Help Would Be Wonderful

[Guest AlyTheGreatAngel]

Well latley I decided that instead of complaining about how I look I should do something about it. Well im on diet the thing is I dont count calories.For example today was a bad day. I ate half a box of wheat thins for breakfast(dont judge me today was bad:/) then for lunch I was not home and so I did not eat anything. Then for dinner I ate 2 salad bowls no dressing like always. And later on I feel into temptation and ate a carmel apple:( & right now green tea. Like I said today was reaaaaly bad, but are the calories to low? I dont want my body to go in to starvation. On a good day this is what I eat for ex: breakfast: half a grapefruit and some other fruit, toast with just a bit of avacodo. Lunch:the other half of grapefruit a salad no dressing and some low cal soup(already prepared like 50 cals). Snacks: 10 baby carrots, an appl, or any other fruit. Dinner: spinach, tofu, cup of brocolli and maybe a salad before. So is this to low of calories that im eating please help thanks. Btw I only drink water.

[Guest]

Hi Aly,

From your picture in your gallery, you don't look like you need to lose weight. Am I wrong?

Starving yourself is never a good answer, though. You'll rob yourself of nutrients that you need to have, which can cause other health problems. The body goes into "starvation mode" which slows your metabolism down and defeats the purpose.

Please try for more balance: getting protein is important - in meats, dairy, tofu, etc.

Unfortunately, I must go now - hopefully others will have better ideas for you.

Love, Kat

[Guest Avery F]

Hey there Aly,

Before you try dieting, I'd recommend that you make ABSOLUTELY SURE that it's safe for you to lose weight. I can't tell for certain from your picture, but you don't look overweight to me... Ask your doctor if you like. I'm going to ask mine the same thing, not because I'm overweight, but just because I'd like to be at my absolute minimum safe weight for when I have chest surgery. You can also look up the optimum weight for someone of your height and age online, although that is not as reliable and will only give you an estimate.

If you do find that you can safely diet, and want to go through with it, I'd recommend just trying to eat less, but putting a higher percentage of protein into your diet, and making sure to work out regularly. Typically, the body loses muscle more easily than fat, which is why it's important to eat more protein and keep exercising (I'm not an expert, having never dieted myself, but my father has been successfully dieting for a while now - he's lost more than twenty pounds). Also, do make sure not to go too far with losing weight - if you do, and end up underweight, you may have to make an effort to regain a safe weight. The problem with that is that once you start intentionally gaining weight, it is apparently rather hard to stop.

Good luck, anyway

Avery

[JJ]

Aly,

The only safe way to be sure about your intake is to monitor your nutrition intake and calorie count. It isn't important what you do on any specific day. If you get extra nutrition and nutrients one day and then then fewer the next it averages out. But it is way to easy to mis-estimate. If you don't want the bother of keeping a daily log then track for a week to get a picture of where you stand. I did that and found unless I do daily tracking I unconsciously cut down to a very unsafe level. Tracking makes me more responsible and accountable to myself. livestrong.com has a good place to track called My Plate. It's free and there is such a large membership any food you can think of is already listed. You can also put together a recipe for any dish you make yourself and it will give you the nutrition information.

There are a couple of reasons not to let your body fat get too low and not to consume too few calories. For one thing the body stores estrogen in fat. Natal women who have too low a fat level often lose fertility because of it along with losing feminine characteristics because they can't properly store the estrogen. It also masculinizes appearance because men have less fat storage than women. Angular is masculine. Another reason is that low nutrition can even do brain damage. And accelerate muscle loss. As well as putting your body in a dangerous state of imbalance that can lead to serious health problems and death. if you don't give your body enough nutrition it will pull from anywhere it can and that does include brain and muscle tissue.

Then there is the fact that people with inadequate nutrition just plain look bad, They look and feel tired and ill eventually. Defeating the purpose of losing weight in the first place.

So please consult your Dr. and take the time to make sure you are getting adequate balanced nutrition. Too little is worse and can harm you even faster than too much

Johnny

[Guest AlyTheGreatAngel]

Thanks Yall!! I i an 23 on the Bmi I know its okl and a healthy weight but I just want to lose 13 not to much yall know. But I will ask my doctor about the way Im eating and such. Latley I have been depressed and it causes me to loss appetite and thats a bit scary when I go back and see I have only eaten 600 calories but on those I dont do it to diet I do it because I am not hungry but I will try to eat more. As for exercise I have been doing everyday:). IM SEEING LITTLE RESULT:( lol its been almost a month and I am at 34-27 1/2- 34 1/2 my booty is still 38 but it was about 38 1/2 before so I have only lost 1/2inch everywhere>.< sloww... But its something. Once again thankss yall!

[JenniferB]

Hi Aly

I can sure understand about having trouble eating the right foods. It takes time to learn about all foods, to read and understand the ingredients, and to understand the correct portions.

Reading over the foods you are eating, I noticed an extreme lack of protein. The only protein I noticed was tofu

You don't need to count calories, however you do have to understand portions and balance in a meal. I'm a diabetic and had to learn all about food.

It is better to eat more meals in a day, 4 or 5, but in smaller portions, if possible. Each meal should contain one portion of protein and one portion of carbohydrates, plus a small amount of fat. Meats satisfies the fat requirement. You can eat as many vegetables as you want with few exceptions. Green leafy vegetables are best for salads. I like the spring mix that you can find in supermarkets. If you want a healthy salad dressing I would suggest extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Meats, eggs, and dairy are proteins. As are beans, nuts, and seeds.

It's a good idea to read up on nutrition on your own. A book that might be useful is Jonny Bowden's "150 heathieat foods on earth".

Good luxk on your diet.

Jenny