I 28f, recently down about 20lbs from my starting weight, I grew up incredibly petite and active and the stress of a bad relationship and my metabolism catching up to me took me from 125, up to 186 at my highest. I saw nutritionist, dieticians, drs, went on weight loss medications, worked out like crazy and the only thing that helped me loose weight was eating in a calorie deficit. Which was a omething I was against for years because I didn’t want to give into diet culture. I’ve been using macro factor and it’s coaching feature and it’s put me at 1200 cals. The first 20lbs shed like nothing with around 1450 cals but since dropping to 1200 I’m struggling so hard with cravings and not going over. I’ve stalled in weight loss for about a month and a half now. Does anyone have any tips or favorite meals? I’ve successfully had days where I feel satiated at 1200 cals but can never seem to have more than one day in a row.
Looking for food inspo, advice, support, honestly anything 😅 posting in this sub specifically as it’s been such a safe place for such a taboo topic
by alldaeallnight
6 Comments
Hey I’m a NASM internationally recognized Personal Trainer & Nutritionist
Reading your post there a few things I can recommend, One thing I will touch on is please don’t have 1200 calories or less, being that low in calories is a sure reason for slowing down your metabolism and with that slows down your metabolisms efficiency in burning calories. Send me a message on here if you want some of my recommendations
you might benefit from a maintenance break!!
Why did you drop to 1200 from 1450 if the weight loss was working?
I know you’re 20lbs under now but maybe recalc your TDEE, 1200 seems fairly restrictive if you had success with a higher cal restriction. Otherwise focus on high volume low cal foods to help with fullness and exercise to allow for more calorie intake. Wishing you the best
Looks like you started in July. Time for a maintenance break. It’s really important to do breaks regularly – but only to maintain your health, but also it’s great practise for staying in maintenance once you reach your goal weight.
You didn’t mention your height, so look up a TDEE calculator and work out what your maintenance calories would be, and set your budget to that (or *slightly* lower) for a couple of weeks, or as long as it takes to feel comfortable again. Then you can reassess and go back to a deficit.
I’m sorry I can’t help but what app is that please?
The thing is that cico is not a diet but a tool to track calories. This is just the math/science behind how our body works. Once you understand how things work you can apply the knowledge into any diet out there. In fact all the diets out there working with these principles at their core. Without calorie deficit you can’t lose fat weight no matter what you do (except surgery of course).
So, when you stop losing (fat) weight it’s because you are eating just as much energy (calories) that your body needs to function. You are at maintenance. If you eat less energy (calories) than your body needs to function, the body is forced to use up its energy storage (fat) to make the difference up, hence you lose fat weight. It’s this simple.
There is this 1200kcal or 1000kcal limit that is widely shared number as the metabolism limit or what not. This is not a real number but a general recommendation for average people. If your body size is under average size this limit obviously can’t be applied to you. Smaller bodies need less food. If you are small and eat the same amount of food as a bigger person you’ll end up with energy surplus that will be stored as fat. (This is a[ weekly meal plan](https://www.suncakemom.com/body/weekly-meal-plan-ppcr-basic4) that is designed for extreme cut of an active average size person and not for you but you can get the idea what is possible.)
As for hunger. There are 3 things.
1. Being hungry is normal. 20-40 minutes before regular meal the stomach increases hunger hormone levels as a way to let the body know it’s ready for digesting. You can drink water to subsidize hunger a bit until your regular meal or just ride the feeling out. It’s normal.
2. You are hungry because your diet is crap. Eating the required amount of protein for your body size and activity level is crucial aspect of weight loss and long term weight management or general health. If you don’t eat enough [protein per day and per meal](https://www.suncakemom.com/body/how-to-build-muscle-while-losing-fat) the above said hunger hormone levels don’t subsidize an you’ll be hungry which result in overeating in fat and sugars (junk food).
3. Psychological hunger is real thing. You are not hungry but bored, stressed, seeking joy… whatever. This is a mental stuff that is soothed with food. [Changing habits ](https://www.suncakemom.com/mind/how-to-change-habits)that help you manage your feelings is the only way you can manage emotional hunger.