new diet, constantly "hangry", no energy or patience

[Anonymous]

Hi Op, I think you need to go at a slower pace. Track your calories for a week and see how much you're taking in, then find ways to eat 200 calories less per day. Instead of a bagel for breakfast, have 3 eggs and fruit. Instead of a frappucino, you have an iced coffee. Once you've adjusted a bit to eating a little less and more clean options, then you can look into reducing calories to get down to 1700.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung.

Try doing an intermittent fast of 24-36 hours once per week.

Dr. Fung probably has helped a lot of people. But his main experience is with uncontrolled diabetics with kidney failure.

If you're insulin resistant, then increasing insulin sensitivity is good. If you're already insulin sensitive, then skipping meals is just skipping meals.

Yes, that is his main experience. But you're dead wrong about IF not helping regular people lose weight.

I've never had diabetes, pre-diabetes, or anything else...but IF helped me lose 30 lbs. I've kept it off for 5 years.

I'd be starving and hanged if I tried to do a steady 1700 calories per day, every day. However, I have no trouble fasting for a couple of days (no hanger!) followed by higher and lower calorie days all mixed up.

Insulin resistance is a spectrum. Pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes is when insulin resistance reaches a certain level of clinical significance.

I've had the same experience and fast daily (no breakfast) It is astonishing to me how I used to be stomach gnawing hungry the moment I woke up at 5:45 and now I can wait til 1pm to eat with fewer mood swings and more energy. I eat a big meal for lunch (probably 1000 calories) and a tiny dinner with my family before 8 and don't eat again until 1 pm the next day.
I have lost 4 lbs in 4 weeks and only want to lose 10. Most importantly I feel so much better and haven't changed my actual food choices at all (admittedly I was already eating pretty healthy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm short and gain weight if I eat much more than 1300 calories a day.

Try giving up most carbs, all sugar and most dairy. Eat mostly meat and vegetables. If you stick with that it is much easier to lose.

Guys, come on. OP feels crazy at 1700 calories a day. She's not going to cut out entire food groups, etc. That's not realistic and a recipe for yo yo'ing.

OP, find lower calorie (but not processed) filling snacks. Apples. Eggs. Grilled chicken. TONS of water (seltzer is ok too, and VERY filling). Eventually you'll figure out how to be full with fewer calories.

Yup, that's my fear also. Less food I can do. No dairy I cannot.

Unfortunately once I hit 40, it became my reality, or else accepting fat was the answer. I absolutely have cut out entire food groups. Once you accept it, it is OK. I had to go keto first to completely go hard core cold turkey. I do not think keto is even healthy, but is completely slashed my hunger, within a week, I could go very long periods without eating. After I lost an astonishing 40lbs in 10 weeks with one cheat meal a week (not cheat day, cheat meal). I've now moved to Whole 30.

I do almost no dairy, almost no alcohol, and no bread, pasta, rice, and almost no refined sugars. For me, being thin is more important than those items and I actually feel great.

yes, restrictive, but unless I was laboring as a landscaper all day, my body cannot convert carbs into energy given the amount that is in the American diet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could be wrong,, obviously, because I don't know you, but protein and fat and IF are only going to get you so far.

Cutting out sugar is the main cause of your lament. It is hard, but you will adjust with time.

The rest is very likely psychological. The continual thinking about food via tracking and calorie cutting leaves you feeling hungry because it's always on your mind.

Why not try just cutting your portion sizes, which you indicate was the problem. Snack all you want on vegetables and Instead of tracking, just try to reduce your normal, healthy diet and don't focus on it.

Between that and adjusting to no sugar ( and I'd you cut fruit, ass it back in to help with the added processes sugar withdrawal), I bet you'll be fine.

This is what I suspect also. I am also similar to the binge eater in the other thread. I couldn't have just one luna bar...it was 4. It took a lot to satiate me. I'm trying to break those habits.

You need to stop eating those foods that don't satiate you. For me it is anything high carb. Carbs are very addictive to me. if I eat one cookie, I can easily move on to eating five more. If I don't eat them, I am fine.

[Anonymous]

OP, you should be working out also. Muscle burns calories.

One thing you can do if you're hungry, eat a bag of non-buttered popcorn, an entire bag of butterless microwaveable popcorn only has something like ~200 calories. Check the labels to make sure you're getting one with low calories.

Another thing you can do, fill up on vegetables at dinner. An entire can of green beans is only 70 or 80 calories. You could have an entire can of veggies for a snack as well. Don't eat corn in this case (stick with popcorn as a snack and not regular corn).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm a registered dietitian. Are you doing this under some sort of medical recommendation? 1700 calories is barely enough for anyone. Try bumping up to 2,000, adding in more fiber, protein and healthy fats.

hey RD, my BMR is south of 1100 calories a day. So yeahno.

OP, it may just be habit. you will get used to it. the sugar weaning is hard. make sure you're eating enough fat. that helps with satiety. and, well, I just dont eat breakfast and only have one snack a day--unless going out to dinner: morning coffee and tea, then I eat a meal around 11:30 (eggs/whites, spinach, avocado, cheese omelet, or a turkey sandwich or yogurt berries and granola), small snack in the afternoon (apple and almonds for ex) only if I'm really hungry, and a light dinner (salad with salmon).occasionally a square or two of dark choclate. that's it. my vice is alchohol.

