Please help..overwhelmed
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You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
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vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Another one for this camp. I works for some people, but it's not necessary and doesn't work for everyone. It didn't work for me at all.
I believe keeping things as simple as possible is the way to go, especially for a beginner. For a start all you need to do is find your personal comfortable calorie level. How tall are you by the way?0 -
If you're having trouble getting started, remember that it's ok to start small and build! One thing you can do is just log for a week, both so you get the hang of it and so you see where your problem areas are. You can get an idea when you're hungriest, what foods help you feel full longer, and what things can be changed. Then, start with one change. For me, my first change was swapping out soda when I eat out to unsweet tea with Equal. One small change to something I did like, but cut about 200-300 calories out of my day just with that. Give yourself a week or two to get used to it, then change something else. As you build a foundation, you'll feel more comfortable with adjusting your eating habits, and you can build momentum to keep going.
Also agree with the 'low carb isn't necessary' route. One thing to keep in mind is that you're not going on a 'diet', you're changing your eating habits to make you healthier in the future. It's fine to try different eating plans, but if you do, after a couple weeks ask yourself "do i want to eat this way for the rest of my life?" If the answer is no, it's not for you. You need to find an eating plan that you're comfortable sticking with even after you've lost the weight. If you're happy going low carb, more power to you. If you're not, that's fine too. But sticking with an eating plan that makes you miserable just because people lost weight on it doesn't help you at all. You need to learn how to adjust what you're doing now, while still keeping things you like, just in smaller portions. Learning healthier options is good too, but you don't have to cut out all the foods you like just because they're high calorie. Just need to adjust to eating a proper portion of them and accounting for them in your day.0 -
I'm in the same boat. I got my weight down to 194 from 217 over the summer, and today was 200. That's my "no freaking way!" spot, so I am back to logging my calories. I wish it didn't seem like such a loathsome chore to me. I appreciate the idea of logging my calories for a few days without establishing a set-in-stone calorie goal, then gradually reducing from there. MFP gave me 1690 as a starting point for 1 pound loss per week. I'd like to lose more than that, of course, but I don't want to set myself up for failure.0
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OP, the one thing no one asked from glancing over the posts was for your stats. Height, Weight, Age, how many pounds you want to loose each week preferably to get down 50 lbs, etc..
We can do a quick calculation to work with you on this..
Also, you can read through this.. the links above do not really provide a direct link to start you out..
http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/0 -
2snakeswoman wrote: »I'm in the same boat. I got my weight down to 194 from 217 over the summer, and today was 200. That's my "no freaking way!" spot, so I am back to logging my calories. I wish it didn't seem like such a loathsome chore to me. I appreciate the idea of logging my calories for a few days without establishing a set-in-stone calorie goal, then gradually reducing from there. MFP gave me 1690 as a starting point for 1 pound loss per week. I'd like to lose more than that, of course, but I don't want to set myself up for failure.
Yeah, continuous logging can be a pain! I'm not happy that I still have to log, but I have gotten better at guesstimating portions, so I tend to do that now instead of weighing EVERYTHING. But even if my estimates are off, just the act of logging, of seeing what I've had over the day makes me more aware of my food intake and helps me adjust accordingly.0 -
just added you hun, if you need any help let me know xx0
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vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Wow. Well glad to know that my success and the success of SO many people I know is so anecdotal for you. You keep on believing that and I will keep on keeping on. I only know that I average around 1600-1800 calories per day and have lost 42 pounds since July by following this "bad" advice. MFP tells me my calories should be at 1200 so obviously a "calorie deficit" isn't what is helping. A little research on a ketogenic diet will show you that it is used by doctors to control epilepsy and is being used to help with early onset Alzheimer's. It isn't some "fad" that just popped up.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Wow. Well glad to know that my success and the success of SO many people I know is so anecdotal for you. You keep on believing that and I will keep on keeping on. I only know that I average around 1600-1800 calories per day and have lost 42 pounds since July by following this "bad" advice. MFP tells me my calories should be at 1200 so obviously a "calorie deficit" isn't what is helping. A little research on a ketogenic diet will show you that it is used by doctors to control epilepsy and is being used to help with early onset Alzheimer's. It isn't some "fad" that just popped up.
