rubato456's Journal, 13 Feb 21

Great for starting your health journey again! Did your doctor come up with 1600 calories or you did? You might want to research a little more if you decided on your own. 1600 might be a little low to start from 338 lbs. I’m not being critical just making a suggestion. When I started at 300 lbs, I had 2100 calories a day. Fifty pounds lost after 8 months, I average 1900-2000 calories a day. I was sedentary and did not exercise one minute of my life. I only added walking 2x a week a month ago in January. Anyway, something to think about and research. Best of luck! 

thank you! i appreciate your comment. 1600 was a number i came up with. may be a bit low. will revisit this. thanks again 

i just realized i made a typo. i'm not 338 but 238! which is bad enough. at one time i did top out at 336 but thankfully i took most of that off. got down to 164 but that was 15 years ago. let it way slide now...this covid thing has not been good psychologically. have been using food for comfort. so easy to do. not good 

Welcome Rubato! You came to the right place! I agree with Gibjig! I started at 1800 cals and weighed 190. Now I'm eating 1600 at 157. I know too well that anxious feeling that you need to get it off for health reasons but if you eat too low of calories your metabolism slows down and tries to hang on to the weight. You don't want to feel like you're sacrificing so much for such little reward. Otherwise it can make you feel like giving up. For most of us trying to make a permanent life style change and keep the weight off for good does take longer than you would desire. But it will come off if you keep at it. You just have to find that balance.  

You can do this! Make small attainable goals and keep logging your food. Exercise as much as you can. Every little bit helps and conditions your body to allow increases in activities. You can do this! 

I just started using the App after a Dr.s office weigh-in, too. I swear their scales are always 3 pounds heavier 😂 I'm already so excited to see that my calorie "budget" goes much farther than I thought it. 

*thought it would 

You need to look back on why you failed in the past and avoid making the same mistakes. I think 1600 a day is a huge mistake that will lead to failure to be honest. Your body weight time 10 will leave you in a pretty big deficit unless you're completely sedentary. 

You can do this. Some very wise advice has been given here. Choosing healthy nutritious food will keep you full. We are so fortunate to have such a variety available to us. 👍 

Well, I'm certainly no expert, but I started at 300 pounds, leading a very sedentary life and averaged 1500-1600 calories a day. I've lost over 85 pounds, still eat about the same, but I'm a little more active these days. Each of us has to find what works for us.