"Honeymooning"? Am I going to get cravings later?

Hi

I tried to search for something along the lines, but I wasn't sure what keywords would work, so sorry if someone recently started a thread like this...

I've been overweight (5'2", 160 pounds at the start of my diet) since the beginning of middle school and have never made an attempt at dieting or even controlling my food intake a little bit, so now at 20 (21 in a few days), I figured my body would throw a HISSY FIT going from probably 3000+ calories a day to 1300.  I used to snack constantly and could clear out all the heavy carbohydrate foods on the dinner table.  No such thing as leftovers.

But it's been four days on 1,300 calories and I haven't even once been seized by the urge to grab a sugary, hi cal snack that I would have had once or twice a day before I started.  I even bought one of my lower calorie favorites today because I had done so well at lunch, but found that even though it tasted good, I didn't feel cravings to eat the remainder that did not fit into my diet day.

I was pretty surprised and happy that I wasn't freaking out all day over no ice cream bars or chocolate until the horrible thought struck me that it may be some kind of "honeymooning" effect from having been up until recently eating far more than any normal person would need, and that at some point I would end up craving junk food all day.

I guess my question is, has anybody gotten crazy cravings for snacky junk foods later on even though they didn't even think about junk food the first week?  Is that even maybe normal?

If you did, did you find it was really hard to deal with or even disruptive to daily life?  As a first time dieter in the midst of intense schooling, I don't really know what to expect of my own body and am deadly worried about food thoughts.  I've never been a person of great willpower, but if things stay like this forever, I could totally do this!

On an unrelated topic, my jogger friend told me that running my 5km or walking (briskly) my 5km will probably burn the same amount of calories.  Is this really true...?  I have a total of 5km of on-foot commute to school every day, so all this "run for 30 minutes to burn ______ calories" "walk for 30 minutes to burn ________ calories" doesn't really mean much...

Four days is a good start - well done.  To lose weight and maintain the loss you're lookng at 'life' which is rather longer.  So somewhere between now and the next 60+ years you'll have many days where you fancy a junky snack.     You can either wait for the mood to strike or you can plan something in more deliberately.  Either way, if you limit it to something relatively small you can enjoy it thoroughly and it won't throw your weight-loss efforts or plunge you into some sugar-crazed binge-fest!

1300 cals is pretty low for someone your age.  And it's quite low for someone your size who walks/jogs 5km a day.  (If it's taking you 30 minutes then there's not a lot between a fast walk and a slow jog calorie-wise.)  Undereating le ads to overeating quite often.  So you could probably up that to 1500 per day and reduce the risk.  If you get your 1500 cals mostly from good, nutritious food, if you eat regularly and if you make sure what you're eating is interesting, varied and tasty then you'll succeed, no problem.   The test is ... 'am I happy to be eating this way for life?'... and if it's 'yes' then you're on the right track.

Maybe you weren't really craving that food in the first place and just eating it out of habit. I do know that by eating low GI foods your sugar levels stay in check better and therefore you don't have cravings for sugary foods, so maybe you're just eating well and you're body isn't missing something.

As for the 5km walk or jog, they will burn pretty close to the same number of calories if you walk briskly - running would burn roughly 300 calories in 30 minutes - walking will take more like 50 minutes, but burn almost as much. Running is great exercise for the heart too, but it's pretty hard to just start running 5km out of the blue. If you want to try running you may want to investigate the couch to 5K programs - I'm sure there are threads in the fitness forum about it.

Yeah.  I guess the problem is, the way things are going /now/, I could totally do this for the rest of my life, with a "cheat day" stuck in every few weeks to enjoy a piece of fresh baked cake (I just love baking them).  If you asked me if I could spend two days on 1300 calories before I tried it, I would have laughed.

Hm.. from your second paragraph, it seems like pre-emptive snacking could stave off binge cravings?  One of my faves (the one I ate) happens to be 124 calories per serving, so it would be super easy to stick in even on a "mediocre" day.

I think I may have phrased the excersize question poorly.  I didn't mean I could run 5km in 30 minutes.   I'm terribly out of shape and generally speed walk my entire commute in around an hour and some minutes.  I'm not sure on the entire distance, although the longest appears to be about 4km for going and coming. I would say possibly I walk 2km in 15 minutes or less?  I plan to pick up a pedometer at some point to figure out how much excersize I actualy do..

I only run it if I'm late. Haha.