Understand that you are not being attacked. Your diet is not being attacked. You have done so well on it, so obviously it's really working for you and that's a good thing. You have done well for yourself and worked hard to achieve your goals, so congratulations. 1600-1800 is still a calorie deficit. The 1200 MFP gives you is based on the goal you chose, so if you pick a less aggressive goal you would get a higher calorie allowance, plus additional calories for exercise.
What is being said that although this is a valid option that works beautifully for some people, it's not necessary for weight loss. For a beginner, the idea of giving up a wide array of foods may feel overwhelming, and the idea of being able to eat whatever you want as long as you successfully manage your calories could be liberating. When I first tried a ketogenic diet I did horribly on it. I felt deprived and miserable. Had I not turned to calorie counting I'm not sure where I would be today.
If later down the line, after gaining some confidence in her ability to stick to a diet, she decides to experiment with other dieting approaches and fine-tune her weight loss strategies, why not?0 -
A basic start:
- Chose a calorie number and start eating it. (1200, 1900, or anywhere in between sounds like a good start since you will be customizing it anyway as you see what happens.)
- Weigh yourself every morning.
- Average your weight over four days (because averages will help offset the natural heavier and lighter days).
- Compare your averages to see what is happening with your weight.
- Adjust your calories accordingly - lower them if you aren't losing enough, raise them if you are losing too fast.
- Shoot to lose 3-4 lbs a week, up to 5 lbs.
You weight loss will only work as well as you do to ensure you maintain caloric consistency. If you vary greatly on calories each day then you cannot accurately adjust your dietary goals.- 1) good advice
- 2) unnecessary but if you wish to weigh daily and don't pin your mood for the day on what the scale says, go for it. I personally weigh daily but it doesn't work well for a lot of people; many find once a week to be sufficient.
- averaging your weight is a good idea, and an app or site like Happy Scale or TrendWeight will do it for you
- 3) Spot on
- 4) Also spot on
- 5) darn, you were doing so well... DON'T shoot to lose 3-5 lbs a week, that's well past the upper limit of what is advisable and safe - to lose that much per week you will be losing a lot more than fat, you'll be losing muscle mass. Which will end you up as a smaller version of your fat self (commonly referred to as "skinny fat" where you're still soft and undefined, you just weigh less)
2. If you are trying to find a good caloric goal, I don't know how you would get accurate readings once a week. Weight can naturally fluctuate ~3 lbs each day. If you are shooting to lose even 1-2 lbs a week and weigh yourself on a naturally heavier day for the week then you would believe you lost nothing based off a single reading for the week when really you are making progress. This is why averages and daily readings will offer the most accurate tale.
5. Nice sarcasm. Notice I said "a basic start". For the person starting out, they will initially shed weight faster, especially the further away they are from their natural weight. 3-5 lbs a week is fine for the start of a weight loss diet for a person starting out. The closer you get to your ideal weight the slower the weight will come off anyway.
We could argue this all day, and you will find studies on both sides of the issue, so further discussion is likely futile on this point. She can chose what path she wants to take.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Wow. Well glad to know that my success and the success of SO many people I know is so anecdotal for you. You keep on believing that and I will keep on keeping on. I only know that I average around 1600-1800 calories per day and have lost 42 pounds since July by following this "bad" advice. MFP tells me my calories should be at 1200 so obviously a "calorie deficit" isn't what is helping. A little research on a ketogenic diet will show you that it is used by doctors to control epilepsy and is being used to help with early onset Alzheimer's. It isn't some "fad" that just popped up.
It's not possible to lose weight WITHOUT a calorie deficit. Period. That's the core of EVERY diet fad out there, no matter what they tell you to eat. It's usually masked by the eating plan you're given, but that's why you lose weight on it.
Now, HOW you achieve that deficit varies from person to person. Ketogenic works for you, and that's great. If it's something you're comfortable with staying on the rest of your life, more power to you. But it needs to be a change you're willing to stay with. The problem with diet plans is that they're temporary. When a person loses the weight, they go back to eating as they were before and hey, whadda know, the weight comes back! To keep it off requires a full adjustment of eating habits, which is really hard and very overwhelming to beginners. That's why I advise to start slow and build. Makes the adjustments easier to get used to, which makes the process more comfortable. If someone wants to try different eating plans, that can be very beneficial. But even with a new eating plan, like going low-carb or all protein or whatever, you're still going to have to have a calorie deficit to lose weight.
