I need help losing a lot of weight ( around 100 pounds)

nearspk640

I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

tinkerbellang83

If you get discouraged and give up maybe look at taking a slower approach, better to lose 10lbs over 2 months 10 times than lose and regain the same 5-10lbs in a couple of weeks.

Also bear in mind you do not have to overhaul everything in your diet at once, you're looking for progress, not perfection.

Weight loss simply requires a calorie deficit - it doesn't require all the bells and whistles the diet industry would have you believe.

Start with maybe just committing to honest and accurate logging of what you normally eat for 2-3 days, get a food scale, account for everything - food, drinks, condiments, etc.

Once you have a couple of days data set yourself to lose 1lb per week and see where you can make small changes between those first 2-3 days logging and your new calorie goal.

That might mean:

• Reducing calories in drinks - switching to diet soda/sparkling or normal water/reduced fat milk/sweetener instead of sugar in tea/coffee
• Eating smaller portions of high calorie items - small packet of snacks instead of sharing bag
• Being mindful of oil/condiments used in cooking - easy to overlook and can add up to a few hundred cals per day
• Swapping food items to lower cal versions - skim milk instead of full fat, lower fat cheeses, reduced sugar versions of things like soups, ready meals, etc.
• Looking at the ratios on your plate - Normally have a steak with half a plate of fries? cut down the portion of the fries and add some veggies - maybe some mushrooms and onions, some salad or some steamed veggies.

Once you settle into your calorie deficit you can make more and more little changes to improve your overall nutrition and help you feel fuller longer.

TakeTheLongWayHome

Instead of looking at it like a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change. You have to change habits you have made for yourself. It takes time. You didn’t get that heavy quickly, and you won’t lose the weight that quickly. Good luck to you.

Jackie9003

Completely agree with the 2 posters above, I have over 100lbs to lose - I lost 70lbs but have put a lot back on in lockdowns. I started with qeasy, quick wins like swapping fizzy drinks for water, low fat soft cheese instead of cheddar, fibre one brownie bars instead of cake and logging everything that went in my mouth.

The app will give you a calorie allowance based on your personal data and goals, I started with a 1lb per week loss as this only reduced my intake by 500cals per day, which I found very doable. Choose the level you think you can achieve and remember you can adjust it at anytime, you might want to go straight in at 2lb per week or start a bit slower until you get used to the app and to logging.

You can also add friends too, if you think that will help, some people have open diaries which is good for picking up tips.

Lynatea

Agree with all the above. Welcome to MFP! You can do this, you just gotta do it!

quiksylver296

Did you do the guided set-up on this site, @nearspk640? It will give you a calorie target. Then just start logging your food honestly, even (especially) when it’s not good. You’ll start to see where you can make tweaks to your diet to do better.

Please be committed to the long haul. Give yourself 2+ years to lose the weight. Be kind to yourself when you slip up, and get right back to it your next meal.

Lastly, the podcast Half Size Me is awesome. The host has lost 170 pounds and kept it off for 9 years.

Jessie24330

Small goals so you hit your goals and get a "win" fairly often. If you have lost "only" five pounds, find something that weighs five pounds and carry it around for a while, you'll see it's not nothing. They say that for every pound you lose, it takes four pounds of pressure off your knees, so in the beginning I used to like to think of that number since it made it seem better to me. Learn the difference between hunger and desire/thirst/boredom. It took me 34 years to learn this but it's made a massive difference. For me, I had to learn that "hunger" coming from anywhere but my stomach wasn't really hunger. And even then to drink some water first. Jumping into everything can feel overwhelming for a lot of us, so don't feel bad to just work on your diet and then add exercise later. Don't even feel bad if you need to work on your diet in stages and not restrict calories as much as you want from the start. Get one of those apps that keep a graph of you weight so when you stop losing for a bit, you can easily see that you have come a ways and not give up. Progress is progress, even if it's not as fast as we'd hope.