This seems like disordered eating to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm a registered dietitian. Are you doing this under some sort of medical recommendation? 1700 calories is barely enough for anyone. Try bumping up to 2,000, adding in more fiber, protein and healthy fats.

Really? Us shorties (5'1") can't actually afford much more than that.

I am 51 145 pounds working on a 1392 cal plan. I picked the right foods, don't snack (I never was a snacker) and it's very doable. Plus, if I exercise I get bonus calories back.

[Anonymous]

1700 calories is too low???? eh.


The number of calories any of us can consume and still maintain some kind of "optimal" weight level varies dramatically. I'm 5'2. I had been limiting myself to about 1500 calories for almost a year. But I was still overweight! Not morbidly obese, but yes overweight. And that number of the scale was NOT budging. I lost about 5 pounds in that total amount of time, which frankly isn't a lot of progress. Obviously, then, I was still eating too much. A Dr finally told me that a good guide for a woman to find the number of calories you can consume in order to maintain your optimal weight is to take your optimal weight and times it by ten. If I want to weigh 120, in other words, I should be fairly consistently trying to eat around 1200 calories a day. If I want to weigh 130, eat 1300. There was something to this, because as soon as I started to consume 1200-1300 calories a day, the pounds started dropping off me. And again--let me be perfectly clear. I'm not stick thin. I'm a curvy size 6. The truth is, Americans eat too much. Far too much. Of everything. And we're particularly bad with amounts of sugar and white flour. We lead the world in obesity. Stop telling people that consuming 2000 calories a day is healthy for everyone--because it absolutely isn't. Being overweight, with belly fat, is unhealthy and if it takes a 1200-1300 calorie diet to avoid that, than that's what is "healthy" for that person.

OP--the advice is fewer calories. But, of course, you need to try to make your body "happy" with that. The best advice is time; you need to continue to decrease consumption slowly and steadily and allow your body time to adjust. Because your body DOES adjust to it. But it doesn't happen overnight. Also, there's been a lot of good advice posted about using those calories wisely--proteins and FATS are your friend! Good fats. Like nuts and avocado. Fills you up and provides energy to your body. As everyone else has said--the less "sweet" you can consume, the better. Not just sugar, but the diet sodas and crap have to go too. And my dr told me to avoid snacking. I was doing the "several small meals a day" kind of thing because that's the trend now. Plus I thought it was what I needed to get through the day. But dr told me to eat 3 times a day--that's it. No snacking in between. Eat good solid meals. And he's been right--at least for me. I end up eating the biggest meal of the day midday. The least amount at breakfast.

GOOD LUCK

[Anonymous]

Aim for at least 100 grams of protein in that 1700 calories. It will increase satiety and reduce muscle loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1700 calories is too low???? eh.


The number of calories any of us can consume and still maintain some kind of "optimal" weight level varies dramatically. I'm 5'2. I had been limiting myself to about 1500 calories for almost a year. But I was still overweight! Not morbidly obese, but yes overweight. And that number of the scale was NOT budging. I lost about 5 pounds in that total amount of time, which frankly isn't a lot of progress. Obviously, then, I was still eating too much. A Dr finally told me that a good guide for a woman to find the number of calories you can consume in order to maintain your optimal weight is to take your optimal weight and times it by ten. If I want to weigh 120, in other words, I should be fairly consistently trying to eat around 1200 calories a day. If I want to weigh 130, eat 1300. There was something to this, because as soon as I started to consume 1200-1300 calories a day, the pounds started dropping off me. And again--let me be perfectly clear. I'm not stick thin. I'm a curvy size 6. The truth is, Americans eat too much. Far too much. Of everything. And we're particularly bad with amounts of sugar and white flour. We lead the world in obesity. Stop telling people that consuming 2000 calories a day is healthy for everyone--because it absolutely isn't. Being overweight, with belly fat, is unhealthy and if it takes a 1200-1300 calorie diet to avoid that, than that's what is "healthy" for that person.

OP--the advice is fewer calories. But, of course, you need to try to make your body "happy" with that. The best advice is time; you need to continue to decrease consumption slowly and steadily and allow your body time to adjust. Because your body DOES adjust to it. But it doesn't happen overnight. Also, there's been a lot of good advice posted about using those calories wisely--proteins and FATS are your friend! Good fats. Like nuts and avocado. Fills you up and provides energy to your body. As everyone else has said--the less "sweet" you can consume, the better. Not just sugar, but the diet sodas and crap have to go too. And my dr told me to avoid snacking. I was doing the "several small meals a day" kind of thing because that's the trend now. Plus I thought it was what I needed to get through the day. But dr told me to eat 3 times a day--that's it. No snacking in between. Eat good solid meals. And he's been right--at least for me. I end up eating the biggest meal of the day midday. The least amount at breakfast.

GOOD LUCK

Yup, I'm 5'4", 39, very small frame. 1400-1500 is maintenance for me. 1200 is a deficit. And my metabolism isn't messed up because of restrictive eating/constant dieting. I was eating 1600-1700 for more than a few years trying to gain muscle while lifting, and I probably did, but I gained a lot of fat as well. Now eating at 1200 and the fat is slowly coming off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you filling those 1700 calories with? It's likely you need more protein and fat to stay satiated.

Yes, this.