Calories

b86502906
b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone I'm new Name is shadona Burks just started using the app today and I have a question my calories on the app says 2,500 and I only use half I got 1,045 calories left but can we eat whatever we want and stay under the calories limit and still loose weight my starting weight is 385.2 and i do walk every week three times 2.01 miles I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing the right thing

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    Generally, yes: Whatever foods we combine to reach our calorie goal, we'd expect the weight loss rate that's associated with that calorie level.

    That said:

    The estimate from MFP (or another calculator, or a fitness tracker) is a statistical estimate, pretty much the average calorie level for similar people. But each of us is a unique individual, and we can vary from the averages. Most of us will be close to average, though.

    After we have 4-6 weeks (or a whole menstrual cycle) of data, we can adjust our starting calorie estimate to dial in a sensible weight loss rate based on our own personal experience data. That can work great.

    Also, even though it's calories that directly control body weight, nutrition is important for health, so worth some attention. Nutrition may indirectly affect weight loss by increasing or decreasing energy level or appetite.

    Many people will feel full more of the time eating mostly whole foods, but it's fine to include some treats within calories and reasonable overall nutrition.

    Best wishes
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,248 Member
    Yes however your counting and tracking may be off so be careful of relying on the app as your food entries may also be off. Sit with a Calorie amount for 4-6 weeks and then at that point adjust calories if necessary. At your weight you can get aggressive with a 2-3 pounds per week of loss.

    If you aren’t hungry don’t feel you need to eat more because the app told you to.
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    So just keep doing what I'm doing and I lose weight and my other question is about the water intake says I need 64 Oz of water daily I drink bottle water which are 16.9 fluid Oz how many should I drink and Login alone with my walking 2.01 miles three times a week and my calories
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    So just keep doing what I'm doing and I lose weight and my other question is about the water intake says I need 64 Oz of water daily I drink bottle water which are 16.9 fluid Oz how many should I drink and Login alone with my walking 2.01 miles three times a week and my calories

    Drink enough that your urine is pale yellow, kind of straw color.

    Very bright (neon-like) yellow can be OK, as long as pale: That can happen if we get more than we need of certain water-soluble vitamins (such as B vitamins).

    Dark yellow, brownish: Probably underhydrated. Strange colors, like green, brown, red: Some medications can cause some odd effects, and a few foods. If something unusual persists, ask your doctor about it, not us random idiots on the internet.

    Water needs are individual: Some people sweat a lot, others don't. We live, work and exercise in different heat/humidity conditions; that matters, too. Further, other drinks (including coffee or tea) count as hydration, as do fluid-y foods like soup, fruits, etc.

    There's no secret formula for weight loss, fitness or health, where we need to get every single aspect exactly correct like a magic spell, or things will turn bad. Pretty good, on average, is solid. Keep improving from wherever we are, toward more optimal strategies (as best as we can identify optimal!), and personal improvements will accumulate. That applies to water, calories, nutrition, exercise.

    Best wishes !
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    OK thanks hopefully I start loosing weight
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    I been drinking lots of water but it makes me use the bathroom back to back is that normal peeing all the time and do it leaves to weight loss to I'm just wondering
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    I been drinking lots of water but it makes me use the bathroom back to back is that normal peeing all the time and do it leaves to weight loss to I'm just wondering

    No it's not normal to pee "back to back."

    If you're using an exaggeration...then don't worry about it...but if you go and then 10 minutes later have to go again, and that happens repeatedly? See your doctor.

    ...too much water isn't good, either. Don't force it. Drink when thirsty.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,248 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    I been drinking lots of water but it makes me use the bathroom back to back is that normal peeing all the time and do it leaves to weight loss to I'm just wondering
    too much water is harmful and doesn’t cause fatloss. Read above comments

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    I been drinking lots of water but it makes me use the bathroom back to back is that normal peeing all the time and do it leaves to weight loss to I'm just wondering

    Not normal. Not good, probably.

    If under hydrated (dark urine), that can sometimes be perceived as a false hunger signal by some people. For those people, drinking more will help weight loss (indirectly) by helping them be happier on reduced calories. Even for people not in that situation, sometimes a glass of water (or similar) before or with a meal triggers a sense of fullness with a bit less food intake. That could also help weight loss indirectly. Certainly we need adequate hydration for all the normal reasons: Avoiding constipation and moving waste products out of the body, providing needful fluids for healthy cells all over the body, and various other health benefits.

    But we need enough, not too much.

    You're unlikely to do this, but it's actually possible to drink enough water that it is literally deadly. (It takes a significant amount in a short time, but an amount that's very possible to consume. For example, people have died in water-drinking competitions, or from over-hydrating during endurance races.)

    Other than some of the indirect benefits noted above, drinking lots of water (more than needed physically for adequate hydration) doesn't cause or aid weight loss.
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks everyone for the comments I appreciated it so much I just went down from 384.7 to 383.4 so far I lost 1.3 pounds today
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    Yes however your counting and tracking may be off so be careful of relying on the app as your food entries may also be off. Sit with a Calorie amount for 4-6 weeks and then at that point adjust calories if necessary. At your weight you can get aggressive with a 2-3 pounds per week of loss.

    If you aren’t hungry don’t feel you need to eat more because the app told you to.

    ^^^ This!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    edited October 29
    b86502906 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for the comments I appreciated it so much I just went down from 384.7 to 383.4 so far I lost 1.3 pounds today

    It's great that you had a good day's result!

    But please take to heart the idea that fat loss is a thing that takes 4-6 weeks - whole menstrual cycles for those who have them - to really have a good idea what our weight loss rate is.