That doesn't change 1300 being low for my age, though.  I let CalorieCount tell me how many calories should be my target, and it picked 1350 after asking my height, age, weight and level of activity (I picked sedentary because I do little to no regular excersize outside of my commute, and manually log my walking as an activity).  I did read about starvation mode, but wasn't sure if because I do not exceed a 750 calorie deficit, nor do I dip below 1200 calories, I would be okay?  I'd really appreciate some confirmation on that though!

EDIT: Cool!  I would love to be able to run my commute someday.  Thanks for the info on it.  The site I see doesn't look like it would be hard for me to try out.

Also, I can definitely attest to the blood sugar regulation!  As a type 1 diabetic, I must check my blood sugar 4 times a day.  I have had to lower my base insulin dosage by about 30% since starting my diet, regardless of the exact configuration of my foods.

Hey! I have almost the same exact stats as you--5'2, 20, and started at 151 (high of 155). You NEED to eat more than 1300, especially with your activity level--my BMR *now* is 1375 (and that's at 121.5 pounds), nevermind what it was when I first started. Google 'BMR calculator' and enter your stats. That's the amount of calories you need for your organs to function properly, and what you'd burn if you lied in bed in a coma all day. Make sure you eat at least that much!

That said, I got to where I am now, and am still losing (although a lot slower now) eating 1500-1600 calories a day and exercising. At the beginning I pretty much stuck to 1600, now I cycle my calories a lot more depending on how active I am that day...and how hungry!

As to answer your question, you'll have days where you crave the junk you used to eat, however, for me at least it's not constant. It's easier now for me to ignore it than it was when I lived on campus--I've been craving ice cream for awhile but I don't have any in the house so I'm out of luck (or in luck ;-) ), while last year I could just run to the dining hall and grab some.

Hi-

I'm really interested to know what you are eating that's one of "your favorite snacks and has 124 calories"?  I need a helpful tip!

Thanks,

Lisa

Congrats on your progress so far! The beginning can be so hard but you're doing great!  Cravings will undoubtedly happen, usually for me it's when I'm with friends who aren't dieting and I see all the yummy things they eat without consequence (or so it seems).  Usually what I do is keep the pantry stocked with healthy alternatives and eat a little every few hours so I'm never *very* hungry. 

The way I see it, if you crave it so much that you have to go all the way out and get it, or even still have to come home and prepare it, then you deserve to have it everyone once and a while!  And at least if you do indulge every once and a while, you won't feel deprived, or like you're "dieting" at all! 

best of luck!<3

Original Post by minerva_moon:

Hey! I have almost the same exact stats as you--5'2, 20, and started at 151 (high of 155). You NEED to eat more than 1300, especially with your activity level--my BMR *now* is 1375 (and that's at 121.5 pounds), nevermind what it was when I first started. Google 'BMR calculator' and enter your stats. That's the amount of calories you need for your organs to function properly, and what you'd burn if you lied in bed in a coma all day. Make sure you eat at least that much!

That said, I got to where I am now, and am still losing (although a lot slower now) eating 1500-1600 calories a day and exercising. At the beginning I pretty much stuck to 1600, now I cycle my calories a lot more depending on how active I am that day...and how hungry!

Okay, I'll up it to 1500 calories.  I guess I didn't understand the site's recommendations.  It's only been four days on 1300 so if I just up it to 1500 and leave it like that, I should be okay, right?  Thanks for telling me!  I probably would have gotten pretty discouraged if I went into starvation mode and had to /gain/ weight over 160 pounds before I could really lose it!  I've never weighed over 160 before ever.

It also said a healthy weight for me is 121 pounds (medium build).  Is this what I should be aiming for?  Is it when I get closer to my goal weight that I should start following CC's suggested calorie intake of 1350?  Or is the problem with the suggested intake that I mislabelled myself when I said I was sedentary, and I should probably never drop to 1350? 

It would sure be yummy to have one of those delicious soba bowl sets at school lunch rather than salad/tofu and lunch bar all the time.  I've been skipping the set meals and hitting the bar because the set meals tend to be 200 or so calories too many for 1300.. they sound just right for 1500.   Wakame soba, here I come!  Did you miss me?  

To sunshinelisa3, my 124 calorie snack is convenience store bought "mitarashi dango," a sweet and savory traditional Japanese food, but I think you probably can't buy it outside Japan.. you may have to make it.  Here's a picture. http://sublunaryxsoul.files.wordpress.com/200 8/08/recipe_1.jpg

Here's a recipe, if you want to give it a shot. I translated it from the website of the grocery store I often go to, but I've never made them myself..  I don't know how low-cal this recipe is compared to the convenience store dango, though. The convenience store dango is 124 calories per skewer, including the sauce.

