Learning from you all... Have I missed anything important? Thank you!

lorrpb

ProgressNotPerfectionIAmEnough wrote: »

Thank you lorrpb. I appreciate your mention of target weight loss in relation to the amount of weight to lose. I still don't quite understand if the amount to lose relative to the speed in which it is lost matters. I need to research this more. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

@middlehaitch explains it:

middlehaitch wrote: »

Just to add to the ETA.
The body can only burn a particular amount of fat per lbs of fat the body is holding (sorry I can't remember the numbers) then it starts using lbm in a higher ratio than normal. This will lead to a loss of muscle, and if the deficit is high enough health problems. (As above)

If one is obese one has enough fat to lose 2 lbs a week, if one is of normal body weight (as per BMI) the amount of body fat is usually too low to lose 2 lbs without potentially causing problems that is why .5 lbs a week is recommended. (1lbs if overweight/close to normal weight)

Cheers, h.

middlehaitch

Lbm= everything that is in the body that isn't fat.

Your muscles, bones, organs. All these will be impacted.

Brain function, hydration, blood volume can be affected.

Skin elasticity, teeth, gum, hair, and nail health are in there too, and are usually the first indicators of undernourishment that could be due to a too low calorie input, especially protein and fat.

By the time one sees, or experiences problems with any of the above it means one has not nourished, and loved, oneself adequately for a number of months and it is going to take time to recover.

A lot of people look at these problems short term and think they don't need to think of the future.

Everyone needs to look to the future they are the stewards of their life.

Short term goals can lead to long term problems.

Cheers, h.

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a preach. I am an older resident of MFP and really care about how the younger population plan for their future.

tomteboda

It sounds like you're really on the right track! I know how unpredictable an autoimmune disease can be with pain and mobility, I have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. For that reason, I set my activity to "sedentary" and always log my activity explicitly, because that can vary so much from day to day.

I've done that in two different ways: by adding all my major activity (walking, gardening, house cleaning!) directly, and by linking a step counter. They both seem to work about the same (mostly) - there are things each method does very well, and things they miss. My household cleaning and gardening, in particular, turn out a little oddly with each method. Explicit logging clearly overstates the actual calorie burn (If I tell MFP I gardened for 1 hour, it gives me some ridiculous burn like 600+ calories). But logging only steps seriously undercounts the calories burned on those same activities (I got a whopping 57 calories today from the step-count of 90 minutes of moving furniture, vacuuming, sweeping & mopping floors).

I really distrusted the doctors when they said walking would help ease my pain, but they were right. I think the benefits are multiple.. it helps with a calorie deficit, it helps strengthen muscles and loosen tendons, it helps with balance, and it helps with my attitude (particularly as I walk outdoors). It also helps me get a little Vitamin D production going. At any rate, I really do feel better now when I walk a couple times a day every day, but I had to start very slow (my first walk was less than 10 minutes!), and worked up over many months to my current activity level.

It was also, for me, super-beneficial to invest in a good bed. I bought a Sleep Number bed with an adjustable base; the ability to raise and lower my head and legs to whatever is comfortable that day has been invaluable, as has the ability to adjust my mattress firmness.

Best wishes!

ProgressNotPerfectionIAmEnough

Thank you so much for all the encouragement and good advice! I am grateful for this site and for all of you who offer support and share wisdom.