New to the MFP boards...looking for some advice/tips?

ebunte95

Hello everyone. I'm an 18 year old male, 5'11", and according to the scale yesterday morning, at 199.5 lbs. I've been eating as healthy as I can and have been getting in some form of exercise every day for about 2 months now. I started at around 225-230 pounds before I started this lifestyle change. I used to smoke, drink, and binge heavily, but I haven't done any of these things since January. Over the past few days however, I've noticed I don't feel quite as thin and healthy as I had been. I've been drinking at least 2 liters of water a day, and I don't drink anything else besides black coffee in the morning and a cup of green tea before bed. I eat anywhere between 1200-1450 calories a day. Yesterday, I had my first "fast food" meal in months. It was a club sandwich from Jimmy John's on wheat bread. I logged it and was still under my calorie goal by the end of the day. This morning however, I weighed myself again and was at 206.5. This was pretty unsettling to me. I feel like I've been getting fatter and fatter throughout the day. I guess what I'm hoping to get some kind of advice as to what I can do to get myself feeling on track again.

krawhitham

Are you exercising?

ebunte95

Yes, every morning. Maybe not intensely enough? I've been walking/jogging with my dogs for an hour or so every morning after breakfast.

morethenjustmum

I have two thoughts, one at your height you should probably be eating a bit more and two club sandwich is delicious but salty you may just be retaining some water.

AmyRhubarb

I think you should be eating a LOT more than 1200-1450 a day. I'm a 45 year old woman and I lose on 1800-2000 cals a day.

You don't have a lot to lose, so a small calorie deficit is best. Don't try to rush things by cutting cals too low.

Two great topics:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

Great info there. Check 'em out. Good luck!

edited to add: read this one too - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13