Help needed to lose weight

prehistoricmoongoddess

I've just come back to MFP after a year away due to a difficult year.

During that time I was not taking notice of what I was eating and I put on two stone.

So I've started to lose again, at first without counting calories.

For 5 days I was away with my daughter, who is 42lb lighter than me, and 1 1/2 inches shorter. We ate the same home cooked food, she snacked but I didn't and we took lots of walks. At the end of the week she lost 2lbs and I'd put on 2lbs.

So I came home, continued to eat healthily and I began losing again. I'm on Garmin and I clock up a lot of intensity minutes when walking, my daughter gets none as she is fitter than me.

I've started again using MFP, but I'm worried about my calorie intake.

My TDEE is 1490. According to what I have read I will lose weight at 500 less, but that gives me too few calories.

So I looked back at when I was on here from Jan 19, and I was steadily losing but most of the time I was on less than 1200 calories.

And now it's the same again. I'm weighing everything and not snacking. I'm not adding sugar to anything.

I'm not at all hungry and trying to up my protein, hence the Skyr yoghourt.

I know I'll lose weight if I keep to lower than 1200 calories, but it's not healthy, so I don't know what to do.

yirara

Ok, reality check: do you really think you ate 7000 calories over your maintenance calories over those 5 days? That would be 1400 calories each day over your maintenance.

More likley those two lbs are simply water weight. A bit more salt, certain time in your cycle, other hormonal fluctuations, traveling, heat. All those things cause water retention and can show as weight gain on the scale. Don't sweat it.

Secondly, you say your tdee is only 1490. You also said that you gained 2 stones. That's about 28lbs? How did you calculate your tdee? It really seems low. Maybe you're talking about your base metabolic rate? What maintenance calories does MFP give you if you enter your weight, size, gender and age truthfully and set it to maintain weight?

prehistoricmoongoddess

Hi @yirara, thank you for your reply.

I could not have eaten that much more than my maintenance calories if that, so I think you must be right and it was water weight. I lost it soon after I got home.

My TDEE is 1490 due to being only 5ft tall.

I've checked my maintenance calories in MFP and they come up at 1550. Changing it to losing anything between 1/2 lb a week and 2lb a week gives me 1200 calories as that is the lowest calorie level it will allow me to go to.

Looking back to the 6 months I was losing weight, I only seemed to have any success when eating under 1200 calories.

I've realised my protein has always been low and I'm trying to correct this. My sugar and fat intake is much lower than over the last year when I was comfort eating, and yes, I did gain 28lbs, in fact maybe more, but I started to lose weight before I felt I could stand on the scales.

yirara

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

Hi yirara, thank you for your reply.

I could not have eaten that much more than my maintenance calories if that, so I think you must be right and it was water weight. I lost it soon after I got home.

My TDEE is 1490 due to being only 5ft tall.

I've checked my maintenance calories in MFP and they come up at 1550. Changing it to losing anything between 1/2 lb a week and 2lb a week gives me 1200 calories as that is the lowest calorie level it will allow me to go to.

Looking back to the 6 months I was losing weight, I only seemed to have any success when eating under 1200 calories.

I've realised my protein has always been low and I'm trying to correct this. My sugar and fat intake is much lower than over the last year when I was comfort eating, and yes, I did gain 28lbs, in fact maybe more, but I started to lose weight before I felt I could stand on the scales.

Ok, so if MFP gives you 1550 calories for maintaining weight then your TDEE could potentially be higher than that as TDEE includes exercise while the MFP method doesn't.

I would suggest to set your rate of loss at 0.5lbs per week. Yes, I know it's not a lot and it will be slow. But as you noticed yourself MFP won't allow you to get below 1200; and you shouldn't because it's not healthy. With a weight loss goal of 0.5lbs per week you'll have a daily deficit of 250 calories. Working out will give you more food to eat as well. But with such a slow goal you need to be extra meticulous with logging, thus using a scale for everything and making sure the database entries are correct. Believe me, everyone can lose on 1200 calories. But it might not show up immediately due to your small deficit. As you saw, those two pounds appeared out of nowhere. Such a small pile of water could mask the weight loss of a whole month: it might not show up on the scale and the scale might even go up a bit. But it's not fat but normal water fluctuation. Thus I suggest you do this for at least 6, maybe 8 weeks to account for cycle water and other water weight fluctuations and then re-evaluate.

prehistoricmoongoddess

@yirara

I've planned my eating for today and it comes up to 1197, and I will see if I can manage to eat all of that. If I manage ok I'll see how I get on. I guess I want to see results. When I first started to lose, it was at such a slow rate that the app showed I wouldn't get to my target weight until 2040! Now it says it will be next year, but that is at an aggressive rate.

