I want to lose 30 pounds by mid/late june.

abrazame

I have been trying to exercise at least 45 minutes a day. I usually just do cardio.
I have a calorie limit of 1200. I am 5'3 154 pounds. I have a 37inch waist and 24 inch thighs. I started on feb 14th at 160 pounds, so I have lost 6 pounds so far, though I haven't had any weight loss in the past week or so.

What else do I need to do? I really want this. I'm tired of staying locked in the house during summer because I can't wear shorts or skirts and its too hot to wear anything else.

I_Will_End_You

Sounds like you're doing well already. My suggestion would be to add some strength/resistance training in with your workouts. People find that they like the way they look more when they add in strength training to their routines. That way, even if you don't lose 30 pounds by the end of June, you'll likely be more happy with the way you look regardless of what the scale says.

abrazame

Some days I go well over my calorie limit. Usually it's because I need to go grocery shopping or because I am out running errands and there is nothing but fast food around... What should I do when I slip up? I messed up really bad yesterday so today I am only allowing myself about 700 calories to make up.

abrazame

Bump

GracieGag

If you really want to do this you will need to plan out your meals and shop ahead of time. I shop once a week and pretty much know what I'm going to eat for every meal. It really helps you stay on track.

SezxyStef

6lbs in 4 weeks...ah hello that's a great loss.

You go over your limit because it's too low.

you need to eat to fuel workouts.

Start some sort of resistence training, get enough protien in and make sure you are eating enough...oh and make sure you are logging accurately by weighing solids, measuring liquids and not using quick adds and using correct entries from the database.

kshadows

Some days I go well over my calorie limit. Usually it's because I need to go grocery shopping or because I am out running errands and there is nothing but fast food around... What should I do when I slip up? I messed up really bad yesterday so today I am only allowing myself about 700 calories to make up.

This is a bad, bad idea. 1200 is REALLY low for most people, especially if you're working out. Your body needs energy to function. Eat. more.

DavidSTC

Quickly looking at your diary, it doesn't look like you're tracking your calories. Get in the habit of weighing/measuring everything you eat and entering it in your diary. The idea behind MFP is that you eat better when you know exactly what you're eating. You stay accountable to yourself. You're off to a good start with your weight loss. But, if you're just trying to lose weight by this summer, instead of changing your eating habits for the long run, you could suffer setbacks.

Also, do some strength training. It will help with your metabolism. Muscles burn more calories.

DavidSTC

And, if you ARE tracking all of your calories correctly now, you're malnourished. Increase your intake right away.

WillWorkout4Food

I'm right there with you...closer to 25 pounds. Hopefully, we can support eachother!

sianquin

I'm 154lb right now. I also eat a 1300ish diet but I usually eat back all my exercise calories and try not to go under 1200calories. 700 is far too low you'll be starving.

Keep tracking as its easy to drop below 1200cal in your not keeping track.

Feel free to add me as a friend.

I also recommend some weight trainings, I nearly always do some weights after my cardio.

abrazame

And, if you ARE tracking all of your calories correctly now, you're malnourished. Increase your intake right away.

I track my calories most days. If I know I am going to go way way over my limit, I don't bother adding it. I track my caloruies by reading the nutritional labels on the food I eat. I do not eat above the serving size so I can enter the calories exactly as it says on the label. If there isn't one I will research the food I am eating and add a 100 extra calories or so to the entry. For example, I often eat chicken. The store I buy it from doesn't put a nutritional label on it so I research how much calories 1 chicken drumstick adds. Most of the things I have read say it's 200 calories. So I enter it as 300 calories. I also try to stay away from things that would be hard to track. Like homemade spaghetti. I add so many things in it, it would take a lot of time for me to add and measure everything out.



I also use my fitness blender videos to workout. They have the minimum and maximum calories burned for all of their workout videos on their site. I do a little more research on how much I should burn at my weight at the activity level the workout is.

