How much should I exercise to lose weight

Veejohnson1990
Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all,
Just started my weight loss journey again, I am currently exercise 3 days a week doing high intensity aerobic dance exercises, and well I'm loving it!!
Every article I have read says you need to exercise 30 mins a day 7 days a week and it's kind of daunting 😩
Just wondering if people have had success with the amount I am exercising? I will increase when I feel I can, don't want to hurt or over do myself, but yeah just looking for some first hand experience 🙂
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    You don't have to exercise at all to lose weight, you simply need a calorie deficit. It's true that some people use exercise to help create a calorie deficit, but you could lose weight simply laying in bed all day, every day as long as you were in a deficit.

    There are lots of good reasons to exercise, but we don't NEED it to lose weight.
  • Shortgirlrunning
    Shortgirlrunning Posts: 1,020 Member
    Technically you don’t have to exercise at all to lose weight. Exercise is for health, not weight loss. Weight loss is all about how much you are eating.

    3 times a week sounds like plenty. Forcing yourself to do more is probably just going to lead to burn out anyway. If you want to add more try adding low intensity activity on your “off” days like walking or yoga.
  • Joanna2012B
    Joanna2012B Posts: 1,448 Member
    edited June 2020
    The 30 minutes you read about are just for heart health. It has nothing to do with losing weight. It could simply be a 30 minute walk, just elevate your heart a little. If need be it can be broken into 2 - 15 minutes or even 3 - 10 minutes. Seeing that you are doing a HIIT workout, just walk on your off days -- active recovery.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Exercise 'needed' to lose weight? None. Losing weight is about eating fewer calories than your body uses in a day, and you can do that without exercise.

    Exercise needed to promote good heart/lung health? That is a different story as others have explained above. Exercise to do something you enjoy that gets you moving? Do that as much as you can fit into your life. :)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    Nope, weight loss is all about eating a bit less than your body needs. You could theoretically also create a calorie deficit by means of sport, but sport calorie burns are very often very inflated and in reality a lot lower than you think. If you have enough to lose then creating a 500 calorie deficit simply by eating less is easy, but by means of working out? Every single day? I know I could not do that as it would be extremely hard on my body. You'd certainly not manage with 30 minutes of dancing every day.
  • djaxon1
    djaxon1 Posts: 82 Member
    " . . . you need to exercise 30 mins a day 7 days a week and it's kind of daunting "
    Could even say it's VERY daunting.
    If exercising to lose weight it's a no-brainer not to eat too much in the first place
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    The only thing the exercise (or increased daily activity for that matter, perhaps hard to do right now) is going to specifically do is allow you to eat more than if no workouts, and that may keep you more motivated to stay in a diet.

    Would you rather eat say 1500 and burn 2000 being sedentary?
    Or eat 2000 and burn 2500 being non-sedentary in some manner?

    So exercise at some level that lets you eat at some level you can sustain and adhere to - some have a worse time of that than others.

    Some people have found an eating level they really need to try to maintain - shoot they'll even take less deficit on non-active days to still eat at that level and be will to lose a tad slower.
    That's fine if it fits your desires.
  • Hanibanani2020
    Hanibanani2020 Posts: 523 Member
    Weight loss happens in the kitchen. You don’t need to move at all to lose weight as it’s just eating at a deficit. Exercise is for health and fitness. It can benefit weight loss but weight loss can happen without it.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Hi all,
    Just started my weight loss journey again, I am currently exercise 3 days a week doing high intensity aerobic dance exercises, and well I'm loving it!!
    Every article I have read says you need to exercise 30 mins a day 7 days a week and it's kind of daunting 😩
    Just wondering if people have had success with the amount I am exercising? I will increase when I feel I can, don't want to hurt or over do myself, but yeah just looking for some first hand experience 🙂

    Huh? Most things I read (from health authorities) seem to say that for general basic fitness we should do 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise a week, or half that of intense exercise, or a mix. If your dance classes are half an hour, and intense, for a total of 90 minutes a week, you may already be past there. (In addition, the general guidelines I've read for basic fitness/health say to strength train 2 days a week.)

    Spreading the exercise across the week is good, so usually the base recommendation is for something like 5 days x 30 minutes of moderate exercise to get to 150, but your 3 days of more intense exercise should be fine.

    If you want to burn a few more calories in order to eat a bit more, or want to work a bit more on your fitness, it might be logical to add something very moderate (casual walk or bike, maybe yoga or something like that) on non-dance days.

