Thread: Newbie Question?

Hi Everyone, I am new to this but I was hoping for a bit of advice? I have started dieting on the 1^st of Jan and I am not following any particular diet, I am just using the my fitness pal app on my phone to count calorise. I am 33 years old and my start weight was 15st 7lb and my target is to get to sub 13st. I have been nervous about dieting before as I didn’t think I could do it but I am not sure why but I am finding it really easy. I am eating around 800-1000 calories a day and doing 20 mins execise as well as drinking 2-3L of water a day and I have lost 4 lbs in the 1^st week.

My worry is I am doing something wrong as I am not feeling hungry while eating so few calories, has anyone else had a similar experience and should I try to eat more?

Thanks
Will

Hi Will

Welcome! My Fitness Pal is amazing isn't it?!!

Well done on your loss so far. To be honest I think 800-1000 calories is far too little for you to have on a daily basis. I would try to eat at least between 1500-1800 just to be sure you aren't harming your body and that you are getting all the nutrients you need. What kind of things are you eating?

There is loads of info / calculations out there on working out the optimum calorie allowance for a particular persons weight loss (gender/level of activity/age/height etc etc) but I find it all quite confusing. Have a little explore around and you may be able to get a clearer picture.

Hey there! Well done for making the decision to to get healthy.. And you've had a great kick start : )
Try to up your calories a bit though as your body will think its only ever going to get 1000 or less calories a day and will learn to manage on that... Then if you do in a few weeks time increase your intake for any length of time your body may store the excess as fat : ( so try to edge it up a bit closer to 1300 at least. You will still lose nicely at that amount especially as you are exercising too! Keep up the good work, I'm pleased for you xx hugs Susie

Hi and thanks for your replies, my food intake this week so far has been as follows and I am taking multi vits/iron and calcium tabs to make sure I am not missing out on anything.

Mon
Breakfast – apple
Lunch - Meatballs with spuds & carrots (left overs from Sunday & recipe from the hairy dieters)
Dinner – chick breast with baked potatoes + 50g cottage cheese + low fat yoghurt
Calories 856

Tue
Breakfast – pear
Lunch – minestrone soup + low fat yoghurt
Dinner – cod with rice, carrots, green beans & broccoli
Snack – Bag snack A Jacks
Calories 851

Wed
Breakfast – Apple
Lunch – chicken tikka salad bowl from subway with sweet onion sauce and a little cheese
Dinner – fuller for longer meal from M&S
Snack – Special K bar
Calories 805

Thur so far
Breakfast – orange
Lunch – prawn noodle salad + low fat yoghurt
Calories so far 410

I am surprised at how much better I feel and how I am enjoying eating the healthier food but after the first 2/3 days I have stopped feeling hungry between meals and stop craving fatty foods.

I am drink loads of water and taking vitamins etc. do you think I should force some more calories in?

YUM it all looks delish, varied and healthy well done! Yes I would still suggest "forcing" a few more calories though, even having porridge for breakfast would help, or have an extra piece of fruit in the afternoons and a handful of nuts.

Originally Posted by BerryBerry

YUM it all looks delish, varied and healthy well done! Yes I would still suggest "forcing" a few more calories though, even having porridge for breakfast would help, or have an extra piece of fruit in the afternoons and a handful of nuts.

Yes agreed, healthy extras like those to bring the calorie count up a bit will help keep that metabolism revved up : )

Thank you, i will carry on and see how i go

I also advise you eat some more calories try 1200 perhaps as anything below this is starvation mode.

I once ate 1000 calories and although effective and i lost quickly i also gained it all back pretty much! As it came off too soon and i couldn't realistically stick at 1000 calories forever.

You definitely need to eat more - at least 1200 if you're a woman, 1500 if you're a man. You can do yourself irreparable harm if you eat at such an unsafe level - I know, I have done. Please seek proper advice before you hurt yourself.

Hi Will,

If you're finding the MFP app confusing, this website might make things a bit more simple for you:

How Many Calories Do I Require To Lose Weight?

You enter your gender, age, current weight, activity level and height...

Then you put in how much weight you want to lose and in what time-frame, and it tells you the calories to eat per day, each week, to reach that goal.

If the amounts of calories are shown in yellow, it means this is too low to be healthy, and you should lengthen the time-frame or put in less weight to lose or increase your exercise, which means you can eat more.

So, your start weight is 217 pounds...and you want to get to under 13 stone, which is 181 pounds or less, so you want to lose 36 pounds. I'm going to make a random guess that you're 6ft tall and I've entered your activity level as 'light' (you can go to the page yourself and tweak those values). I'm also guessing that you're male. Therefore, with those values, to lose 36 pounds, you could do that in 4-5 months (by May / June 2013) by eating around 1500 calories per day. That would be safe.

