Weight Loss

I just binged on tons yesterday and spent all the remaining money I have on binge food. hurray-.-

I'm too afraid to weigh myself, but based on my calorie intake and expenditure, I estimate my weight to be around 121LBS, I'm 5'2 by the way. how short is that! urgh.

I need to lose 20LBS more. to return to my 'happy weight'

yet I'm scared, something in me is telling me that I should just stick with 800 or less cals a day. yet the other part of me tells me that I might ruin my metabolism. but you know.. I may have ALREADY ruined it through all the binge-eating. so I might as well stick to a  low calorie diet. urgh. this is so frustrating.

 

hoping someone can shed some light on this for me.

and would someone be kind enough to tell me my daily calorie requirements to LOSE WEIGHT based on the fact that I'm a pretty much sedentary person, meaning I basically stay in the house 24/7. though I hop on my stationary bike 60min per day.

 

Don't look back, just look forward.  It's never too late to start healthy living.  Practice being the person you want to be.

Diets as low as 800 calories are too limiting in nutrients and energy.   And variety.

Learn to eat a healthful diet (~1500 calories), then you're less likely to binge.  It's hard to lose weight when you don't eat enough, actually.  I have both heard this from others and experienced myself.

Instead of trying to return to your "happy weight," concentrate on learning how to have a "happy relationship" with food.  It is meant to fuel our body and be enjoyable!

so how much calories should I be eating for my sedentary lifestyle to lose weight.

All I can say is what works for me is ~1500 calories/day, and exercising most days of the week.  I do yoga or simple stretching at home when I watch TV or wait for something to finish cooking when I make dinner.

Think about ways to increase your activity if you want to lose weight, not decrease your diet intake so low as 800.

up?

Don't weigh yourself.

Why don't you just use the BMR calculator under the tools? You can lose weight safely AND prevent binging by eating the bmr of your desired weight. It should be around 1500+

There was some good advice in your other thread:

http://caloriecount.about.com/im-new-opinions -cal-ft122102

I hope you do what's good for your body. If you start fasting you might drop some weight, but you'll also lose your hair, harm your body & end up revving up your bingemonster into overdrive and gain it all back quickly. If you think you've got it bad now, just try to starve it again.

Your body doesn't care that you want to be skinny. It wants to survive. When you restrict well below your bmr your body freaks out & thinks you're starving, so it overrides your mind and binges. Help it feel safe and comfortable and you can become healthy in mind and body.

I just wanted to add that I totally know where you're comming from, especially regarding the urge to restrict. I fight it daily. I find I am not overwhelmed with binging if I keep my body healthy and fed regularly. I eat at least every 1-2 hours.

Hang in there. Each day you treat your body normally, your body will return more to the way it was before.

now, I'm really confused.

according to http://www.phord.com/cc
BMR=1224 :: RMR=1469.

averaging a 0.22kg loss per week. and reaching my goal by 12 August 2009.

so... it means that it should be alright for me to eat 1200cals right. and not 1500cals like you said

Original Post by jas_cuzzie:

now, I'm really confused.

according to http://www.phord.com/cc
BMR=1224 :: RMR=1469.

averaging a 0.22kg loss per week. and reaching my goal by 12 August 2009.

so... it means that it should be alright for me to eat 1200cals right. and not 1500cals like you said

That really depends on your age.  If you're under 20, stick with the 1500 calories as your body will need those calories for internal development and changes which are crucial.  If you're over 20, then 1200 calories is the minimum you want to eat.  BTW, what is your version of sedentary?  Do you walk around on errands, between classes, for your job?  Exercise is under estimated just as often as it's over estimated.

Well don't forget you also do 60 minutes on a bike each day. That burns around 400-600 calories, depending on intensity. So taking that in to account I would eat your RMR. Also remember all these calculations are just guesstimate. Everyone's metabolism is different. So I would start at 1500 and watch the trend. So don't panic, set goals, and remember you didn't gain all the weight over night and you won't loose it over night. Try to identify why you are binging, and try to eat more healthy.

UD

I stay in the home 24/7. basically sitting at my computer. so that's really very sedentary

If you're in doubt as to what you burn, buy a heart rate monitor and wear it for a few days.

20 years of ups and downs taught me two thing.

1. You have to eat to loose weight consistently. If you crash diet you loose a burst of weight and then you stall for weeks and weeks until you give up and give in to the hunger. Though i'm sure some pass out and get fed via IV.

2. To get down to the "Happy weight" you have to eat more and do a lot of cardio and light to moderate weight training. There is a point when buidling muscle is pretty much the only way to get rid of fat as your intake cant go low enough to support your bodies minimal needs. Really at that point your at a healthy weight you just need to tone up.

IMO

joe P.S all the reading i've done says females should never consume less than 1200 calories.

Original Post by jas_cuzzie:

now, I'm really confused.

according to http://www.phord.com/cc
BMR=1224 :: RMR=1469.

averaging a 0.22kg loss per week. and reaching my goal by 12 August 2009.

so... it means that it should be alright for me to eat 1200cals right. and not 1500cals like you said

 That's funny, because when I put in your height & desired weight under the "auto determine" setting, it automatically determined that you should be gaining weight.

Think about it.

I mean eat just under your rmr. Theoretically, if you eat 1469 then eventually you will maintain at that weight, however it's obvious to phord that that weight is too low.

