HI! I'M HERE TO LOSE WEIGHT! READ MY PLAN PLEASE!

CafeRacer808

artluv22 wrote: »

But how is losing 3 lbs a week so bad? What's another pound, especially at my weight and height?

I already addressed this question in my first comment in this thread. For someone who's trying to lose 60 lbs, aiming for 3 lbs/week is simply unsustainable. We see it all the time in these forums. People start their diet plan with an overly aggressive weight loss rate, and then complain about having no energy and feeling hungry all the time. The vast majority of them end up falling off the wagon and bingeing on food. Some get so frustrated that they stop trying to lose weight all together. The maximum MFP will allow you to lose is 2 lb/week, and that's reserved for people who have upwards of 100 lbs to lose. You're nowhere near that.

Successful weight loss is a slow and steady process. By shooting for 3 lbs/week of fat loss, you're setting yourself up for both disappointment and failure. Choose a reasonable weekly weight loss rate for yourself and as I already said above, re-adjust your expectations.

artluv22

Okay okay okay. So what does everybody recommend to lose 2 lbs a week (8 lbs a month), initially losing 60 lbs in 7.5 months? Because I guess I'm clueless. I still plan on sleeping 9 hours a day, drinking green tea, and taking cold showers but just so I have energy in the morning.

- How many calories should I eat (not eating additional calories that I burn from exercise) a day to lose 2 lbs a week?
- How much cardio and strength exercising should I do a week?

Just a reminder, I'm 19, female, 214 lbs

CafeRacer808

Again, since you only have 60 lbs to lose, 1-1.5lb/week is about right for you. Since you seem to be in a bit of a hurry, start at 1.5lb week. If you find that you're hungry all the time, don't have enough energy to get through the day or your workouts, or feel the need to binge, lower it to 1 lb/week.

MFP's guided set up will tell you how many calories you should be eating per day, based on your age, your gender, your height and weight, and how many lbs/week you want to lose. It will also ask you your activity level, which is determined by your daily activities not counting exercise. If you're a student who walks a lot to get from one class to the next, lightly active is probably a good place to start. You would then log your exercise sessions separately and MFP will give you extra calories on the days you workout (you should eat some or all of those exercise calories - many people eat back about half of them).

In terms of how much exercise you want to do, that's entirely up to you and what you have time for. Exercise is important for overall health and fitness and it will give you some extra calories to eat throughout the day. But your success in losing weight will mostly be determined by how much you're eating, not how much you're working out.

JeanieWww

While this is a great goal, I'm afraid you've not given yourself enough time to achieve it. Did you know you have to burn about 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat? Walking 30 minutes at 2 mph wont burn that off for you. It might burn off part of one of your daily meals, but you're either going to need to change how much / what kind of exercising you do, or how often. I've lost 85 pounds twice in my life. It was a combination of eating more healthy and getting exercise. I believe you can do it too, but you'll want to give yourself more than 23 weeks to do it, if this is your plan on how to achieve it.

estherdragonbat

I'd suggest plugging your stats into MFP and telling them that you want to lose 2lbs a week. It will give you a calorie level to aim for. Try to get as close to it as possible. As far as the exercise, start slow and see how you do. My initial goal was 30 minutes of exercise per day, every day. I was mostly getting that from talking walks. At this point it's either an hour-long walk or 35 minutes on a Nordic skier (3 minutes warmup, 30 minutes cardio, 2 minutes cooldown). Some days, it might be a shorter walk and 35 minutes on the skier.

Nordic skiers provide both cardio and toning. I've recently begun using a fit tube for building strength and tone as well.

MFP is known to over-estimate calorie burns. Most people recommend eating back 25-50% of your exercise calories. I don't always do this, but my calorie level is based on my telling MFP I want to lose 1 lb per week. I generally eat within 50 calories of my daily 'budget', but save my exercise calories in case I miscalculated something. I also find it helps to have a bit of a cushion, so that if I do get hungry/really crave something, I have that extra space. I'm losing 1 to 2 pounds a week. Note: I am also 89 lbs away from my goal weight. As I get closer to goal, I'm going to have to slow down my rate of loss (it shouldn't be more than 1.5/week when I get to within 75 lbs of goal).

Hope that's helpful.

artluv22

I have told MFP that I wanted to lose 2lbs a week, which is the highest setting. I used this https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc to see how many calories i'd burn with the exercises I plan on doing

MelanieCN77

I think you've outlined a really aggressive plan and I hope that in a week or two you'll find why people have commented as such and find a sustainable routine for yourself. I applaud the decision and the fire, though! Some people might have luck reinventing themselves, but I think most find changing small things one at a time and taking it in a more chill, long term sort of way. That's also the opposite of what you want to hear when you're all fired up, I know, but something to think back to if you start having trouble.

artluv22

I thank everybody for giving me advice for my weight loss. I've thought about and I realized, you are all right; 1200 calories with that much exercise is TOO much. So, I'm changing my calorie goal to 1550 per day. Thank you all!

Hello_its_Dan

FWIW make the smallest changes that offer the best rewards while addressing the underlying habits that brought you to this crossroad.

Good luck!

artluv22

FWIW?

I hope 1550 calories will make me lose weight and be toned at the same time.