weight loss on 1600 calories a day ?

after trying many different things over the years, to lose weight I am still 6 stone over - the heaviest i have been

Last year running worked for me on it's own but now suddenly hitting my late 30's my metabolism seems to have really slowed and i can't lose weight by exercise alone and also injury keeps intervening

I've done loads of different types of diets but now
I am finally giving in to simple idea that i need to restrict my calorie intake
(as well as keeping up with the running)

have come up with a figure of 1600 cals a day as a target as i am 5"1 female

but what can i eat?

i am pretty settled on the breakfast i have now which is about 400 cals
mainly carbs

that leaves 1200 for rest of day and in theory i should be having two main meals and two healthy snacks in between

i've no idea about what to eat or portion sizes as i've been in bad habits for so long

any suggestions very welcome

i really want to find some new foods that i enjoy that are not so calorific, or no ways to enjoy existing foods

also advice on portion sizes
- i think i just eat way too much pasta (and cheese)

is cheese totally off the menu when losing weight?


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Comments

  • Sam.Sam. ✭✭✭
    Hi LOK

    :0)

    A couple of my workmates are watching portion sizes and a portion of pasta (or other carb) is supposed to be the size of a fist and a portion of cheese is supposed to be a matchbox size and a portion of meat is a deck of cards.

    They don't exclude any food, just limit it's size and frequency. Also, if they want cheese they have a small piece of good cheese rather than a large piece of low fat rubbery cheese.

    But they don't exercise so perhaps yours need to be a bit larger?

    Have you thought about a slimming club - they should be able to advise on portion sizes and give you support too.

    Hope this helps x



  • Hi LOK
    I've decided that I need to go on a proper diet this weekend after my comfy jeans have started to feel tight. I've been trying to watch what I eat but obviously not doing a good job as I seem to be gaining weight. I know it sounds a daft idea (but I am getting desperate) but I am thinking of having slimfast shakes instead of meals, and cutting my total intake to arond 1200-1400 cals a day. I am 5ft2" and I did Rosemary Conley for a few months last year and they put me on 1400 cals a day and I did lose weight initially. I know dieting doesn't work and I probably need to learn to fix my bad eating habits as they have slipped over the last few months (eating way too many biscuits) but I'm going to try and be over strict with myself to shock myself in to better eating.

    oops sorry for the long post

    good luck with your goals.

    tinytoes
  • Have a look at weightlossresources.co.uk there's nothing better if you really want to count every calorie.
  • I would go for the best quality foods you can afford, so if you are having beef, go for a small fillet steak, and have loads of raw veggies with it.

    If you are having stirfries or stews or mince based receipts add in extra veggies.

    Enjoy your food and only eat from a plate and sitting at a table and not when you are at the computer, at your office desk, in the car and so on.

  • Ink BlotInk Blot ✭✭✭
    Hi LOK,

    I can't offer too much help I'm afraid but I am starting to put on weight and can't seem to get it off again. I've started craving sweet things the whole time and even the thought of putting even more weight on doesn't seem to do the trick so I've decided to shock myself into getting back into good habits. I'm going to start keeping a food diary so that my food intake is there in black and white so there is no getting away from it. Maybe this could help you too? My theory is that I can go back through it and see where my weak points are and when/why I am giving in to temptations.
  • Your height really isn't that relevant to your calorie intake. How did you work out 1600 cals (or 1200-1400 in your case TT?)

    Its really important that you get that number right - you only need to be 500cals per day down - any more and you risk slowing your metabolism. Also you need to factor in your daily exercise. At 10stone 1 mile = 100 cals. More if heavier, less if lighter.

    Slimfast drinks are crap as meal replacements (although great as additional recovery drinks after long runs apparently!) - you need to learn to eat properly for the long term in a way you can sustain otherwise you are heading for yo-yo diet land. Do you want to be eating slimfast shakes in 10 years time?

    Food diaries are fantastic. On one side work out exactly how much you need to eat every day (not how much you need to lose weight just how much you need to maintain). Then add on how much you need for running or other exercise. Then on the other side write down absolutely everything you eat and drink. Weigh all your meat, dairy and carbs. Make sure you include drinks such as orange juice or fizzy drinks.

    You should aim for a difference of 500 cals a day. But the reason you should compare to how much you need to maintain is that even if you only have a deficit of 200cals you are still losing weight - just slower.