Ccgreen72

Good Advice here. I agree with starting small. Log everything you put in your mouth. Seeing in black and white what you consume holds you accountable. It also brings awareness. I am on a 29 day streak of logging. My longest ever, and I've been on and off with MFP for several years. I'm finally getting a grip on my food intake. Slowly but surely is so much more effective than a quick fix. After a few weeks to a month, you'll start to see where your gains and losses fall on the scale following the prior days intake. Baby steps, small victories. They add up to huge rewards. It's a learning process. Good luck to you! You've got this!

callsitlikeiseeit

small changes equal greater success. First start by logging your food. Dont worry about dieting. Just learn how to weigh and measure your food and log it ACCURATELY. This can sometimes help you see trends and identify easy areas to reduce calories.

Dont think about losing 100 pounds. Think about losing 5 or 10. Break everything down into more manageable numbers.

Move more. That doesn't mean hours at the gym, but a walk after dinner, or in the morning. Whenever you can spare the time. You might not be able to walk for long. Thats okay. It DOES get easier. I PROMISE.

I lost 130 pounds. All by starting with small steps. Ive gained back some, mostly during the pandemic (as many of us have) but even now ... I keep it small. If I go over my calories on any given day (and my birthday was this week, so yes, i did on a couple of days). its okay. This week is back to normal. The cake is gone and meals out in celebration are over.

start small.

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Theo166

nearspk640 wrote: »

I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

Since you are just starting, I'd suggest to primarily focus on tracking your normal food for a week or so. If you use the goal setting feature to create a target, start with any easy target of 0.5 lbs a week and then increase it later when you are in a rhythm.

katescurios

I have just hit 75lb lost and have 16 left to get to healthy BMI and 39 to get to the ‘Ideal’ weight for my height. The main things I would recommend are:

- be strict about logging your food, even if you go over your calorie allowance, it’s important to know what you’ve eaten and what has taken you over count.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself, you will sometimes have days where you make crappy choices about food, as long as those are the odd days rather than every day it will work out. Just try to do better the next day.
- Drink lots of water, it really does help.
- Try to move more, even if it’s just a short walk it all adds up
- don’t starve yourself. Make sensible choices that let you feel full, you shouldn’t feel hungry all the time. For example, you can have a 250 calorie slim fast meal replacement bar or a 2 egg omelette with onion, mushrooms, peppers cooked with fry light spray for 220 calories. Which would be more filling? The same goes for fries or roasted broccoli/greenbeans you can have a plate heaped high of broccoli/greenbeans for the same calorie count as a handful of fries.

RockingWithLJ

nearspk640 wrote: »

I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

You're giving up because your goal is only on the scale. When you change your lifestyle the weight will follow but you need to thoroughly enjoy what you're doing. My goals for example is to be stronger. I want to be able to do 20 pull-ups without assistance. I'm not there yet so I created smaller goals in how many sit-ups and pushups I can do in hopes to eventually reach that bigger goal.
You also need to celebrate your non-scale victories to keep that Focus strong. Also take your measurements so you can track your progress that way as well. Other than that you're really going to want to focus on your diet. 80% of it is all what you fuel your body with so incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet cut out the junk especially the processed Foods and refrain from getting take out when you can

LisaGetsMoving

Assuming you're not super active right now, I would shoot for around 1800-2000 calories per day, and logging in everything consistently, even if you go over. You're inputting data when you do, and the results become obvious over time. Then, I would start walking adding a few minutes each day until you are getting 45-60 minutes daily. Once you see the weight start coming down and the endurance building, then add something else into the mix, to keep it interesting and to keep your body strength progressing. Try and add in things that move your body that you find enjoyable, whether it's bicycling or lifting, or frisbee golf or dancing or Nintendo boxing. Enter all your calories and exercise and just watch the information that you get back from this program but also from your own body: Are you losing too fast and need to bump up calories? Which days seemed to click and what didn't. All of that begins to reveal itself as you cruise along. But you have to it. Do it daily. Don't expect overnight success. Oh, and take before pictures and measurements so that a year or so from now you can compare.