for me I just need to figure out what foods are good for me.. but even at 200ibs (havent checked a scale in a while) do you still feel as though i should be eating more than 1200 a day?
YES!!!!!!!
Ive looked at those websites where you put in your weight and height (5'5) and it says im morbidly obese (which i know im not!! lol)
Well, the truth is that you are.
Sorry, not trying to be harsh, but it's true. Morbidly obese isn't being "great big fat". It's about a medical diagnosis based on the composition of your body. When I was 200lbs, I was morbidly obese, too. Right now I fit at the very tip-top of the "overweight" category - but that's only after losing nearly 80lbs.
I cannot believe you're going to a reputable diet site and they're telling you that. Every site I've visited and used for calorie calculations gives a much higher number for someone who is 200lbs to lose weight. The one at the MayoClinic says this about a 5'5", 200lb woman:
Maintenance: 2241 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 1793 Calories/day
Here's the method I use: I base my calorie calculations on 15 calories per pound of bodyweight to maintain. 15 calories is an average amount for a moderately active person. So I weigh 174, which means my maintenance calorie amount is 2610. Then I knock 30% off of that to get 1827 calories to help me lose weight.
If you were to run the same calculation, you'd get 3000 calories for maintenance and 2100 for weight loss.
Now you can see that's higher than the MayoClinic figures, but neither of them say anything about 1200 calories.
Look, here's the thing about losing weight and dieting. The best way to lose weight is to eat AS MUCH AS YOU CAN while still losing. And while that sounds counter intuitive, here's why:
When you diet, you eat less. When you eat less, your metabolism slows down. The lower you drop your calories, the lower you're going to drop your metabolism. Our bodies are conditioned for survival ... that means if you stop feeding your body, then it slows waaaay down to conserve what little bit you're giving it. So here's what happens.
You eat less.
Metabolism slows and so weight loss slows.
You start stalling out so you eat less.
Metabolism slows more
You eat even less
Metabolism bottoms out
You can't eat less w/out becoming sick or malnourished.
End of cycle and you gain weight.
If you eat as much as you can while still losing weight, you stand much less of a chance of bottoming out before you hit your weight loss goal.
So if you START at say, 1800 calories, then in a few months when you stall out (and you will stall out because 1 - you'll lose weight and 2 - your body will adapt to fewer calories), you can drop that by 150 or 200 calories. And then in a few months you can drop it again. And eventually you'll get to your goal.
If you start at 1200 ... you can't go any lower w/out depriving your body of needed nutrients. So if you start at 1200 and your body freaks out and stops losing ... then what are you going to do? You have nowhere else to go.
I PROMISE you that if you eat 1700 calories a day of HEALTHY food, and you work out in some way, you will lose weight. I really truly promise you. I currently weigh 30lbs less than you and I eat 1700 calories a day and work out and I'm losing weight.
And you'll be far less likely to have cravings if you're actually providing your body with enough fuel.
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