    You only need to do this for a few weeks and it becomes habit to look at everything you eat and think how many calories are in it - essential for long term weight loss. It also stops you having a major blowout once a week. People often say - oh but i was good for 6 days and bad for one but i didn't lose any weight - but thats because in that one day they might have undone most or even all of the deficit of the previous week. If you count it up you can tell.





  • JjJj ✭✭✭
    'tis indeed habit.

    portion control. I used to laugh at the recipes (yeah - OK those that know me: ready-made meals!) that said: 'feeds four'.
    Coz it would just be a normal plateful for me.

    Now I just have half a pizza instead of a whole one, for example. Cheese was a bit of a disaster area for me, too, LOK, and I'm afraid I got into the habit of hardly ever eating it (had a toasted cheese sandwich yesterday and enjoyed it more than I ever used to when I was having them nearly every day!)

    I don't know if it's better to think about getting OUT of bad habits, or getting INTO good habits. I think with me it was the more negative one! I got out of the habit of buying two or more bars of chocolate every day, for example.

    oooh - I'm wittering! Sorry!

    good luck, anyway.
    :o)
  • JjJj ✭✭✭
    btw - lost three stone, have kept it off for about 18months/two years (can't remember!).
  • sensible advice here

    The telling point though LOK-is thatyouve been on "loads of diets"

    Tisnt a diet
    Tis a lifestyle change
    or it cant be long lasting
  • VoodsVoods ✭✭✭
    Couldn't agree more Hipps!

    RE: Portion control. When I first started on my lifestyle change/campaign, I was quite fanatical/obsessive about weighing everything.

    Mostly because most calorie listings on the sides of food packets list per 100 grams.

    For pasta - I only ever have a maximum of 50 grams (dry weight) - about 175 calories.

    I tended to round things to the nearest 100 calories as well.

    On a plate, a minimum of half the plate is covered with vegetables, a quarter was meats / fish, the other quarter carbs.

    Suppose it depends on the size of your plate as well :o)
  • thanks for all this brilliant advice

    every post above very useful

    sam - thanks that is exactly the thing i wanted to know about portion sizes because i don't always have a scales to hand / eating out etc

    david b - yes ,i have joined the wlr website to help me count calories

    M. - yes i don't know why i mentioned my height - actually i used the BMR calculator at the concept2 rowing website

    http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/bmr_calculator.php

    i think they are saying that this is the minimum cals i should eat without slowing my metabolism
    I will probably have 1800 cals on those days that i do a short run
    (I am still carrying a long term injury so it will only be short runs)

    in theory - according to that calc page, i need 2230 cals if i do no exercise , have a sedentary job, and weigh 90kg as i currently do (aged 37)

    so i would be creating a deficit of 630 cals a day or 4410 per week
    supposedly that equates to 1 and a bit pounds off per week
    if i stick to 1600 cals per day

    will post more about this later but at mo realise i am lacking some good recipes that fit neatly into the new numbers that i am trying to stick to
  • voods
    re "a minimum of half the plate is covered with vegetables, a quarter was meats / fish, the other quarter carbs"

    i have read that before but it is so unlike how i eat at the mo
    (carbs and veg amounts switched) that i am finding it hard to make that mental leap

    how did you manage to get your head round it?
  • Ink BlotInk Blot ✭✭✭
    Thats a really good link LOK thanx. It says that I should be eating 2513 calories a day. Therefore to lose weight I should be eating about 2100 - 2200 a day. Does that sound right??
  • Sam.Sam. ✭✭✭
    LOK you can buy plates that show you how much of each food group to eat

    they have lines painted on to divide up the plate into carbs, protein, fat, veg etc

    this helps ensure each meal is balanced

    I've only ever seen them advertised at the back of women's mags such as Top Sante, Health and Fitness and She.

    I don't know anyone who has used them either.

    I'll see if I can find out more.
  • JjJj ✭✭✭
    LOK - I hate vegetables, always have. Blame my mum (to whom I am very close, so it's not a grrrr thing) forcing me to eat cabbage when I was little. lol

    I eat as much green salad as I can (sporadic at best), and fruit, which I love. But I have a good multivit daily which makes me feel better. I have about one cold a year, if that, which lasts about three days.

  • VoodsVoods ✭✭✭
    LOK - getting your head around the proportions thing was more a case of weighing absolutely everything for probably a year. This was forcing me to learn the new habits I needed.

    It's mostly second nature these days.

    I've learned to LOVE my vegetables and do try to vary things as much as possible. Sometimes dry roasting, sometimes stir frying, or steaming. And sometimes even plain old salad.

