1400 calories a day? Seriously? (vegetables, BMI, overweight, stomach)
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I am a few pounds overweight, according to my BMI score. Calculations indicate I need 1400 calories a day to lose a pound per week. OMG, what am I supposed to eat? I am hungry every 3-4 hours! When I go back to work soon, I will be up at 5:00 AM and home at 6:00 which is at least 4 meals per day. On top of that, I have sensitive stomach, so I can't eat huge salads.
How do I break this down during the work week? How the **** am I supposed to eat 1400 calories a day and not feel woozy?
I have bloodwork every year and so far it has been normal, yet I do get dizzy and hungry at the 4 hour mark. I mean really dizzy, like I might pass out.
I live alone, so I don't cook much, either. Are Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice bad for you?
Eat 350 calories at each of the four meals meal, 1,400 calories!
Yeah, Lean Cuisine/Healthy choice aren't great. Better than a eating a McDonald Cheeseburger. You could just eat four of those a day too, plus some vegetables to round and hit your 1,400 calories. I'm lazy. I do eat frozen food. Throw some broccoli in a steamer and nuke a frozen entry. Is it great? No, it's not. But then is that relevant? If you don't cook now you probably eat worse than that.
Personally I just cook boring. One week is spaghetti week, next week is roasted chicken week. Usually make up a big batch of oatmeal every week and fry a few eggs. That's really my cooking. Rest of it is just steaming vegetables, nuking potatoes, or making salads, cooking/reheating frozen brown rice. Gets me through most of the week. Eat out a couple times, eat a couple frozen meals, maybe a can of or two of soup. Great? No. But I don't really like cooking so that keeps it to a minimum. It's not like it's hard to make spaghetti or roast a chicken and for a single person you'll get a lot of meals out of that.
Are you an older woman? Short? Not a lot of weight to lose in the first place? Then 1400 calories sounds about right. It sucks, I know. I'm older, sedentary and only need to lose about 10 lbs. Guess how much I get? 1200 calories for about a half a pound a week.
My first suggestion is that you need to give up trying to lose 1lb a week. If you are close to your normal weight, then 1lb a week (while it sounds nice) is too aggressive. Up your calories to 1600 a day, slow the weight loss, and then try to add something in (activity) that will burn approximately 100-200 calories per day.
In order to fit your food in (and I've done it) I sort of eat like this:
Breakfast - keep around 250 calories. For me this generally includes my hot tea with milk and sugar (bonus if you can have your coffee or tea without anything in it). I will have a serving of shredded wheat with milk. If I don't have that, I'll scramble two eggs and have lots of veggies and turkey sausage in it. I have that on the weekends. Like you, I'm out of the house at 5AM to go to work so I don't do eggs during the week. Cereal it is. It also helps that I wait until I get to work to eat. If I ate at 5AM, I'd be dying and I'm not really hungry right when I get up.
In between breakfast and lunch, I will have another large cup of tea with milk/sugar and that gets me through until my lunch.
Lunch: Most days I will have a Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, or some other frozen meal limited to about 330 calories. With that I may then have a 120 calorie yogurt (Siggi's or some other high protein style), and some popcorn. My highest calorie lunch will be 570 calories. I try to make it lower sometimes by getting a 270 calorie meal that is okay.
No snack till dinner but I eat early. I get off work at 2:30, commute, and am home by 3:30. I will either start cooking right away, or I will do 30 minutes of exercise and cook if I have a simple meal. During this time, it's more tea. Believe it or not, that tea takes the edge off and gets me through. I'm generally left with about 600 calories for dinner which I like. I like to have my larger meal at dinner. My evening snack will be an 80 calorie Yasso fudge bar.
As for feeling bad, I promise you that will go away. If you've been eating whatever you want and you go to a 1400 calorie diet, it's going to take a week or so for your blood sugar responses to "change their ways." I always feel a little light headed when I start out. More protein helps that for a bit. I eventually have that feeling go away but, I'll be honest, I never, ever, ever feel satisfied at even 1600 calories per day. I'm always wanting. 2500 calories suits me about right!!! But that doesn't help my weight at all.
You may want to gradually try to ease into this. For instance, if you've been eating 2500 calories a day, cut back to 2000 for a week, then cut back to 1800. That works for some people rather than the drastic cut.
Are you an older woman? Short? Not a lot of weight to lose in the first place? Then 1400 calories sounds about right. It sucks, I know. I'm older, sedentary and only need to lose about 10 lbs. Guess how much I get? 1200 calories for about a half a pound a week.
My first suggestion is that you need to give up trying to lose 1lb a week. If you are close to your normal weight, then 1lb a week (while it sounds nice) is too aggressive. Up your calories to 1600 a day, slow the weight loss, and then try to add something in (activity) that will burn approximately 100-200 calories per day.
In order to fit your food in (and I've done it) I sort of eat like this:
Breakfast - keep around 250 calories. For me this generally includes my hot tea with milk and sugar (bonus if you can have your coffee or tea without anything in it). I will have a serving of shredded wheat with milk. If I don't have that, I'll scramble two eggs and have lots of veggies and turkey sausage in it. I have that on the weekends. Like you, I'm out of the house at 5AM to go to work so I don't do eggs during the week. Cereal it is. It also helps that I wait until I get to work to eat. If I ate at 5AM, I'd be dying and I'm not really hungry right when I get up.
