Super confused! Help!

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BeccaLou1987
BeccaLou1987 Posts: 6 Member
in Getting Started
Hi there,

I'm super new to the group and am really looking for help. I am very, very confused at the moment. I'll start from the top, so please excuse the novel...

I'm trying to lose weight. I'm looking to go from around 200lbs to somewhere in the 120ish range. I would prefer 115, however being 5'6" female with a medium frame, this is considered under weight. I do want to be healthy about it, so I am watching what I am eating in addition to working out probably 6 days a week. I'm not pushing myself super hard during my workout, only about 30 minutes of cardio in addition to some weight training (I need suggestions for legs, but that's another post). I work in sales, so I am on my feet a good chuck of the day on busy days, but there are also days where I'm not moving around much.

The major piece that I'm confused about is the amount of calories I should be eating. I took a TDEE and it put my BMR at 1786 and my TDEE at 2691. After taking 25% from my BMR I came up with about 1430 calories daily. When I signed up for this site now, it recommended that I eat 1200 calories a day. After reading a few different sources, they said that 1200 should be a minimum for daily function. Now that's what I thought my BMR was. Also, if I want to figure out the amount of calories that I'm burning in a day, which number do I take from?

I'm sorry about having so many questions, I just want to do this in a healthy way. My goal is to lose hopefully around 2 pounds per week. I just really need to figure out which numbers I need so I can do this the right way.

Thank you in advance for all of your replies! Any and all help and advice is certainly welcome!!

Replies

  • lexlyn14
    lexlyn14 Posts: 290 Member
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    Hi...Well there are two methods to the calorie counting...They both end up being very close...It is just a matter of preference...

    When you join MFP the lowest calorie they recommend is 1200 calories...So that means you can have 1200 calories PLUS eat as many calories as you burned through exercise that day,,,So for example if I burned 400 calories running on my treadmill on Monday then I can eat 1200 PLUS 400 calories that day giving me 1600 calories to eat for the day...If I burned 200 calories on my eliptical on Tuesday then on Tuesday i can have 1400 calories...1200 PLUS 200 from the eliptical...

    The other method is TDEE...That is where you plug in some stats and it comes up with a number of calories you can have to MAINTAIN...If you want to lose weight you can take 20 or 25 percent off of that number...HOWEVER this is how many calories you can have and you DO NOT get to eat back any calories you might have burned for the day...This is the number whether you work out or not...

    So for example you said with the TDEE method you can have 1430 calories a day...That is whether you exercise or not
    On MFP you can have 1200 plus eat as many calories as you burned,,,

    I hope I helped and did not confuse you even more...Just search TDEE in the search bar ...I personally use MFP because it makes me workout harder to burn more calories so that I can eat more that day...But a lot of people like to just stick to one number...

    Good luck!!!
  • almasters90
    almasters90 Posts: 38 Member
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    Wow. Well congratulations first of all for starting and doing some research! That's a big step. Also.. diets tend to fail in the first couple days... keep that in mind when you start to feel less motivated. I know that helped me. I wanted to do better than that.

    I started at 183 at 5'5". Im currently between 140 and 146. I started in May. I chose that I wanted to lose 1 pound per week. I knew that if I reduced food intake too much I'd cave early. So don't start too strong. Figure out what works for you first.

    I gave myself a week trial to figure out how much I was eating to start. Then I started consuming 1650 a day. Stopped eating things that weren't easily digested. More pure foods. Home cooked meals.. not that I ate out a lot but I actually considered what was getting put into the food. Like sauces, spices, everything and anything. Calories mattered.. every single one of them.

    I walked every day. Nothing else. I started with 2 miles extra day which is EXTRA. It helps. I lost all of my weight just walking. Over time, i got to the point where I walked 7 miles a day. Approx. 19,000 steps more than I'd do on a normal basis. Eventually I bought a FitBit so that I could see where exactly I stood on a day I didn't walk compared to a day that I did. HUGE DIFFERENCE! You don't need it, but I wanted it.

    2 Miles a day, 1600 to 1650 in calories a day before working out (You should eat back at least half the calories you burned.. I didn't until recently. Stay healthy and good to yourself). I didn't walk fast. I just walked outside. Enjoyed the peace, calmness and the things I got to see.