    When I first started, I used to buy a whole load of veg and just chop it all up into a tupperware-type container. That way, it was always to hand and I could load up the plate first with the veg and then proteins and carbs afterwards.

    Sam - didn't realise you could even buy those plates. You live and learn.
  • VoodsVoods ✭✭✭
    Re recipes - there's a good thread on these forums - something like RW Recipe Club.

    Also, try RecipeZaar which I believe allows you to search for calories from fat, etc.

    But please, do NOT be a slave to any weight management plan you come up with. It is exactly the same as that training plan you follow for your next 10K - you can deviate from it. And PLEASE make sure you give yourself the occasional treats.
  • ta voods
    thank you for reminding me of that thread and website
    had lost track of both

    as for weighing stuff, i think i need to get some of those drug baron type portable scales!


    sdi
    i dunno what the answer is to the right number for you
    i think if you minus off 500 cals per day from the amount it says you need to maintain , then that gives a 1lb a week weight loss
    however,


    trin
    i know what you mean about not letting it grind you down
    it's so easy to make "hating being fat"
    become "hating myself for being fat"
    but as long as i remember these are two different things , i will be ok and stay positive

    i am not happy to be this fat nor healthy
    it restricts and effects my life in so many ways that
    it's not a question of ever just accepting it for me

    i am going to conquer it

    (actually I don't think i've ever said that out loud before)


    sam
    i like the plate idea, though a little embarassing when people come over?!
    i do need some new plates.....
    would be great to teach my son too

    re vegetables
    - i DO like vegetables, it's just that these were always an optional add on when i was growing up
    it was never the main part of the meal

    me and my bro's used to think it weird when we went to a friends house and got a tiny piece of meat and a plate full of veg
    (though thinking back, their parents were all slim - unlike mine - now i see why)

    i find that i often have days where i forget to buy/or run out of veg
    whereas i'd never let myself run out of bread say

    i am going to focus on this plate dividing thing , as well as portion sizes

    i think it will be tough, but it will be so good to make that a habit and especially excited about passing on some good habits to my 5 year old

    ps
    i just watched that mclibel doc on tv and it's given me an extra motivational boost to eat healthily (not that i eat mcd's thankfully) but i think i DO eat too much meat

    am wondering about setting myself a target for mid august - when i'm going on hols. would be nice to a chunk slimmer for that

    blogging weight loss-
    what do you guys think it's a good idea to blog this kind of thing?
    am worried i will fail again like i have in the past and just end up recording my cr*pness online
    on the other hand , it could be a really good motivator for me if i have to "report in"

    i tried the count's thread before but it was just numbers and that wasn't enough for me to feel motivated
    or maybe the timing was just wrong

    to blog or not to blog?



  • sdi
    sorry my however trailed off

    was gonna say about the fact that i'm not sure if you enter your current weight (as concept2 seems to say), or your "correct" healthy weight into the calculator (as suggested by the cancer.org site that sam gave)

    i think sam's site is correct actually but it doesn't really change my target figure because of other factors i've taken into account
  • Hello everyone...been lurking for a while and want to know is there a challenge section to this forum...you know like a weight loss challenge linked with running. I would love to join if there was, and would be happy to contribute if there wasn't and someone started one.
  • hi peeps
    4pm and have only 100 cals to go for rest of day!

    however, am planning very early night (after very late one last night) and have already had "supper" to fit in with my son's after school meal

    so it might work
    just

    would be good to stick to the plan on day one at least!

    btw i have more reading back to do in this thread and links to follow up on
    thanks in meantime

    hi gingerfurball
    - what exactly is a weightloss challenge?
    (if that isn't a stupid question!)

  • spend your 100 calories wisely LOK.
  • Hey there LOK...what I mean by a challenge is where we would post our weights, get support, log our running and so on...basically more of a "support" than a challenge.

    I know I would be up to getting it organised if I thought that there were enough people who would be interested in sort of group support.
  • Just caught tail end of this. Best of luck LOK. I lost two stone - very slowly (took two years) by running alone. Just set myself a target of 2000 calories to burn through exercise each week and recorded it religiously in a training log book. I didn't change my diet then but have since made drastic changes for specific health reasons (I have endometriosis).

    I think being mentally ready to lose weight helped and accepting it was going to take a while. Also the fact that I was recording positive things such as "amount of running/calories burned" as opposed to food denied myself, made a difference. In the end I focused on training for a marathon as the goal and the weight took care of itself.

    I'm not sure I'm much help but I think it really helped that I set my own goals and I did it to feel better about me.

    Best of luck!
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