I know this isn't the best method, but it's the best I have right now until I can get a food scale, heart monitor, etc.

abrazame

I'm 154lb right now. I also eat a 1300ish diet but I usually eat back all my exercise calories and try not to go under 1200calories. 700 is far too low you'll be starving.

Keep tracking as its easy to drop below 1200cal in your not keeping track.

Feel free to add me as a friend.

I also recommend some weight trainings, I nearly always do some weights after my cardio.

I don't eat back my calories. I keep seeing people saying that everyone who exercises should d this.

Can anyone tell me why? I thought the point of exercise was to burn calories you eat? Wouldn't eating them back make exercising pointless?

I started lifting small 10 pound weights and doing other arm exercises at the time I started this in Feb. I stopped because while I started showing some definition, It started to look bulky, as I still have a lot of fat on my arm. My partner even mentioned how ''manly'' my arms started looking.

kmglennie

I track my calories most days. If I know I am going to go way way over my limit, I don't bother adding it.

You need to track *everything* you're eating- choosing not to log if you go over your limit sounds extremely counter-intuitive.

easjer

The point to eating back your calories is to keep your metabolism up. It's not as simple as calories in vs. calories out. If you don't eat enough (and/or if you work out a lot), your body thinks you are facing lean times - it doesn't know you are trying to look good in a bathing suit. So in the short term, it does what it is programmed to do and slows your metabolism to conserve energy.

You aren't eating at a sustainable rate. You should do a little research into BMR/TDEE and go from there.

As for what you should do when you are going over - not go over? Meal plan in advance. That should eliminate a lot of the problem. Eat nutrient dense foods instead of wasting calories on processed, less nutritious calories. Find low-calorie, but filling options for days where you have higher calorie meals (vegetables are the thing to look to - I love a bowl of onion soup for dinner when I have eaten a heavy breakfast/lunch).

If you don't eat to your caloric requirements, you will seriously slow and delay your weight loss. Eventually you'll lose, but it will arduous, frustrating and non-sustainable.

abrazame

How to you guys get those weight lost tickers?

abrazame

My tdee is about 1440. I was using that but then last night I did myfitnesspal's weight loss guide thing ad they recommended 1200.

easjer

Oh, and you need to log everything to get a real sense of what you are eating. Sometimes it hurts to see what your food choices add up to, but it is useful to help in tracking trends. The only way to really know what problems you are facing is to be honest about them.

AlwaysInMotion

I don't eat back my calories. I keep seeing people saying that everyone who exercises should d this.

Can anyone tell me why? I thought the point of exercise was to burn calories you eat? Wouldn't eating them back make exercising pointless?

Check out this example:
Abra eats 1500 cals on Saturday. << This is her gross intake.
Abra then burns 500 cals on a 2-hr bike ride.
Abra is now effectively "netting" 1000 cals that day (1500 cals eaten - 500 cals burned = 1000 net cals)

Many people start having issues when their net intake (not their gross intake) dips below a certain caloric threshold (ex: dipping below 1200 cals/day).

When this goes on for a while (i.e., being way under your daily intake goal), some people notice malnourishment side effects (ex: I started losing hair), they may have energy, cognitive, and/or performance issues, their weight loss may stall, or they really start to struggle with hunger and general diet frustration and quit.

Most people here on MFP want others to succeed, which is why they often recommend setting a more realistic intake limit (net limit, not gross limt) and encourage people to eat back at least a portion of their exercise calories to stay within a healthy daily caloric intake range. There are other methods used here on MFP where people don't eat back exercise calories, but they set their daily intake limit higher to account for regular exercise. (I use TDEE myself.) If this method interests you, search for TDEE on the MFP boards.

I hope that helps!

easjer

*Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, but a quick caluclation shows your BMR at ~1500. With a lightly active lifstyle, your TDEE - 20% is 1657. I would not eat below 1500 (BMR).

radical_days

this is my goal as well!!!

we are almost at the same measurements! add me!!