If you were losing weight eating 1600-1800 calories a day, then you were at a deficit. It wasn't as much of one as MFP said, but you were at a deficit. And for you, it's a comfortable deficit, which is very helpful! Congrats on your weight loss, and I'm glad you found what works for you.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Wow. Well glad to know that my success and the success of SO many people I know is so anecdotal for you. You keep on believing that and I will keep on keeping on. I only know that I average around 1600-1800 calories per day and have lost 42 pounds since July by following this "bad" advice. MFP tells me my calories should be at 1200 so obviously a "calorie deficit" isn't what is helping. A little research on a ketogenic diet will show you that it is used by doctors to control epilepsy and is being used to help with early onset Alzheimer's. It isn't some "fad" that just popped up.
No need to feel injured and defensive. I never said ketogenic diet is "some fad" - you extrapolated that.
I will certainly keep on believing that weight loss is achieved through a calorie deficit. To advise anyone who wants to lose weight that ignoring calories is a viable way to go isn't good advice. It's just that simple.
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I can't claim to know for sure, but I noticed that I lost weight on whole 30 even though I was stuffing myself with allowed foods, and I do mean stuffing myself. I lost 6 pounds in 18 days, and it's hard to imagine I was at much of a deficit on all those sweet potatoes with clarified butter plus plenty of meat. I've regained 5 of those 6 pounds since whole 30 ended and am now logging my calories.0
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2snakeswoman wrote: »I can't claim to know for sure, but I noticed that I lost weight on whole 30 even though I was stuffing myself with allowed foods, and I do mean stuffing myself. I lost 6 pounds in 18 days, and it's hard to imagine I was at much of a deficit on all those sweet potatoes with clarified butter plus plenty of meat. I've regained 5 of those 6 pounds since whole 30 ended and am now logging my calories.
If you lost weight, you were eating in a caloric deficit.
Also this would suggest that Whole30 is an unnatural, restrictive way of eating that isn't sustainable.
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I struggle to eat even 1200 a day. My problem is that I under eat and my metabolism is messed upI agree with what others have said about 1200 cals. I think that's way too low. I've been on mfp for a while and I find the odd 1200 day a struggle, so if you're new to dieting, I think it will be too much of a shock.
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I'm 5'5amusedmonkey wrote: »vivmom2014 wrote: »You will lose weight without having to count calories. I have a calorie "goal" that shows up in MFP because of my goal weight, but I just don't pay attention to it.
This isn't good advice. Weight loss happens for one reason and one reason only: a calorie deficit.
While going super low carb may click with some people, it is not necessary for weight loss.
And your body doesn't need to "detox" from carbs.
Another one for this camp. I works for some people, but it's not necessary and doesn't work for everyone. It didn't work for me at all.
I believe keeping things as simple as possible is the way to go, especially for a beginner. For a start all you need to do is find your personal comfortable calorie level. How tall are you by the way?
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I am 28, 5'5 and 205. Id like to lose at least 2lbs per day. I am not able to be very active at the moment vecsuse of several ankle surgeries. My biggest issue is that I do not eat enough. It is a struggle for me to hit even 1200 cal per day. So I am overweight because my metabolism is so messed up from not being fueled.OP, the one thing no one asked from glancing over the posts was for your stats. Height, Weight, Age, how many pounds you want to loose each week preferably to get down 50 lbs, etc..
We can do a quick calculation to work with you on this..
Also, you can read through this.. the links above do not really provide a direct link to start you out..
http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/
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Congrats on deciding to start. My advice is to start simply. Just enter all your stats into the app, and choose the sedentary or lightly active setting to compute your calories. Log every bite, and get a food scale so that you can do it accurately. Eyeballing and guesstimating will not be accurate. A safe weight-loss goal of 1-1.5 pounds a week is easier to stick with for the long run. Good luck!0
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A basic start:
- Chose a calorie number and start eating it. (1200, 1900, or anywhere in between sounds like a good start since you will be customizing it anyway as you see what happens.)
- Weigh yourself every morning.
- Average your weight over four days (because averages will help offset the natural heavier and lighter days).