My food weighing is meticulous, but I will check that I'm using the right database entries. Potatoes and some other foods don't say if cooked or uncooked, I used the lower weigh as I know im coming up as undereating.

Ive been losing on around 1000, but I do think for me that it is a fine line between under and overeating, so it's getting the balance right.

I'm trying to walk each day, but don't like to walk in the rain! Most of my walking is a 20 minute round walk to the shops, on a good day I take a longer route.

Thanks for the advice

mylittlerainbow

I'm 5 feet tall also, and probably a lot older than you; my TDEE is 1350-1430. I lost my weight eating at 1000-1100 calories per day and still it was very slow (35 pounds in 10 months) because so close to my TDEE. It's not an unhealthy calorie ceiling for weight loss for people our size. The recommended 64 ounces of water a day can also be excessive at our height; my doctor told me I didn't have to aim for that much unless I was scrupulous about balancing with electrolytes. So don't worry about averages, which are targeted at people of average size.

prehistoricmoongoddess

@mylittlerainbow

Thanks for your reply. That's very interesting to know that you kept to a smaller calorie intake and managed to lose weight ok.

My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose, but I have been losing when I track my food at less than 1200.

I'm definitely not one of the younger ones on here, my photo was taken on a good day!

JBanx256

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

@mylittlerainbow
My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

"Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

cmriverside

yeah, what JBanx said.

Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.

prehistoricmoongoddess

JBanx256 wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

@mylittlerainbow
My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

"Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

Thank you. I have told her that she is wrong, but she saw what I was eating when I was with her, and her losing 2lb and me gaining 2lb convinced her even more.

janejellyroll

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

JBanx256 wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

@mylittlerainbow
My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

"Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

Thank you. I have told her that she is wrong, but she saw what I was eating when I was with her, and her losing 2lb and me gaining 2lb convinced her even more.

The thing is, there are multiple factors that go into our weight over time. Watching someone eat and exercise "about the same" for us for five days isn't enough to draw any real conclusions. Your and your daughter likely have different base needs for energy and even when it looks like we're eating the same things in roughly the same quantity, calorie intake can differ too.

prehistoricmoongoddess

cmriverside wrote: »

yeah, what JBanx said.

Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.

I have at least 3 stone to lose now, in fact my goal is to lose 3 1/2.

I was on MFP before and I lost over a stone in 6 months, but put two back on since June 19.

I'm back on now and aim to be accountable. I need to up my walking as that's slowed down. Usually I'd be on holiday now and out all day but now I'm in the house for far too long.

I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

JBanx256

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

James Kreiger wrote an AMAZING 4-article series in his research review on the myth of starvation mode; he's got a ton of studies (peer-reviewed, etc - actual scientific studies, not "an article I read in Cosmo") cited. weightology.net is his site; a lot of it is behind a paywall but there's a good bit of free info available too.

prehistoricmoongoddess

janejellyroll wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

JBanx256 wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

@mylittlerainbow
My daughter keeps telling me my body will be in starvation mode and that is why I find it hard to lose!

"Starvation mode" does not exist. Look up Minnesota starvation experiment, look at photos of POW's, or even stray dogs...if "starvation mode," as your daughter means it, existed, they certainly would not look the way that they do. What your daughter is suggesting is a violation of the law of thermodynamics.

Thank you. I have told her that she is wrong, but she saw what I was eating when I was with her, and her losing 2lb and me gaining 2lb convinced her even more.

The thing is, there are multiple factors that go into our weight over time. Watching someone eat and exercise "about the same" for us for five days isn't enough to draw any real conclusions. Your and your daughter likely have different base needs for energy and even when it looks like we're eating the same things in roughly the same quantity, calorie intake can differ too.

