Am I on the right track?

annemarielisalouise
annemarielisalouise Posts: 13
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone just reading some of the posts and I'm concerned now that I'm doing things 'correctly' I began the 1200 cal diet the second week of January and have so far lost 10lbs I'm five feet tall, I'm forty years old and my current weight is 10stone 1lb....I am therefore still overweight and my BMI is a little high..I am hoping to lose about another 7/8lbs to get down to a 'normal' weight for my height I'm exercising three to five times a week and trying to cut down on foods that are bad for me...I don't eat meat...would love to hear from people to see if I am right in staying on the 1200 cal diet and exercising without killing myself (had a knee injury due to trying to run in the first few weeks) not in any big rush to lose weight but ideally would like to have that 7/8lbs gone and staying gone by the Summer! Cheers :)

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    With that little weight to lose, you will need more calories than 1200. At this point, you should aim for 1 lb per week and if you exercise, you should be eating extra calories. Additionally, I would recommend a food scale to ensure accuracy of logging (its one of the biggest and most common mistakes from users).

    What do you do for exercise? If you aren't resistance training, you really should start. Not only does it help with muscle retention, it also helps maintain your metabolic rate, improve bone density (to help stay off osteoporosis), and makes you overall stronger. At this point, your goal should be fat loss... not weight loss. You do this with a small deficit, resistance training and adequate protein. With that said, protein levels should be around 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass (essentially 70-80% of your body weight in grams of protein [around 110g of protein should be your goal]). You can achieve this throw macornutrient adjustments in your profile. For the most part, you can adjust your profile to around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. That generally allows most people to hit those thresholds.


    Also, to address your knee issue and this if also speaking from personal experience. The more you strengthen your injured area, the less issues you will have and the stronger it will become. I tore my MCL and no longer have issues as I have worked hard to rehab it and make it strong.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    With only 7–8 lb. to lose, set your goal to .5 lb. per week. The closer you are to goal, the more slowly you lose. And a smaller deficit will ease the transition to maintenance.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
    Sounds like you're doing well, I wouldn't mess w/something that's working.
  • annemarielisalouise
    annemarielisalouise Posts: 13
    With that little weight to lose, you will need more calories than 1200. At this point, you should aim for 1 lb per week and if you exercise, you should be eating extra calories. Additionally, I would recommend a food scale to ensure accuracy of logging (its one of the biggest and most common mistakes from users).

    Just wondering what you mean by food scale? sorry now I probably sound dumb! thanks for all your replies :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    With that little weight to lose, you will need more calories than 1200. At this point, you should aim for 1 lb per week and if you exercise, you should be eating extra calories. Additionally, I would recommend a food scale to ensure accuracy of logging (its one of the biggest and most common mistakes from users).

    Just wondering what you mean by food scale? sorry now I probably sound dumb! thanks for all your replies :)

    Just like a scale to measure your weight, a food scale measures your foods weight (below is what I have). it is extremely common for people to think they are eating a certain amount of calories, but the reality is, most people under estimate calories (see second link). So many think they are eating 1200 calories, but really they are eating 1600 calories. A second common mistake is people believe they burn a ton of calories (like a 120 lbs girl doing an hour of cardio thinking she burnt 600-900 calories) when the probably is, they burn much less. This is why many of us use the TDEE method and eat the same amount of calories daily. If you want I can run the numbers, but I need to know your workout program and if you have an active job or not.


    http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Kitchen-Capacity-Elegant/dp/B002IR6OP8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392740478&sr=8-1&keywords=ozeri+food+scale


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

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