Help - Newbie and confused

Sunseeker1990

Hi everyone,

So, I'm a newbie around here and I am so confused on what I should be doing.

I know exercise and diet come hand-in-hand but I don't know where to start.

I'm 5 ft 7in, 145lbs and have measurements of 33-28-41.

My goals are to lose 1 stone, tone up and lose a couple of inches around the hips.

So, diet...I don't know whether I should calorie count? How many calories should I be eating? Do I restrict carbs from my diet? Do I restrict anything from my diet? Do I follow a plan like Slimming World? I'm scared of eating the wrong thing and/or too many calories and putting on weight.

Next, exercise...Do I focus on cardio? Resistance training? A combo of the two? Do I just go running? Do I attend classes at the gym? Which classes should I attend? Do I just use machines in the gym? How do I know which machines are going to do the job? Do I just do home exercise?

I'm so lost and could cry as nothing has worked in the past I just look so plump and fat.

Any advice and guidance would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lost Girl...

janejellyroll

If you enter your goals and stats into MFP, it will give you a calorie goal. Since you don't have a lot to lose, choose a reasonable goal like .5 pounds a week.

You only have to restrict carbohydrates if you have a medical condition. If you find it makes it easier for you to hit your calorie goal if you limit carbohydrates (or certain carbohydrate-containing foods), feel free to do it. But it's optional for weight loss.

There is no such thing as the wrong food for weight loss. There's only the situation of eating too many calories to lose weight.

You can do whatever kind of exercise you enjoy. Exercise is for fitness, you can lose weight from just a calorie deficit. Exercise can be part of creating that deficit, if you want (although your MFP goal will be given under the assumption that you aren't doing any exercise and you can log your exercise and eat those calories back).

toxikon

All that's necessary for losing weight is eating fewer calories than your body burns. You don't need to cut carbs, follow specific programs, etc. Continue eating what you like as long as it fits into your daily calorie goal.

I'd recommend grabbing a digital kitchen scale to accurately log your calorie intake.

jasummers76

Type your stats into MFP. This will give you a good idea about the calories no you should eat daily. The more weight you want to lose per week the less calories they will give you. It is great you have your measurements. I highly recommend counting calories. I see people doing tons of cardio and lifting but not getting results due to a poor diet. Diet is 80% of lossing weight. I recommend a mixture of both cardio and weight training. How much is dependent on you. Good luck you can do this..

jasummers76

As far as restricting foods bad idea cause eventually you will end this as a "diet" and revert to your old eating habits and gain it back. That is why it is important to count calories eat anything you want just stay within your daily calories. Over time you will learn about foods and it will be easier to pick foods you enjoy and know the ones you may like but may not be worth the added calories.. mine was peanut butter.. so little and I was still starving.. finally decided I could go without much more while still having it on occasion.

tinkerbellang83

Keep it simple.

Eating less calories than you burn is the only way to lose weight, regardless of methods of eating/food plans/exercises etc.

To find out how many calories you approximately need for the day to lose 1 stone, you need to fill in your MFP profile, choose your activity level honestly (this is your work/home/school life activity not your exercise) and set yourself to 0.5-1lb per week loss.

There is no need to restrict anything from your diet, unless it makes it easier for you to stick to your calorie intake (I find it impossible to moderate bread, so whilst I don't cut it out altogether, I don't keep any at home) and you don't need to sign up to Slimming World, etc (although some people find this an easier way to control their calorie intake). MFP is free so why not start with that.

Carbs do not make you fat, macro (Carbs/Protein/Fat) splits are a personal preference, some people prefer low carb because they can manage their calorie intake better, but plenty of people lose weight successfully on moderate-high carb splits. Calories are what is important for weight loss. I would suggest you just stick with MFPs standard ratios and FOCUS ON CALORIE INTAKE FIRST

Get yourself a food scale. It can be a good idea to log your normal intake for a couple of days to see what your eating now compared to the calorie allowance you need to be aiming for and making small sustainable changes to your diet. For me this was things like

• Substitutes you can live with - changing from using free pour olive oil in cooking to Frylight Spray (1 cal spray) - saves me about 1-200 calories a meal for dinners/lunches
• Portion Control - I pre-portion my snacks for work by weighing them out on a Sunday, before I would have just free-poured snacks like nuts which are very high calorie and wasn't aware of how much I was eating. Weighing out things like Pasta/Cereal/etc was a massive eye-opener in terms of what a normal portion is compared to what I had been eating.
• Planning ahead and buying only what I need for the stuff I have planned.

THEN NUTRITION

Once you have got to grips with your calorie allowance, you can start playing around with your macros, as long as you get an adequate minimum amount of protein and fats in your diet you can play around with the levels to what suits the foods you like and what keeps you feeling fuller longer. It might take a little tweaking to find what works for you.

As for exercise, think of this as for health and maintaining muscle rather than for weight loss. Cardio for heart health and strength training for maintaining muscle. Again keep it simple, do things you enjoy and don't go full steam into a regime you can't keep up.

I wrote a blog post back on what was going through my head when I first started using My Fitness Pal properly, because prior to this attempt I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and I was so overwhelmed by all the misinformation out there. It might help - https://www.exercisenotextrafries.com/single-post/2016/12/27/The-Start-of-My-Journey