She seemed hungrier than I did, and despite eating more at each meal she was snacking too. I expect we must have had a different base needs. Plus as has been said, salt aids water retention and she doesn't add any to her food but I do.

prehistoricmoongoddess

JBanx256 wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

James Kreiger wrote an AMAZING 4-article series in his research review on the myth of starvation mode; he's got a ton of studies (peer-reviewed, etc - actual scientific studies, not "an article I read in Cosmo") cited. weightology.net is his site; a lot of it is behind a paywall but there's a good bit of free info available too.

Thanks. I'll look for this

cmriverside

On "starvation mode"

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

nanastaci2020

One note... You gave a comparison of weight loss/gain for yourself & your daughter over a few days. If the weighins were not consistent, then they are not fair comparison points of data. To be consistent, your weighins should be taken using the same scale, at the same level of clothing, at the same point in your day. So if you weighed in at home in the morning before eating/drinking and naked and then 5 days later weighed in on your daughter's bathroom scale, wearing clothes in the middle of the afternoon: the data points are inconsistent. At any point in time, your weight is a combination of fat/muscle/bone/etc. as well as food/liquid/waste at some form of being processed. Change those details, and of course your weight changes.

AnnPT77

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

yeah, what JBanx said.

Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.

I have at least 3 stone to lose now, in fact my goal is to lose 3 1/2.

I was on MFP before and I lost over a stone in 6 months, but put two back on since June 19.

I'm back on now and aim to be accountable. I need to up my walking as that's slowed down. Usually I'd be on holiday now and out all day but now I'm in the house for far too long.

I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

A few thoughts, in response to all of your posts (as best I remember them 😬), not just the one I quoted.

There are many possible reasons you and your daughter had different experiences in your shared situation. Others mentioned water weight, and at least one mentioned monthly cycles. Since you say you're older, you may no longer have one (I don't), but I'm betting your daughter does. If she happens to have been on the loss side of cycle related water weight over those 5 days, that alone could explain the difference between you. Also, it's common (not guaranteed/universal) for younger people to have relatively more muscle mass (so *slightly* higher basal metabolic rate), and to be a little bit more active in daily life (not just exercise, but all daily stuff, including fidgitiness 😉).

Statistically, younger people burn a few more calories daily than otherwise similar older people, but muscle mass and daily movement are major contributors to that difference, IMO. Even as we age, we can work to counter those factors.

While you have the extra weight such that you could theoretically lose faster than 0.5lb/week, there is that issue of getting adequate nutrition, so needing a certain minimum of calories. If you do find that you need to lose slowly in order to feel sated and get your nutrition, a thing to realize is that it can be really hard to see that slow fat loss happening, against the backdrop of normal water weight fluctuations (that are part of how a healthy body functions). But slow loss can be amazingly successful long term, and also remarkably painless (except for that "hard to see short term" part! 😉).

To understand daily fluctuations, in case you do end up losing slowly, I'm going to suggest this as a very useful article:

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

. . . because understanding those things well, is part of staying calm and trusting the calorie counting process, while the scale just seems to be roller-coastering, in the short run. Too many people over-react to these natural fluctuations, assume they're gaining when they're not, change their plan unnecessarily, and generally thrash a bit.

It's not a panacea or a magic crystal ball, but you may find a weight trending app helpful in a slower-loss situation, if you don't already use one. These use statistical methods to "smooth out" fluctuations and help you see the underlying pattern. (Some examples are Happy Scale for Apple iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a free Fitbit account but you don't need a device), Weightgrapher, and probably others).

Just as a bit of a case study, I've been losing weight ultra-slowly over the last few months (a few vanity pounds in year 4+ of weight maintenance, after losing down from obesity in 2015): Slower than half a pound a week, more like a pound a month, or a bit less. Since last October, I'm down about 10 pounds. Even with the trending app (I use Libra) there were times that it looked like I might be gaining (once for the better part of a month!), but after 5 years of logging, I do trust the process. Slow loss works.

Now, I know you wouldn't be looking for anything as slow as my example, but I'm just pointing out that it can work, but be hard to recognize/manage sometimes! (If you want to see how it looked in Libra, click the spoiler.)

