I feel like I should be loosing more

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  • Buksh12
    Buksh12 Posts: 203 Member
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    One thing i noticed and this might be different for you as i believe "clear" alcohol (your vodka ;) )is better than beer! but i had a weekend where i relaxed i had 3 beers LOL i didnt think that was much.. but it certainly hampered my progress for a few days and i wont deny that i got a bit worried.

    But like most people say its a lifestyle change... not a diet...

    i dont intend to never drink a beer again.... and i dont intend to never have a burger or chocolate lol! but... everything in moderation.

    im good on the weekdays and im a lil naughty on the weekends, just be patient. as hard as it may seem and this isnt something i do...focus on the diet and not the weight perhaps.. you know your stats for now. focus on achieving the diet and excercise bit then come back to your weight in 1-2 weeks :)
  • mell0wg0ld
    mell0wg0ld Posts: 13 Member
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    lol oh yeah that - well I really love beer and was really bad all of last year (mostly what I think caused my weight gain in the first place) Vodka and mineral water has been my relaxation drink recently as it is 69 calories - I know alcohol is bad for weight loss also and the thing I am struggling with the most :drinker:
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    I eat and drink whatever I want, beer, french fries, etc. It's about moderation not deprivation. There's no such thing as bad food. Just make it fit into your calorie goal and if you go over one day it's not the end of the world, you'll be fine.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    A 3lb loss in two weeks is good. Just keep at it.
  • Smashley1947
    Smashley1947 Posts: 129
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    You just started, weight loss will not happen over night. Have patience.

    Take body measurements, sometimes they change where the scale does not.

    Also body weight can fluctuate +/- 10 pounds in a month, something to keep in mind as well.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    It's not just the calories you're consuming, but the type of calories. You likely need to increase your protein and reduce carbohydrates. you should be consuming in the range of 100-140 grams of protein per day, and less than 100 grams of carbohydrates. Also, if you haven't already, cut out the diet sodas. They may be zero calorie, but they are still awful for you, and will cause you to retain water, due to the sodium. Those are just a few of the things I have learned the hard way, myself. Also, if you have trouble getting the proper nutrition levels, look into a nutrition plan like herbalife, advocare, or something along those lines. they tend to be designed with the proper amounts of nutrition in mind. Finally, DON'T GIVE UP! Getting fit is a slow process, don't make it slower by quitting.
    Nope. Bad advice, especially about the types of food you eat and promoting herbalife and advocare. Losing weight is all about a calorie deficit, in other words burn more calories than you consume.

    I agree with the not giving up, though.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    250lbs :blushing: and I would like to be 160. I was eating 1200 calories a day and exercising about an average of 450 of those away a day. I looked up what amount of calories I should be eating on another site and discovered it was a lot more than 1200. I also was confused with the food/net differences. As of today I have upped my calories to 1,400.

    Okay, here is the difference..... MFP does NOT include exercise in its calculations for how many calories you need. It calculates what you need just for your daily life not including deliberate exercise. Then when you choose how many pounds per week you would like to lose, it takes a flat number of calories off of it (but will not go below 1,200 calories). If you chose 2 pounds per week, it subtracts 1,000 calories a day.

    Now, when you exercise, you need to eat more food for fuel. It adds calories to your daily total when you log your exercise. This is the meaning of the "net calories".

    Example:

    1,200 (the amount MFP told you to eat)
    -300 (the calories burned in exercise)
    +300 (the amount more you eat for fuel for exercise)
    =1,200 NET

    You really ate 1,500 calories on this example, but it was a net of 1,200.

    Other calculators you might look at online don't do it this way, they would include exercise in its estimate of how many calories you need, so their number would be higher.
  • Mav3rick54
    Mav3rick54 Posts: 180 Member
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    Patience, patience, patience....as you lose the weight your clothes will get loose...Hehe, couldn't resist. :)
  • mell0wg0ld
    mell0wg0ld Posts: 13 Member
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    Thank you deksgrl that helps a lot - it is confusing :P I just don't want to over/under eat! And I can't wait to have LOOSE clothes!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    Mel,

    First, try to have patience. A 3 pound loss is good work!

    I looked at your diary. Are you logging everything you eat? Are you weighing all solid food and measuring all liquids?

    Where do you get your exercise calorie estimations from? If you get them from the gym machine, an online source, or MFP, I would suggest eating only a portion of them back because those estimations can be kind of high. In my experience, I have found my heart rate monitor with the chest strap works best for me when it comes to estimating my calorie burns.

    From perusing your dairy, I get a feeling that you might be underestimating calories consumed and/or overestimating calories burned, which is a common problem.

    Most times, weight comes off pretty fast at first and then slows down. Patience is a virtue when it comes to lifestyle changes such as this. Weight loss is never linear, it kind of takes it's own little journey and surprises us sometimes with slow weight loss, faster weight loss, and plateaus.
  • mell0wg0ld
    mell0wg0ld Posts: 13 Member
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    I have a chest strap for heart rate monitoring which I just recently got - Before I was using the machine calculation and also a heart rate/calorie calculating wrist watch that I have. As for food - I do weigh out the portions on a food scale and measure liquids I am very careful with trying not to overestimate burned calories and underestimate food calories - I see this as cheating which I am done with!! I guess I am being impatient and seeing my friend have more pounds lost made me question my own weight loss. I am very happy for the pounds I have lost up to this point :bigsmile:
  • mimieon
    mimieon Posts: 182 Member
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    Definitely eat those exercise calories if you are using mfp settings. If you worry that the number of burnt calories are overestimated, eat like 2/3 of them or something.

    Another thing to consider for the headaches is caffeine withdrawal.
  • AnexRavensong
    AnexRavensong Posts: 262 Member
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    So many people eating 1200 calories and "never going over 1400" :/.. OK treading carefully here..

    Instead of aiming for a ridiculously low amount of calories and an obscene amount of exercise then stuffing yourself with water to kill hunger pangs, how about doing things sensibly and healthily?

    There are at least two really IMPORTANT abbreviations you should learn as of right now: TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). As long as you eat at a deficit of TDEE without eating under BMR for extended periods of time you will lose weight as a reasonable pace and shouldn't reach the dreaded plateau so quickly.

    BMR is pretty much what it takes to keep you alive if you did nothing and were in bed all day. You should never eat under this (unless your doctor tells you otherwise for some specific health reason).

    Personally my BMR is 1,573 calories with my TDEE being around 1950. That means that as long as I eat under 1950 cals a day, I will lose weight.

    I ate the 1200, I ate the 1500 and I stopped losing weight and gained it all back. Unsurprisingly you body wants to SURVIVE and it WILL start storing fat if you stop feeding it enough. Been there, done that and more than once.

    So first, before you get sucked into that 1200 cal thing that I don't at all agree with and personally made me headachy and angry all the time, find out your BMR: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ do NOT eat less than that. Of course you will adjust and recalculate as you lose weight every so often (which will lower your number), but you really shouldn't eat under BMR.

    You will also need to figure out your TDEE so you can eat less than that. Eat back your exercise calories UNLESS you already figure them in with your TDEE. You don't want to go under BMR.

    TDEE calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Those should give you some starting points. There's also lots of groups with lots of good information too who will help support you and will encourage you to actually eat without posting about how they did 5 hours of cardio and only ate a carrot (I exaggerate).

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

    They have links to other tools that can help you and user heybales has a nice spreadsheet too you can use.
  • mell0wg0ld
    mell0wg0ld Posts: 13 Member
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    Thank you Anexa very helpful info!

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