    There is no need - in fact it can be counterproductive - to do intense exercise to the point of immediate or cumululative exhaustion. Any body movement burns extra calories, vs. being still. Sometimes the diet/fitness blogosphere makes it seem like we need to do something miserable and exhausting to lose weight, as if being fat were a sin we need to expiate through suffering! That's a complete myth. ;)

    I agree with others: Weight loss is all about calorie balance. If you're using the MFP method (logging exercise and eating it back), exercising more just means eating more to fuel adequately. Calorie balance determines weight loss, exercise is for fitness and fun. Sounds like you're doing fine. (Well, maybe add a little strength training? ;) ).

    You can lose weight with zero exercise, just by managing calories eaten.

    Realistically, sometimes I exercise, sometimes I don't. Now in year 4+ of maintaining a healthy weight (after decades of obesity), but working on losing a few vanity pounds ultra slowly, I'm pretty clear about how I need to eat for either activity routine, so that my weight does what I want/expect either way. I'm down about a pound a month since the start of the year, which is pretty much where I want to be.

    So, sure, in my experience weight loss can happen with any amount of exercise, from none to lots.
  • Leezy55
    Leezy55 Posts: 339 Member
    I'm 65, 5'2.5" and weigh 165. If I don't exercise how many calories should I eat daily to lose 40-50 lbs? I have always been on the thin side. Started gaining weight the closer I got to 60. Yes I started eating more and moving less. I do not have any health problems.
  • Veejohnson1990
    Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!
  • Hanibanani2020
    Hanibanani2020 Posts: 523 Member
    I’m vegan and had the same issue so made 100 cal Nutrient rich protein balls for the days I was under eating and not hungry. Just pop one and you’re good to go, but do try to up your calories naturally. Maybe some oats or dried fruit or nuts or coconut yoghurt. Loads of high calorie low fibre vegan foods out there so you won’t get the full feeling.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    Leezy55 wrote: »
    I'm 65, 5'2.5" and weigh 165. If I don't exercise how many calories should I eat daily to lose 40-50 lbs? I have always been on the thin side. Started gaining weight the closer I got to 60. Yes I started eating more and moving less. I do not have any health problems.

    Use the guided setup in your MFP profile, it will estimate the calorie goal for you. At your size, around 1 pound a week is the maximum you should shoot for, IMO. If you do exercise, log it and eat those calories in addition to the base goal calories MFP gives you. (FWIW, I'm 5'5" and 64, formerly 183 pounds, joined MFP at 154 pounds at age 59, now about 130 pounds and in year 4+ of maintenance.)

    The calorie goal for loss has nothing to do with what total amount you want to lose, except that if one doesn't have lots to lose, it's safer to stay away from 2 pounds a week loss. Mostly, your goal weight just tells you when to stop losing; the process of getting there is basically the same regardless: Eat fewer calories than you burn, more days than not, by a sensibly moderate amount.

    Best wishes!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Leezy55 wrote: »
    I'm 65, 5'2.5" and weigh 165. If I don't exercise how many calories should I eat daily to lose 40-50 lbs? I have always been on the thin side. Started gaining weight the closer I got to 60. Yes I started eating more and moving less. I do not have any health problems.

    1256.75

    Ya, not that exact, and as mentioned you are lacking much room for much deficit.

    Call it 1250 - but that is based on you getting up and moving around daily so as not to be sedentary but instead Lightly-Active, to give room for 500 cal deficit.

    That'll be 1 lb weekly in theory. Your accuracy in logging and what your body is really doing will show the true deficit.

    Lightly-Active means at least a good solid 1 hr a day moving around at decent pace beyond the basic stuff and sitting like a frog on a log.
    Take the long way around the house, long way to get the mail, visit the end of your driveway several times, walk a dog (ask before taking the neighbors), forget why you visited a room and go back several times (especially if upstairs).

    1250 will allow room to drop as weight drops too.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    As vegans, we absolutely have access to calorie-dense foods (and I think it's counter-productive when we say we don't, as it may be off-putting to people who want to gain weight or simply be able to maintain a healthy body weight and are also interested in veganism).

    Some of my favorites: nut/nut butters, coconut/coconut milk, dark chocolate, potatoes, pasta, vegan mayo, avocado/guacamole, full fat salad dressings, hummus and/or tahini, vegan baked goods (banana bread, muffins, etc), pancakes/waffles, and smoothies/fruit juices. If you're meeting all your nutritional needs (which is unlikely on 1,110 a day, by the way), then you can also enjoy ones of the dozens and dozens of vegan beers or wines available to add more calories to your day.