The connected downhill-ish line is the 7-day trend, the vertical lines connect daily weights to the trend. I couldn't show all the way back to October when I started this ultra-slow-loss thing, because it would lose the vertical lines from the display. In October, my trend line peaked up around 139, and my daily weights were sometimes ranging into the lower 140s. Now, once again, the future trend (straight line at the right) thinks I'm gaining 😆. All I can say is, I'm quite sure I'm not, but rather am just in one of those trend-peaky things you can see to the left, on the way to heading overall downward.

Since you mention being in the house too long, and I know exercise is more of a challenge now for many people during the pandemic, I'll point out this thread, below, which includes ways of incorporating more daily-life movement into our routines. It's an older thread, so many ideas are not pandemic-friendly, but much that's in there are things people do inside their homes, without a big time investment, as they go through a routine day.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Best wishes!

kellykirby

I’ve just started using mfp again as I would love to loose 3stone. All the facts and figures are very confusing and a bit mind blowing if I’m honest. I’ll admit I have done NO exercise during lockdown and I probably still won’t do much going forward. MFP said approx 1500 cals but I have entered my own at 1200 so far since Saturday I’ve only managed to eat on average about 1000 and lost 4lb(I know it’s prob all water !!) but my NET is practically 0. Im told NET should equal CALS to loose weight. If I eat 1200 cals and still 0 net will I lose weight? I know I’m eating too little really and realise this is not advisable. But if I’m not hungry I was advised it’s ok don’t eat for sake of it. What do you reckon is best, what should I do ?? Tia x

cmriverside

kellykirby wrote: »

I’ve just started using mfp again as I would love to loose 3stone. All the facts and figures are very confusing and a bit mind blowing if I’m honest. I’ll admit I have done NO exercise during lockdown and I probably still won’t do much going forward. MFP said approx 1500 cals but I have entered my own at 1200 so far since Saturday I’ve only managed to eat on average about 1000 and lost 4lb(I know it’s prob all water !!) but my NET is practically 0. Im told NET should equal CALS to loose weight. If I eat 1200 cals and still 0 net will I lose weight? I know I’m eating too little really and realise this is not advisable. But if I’m not hungry I was advised it’s ok don’t eat for sake of it. What do you reckon is best, what should I do ?? Tia x

I reckon you should start a new thread to get answers.

prehistoricmoongoddess

nanamerriman2020 wrote: »

One note... You gave a comparison of weight loss/gain for yourself & your daughter over a few days. If the weighins were not consistent, then they are not fair comparison points of data. To be consistent, your weighins should be taken using the same scale, at the same level of clothing, at the same point in your day. So if you weighed in at home in the morning before eating/drinking and naked and then 5 days later weighed in on your daughter's bathroom scale, wearing clothes in the middle of the afternoon: the data points are inconsistent. At any point in time, your weight is a combination of fat/muscle/bone/etc. as well as food/liquid/waste at some form of being processed. Change those details, and of course your weight changes.

You are so right. Our initial weighing and the ones after we came home were in our individual houses.

My daughter rang me the next day to say 'did you lose weight!' When I said I had gained she was shocked and said she was sure I would have lost. I must admit I felt a failure then, she's not even trying to lose weight.

So I'm not going to discuss my plans with her as her comments are not helping

Diatonic12

@prehistoricmoongoddess They've got you covered with the math. Catchy moniker. I agree with you. Only once in a blue moon do I discuss anything that pertains to weight with those in my circle.

prehistoricmoongoddess

AnnPT77 wrote: »

prehistoricmoongoddess wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

yeah, what JBanx said.

Anyone and everyone CAN lose weight. Moongoddess, do you just have the two stone to lose? If so, be patient, 1/2 pound to one pound per week is fast enough.

Then, dial in your nutrition as much as you can. Get that protein up, and don't skimp on fats - if anything, the carbs are what are expendable. I am an older lady too, and I have to have protein powder on hand to add to my yogurt, my smoothies, my porridge, etc. It helps me a lot. I usually use about a half scoop per day.