With taking multi-vitamins / supplements, please be aware that this doesn't necessarily give you a 'pass' to eat lower than healthy calories. Unless you're a doctor or a nutritionist (or doing this diet under the supervision of one of those), you may not be taking the things your body is actually missing out on, and not in the appropriate amounts to make up for not eating enough. Add to that the fact that eating low calories can really mess up your metabolism as others here have said, and it's not really worth the risk.

One more thing: this website here: Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator

Will also help you calculate your BMI. That's your body mass index, which is a number calculated based on your weight, age, height...and it gives you a good idea of the healthy weight range for your body.

Using the values from before, your current BMI is 29.4, which puts you just at the top of the overweight range.

When you get down to 181 pounds, your BMI will be 24.5, which is at the top of the normal weight range. That's if you're 6ft, which was a guess on my part.

I hope these websites help you and good luck on your journey! Fantastic that you're here

Hi SuperGroovy, thank you very much for your detailed reply, and your details are not far off correct except I am on 5’10. I have done some reading last night and its very confusing to say the least, I have read a few articles that say “starvation mode” doesn’t kick in unless you have less than 5% body fat for a man. When I started doing this having not dieted before I gave myself about 3 days before I gave up (defeatist I know) but having started and got the first few days out of the way I am really enjoying it and my general mood and energy levels are better than before. I was never really over weight until I hit my mid-twenties and started drinking more alcohol and getting lazy with my food & exercise, the really daft thing is I really enjoy eating fruit / veg and healthy food but got in to the habit through laziness of eating processed food and pizza, takeaways etc. Also I have never monitored the amount of calories in food and alcohol and these has really opened my eyes to how much some foods/drinks contain and having started exercising and started to feel the benefit I really hope I can make the relevant lifestyle changes when I get to my goal weight to keep it off (easily said I know..).

My biggest confusion is as follows, so I read that to burn 1 pound of fat you need a deficit of 3500 calories, but they also say that it’s safe to lose 2-3 pounds per week so to lose 3 pounds you need a calorific deficit of 10,500 over the week and this works out as a daily deficit of 1500 calories a day. I calculate my BMR at around 2200 calories with my job etc. so I need to only eat 700 cals a day for 3 pound loss or 1200 for 2 pound loss.

Does the above make sense? Being new to this and reading so many contradictory articles is all very confusing.

Originally Posted by willybob

Hi SuperGroovy, thank you very much for your detailed reply, and your details are not far off correct except I am on 5'10. I have done some reading last night and its very confusing to say the least, I have read a few articles that say "starvation mode" doesn't kick in unless you have less than 5% body fat for a man. When I started doing this having not dieted before I gave myself about 3 days before I gave up (defeatist I know) but having started and got the first few days out of the way I am really enjoying it and my general mood and energy levels are better than before. I was never really over weight until I hit my mid-twenties and started drinking more alcohol and getting lazy with my food & exercise, the really daft thing is I really enjoy eating fruit / veg and healthy food but got in to the habit through laziness of eating processed food and pizza, takeaways etc. Also I have never monitored the amount of calories in food and alcohol and these has really opened my eyes to how much some foods/drinks contain and having started exercising and started to feel the benefit I really hope I can make the relevant lifestyle changes when I get to my goal weight to keep it off (easily said I know..).

My biggest confusion is as follows, so I read that to burn 1 pound of fat you need a deficit of 3500 calories, but they also say that it's safe to lose 2-3 pounds per week so to lose 3 pounds you need a calorific deficit of 10,500 over the week and this works out as a daily deficit of 1500 calories a day. I calculate my BMR at around 2200 calories with my job etc. so I need to only eat 700 cals a day for 3 pound loss or 1200 for 2 pound loss.

Does the above make sense? Being new to this and reading so many contradictory articles is all very confusing.

Oooohhhhh 700 is too low .... I'd go with the 2lb loss a week but even then I'm also saying go fir 1lb loss a week and eat more..!!

I am certainly not planning on going down to 700 calories, I was just wondering if that’s how it works. I think maybe if you have a large amount of weight to lose then 3+ pounds a week is what can be achieved if say your BMR is 3000+.

I am going to push mine upto 1200 and I will be more than happy losing 2 pounds a week if I can keep it up.

Its 500 calories a day below your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) to lose a pound a week not your BMR.
BMR is basically what you'd burn if you did bugger all, but obviously your not as you burn extra calories moving around/exercise etc.

TBH 1200 is quite low for a tall male but definitely not lower and if you do much exercise eat more.
The weight will come off quick enough but will be really hard to sustain.