I need help losing weight the right way.
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purple4sure05
Posts: 287 Member
I've asked for help on these boards before and I don't always get very many responses, but I am finally 100% dedicating myself to losing weight in a healthy, responsible way, and I simply just need some advice from people who know about situations like my own. I would be so so grateful if you would take the time to offer me your suggestions.
I am 5'6" and I have no idea how much I weigh. I was at a point where I was consistently eating 800 calories per day, obsessing over my weight, never exercising, and constantly feeling grouchy and lethargic. I got down to about 113 pounds at my lightest, which is considered underweight for my height. For a while I maintained between 113-115 pounds only eating 1200 calories or less per day.
I decided enough was enough and on a two week vacation to Chicago, my body had had more than it could take and I ate whatever I wanted, which made me quickly put on weight, though I'm not sure how much. Hopefully this helped repair whatever damage I had done to my metabolism.
Now, I am more focused on becoming athletic and strong, and I am training for a half marathon, so I am active every day of the week. Because weighing and measuring myself is still triggering for me, and because I've gotten into the habit of snacking off the record, I'd just like some advice on how I should go about losing some of the fat I gained while building or strengthening my muscles. I am finally beginning to like my body the way it is, so I no longer have the intense need to lose weight as quickly as possible, but my downfall is that I'm not always accurate with calorie counting.
According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
I realize that I was hesitant to take solid advice in the past because of my own mental block, but now I'd really love to hear input from those of you who are having weight loss success or know how to do it correctly. I've become so out of touch with reality on this topic that I feel I really need to be personally reeled in in order to become healthy again.
Thank you for reading all of this.
I am 5'6" and I have no idea how much I weigh. I was at a point where I was consistently eating 800 calories per day, obsessing over my weight, never exercising, and constantly feeling grouchy and lethargic. I got down to about 113 pounds at my lightest, which is considered underweight for my height. For a while I maintained between 113-115 pounds only eating 1200 calories or less per day.
I decided enough was enough and on a two week vacation to Chicago, my body had had more than it could take and I ate whatever I wanted, which made me quickly put on weight, though I'm not sure how much. Hopefully this helped repair whatever damage I had done to my metabolism.
Now, I am more focused on becoming athletic and strong, and I am training for a half marathon, so I am active every day of the week. Because weighing and measuring myself is still triggering for me, and because I've gotten into the habit of snacking off the record, I'd just like some advice on how I should go about losing some of the fat I gained while building or strengthening my muscles. I am finally beginning to like my body the way it is, so I no longer have the intense need to lose weight as quickly as possible, but my downfall is that I'm not always accurate with calorie counting.
According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
I realize that I was hesitant to take solid advice in the past because of my own mental block, but now I'd really love to hear input from those of you who are having weight loss success or know how to do it correctly. I've become so out of touch with reality on this topic that I feel I really need to be personally reeled in in order to become healthy again.
Thank you for reading all of this.
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Replies
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According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
Here is the first solid advice, start lifting weights and eating correctly for your activity..you are not sedentary so if you were planning on eating 1400 calories.. that is wrong... Looks like your running 25 miles a week plus 30 day shred.. so you need to account for that if you want to lose fat while not losing whatever lean mass you have left.0 -
First of all, congratulations on making this mental switch of accepting to do this the "right way".
You'll have to get rid of the notion of building muscle while losing fat at the same time. Yes it's possible but the results are slow and you will be able to get faster results be either bulking first and cutting after, or vice versa.
The best way to do this is to select a baseline of calories and macros where you'll start at. If you're TDEE without exercise is around 1700... Add in your daily exercise... Without looking it up.. .It looks like you'll be doing around 350-450 calories of running a day. So your maintenance calories will be around 2000-2100. Take out around 5-20% to get your cutting TDEE which would be around 1600-1800? Quick math, I'm sure you can figure out the actual numbers on your own.
Keeping your macros intact is just as important as well.
Now that you have a baseline, get feedback from your body. Weigh yourself regularly (the most dedicated weigh themselves every single day). Average out your daily weigh ins over a week and make decisions on adjusting macros and calories based on your results. If it's been a while since you've done exercise or dieting, the weigh ins will vary widely over the first few weeks.0 -
According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
Here is the first solid advice, start lifting weights and eating correctly for your activity..you are not sedentary so if you were planning on eating 1400 calories.. that is wrong... Looks like your running 25 miles a week plus 30 day shred.. so you need to account for that if you want to lose fat while not losing whatever lean mass you have left.