My last few pounds I lost at 1500 PLUS Exercise calories, and I'm 5'8". It took a very long time...the last 15 pounds took me nine months.

Be patient, add in more whole fruits and vegetables and keep it going. And every time your daughter wants to "school" you, I would change the topic.

I have at least 3 stone to lose now, in fact my goal is to lose 3 1/2.

I was on MFP before and I lost over a stone in 6 months, but put two back on since June 19.

I'm back on now and aim to be accountable. I need to up my walking as that's slowed down. Usually I'd be on holiday now and out all day but now I'm in the house for far too long.

I hoping my daughter doesn't keep on about starvation mode after I last told her to stop!

A few thoughts, in response to all of your posts (as best I remember them 😬), not just the one I quoted.

There are many possible reasons you and your daughter had different experiences in your shared situation. Others mentioned water weight, and at least one mentioned monthly cycles. Since you say you're older, you may no longer have one (I don't), but I'm betting your daughter does. If she happens to have been on the loss side of cycle related water weight over those 5 days, that alone could explain the difference between you. Also, it's common (not guaranteed/universal) for younger people to have relatively more muscle mass (so *slightly* higher basal metabolic rate), and to be a little bit more active in daily life (not just exercise, but all daily stuff, including fidgitiness 😉).

Statistically, younger people burn a few more calories daily than otherwise similar older people, but muscle mass and daily movement are major contributors to that difference, IMO. Even as we age, we can work to counter those factors.

While you have the extra weight such that you could theoretically lose faster than 0.5lb/week, there is that issue of getting adequate nutrition, so needing a certain minimum of calories. If you do find that you need to lose slowly in order to feel sated and get your nutrition, a thing to realize is that it can be really hard to see that slow fat loss happening, against the backdrop of normal water weight fluctuations (that are part of how a healthy body functions). But slow loss can be amazingly successful long term, and also remarkably painless (except for that "hard to see short term" part! 😉).

To understand daily fluctuations, in case you do end up losing slowly, I'm going to suggest this as a very useful article:

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

. . . because understanding those things well, is part of staying calm and trusting the calorie counting process, while the scale just seems to be roller-coastering, in the short run. Too many people over-react to these natural fluctuations, assume they're gaining when they're not, change their plan unnecessarily, and generally thrash a bit.

It's not a panacea or a magic crystal ball, but you may find a weight trending app helpful in a slower-loss situation, if you don't already use one. These use statistical methods to "smooth out" fluctuations and help you see the underlying pattern. (Some examples are Happy Scale for Apple iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a free Fitbit account but you don't need a device), Weightgrapher, and probably others).

Just as a bit of a case study, I've been losing weight ultra-slowly over the last few months (a few vanity pounds in year 4+ of weight maintenance, after losing down from obesity in 2015): Slower than half a pound a week, more like a pound a month, or a bit less. Since last October, I'm down about 10 pounds. Even with the trending app (I use Libra) there were times that it looked like I might be gaining (once for the better part of a month!), but after 5 years of logging, I do trust the process. Slow loss works.

Now, I know you wouldn't be looking for anything as slow as my example, but I'm just pointing out that it can work, but be hard to recognize/manage sometimes! (If you want to see how it looked in Libra, click the spoiler.)

The connected downhill-ish line is the 7-day trend, the vertical lines connect daily weights to the trend. I couldn't show all the way back to October when I started this ultra-slow-loss thing, because it would lose the vertical lines from the display. In October, my trend line peaked up around 139, and my daily weights were sometimes ranging into the lower 140s. Now, once again, the future trend (straight line at the right) thinks I'm gaining 😆. All I can say is, I'm quite sure I'm not, but rather am just in one of those trend-peaky things you can see to the left, on the way to heading overall downward.

Since you mention being in the house too long, and I know exercise is more of a challenge now for many people during the pandemic, I'll point out this thread, below, which includes ways of incorporating more daily-life movement into our routines. It's an older thread, so many ideas are not pandemic-friendly, but much that's in there are things people do inside their homes, without a big time investment, as they go through a routine day.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Best wishes!

Thank you for your very detailed reply.

I am old enough not to have a monthly cycle any more, and yes, my daughter does so that could be one reason. She is more active than me as she works in a school and walks more than me except on this holiday as we were always together. I was surprised I did as much as I did.