- Compare your averages to see what is happening with your weight.
- Adjust your calories accordingly - lower them if you aren't losing enough, raise them if you are losing too fast.
- Shoot to lose 3-4 lbs a week, up to 5 lbs.
You weight loss will only work as well as you do to ensure you maintain caloric consistency. If you vary greatly on calories each day then you cannot accurately adjust your dietary goals.- 1) good advice
- 2) unnecessary but if you wish to weigh daily and don't pin your mood for the day on what the scale says, go for it. I personally weigh daily but it doesn't work well for a lot of people; many find once a week to be sufficient.
- averaging your weight is a good idea, and an app or site like Happy Scale or TrendWeight will do it for you
- 3) Spot on
- 4) Also spot on
- 5) darn, you were doing so well... DON'T shoot to lose 3-5 lbs a week, that's well past the upper limit of what is advisable and safe - to lose that much per week you will be losing a lot more than fat, you'll be losing muscle mass. Which will end you up as a smaller version of your fat self (commonly referred to as "skinny fat" where you're still soft and undefined, you just weigh less)
2. If you are trying to find a good caloric goal, I don't know how you would get accurate readings once a week. Weight can naturally fluctuate ~3 lbs each day. If you are shooting to lose even 1-2 lbs a week and weigh yourself on a naturally heavier day for the week then you would believe you lost nothing based off a single reading for the week when really you are making progress. This is why averages and daily readings will offer the most accurate tale.
5. Nice sarcasm. Notice I said "a basic start". For the person starting out, they will initially shed weight faster, especially the further away they are from their natural weight. 3-5 lbs a week is fine for the start of a weight loss diet for a person starting out. The closer you get to your ideal weight the slower the weight will come off anyway.
We could argue this all day, and you will find studies on both sides of the issue, so further discussion is likely futile on this point. She can chose what path she wants to take.
To aim for a weight loss of 5lbs a week one would need a 17500 calorie deficit! Seeing as most people eat about 2000 a day you can see this wouldn't be a great idea. That's a 7 day fast with 3500 calories of exercise. About 7 hours of running.
I think you meant that people should aim for a 1-2lb loss a week, and if they are quite overweight they will see a water, food in system and glycogen weight drop which will taper off after a week or two
That's quite a different thing.
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I struggle to eat even 1200 a day. My problem is that I under eat and my metabolism is messed upI agree with what others have said about 1200 cals. I think that's way too low. I've been on mfp for a while and I find the odd 1200 day a struggle, so if you're new to dieting, I think it will be too much of a shock.
You likely don't have a messed up metabolism. If you suspect that you do, you need to see a doctor for some hormone level tests which would clear things up and hopefully put you at ease. Even if you did, hypothyroidism is only responsible for about 15-20 or so extra pounds. The rest is from overeating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o
Now struggling to hit 1200 is likely caused you switched from a high calorie low volume food to a low calorie high volume food. 250 calories of salad, for example, take up much more space in your stomach than a candy bar for the same calories. The way to remedy that is by introducing more low volume calories, like adding more oil to said salad, snacking on nuts, or even re-introducing some of you usual high calorie low volume foods into your diet.
Now there is also the possibility that you aren't logging things correctly. When you eyeball portions, or even when you use cups for measurements instead of a food scale, it has a very high margin of error and you could be eating more than you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU&feature=youtu.be
Now if you are doing everything correctly but find that you aren't losing weight, or the weight lost is not what you expected, it's likely water fluctuations are holding you back. The body tends to retain water when you eat too much sodium, start a new exercise plan, eat a lot of carbs, or simply because your hormones feel like it. This water weight sometimes masks the actual loss. Here is my weight, recorded daily, for a couple of weeks.
Notice how my weight has a mind of its own and it goes up or down as it please. If I weighed myself once a week, and I chose Tuesdays as my weigh in days every week I would think that I somehow lost 2.5 kilos in one week (5.5 pounds) which is simply not physically possible. Now if Thursdays were my weigh in days, it would look as if I only lost 0.5 a kilo. My current week actually came out at slightly over a 2 pound loss worth of deficit because I was sick. If I believed that I only lost half a kilo I would start questioning why my metabolism isn't working and why my calculations are wrong.0
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