I should have been more clear. Since I'm not exercising the same amount every day I just calculated my sedentary TDEE so I could add back exercise calories manually.0 -
First of all, congratulations on making this mental switch of accepting to do this the "right way".
You'll have to get rid of the notion of building muscle while losing fat at the same time. Yes it's possible but the results are slow and you will be able to get faster results be either bulking first and cutting after, or vice versa.
The best way to do this is to select a baseline of calories and macros where you'll start at. If you're TDEE without exercise is around 1700... Add in your daily exercise... Without looking it up.. .It looks like you'll be doing around 350-450 calories of running a day. So your maintenance calories will be around 2000-2100. Take out around 5-20% to get your cutting TDEE which would be around 1600-1800? Quick math, I'm sure you can figure out the actual numbers on your own.
Keeping your macros intact is just as important as well.
Now that you have a baseline, get feedback from your body. Weigh yourself regularly (the most dedicated weigh themselves every single day). Average out your daily weigh ins over a week and make decisions on adjusting macros and calories based on your results. If it's been a while since you've done exercise or dieting, the weigh ins will vary widely over the first few weeks.
I'll keep all of that calorie information in mind but I'm not ready to hop back on the scale yet. That's part of my problem in monitoring my weight loss right now. But thank you. I'll try to aim for something in that range.0 -
I should have been more clear. Since I'm not exercising the same amount every day I just calculated my sedentary TDEE so I could add back exercise calories manually.
Just make sure that you're estimating your exercise calories accurately. A common issue is that people eat back too many calories and end up spinning their wheels because MFP tells them that running for 20 minutes burnt 4,000 calories or something ridiculous. =\0 -
Here is the first solid advice, start lifting weights and eating correctly for your activity..you are not sedentary so if you were planning on eating 1400 calories.. that is wrong... Looks like your running 25 miles a week plus 30 day shred.. so you need to account for that if you want to lose fat while not losing whatever lean mass you have left.
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^ This0 -
Add some resistance training to help preserve the muscle that you have. I would recommend swapping your 30DS days for doing some lifting.
Recalculate your TDEE but include your exercise. Most people exercise different amounts each day but just take an average week. You would likely fall into moderately or highly active categories.
To lose fat take a 20% (or less) cut from TDEE. Eat that amount every day, and you don't need to eat back exercise cals unless you have a really heavy exercise day and your net food intake drops below your BMR.
Make sure your diet contains adequate protein and fat intake.0 -
my estimates for running are usually around 100 calories per mile when i run 10 to 11.5 minute miles. Is this a fair estimate?0
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For starters, I might build in a rest day in there somewhere (or maybe just a gentle walk).
How much do you have to lose? I agree with the others that focusing on building muscle is likely to be best if you are pretty close to your goal. It sounds like you got pretty low for your height before so you likely don't have much weight to lose.0 -
Add some resistance training to help preserve the muscle that you have. I would recommend swapping your 30DS days for doing some lifting.
Recalculate your TDEE but include your exercise. Most people exercise different amounts each day but just take an average week. You would likely fall into moderately or highly active categories.
To lose fat take a 20% (or less) cut from TDEE. Eat that amount every day, and you don't need to eat back exercise cals unless you have a really heavy exercise day and your net food intake drops below your BMR.
Make sure your diet contains adequate protein and fat intake.
This!^
30 DS is more cardio with some strength training thrown in. You've got the cardio thing covered, already.
If you want a DVD with just strength training ....Kelly Coffey Meyers 30 Minutes to Fitness: Body Training or her Muscle Definition DVDs are more focused. http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/kelly-coffeys-30-min-to-fitness-body-training-57560 -
You're definitely not alone as there are other women on this site who have been in your spot. Here's one story, and I third (or fourth) the idea of weight lifting. She gives a good example of how gaining the right kind of weight can make you look better than just "being skinny":
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080727-fit-is-the-new-skinny0 -
I've asked for help on these boards before and I don't always get very many responses, but I am finally 100% dedicating myself to losing weight in a healthy, responsible way, and I simply just need some advice from people who know about situations like my own. I would be so so grateful if you would take the time to offer me your suggestions.
