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UGH. I have mommy weight that im trying to lose on a diet of 1200 cal a day.

I never eat just 1200, but usually I only go 200-500 cal over.

I have felt weird all day. I was doing great on my diet, and then at about 3 I crashed, felt weird and so thought, maybe I need to eat a little...

Ive gone 1200 calories OVER today 4 cookies and a cup of potato salad was 700 cal, so right there. Not much food but high in fat and calories/

I feel really gross (I ate dinner of cereal and a baked potato after my 3 pm snack, and I think it was too much) And I feel like a big loser. I ate TWO days worth of food in ONE DAY!!!

Please tell me I wont gain all the weight ive lost back over night and that tomorrow is a new day and not give up

[This message edited by Gottagetthrough at 6:52 PM, November 12th (Tuesday)]

Drink a lot of water. Most of us are in a constant state of mild dehydration as it is. It will fill you up quick and you won't want to eat as much.

You won't gain it all back in one day... you didn't gain it all in one day the first time around.

Have you ever had your blood sugar checked? Is it possible you're diabetic?

I recommend eating small meals through out the day instead of three big meals (if you're not already doing that)

Are you exercising? Usually calorie cutting alone doesn't work too well....

You are not a loser. Try looking at it as every day is a new chance to eat healthy. I love chocolate. So I'll have a little instead of none. Cutting it out completely leads to me wolfing down a ton of chocolate.

Small changes can help. I do the following -

-drink lots of water (64oz+)

-switch cookies for fiber 1 brownies

-grilled chicken with fat free Italian dressing

-eat apples with a tsp of peanut butter

-post on the icr Healthy You/Weight thread (link below).

http://www.survivinginfidelity.com/forums.asp?tid=491355&AP=301

Good luck.

(((hugs)))

You had a hungry day. I hate those. It seems like no matter what I eat that I am STILL hungry!

Forgive yourself. Start again tomorrow.

Part of starting again is to try to figure out what went wrong today. Maybe 1200 cals is not enough for you. Or maybe you need to distribute the calories in a different way. I know for me, I HAVE to eat a filling lunch. If I skimp on lunch then I start to eat at 3 and I do not stop until 8. Or perhaps you triggered and started to go into the emotional eating cycle. Or maybe you are PMS and just really need to kill someone but that is illegal so instead you ate.

Once you figure out what went wrong today then you can plan on how to stop the eating if it happens again. If it is not eating enough calories early in the day, then you need to have a plan on having a filling and healthy lunch plus plan on what you will eat if you get hungry at 3. For me it is protein, protein, and more protein. For you it may be different. Whatever it is, have a snack available that you can eat without sabotaging your entire day. And give yourself permission to eat 2 portions of the snack and then eat fruit afterwards (fruit is always a healthy snack and it is sweet so it satisfies the some cravings for sweets).

If the eating was caused by a trigger, then identify the trigger and determine a better way to deal with it. Go for a 10 minute walk or take a baseball bat to the garbage can or something else physical that can release some emotion.

If your eating was cause by PMS... well get that baseball bat and beat the mother loving heck out of the garbage can. And then give yourself permission to eat one cookie

And if you just need more calories than plan to add some healthy 100-150 calorie snacks throughout the day.

Finally ...

4 cookies and a cup of potato salad

Get that crap out of your house!!!! You cannot eat what is not there. And believe me, your family does not need cookies and potato salad. They may like it, hell who doesn't, but they do not need it. If you have to have snacks in the house (and with kids I understand you do...) then get the 100 calorie packages of them. They are more expensive but if you cave and eat one, then it is only 100 calories.

So pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and take an extra long walk tomorrow to burn off that potato salad.

You can do this.

(((hugs)))

I want to kill people on 1200 calories. Are you exercising? You might want to up your calories. And you are not a loser. It is just food, you get another chance tomorrow.

Thanks guys! Yeah, wh went to the store and came home with cookies and the tater salad. Grrr!

I have been exercising, and never eat just the 1200, but I feel ok eating 1400-1700. And yes, next weeks my period. (Sorry tmi)

Chocolate cookies, PMS, diet for a week... Equaled a hangry explosion in my tummy!

