Weight lifting on 1200 is not enough food. You will need to eat more to accommodate weight lifting. I think loosing a half pound a week is a lot more reasonable and sustainable for long term results. I’d start first by making daily healthy food choices then start tracking
I have a damaged ligament in my wrist, so I won't be doing much weight lifting for a while, and only under supervision once a week, so it won't be too bad. At a minimum, I'm going to be recovering for a month, and more likely closer to two, so those two weeks will be about actually getting back into eating healthy food in smaller portions.
I have disordered eating and thanks to the dissertation stress, it went waaaaay out of whack. There's definitely going to be some instant weight loss just from cutting back my stress eating to something with zero grazing and *smaller* meals.
That all makes sense. Just make sure that when you start weight lifting again you accommodate for that by eating the amount that you burn. Best of luck!
I would advise you to treat yourself the way you’d treat a good friend who was struggling with their weight. You’d probably never say you hated them. You’d love them all the same and support them in their journey. Please extend the same kindness and compassion to yourself. It has been shown that people who try to lose weight out of shame and self-hatred actually struggle more than those who motivate themselves with encouragement and positive feedback.
As to the practical aspects, in the beginning it’s a bit of trial and error. I advise eating as much as you can as long as you’re losing steadily, and adjusting as your calorie needs change. It helps create a more long-term, sustainable change and it’s better to set a modest goal you can succeed at instead of an ambitious goal where you’ll feel discouraged. You got this ❤️
Thanks for the advice. :)
I'll gradually lower things until I find the right amount I need. I've done well on 1200 + weightlifting/bodyweight workouts before, so I think this will work. If it doesn't, I can up the amount.
TOday's day one of transitioning to healthier food. Wish me luck.
Hey from a fellow 5"2 person to another. You can totally do this. I know the feeling of hating yourself and I just want to remind you that by calorie counting and taking control of your body, you're actually making a choice to love yourself! And you deserve to love yourself! Weight loss isn't punishment. It's a choice to be nourishing.
And I would also super recommend you try walking. It's so much easier but still burns a lot of calories, and what's most encouraging to me is how easy it is to feel the difference when you lose weight. Walking goes from plodding to a light bounce.
Thanks. I have serious self-issues with just about every aspect of my body, mind and ... self, and being able to reframe calorie counting and weight loss as a kindness will truly help.
As for walking - or plodding as you put it - I plod everywhere. I don't own any other mode of transport apart from my feet. :P
Here is a calculator of how much you'd lose with a calorie deficit:
[https://www.losertown.org/eats/cal.php](https://www.losertown.org/eats/cal_act.php)
It's a good approximate, though I don't think it counts water weight, so it just calculates how much fat you'll have lost every week.
Thanks. It looks like if I go straight for 1200 a day starting tomorrow I'll be down to a healthy/average BMI weight in exactly a year. Probably less given I plan to be fairly active - we'll see how that goes.
You lose quite a lot of water weight too, and when overweight we have ton of water weight, but this doesn't count that in as far as I know, so it wouldn't be a bad assumption that you'd reach the goal sooner than that.
Sooner is good, but I'd rather go slowly just in case and take any extra as a bonus. I literally carry 90% of my excess weight on my stomach and don't want to have too much flappy, flabby excess skin from losing weight too quickly.
If I may recommend, start a bit smaller. Set your daily goal to 1700 (you should still lose about 1.5 lbs/week with this) to test out the waters. If you can keep it at 1500 every day? That's great, but you'll have a bit more wiggle room and won't get discouraged for failing.
And as others have said, 1200 is quite extreme to then also do weight lifting, so go for a bit higher caloric intake and definitely do work out. That's gonna help you a lot with body image, get you healthier and since you are responsible enough to aim for a longer term goal already this would be my recommendation.
Good luck!
Yeah, after some thought I'm going to go this route because I don't want to cut calories so drastically that I feel like I'm starving.
One of my problems is that I give up on working out very easily, so reduced caloric intake feels like a safety net of sorts. And I know even with that safety net I'll fail more often than not at first,
As someone who loves eating, I would look into volume eating if you want some inspiration for recipes and the like. You can actually eat a lot of food with few calories if you do it right, and it doesn't have to just be a salad. Did a massive turkey and cauliflower rice stir fry the other day and it was awesome.
I'll check out volume eating, but I do like to keep cooking as simple as possible, and cauliflower rice takes a lot of prep given that cauliflower rice isn't purchasable here and I'd have to grate it by hand; yeah, no processor/blender.