In between breakfast and lunch, I will have another large cup of tea with milk/sugar and that gets me through until my lunch.
Lunch: Most days I will have a Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, or some other frozen meal limited to about 330 calories. With that I may then have a 120 calorie yogurt (Siggi's or some other high protein style), and some popcorn. My highest calorie lunch will be 570 calories. I try to make it lower sometimes by getting a 270 calorie meal that is okay.
No snack till dinner but I eat early. I get off work at 2:30, commute, and am home by 3:30. I will either start cooking right away, or I will do 30 minutes of exercise and cook if I have a simple meal. During this time, it's more tea. Believe it or not, that tea takes the edge off and gets me through. I'm generally left with about 600 calories for dinner which I like. I like to have my larger meal at dinner. My evening snack will be an 80 calorie Yasso fudge bar.
As for feeling bad, I promise you that will go away. If you've been eating whatever you want and you go to a 1400 calorie diet, it's going to take a week or so for your blood sugar responses to "change their ways." I always feel a little light headed when I start out. More protein helps that for a bit. I eventually have that feeling go away but, I'll be honest, I never, ever, ever feel satisfied at even 1600 calories per day. I'm always wanting. 2500 calories suits me about right!!! But that doesn't help my weight at all.
You may want to gradually try to ease into this. For instance, if you've been eating 2500 calories a day, cut back to 2000 for a week, then cut back to 1800. That works for some people rather than the drastic cut.
Actually, our base metabolic rates are NOT THAT HIGH. For most women who are a medium height (say 5’5”), the BMR is probably going to be between 1400-1600 calories if they are sedentary all day. 2000 calories a day may keep the OP in gain mode if she is at or around her normal weight. I cannot eat 2000 calories a day. I will gain weight. I don’t routinely burn that many calories a day unless I am doing a lot of exercise.
Actually, our base metabolic rates are NOT THAT HIGH. For most women who are a medium height (say 5’5”), the BMR is probably going to be between 1400-1600 calories if they are sedentary all day. 2000 calories a day may keep the OP in gain mode if she is at or around her normal weight. I cannot eat 2000 calories a day. I will gain weight. I don’t routinely burn that many calories a day unless I am doing a lot of exercise.
Same here. I've had consistent weight gain for years. When I was younger, I actually could lose (slowly) on 1700-1800 calories. No more. I'm maintaining at 1600 and I don't see loss until I go below that. It's sad.
Same here. I've had consistent weight gain for years. When I was younger, I actually could lose (slowly) on 1700-1800 calories. No more. I'm maintaining at 1600 and I don't see loss until I go below that. It's sad.
I think it only changes by about 50 calories every 10 years or so for a medium height woman, but that can still make a difference. 50 extra calories a day every day and you will gain weight unless you make some changes! It’s really harder for women since they don’t get as many calories to start with. If you are a slimmer woman who is around 60, you are probably to the point where you are burning under 1300 calories unless you are active.
I am a few pounds overweight, according to my BMI score. Calculations indicate I need 1400 calories a day to lose a pound per week. OMG, what am I supposed to eat? I am hungry every 3-4 hours! When I go back to work soon, I will be up at 5:00 AM and home at 6:00 which is at least 4 meals per day. On top of that, I have sensitive stomach, so I can't eat huge salads.
How do I break this down during the work week? How the **** am I supposed to eat 1400 calories a day and not feel woozy?
I have bloodwork every year and so far it has been normal, yet I do get dizzy and hungry at the 4 hour mark. I mean really dizzy, like I might pass out.
I live alone, so I don't cook much, either. Are Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice bad for you?
What does your diet look like now? If you're a woman, 1400 calories is definitely doable. You're going to have to be a lot more conscious of planning and portion control--that's all.
Yes, I am an "older" woman, 5'5, somewhat sedentary. I try to do light exercise DVD's - it is too hot to do anything outdoors (in the 90's).
I was doing 1700 calories and did not lose weight. I think the calculator is probably accurate in that I need 1400. Unless, I choose to lose 1/2 pound a week which would be fine. I am okay with that.
I buy rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but that is probably not the healthiest due to salt, right? Even though it is not fried. I don't eat the skin, so is it that bad?
I like the idea of "batch cooking". Maybe I could get one of those food saver things to freeze mini meals - anyone use those?
This is not difficult when I am home, but working and commuting, I get much hungrier and can't eat when I want to.
There's nothing wrong with a rotisserie chicken--I often grab one and a few steam-in-bag veggies from the frozen section, and that's dinner for a few days. You don't need a food saver thing to plan ahead. You schedule time (maybe on the weekend) and make a pot of soup or a casserole, and portion it out into containers for the week. Buy or prepare snacks that are easy for you to grab and go. If you know that you make bad choices when you're tired and busy, planning your meals becomes all the more important.
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