Today will be better. I know this because I caught my 4 yo stuffing the cookies in his mouth last note after he brushed his teeth!!! So the remaining go with wh to work today and were done!

But damn those were some good cookies!! :-D

Youre not a loser.

Can I suggest losing the calorie restriction and adjust your eating habits. Its more about what you eat and portions.

Fall off the wagon...get up, dust yourself off and jump back on (personally, too exaughsted these days and I just grab...I dont eat much, just the wrong things)

Cookies, potato salad, baked potato and cereal...sounds like carbs are just as much of an issue as calories. You need to balance. My coach tells me that besides eating every 2-3 hours, my snacks need to have some carb, some protein. Like n apple and peanut butter or hummus and veggie sticks. Have an idea of what you're going to eat for the day and prepare the snacks.

Also, I've read that hot water fills you up, so hot tea is a good option when you're hungry, or even broth. Ice water increases your metabolism.

Have you ever heard of a eucaloric diet? It's eating for the weight you want to be. So you look up the average calorie needs for your age, height and gender and start eating that. The weight loss is slower but it gets you in the habit of eating for the weight you want to maintain.

Don't feel bad. I lost nearly 60lbs on a plan and even became a coach. Then I let myself go back to old habits and gained 30lbs back. Now I'm examining the patterns (like moods, night crashes that leave me craving sugar). I'm trying to deal with them as they come. I know my plan works and works well but I'm having a hard time doing it again. In the nearly two years since I could've done the eucaloric diet and stopped this yo-yo-ing.

Just stick to it and don't beat yourself up when you slip. Don't figure "I had a cookie I might as well have 5 more". Just keep going and remember it's not just tomorrow that's a new day but each minute that's a new chance. Supposedly if you resist a craving for 20mins it goes away so try to focus on other things and drink your water.

You are not a loser!!

I do think that you need to re-evaluate your diet though.

Cutting your calories substantially will actually cause your body to go into conserve mode and screw up your metabolism.

Don't count the calories so much as change what you eat and when.

Let loose of some carbs (have an omelet instead of a bagel), pick lean meats, stay away from the fried foods, pay attention to your portions, and where you used to use canned veggies pick fresh ones.

There are some snacks that are really helpful for those crashes. Grapes, Almonds, Walnuts, Carrot sticks, even apples.

Small little snacks inbetween your more controled healthy meals will help your body to use its energy more wisely and not throw you all out of wack.

I'm sorry to say you are not the biggest loser.

1200 Calories may not be quite enough for you, esp if you are exercising. You may benefit from actually upping the calories, and increase your exercise, or starting exercise.

If you find that you are starving, and craving sweets, and sugars, and carbs then you most likely need to up your proteins. Carbs, create this vicious cycle, and huge swings in blood sugars. Any Carb you eat drives up your blood sugar, your body produces insulin, and breaks down the sugars, and then your blood sugar comes back down, on it's way down, it triggers your hunger response, this is to prevent you from starving to death (very primal response).

If you can make sure that you are eating breakfast, and fueling your body every 3-4 hours throughout the day, you will find that you are less hungry, especially if you are eating the right stuff.

For example, breakfast should have protein, some greek yogurt with fruit mixed in, or an egg or two. Snack in 3 hours should have protein, a handful of pistachios, or a string cheese, and half an apple, lunch should be your big meal, and again lots of healthy lean protein, and minimize the carbs, make sure they are complex in nature (nothing white- bread, pasta, potatoes). Snack again in 3 hours with something that combines a protein and a complex carb, carrots, and peanut butter, slice of turkey, and some celery dunkened in low fat dressing.

I promise you will see wieght loss, and feel better, and if you have a bad day, it's just one day. Tomorrow's a new day, and you start again, and if you have a few bad days, then tomorrow's a new day and you can start again.

(((and strength)))

Journal everything you eat and keep track of the calories. People that journal are more successful at weight loss than people that don't. Measure and weigh the food portions if you have to.

1200 calories per day is tough. You will feel hungry and uncomfortable most of the time. Find a balance between protein, fats, and carbs. You typically want lower carbs, low fat, and foods high in fiber. Stay away from things like breads, pasta, rice, and high sugar as they tend to offer little bang for the buck to curb the appetite. Go with foods that are higher in protein and green vegetables. Think of salads with lean meat and a lot of vegetables. Go easy on the salad dressing and measure the amount.

