Trying to start over and I have a question

dhampir_princess

One year ago I started using mfp at 337 lbs. I was doing great and was super motivated! At my lowest I was down to 271 lbs. That was until I hit a couple months of plateau, then work got overwhelming, and depression crawled back into my life.

I gave up and slowly but surely stated putting weight back on and am now at 291. To be honest, I'm still depressed and feel like emotional eating all day every day. But my pants are getting uncomfortably tight, and I swore to myself when I first started that I would never go back up another pant size again!! (And boy did gretting rid of the old large pants before help me stick to the conviction now.)

This is where I'm at right now. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things, and I've updated my weight and informationon my profile. For some reason though, even though I'm 20 lbs heavier now, my calorie goal is still the same as when I last left off several months ago. Is there anyway to reset the calories to what it was last time I was at 291?

Any advice or encouragement is welcomed.

vkmango4

Did you delete all your previous weights?

Expatmommy79

You can manually enter your calorie goal. If you know what it should be.

OyGeeBiv

Before you reset your calorie goal, are you SURE you need to? REALLY sure? Playing with the numbers is just that, playing with numbers. Eat fewer calories than you burn, those are the numbers that matter.

MikeLeTwigg

Think about it for a minute. If you were able to handle the number of calories before, then you do not need to re-calculate anything. Recalculating will give you more calories, but not very many. Even if you choose to recalculate its OK, it really doesn't matter don't stress about it. Do what ever motivates you to keep going.

By the way, well done for catching that things were going wrong. You can address a problem if you deny there is one.

All the best

Asianbutterflies

When I began my weight loss almost 2 years I hit a few plateaus towards the summer and into the fall. I too feel depressed and wanted to give up. I felt close to quitting however I held onto something that kept me from from giving up. I just recently taken a new driver's license photo because it was expired so they gave me my old one to keep as a keepsake and a pair of jeans that I wore when I was my biggest. I looked at those pictures and I looked at the jean size and decided I'd never want to be that girl again. You will never have to be that girl again. So it's good you recognized where the missteps were and definitely get back on the saddle. I'm trying to lose the last bit of my weight and a little bit more I would say for this last year I pretty much maintain my size with a 4 to 7 pound fluctuation. But I'm determined to take off this last 15 to 20 pounds. It's hard to stay motivated I've been there but it's important to remember who you are and who you want to be and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. I hope this is helpful. Good luck.

3dogsrunning

Go to Home > Goals > click "View Guided Setup" (it is in blue at top of the page).
It gives you chance to enter your weight and select your activity level, etc. It will set your goal again.

MaVieEntiere

HANG IN THERE MY FRIEND~! You're an inspiration! Great, great job for getting back on the horse.

And snap out of it. Your calories are probably fine. Gaining 20lbs doesn't mean you get to eat tons more every day. In fact, if you're trying to shed weight, you probably don't.

I can't say enough how great it is that you're back on the horse! Friending you.

llbrixon

I started over again too. I gained those 45 pounds back for the 3rd time! I had to reset my weight back up so I could lose them again. Keep your diary open, this will keep you accountable for what goes in your mouth. The first thing I gave up was sodas, I was drinking 7 to 8 cans a day! Then, I had to quit snacking during the day. Then I HAD to eat decent meals that kept me full! I had to get that sugar out of my system so I would not crave more sugar! Portion control! Measure and weigh your food! You can do this! I changed my calorie goal to lose 1 pound a week over the holidays. Make your mind up, you can do this!

chopsticks10

Is there something that you eat pretty often that is unhealthy for you? My grandma had a very high cholesterol, and she stopped eating her Ben and Jerry's ice cream for 3 months and it dropped 49 points! I hope you do well!

shinycrazy

To figure out what your calories are you can find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. This is what you burn if you stayed in bed all day.

1lb equals 3500 calories, divide by 7, that 500 calories a day that you need to lose a pound. Subtract 500 from your BMR number either with eating less calories or more exercise. Be careful about estimating calories burnt doing exercise, imho MFP overestimates calorie burn which might lead you think you can eat more calories that you should to get the deficit. Good luck! I've lost 70lbs this way.

dhampir_princess

Thank you so much for the support and encouragement, everyone!

I know my previous 291 calories weren't significantly higher than my current 271 calories, but for the last 3-4 months I've gotten use to *ahem* slightly more calories than that, and I don't want to sabotage myself. I know I'll get use to it again eventually, but starting back up cold turkey feels like it's going to be a little difficult. ^^;

I know mfp works, and I know I can do it. I did it before and lost 66 lbs. So I can do it again and lose even more this time! I'm going to start logging, see about tweaking/resetting my numbers, and just take one day at a time.