For those with 20-40lbs to lose how did you reach your goal?

JAT74

I want to lose 30lbs in total, though my main goal is to lose body fat as I'm currently around 32%, so ideally want to get to around 20%. I started at 147.5 lbs (at age 40, 5'4") and so far since 5th January I'm down to 141.5lbs so 6 lbs lost, though I am not sure I've lost body fat so far (though inches are down by 1/2 each on my waist and hips).

I'm happy with my weight loss so far, though I was initially hoping for it to be a faster, however given my small frame and low TDEE I can only lose weight at a rate I am currently by eating 1250 calories per day, or thereabouts and I don't want to go any lower than that (I don't eat my exercise calories back).

Some of your are already at your goal, so I'd love to know how you go there. Did you stick to eating one number generated for you by MFP or elsewhere, did you exercise or not, did you eat the same every day or vary your calorie intake, did you eat 'clean' or eat what you want within your calorie goal, high protein or high carb etc? I'm just curious about what people have found worked for them in addition to how long it took to get to goal.

Another example is that when I started at the beginning of January I set my goals to custom and decided to set them to net calories of 850, knowing that most days I would burn off a minimum of 400 calories, bringing my food total up to 1250. Other days I would do more training so the total calories would go up to around 1450, and while this was great because some days I could eat more (and it worked as I lost weight) it also meant that some days it was impossible to meet macro targets as the totals for carbs and protein would go up so high due to added exercise calories that I couldn't meet them.

Today I did some re-calculations and figured out that I really am EXTREMELY sedentary day to day, outside of exercise so I shouldn't be trying to create such a huge daily deficit in the first place because my TDEE inactive is only around 1500. In order to lose 1.5lbs or more a week I would therefore have to eat 750 calories or less as my base number and eat back some exercise calories but it would end up with the numbers being too low, which I know is not sustainable.

Instead I have re-set my goals in MFP to show my net calories as 1250 (which is what I aim to eat most days) and instead I'm going to log my exercise no matter what I do as 1 calorie so that my macros are easier to reach each day and I don't have to worry about my net figure being too low. This also means that I won't overestimate my calorie burns either, so as long as I do the exercise I plan to every day, I should be able to lose at least 1lb a week.

It's going to mean being patient as I'd hoped to lose all my weight by end March or mid-April but hopefully my goal won't be too far off.

Need to hear some success stories to keep me motivated!

JAT74

Anyone?

daimay

I've lost 10kg last year from February to June.
I did it slowly in order to save lean mass as I wanted to be "beach ready" after a winter of bulking (I'm a drugfree Bodybuilder).
I started with 2200 kcals per day (slightly above my necessities)... then dropped down at 2000 (maintaining ratio) thus.. I found out that around 1800 kcals was ok for me to lost about 300 grams per week.... I added a re-feed day once a week (generally Saturday or Sunday) so I also could dinner out with friends. I divided my macros in this way: 40% carbs - 35 Proteins - 25 Fats.
I'm going to have the same approach this year (started 10 days ago) but I have to drop down only 5/6 kilograms.

JAT74

Wow that sounds amazing. I am hoping to lose pretty much the same amount of wait and June is also my goal. In my case I am having to eat 1250 calories and I'm not planning on any re-feed days, though maybe if I have days where I do extra training I might allow myself a few more calories. On such low numbers at the moment the only way I can eat out is to concentrate all my calories in one big meal and have protein shakes around that but I know it won't be forever.

I am currently trying to eat 35% carbs, 35% protein and 30% fat, mainly because I am scared I'll not lose so much if I eat more carbs but I might revise it.

Was your weight loss consistent each month along the way or did you have a bigger loss at the beginning and then less after that?

caratayloruk

Hi, 1250 sounds a good total as i plugged your stats into a TDEE calculator and got that TDEE-20% would give you around that.

Only thing i would say is the calculation was for sedentary so you should eat back your exercise calories (or adjust your activity level on the calculators to take this into account)

caratayloruk

Hi, 1250 sounds a good total as i plugged your stats into a TDEE calculator and got that TDEE-20% would give you around that.

Only thing i would say is the calculation was for sedentary so you should eat back your exercise calories (or adjust your activity level on the calculators to take this into account)

JAT74

Thank you but I'm not eating back exercise calories as I personally don't lose weight if I do that. The TDEE calculators overestimate my true TDEE I find, I am truely sedentary and my real TDEE is around 1500 - I have figured this out through looking at complex spreadsheets showing my workouts and the actual time I spend moving every day. If I add on my exercise to my sedentary TDEE I only get up to 1750-1790 ish which is much less than the other calculators put me at.

This means that in order to lose a maximum of 1lb per week I need to EAT 1250 and not eat back any of my exercise calories and judging by my weight loss in January (5.5lbs) this is working well for me so far.

JAT74

Would love to hear more success stories