    I'm a vegan runner and some days I have as many as 3,000 calories without much of a challenge. I know of other vegan athletes or bodybuilders who eat a lot more than me. Scott Jurkek, the vegan ultrarunner, I think was eating 3,000-5,000 every day for a few months in a row when he was doing his full AT run. There are vegan powerlifters posting their meals on social media who are eating a mind-boggling number of calories (mind-boggling to me, normal for powerlifters). We are absolutely as capable as non-vegans are when it comes to eating to sustain our activity levels.
  • Veejohnson1990
    Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    How fast are you losing?

    If 1100 is an accurate count, and you're doing intense exercise you're not eating back on top of that, you're undereating. Undereating increases health risk.

    I'm not sure how veganism relates to not being able to eat enough calories, but if it's that you're feeling full before getting enough calories in, add some nuts, avocado, olive oil, seeds or something like that, something calorie dense but not filling, please. U*nderfueling is not a good idea.

    Sincerely concerned!

    I'm not losing much at all, in 4 weeks with the exercise I've lost 6lb, and I'm just feeling full from the food I'm eating as I mostly have vegetables on the side of my meals, I cook from scratch also so there's no added sugars etc which keeps the calories down. I've been weighing everything to make sure I get it as accurate as I can, but as I said the low calories aren't intentional at all.
    I'll be having homemade pizza tonight so I'm sure that will be calorie dense!
    But I'll look into ways to increase my intake, last thing I want is health issues!
  • Veejohnson1990
    Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    Just a question: if you find it so hard to eat enough how come you feel the need to lose weight? Surely you'd not have gained weight if you'd always undereaten.

    Do you use a kitchen scale and weight everything you eat in grams? Do you make sure you're selecting the right database entries?

    I have snacked a lot in the past and I've not always eaten the way I do, I put 4 stone on in the past 2 years, and 2 stone of that piled on in 2 months last year but the drs couldn't find anything wrong.
    I have been using a kitchen scale and measuring cups/spoons etc for my measurements.
    But as I said I haven't always under eaten.
  • Veejohnson1990
    Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    As vegans, we absolutely have access to calorie-dense foods (and I think it's counter-productive when we say we don't, as it may be off-putting to people who want to gain weight or simply be able to maintain a healthy body weight and are also interested in veganism).

    Some of my favorites: nut/nut butters, coconut/coconut milk, dark chocolate, potatoes, pasta, vegan mayo, avocado/guacamole, full fat salad dressings, hummus and/or tahini, vegan baked goods (banana bread, muffins, etc), pancakes/waffles, and smoothies/fruit juices. If you're meeting all your nutritional needs (which is unlikely on 1,110 a day, by the way), then you can also enjoy ones of the dozens and dozens of vegan beers or wines available to add more calories to your day.

    I'm a vegan runner and some days I have as many as 3,000 calories without much of a challenge. I know of other vegan athletes or bodybuilders who eat a lot more than me. Scott Jurkek, the vegan ultrarunner, I think was eating 3,000-5,000 every day for a few months in a row when he was doing his full AT run. There are vegan powerlifters posting their meals on social media who are eating a mind-boggling number of calories (mind-boggling to me, normal for powerlifters). We are absolutely as capable as non-vegans are when it comes to eating to sustain our activity levels.

    The problem I'm having since I've been more conscious of what I've been eating, is a lot of the vegans I've seen who have lose weight stick to the low fat/no fat diets, but I really struggle eating the amount of food they are consuming. So it's sort of put me in a place where the foods I enjoy, like banana bread and avocado etc seem really scary! But I just need to get out of that mentality I guess and especially make sure I'm eating enough on my exercise days.
    I know there Are plenty of vegans who can get a lot of calories in etc but I just can't eat a massive amount of food, especially with working as well, plus I don't get a proper lunch break in my line of work. But I will try and get it up, as stated it isn't intentional.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    Fat is a necessary nutrient.

    Fat doesn't (in itself) lead to being fat, it's all about a calorie balance.

    If you are struggling to hit your calories, that's likely because you've cut fat. A handful of almonds = 170 calories and 14g fat.

    Avo? 50 grams is 75 calories and 8g fat.

    Eat your fats. Your brain (and body) will be happier.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
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  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    Just a question: if you find it so hard to eat enough how come you feel the need to lose weight? Surely you'd not have gained weight if you'd always undereaten.

    Do you use a kitchen scale and weight everything you eat in grams? Do you make sure you're selecting the right database entries?

