Found a system that works for me

cjam134
cjam134 Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've lost 10 pounds since mid-April without too much trouble. I get lots of good advice here so I thought I'd share what I'm doing. I'm 5'3", 43 years old, woman, starting weight 180.

I have a Fitbit One that connects to My Fitness Pal.

On MyFitnessPal, I filled in all my stats, said I was sedentary and said I wanted to lose 2 lbs per week. MFP said 'not possible', gave me an adjusted loss rate and set my calories at 1200 per day.

There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I can only eat 1200 calories a day without killing someone in the process, but ok, I left my calories set to 1200. I'm usually at about the 1200 mark after my afternoon snack. So no calories left for dinner. Here's where the Fitbit comes in. I force myself to earn my dinner calories everyday. The more I exercise (which for me is just walking the dog and running up and down the stairs), the more MFP adjusts my calories upwards. I aim for 15000 steps a day and at least 10 flights of stairs. With a big dog, that's easily achieved. So, here I am about six weeks after starting this plan and I'm down 10 pounds. I hope I can keep this up until I reach goal. I usually end up eating between 1500 and 2000 calories day.

I hope this can help someone else!
Cheers!

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

    Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users Group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    I also more or less treat my calories in and out like a bank account. If I use all of my calories and really want that snack in the evening, I get my steps up or put on my heart rate monitor and jump on my rebounder. I've been wearing a fitbit for nearly three years and I do believe it makes a difference.
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
    I have been in maintenance for a couple of months now, keeping my goal weight nicely. I also "earn" my calories on a daily basis. Just a little warning: for most people there is a time where weightloss stalls. This is normal! I had weeks/months (!) where I did not lose a single gram. Do not give up but keep on doing what you are doing, it should start eventually again. I also go now by weekly calorie goals, so when I want to overindulge I make up on one of the following days. Works for me. Best of luck Stef.

Categories