Just Right or Not enough?

L

lyadea

New member
I'm new to dieting and I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing this right.

I'm 5' tall and weigh 134 lb. My target weight is 110-115 lb. I started my diet 2 weeks ago and weighing 137 lb. So far, I have lost about 1.5 lbs a week on a 1200 calorie diet. Daily I fluctuate anywhere from 900 calories a day to 1400 calories but I'm trying to keep it in the 1100-1200 range as a weekly average.

I exercise a little (two 50 minute self-defense classes a week.), other than that and two 4 hour cooking labs a week (I'm a culinary student, doesn't help with the dieting) I don't do a lot.

Any way my concern is that I have been told that anything less than 1200 calories a day is to be considered a crash diet and will send my body into starvation mode, which i don't want to happen. But again, I read that 1-2 pounds a week loss was considered a healthy rate. Anyways, I'm confused and I'm not sure if I should up my calories or keep them as is.
 
You really shouldn't lower them. You are kinda low as it is. Not everyone can lose 2lbs per week. If you have to eat 900 calories a day in order to do it, its not exactly a good idea. Losing 2lbs per week isn't healthy if you have to starve in order to achieve that loss. Are you tracking your calories? Weighing and measuring everything? Personally, I think 1.5 lbs each week is fantastic.
 
No, I'm not planning on lowering my calorie intake, I was wondering if I should raise it (I don't really want to, I'm thrilled with the rate I'm losing.) I am tracking my my calories on fitday. I'm measuring, but I haven't been weighing.

I hit 900 a day twice during my fist week, mainly because I was new at it and didn't put in my food intake until the next day because I had been busy, so I didn't realize I had eaten so little, and i tried to eat more over the next couple of days to make up for it. (I rarely actually feel hungry, I eat because I'm bored and because I enjoy it.)

I'm not trying to hit 1200 calories exactly ever day I'm just trying to keep it so if I add up the weekly total and average it, that is close-ish to that.
 
Actually I'm feeling pretty good, I'm not feeling fatigued or having trouble concentrating. And I'm sleeping better than I was. That's probably the reduction in sugar at work, lol.
 
With all due respect......just because someone consumes 900 calories per day does not mean they are starving themselves.

I eat 900-1000 calories per day and I'm not "starving" myself.

I eat meat, whole grains, veggies and fruit. I eat six small meals per day and I'm never hungry.

I know people who have lost all of their weight by working out and eating 900-1000 calories per day and been healthy and not hungry while doing so. One girl in particular was told by several different doctors that it was fine to eat just 900 calories per day.
 
I think that it is very important to be sure that you are eating the right food with your calories. You need to make sure that you are getting enough protein, enough calcium etc. A lot of people think that if they have some they are having enough - but that is not the case.

If the website that you are using calculates your nutrients - check that the values are within guidelines - if not - manually calculate the values for things like fibre, protein, calcium, sodium and see how it works out.

It can be quite hard to get sufficient quantities of all the nutrients if you are having too low a total of calories. Also you may want to build in some room to maneouver in case weightloss slows down after a while as cutting calories can be a way of dealing with that.

Make sure that you are having the right amount of water too.

As far as the weight loss rate that you aspire towards goes - this differs depending on how big you are. We hear 1.5 to 2 pounds getting mentioned at times - but it is often better to think in terms of 1% of weight. Obviously if you are not between 150 and 200 pounds - this gives a different number.
 
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