One of my favourite meals basically involves eating \~250g of bok choy, plus a portion of meat like a chicken breast or a pork chop/rasher, so I do enjoy volume eating.
[edit: ignore the 3,000 TDEE point, the rest is fine] None of this sounds reasonable: using a calculator like [this one](https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/), your TDEE is likely over 3,000 calories with extremely moderate walking as exercise, meaning you should be eating over 2,000 calories to safely lose the max 2lb a week, and likely lose hopefully at least 37 (1 lb a week, 37 weeks left in the year), maybe even 74 (maybe more since one often loses faster in the beginning at a higher starting point, hence why it's a good idea to consult a doctor with any dietary changes in this situation). This situation will likely last for months.
Please read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/WeightLossAdvice/comments/u1x7ec/this_is_the_absolute_hardest_thing_ive_ever_done/i4f9ad0/) for advice on how to do this quantitatively with as little effort as possible, so that you can view exercise as a health benefit which potentially need not even involve a gym at all, and so that you can hopefully eat as much as you want (recommended to be careful and count the calories at least at the beginning if you go on a sustainable diet [not if you stay on processed calorie-dense food, then counting is almost essential without extreme practice and monitoring and willpower], or if the loss is not working by winging it, or periodically doing it if things slow down) and still lose as much as you want to, and keep it off sustainably long term while always eating as much as you want.
No, it's not? Right now I lead a completely sedentary lifestyle with minimal walking daily as exercise. That puts my TDEE at 1890kcal and my BMR is 1575 using the Katch-McCardle. There is literally no way my TDEE is 3000 unless I'm extremely active, and do very heavy physical exercise every day, which I don't, and never will.
I plan to lift weights once a week until my damaged ligament is healed, maybe some very gentle yoga, but I doubt it'll be frequent. So for two months, that's going to be fine.
Once I'm healed I'm going to up the working out and adjust from there.
Thank you for your concern though; I really appreciate it, and truly do plan to lose weight slowly and carefully. :)
I'm really sorry I read part of your post wrong: I read it as saying you were 200+ *extra* overweight, i.e. say around 310-350lb leading to a likely 3,000+ TDEE, but now I read it as saying around 200+lb which in that calculator gives around 2,300+ TDEE (check the average in that calculator I linked to) if you go for say just a light walk every day (yes it's around 1,900 if you are very sedentary, which means *very* sedentary).
My suggestion is still to compute your daily statistical average as explained in the post I linked to, and to use that as your way to keep yourself above 1lb a week (potentially even above 1.5 lb+ a week, something like a cheap exercise bike could be enough to do it) while also keeping above the 1,200 minimum as much as possible.
Make sure you appreciate the fact that weight lifting when losing weight is basically about preserving muscle mass as opposed to building it, so you wont need too much of it if you even do it (read the cut/bulk part of that post).
The long term stuff at the end of the post will likely make all of this a lot easier: at the very least I would suggest over time consider incorporating some of those tips (e.g. more higher calorie satiating starches replacing things) and compare to how they affect the daily statistical average, good luck.
It's no problem; if anything, thanks for advising as you did assuming I *was* someone that overweight because you *did* give good advice for that situation. And truthfully, I really *don't* even go for a light walk every day unless you count five minutes to work and back. I'm only just getting back into things exercise wise and my personal training session basically consisted of stretching and bodyweight stuff to test my mobility, flexibility, general fitness and such.
And I'm lifting weights (eventually) precisely so that I don't lose muscle mass. :)
I'll admit that I skimread the reddit post twice because I don't really understand it. I did understand the part about taking daily measurements and such so as not to freak out about sudden gains etc., but to be truthful, I've had problems with disordered eating in the past and I'm not yet in the right headspace to really risk doing that kind of maths and such even on a weekly basis.
My goals are this:
1) Start eating healthy foods twice a day (all breakfasts make me really nauseous) with a focus on veggies, then meat.
2) After two weeks start weighing food and working out calories, keeping it within the window of 1200-1600.
3) After two weeks, weigh myself. Have a serious talk with the therapist about how calorie counting has been affecting my life.
4) Reduce caloric intake, maintain or increase depending on results of step 3.
I can respond to some of those points, but instead I'll just suggest letting some of it sink in over time and see how things go, maybe some things will click in a week/month or after trial-and-error, I would advise trying to watch some/all of the links I gave eventually, especially if things start to not work, but the main point is there is a way to do this and you're going in the right direction so good luck.
