Newbie here, just up'd cals, right thing to do?

[Jaikagen]

Hi, ive been trying to lose weight since January. Ive been on 1200 cals a day, bar a once a month meal out with friends. So far ive lost 16lb, with another 30lb to go, but its slowed down now so the past few weeks ive lost 2lb in total, plus im narky, bad tempered, constantly tired, and struggling!

So following the NHS advise, i have up'd to 1400 cals a day. My biggest problem is how many cals i waste on drinks, i cant drink sugar free as sweetners give me a headache and i need my coffee (ive recently given up smoking and drinking, i need caffeine for now!), so around 300 cals a day are taken up.

Anyway. Im also doing c25k and trying to walk a good amount every day, as im using MFP to track my cals, and as its linked to my iPhones iHealth it gives me cals back and so far ive been eating roughly half of the back, since im sure MFP massively over estimates burn anyway. As ive just up'd the cals to 1400, would i be better sticking to that and ignoring the burned cals, or continuing to eat some back?

Thanks

[TheHud]

Leave the burned calories were they are, pretend they don't exist. In my opinion they present an excuse for us to eat them. The calories you eat stay the same, the calories you burn are just saying you are doing well with the exercise

The idea is a limited calorie intake, regardless of what you do, the more you do the better you will lose weight. Its a two sided diet.

Good luck but to be honest whatever you were doing before has worked really well and often a weight stabilization is more to do with your body adjusting and saying, time to exercise more because you are gaining muscle.

Check your measurements

[Jaikagen in reply to TheHud]

Thanks for the advice, ill leave eating anything back then and stick to the 1400

[Katieelsp]

Wow, u r doing SOOO well!! Keep going! You have taken on a lot, giving up smoking, and losing weight and exercising more! That's amazing! I gave up smoking about 18 yrs ago now, but still remember how hard that was- but am so glad I did! So well done!!

I have an awful lot of weight to lose, as I have just let it creep on over the years, but am determined to lose it now- I know it will take a while to do properly, healthily and to be permanent, but you have proved it can be done!

I'm afraid I can't answer your q's, but I did just want to say Well Done!! You have helped me to be more determined! 😀

[Jaikagen in reply to Katieelsp]

Thanks, and good luck to you too

[kantara71]

Hi Jaikagen, Well done on your weight loss so far. I have been on a similar journey starting in January.

I felt like I was slowing down too, so last week I rang the changes by increasing the amount of protein I consumed and decreasing the carbohydrates. I do not take sugar in my drinks and stay away from any soft drinks and have very little alcohol, preferring to drink around 2 litres of water a day and a few coffees/teas.

I have also cut down on the amount of fruit I eat.

It seemed to kick start my metabolism and last week I lost 5lbs so I continue to keep eating up to my calories of around 1600 per day, (BMI guide suggests I eat 1900), but watch the type and how many carbs that I consume. I do not eat back calories burned so, like TheHud suggested, just ignore them.

I am almost obsessive in writing everything down and making sure I do not over eat but then I think that it is so important to me to lose a total of 4 stones that it is a small price to pay and I am worth it! Hopefully I can achieve my target by the end of the year and it will be a great experience to have got back to a healthy weight.

Stick to the basics but tweak things to find out what works for you best Best of luck John

[Jaikagen in reply to kantara71]

Thanks for the reply, ill keep tweaking, 2lb in 3 weeks was really disheartening but ill keep going

[IndigoBlue61]

Nothing new to add, just agree with the others 😊

You are doing really well, and the losses do slow down unfortunately 😕 Making a few changes can help, upping the exercise can help too 😊 There are loads of people who lose inches but not so many pounds so try measuring yourself 😊

At the end of the day, listen to your body, with all the exercise you may need more calories, 😊

Good luck

[Purple_faced_woman]

Hi Jaikagen,

Lots of good advice here and well done so far. I find I'm a little concerned about how much sugar you are having in your coffee - if you are allowing 300 calories a day that equates to 20 level teaspoons a day. Current UK Government guidelines for sugar consumption for an adult is 30g a day or seven sugar cubes. Using sugar causes spikes in blood sugar and stimulates the release of insulin to get it out of your system. Insulin is the major hormone that causes us to lay down extra fat. There is some info here: nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pa....

I understand that you need that coffee at the moment and can't take sweeteners. It is really hard to cut out everything you enjoy all at once. I was wondering if it might be possible for you to replace every second cup of coffee with something like Oxo (there is a reduced salt version now) or Bovril or Marmite (vegetarian) made up into a drink with hot water. This would halve your free sugar intake whilst providing you with something hot and tasty - not the same as coffee, but possibly better for you than those 10 teaspoons of sugar. An Oxo cube is about 17 calories and contains 3.1g of carb of which less than 0.5g sugars. If you are having 5 mugs of coffee at 2 spoonfuls of sugar per cup (30 calories, not including milk if you take it), then each mug of coffee replaced with Oxo would net you a further 13 calories to play with, and won't be spiking your bloodsugar.

I have recently taken up the Low Carb High Fat diet which I have found a revelation. I am not counting calories and only eating when I'm hungry. The fat in the diet means I feel sated and stop eating automatically and almost never pick between meals or after I finish eating my meal. My apetite has dropped off and although i'm cooking with cream and butter and cheese and lard, and eating the skin off the chicken and the crackling off the pork, I am losing about a kilo a week.

I hope that this is food for thought, and that you find good ways to get yourself past this block, and get to your goal in a timely manner. Good luck.

[Jaikagen in reply to Purple_faced_woman]

Hi, sorry for the misunderstanding! The 300 is about 5 coffees a day with 2 sugars and milk, 2 decaff, 3 not, and 1, maybe two, glasses of cordial

[Redx1995]

Have you tried to slowly cut back on the sugar in your drinks - 2tsp - 1.5tsp down to 1tsp? I did, but only because I'd occasionally run out of sweetners at work and someone keeps using up the sugar!! At least now, if I have to, I can drink without sugar or sweetner if necessary.