1500 makes me Fat

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2006
1500 makes me Fat
8
Fri, 04-14-2006 - 1:05pm

Time for a reality check, how many calories should I eat in a day? I have read all the "experts" that say to eat 1,500-1,800 calories a day. I burn roughly 2,700 calories a day without even working out. When I lose all the weight, I will still be burning 2,500. That is based on having a desk job.

Why rant about 1,500? It is just a number. Right?

It is some mystical level of self-denial I have to achieve. All those “diet gurus” tell me that if I eat more than that we are doomed to be fat. So I starve eating 1,500 calories. And guess what? I am still fat!!! Which is what those pushing diet plans want. So I keep buying their pills, powders, box dinners, books, tapes, and t-shirts. I have a drawer full of t-shirts all 2X, what good is that?

You know why I stay fat?? Because I am STARVING!!! After just a few days on such a restricted diet. I binge. I go nuts and eat as if I haven’t had any food in weeks. That is if I even make it through one day. I can binge just thinking about it. Spend a week on that diet and my metabolism will slow down.

Then there is the big question. What about nutrition??? Can you get every nutrient your body needs by eating only 1,500 calories? Well I guess you could if you ate Total cereal as your meal. Personally, I would rather not. I love food, flavors, tastes, textures.

So I reject the diet industry. I reject their reality. I don’t want to stay fat. I do not want to be set up to fail. I want to become healthier. And I will. Because instead of hiding my head in someone’s backside, I mean diet book, I have made up my own food reality, based on reasonable eating. Guess what? My way has lowered my cholesterol 50 points in 3 months and cut my triglycerides in half. I have lost over 20 lbs, even while on vacation. Take That South Beach!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: lvmykyk
Fri, 04-14-2006 - 3:43pm

Personally I think we must listen to our own bodies, bearing in mind what we need to stay healthy! Too much of anything is not good. And again denying yourself of certain cravings is not good either.


I say go with the 'healthy, and balanced' way of eating.

~IslandGirl


Success is 10% talent and 90% heart!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2005
In reply to: lvmykyk
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 8:54pm
Can you give us a sample day of your reasonable eating?
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2006
In reply to: lvmykyk
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 9:46pm

I DON'T BELIVE IN THOSE DIETS EITHER...I THINK YOU JUST NEED WILL POWER TO CUT STARCHY FOODS TO SMALLER PORTIONS, EATING MORE FRUIT AND VEGS, AND EXERCISE REGULARLY AND YOU WILL LOSE THE WEIGHT OVER TIME! MAYBE NOT AS QUICKLY AS THOSE DIETS BUT YOU WILL LOSE IT...AND TO ME LOSING IT SLOWLY I HAVE HAD A BETTER CHANCE AT KEEPING IT OFF...

THAT WAS 3 YEARS AGO...I HAVEN'T PUT IT BACK ON..NOW WHEN MY JEANS ARE A LITTLE TIGHT..I JUST CUT BACK FOR A FEW WEEKS ON EATING MY FAVORITE THINGS (LIKE DOUBLE STUFF OREOS) AND EXCERCISE A LITTLE MORE AND *BANG* JEANS ARE LOSE AGAIN..

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2006
In reply to: lvmykyk
Sun, 04-16-2006 - 11:25am

Reasonable eating?

Breakfast is cereal, if I have time to eat it. Coffee if I don't

Snack nothing or whatever I have in the house

Lunch Leftovers from the night before

Snack nothing well except munching while cooking

Dinner a meat a starch a veggie. All veggies are raw or lightly steamed.

Snack this week it is an ice cream bar.

I do not measure portions. I do not cook a seperate meal from my family. I eat with my family. I have daughters and I firmly believe that you are teaching your children bad messages about food if you eat seperate food. Why don't you love your family enough to feed them what you are eating? Or is what you are eating so terrible that it is not good enough for them but a punishment for you?