(for four skewers)

(Balls) Rice Flour 120g        ;  Water 100g

(Sauce) 8 tablespoons sugar      &nbs p; 2 tablespoons Shouyu(a kind of soy sauce)     Water 100g    Potato Starch 2 teaspoons

Step 1: Boil water in a pot, while slowly adding your ingredient water (100g, not the hot stuff) to the rice flour, kneading as you go.  Roll the rice flour into balls (mine are about the size of a quarter each).  They should be about as squishy as your earlobe.  If they're too soft, the water was too much and you need a little more rice flour.  Carefully drop the balls into the boiling water.  They should float to the surface when done.

Step 2: Drop the balls into cold water to cool them off when they've finished cooking.  Once cool, dry them off (putting them on a paper towel generally works).  Then stick them on some skewers (optional, but that's the traditional way to serve).  You can grill them slightly if you like to add some flavor.  Normal ones are grilled to have little singe marks on one side.

Step 3: Bring the sauce ingredients to a boil in a pan while mixing well.

Step 4: Let the sauce cool a bit so it thickens, then coat the balls with the sauce and you're good to go!

CC, unfortunately, doesn't take into account BMR when calculating how much you should eat--it takes your burn, depending on the setting you put it on, and subtracts 500. And in your case, you aren't sedentary so you want to make sure to eat enough calories to account for your activity. :-) Depending on the day depends on what I eat. Since I'm close to my goal weight (118ish), I have pretty small deficits and I'm not in really any rush to get there--days that I'm sedentary I'll eat 1400-1500, and days when I have work or am otherwise active I'll eat closer to 1700. And then once a week or so I get 1900-2000 calories.

As for the suggested weight, I think as you lose weight you'll start figuring out where you're comfortable. It may be at 121lbs, it may be at 125 or 130--who knows? As long as you keep a healthy body image and don't try to push your body to extremes it doesn't want to go to (as not everyone is meant to be 105lbs, for example), there is a range of weight that you could settle at. Right now I'm a size 4 (US sizes) so I don't really feel the need to lose more than maybe three more pounds so that some of my pants fit more comfortably--I'm between a small and medium frame (just to give you an idea of what 121lbs looks like. :-) Unfortunately my profile picture is about 12lbs ago and isn't really accurate anymore.)

I see.  I'll definitely up it to at least 1500 and see how it goes.  If I stop losing weight, I'll try upping it with an extra bit of walking rather than going down (this is zig-zagging, right?).   Thanks.  It's really helpful to hear how dieting went for somebody who was pretty much in the same situation as me.

It would be cool to lose 30 pounds by the time I return to America in July.  I think that's pretty reasonable?  I would love to be able to fit a Japanese "L" size or even an "M" before I leave (LL is almost impossible to find, so I haven't been able to buy /anything/).  Other than that, I don't have a rush to lose my weight either.  40 sounds like a /lot/ to me, but I imagine that's just because I've been 160 for so many years.

I never realized how much food 1300 calories actually is.  I can't imagine how much I was eating before that.  Maybe double after I started realizing I shouldn't be eating so much even if it wasn't making me fatter, and who knows how much before that... Now that I think about it, it's pretty scary.

When I started, I was squarely in the "medium build frame according to the middle-finger-to-thumb-around-wrist test, but I just did it now and while they still don't overlap, they definitely touch more.. maybe I was still suffering from wonderful "that time of the month" bloating.  I don't think the four pound difference between start and now could make that big a difference in my wrist.  My mother is a large frame, but I'm quite a bit smaller than her.. hm..

I guess the best thing to do would be try to test my build again in a week or so?  Or is there a better self-test than the wrist and finger method?  Either way, I don't plan on dieting till my ribs stick out.  I just want to fit normal people clothes (particularly pants/stockings), haha.

P.S. In your picture you already look great to me! If I got to about that appearance ever, I would be shocked.  I've never seen myself without a belly and thunder thighs.  Unless you count my 8 year old pictures of me at Halloween.

EDIT: I just changed my activity level on CC to "light" and asked it for a new calorie advice and it /still/ says eat 1350 calories.. Oh well, I'm just going to tell it I want to eat 1500 and roll with that.  I'm glad this site has forums or there would be a whole lot of confused and upset first-time dieters who don't understand why their bodies won't drop any fat!