Weightloss - Scared to eat!

Iloveprettythings

Hiya

For the past 5 weeks I have been on a low calorie diet, I do not exercise. For the first 2 weeks I noticed no change but then 4 weeks in I lost a total of 5lb! I want to carry on but I am so scared of putting it back on that I am so scard of eating.

I am a size 12 I want to get to a size 10 again so I probably need to lose a stone maybe stone and a half.

My problem is I am terrified now of eating!

I just wondered would anyone know how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight? I Am 5ft 3 and a size 12. I also have an Under Active Thyroid.

Also I have been cutting out junk food but I am trying to limit my lunch to 200 calories is that enough?

I am just so terrified of everything I am eating now and I am becoming a bit obsessed. I just want to lose this weight.

Many thanks

NigeWick

Have a look at http://www.foodfocus.co.uk/ as it's free to register. Put your height & weight in and how much you want to lose. I suggest no more than 1.5lbs per week and I aimed for 1lb per week. This means that I had to eat 500 calories per day less than my maintenance amount.

I looked for a food regime that I could stick with for life. My older daughter is Coeliac and I thought it's possible to have come from my side of the family. I gave up grains and now burn fat instead of carbohydrates/sugar for energy. I lost 62lbs in a year. I now find that I can miss a meal or two without getting the shakes as I did previously if I did not eat at 12:00 and 17:00.

The secret is to eat good quality fresh food so that your body needs less of it. Stay away from processed foods and fizzy pop etc. Fruit is sugary so don't eat too much of it, so are root vegetables and potatoes. There's nothing wrong with animal fat as long as it comes from naturally fed ones. Meat from grain fed beasts will cause some of he same problems as us eating grains.

Own_My_Own

The way I see it is that what you have been doing over the last 5 weeks is working. Carry on with it and you will continue to lose the weight.
If you divide the pounds by weeks it is 1lb a week. Which is what you should be aiming at.

heartbreak_star

...add exercise?

HBS x

1940sGal

Iloveprettythings wrote: »

Hiya

For the past 5 weeks I have been on a low calorie diet, I do not exercise. For the first 2 weeks I noticed no change but then 4 weeks in I lost a total of 5lb! I want to carry on but I am so scared of putting it back on that I am so scard of eating.

I am a size 12 I want to get to a size 10 again so I probably need to lose a stone maybe stone and a half.

My problem is I am terrified now of eating!

I just wondered would anyone know how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight? I Am 5ft 3 and a size 12. I also have an Under Active Thyroid.

Also I have been cutting out junk food but I am trying to limit my lunch to 200 calories is that enough?

I am just so terrified of everything I am eating now and I am becoming a bit obsessed. I just want to lose this weight.

Many thanks

You need to add exercise. Do 3 sessions of strength training a week and 5-6 days of any cardio exercise. The strength training is really important as it will burn more fat than cardio alone.

CupOfChai

What they said. Seriously, do exercise, you'll be so much better off. Even if you find you're not losing as much weight on the scales from exercising, your body will change shape so you'll still be slimmer. I have actually found that if I exercise to lose or maintain weight, my body looks much better than if I do it by not eating instead of exercising. I don't like exercise at all, but I love eating food more than I hate exercise!

If you continue to feel like you're worried, obsessing or frightened about eating food then I think you should speak to your doctor about that.

thor

I agree with everyone about the importance of exercise.
On it's own it feels like hard work for little effect due to the human body being so efficient.(An average person would have to run more than a marathon to burn off a pound of fat) but it helps to maintain your metabolism when it would ordinarily slow down with any period of calorie restriction. Also your muscles will continue to burn calories at an enhanced rate for a while even after finishing an exercise.
Finally you will increase your strength and fitness which is always a good thing and my main motivation.

NigeWick

A lot of exercise does not help as it makes one hungry and more food gets eaten. If you're going to exercise, it needs to be strength training so as to add lean muscle. Muscle uses more calories to keep up than fat.