    There will be ups as well as downs from one day to the next; that's normal. Most of that is shifts in water retention and waste in the digestive system, which vary by multiple pounds within a day and over a few days. By contrast, when things are going well, even fast fat loss is a few ounces per day (fraction of a pound). The water/waste fluctuations will hide fat loss rate on the scale sometimes, so it takes those 4-6 weeks to see the actual trend.

    You won't see loss on the scale every day, largely because of that water/waste fluctuation. Don't let that discourage you. Sometimes, for the same reasons, you'll see a big drop overnight. That's not the result of what happened the day before, but rather the sum of what happened over many preceding days.

    Best wishes!
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    I have a question about the water/waste fluctuations does that make your weight fluctuate during the day to how to or what to do about it what about detoxing
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    I have a question about the water/waste fluctuations does that make your weight fluctuate during the day to how to or what to do about it what about detoxing

    It makes your weight fluctuate from hour to hour, but also day to day, even week to week sometimes. Those fluctuations are part of how a healthy body stays healthy. Our bodies know what they're doing. We don't want to mess with that.

    Best strategy: Try to understand and accept the fluctuations. They're part of the process, part of losing weight while staying healthy at the same time.

    Best wishes!

    P.S. Detoxes are a bad plan, neither necessary nor helpful. The only thing that they make permanently lighter is our bank accounts.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,349 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    I have a question about the water/waste fluctuations does that make your weight fluctuate during the day to how to or what to do about it what about detoxing

    At it's most simple - if you have a bag that weighs 1lb, and a pineapple that weighs 2lbs, and you put the pineapple in the bag, the whole thing will weight 3lbs, right?

    Same with your body. What you eat and drink gets added to your weight immediately after you consume it, and will slowly reduce while it is processed, and you go to the bathroom, move around burning off energy etc etc. Fluctuations are constant and a natural part of existing.

    Water weighs 1kg per litre, whether it is in your bottle or in your belly.

    This is why it's important for your sanity to weigh at the same time, in the same circumstances (for me it's right after getting up and using the bathroom, naked, same scale etc) because if you weigh all over the day, you are throwing in all these variables.

    Detoxing - this is for substance abuse, not food. Your body has a very efficient and complex system of detoxing you all by itself, it doesn't need 'help'.
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    Alatariel75 I read online if you weigh after using the bathroom first thing in the morning cause with clothes on it put weight on you do you think besides me weighing myself first thing in the morning after I use the bathroom I should start weighing myself naked at the same time I'm thinking about trying it that way tomorrow morning any suggestions you can give me on that
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,365 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    Alatariel75 I read online if you weigh after using the bathroom first thing in the morning cause with clothes on it put weight on you do you think besides me weighing myself first thing in the morning after I use the bathroom I should start weighing myself naked at the same time I'm thinking about trying it that way tomorrow morning any suggestions you can give me on that

    I weigh myself every morning after the bathroom, but I don't worry about my pajamas. First, I'm not going to strip down, weigh myself, get dressed again and then go feed the dog etc. etc. That's just too much before my eyes are all the way open :D My pajamas weigh a few ounces and I wear the same kind with the same kind of fabrics year round. My scale doesn't even detect them if I set them on there. Unless you sleep in a snowsuit or fireman's gear, you're probably not going to see a significant scale difference between dressed and not. Even if you do, "losing weight" by taking off your clothes doesn't mean you've lost any body weight/fat. It just means you took your clothes off.

    In my opinion, consistency is what matters most. Dressed or not doesn't make a difference if that's how you do it every day. You're still seeing the same net change as you lose weight. A pound is a pound no matter what number you start from.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    b86502906 wrote: »
    Alatariel75 I read online if you weigh after using the bathroom first thing in the morning cause with clothes on it put weight on you do you think besides me weighing myself first thing in the morning after I use the bathroom I should start weighing myself naked at the same time I'm thinking about trying it that way tomorrow morning any suggestions you can give me on that

    I weigh first thing, after the bathroom, before eating/drinking.

    I think it's important to be consistent in how a person is dressed for a weigh-in, if tracking. I agree with the post above that probably most pajamas are close enough in weight not to matter.

    I disagree with the post above a little bit that "dressed or not doesn't make a difference". It depends on what is meant by "dressed". PJs, not a biggie. Fully dressed, including shoes, and at other times pajamas: Probably not helpful. Here, Winter clothes are substantially heavier than Summer, even indoor clothes.

    I do the weigh in as part of my morning routine, take off the nightclothes, weigh in just my watch/glasses, put on day clothes after (or occasionally a robe if I'm not dressing right away).

    What's important IMO isn't "dressed or not", but more like "dressed reasonably consistently".

    We see people here occasionally freaked about their home scale accuracy vs. the doctor's office, when they're maybe weighing at home in PJs first thing, then eating breakfast, dressing up in outdoor clothes/shoes, and being weighed that way at the doctor's. Or weighing themselves many times a day and thinking that their big bowl of low-cal soup at lunch made them gain 2 pounds of fat. No. No. No.

    Recognize that there will be utterly meaningless multi-pound shifts within a day and from day to day. That's important. Focus on the multi-week trend.
  • b86502906
    b86502906 Posts: 10 Member
    OK I agree with that I'm going to continue weighing myself at the same time every morning and continue to like I said in my first post I do walk three times a week Fridays Saturday and Sunday mornings only 2.01 miles on all three days and I log my food everyday and water on this app I either stay at or under my calories on here cause it helps me control my eating my biggest problem is overeating lol

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