You know what, I totally agree with you. I’m so shocked at certain health gurus recommending 1200 calories to women. Some people say, if you are already fat you can be just fine on 1200. I tried doing it for a week, I felt like I was collapsing. Zero energy, constant headache and peeing.My recommendation would be to personalize a diet to fit your particular needs so consuming the foods that keep your blood sugar stable and make you feel your best. I think the healthiest way to lose weight is through good thyroid function and not elevated catabolic stress hormones that can result from having too large an energy deficit (via food and/or exercise). Even though I’m not a fan of force-feeding to hit a certain caloric minimum and can’t know for certain what every woman’s daily caloric requirement is, I’ve seen some calorie recommendations for women in the “health” scene that I find concerning. I’m a tiny person and need a minimum of 2500 calories daily to maintain my health, but I’ve seen recommendations for as little as 1200 calories a day. Sure, the women often lose weight—again, catabolic stress hormones will do that—but in terms of fertility, I don’t know how any woman of childbearing age continues to menstruate on so few calories long-term, and I say long-term because if losing weight through a massive energy deficit, enough to trigger stress hormones, upping calories to healthy amounts and/or reducing exercise more often than not just leads to the weight returning because the cause was never addressed, and even potentially made worse.
If you find fast food keeps you satisfied for 5–6 hours, I’m wondering if it’s due to consuming enough calories to meet your needs whereas, you’re not getting as many calories when you do frequent mini meals? Or maybe the composition of the fast foods’ macros is more balanced for your body so it’s not triggering hypoglycemic hunger? Have you trialed different protein and carb sources to see if certain ones keep your sugars stable more than others? Also, have you played around with your carbs to protein ratio?
Excellent points, really. Thank you.
Regarding the questions you have raised, you did make me think and analyse the food intake carefully. Maybe you are right the fast food have better macro composition. They do seem to have more carbs than I eat at home. But it’s more likely it’s the higher calories that keep me satiated for long. It’s not the same with junk food, mind you. If I ever by mistake have chips or cookies from the store, I’ll be hungry right away. Hmm, maybe you’re on to something with the macro balance.
I have tried different protein carbs ratios, yes, but it’s usually the same result. I have not tried different protein carbs sources though. I eat all animal food and dairy for protein (low fat) and fresh fruits, pomegranate juice, potatoes, butternut squash, white rice, nix corn tortillas and occasional sourdough for carbs. I also eat side vegetables sometimes.
You raised so many valid points, I’ll start experimenting with ratios and sources after Christmas.