Any reassurance out there? Getting disheartened...
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arachnofobia7 wrote: »@bookwarm-Thank you for your encouragement:) I've rechecked the numbers: BMR 1474 TDEE 1769 (if sedentary with no extra activity), 2156 for my level of activity. Over those years I've become rather paranoid,by signing up with MFP I hope to get a better idea of how much calories I actually consume daily. You have to admit that those recommendation of 2000 calories per day for a woman is veeeery misleading and should be reviewed because most of women don't do any extra activities. I really admire all those ppl who lost tons of weight but from my perspective it's much harder to get rid of those extra few pounds. Another thing is that current hype with paleo and low carb advocating ''eat as much as you want as long as you don't scoff any carbs no need to worry about calories'', well again it may work for some who are heavily overweight but for all those who struggle to shift 15pounds can be very treachery. Anyhow, equipped with MFT calorie counter and a mobile app tracking my daily activities I hope to see some sort of progress within fairly short of space ( I'm not going to buy any clothes until I drop at least a dress size:)).
I didn't start to lose any weight until I joined MFP and started tracking my calories rather than worrying about carbs or cutting out all of the foods I love. Well, now that you have a better idea of your numbers, you don't have to starve yourself! Hopefully you see success. Are you planning to do any races since it sounds like you're doing well at running?
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@bookworm_847 - To be honest I joined MFP two years ago but somehow couldn't get my head around it at that time.It was my friend who inspired me to give it a try. Two years ago she went on a super healthy diet to cure one of her stomach problems. At that time she was rather skinny, a year later she was 20pounds heavier! She turned to keto diet along with bulet proof vegetarian etc, after six months with no apparent results she got even more determined. She joined MFP and started tracking calories ( even though according to the principles of the ketogenic diet you don't have to track any calories). Similar to your experience she started losing once she got back to the old school style calorie counting diet. Following her success I dusted my login details and here I am
As far as the running goes, I'm still in some kind of a shock over the fact that I can run more than 200m without dropping dead:) Yes, I'm tempted by Half Marathon in October and even more by the London Marathon next year but first thing first i.e weight loss. At the moment I try to be consistent with my daily activities because another thing that I've learned since I've started tracking my activities is that it's not that easy to burn 3500 calories (1pound of fat) through weekly activities combined. Do you run??? 0 -
I don't run. I've tried it a few times, and wanted so much to love it. About 3 weeks in to C25K, I decided there was no point in forcing myself to run. Maybe someday I'll try again I usually just do dvds at home and go for walks with my husband. You're right about it being tough to burn 3500 in a week! I joined a challenge group to burn 3500 a week and only succeeded in burning myself out. My hubby grounded me from working out for a week, haha. I don't log my walks, but I typically burn 2000-2500 calories a week with the dvds.
Are you using any apps or programs to help train for any races you want to tackle in the future?0 -
Hi all... 90 days ago I weighed 160lb (11st 6lb), and yesterday I weighed in at 10st 5 and a quarter. It CAN be done, and to be honest, it hasn't been that hard: a little extra yoga, learning to ski, and making sensible decisions about what I put in my stomach (I think my diary is open). I log religiously, and will keep doing so as I move into maintenance - put simply, MFP works when you follow it, so my view of diet pills and whatnot is that the only pounds you lose are the ones in your pocket!
I like my curves, so for the 'last' 5lb or so I'm going to transition into maintenance and do a little bodyweight training to see if I can replace some fat stores with muscle and firm up the loose skin on my tummy!0 -
@bookworm_847 - I hated running with passion, at high school I loved every kind of activity but running, I could go for miles on a bicycle, or do long yoga sessions (I seem to be more flexible the most of women:), learned how to swim and play tennis, took up pilates and joined gym for weight training. I've tried most of the fitness classes available at the time of my membership, just to realise that I'm not a fun of group excercising. It was until 10 years ago when I got a personal trainer, for the first time he forced me on the treadmill, I used to go for hours on the crosstrainer when working out on my own but never even looked at the treadmills. With his supervision and my mp3 player stuffed with my favourite music for the first time in my life ever I had managed to build up my running time from zero to 45mins!!! This was followed by another 45mins weight training and at that time I managed to lose a bit of weight and tone up nicely. Then I met my partner and I got very comfortable and relaxed both in terms of eating and exercise. At some point we adopted a dog. We've discovered a whole new world of parks, marshes and beautiful canal routes stretched for miles ( all this in LONDON!!!) , carried by the past 'treadmill experience' I tried to do some runs while out and about with the dog but it turned out to be a massive FAIL. I've developed a new prejudice that I'm not made to run outside, it seemed to be extremely hard and uncomfortable at that time. Until one day last year, me and my partner went out for one of our usual long Sunday walks, at some point I felt like doing a bit o running up and down the path, this was when he stopped me saying that I try too hard and too fast (he used to run marathons in his early twenties till he got injured). All he did on that day was to jog along with me for not more than 100m showing me appropriate pace, all of the sudden I've discovered a super slow pace that allowed me to run (or rather trot) for at least 1km. And this is how it all started, the PACE turned out to be the key to the successful start of my running adventure.
