Just started my fitness pal

sandycollins2010
sandycollins2010 Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself

hello everyone!

I am a 69 year old female 5’2” who needs to lose about 30 lbs. CW:153 GW:123 4 years ago I was between 120-130 then I went off the rails.

I am logging my food which is a little tough since some days I do a 42 hour hour fast and i always do 16/8 or 20/4. How do I log the 42 hour fast that I haven’t eaten anything in the day?

I am hoping to lose this weight by Feb/March 2026. Is this realistic?

I use the free version of the app and find FP very helpful as I was going over my 1200 calories per day as the food adds up.

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,058 Community Helper
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10947495/just-started-my-fitness-pal

    Hi, Sandy!

    I'm sure your goal is achievable, but I have to admit to a bias: I don't think the calendar is a weight loss tool. At your current weight, if it were me I wouldn't shoot to lose more than a pound a week, and slower would be fine, too. Some people would say that the holidays happening between now and February would add to the challenge, but that's situational.

    Many people come here wanting to lose weight fast. Personally, I don't think that's the biggest prize on offer. I think the bigger benefit is from not just losing the total amount of weight we want to lose, but then also staying at that healthy weight long term, ideally permanently. Doing that last requires a focus on finding new, long-term sustainable eating and activity habits that can operate almost on autopilot when other parts of life get demanding. That's an entirely different mindset from "lose weight fast".

    Most people report finding maintenance more challenging than loss . . . and aggressive tactics can make it harder to stick with the process long enough to even lose the desired total amount of weight. I'm a big fan of an easier plan, rather than a faster plan, for that reason.

    I'm also 69 and female, but around 5'5". I lost from class one obese to a healthy weight at age 59-60, and have been maintaining a healthy weight since, after about 30 years pre-loss of overweight/obesity. Total loss was around 50 pounds. FWIW, it took me just under a year to lose. Over the last 9+ years since, my weight has been up and down through a small range, but always in the healthy range, and in the same jeans size. This morning, I weighed 131.4 pounds. In relative terms given our different heights, that's pretty close to your goal weight.

    The quality of life benefit from being at a healthy weight has been huge for me in diverse ways.

    I didn't and don't fast - it would make loss and maintenance harder for me, though I know that's not equally true for everyone. If you want your diary to reflect a day when you don't eat with some specific entry, you could log a zero-calorie fake food you create in "My Foods", or put a note in the Food Notes, or something like that. Logging something would give you a diary streak and some indication that you were here and active. Since you're using free MFP, I assume you're not using the fasting timer.

    Best wishes for success - IME it's very much worth the effort!

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