I want the BEST tips to help with speeding up weight loss!

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  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
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    BEST tip... don't focus on thyroid... I have plenty of thyroid issues and can still lose weight with the old trusted eating less than I burn :) I just really hone in on what numbers work the best for me and I have been through all of them... 1200 - 2000 ... I lose the best when I stick with about 1700 which I eat no matter if I exercise or not.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    The best tip? Stop looking for shortcuts.

    This is 100% spot on. i spent years looking for shortcuts, but weight management didn't stick until I learned the absolute truth that weight loss happens when I eat less calories than I burn.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I agree with the general comment to stop looking for ways to speed up the process. I believe I've averaged a loss between .5 and 1 lb a week for the past eighteen months, and I'm a fifty-something grandmother pre-menopausal. I started at 275 lbs. Can't argue with progress, though! I'm a completely different person than who I was a year and a half ago. In the interest of full disclosure, I also had bariatric surgery.

    I agree with the suggestion to change up your exercise routine to include weight training. And eat back half the calories you earn from your exercise.

    For sweetening, have you tried Stevia?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I forgot to mention, as you are a mother of four I am sure I have little to share with you about bulk buying and bulk preparation!
  • jazzine1
    jazzine1 Posts: 280 Member
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    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    JenniferTravis9 wrote: »
    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    minamu68 wrote: »
    If you reduce your caloric intake too much, you can mess with your metabolism and send your body into starvation mode, where it thinks it needs to store everything because it's starving.

    No.

    Not really.

    Not at all in the way you are thinking, at all, actually.



    Please elaborate! Thanks!


    Read This

    SergeantSausage Thank you for this article!!!
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    minamu68 wrote:
    If you reduce your caloric intake too much, you can mess with your metabolism and send your body into starvation mode, where it thinks it needs to store everything because it's starving.
    No. :banghead:
    No, that is not starvation mode, and no, what you're describing is not going to happen, ever.

    The body has to burn fuel to run.
    It prefers to burn carbs - glucose, then glycogen.
    Then it burns fat.
    As a distant third it burns muscle. This is an inefficient conversion, plus it's risking death hoping you'll find food before your heart & diaphragm give out.
    THAT is starvation mode, and it takes a long time of very low-calorie eating to get there.

    If the body does not have fuel to burn from what you're eating, it will burn what it has.
    It has to burn fuel to run. That's not optional.
    If it doesn't have enough fuel coming in, it's not going to store anything you eat.
    When there's a caloric surplus it will store calories.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,718 Member
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    "I am using the treadmill for an hour a day at 3mph. (Avg. 5 days a week)" - this is a time waster. The same, monotonous, low intensity workout will only lead to boredom and failure. Do the treadmill 3 or 4 times per week for shorter time periods but high intensity. No, you don't have to run. Do speed walking intervals and high incline intervals. Then add weight training as your main source of exercise. Give it time, but you will see dramatic results if done correctly.
  • caracrawford1
    caracrawford1 Posts: 657 Member
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    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    The best tip is to Slow It Down.

    Speeding things up is generally a race for disaster, disappointment, and failure.

    Faster is not usually better.

    Amen.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    JenniferTravis9 wrote:
    part of the heavy weight I carry is in my chest
    As you lose weight, those will get smaller too. Trust me on this.
    Just in the last 25 lb I've gone from a 38G to a 36F/G (depending on manufacturer).
    The same volume of tissue that could be contained in a 36G would be in a 38F, so I've lost volume.
    I am not sure how accurate some charts can be, the same as for very muscular and athletic persons.
    Those very muscular people are the outliers, the last little tail of the bell curve.
    For the vast majority of people, BMI is a decent tool.
    I am not wanting to lose weight overnight! I am just wanting the 2bs per week I am busting my butt for!
    2 lb per week is a pretty ambitious goal, not reasonable for most people.
    I started with 100 lb to lose to get to the very top end of a healthy BMI range, and over the last year I've lost an average of 1.5 lb per week.
    Now that I'm only 25 lb from that top end of the healthy range, I'm losing even more slowly & it's really annoying & frustrating, even though I knew it was going to happen.
    I'm actually aiming for at least 10 lb beyond that.
    she put me on Phentermine (weight loss medication) for about 6 months before! I lost 30 lbs in that time ... I had heart palpitations from it and ended up quiting taking them and gained the weight back plus a few lbs, NOT CHANGING ANYTHING FROM THE NORM!
    Phentermine is just an appetite suppressant. Some people feel it gives them more energy, even makes them jittery, but that could be because they're very suggestible or possibly they're very susceptible to side effects. It's approved for short-term use (2-3 months) for people who are obese by BMI standards, or overweight with other health issues.

    If you don't learn to eat smaller portions, it won't help you lose weight.
    If you go back to eating more once you're not taking it, you'll regain the weight.

    When I took it, it knocked out my hunger. I went from being ravenous pretty much all the time to being a little hungry if I hadn't eaten all day.
    Now, even though I'm not taking it, I'm not hungry unless I haven't eaten for maybe 6 hours. My doctor tells me that's normal. I wouldn't know, since I've never experienced that before.
    That control of hunger allowed me to get used to eating normal-sized portions. That carried through once I stopped using the medicine.
    The only side effect I had was that my blood pressure was very slightly elevated, but still in a normal/acceptable range.
    I have read a couple of articles relating to sodium and notice my sodium numbers are frequently high. That is stated to be "holding fat!"
    No, it retains water. I've had a couple higher than normal sodium days recently and was shocked that the scale went up a couple pounds. (It's entirely mental, because I'd been below 200 and this bump puts me over again.)
    I do not understand the "eating back the calories you burn" if I am still at my minimum needed calories for the day.
    That's just an MFP thing. Don't do it.
    My doctor (endocrinologist in charge of the weight loss program at the hospital) and dietician both told me to eat at my healthy calorie goal (which started out as 10x my healthy goal weight) and ignore exercise. Exercise is a bonus toward weight loss.
    Most people underestimate what they eat, and most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned. For most people, the errors more or less cancel out.

    1200 is the minimum for a woman of average height to be able to get the nutrition she needs to be healthy. The only thing you affect with exercise is calories. (Well, OK, and some electrolytes due to sweat.) You want to burn calories to lose weight.
    Not eating them back causes the deficient to be too large and make it unhealthy.
    ...
    Eating 1200 and burning 300 nets you 900 calories per day. This is a perfect recipe for hair loss, fatigue, scattered thinking and major health concerns.... It is also not maintainable longterm
    Currently, MFP says my BMR is 1629. I'm aiming at 1400 cal (total) every day. (Doesn't always happen, no. Looking back, it's been 9 of the last 14 days. Have to work on that.)
    When I started a year ago, it said 1974 and I was eating 1700.
    So for a year I've usually been eating under my BMR.
    My doctors are all quite pleased with my progress, my health, etc.
    My hair is not falling out (any more than the usual), I have no problem with energy to do what I want to do (including being on my feet at work 7.5 hours yesterday), pretty sure I'm thinking coherently, and all health markers are greatly improved from JAN14.

    51637601.png
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    "Do the treadmill 3 or 4 times per week for shorter time periods but high intensity."
    The OP mentions arthritis so this may not work for her.

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