I am 5'6" and I have no idea how much I weigh. I was at a point where I was consistently eating 800 calories per day, obsessing over my weight, never exercising, and constantly feeling grouchy and lethargic. I got down to about 113 pounds at my lightest, which is considered underweight for my height. For a while I maintained between 113-115 pounds only eating 1200 calories or less per day.
I decided enough was enough and on a two week vacation to Chicago, my body had had more than it could take and I ate whatever I wanted, which made me quickly put on weight, though I'm not sure how much. Hopefully this helped repair whatever damage I had done to my metabolism.
Now, I am more focused on becoming athletic and strong, and I am training for a half marathon, so I am active every day of the week. Because weighing and measuring myself is still triggering for me, and because I've gotten into the habit of snacking off the record, I'd just like some advice on how I should go about losing some of the fat I gained while building or strengthening my muscles. I am finally beginning to like my body the way it is, so I no longer have the intense need to lose weight as quickly as possible, but my downfall is that I'm not always accurate with calorie counting.
According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
I realize that I was hesitant to take solid advice in the past because of my own mental block, but now I'd really love to hear input from those of you who are having weight loss success or know how to do it correctly. I've become so out of touch with reality on this topic that I feel I really need to be personally reeled in in order to become healthy again.
Thank you for reading all of this.
You want to lose weight, you snack off the record, and you don't weigh yourself? Conflicting behaviors. Is your primary goal to lose weight or get fit? I'm a wee bit confused by your post.0 -
I agree also that this is conflicting behavior. The best way to lose weight is to do the things you AREN'T doing, like weighing yourself, counting calories, logging all your food, etc. If these things are triggers for you, I would just try and get the mental part of this battle in check before you start trying to lose weight.
Of course, you could always strength train with weightlifting to try and change the composition of your body instead of focusing on weight loss. This is kind of what I"m doing right now. If I put on muscle and lose the flab, I couldn't care less what the scale says.0 -
My cousin had great success getting to her goal weight using 'intuitive eating' - just trying to eat when you're hungry and eat good for you foods. If logging is a problem, maybe you could try something like that?. If these things are triggers for you, I would just try and get the mental part of this battle in check before you start trying to lose weight.0 -
I've asked for help on these boards before and I don't always get very many responses, but I am finally 100% dedicating myself to losing weight in a healthy, responsible way, and I simply just need some advice from people who know about situations like my own. I would be so so grateful if you would take the time to offer me your suggestions.
I am 5'6" and I have no idea how much I weigh. I was at a point where I was consistently eating 800 calories per day, obsessing over my weight, never exercising, and constantly feeling grouchy and lethargic. I got down to about 113 pounds at my lightest, which is considered underweight for my height. For a while I maintained between 113-115 pounds only eating 1200 calories or less per day.
I decided enough was enough and on a two week vacation to Chicago, my body had had more than it could take and I ate whatever I wanted, which made me quickly put on weight, though I'm not sure how much. Hopefully this helped repair whatever damage I had done to my metabolism.
Now, I am more focused on becoming athletic and strong, and I am training for a half marathon, so I am active every day of the week. Because weighing and measuring myself is still triggering for me, and because I've gotten into the habit of snacking off the record, I'd just like some advice on how I should go about losing some of the fat I gained while building or strengthening my muscles. I am finally beginning to like my body the way it is, so I no longer have the intense need to lose weight as quickly as possible, but my downfall is that I'm not always accurate with calorie counting.
According to the scooby calculator, my sedentary TDEE is somewhere between 1700-1800 (an estimate because i don't know my exact weight). My exercise regime is as follows:
Monday: run 6 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles and do JM 30DS
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 3 miles and do JM 30 DS
Friday: long-distance run. from now on it will be between 9 and 13.
Saturday: no cardio; JM 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack dvd
Sunday: whatever I feel capable of; usually an easy 3 miles of mile repeats and a workout video of some sort.
I realize that I was hesitant to take solid advice in the past because of my own mental block, but now I'd really love to hear input from those of you who are having weight loss success or know how to do it correctly. I've become so out of touch with reality on this topic that I feel I really need to be personally reeled in in order to become healthy again.
Thank you for reading all of this.
