New kinda ;)

mejaneucoconut

HI, I have posted awhile back in October. Fell off the wagon and now back on. A year ago my mother passed and so many other things have happened since then. I was around 350 when she passed. Since then I have lost to about 287. At first not by dieting per say except curbed appetite. In Sept and Oct I was working out and dieting but I didn't see any real change. Felt more energetic and then all of the sudden I lost all energy and then motivation. I can't figure out why I am so fatigued and not losing any weight. I don't eat hardly any carbs like potatoes except sweet pot. I rarely eat any rice or noodles or starches of any kind either. I try to keep fats and sugars low. I am eating at least 1300 to 1450 a day. I try to workout for at least 60 min walking at least 4 to 5 days. The last couple of days my calorie burn was 3500 to 4500 but still no change in weight. I know I need to look at the long haul and not a couple of days but surely there should be some change. My other worry is that as I lose weight the excess skin. How do I lose without starting to look bad? As large as I am I feel I should be losing weight better. So just wanting some feed back. Thanks in advance.

Clobern80

So I typed all this once and it decided to break...
-_-

I am guessing it is because you are not eating enough. Guessing your height and age (because I don't know) your BMR is 2077. So eating 1300-1450 calories is already 600-750 calories below your BMR and that doesn't take your exercise into account. Is 1300-1450 what MFP is telling you to eat?

As far as exercise goes, I don't think you are burning 3500-4500 per day unless you are talking your total burn which still may be an overestimate. I am a guy, much larger and burn 5000 total calories (BMR plus exercise based on my FitBit which is more than likely overestimating as well) on a good day of 30-60 minutes of exercise plus 6+ miles of walking. You may be overestimating how much you burn.

And then skin... that will happen or it won't. To prevent or lessen it, lose weight slowly. You WILL have loose skin if you lose it at a fast weight. Slow and steady will prevent it or lessen it. Lose slow, exercise, lift weights and stay hydrated and it should be fine.

Hope everything works out for you.

mejaneucoconut

Thank you, I am 5'6" and 44 and have been sedentary. My fitbit says that I burn about 800-850 while exercising which is way higher than the exercise machine but it is suppose to be based on my heart rate. So you think it could just be that my burn isn't as high as I think it is? But should I be eating back exercise cal? Why then exercise? except to tone and strengthen.

Clobern80

Your BMR based on that information is 2006. That means on a normal day where you do nothing, you will burn that many calories. So if you are also burning 800-850 calories during your exercises, that puts you at ~2800. So if you are eating half of the calories you are burning. That may help you lose weight quickly but it isn't the most sustainable. You should probably increase your calories to at least 1800 and that will probably help with the energy and motivation. And that is still a 2 pound per week loss rate (-7000 calories for the week).

Unfortunately, nothing is exact when it comes to guessing calories burned. The best thing to do (I have found) is start by eating all of your exercise calories back based on MFP (assuming you set your weight loss goal in MFP) for a few weeks and observe what happens. If you are losing weight and feeling comfortable, then stick with that. If you are NOT losing weight, then decrease it so you are only eating half of your exercise calories back. From there, you can adjust up or down based on weight loss speed and comfort. At that point, you should find your comfort zone and know how much of your exercise calories to eat back to both lose weight but feel like you have energy so you don't crash and burn.

Feel free to add me as a friend or send me a PM if you would like more help. I'm no professional, but will help as much as I can.