Restricted calorie diet and 4 miles a day.

[Dominica2]

I am 8 days sober and starting Monday I decided to go on an 800 calorie diet a day plus I have been running 4 miles a day as well. My calorie intake when I was drinking was around 4000 calories a day, so it is a drastic change. I have lost 4lbs in 3 days. I guess my question would be, Is it too much to soon?

Thanks for any input you can give.

Dom

[Ghostly]

In my opinion...

Not only is that too much too soon, it is not even healthy at all, whatsoever. 800 calories a day is not enough if you were sitting in front of a tv doing nothing, let alone running 4 miles. Why do you think such a change is needed? Why did you pick 800 calories?

I think if you do this, you will see some weight loss. It is not possible to keep this going, so it will come back. Plus, at that low of a caloric intake your body will go into starvation mode.

Have you considered having a more realistic caloric intake, but changing what you eat?

I'm not trying to sound too harsh. You asked and just telling how I feel.

Congrats on the 8 days! That is great. Make sure, whatever you do, to make sobriety your number one goal, at least for now and till you get some more time.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Fandy]

If you are running/jogging 4 miles a day you need calories to keep from losing muscle.

Eat a good balanced diet with enough protein/carbs to give you energy. 800 calories a day will make you feel like a wet noodle. shoot for 1200-1400 depending on your current weight and you will still lose...(but not give up the muscle)

[Dominica2]

Well, I was just concerned that 1200 would be too much. I really need to lose about 20lbs. But if I am only averaging 400 calories burned on the treadmill, will that equal out to weight loss? I am eating steamed veggies and grilled chicken almost every night. Fruits and veggies during the day. I just want to get it done in a reasonable time frame. I don't want it to take 6 months to loose the beer weight.

Thanks.

[Zee]

Hi, Im guessing you are in the states, but here is an english website which not only gives you general health tests to do, but it also gives you a test (all of which you can do at home) of the amount of calories you need to funtion properly etc... may be useful My Healthchecker | Embarrassing Bodies | Health | Channel4.com/bodies

[jamdls]

800 Calories a day doesn't sound healthy to me either, I'm rather a small person 5'4 and even when I was in my 20s at around 108 lbs I was told I needed at least 1200 calories to remain healthy. Also your body needs the caloric intake in order to burn fat, starvation diets only work short term just eat healthier.

[strawberrygirl]

Hey Dom - First, congrats on your sobriety and on working out and finding things that help you feel healthy. Working out helps me a ton with my sobriety - I lost about 30 lbs in the last year and a half and the weight certainly started coming off a lot quicker once I was working out w/o the alcohol. I agree with others here that 800 calories a day is far too restrictive. I'm a pretty bitty girl and do a 5.5 mile workout and I think you'll find that if you keep up 4 miles a workout consistently you'll have a hard time gaining weight regardless of what you eat, especially if you're sticking to lean protein and fruits and veggies as you seem to be doing. Plus, as others have pointed out, if you don't give your body a little more fuel you'll just sabotage all your hard work by screwing up your metabolism and taking away the great muscle you're building. Could you try bumping up the calories a bit and see how it works out when you step on the scale in a week or so? I bet you'll still see some pretty progressive and healthy weight loss and your workouts will be way more enjoyable.

[Dominica2]

Ok, so I will try 1200 calories with 4 miles a day and see how it goes. Hopefully it will go well! Thanks.

[ACOAHappyNow]

Another thing to think about is that your body badly needs good nutrition right now especially the B vitamins. If you have a doctor you are going to, you might ask if there are any vitamin supplements that would be helpful for you right now.

It might be hard to try to be perfect all at once. It just sounds like a lot on your shoulders all at once. The most important thing for your health and your life in all of this is your sobriety.

I was watching "Rain in My Heart" again this morning on You Tube. Each time I see it I'm reminded of how horrible a disease alcoholism really is. I know that my brother and father are dying of it. My Godmother is a recovered alcoholic, has been in recovery for decades now, but her body suffered terrible damage to her heart and now in her early 70's, she has dementia and I can't help but wonder if her bad spell with alcohol didn't predispose her to this dementia.

Everyone knows about the damage alcohol can do to the liver, but it seems like hardly anyone ever talks about the damage to the heart and the brain it causes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, you can be a hundred pounds overweight and still live to be in your 90's (my grandmother did - was obese her whole adult life and didn't die until her mid 90's.) But you'll die very quickly if the bottle ever imprisons you again.

[ACOAHappyNow]

P.S. I'm really impressed that you run 4 miles a day! You are a very strong, determined person! I used to love to run, back when I was in the Army, but I was born with a condition that causes arthritis early and my knees gave out on me.

[Fandy]

1200 sounds very reasonable. especially if you are exercising. you're eating a good quality diet, but you need some carbs (slow carbs) and calcium vitamin d3. the cardio is good for fat-burning, but don't be afraid to mix in strength training too. you will get smaller and tighter even if your weight doesn't drop as fast. 5 lbs. of muscle is much smaller than 5 lbs. of fat. mix it up in circuits. stop the treadmill for 5 mins. and do some sets with dumbbells (they are cheap enough and store easily.

if you lose it too fast, it can come back faster too. about 2-3 lbs. a week gone is excellent progress.
Congrats on your motivation and continued sobriety. I'm very happy for you!