You want to lose weight, you snack off the record, and you don't weigh yourself? Conflicting behaviors. Is your primary goal to lose weight or get fit? I'm a wee bit confused by your post.
I realize that it's conflicting behavior. That's why I'm posting to ask for help. If I had it all figured out and was overcoming all of my roadblocks there would be no need to reach out at all.
For whoever asked how much I need to lose, I'm really only looking at about 7 pounds. But it's not really the numbers i'm interested in as much as getting the fat off of my thighs, which is really the only place I gained fat over those couple of weeks. and I'm looking for healthy ways to do that considering my situation, or at least ways to move past my problems.
Does that make more sense?0 -
Hey purple for sure! I hope you are doing well.
I took a look at your diary and while I realized you've been utilizing the deficit principle, you might just be killing your metabolism. Which would make it very hard to lose that last 7-10 lbs. If you don't have to lose it in a hurry I suggest you take a look at the article about the 165lb women not losing despite being at a deficit.
The just is that your body becomes very efficient at using very little so that it can save( those last lbs) whatever fat is left.
And like previous people posted weight lifting will help!0 -
Hey purple for sure! I hope you are doing well.
I took a look at your diary and while I realized you've been utilizing the deficit principle, you might just be killing your metabolism. Which would make it very hard to lose that last 7-10 lbs. If you don't have to lose it in a hurry I suggest you take a look at the article about the 165lb women not losing despite being at a deficit.
The just is that your body becomes very efficient at using very little so that it can save( those last lbs) whatever fat is left.
And like previous people posted weight lifting will help!
Can someone give me more detail about how weight training helps and what not? I don't doubt it but I just don't know much about it.0 -
Weight training, protein and a small deficit all help in preserving lbm during weight loss which people believe makes them look better. "toned".Hey purple for sure! I hope you are doing well.
I took a look at your diary and while I realized you've been utilizing the deficit principle, you might just be killing your metabolism. Which would make it very hard to lose that last 7-10 lbs. If you don't have to lose it in a hurry I suggest you take a look at the article about the 165lb women not losing despite being at a deficit.
The just is that your body becomes very efficient at using very little so that it can save( those last lbs) whatever fat is left.
And like previous people posted weight lifting will help!
Can someone give me more detail about how weight training helps and what not? I don't doubt it but I just don't know much about it.0 -
I'd read the success story that I posted. It's about a woman who was very small, and had dieted down to "get skinny". She ended up too skinny, and so she instead tried to "get fit". She now weighs the exact same as when she felt she needed to lose weight, but she feels she looks much better than when she was skinny.Hey purple for sure! I hope you are doing well.
I took a look at your diary and while I realized you've been utilizing the deficit principle, you might just be killing your metabolism. Which would make it very hard to lose that last 7-10 lbs. If you don't have to lose it in a hurry I suggest you take a look at the article about the 165lb women not losing despite being at a deficit.
The just is that your body becomes very efficient at using very little so that it can save( those last lbs) whatever fat is left.
And like previous people posted weight lifting will help!
Can someone give me more detail about how weight training helps and what not? I don't doubt it but I just don't know much about it.
The difference is that she built muscle and gained muscle instead of fat. She now is a figure competitor, and she feels she looks great (and I definitely agree). She ate more and lifted heavy weights. I'm sure if you contacted her, she could give you some more advice too.0 -
I'd read the success story that I posted. It's about a woman who was very small, and had dieted down to "get skinny". She ended up too skinny, and so she instead tried to "get fit". She now weighs the exact same as when she felt she needed to lose weight, but she feels she looks much better than when she was skinny.Hey purple for sure! I hope you are doing well.
I took a look at your diary and while I realized you've been utilizing the deficit principle, you might just be killing your metabolism. Which would make it very hard to lose that last 7-10 lbs. If you don't have to lose it in a hurry I suggest you take a look at the article about the 165lb women not losing despite being at a deficit.
The just is that your body becomes very efficient at using very little so that it can save( those last lbs) whatever fat is left.
And like previous people posted weight lifting will help!
Can someone give me more detail about how weight training helps and what not? I don't doubt it but I just don't know much about it.
The difference is that she built muscle and gained muscle instead of fat. She now is a figure competitor, and she feels she looks great (and I definitely agree). She ate more and lifted heavy weights. I'm sure if you contacted her, she could give you some more advice too.
Thanks! I will look into that.0
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