Repeat begginer looking for advice

kbrokop

Hello! I’m a return begginer. Lost about 45 lbs in the past but gained it back and then some after a few family deaths. I now need to lose about 100 lbs and I’m really motivated to do it right this time. Life style change. Not a diet. Last time, I felt like I was starving myself. I ate 1200 -1400 calories a day and exercised around 45 min a day. I was always always always hungry. I’m ready to get back the body I never quite had and my goal is to be under 190 by the time I graduate in May.
So I wanted to Verify my new activity level with some folks. I work In the hospital pharmacy. I’m not walking Around a ton but I spend most of the work day on my feet. I sit only at lunch. Would this be lightly active?
All in all I’m a busy and frazzled final year pharmacy student looking for any advice on making a lasting life style change and and resources for good meal prep for picky eaters.
Thanks all!

Emmapatterson1729

I also get a little confused about the activity level and how to judge it.

I played with the goals, activity levels and how much weight to lose in a week. Set it for the one in the middle, used the other numbers to create a range.

I'm female and have mine set to lightly active losing 1 pound a week (I think), it gave me 1410. I shoot for the 1410, but I'm happy if I land anywhere between 1300-1650.

I have no input about picky eating...I eat or at least have tried almost everything. There's only one food I find repulsive (hominy).

There are a lot of food and recipe groups on here, Recipe Swap has a little bit of everything!

Good luck, maybe someone who has a better understanding of the activity level will respond. I'd like to know the answer to that one, too!

drmwc

I have found that "active" seems to get a sensible calorie goal for me. I walk around 15,000 steps a day, but I have a sedentary job. I don't log the 15,000 steps, as that would be double counting. I do log any exercise on top of the steps. I've found this is reasonably accurate.

An alternative approach would be to mark myself as sedentary, and log all walking calories.

You can always back-solve after a few weeks to see how many calories maintenance is. 1 pound of fat is 3,500 calories; so if you can look at weight loss or gain over a reasonable period (e.g. 1 month), look at how many calories you ate over the period, and use the result to find maintenance.

This post goes into a lot more detail on estimating maintenance calories:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1

For not feeling hungry, I personally like relatively high protein intake as I find it more satiating.

This picture also explains the MFP approach to calories out estimation:

sijomial

Lightly active sounds fine (sedentary means mostly seated which you clearly aren't if you spend your days on your feet). Remember purposeful exercise is on top of your daily goal.

Maybe if you told people what food you enjoy you would get recipe or eating style suggestions.

zebasschick

some tests have shown that standing desks don't make a difference for weight loss so chances are standing at a counter may not, either. that being said, there's a chance you walk more than you think - a lot of people do. perhaps you could get a pedometer or a fitbit to check your steps/distance and see how that goes. if it turns out you do walk more than you think, synch the fitbit to your MFP account and don't allow negative calories or whatever it's called or it'll drive you nuts. use sedentary as your setting and the fitbit will automatically post your walking (or running, if any) to MFP.

samhennings

kbrokop wrote: »

Hello! I’m a return begginer. Lost about 45 lbs in the past but gained it back and then some after a few family deaths. I now need to lose about 100 lbs and I’m really motivated to do it right this time. Life style change. Not a diet. Last time, I felt like I was starving myself. I ate 1200 -1400 calories a day and exercised around 45 min a day. I was always always always hungry. I’m ready to get back the body I never quite had and my goal is to be under 190 by the time I graduate in May.
So I wanted to Verify my new activity level with some folks. I work In the hospital pharmacy. I’m not walking Around a ton but I spend most of the work day on my feet. I sit only at lunch. Would this be lightly active?
All in all I’m a busy and frazzled final year pharmacy student looking for any advice on making a lasting life style change and and resources for good meal prep for picky eaters.
Thanks all!

Sounds lightly active to me, but the truth is its all about trial and error.

Set MFP up, give it a try, and see if you lose as you should. If not, something needs adjusting.

If you are going into this as a lifestyle change, then you are playing the long game, which means its ok if it takes a little time to find what works for you.

cheryldumais

First off I am very sorry for the losses you have suffered. It's understandable that you found dieting difficult during that time.

Activity level is what it is and after a few weeks you will know if you got it right. I set myself up for sedentary because I sit at work but if you feel lightly active fits try it out. If you aren't losing you can always change it.

Now that you're ready to get started again I suggest for lasting weight loss that you need to figure out what you can live with for the rest of your life. As you said a lifestyle change. Personally in the past I had always done what you did when you lost the 45 pounds. I would go whole hog and diet strictly so that I could lose it fast. I figured I would do that then figure out a sensible lifestyle after. Guess what, I never made it to goal back then. This time I decided to find a way to eat that I could live with permanently and I have maintained for 2 years. It also took me 2 years to lose the weight.

Don't expect to lose 2 pounds a week. Set a reasonable goal and settle down to lose weight slowly so that you maintain your muscle. Find an exercise that you enjoy and do that. Don't try to workout daily at something you hate because you won't stick with it. I realized that I loved to walk in the woods so that's what I do. I started out with short walks in a local park and then just extended it as I lost weight and felt I could go farther. BE PATIENT. As time goes by you will get stronger and have more energy. Some people swim, some run some go to the gym. Figure out what you like to do but start slow and work up.

For food everyone is different. Once again you have to figure out what you can live with for life. What worked for me was cutting drastically back on sweets, adding in more veggies, picking leaner meats and cutting back the fried stuff. For maintenance I haven't changed much, I just get a few more calories. I also found cutting fat back too much or eating too many refined carbs left me hungry. You may find the same or something different. Experiment until you find a mix that keeps you comfortable. Eventually you won't crave as much food and you will find you fill up on less but that takes time.

Weigh and log all the food you eat no matter what it is. If you slip, log that too. This routine helped me to see that sometimes when I thought I had blown it, it wasn't really as bad as I thought. It also helped me get back on track. Remember you're learning a new lifestyle. You won't get it perfect every day but you will strive for that. As time goes by you will find it becomes second nature. I still log my food every day and I occasionally weigh it to make sure I'm not eating more than I think I am. It's worth the little bit of time it takes.

The biggest mistake I made was I didn't lift weights and I think I lost some muscle which has lowered my maintenance calorie levels a bit. So I would say in a few months as you are losing find a muscle building routine you like if you can. The final thing is come back to the boards here often. There are a bunch of folks here who helped me so much as I lost. I learned alot and over the last four years I have built a routine I can live with. Good Luck and welcome back.

NovusDies

I would pick 'Lightly Active' and remember that it is only a starting place. There is actually not a lot of reason to be too concerned as long as you do not feel fatigued from your calories being too low. In about 6 weeks you will have enough results to review your numbers and make adjustments to your eating, if needed.

I have an MFP group for people who are starting with or originally started with 75 or more pounds to lose. We also welcome anyone who lost that amount that would like to share their stories and experience. We are very committed to sensible and sustainable approaches to weight loss. We are still pretty new but I think we already have a lot of good information for anyone who wants to switch from a diet mindset to a lifestyle mindset.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/133315-larger-losers

BuddhaBunnyFTW

Motivate yourself with love, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and patience.