My weight is coming off slowly now, about 0.2lb a day, but that gives me 1lb a week which is not bad at all. This month I've lost about 2lb already.

I am using Libra again having not used it for a year and apart from a couple of blips it is showing a good downwards trend. I'm cross that I've a long way to go to get back to where I was a year ago, I'm sure I could have reached my goal had I continued but it was not to be.

I've had another day of not going out of the house today and I think the rain coming just gave me an excuse to stay in.

I've been very depressed recently what with the awful events that occurred last year within the family and the pandemic this year gave me the opportunity to stay in the house for weeks on end. I am lonely as I'm on my own and my girls have families of their own and I've always tried to be really independent.

I've sat today and watched the TV, and sorted photos out on my phone. I didn't even get dressed until 6pm, and only then as I wanted to get the post which is 3 floors down (I'm in an apartment)..and there wasn't any post anyway!

My steps will be few so I'll check out the link you sent when I've written this.

I also made an error last week which could affect money that I am due. Time will tell but I should make a phone call to check and I was going to do that today but I procrastinated and left it too late so that is worrying me as well.

I'm sure all of this is affecting my progress.

My daughter is away on another holiday with her husband and sending me videos of her walks in the countryside with rivers and waterfalls. Nothing like that here as I'm in the middle of a city. I've been single for almost 20 years so I should be used to it but walking the streets alone is not quite the same.

I shall go and cook my carefully calculated dinner now, I don't think I will manage 1200 calories today but at least there will be no exercise calories to eat back either.

Sorry for all the rambling and going off track...it helps to put it all down.

AnnPT77

@prehistoricmoongoddess - please ramble away, if rambling it seems to you. (I thought it was fine.) It's your thread, so you you can shift the topic a bit, if you wish.

I'm a solo-living older woman, too, though in a suburb rather than a city, and no children or other family.

Hang in there, you can and will find a route through this, I feel sure.

There are several kind of chat-like groups or threads here, some just for women (like the monthly series of posts https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10805565/women-ages-50-for-august-2020 , but there are many others). Perhaps something like that would be helpful?

All the best to you!

Mithridites

Have you considered a pet? It’s a big responsibility and not for everyone, but they can lift spirits and motivate. My little dog sure helps me get my steps in! Hang in there, tomorrow might be a sunny day

prehistoricmoongoddess

Mithridites wrote: »

Have you considered a pet? It’s a big responsibility and not for everyone, but they can lift spirits and motivate. My little dog sure helps me get my steps in! Hang in there, tomorrow might be a sunny day

It's not something I'd do. I usually spend several weeks a year on holiday, although that's not happening this year. Also I live in an apartment with no outside space except a car park.

deepsea117

First thing:
Figure out your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR.) This an estimate of how many calories you need a day to maintain your current weight.

Next thing:
You don't have to consume only 1200 calories a day. Your NET calories consumed should be at 1200 or whatever you're aiming for, to lose weight. That means logging all your physical activity no matter how mundane, or becoming more active.

Your RMR should tell you that we're always burning calories while we're alive. From there, it's only about burning more calories than you eat. All the diet plans rely on that one fact.

Your daughter may naturally have a higher RMR. So she burns through calories at a faster RATE. No sweat--you can get your rate up too. When I started in February, I was estimated an RMR of 2150 calories given my age, height, weight, activity level.

Now my rate is estimated at 2375. I have a higher activity level (which I logged daily), and the numbers add up. Since quarantine, I've lost close to 40lbs of fat. Gained muscle and muscle tone more importantly.

I also have labs done and worked with a nutritionist the whole time. All in the green.

Last thing:
Start slow and progress. A 500 calorie deficit in your diet is ideal, because that's 1lb a week... but 500 maybe a little too much right away.

So.... why not go for a 350 calorie deficit, instead?

And simply exercise the remaining 150!

You'd be surprised that light housecleaning is an actual activity under "Workouts." And it burns a surprising amount! Just look up on the internet and you'll find all these ways to burn 10-20 calories here or there. Park further from the entrance, maybe take a flight or two of stairs...there's many ways! And they all add up.