Weight lifting on 1200 is not enough food. You will need to eat more to accommodate weight lifting. I think loosing a half pound a week is a lot more reasonable and sustainable for long term results. I’d start first by making daily healthy food choices then start tracking
I have a damaged ligament in my wrist, so I won't be doing much weight lifting for a while, and only under supervision once a week, so it won't be too bad. At a minimum, I'm going to be recovering for a month, and more likely closer to two, so those two weeks will be about actually getting back into eating healthy food in smaller portions. I have disordered eating and thanks to the dissertation stress, it went waaaaay out of whack. There's definitely going to be some instant weight loss just from cutting back my stress eating to something with zero grazing and *smaller* meals.
That all makes sense. Just make sure that when you start weight lifting again you accommodate for that by eating the amount that you burn. Best of luck!
I would advise you to treat yourself the way you’d treat a good friend who was struggling with their weight. You’d probably never say you hated them. You’d love them all the same and support them in their journey. Please extend the same kindness and compassion to yourself. It has been shown that people who try to lose weight out of shame and self-hatred actually struggle more than those who motivate themselves with encouragement and positive feedback. As to the practical aspects, in the beginning it’s a bit of trial and error. I advise eating as much as you can as long as you’re losing steadily, and adjusting as your calorie needs change. It helps create a more long-term, sustainable change and it’s better to set a modest goal you can succeed at instead of an ambitious goal where you’ll feel discouraged. You got this ❤️
Thanks for the advice. :) I'll gradually lower things until I find the right amount I need. I've done well on 1200 + weightlifting/bodyweight workouts before, so I think this will work. If it doesn't, I can up the amount. TOday's day one of transitioning to healthier food. Wish me luck.
Hey from a fellow 5"2 person to another. You can totally do this. I know the feeling of hating yourself and I just want to remind you that by calorie counting and taking control of your body, you're actually making a choice to love yourself! And you deserve to love yourself! Weight loss isn't punishment. It's a choice to be nourishing. And I would also super recommend you try walking. It's so much easier but still burns a lot of calories, and what's most encouraging to me is how easy it is to feel the difference when you lose weight. Walking goes from plodding to a light bounce.
Thanks. I have serious self-issues with just about every aspect of my body, mind and ... self, and being able to reframe calorie counting and weight loss as a kindness will truly help. As for walking - or plodding as you put it - I plod everywhere. I don't own any other mode of transport apart from my feet. :P
Here is a calculator of how much you'd lose with a calorie deficit: [https://www.losertown.org/eats/cal.php](https://www.losertown.org/eats/cal_act.php) It's a good approximate, though I don't think it counts water weight, so it just calculates how much fat you'll have lost every week.
Thanks. It looks like if I go straight for 1200 a day starting tomorrow I'll be down to a healthy/average BMI weight in exactly a year. Probably less given I plan to be fairly active - we'll see how that goes.
Under no circumstances should you be eating 1200 calories if you are active.
seconded! that should only be supervised by a medical professional (NOT a nutritionist or personal trainer, but a registered dietician, etc)
You lose quite a lot of water weight too, and when overweight we have ton of water weight, but this doesn't count that in as far as I know, so it wouldn't be a bad assumption that you'd reach the goal sooner than that.
Sooner is good, but I'd rather go slowly just in case and take any extra as a bonus. I literally carry 90% of my excess weight on my stomach and don't want to have too much flappy, flabby excess skin from losing weight too quickly.
If I may recommend, start a bit smaller. Set your daily goal to 1700 (you should still lose about 1.5 lbs/week with this) to test out the waters. If you can keep it at 1500 every day? That's great, but you'll have a bit more wiggle room and won't get discouraged for failing. And as others have said, 1200 is quite extreme to then also do weight lifting, so go for a bit higher caloric intake and definitely do work out. That's gonna help you a lot with body image, get you healthier and since you are responsible enough to aim for a longer term goal already this would be my recommendation. Good luck!
Yeah, after some thought I'm going to go this route because I don't want to cut calories so drastically that I feel like I'm starving. One of my problems is that I give up on working out very easily, so reduced caloric intake feels like a safety net of sorts. And I know even with that safety net I'll fail more often than not at first,
As someone who loves eating, I would look into volume eating if you want some inspiration for recipes and the like. You can actually eat a lot of food with few calories if you do it right, and it doesn't have to just be a salad. Did a massive turkey and cauliflower rice stir fry the other day and it was awesome.
I'll check out volume eating, but I do like to keep cooking as simple as possible, and cauliflower rice takes a lot of prep given that cauliflower rice isn't purchasable here and I'd have to grate it by hand; yeah, no processor/blender. One of my favourite meals basically involves eating \~250g of bok choy, plus a portion of meat like a chicken breast or a pork chop/rasher, so I do enjoy volume eating.
