Losing it without losing my mind

PearlAng

Hello all,

I've lost weight before--however, it was in a really unhealthy way and I got to be a really unhealthy weight. I was forced to gain it all back, plus some. Now I could stand to lose a bit and tone up, but honestly, I don't know how to do it without restricting.

Any advice?

PearlAng

:frown:

SezxyStef

a reasonable calorie deficet with a reasonable weekly weight loss goal and resistence training.

Depending on how much you desire to lose less than 25 1/2lb a week is good which means a 10% deficet.

BigT555

unfortunately your going to have to restrict yourself in calories if you want to lose, but that deosnt mean you cant still enjoy food. its just a matter of finding a happy middle between eating the right amount to lose weight and eating the right amount to keep yourself content. itll be hard at first, but your body will adjust, i hardly feel hunger ever anymore and i only eat around 1600/day, and im a fairly large guy at 6'1 205 lbs

exercise isnt a must but it does wonders for motivation and seeing the short term results

_Zardoz_

a reasonable calorie deficet with a reasonable weekly weight loss goal and resistence training.

Depending on how much you desire to lose less than 25 1/2lb a week is good which means a 10% deficet.

This is great advice.

BTW love the Flash Gordon Record!!

PearlAng

Thank you everyone! It makes me feel better. 10% was mentioned, and I think that will be good. I'm not sure how much I really should be eating, so I will look into that. Would it be 10% less than maintenance?

SezxyStef

Thank you everyone! It makes me feel better. 10% was mentioned, and I think that will be good. I'm not sure how much I really should be eating, so I will look into that. Would it be 10% less than maintenance?

Yes..MFP will do that for you...

Just enter your stats, 1/2lb a week desired loss, set activity level to lightly active (no one is really sedentary) and you should get a decent amount of calories to eat.

If you exercise log that too and eat back 50-75% of those too...

And remember the goal is to eat as much as possible and still lose the desired weight...not as little as possible...

PearlAng

Thank you everyone! It makes me feel better. 10% was mentioned, and I think that will be good. I'm not sure how much I really should be eating, so I will look into that. Would it be 10% less than maintenance?

Yes..MFP will do that for you...

Just enter your stats, 1/2lb a week desired loss, set activity level to lightly active (no one is really sedentary) and you should get a decent amount of calories to eat.

If you exercise log that too and eat back 50-75% of those too...

And remember the goal is to eat as much as possible and still lose the desired weight...not as little as possible...

Thank you! Yeah, I'm in the "little as possible" mindset

PearlAng

It told me I only need 1280?

lemur_lady

Just count your calories. When I did diets before I associated them with eating rabbit food and very little of it...so thats what I did. Obviously I got bored of this pretty soon and would fall off the wagon and gain the weight back. This time I am allowing myself treats, if I want some chocolate or some chips etc I work them into my day. So long as I am at my calorie goal and near enough to the macros then thats all I need

Try not to see it as a diet. Think of it as a permanent change. When you reach your goal I assume you want to be able to treat yourself now and then so its better to start as you mean to go on that way you will learn how to have a healthy diet but know how to be able to fit the treats into it.

I second what sezxy stef said. Eat as much as you can while still allowing yourself to lose weight. You'll be more likely to get in the proper nutrition your body needs and you wont feel deprived and 'lose your mind.'

Good luck!

BigT555

It told me I only need 1280?

if you have a low weight already then your not going to have a high maintenance calorie count, 1280 seems a little low though honestly but if you input your height/weight/activity level correctly then thats what it is. perhaps try another TDEE counter if you like and then customize your MFP account preferences to match that number

PearlAng

It told me I only need 1280?

if you have a low weight already then your not going to have a high maintenance calorie count, 1280 seems a little low though honestly but if you input your height/weight/activity level correctly then thats what it is. perhaps try another TDEE counter if you like and then customize your MFP account preferences to match that number

Thank you! I'm getting very conflicting results though.

Scoobysworkshop told me that my bmr is 1254, my TDEE is 1944 and then it said "Daily calories based on goal in step 6 : 1749" which number do I eat?!

PearlAng

Bump! Sorry, I'm seeking answers lol

PearlAng

I think today I will aim for the 1280 until I get the advice. Meanwhile I will hope someone replies to this thread.

retropactum

Without knowing all your stats (CW, H, activity level, etc), its difficult to help you come up with the closest estimate.

Even then, you could use the average of what all the calculators said as your averaged suggested intake. Personally, from there, it was all trial and error to find the sweet spot which is generally between your TDEE (maintenance) and BMR (low point). I found that the suggested calories from those calculators made me feel like I was gorging myself and obviously I wasn't losing. I am recently [comfortably and satisfyingly] eating at a number skirting my BMR and losing at about 0.5-1.0 pound a week, which seems perfectly fine to me. All these calculators do is give you a starting point, you will ultimately need to learn to listen to your body.

Don't know if that helps any, but it took me a long time to figure just THAT out, lol.

healthygreek

I think today I will aim for the 1280 until I get the advice. Meanwhile I will hope someone replies to this thread.

If you use MFP, this method expects you to eat your exercise calories back.
If you use tdee then your exercise calories are already figured in an thus the higher calorie number.

PearlAng

Thank you everyone I'll keep it in mind

retropactum

Sorry if this is overkill. I just think I started to grasp it better with examples, personally. Here I’ll show you with my figures with three calculator examples:

Stats:
Female
23 yrs old
CW 255 lbs
Activity 1-3 hour per wk
20% deficiency

Scooby’s calculator totals:
BMR – 1961
TDEE – 2696
20% deficiency – 2157

IIFYM calculator totals:
BMR – 1931
TDEE – 2655
20% deficiency – 2124

Fitness Frog calculator totals:
BMR – 1961
TDEE – 2697
20% deficiency* – 2157


Notice they are relatively similar as long as you are entering you stats in correctly and consistently. However, after continuing to slightly gain at TDEE-20% over the past months, I lowered it by small amounts until I found a spot where I was losing a steady amount as stated in my previous comment. Currently, my daily intake goal is 1930 and eat back about half of anything I burn (as I am told MFP is gracious in the calories burned department). Some days I don’t make it to my BMR, but I am listening to my body and still go to sleep feeling satisfied with my food choices at the end of the day.

