Weight lose & tone
sabridm28
Posts: 3 Member
I want to drop 15 pounds and keep it off. Very confused with the food. I just don't understand how it works.
0
Replies
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Eat what you always eat...Just less. Simple
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Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!3 -
Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!4 -
It helps if you eat healthy for the most part because healthier foods have more nutrition, are more filling and less calorie dense- vegetables are high in fiber and vitamins and low in calories, and you need to make sure you get enough protein so get in good lean meats and stuff like yogurt and cottage cheese if you eat dairy. I'd suggest you opt for complex carbs like brown rice and potato rather than tings like bread and pasta and avoid processed foods, packaged foods, junk food, fast food, and eating out a lot.
It's important to still enjoy your food though so still eat some of your favorite things and have treats and snacks that you like, just make sure it's within your daily calorie goal. I love chocolate for example and still eat some every day while losing weight because I make room in my calories for it.
The most important thing for weight loss is eating the right amount of calories of course, not really what you eat- but eating mostly healthy is better for your overall health and I find its a lot easier to stick to my calorie goal if I'm not eating a lot of junk food because it's high calorie and kind of addictive.
You mentioned wanting to "tone" as well - for that you'll want to do strength training exercises like lifting weights and body weight muscle toning exercises like squats, lunges, push ups, etc. I also find hiit cardio is helpful too, it is a more effective intense way to do cardio so you only need to do like 20 minutes of it instead of an hour of something like elliptical or walking, and it doesn't cause as much muscle loss as steady state cardio. It's natural to lose a little muscle while in a caloric deficit for weight loss, but by working your muscles and eating enough protein each day you can teach your body to prioritize fat loss and minimize muscle loss. If you don't know how much protein to eat you can follow what myfitnesspal gives you in your nutrition goals- or you can look it up online. Generally if you're active & exercising & in a caloric deficit for weight loss a good formula to use is 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. I use my goal weight to calculate though, not my current weight since I'm overweight- for me 100 grams a day is about right.
Feel free to ask more questions- it's confusing at first but just try to eat within your calorie limit to start with, and you can adjust and fine tune things further from there.
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Also maybe if you clarified further what you are confused about we can better help.0
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Also FYI since you only have 15 pounds to lose I wouldn't set your weight loss rate any higher than 1 pound per week loss. You could even start with just 1/2 pound per week loss rate. Don't try for 2 pounds per week or you'll end up with really low calories and you won't feel good or want to stick with the diet.
Also once you've lost weight the way to keep it off is to keep tracking your food & calories but increase your daily calorie goal to maintenance calories instead of weight loss calories.1 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.0 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
Yes, but if someone is just starting out and is confused, all of these details make it worse. The first thing is to get your brain around your calorie goal and logging food. You can do that without worrying about macros, and while eating the same foods you always have.7 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
If we're talking in terms of satiety, perhaps, though for me personally it comes more from carbs and fiber. I tend to go over in sugar every day, but I dont pay too much attention to it. While eating protein is good, it takes more than just that to get the "toned" look, though.
I'm not seeing anything about toning in the OP, though..is that coming from another post somewhere else?2 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
If we're talking in terms of satiety, perhaps, though for me personally it comes more from carbs and fiber. I tend to go over in sugar every day, but I dont pay too much attention to it. While eating protein is good, it takes more than just that to get the "toned" look, though.
I'm not seeing anything about toning in the OP, though..is that coming from another post somewhere else?
OP title says "tone".1 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
This is all subjective. Plus someone just starting out shouldn't make things needlessly complicated.5 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
If we're talking in terms of satiety, perhaps, though for me personally it comes more from carbs and fiber. I tend to go over in sugar every day, but I dont pay too much attention to it. While eating protein is good, it takes more than just that to get the "toned" look, though.
I'm not seeing anything about toning in the OP, though..is that coming from another post somewhere else?
OP title says "tone".
Heh, thanks. Obviously my attention to detail is impeccable.
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Chef_Barbell wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Put your stats into MFP. As you don't have much to lose, choose a goal of one-half lb or at most 1 lb per week. You will get a calorie goal. Log everything, every day and eat to your calorie goal. That's it!
Be careful to choose correct entries in the database, and it helps to use a food scale as much as possible to get a good idea of correct portion sizes. Good luck!
This ^
I would also add, if your confusion is about the macros (fat/carbs/protein), they don't matter as much in terms of weight loss - only the amount of calories you eat.
I would start by getting used to logging and using the food scale mentioned above, even if you don't initially change your diet. It really does help to know how many calories you're taking in now..I was shocked when I actually started keeping track. It all adds up quickly, and it will make you far more aware of how much you're eating!
For the most part this is true, but I have found that eating enough protein and fiber is important and not going way over in sugar is good too. Fat and carbs can kind of be whatever you want though really. But if she wants "tone" she's got to eat enough protein, and getting enough fiber is important to digestive health, so I feel like those do matter somewhat.
This is all subjective. Plus someone just starting out shouldn't make things needlessly complicated.
And I would tend to agree. That's probably what the OP's confusion is, I would guess. I'd start with the logging and the calories first, them begin to fgure out what works in terms of satiety and nutrients...4 -
If logging your food is to complicated then go back to basics by one of 2 ways.
1. Lower your calorie intake by changing your diet. Example. If you drink soft drink substitute for water. If you drink full cream milk substitute for light milk. Eat wholemeal foods and look for low GI food to make you feel full longer.
2. Eat the same as you do and add exercise to your lifestyle depending on how quickly you want to loose weight would dictate how often you need to exercise. Burning 500 calories 3-4 days a quick would get you some good results.
Ultimately you want to do both for the best results and that's something you can work to.0 -
If logging your food is to complicated then go back to basics by one of 2 ways.
1. Lower your calorie intake by changing your diet. Example. If you drink soft drink substitute for water. If you drink full cream milk substitute for light milk. Eat wholemeal foods and look for low GI food to make you feel full longer.
2. Eat the same as you do and add exercise to your lifestyle depending on how quickly you want to loose weight would dictate how often you need to exercise. Burning 500 calories 3-4 days a quick would get you some good results.
Ultimately you want to do both for the best results and that's something you can work to.
This probably works for most people, but the trouble is for weight loss you really have to know your intake and expenditure. Like let's say for example... if her TDEE is 1800 and she's currently eating 2500 calories a day, decreasing intake by about 500 calories per day by cutting out soda and junk food or leaving her diet the same but burning an extra 500 calories per day of exercise would not really help because her calories per day would then be 2000 which is still over her TDEE of 1800 by 200 calories. Which means she will still be gaining weight though less quickly, and most definitely not be able to lose any weight.
This is why I don't really like the "eat less move more" advice because a person can improve their diet and add exercise and feel like they're working really hard but still not have the right energy balance for weight loss. Yes, eat less- but how much less? And how much is too little? Yes, move more, but is it enough to result in weight loss?
She could even accidentally go overboard and eat too few calories and exercise too much which would put her in too much of a calorie deficit which would cause rapid weight loss but also slow the metabolism and put stress on the body and cause muscle loss and in extreme cases even possibly organ damage & hair loss etc. and would also not be maintainable and lead to eventual rebound weight gain.
Finding that sweet spot of consuming just enough fewer calories and getting enough exercise is the trick, and I feel like it's a lot easier to make sure you're on track with the help of measuring food & counting calories. It might be tedious and annoying sometimes, but it's better than flying blind.
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I agree and we don't want to over complicated with the complexity of science. At the end of the day we will need to listen to our body so if we change diet or start exercise and feel lousy then we know something is wrong.0
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