joint. Know what you are going to order before you get there. For example - Taco Bell has "al fresco", Jack in the Box has chicken fajita pita (have them hold the cheese)....knowledge is power.

I have a really hard time with my DH as well...he doesn't have a weight problem and seemingly can eat whatever he wants with no consequences. It made a big difference when I realized that I can never hope to keep up with how much he eats and not be as big as a house. It ain't fair....but there you go.

You can do it Meg!! DH needs to get on board!

I think 15 seems kind of low. i weigh 190something and I can burn about 1400 a day if I never moved, so with light moving, no purposeful exercise I can burn about 1600. That means I should eat no less than that and add more purposeful movement. I would think with nursing, your calories really should be more around the 1700-1800 and maybe more if you are going to exercise. Remember, you have to have enough cals to keep the metabolism up, rapid weight loss can mess up your metabolism and thats one reason weight is so easily gained back when going off a diet.

Thanks again! I do eat off the fresco menu at taco bell when we go, and I've been getting better at not ordering a double cheeseburger or some other grossly greasy nasty yumminess!

Today was better, 1958 calories but I was busy unpacking and moving stuff around. I'm feeling better, now I just need to go get some batteries for my scale and see if I've lost any in the last couple of weeks.

I think you should come up here and kick him with me! I will say since I talked to him this afternoon he's agreed to make some changes, he also realized that not eating 2 sandwhiches, 2 snack bags of chips, and 4 pops for lunch has helped him a lot. He's lost 40 lbs in the last year!

Hey Megan.

One thing I'll suggest, just from the title of your post. Reset the way you think.

You didn't blow it TODAY. You may have blown one choice. You may even have blown a meal. But one meal is not an entire day. Even one food choice isn't an entire meal.

I truly belive this is one of the biggest things that people use as ... well as an excuse to fail. They take a mistake and say "well, I blew it".

Kaplods - one of my favorite people on this site says something frequently. She says: If you trip on the top step, do you then throw yourself down the entire flight of stairs?

Think about it. Because you made a bad choice at lunch, does that mean the whole day is ruined?

Or does it mean that you stand up, and keep walking down those stairs?

If you want to be successful, then you keep on walking. If you want to fail, then throw yourself down the stairs.

.

Blown it? Nah. What is there to blow?

Granted there will be better choices and worse choices. Better days and worse days. But there is nothing to blow. You're in this for the long haul right? So therefore it is inevitable and unavoidable to over do things from time to time. You haven't "ruined" anything. Your "diet" isn't over.

And I think, could be wrong, that it's Jay who says "If you trip on a stair, do you proceed to throw yourself down the remainder of the staircase?"

Another one of Jay's that I love - "If your car has a flat tire, do you go ahead and slash the other 3?"

BTW, sounds like you dusted yourself off nicely.

As far as DH goes, how about having a nice homemade breakfast from time to time, instead of going out? A nice healthy, delicious meal, that is?

That's just the thing. Many of us here don't view this as some "diet" that we're on. So therefore there's nothing to "go off of". We just keep on continuing to eat healthy. Forever. Thus preventing weight gain.

As for calorie goal I had a lot of the same questions when I started.

I use The Daily Plate but I'm sure Fitday is similar. I put in my height, age, activity level, gender, and weight. Then I set it to tell me how many calories I can eat and lose 3lbs a week which is my current weekly goal. Everyday I put in my current weight and it tells me how many calories I get.

Took all the guesswork out.

If you find you're always hungry on your plan here are some troubleshooting steps:

1. Are you eating a lot of processed foods? They tend to provide less nutrition and bulk per calorie.

2. Is your goal unreasonable? Are you trying to lose 10lbs a week? Stop that! 1-2 pounds or about 1% of your body weight is a good place to start.

3. Are you getting enough water?

4. Are you adjusting to your new plan (give it 2 weeks before you give up)?

1500 seems low to me and with nursing it seems really low to me. I weigh less than you are and I eat 1700-1800 cals per day and I have lost 21lbs since Oct 15th (i also work out).

Why dont you try a higher calorie range for a week or 2 and see what happens.

As for today! its over and done tomorrow is a new day and strive to do better.