My original post was not a cry for help. But meant to inspire a realistic view of what we have done to our bodies in an attempt to reach some supposed ideal. If diets worked no one would stay on them for life. If you are eating only 1200 calories a day I strongly urge you to look at the nutritional content of each item you are puting into your mouth. Do the math are you reaching the RDA? Vitamins and Minerals should come from your food not a pill. I take a multi vitamin, because I cannot seem to find the balance to get everything I need. I am always coming up short, except in sodium. I do not use salt.

I have lost weight approaching food my way. I have lowered my cholesteral. I have lost over 3" in my waist. Best of all.......... I am teaching my children that healthy eating is not a punishment for over indulgence. Reasonable eating is something everyone can do with ease. Only when we deny ourselves do we have to hear that word "willpower" which is a copout for not succeeding. And if the diet industry really wanted us to get off the fads and keep our money in our pocket instead of lining theirs they would tell us the truth. That was my real

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
In reply to: lvmykyk
Tue, 04-18-2006 - 4:20pm

I'm glad that you've found what works for you - many women spend years and $ looking for that magic formula!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
In reply to: lvmykyk
Wed, 04-19-2006 - 2:20pm
I have to say I was a bit weary of the only eat this much diet, however I have found that it is working for me. Here's the added part, I have to write down everything I eat and guess what I most often do not get to the 1500 mark. I have also found that the being hungry all the time part only lasted a few days. It's amazing how much you can actually eat if you eat lighter. I am sure that does not make since, but it's kinda working for me. I have lost 9 pds in the past 4 weeks and want it to keep coming off.
I do agree with your diet books attack, I think that once we realise that we need a "diet" to be of our making and one that we will continue and can live with for a long time, then we find that we start shedding the weight. Good luck sista and keep it up.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2006
In reply to: lvmykyk
Wed, 04-19-2006 - 7:30pm

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and insights.

I wasted so many years and so much money. Not only buying into every new gimmick and scheme. But also on therapy for my self loathing. I thought I was a complete and utter failure because I could not stay on even a magazine diet.

I wanted to speak up for those of us who have tried all the diets. Ate our food in isolation from our family. Feeling worse everyday because we weren't noticing a change. Ok, so there was that box of cookies under the bed we didn't admit to. But......

I just wanted to put out there that maybe, just maybe all those diet gurus are wrong. Maybe we are right and 1,500 isn't enough and to even try sets us up to get fatter. I think eventually i will be down to that level of intake.

But for now I look at food like smoking. I can't quit cold turkey. I need to wean myself slowly 500 calories at a time. That mindset has helped not only with losing weight. But I don't beat myself up anymore for slipping. I can look in the mirror and smile at myself. And after all isn't that really the point?

Again thanks to all for their input and insight. I really think that each of us needs the ideas of others to take pieces of to create our own success plan.
theresa

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2004
In reply to: lvmykyk
Thu, 04-20-2006 - 9:53am

I have been trying to keep my calorie count below 1600 a day. I usually end up around 1565-1585. Some days I have ended up as low as about 1300, usually after a higher day like Easter Sunday when it was about 1800.


I've been using fitday.com to see not only what the calorie count was, but what the breakdown of fat and protein and carbs were. I have found that I am usually in the recommended range, and have even made progress in getting in the recommended amount of dietary fiber, with the lower calorie eating.


Even on the 1300 calorie day, I wasn't hungry. As long as I eat good things like my banana in the mid morning, some raw veggies and multi grain bread a protein for lunch and a reasonable dinner with some fresh fruit or veggies, I do take a multi vitamin, just to be sure, but I feel pretty good even with adding running to my workouts now and with my martial arts classes getting more intense.


I like the results I'm getting. But, as you see, I'm not tied to the under 1600 thing every day of my life. I enjoyed Easter dinner without over doing it. And I'll enjoy my wedding cake and I'll enjoy some treats on vacation too. I also enjoy my workouts, most of the time.


I think it all comes down to what IG said, you have to listen to your own body. I don't see why eating should be different from exercise. Not everyone here runs, some swim, some walk, some love weights, some hate weights. Ultimately, for one to continue taking care of one's health, the plan has to work for you.


lorie6-26-09.png Lorie 6-26-09 picture by runningwomen