Good morning

Okay so I had a little relapse over the weekend. It started with treating myself to a beer and a specific dinner (shrimp salad) Saturday, to having another "cheat" meal on Sunday and then eating poorly all throughout the day yesterday.

I have been successful losing weight before and have never had a problem with having things in the house or limiting myself to one rewarding food and getting right back on track. I think it's because I am getting frustrated with what foods to eat and I have been constricting my calories to too low.

I don't remember having these issues with myfitnesspal before. I log my food on there, and according to my stats it says 1850 calories, 254 carbs, 62 fat, 69 protein, 2500mg sodium and 37 sugar.

I stay within what it says for fat, protein, and sugar, but I aim for 1200 calories, 125 carbs, and 1500mg sodium. When planning my meal out for the day, I am having a hard time staying within the sugar and the protein. I haven't eaten today, but I planned to have oatmeal for breakfast, banana for my mid morning snack, lean pork chops and brown rice for lunch, apple for mid afternoon snack (so sugar is already over) and then I was going to have salad for dinner, but if i add even 4 oz of chicken I'm decent amount over in protein as well.

Maybe I am just choosing the wrong foods. I'm going over in those categories, but my calories always end up around 1000 or less! And I know I need to be eating more because I believe thats why I ended up losing my way over the weekend. I didn't think 2 servings of fruit would be too much for one day. And I don't think I am eating that much protein for it to be too much. I just find it confusing. Any advice on constructing the proper diet would be so greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you are getting too wrapped up in the details.

To be 344lbs (using that as a starting figure), you'd be eating a good 3000-4000 calories on a daily basis to maintain that. You don't need to starve yourself to lose weight.

I am 129lbs and I'm losing still on 2000 calories (now, I am nursing, so let's say 1500, even 1400 at the lowest estimate for a non-nurser). That is consisent weighing of foods to ensure a higher protein, moderate fat, and lower carb amount. 130 grams of protein a day.

You eat half the amount of protein that I do.

When you don't get enough nutrients and overall calories, it leads to binging (daily or weekly) and metabolic problems (over the long-term, I'm talking months and years).

Most of all, it makes life harder for you.

I go by a simple formula. bodyweight in pounds x 12 to lose fat. If you are obese, x 10 is fine. You can easily eat 3000ish calories (if properly measured and weighed) and still lose over the long term. Now, I'm guessing most people in the 300's don't start at 3000, they start lower, but they don't have to eat less than someone like me who is barely 130lbs.

I wouldn't worry about sugar content. Unless you are choosing Coca-Cola as your calories, it's probably coming from natural fruit sugars. For example, maple syrup is sugar, an apple has sugar, a grapefruit has sugar, but they are not Cadbury easter eggs either. It's okay to give your body "nature's candy".

Hi - sorry about your relapse. Jump right back on the horse!
A few things:
Personally, I think your calories are ok. Your BMR is somewhere in the range of 2200 (yes?) so if you are hitting 1850, that's a decent deficit. If you have a very physical job or are exercising a lot you should eat back some of those burned calories. Note though that MFP is notorious for overestimating calorie burns, so be mindful of that.
MFP doesn't distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars. As long as you know you are not consuming added sugars, I wouldn't worry too much about the sugar number if you are within your daily calories.
In my opinion, MFP underestimates protein requirements, but macros are a personal choice. In my case, I do best (steady weight loss, not hungry) on higher protein/fat and lower carb than MFP recommends by default. (you can change those settings if you want). I don't worry too much about going over on fat (I do aim to keep saturated fat low), and not at all about going over on protein - again as long they are within the overall calorie limit.
I hope some of this is helpful. Good luck!

If worrying about the macronutrients (fat, protein, etc) is becoming too overwhelming, maybe you could just focus on overall caloric intake for a while. It seems like you've been feeling really restricted & so maybe just easing up on the macros could help you feel like you have a bit more wiggle room.

Also, if MFP says you can get up to 1850, why aim for 1200 when you could still be losing with 1850? Those extra 650 calories could go a long way toward helping you feel not so restricted.