    I have snacked a lot in the past and I've not always eaten the way I do, I put 4 stone on in the past 2 years, and 2 stone of that piled on in 2 months last year but the drs couldn't find anything wrong.
    I have been using a kitchen scale and measuring cups/spoons etc for my measurements.
    But as I said I haven't always under eaten.

    Hmm.. so your weight loss looks good! Nothing wrong there. You don't seem to be obese, thus 6lbs in 4 weeks is good, possibly even a bit on the fast side.
    If you really want to know how much you're eating then dutch the cups and spoons and use a scale for everything. Even for products that have a weight on them. Most things can be off by 20%, and this generally means there's more in the package, hence more calories.
  • Veejohnson1990
    Veejohnson1990 Posts: 35 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    Just a question: if you find it so hard to eat enough how come you feel the need to lose weight? Surely you'd not have gained weight if you'd always undereaten.

    Do you use a kitchen scale and weight everything you eat in grams? Do you make sure you're selecting the right database entries?

    I have snacked a lot in the past and I've not always eaten the way I do, I put 4 stone on in the past 2 years, and 2 stone of that piled on in 2 months last year but the drs couldn't find anything wrong.
    I have been using a kitchen scale and measuring cups/spoons etc for my measurements.
    But as I said I haven't always under eaten.

    Hmm.. so your weight loss looks good! Nothing wrong there. You don't seem to be obese, thus 6lbs in 4 weeks is good, possibly even a bit on the fast side.
    If you really want to know how much you're eating then dutch the cups and spoons and use a scale for everything. Even for products that have a weight on them. Most things can be off by 20%, and this generally means there's more in the package, hence more calories.

    I'm currently 16st 3lb since losing the 6lbs so according to every health organisation I'm obese 😂 I mainly want to get healthy and fit again! And well get some of my confidence back in my self image.
    But I'll stick to weighing everything rather than cups.
    Thank you 😊
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    How fast are you losing?

    If 1100 is an accurate count, and you're doing intense exercise you're not eating back on top of that, you're undereating. Undereating increases health risk.

    I'm not sure how veganism relates to not being able to eat enough calories, but if it's that you're feeling full before getting enough calories in, add some nuts, avocado, olive oil, seeds or something like that, something calorie dense but not filling, please. U*nderfueling is not a good idea.

    Sincerely concerned!

    I'm not losing much at all, in 4 weeks with the exercise I've lost 6lb, and I'm just feeling full from the food I'm eating as I mostly have vegetables on the side of my meals, I cook from scratch also so there's no added sugars etc which keeps the calories down. I've been weighing everything to make sure I get it as accurate as I can, but as I said the low calories aren't intentional at all.
    I'll be having homemade pizza tonight so I'm sure that will be calorie dense!
    But I'll look into ways to increase my intake, last thing I want is health issues!

    OK, so maybe you're not overeating, maybe you're undercounting when logging (for some of the reasons yirara mentioned. But 4 weeks may be a little on the short side, to get a good average. Sometimes the first week or two can be a water-weight roller-coaster ride, atypical. And - if premenopausal - you want to compare weights at the same relative point in two or more different monthly cycles (because hormone-related water fluctuation can also be misleading).

    To be clear, what I'm saying here is that your actual weight loss rate is the best guide to whether you're undereating. - not something a calorie "calculator" or fitness tracker or whatever might say, because those are just statistical estimates. (There is a little room in there for undereating to the point of lassitude, so losing slower than one would expect when calories get too low. This is not "starvation mode" as popularly depicted (as the idea that "your body holds onto fat". The mechanism is pretty much fatigue, so reduced activity and reduced overall calorie expenditure.)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Thanks all, I've been sticking to a 1500 calorie intake daily, even on my exercise days.
    I'm vegan and I can find it hard to get much more than 1500 calories in a day, most of the time I'm at about 1100 calories a day! This isn't intentional it's just how my days work out food wise sometimes, but I'm glad that the exercise I'm currently doing will still yeild results ☺️
    Thank you all for the great advice and insight!

    Just a question: if you find it so hard to eat enough how come you feel the need to lose weight? Surely you'd not have gained weight if you'd always undereaten.

    Do you use a kitchen scale and weight everything you eat in grams? Do you make sure you're selecting the right database entries?

    I have snacked a lot in the past and I've not always eaten the way I do, I put 4 stone on in the past 2 years, and 2 stone of that piled on in 2 months last year but the drs couldn't find anything wrong.
    I have been using a kitchen scale and measuring cups/spoons etc for my measurements.
    But as I said I haven't always under eaten.