Harden is correct about Journaling.

If you have a smart phone the ap MyFitnessPal is awesome. You can even scan barcodes to enter items.

It also helps you figure out what your calorie goal for the day should be based on age, weight, activity level, and weight loss goals.

You can use it on your PC as well.

MyFitnessPal

That's what I'm using! I truly would not have even thought that my 4 cookies &cup of potato salad were that bad last week...before I stated using MFP.

MFP is just really opening my eyes to what I am doing(lots of snacking that really is not needed). Im a vegetarian and do have a problem eating too many carbs, I need to do more hummus, etc...

THANK YOU

Today has been much better

I don't like MyFitnessPal because it is incredibly calorie focused. And based on its calculations, I cannot lose weight when I track there unless I stick to my 1200 and don't eat back any of my exercise. If I do, I lose nothing. I think it makes my focus not where it should be. Not that I can figure out where my focus should be. sigh.

Protein, protein, protein.

Remember it's called Vegetarian, and not Fruititarian, or Carbotarian for a reason. Make sure you are getting as LEAST 5 servings of Veggies a day.

For a Veg it's really hard to get enough protein. If you are choosing it because of religious or moral reasons ok, but if you are doing it because of your health, you really may want to reconsider.

Carbs feed insulin resistance, and make it worse.

Carbs feed total Cholesterol, and Triglycerides (thus feeing heart disease).

Good lean proteins, fish, poultry, and certain cuts of beef and pork even can be very filling, and give you lots of the nutrients you need without causing that swing in blood sugars.

You are not a loser and NO ONE eats perfectly ALL THE TIME! When I was 17 years old, I weighed 240 pounds. That was the heaviest of my life... and I sought out a doctor for a "magic pill" to help me get the weight off. No. Such. Thing. Instead, I got a stern lecture from the same doctor....telling me how she had 4 kids, was a doctor full-time, and still found the time to exercise and eat right. I was floored and I cried a lot. But, you know what? It made me mad! Mad enough to start walking. So, I did.... 4 to 5 days a week for 40 or more minutes a day. It was torture but I did it...rain or shine. Then I started slowing changing my eating habits..... 2% milk to 1% and finally skim... lower fat options of my favorite foods and avoiding foods that I would normally binge on or overeat. I started doing this the December before I graduated high school....and by the time graduation came around, I had gone from a size 20 to a size 14! I wore a size 14 white dress to graduation and I was BEAMING with pride! I thought it was so awesome to finally be in the SMALLEST size offered by Lane Bryant (a big girl clothing store!)

Today I am 34 years old and weighed myself Monday at 143 pounds. I'm a marathon runner and have kept my weight off (give or take 10 pounds for at least 15+ years! Not counting the 47 I gained during pregnancy....that's a free pass to eat IMO! )

I "try" to run 2 to 3 times a week and lift weights 2 to 3 times a week....and eat probably 1700 to 2000 or more calories a day. I LOVE food so in order to eat that much, I stay super active! But, luckily I love to run too!

Do I eat perfect? Heck no! I love Moscato wine (its sweet and chock full of calories and sugar) and I love chocolate and eat a few minis almost every day at work.... But, moderation is key! That's the lifesaver! You can still lose weight or maintain and cheat! As long as you don't go overboard.....or IF YOU DO.... make it up during the next meal or next day! Drink plenty of water and never give up!

My biggest mistake as a bigger girl was the famous excuse...."Oh well...I will start my diet on Monday!" Monday never came. Start being good at the next meal....and every time you trip.....get up....brush yourself off....and start over RIGHT THEN... not later!

Am I perfect with exercise? Heck NO! I skip runs or have lazy days or weeks all the time.....but I always come back to it! Just keep moving forward and you will see progress!

I think a famous exercise quote says:

"It takes 4 weeks for you to notice a change in your body, 8 weeks for your friends to notice, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world! Give it 12 weeks and don't quit!"

[This message edited by She11ybeanz at 2:02 PM, November 14th (Thursday)]