But I must admit that I got really motivated when got myself a fitness app MOVES, only when I started tracking my progress in terms of calories, speed and distance my competition loving genes kicked in properly. So to answer your question, at the moment it's just the app that I follow on a daily basis ( this how I can see that MFP calorie tracking may work as well) , I've had a look at a few training programs but since I'm a novice and not going to race against the time then I think that for the time being I'll be working on speed when running 5k and distance whenever I go for 10+ runs. I throw TABATA training here and there, again with great help from an app or just the WALK and RUN method to build up the speed. And I can not overestimate the role music plays in all of this. This is how I get the opportunity to listen to my favourite tracks. For this very reason I didn't enjoy group classes, the music was so not my cup of tea to say the least:) OMG... I could talk for England!!! 0 -
I found it interesting about "endomorphic" body types. I too fit that description and feel like I have to work out so much harder than some of my friends. I too have been frustrated when I'm working out 4-5 days per week and not seeing the results on the scale. I strongly agree with using the tape measure as well and weighing less frequently on the scale. For me its a lot more encouraging to see a one inch loss on measurements than a one pound decrease in weight. Also, the other things that I started watching more closely over the past few weeks are sodium and alcohol intake. My body is like a sponge. If I eat salty foods or sodas/carbonated beverages I notice it in how I feel and on the scale. Also, even with a couple drinks, I feel more bloated and retain more water the next day. So, if I decide to have a drink I pick and choose more carefully when its worth it. So, I'm trying to be more mindful of all this. Also, I just started being more active again on MFP and would like to build up more friends to help encourage and support. If you're interested please "friend" me.
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@Amunah - congratulation on your results!!! that's really impressive. Now I'm going to be a bit inquisitive for the purpose of my personal research to determine what effects fat loss experience.
1) What is your body shape? hour glass, pear shape, or rather boyish twiggy like type?
2) How tall are you?
3) Would you call yourself slim as a teenager?
4) Are you ''sweet'' or ''savoury'' person?
5) Do you eat ''healthy'' food most of the time?
I'm sorry if I come across too nosy but 160pound is my current weight, I'm 5.6 , big boned pear shaped type of person. Never slim in my entire life, but also never obese ( probably due to being rather active). Battling with weight for entire life. On the other hand some of my mates seem to slim down effortlessly, just by tweaking their food habits and taking extra flight of stairs on the way home. However, all of them are of a different body shape and used to be ''skinny'' teenagers. Therefore I'm not looking for an excuse to my possible lack of sufficient effort but just to confirm my theory on how the weight loss journey is determined by a number of personal factors. Thank you
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@Colliewomble what kind oh fun exercises do you do? You may be gaining muscle as you lose fat, and this could cause that number on the scale not to budge. Also do you drink juice? Even healthy juices can pack a punch when drunken in high amounts. Upping the cardio can make a huge difference. Two other big factors are:
1. Sometimes, if you're not already doing this, you should pay more attention to the fat and sodium and in your food, rather than calories
2. Are you burning more calories (or as many) caloriea as you're eating? Sometimes this is required to lose weight.
Don't get discouraged, you're making progress, that's what matters. Don't start extreme dieting or taking diet pills, which either never work or harm your body. You could be at a plateau, that you just need to keep working through, or it could even be that your genes make it a little harder to lose weight. If you keep trying and nothing happens, and you don't see any results, it couldn't hurt to visit your doctor, or a nutritionist and get some advice. You could even just call a nutritionist and still get some advice that way. Don't hang your head so low, keep doing what you're doing, keep a good mindset, and do it in a healthy way. Good luck till get there!0