Short bursts of high intensity are most efficient. If you don't have or want stuff, use body weight. Press ups, dips between chairs, squats, sit ups and make a bridge belly up by raising the body from the floor on to feet & hands. These will work most big muscle groups. Do one set of each until exhaustion and then rest for a week. If you can't manage the full exercises, do something along those lines that you can manage. I started off doing press ups on the side of the bath and used my legs to help support my body between the chairs. Do plenty of walking at a reasonable pace. I walk the mile to town and carry shopping home in a rucksack five days a week. These combined are all the body needs. Obviously, if unlike me, you love spending time exercising then you can do less exhausting workouts more often.

Fluff15

Iloveprettythings wrote: »

Hiya

For the past 5 weeks I have been on a low calorie diet, I do not exercise. For the first 2 weeks I noticed no change but then 4 weeks in I lost a total of 5lb! I want to carry on but I am so scared of putting it back on that I am so scard of eating.

I am a size 12 I want to get to a size 10 again so I probably need to lose a stone maybe stone and a half.

My problem is I am terrified now of eating!

I just wondered would anyone know how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight? I Am 5ft 3 and a size 12. I also have an Under Active Thyroid.

Also I have been cutting out junk food but I am trying to limit my lunch to 200 calories is that enough?

I am just so terrified of everything I am eating now and I am becoming a bit obsessed. I just want to lose this weight.

Many thanks

That is worrying - food isn't the enemy. It is neither good or bad, it is how you view it that makes it so. Please, please get out of this unhealthy mindset - food is fuel and it nourishes your body and keeps you alive!

Make sure you're eating as many unprocessed foods as possible - this means as close as you can get it in it's natural form. Eat oats and home made muesli in the mornings, with fresh fruit, nuts and seeds. Stay well away from 'low fat' cereals such as Special K - these are overprocessed and then all the nutrients are artificially added back to the cereal, which your body can't process.

Have a mid-morning snack, such as an apple, carrot sticks with hummus, grapes etc.

For lunch, eat plenty of raw vegetables and leafy greens with a protein. Also try and get some healthy fats in there - avocado is great for this if you like it.

For other snacks, have fruit such as apples, nectarines, peaches, unsalted nuts. I like to have a banana an hour or two before I work out at around 5pm, then go for my run when I've got in from work at about 6.30.

For dinner, eat another lean protein - chicken breast, salmon, prawns, and white fish are all good choices oven baked or grilled with a little olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. 100g/150g of any of these meats are good. With this, eat a complex carb such as sweet potato, quinoa, brown rice, bulgur wheat. Then, have a leafy green and another vegetable - broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale etc etc. are all fab.

I am 5'3" and a size 6/8/10 depending on where I shop. When trying to get rid of the bloat, I eat around 1,500 before exercise. On an average day, I'll eat about 1,700 - 2,000. I also eat biscuits on a regular basis, have a take away on average once a week, treats from my Graze box, etc etc. Health is about balance - don't be too strict on yourself.

The best way to lose weight is a combination of high intensity interval training and resistance training. This can be done without a gym - sprint for 30 seconds and then job for a minute, repeat until you've done it for 15-20 minutes. You can weight train at home using cans, filled milk/water bottles. Three to four times a week is ideal as you get rest days and let your muscles recover. Always eat post-workout within an hour, as exercising depleats your glycogen stores and without eating, your body will start to eat your muscle rather than fat.

If you like work out DVDs, you can find Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred online - this is a fab all over work out and only lasts 20 minutes. There are others, but I've found this one helped me the most when I was a size 12 a couple of years ago to where I am now.

Also - bogger the weight. Measure your losses in inches. The scale isn't relevant - I weigh the same now as I did as a size 12. Muscle is more lean than fat!



Most importantly - I've said it before - DO NOT BE AFRAID OF FOOD! Love your body how it is now, and nurture it to be even better. Don't be obsessive, and talk to your doctor if you need.

~Chameleon~

heartbreak_star wrote: »

...add exercise?

HBS x

What she said^^

The biggest aid to weight loss is to increase muscle mass which boosts metabolism and fat loss. The way you're trying to do it by just cutting calories will result in muscle loss leaving you looking flabby and un-toned but will also reduce your metabolism making it increasingly harder to lose any fat.

Prothet_of_Doom

Instead of being terrified of food, be terrified of not having enough exercise.