I'm a beginner and need help losing weight

obarrett2017

Hello, my name is Octavia and im really motivated to lose about 30 lbs for July. I have a really big trip coming up and I just want to feel and look better. I'm doing the master cleanse now and I'm on day 8. It was fairly easy until someone in front of me is eating and then I have to turn away. My goal right now is to do 10,000 steps a day and I'm doing about that so I'm reaching that goal. Any tips??

fitoverfortymom

Ditch the cleanse and eat at a calorie deficit. Real food.

juliet3455

@obarrett2017 Here is a link to some Good reads that will help guide you.

Logging Accurately


Important Posts to Read

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260499/i-like-old-posts-and-i-cannot-lie/p1

Cleanse's are a waste of Time and Money.

YalithKBK

30 pounds by July is 2 pounds/week. Depending on your starting weight, that's too aggressive. I would suggest backing down to 1 pound/week. You won't lose as much, but it will be MUCH easier to stick with. Also, cleanses dehydrate you to force out water weight. Then you just gain that weight back as you re-hydrate. See the above posts. Eat at a deficit. Log accurately. Then enjoy your trip!

LivingtheLeanDream

30lbs by July might be pushing it but at least you've made a start ..of sorts! ditch the 'master cleanse', eat real foods, track your calories as accurately as possible, use a food scale, move more and you will see success.

All the best

quiksylver296

Everything stated above. Also, you could use this chart preemptively...

Sheisinlove109

Ditch the cleanse, I agree.

Eat right, exercise, sleep!, log your food accurately, get a ton of water daily...create a deficit. No magic potions...a little hard work will go a long way and the lifestyle change can be permanent.

Picklemunchinfeet

Losing weight is about eating at a calorie deficit. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Period. I used to look for the easy outs as well (the cleanses, the "miracle" drinks, blah blah blah). Sure, waking up in the morning and seeing a 2 lb loss on the scale puts a big smile on your face but this simply doesn't last. Like others said, you have just lost water weight which you will gain right back. Personally, I LOVE to eat. If I try to deprive myself too much or drink my calories I fail miserably. That said, I started exercising and calorie counting three months ago and I have lost 14 lbs. My diary is open. I eat a lot of food. My trick is to figure out the lowest calorie possible versions of my favorite foods without sacrificing taste and turn them into 400 calorie meals. For example, I love sandwiches. Unfortunately 2 pieces of bread are over 200 calories, cheese is like 80, mayo has 90, add meat and your one little sandwich is over 400 calories...HOWEVER...Thomas makes light multigrain english Muffins which are delicious and 100 calories for the whole thing, light miracle whip has 20 calories, Sargento makes sliced Colby-jack cheese with 40 calories. With these substitutions I can eat TWO sandwiches for the same amount of calories. And have you ever had a sandwich on a toasted english muffin? It's heaven. Butter is another thing I love but at 100 calories per serving it uses up a quarter of my calories for my meal. Smart Balance tastes great, spreads easily and is half the calories. Another thing if you have stuck around to read my super long post is syrup. My kids love blueberry eggo waffles and I drool every time I make them for them. So jealous. 2 eggos with butter and syrup are about 480 calories!!! That's 180 for the waffles, 100 for the butter, and 200 for the syrup! BUT Kashi blueberry waffles taste even better and have 140 calories per serving. Smart balance is so easily spreadable that half a serving at 25 calories covers 2 waffles, and Vermont sugar free syrup has only 15 calories!!!! With these substitutions you can literally eat twice as many waffles for less calories! I know this because I did it this morning.

JohnnyPenso

Picklemunchinfeet wrote: »

Losing weight is about eating at a calorie deficit. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Period. I used to look for the easy outs as well (the cleanses, the "miracle" drinks, blah blah blah). Sure, waking up in the morning and seeing a 2 lb loss on the scale puts a big smile on your face but this simply doesn't last. Like others said, you have just lost water weight which you will gain right back. Personally, I LOVE to eat. If I try to deprive myself too much or drink my calories I fail miserably. That said, I started exercising and calorie counting three months ago and I have lost 14 lbs. My diary is open. I eat a lot of food. My trick is to figure out the lowest calorie possible versions of my favorite foods without sacrificing taste and turn them into 400 calorie meals. For example, I love sandwiches. Unfortunately 2 pieces of bread are over 200 calories, cheese is like 80, mayo has 90, add meat and your one little sandwich is over 400 calories...HOWEVER...Thomas makes light multigrain english Muffins which are delicious and 100 calories for the whole thing, light miracle whip has 20 calories, Sargento makes sliced Colby-jack cheese with 40 calories. With these substitutions I can eat TWO sandwiches for the same amount of calories. And have you ever had a sandwich on a toasted english muffin? It's heaven. Butter is another thing I love but at 100 calories per serving it uses up a quarter of my calories for my meal. Smart Balance tastes great, spreads easily and is half the calories. Another thing if you have stuck around to read my super long post is syrup. My kids love blueberry eggo waffles and I drool every time I make them for them. So jealous. 2 eggos with butter and syrup are about 480 calories!!! That's 180 for the waffles, 100 for the butter, and 200 for the syrup! BUT Kashi blueberry waffles taste even better and have 140 calories per serving. Smart balance is so easily spreadable that half a serving at 25 calories covers 2 waffles, and Vermont sugar free syrup has only 15 calories!!!! With these substitutions you can literally eat twice as many waffles for less calories! I know this because I did it this morning.

That's exactly what I did! I still ate the foods I loved just different versions of them. I have a half dozen date/sweet potato brownies in the fridge waiting for me to return from a workout. Well done!

cdkelly

I am also working towards a 30 lb weight loss by July. If you go to the challenges section there is a group of us there who are all working towards that same goal. Join us!
I have lost 7 lbs in about 2.5 weeks. I don't expect to keep losing at that rate but I've basically been working out 3-5 days a week doing both cardio and strength training. Like you, trying to get my steps in, eating healthy by focusing on my nutrition and making sure I'm getting enough protein etc and sticking to my calorie goal of 1310, sometimes more if I've burned a lot of calories that day. Even though it seems counterintuitive...making sure you eat enough food and ate properly fuelling your body is key.