Advice for a desperate lady!

nursekirsty

Hi

So my heaviest weight was 290lbs this was at the start of the first covid lock down. So over the 2 years after that I am now 220lbs. Which I am over the moon about but I didn’t count calories. I ate less and moved more which clearly worked but now I am stuck at this weight for a few months now.

It’s time to bite the bullet and log my foods which is fine but mentally I feel hungry all the time. I am 5ft 4in and go to the gym 4 times a week with a mix of cardio and strength from a pt.

My calories are set at 1783 as per a calorie calculator. Is this enough? Should I use the mfp and then eat the exercise ones back?

I drink 3 litres of water a day so I am really not thirsty.

Any hints/tips for reducing hunger?

Thanks for any replies ❤️

Chef_Barbell

nursekirsty wrote: »

Hi

So my heaviest weight was 290lbs this was at the start of the first covid lock down. So over the 2 years after that I am now 220lbs. Which I am over the moon about but I didn’t count calories. I ate less and moved more which clearly worked but now I am stuck at this weight for a few months now.

It’s time to bite the bullet and log my foods which is fine but mentally I feel hungry all the time. I am 5ft 4in and go to the gym 4 times a week with a mix of cardio and strength from a pt.

My calories are set at 1783 as per a calorie calculator. Is this enough? Should I use the mfp and then eat the exercise ones back?

I drink 3 litres of water a day so I am really not thirsty.

Any hints/tips for reducing hunger?

Thanks for any replies ❤️

Yes. That is how MFP is designed. That being said, some people find the calorie burns too high and eat 1/2 or 3/4ths of exercise calories back. You have to experiment to see what works for you. I personally have found the calorie counts spot on and had no trouble losing while eating all my exercise calories.

nursekirsty

Thank you

I shall do that!

skellyc74

You could add some back in, say 200/300 to allow an extra snack per day.
Congratulations on the weight loss.

ChickenKillerPuppy

This is just a suggestion, but if you were maintaining your weight (not losing) at whatever you were eating at 220 pounds and not counting calories, but assuming you were feeling satisfied and not hungry all the time, you can use your actual data to figure out your calories, which is much better than a calculator designed to accommodate the masses.

I would go back to eating whatever you were that allowed you to maintain at 220 pounds for about 3-4 weeks. Don’t change it - you’re goal is not to lose during that time, but to gain data. Weigh and record everything that you eat so you can see how many average calories you are consuming a day. I would actually take the data after each week, add the days together and divide by 7 for your average daily calories.

If you do this for 3-4 weeks and continue to weigh yourself, assuming you generally maintain over that time as you had been doing, you will know what your maintenance calories are - an INVALUABLE piece of knowledge.

Once you know that, you can start by reducing that by 250 calories a day (or whatever feels right to you, but remember slow sustainable habit changes). You will be eating at a deficit from maintenance so you should lose, but hopefully you will get enough calories to not feel hungry all the time.

FWIW - I am also 5’4 and I weigh about 120, about 100 pounds less than you, and I lose at 1800/day. I maintain at 2100/day or so. But I learned all that by tracking my own data.

MFP and other calculators are tools but they are not magic. Your own data is what is accurate for you, and if you have the patience to figure out you’d maintenance calories, you can really take control of your calorie deficit.

nursekirsty

Thank you that’s very helpful