New here & your advice much appreciated!

maddystella23

Hi I am a 21 year old female. I am looking to lose around 15-20kg/30-40lbs - ideally within around 6 or so months but I understand this is a "lifestyle change" so am not after a quick fix.

I sit all day in an office job and live with a boyfriend with a big appetite and fast metabolism and have no will power... So I know exactly why I am overweight! But I'd like to change this so I can feel healthy, happy and confident about myself.

I have read about the 5:2 diet and am interested in it but below is a plan not including that diet as I'm not sure yet.

Please let me know what you think of my 'plan' and if you have any suggestions please fire away! Also do you think this would be possible to achieve in around 6 or so months? Or at least lose a good portion of my ideal goal?

Nutrition:
Aiming for between 1200-1500 calories per day (I sit in an office all day so feel too many calories won't help me with my goal but I don't want too few)

Eg of a day:
Breakfast: Berry smoothie (1/2 cup blueberries, 1 medium banana, 1 cup trim milk)
Lunch: 1 cup oats wiith a medium apple or Scrambled eggs and piece of whole grain toast
Snack: Carrot or handful of almonds
Dinner: 2 cups steamed green veges (broccoli, green beans, cauliflower etc) with 150gm lean chicken

I know I will slip up and eat 'bad' food occasionally but for the most part I intend to eat similar to the above.
Please. Ore I rarely drink alcohol.

Exercise:
I am planning on doing a 20-30 min workout circuit at home 4 days a week after work and once a week going on a nice walk with the boyfriend.
I am not experienced at exercise and don't tend to enjoy it so want to start off slow. Any suggestions in this area are much appreciated.

Eg of a 20-30 min circuit
10 min skipping
100 squats
And then some YouTube workout videos

I am also thinking of getting a cheap second hand elliptical machine for the house and maybe do 20 mins of that instead some days

Please let me know what you think!
Thank you very much in advance xxx

_KitKat_

A 36lb loss would be 6lbs in 6 months that is 1.5lbs per week. I do think this is doable, slightly aggressive and if your goal is a very low weight for height this would be too aggressive but it is doable enough that in 6 months, you should be at the point of just figuring out what you want to plan next.

Your plan looks fine for a diet, but not sustainable..... So weight would come back. Set your goal 1400-1500 should work for you and should be around your BMR (basal metabolic rate ie: you in a coma). Get a digital kitchen scale and some measuring cups. Weigh solid foods, measure liquids, log EVERYTHING (condiments, oils in cooking, just a Bite's) and most importantly eat what ever you want that fits your calorie goals. Try to hit you macros, with protein being most important. Protein helps preserve lean body mass (muscle, bone and water)...this will help make sure you look great naked at goal and not just clothed. Weight lifting is the other thing that will help with that. If you exercise, log it but only eat back 50-75% of those calories burned. You need to net your goal but MFP and gym machines over estimate burns. You could also do TDEE method and eexercise is already figured in, in that method you don't eat those calories back but you have to do what you say when figuring out your numbers. For now you could goal 1450 and eat back 50% of exercise, you should lose from 1-2 lbs per week. Weight lose is not linear so some weeks will have a higher loss and others there may not be one.

Weighing, logging, honesty and keeping at goal and you will lose. Depriving yourself, sets you up for catastrophe... at some point you will cave and it is not what you would want to do forever so just learn moderation and use MFP and weighing as the tool to teach you.

SharonNehring

Welcome to MFP! Let the website help you determine your calorie and macro goals using your height, weight and exercise amounts. Dependent upon how you set it up, you may or may not need to eat back some of your calories burned.

I have mine set to sedentary, so it's expected that I will eat back at least half of my exercise calories. Example, if I start with 1500 calories and exercise burns 400 calories, I'm now at a net of only 1100 cals for the day which is too low. I need to eat another 100-200 extra calories (you want a net of at least 1200 calories minimum). One of my concerns with your plan is that you will probably be too low on net calories on your exercise days.

I'd also suggest adding more protein and fats to help keep you feeling full. You could add protein powder or greek yogurt to your smoothie, have some cheese or a hard boiled egg. Make your oats with milk or have 1-2tsp nut butter with your apple etc.

Once you log consistently for 1-2 weeks, take a close look at your macros to see if you are getting the right amounts of protein, carbs, fats etc then make some adjustments. Again, let the site help you figure out a balanced plan.