Others might disagree, but as a fellow newbie, you’ll ultimately need to pick one method: MFP calculations or TDEE-% calculations. That is, at least until you fully understand the math behind the calculations. I notice that a lot of active advisors on the message boards use TDEE method, but both are viable option as long as your pick a path as stick with it. Please note if you choose MFP’s approach, the suggested caloric figure does not include your calories burned from exercise, which is why you are told to eat back those burned calories. If MFP is telling you 1280, then that is what you need to eat PLUS the calories burned through exercise and extra activities (this is also known as your NET calories). Keep in mind that true activity level is important for either methods too. I work a desk job, so I thought I would choose sedentary when setting up My Goals, but I wasn’t think about the two fitness classes (2 hrs/week) I take because of how the question was phrased (it was a difference of 300 calories between the two activity settings). If you are choosing TDEE-%, you again need to be sure to have the correct activity level because this one calculates those calories into your suggested intake already. In other words, with TDEE method, you do NOT eat back your calories. Like Stef mentioned, about a 0.5 lb or -10% is what you should be shooting for on anything less than 25 lbs. It may seems slow, but it is what is most sustainable.

If you are brave enough to post your stats, I’m sure someone is bored (er... I mean caring) enough to calculate things for you to give you more individualize help.

Back to the original question posed though, creating a deficiency is the only way to lose. Like myself, you are probably getting all of these new terms that you have no idea where to start, but the whole idea is always going to be burn more (though day-to-day bodily functions & extra activities) than you take in (eating & drinking). This can be done by eating less than maintenance or exercising yourself under maintenance. Obviously a combo of the two methods, as well as consuming adequate macronutrients, is the most sustainable and attractive option.

(IF I AM COMPLETELY OFF MY ROCKER, PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME SO I DON”T SCREW THIS GIRL UP. I’M STILL LEARNING TOO.)

PearlAng

Sorry if this is overkill. I just think I started to grasp it better with examples, personally. Here I’ll show you with my figures with three calculator examples:

Stats:
Female
23 yrs old
CW 255 lbs
Activity 1-3 hour per wk
20% deficiency

Scooby’s calculator totals:
BMR – 1961
TDEE – 2696
20% deficiency – 2157

IIFYM calculator totals:
BMR – 1931
TDEE – 2655
20% deficiency – 2124

Fitness Frog calculator totals:
BMR – 1961
TDEE – 2697
20% deficiency* – 2157


Notice they are relatively similar as long as you are entering you stats in correctly and consistently. However, after continuing to slightly gain at TDEE-20% over the past months, I lowered it by small amounts until I found a spot where I was losing a steady amount as stated in my previous comment. Currently, my daily intake goal is 1930 and eat back about half of anything I burn (as I am told MFP is gracious in the calories burned department). Some days I don’t make it to my BMR, but I am listening to my body and still go to sleep feeling satisfied with my food choices at the end of the day.

Others might disagree, but as a fellow newbie, you’ll ultimately need to pick one method: MFP calculations or TDEE-% calculations. That is, at least until you fully understand the math behind the calculations. I notice that a lot of active advisors on the message boards use TDEE method, but both are viable option as long as your pick a path as stick with it. Please note if you choose MFP’s approach, the suggested caloric figure does not include your calories burned from exercise, which is why you are told to eat back those burned calories. If MFP is telling you 1280, then that is what you need to eat PLUS the calories burned through exercise and extra activities (this is also known as your NET calories). Keep in mind that true activity level is important for either methods too. I work a desk job, so I thought I would choose sedentary when setting up My Goals, but I wasn’t think about the two fitness classes (2 hrs/week) I take because of how the question was phrased (it was a difference of 300 calories between the two activity settings). If you are choosing TDEE-%, you again need to be sure to have the correct activity level because this one calculates those calories into your suggested intake already. In other words, with TDEE method, you do NOT eat back your calories. Like Stef mentioned, about a 0.5 lb or -10% is what you should be shooting for on anything less than 25 lbs. It may seems slow, but it is what is most sustainable.

If you are brave enough to post your stats, I’m sure someone is bored (er... I mean caring) enough to calculate things for you to give you more individualize help.

Back to the original question posed though, creating a deficiency is the only way to lose. Like myself, you are probably getting all of these new terms that you have no idea where to start, but the whole idea is always going to be burn more (though day-to-day bodily functions & extra activities) than you take in (eating & drinking). This can be done by eating less than maintenance or exercising yourself under maintenance. Obviously a combo of the two methods, as well as consuming adequate macronutrients, is the most sustainable and attractive option.

(IF I AM COMPLETELY OFF MY ROCKER, PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME SO I DON”T SCREW THIS GIRL UP. I’M STILL LEARNING TOO.)

Seems to make sense to me! Would you mind if I added you? You've been a lot of help!

establishingaplace

I will add to the great advice above that the best thing to do is pick a number from the TDEE calculator, and give it a whirl for a month. If you lose weight, great! If your weight stays the same, drop some calories. I picked the low end of numbers I got from TDEE calculators, subtracted 500 cals a day, and I've been losing .5-1 lb per week depending on how active I am. I'm also eating enough that I don't feel too hungry. I am a grumpy B when I am hungry...haha.