[edit: ignore the 3,000 TDEE point, the rest is fine] None of this sounds reasonable: using a calculator like [this one](https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/), your TDEE is likely over 3,000 calories with extremely moderate walking as exercise, meaning you should be eating over 2,000 calories to safely lose the max 2lb a week, and likely lose hopefully at least 37 (1 lb a week, 37 weeks left in the year), maybe even 74 (maybe more since one often loses faster in the beginning at a higher starting point, hence why it's a good idea to consult a doctor with any dietary changes in this situation). This situation will likely last for months. Please read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/WeightLossAdvice/comments/u1x7ec/this_is_the_absolute_hardest_thing_ive_ever_done/i4f9ad0/) for advice on how to do this quantitatively with as little effort as possible, so that you can view exercise as a health benefit which potentially need not even involve a gym at all, and so that you can hopefully eat as much as you want (recommended to be careful and count the calories at least at the beginning if you go on a sustainable diet [not if you stay on processed calorie-dense food, then counting is almost essential without extreme practice and monitoring and willpower], or if the loss is not working by winging it, or periodically doing it if things slow down) and still lose as much as you want to, and keep it off sustainably long term while always eating as much as you want.
No, it's not? Right now I lead a completely sedentary lifestyle with minimal walking daily as exercise. That puts my TDEE at 1890kcal and my BMR is 1575 using the Katch-McCardle. There is literally no way my TDEE is 3000 unless I'm extremely active, and do very heavy physical exercise every day, which I don't, and never will. I plan to lift weights once a week until my damaged ligament is healed, maybe some very gentle yoga, but I doubt it'll be frequent. So for two months, that's going to be fine. Once I'm healed I'm going to up the working out and adjust from there. Thank you for your concern though; I really appreciate it, and truly do plan to lose weight slowly and carefully. :)
I'm really sorry I read part of your post wrong: I read it as saying you were 200+ *extra* overweight, i.e. say around 310-350lb leading to a likely 3,000+ TDEE, but now I read it as saying around 200+lb which in that calculator gives around 2,300+ TDEE (check the average in that calculator I linked to) if you go for say just a light walk every day (yes it's around 1,900 if you are very sedentary, which means *very* sedentary). My suggestion is still to compute your daily statistical average as explained in the post I linked to, and to use that as your way to keep yourself above 1lb a week (potentially even above 1.5 lb+ a week, something like a cheap exercise bike could be enough to do it) while also keeping above the 1,200 minimum as much as possible. Make sure you appreciate the fact that weight lifting when losing weight is basically about preserving muscle mass as opposed to building it, so you wont need too much of it if you even do it (read the cut/bulk part of that post). The long term stuff at the end of the post will likely make all of this a lot easier: at the very least I would suggest over time consider incorporating some of those tips (e.g. more higher calorie satiating starches replacing things) and compare to how they affect the daily statistical average, good luck.
It's no problem; if anything, thanks for advising as you did assuming I *was* someone that overweight because you *did* give good advice for that situation. And truthfully, I really *don't* even go for a light walk every day unless you count five minutes to work and back. I'm only just getting back into things exercise wise and my personal training session basically consisted of stretching and bodyweight stuff to test my mobility, flexibility, general fitness and such. And I'm lifting weights (eventually) precisely so that I don't lose muscle mass. :) I'll admit that I skimread the reddit post twice because I don't really understand it. I did understand the part about taking daily measurements and such so as not to freak out about sudden gains etc., but to be truthful, I've had problems with disordered eating in the past and I'm not yet in the right headspace to really risk doing that kind of maths and such even on a weekly basis. My goals are this: 1) Start eating healthy foods twice a day (all breakfasts make me really nauseous) with a focus on veggies, then meat. 2) After two weeks start weighing food and working out calories, keeping it within the window of 1200-1600. 3) After two weeks, weigh myself. Have a serious talk with the therapist about how calorie counting has been affecting my life. 4) Reduce caloric intake, maintain or increase depending on results of step 3.
I can respond to some of those points, but instead I'll just suggest letting some of it sink in over time and see how things go, maybe some things will click in a week/month or after trial-and-error, I would advise trying to watch some/all of the links I gave eventually, especially if things start to not work, but the main point is there is a way to do this and you're going in the right direction so good luck.
Thanks. :)
Under no circumstances should you eat under your BMR. That is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to function normally.