    Everytime I lost a pound I would reset MFP so that it would correct the necessary calorie consumption. Please do that otherwise, the math and body calks will be off and fail you.

    Weight started falling off. I saw results in the first week. And then the second, I would pretty much get high off of my scale in the morning. Please please please weight yourself at the same time of day whenever you choose to weight yourself. Looking at the number every day takes a toll on you mentally but it also makes you learn. You learn what foods cause your weight to temporarily go up, it makes you realize you didn't drink enough water. Entering in everything you do helps you learn about you. Helps you understand what works BEST for you because this is FOR YOU.

    I lost 40 pounds in 4 o 5 months. I still am aiming to lose another 10 (at least). What does concern but excite me is that you want to weight train. I've started that recently and it has me mentally screwed. I look at the scale and my smile falls.. but know that after some time it WILL show! It's starting to show now and I am so proud of myself for sticking with it. What concerns me about this is that, it will slow the scale down and I don't know how much you depend on it or how much your going to depend on it. Muscle is denser than fat. So inches will shrink but scale may not budge at all.

    ALSO, maybe get yourself a cheap measuring tape for sewing.. then you can measure your inches and have something else to rely on other than the scale because it will be a traitor.

    I know this is A LOT, but stick with it and I know that you'll get the results you want. You'll be so happy that you wish you would have started this sooner.

    Keep in mind that everyone is different. What worked for me, may not work for you. I mentally wore myself out countless times and I hope that you will be stronger than me when it comes to situations that set you back. i.e. the scale.

    Best of luck! You're already to a great start by taking action.

    PS remember, what you eat is supposed to help you. Your heart, brain, lungs, muscles, everything. You put terrible fuel in a car, guess what, your car will end up running terribly, you put terrible (tastes awesome, terrible for your stomach) food in yourself, same thing there.
  • Mcgrawhaha
    Mcgrawhaha Posts: 1,596 Member
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    Eat less calories than the energy that you expend.
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
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    Hi...Well there are two methods to the calorie counting...They both end up being very close...It is just a matter of preference...

    When you join MFP the lowest calorie they recommend is 1200 calories...So that means you can have 1200 calories PLUS eat as many calories as you burned through exercise that day,,,So for example if I burned 400 calories running on my treadmill on Monday then I can eat 1200 PLUS 400 calories that day giving me 1600 calories to eat for the day...If I burned 200 calories on my eliptical on Tuesday then on Tuesday i can have 1400 calories...1200 PLUS 200 from the eliptical...

    The other method is TDEE...That is where you plug in some stats and it comes up with a number of calories you can have to MAINTAIN...If you want to lose weight you can take 20 or 25 percent off of that number...HOWEVER this is how many calories you can have and you DO NOT get to eat back any calories you might have burned for the day...This is the number whether you work out or not...

    So for example you said with the TDEE method you can have 1430 calories a day...That is whether you exercise or not
    On MFP you can have 1200 plus eat as many calories as you burned,,,

    I hope I helped and did not confuse you even more...Just search TDEE in the search bar ...I personally use MFP because it makes me workout harder to burn more calories so that I can eat more that day...But a lot of people like to just stick to one number...

    Good luck!!!

    Excellent answer^^^

    You are already WAY ahead of the curve just for understanding BMR & TDEE! If you basically do the same workout every time, TDEE is the way to go. If your workout varies from day to day, you may want to log it & adjust your calories daily. It's a matter of personal preference.

    Best of luck to you in reaching your goal!
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
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    Eat less calories than the energy that you expend.

    Horrible answer^^^^
  • Mcgrawhaha
    Mcgrawhaha Posts: 1,596 Member
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    Eat less calories than the energy that you expend.

    Horrible answer^^^^

    lol, what do you think a deficit is?
  • Mcgrawhaha
    Mcgrawhaha Posts: 1,596 Member
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    Eat less calories than the energy that you expend.

    Horrible answer^^^^

    its called a deficit.

    if your total daily energy output is 1900, and you consume 2200, expect to gain. if your total daily energy output is 1900, and you consume 1900, expect to maintain. if your total daily energy output is 1900, and you consume 1600, expect to lose. funny, you say its a horrible answer, yet its fact. deficit / lose. very simple.

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