    Hmm.. so your weight loss looks good! Nothing wrong there. You don't seem to be obese, thus 6lbs in 4 weeks is good, possibly even a bit on the fast side.
    If you really want to know how much you're eating then dutch the cups and spoons and use a scale for everything. Even for products that have a weight on them. Most things can be off by 20%, and this generally means there's more in the package, hence more calories.

    I'm currently 16st 3lb since losing the 6lbs so according to every health organisation I'm obese 😂 I mainly want to get healthy and fit again! And well get some of my confidence back in my self image.
    But I'll stick to weighing everything rather than cups.
    Thank you 😊

    I'd suggest first week measure and weigh, or weigh and measure, those things you'd normally just measure.
    Some foods you may discover were not far off, some maybe were and will explain a lot.

    May also discover the weighing can be just as easy once you use the different methods of using the Tare button.

    Also, weigh the fats you are going to try to eat more of - that can be a big surprise if done wrong.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Veejohnson1990 wrote: »
    Hi all,
    Just started my weight loss journey again, I am currently exercise 3 days a week doing high intensity aerobic dance exercises, and well I'm loving it!!
    Every article I have read says you need to exercise 30 mins a day 7 days a week and it's kind of daunting 😩
    Just wondering if people have had success with the amount I am exercising? I will increase when I feel I can, don't want to hurt or over do myself, but yeah just looking for some first hand experience 🙂

    The 30 minutes you are referencing is a basic guideline for minimum exercise for basic health. It would also be 5 days per week for a total of 150 minutes of light to moderate aerobic exercise weekly for basic health.

    Losing weight is about taking in less calories (energy) than you need to maintain the status quo...exercise is helpful because it increases your total energy expenditure...but diet is going to have far more impact on weight management in general. Exercise doesn't default to weight loss.

    Also keep in mind that exercise doesn't have to be this super intense thing all of the time...and it really shouldn't be. I usually exercise in some manner 7 days per week, but it is varied...one day might be 30 mile bike ride...the next might be a shorter 10 mile ride...or I might go hit the trails on my mountain bike for an hour or two...or I might just go walk the dog or do some yoga. Varying intensity and duration lets you recover if you've had a more strenuous session...also varying activity keeps things more interesting than doing the same thing all the time.
  • Leezy55
    Leezy55 Posts: 339 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Leezy55 wrote: »
    I'm 65, 5'2.5" and weigh 165. If I don't exercise how many calories should I eat daily to lose 40-50 lbs? I have always been on the thin side. Started gaining weight the closer I got to 60. Yes I started eating more and moving less. I do not have any health problems.

    Use the guided setup in your MFP profile, it will estimate the calorie goal for you. At your size, around 1 pound a week is the maximum you should shoot for, IMO. If you do exercise, log it and eat those calories in addition to the base goal calories MFP gives you. (FWIW, I'm 5'5" and 64, formerly 183 pounds, joined MFP at 154 pounds at age 59, now about 130 pounds and in year 4+ of maintenance.)

    The calorie goal for loss has nothing to do with what total amount you want to lose, except that if one doesn't have lots to lose, it's safer to stay away from 2 pounds a week loss. Mostly, your goal weight just tells you when to stop losing; the process of getting there is basically the same regardless: Eat fewer calories than you burn, more days than not, by a sensibly moderate amount.

    Best wishes!

    Hi Ann, thank you so much for your comment I follow you quite a bit on this site. I guess what I'm confused about is that prior to this diet plan or this new lifestyle I was eating approximately 7000 calories per day. This was primarily avocado toast, peanut butter toast, handfuls of mixed nuts, ice cream chocolate those are kind of the things I love to eat. I have always been physically active so I was still hiking with the hiking group maybe three to four times a week as well as cycling. I never was a fan of fast food in fact I rarely if ever eat it and I also don't enjoy going out to eat so my weight gain isn't from those areas. so now here I am eating 1200 calories per day and since lockdown now I do a 45-minute Peloton spin ride everyday and I do two different sessions at three to four mile walks which includes elevation gains. I've been doing a lot of housework and yard work so I am not idle my days are approximately 18 hours long. so my question is why am I stuck for months on end at my weight between 163 and 165? so why going from 7000 calories a day to 1200 calories a day am I not losing weight? I would have expected the weight to just melt off but here I am 3 months later with two pounds down and then two pounds up I don't get it.

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