I lost 35-40 pounds in 2018 but gained 10 back due to pandemic

ladybug4233

I am back trying to loose 10 pounds before it gets out of control. Im not beating myself up. These are trying times plus I was dealing with a medical issue that made it very difficult to work out. I am aiming for half a pound a week. I have a Peloton bike and I work out and do some form of exercise 6 days a week. This is in addition to my steps and I do log it as exercise.

Even though I stay at home every day I get at least 10,000 steps a day. I make up any difference by taking a long walk. BUT I don't count it as exercise. The question I have is when I lost the weight in 2018 I seemed to be more restrictive. For example I am 5 3 and 135 pounds. If I choose active I get 1690 calories a day before exercise. Is this correct for the steps I walk and wanting to loose 1/2 a pound a week. It seems like a lot of calories. I just started a 10 days ago. I did loose 1 pound the 1st week. Any advice is appreciated. I know this works! I just want to make sure I am doing it right.

AnnPT77

ladybug4233 wrote: »

I am back trying to loose 10 pounds before it gets out of control. Im not beating myself up. These are trying times plus I was dealing with a medical issue that made it very difficult to work out. I am aiming for half a pound a week. I have a Peloton bike and I work out and do some form of exercise 6 days a week. This is in addition to my steps and I do log it as exercise.

Even though I stay at home every day I get at least 10,000 steps a day. I make up any difference by taking a long walk. BUT I don't count it as exercise. The question I have is when I lost the weight in 2018 I seemed to be more restrictive. For example I am 5 3 and 135 pounds. If I choose active I get 1690 calories a day before exercise. Is this correct for the steps I walk and wanting to loose 1/2 a pound a week. It seems like a lot of calories. I just started a 10 days ago. I did loose 1 pound the 1st week. Any advice is appreciated. I know this works! I just want to make sure I am doing it right.

10000 steps daily would be active, yes. I think 1690 is plausible. (I lose something close to that half a pound a week if I stick to 1850+exercise, but I admit I'm a mysteriously good li'l ol' calorie burner for some reason.)

Try it for a full menstrual cycle (comparing weights at the same relative point in at least two different monthly cycles), and see.

The one thing I'd say is that I've found slow loss (which I've been pursuing for around a year now!) to be really deceptive. Since you've lost weight before, you're probably aware that daily weights can fluctuate by 2 or more pounds up and down routinely, through changes in water weight and digestive contents. A fat loss of half a pound a week can play peek-a-boo with those water weight shifts for several weeks at a time, in my experience, before the fat loss becomes evident. (I had a whole month where even my weight trending app thought I was gaining/maintaining, because I restarted strength training and added a couple of pounds of water weight from that!😆)

The slow loss route is pretty painless, and really suitable for someone like you or me with only a few pounds to lose within a technically healthy range. But it can take some patience, and trust in the process, at times!

Best wishes!

ladybug4233

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I will keep what I am doing and tweak it if I am not loosing. I remember having less calories allowed and being very strict before when I had more to loose. Now that I am just trying to loose only 10 it is almost a different mindset.

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions.

Good luck!!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

@AnnPT77 is one of our great experts here. I can just add that I need to go back into deficit at least once a year to control my weight. It isn't a "one-and-done" thing.