Good luck with your journey, feel free to message me or add me if you want support!

prehistoricmoongoddess

deepsea117 wrote: »

First thing:
Figure out your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR.) This an estimate of how many calories you need a day to maintain your current weight.

Next thing:
You don't have to consume only 1200 calories a day. Your NET calories consumed should be at 1200 or whatever you're aiming for, to lose weight. That means logging all your physical activity no matter how mundane, or becoming more active.

Your RMR should tell you that we're always burning calories while we're alive. From there, it's only about burning more calories than you eat. All the diet plans rely on that one fact.

Your daughter may naturally have a higher RMR. So she burns through calories at a faster RATE. No sweat--you can get your rate up too. When I started in February, I was estimated an RMR of 2150 calories given my age, height, weight, activity level.

Now my rate is estimated at 2375. I have a higher activity level (which I logged daily), and the numbers add up. Since quarantine, I've lost close to 40lbs of fat. Gained muscle and muscle tone more importantly.

I also have labs done and worked with a nutritionist the whole time. All in the green.

Last thing:
Start slow and progress. A 500 calorie deficit in your diet is ideal, because that's 1lb a week... but 500 maybe a little too much right away.

So.... why not go for a 350 calorie deficit, instead?

And simply exercise the remaining 150!

You'd be surprised that light housecleaning is an actual activity under "Workouts." And it burns a surprising amount! Just look up on the internet and you'll find all these ways to burn 10-20 calories here or there. Park further from the entrance, maybe take a flight or two of stairs...there's many ways! And they all add up.

Good luck with your journey, feel free to message me or add me if you want support!

Thank you for your advice. I will work RMR after writing this. I'm trying to be more active, managed 6000 steps yesterday as took a longer route to the shops.

I've got a Garmin watch and it showed that my heart rate was much higher than my daughter's when walking together and I got a lot of intensity minutes while she got none. That implied to me that I was using more calories than her when getting around.

I don't drive so I do get exercise walking to the shops or to get buses.

There is a lift to the floor below me but not to my floor, so even if I have a lot of shopping and take the lift the last stairs it gives me a bit of a work out. However, I'm now only getting a couple of items at a time so I need to go out more.

I don't really have many reasons to go out, but I'm planning to go out and take a few photos of the area to send to a friend in Canada who used to live near to me in my childhood. I'm hoping that will encourage me.

I might go to my local cafe today just to have a low calorie drink and be around other people.

I'll also send you a friend request, thank you.

prehistoricmoongoddess

Just calculated my RMR and it is 1511

sijomial

"I've got a Garmin watch and it showed that my heart rate was much higher than my daughter's when walking together and I got a lot of intensity minutes while she got none. That implied to me that I was using more calories than her when getting around."

Actually it doesn't mean that at all - it purely means your heartrate was higher.
There is a huge variation in HR due to people's genetics, fitness and plain old efficiency of their pump.

The tenuous link between HR and calories breaks done under lots of circumstances and especially when trying to compare different people.

Couple of examples:
Three experienced cyclists training indoors all producing same power/burning same calories to produce that power - 50% difference between the highest and lowest heartrates.
My HR is 20% lower than it used to be due to increased fitness - but I can burn also 30% more calories at the same HR as previously.

prehistoricmoongoddess

sijomial wrote: »

"I've got a Garmin watch and it showed that my heart rate was much higher than my daughter's when walking together and I got a lot of intensity minutes while she got none. That implied to me that I was using more calories than her when getting around."

Actually it doesn't mean that at all - it purely means your heartrate was higher.
There is a huge variation in HR due to people's genetics, fitness and plain old efficiency of their pump.

The tenuous link between HR and calories breaks done under lots of circumstances and especially when trying to compare different people.

Couple of examples:
Three experienced cyclists training indoors all producing same power/burning same calories to produce that power - 50% difference between the highest and lowest heartrates.
My HR is 20% lower than it used to be due to increased fitness - but I can burn also 30% more calories at the same HR as previously.

Thank you for that, I obviously held an incorrect assumption.

My average resting heart rate over the last 7 days was 64 and the average highest was 120,

Lowest was 58 and highest was 137