Also also, I wouldn't worry too much about the sugar in fruit if you're only having an apple & banana per day. Just avoid added white, refined sugar for now, that alone makes a huge difference. In any case, it sounds like you're doing really well but you may get burned out if you're being too strict with yourself.

Thanks so much to all who answered. The reason I stay around 1200 is because when eating the right foods, that seems like a lot of food to me and keeps me feeling full! Thats with breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2-3 snacks/mini meals. I really can't imagine eating 1850 calories worth of the foods I eat now. Sure I could have did that before but thats because I was eating so unhealthy it doesn't take long to add up.

I am fine with 1200-1300 calories, Just when I end up around 900 because I was going over in other categories, I felt restricted. I didn't realize that natural sugar didn't "count". Of course I won't eat 15 bananas in a day but now I know that - so thank you! I will increase the protein. Fat I never seem to have a problem staying under and I never feel bad about it.

So thank you again for the tips.. this will make my life so much easier.

For now, I definitely would stick to just worrying about the calorie counts and not all the categories of fat/protein/sugar, etc.

I am a very detailed numbers person (read: obsessive/compulsive!) and some days even just tracking the calories can be a bit overwhelming in the meal planning for me.

I finally have learned that my calories shouldn't be made up of potato chips, 2 sandwiches (=4 pieces of bread!) and a bottle of Coke just because I "have" the calories available on MFP.

Having a good balance of fruits and veggies plus lean protein is the answer to our diet! And like it was said above, the sugar in fruits isn't the same sugar like when we bake a cake. I'm sure you knew that but in the beginning I didn't want to touch fruit either. Now I'm comfortable with it.

You are doing great, it's a lot of information to take in and learn but you can do it!! We are here for you every step of the way.

I would aim for % in protein, carbs and fats not a number. : Macro nutrients
30% protein, 25% fat, 45% carbs is a good place to start.

Calorie cycling has worked for me I take my suggested average of 1500 a day and cycle around that or the week.

Adding good fats like avacado, nuts and greek yogurt make me happy and keep me full....

Good luck to you!

I want to agree with everyone else, and also add in that if you're getting sick of the foods you're eating, try making other foods. Look at healthy cooking blogs, recipes, websites, so you can find more variety.

You know you can make almost anything in a healthier way by tweaking it just a bit. That may help so you don't get bored with the same stuff day in and out.

You say 1,200 cals keeps you full, but if it also leaves you with a strong urge to go off-plan, it may not be enough to satisfy you. I agree with the suggestion to try 1,500 cals and not to worry too much about the macros. That's always been my go-to number for weight loss and I never paid the slightest attention to macros (beyond eating reasonably healthily in a general sense). It doesn't have to be complicated.

F.

I totally agree with Freelance. If you really feel like going off plan, it's likely you aren't getting enough of something. Higher calorie counts can seem scary, but they really shouldn't be. I'd up my intake (and that might help you to get more protein too) and see what happens. Good luck!

Thanks as well Elvis, Dstalks, Munchy, Freelance, and Krissy.

Freelance I don't feel like going off plan at 1200 calories. I feel like going off plan after 5 days of not making it even past 1000 calories because I was so concerned about not going over in the macros sections. So ignoring the protein and sugar today, I ended at 1,252. I planned all of my meals and snacks for tomorrow as well and it's ending around 1300, with A LOT of food. So I think this will work out much better and easier for me now.

You can eat extra protein with no trouble, unless you have kidney problems (talk to your doctor if you suspect that), and you can eat "good fats", like olive oil, fish oil, almonds (just a few), and oily fish, to supplement that 1200 calories. You can also eat fiber rich fruits (an apple is aobut 100 calories) and veges and even some grains (I'm not a rice fan, but I love quinoa and high fiber cereals). I tried doing 1300 calories a day (I weighed about 270 at the time) and didn't lose weight. I know that sounds crazy, but I was exercising on top of that and getting very frustrated, then I would start craving something awful for me (like peanut butter) and pig out. Now, I'm sticking with Fitday's recommended 1800 cal/day and losing 2-3 lbs/week. If you have decent medical coverage, it might not be a bad idea to talk to a nutritionist about going over on the macronutrients. It really won't hurt you.