Good luck.

the weight is NOT too low. in fact, it is a BMI of 22. I think you perhaps got some calculations wrong. furthermore, I am veryveryvery small framed because I'm Asian. and agreed by others on this forum, 120lbs may seem too much for a petite woman with a very small framed. furthermore. I have always maintained my weight around 102lbs, till the bingeing started coming in. so my natural weight should be around there. thanks for your concern. anyway.

it sounds to me that you have an eating disorder.  you shouldn't be counting calories, it will just drive you nuts.  Trust me on this because I have one also and you don't want the personal hell.  If you want to look thin and yet still be at a healthy weight, you should do some exercises like little weight training.  You should also consider talking to someone about your weight issues before they take over your life.

Again, like my responses on your other threads ... use the Calorie Count Tools!

I also posted on your other threads about how you need to eat no less than 1200 cals a day, but here it is again:

Please know that Calorie Count cannot and will not support you eating less than 1200 calories a day. We consider this unhealthy and CC is all about HEALTHY weight loss or weight maintenance

From Mary Hartley, Calorie Count's Director of Nutrition: "By eating only 800 calories, you will not get enough energy, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and other components of food. In time, you could become malnourished, which can cause severe health risks such as respiratory infections, kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and even death."

Here is a brief reason why never less than 1200 from the Advice section of Calorie Count Plus, under the Q&A tab:

Why must I eat at least 1,200 calories a day when I want to eat less?

In order to get the daily food servings you need for a balanced diet, it takes about 1200 calories a day. With careful planning, you could have a balanced diet on 1000 calories, but the restrictiveness of a very low calorie level can lead to binging and weight cycling, which will take you further from your weight loss goal. What's more, very low calorie diets can cause excessive muscle breakdown and metabolic adaptations, which can drive down your calorie requirements. In the end, you'll need fewer calories to maintain a higher weight

Your body needs at least 1200 calories per day to survive.

Here is a very rough scientific break down provided by a dietician for a5' 2", 19 year old female weighing approximately 100 pounds, sitting around all day and doing nothing:

-The heart needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The kidney needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The Liver needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The brain needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The skeletal muscle needs 30% of the calories (360 cals)

Why eating only 1200 calories or undereating doesn't work to lose weight

http://caloriecount.about.com/wont-lose-faste r-eat-calories-q3127

In the long run, you won’t lose weight faster by eating 1200 calories a day.  Under-eating deprives your body of essential nutrients and leads to muscle breakdown to provide energy.  With less muscle, you require fewer calories and you reach a weight low plateau more quickly.  Restrictive dieting also places you at risk for binge-eating which can lead to weigh gain and a life of yo-yo dieting.

Will I go into starvation mode if I eat 1000 – 1200 calories a day?

http://caloriecount.about.com/starvation-mode -eat-calories-q2046

Your body will not selectively burn stored fat because your central nervous system needs glucose and you can’t make glucose from fat.  But protein can be converted to glucose, and so the body breaks down your muscles to provide it.  Ultimately, you lose lots of muscle along with fat, and that drives down your calorie requirements because muscle burns calories but fat does not.  You then maintain a higher weight on less food making weight gain inevitable.  For best results, eat the number of calories prescribed by the Calorie Target calculator in the Tools section.

Original Post by jas_cuzzie:

I stay in the home 24/7. basically sitting at my computer. so that's really very sedentary

Do you stay in the home 24/7 or do you do 60 mins daily on the stationary bike?

You can't have it both ways on the same subject.  Either you are completely sedentary or you exercise.  Either way, eating less than 1200 is completely detrimental to your health and your weight loss.  

While I'm here, let me remind you of the CC posting guidelines:

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

• We can only at this time accept postings in English.
• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Advertisements, product announcements, and self-promotional posts are prohibited. Links to personal sites, pages, and blogs should be placed on users' profile pages.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.
• Copyrighted works including newspaper or online articles, web pages, press releases, or book excerpts are not allowed.
• Please avoid threatening other members, making inflammatory comments or posts, or using foul language.
• Basic HTML formatting tags (<b>,<i>,<ul>,<ol>) and links can be used in the message body.

Original Post by coach_k:

Original Post by jas_cuzzie:

I stay in the home 24/7. basically sitting at my computer. so that's really very sedentary

Do you stay in the home 24/7 or do you do 60 mins daily on the stationary bike?

You can't have it both ways on the same subject.  Either you are completely sedentary or you exercise.  Either way, eating less than 1200 is completely detrimental to your health and your weight loss.  

While I'm here, let me remind you of the CC posting guidelines:

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

• We can only at this time accept postings in English.
• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Advertisements, product announcements, and self-promotional posts are prohibited. Links to personal sites, pages, and blogs should be placed on users' profile pages.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.
• Copyrighted works including newspaper or online articles, web pages, press releases, or book excerpts are not allowed.
• Please avoid threatening other members, making inflammatory comments or posts, or using foul language.
• Basic HTML formatting tags (,,
  •  
    ) and links can be used in the message body.
  ,

 it simply means that other than the exercise bike, I'm SITTING all day.

But see, riding that exercise bike for 60 mins per day makes you a pretty active person -- one hour of biking burns around 500 calories, calories which will need to be accounted for.  It makes a big difference in regards to how fast you lose weight and how many calories you should be eating -- that's what umneydurak was trying to explain in post #8

actually 1 hr of light biking only burns 300 calories