What's your weight loss secret?

_Juhi_

Hello People,
I am Juhi from India..

I see many people here losing a lot of weight..so I was really curious to know how people are loosing weight here..What exactly they do..

I weigh 91 kgs (200 lbs maybe) I am 162cms tall (5 ft 4 inch)

I need to lose 30 kgs to enter the healthy weight range and I need to achieve this goal in 5-6 months...Is that possible? If yes then how? Am I eating properly? What else to do for achieving my goal in 5 months? I really need to lose weight and I have given up on all the junk food..Chocolates/pastries and oily stuff!

Please help me out..Please suggest some quick exercises(quick as in which I can do for 15 mins or so) for reducing tummy...:flowerforyou:

Some info about my diet & exercise

My daily diet :
Green tea - twice a day
Morning - Herbalife protein shake.
Lunch - One Roti (Wheat) , Sabzi(Vegetable cooked with spices and some oil)
Snacks(Evening) - A bowl of Kellogg's cornflakes / Saffola Masala Oats
Dinner - Herbalife protein shake , Egg(whole) , A sweet corn.

Exercise : Treadmill - Walking for 35-45 minutes 7 days a week.

As I am studying and I am out from 9 am to 5 pm. So I have my breakfast at 7. Lunch at 12 . Snacks at 6.30 pm and Dinner at 8 or 9 pm.
I hope I get some tips and suggestions here.

Thanks alot

_Juhi_

Please help guys! :sad: :sad:

TavistockToad

the secret is, theres no secret... calorie deficit, regular exercise you enjoy and some patience... simple!

adamtall

my secret is jogging outside in fresh air. helps me collect my thoughts and keeps me going.

farmerpam1

There is no secret. Don't think of it as a "diet", it's a lifestyle change. Eat less and move more. Oh, and be patient, weight loss won't happen overnight. Drink lots of water, and most importantly, believe in yourself and don't give up. You can do this! Good luck.:flowerforyou:

archanajoyce

Hi Juhi,

Take the wise words of Mr. Ping in Kung Fu Panda: Mr. Ping: "The secret ingredient is… nothing!"
There is no magic formula. Maintaining a Calorie Deficit, making healthier choices, exercising and proper meals / snacks are key. Depriviation or fad diets cannot help with a complete lifestyle change.

_Juhi_

the secret is, theres no secret... calorie deficit, regular exercise you enjoy and some patience... simple!

Okay! Calorie Deficit..I am really confused about it dear.. I read 1200 is the min no of calories to be consumes..But what about the calories we burn while exercising! How do we count that

_Juhi_

Thank you for the suggestions everyone!

_Juhi_

Hi Juhi,

Take the wise words of Mr. Ping in Kung Fu Panda: Mr. Ping: "The secret ingredient is… nothing!"
There is no magic formula. Maintaining a Calorie Deficit, making healthier choices, exercising and proper meals / snacks are key. Depriviation or fad diets cannot help with a complete lifestyle change.

Hey there! Thank u
Can u tell me in detail how to actually maintain a calorie deficit?

butlersoft

Calorie burn is difficult to track. A heart rate monitor will help you estimate burn for cardio workouts but they are only ever an estimate.

fwiw - dump the herbal life shakes; it isn't sustainable. Just make sure you get plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and good proteins (if you're not a vegetarian, then Chicken, Turkey are great .... and a nice steak every now and again doesn't hurt). Otherwise, look to vegetable based protein sources.

If you can steer clear of pre-packaged / processed rubbish and then otherwise keep within your calorie limits and eat natural produce, you will not only lose weight, but will likely feel generally "better" all round !

Check out this post :

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

kimondo666

Look for "low carb diet", get food with very low or no amount of sugar in it. Try it, i eat about 1200 kcal a day and i'm not hungry at all between meals. Maybe it's a diet for you.

pkw58

In detail, log every single thing you put in your mouth and swallow here on MFP.. You may be surprised at the calorie count. Weigh and measure what your eat.

As far as your exercise, time how long you do your activities. For simplification, I use a nike fuel band, my husband utilizes a fitbit. Log the calories you burned on here as well.

To lose weight, you can set your calories per the MFP automated settings, based on your height and activity level... start by clicking the "help" in the top menu banner.

smetka01

the secret is, theres no secret... calorie deficit, regular exercise you enjoy and some patience... simple!

Okay! Calorie Deficit..I am really confused about it dear.. I read 1200 is the min no of calories to be consumes..But what about the calories we burn while exercising! How do we count that

You eat those back At least I do. Ok, I usually leave about 100 not eaten because of possible mistakes.
Buy yourself good Polar HRM because MFP tends to overestimate exercise calories. Just to be as safe as possible. Good luck :flowerforyou:

itsfatum

The only secret is hard work, struggling if you need to without giving up, studying nutrition, logging food everyday, not being a slacker, working out even when you don't ****ing want to, etc etc.

TL;DR: There is no secret. Hard work is the only way

archanajoyce

You can track calories that you burn directly on the machines at the gym (as a beginner that helps)
When you input them in MFP - Exercise Tab, remember that MFP might slightly overestimate certain activities. So let's say I have to eat 1200 calories a day, and I burn 200 calories through exercise. Then I should be eating 1200 + 200 = 1400 calories for that day (maybe minus 50 to account for errors). The 1200 has already factored in a 500 calorie deficit. So if you don't eat back your exercise calories, your body may go into starvation mode and start storing fat for 'future'.

@ all please correct me if I'm wrong

ssmkgp

Your food diary is closed, any way if we eat more calories than our body requires, we will gain weight. If we eat less calories than our body needs, we will lose weight.
Unless we know exactly what our TDEE is, we have no way of knowing how many calories to consume to burn body fat or gain muscle. So, first of all now your TDEE and from there, subtract 15-20% from that number in order to see how many calories you should eat daily to burn fat and lose weight at a steady pace. It is not recommended that you subtract more than 25% from your TDEE calculation.
Just monitor your intake........and.........khao piyo, mouz karo yaar, abhi to baali umar hai ;-)

ssmkgp

You can track calories that you burn directly on the machines at the gym (as a beginner that helps)
When you input them in MFP - Exercise Tab, remember that MFP might slightly overestimate certain activities. So let's say I have to eat 1200 calories a day, and I burn 200 calories through exercise. Then I should be eating 1200 + 200 = 1400 calories for that day (maybe minus 50 to account for errors). The 1200 has already factored in a 500 calorie deficit. So if you don't eat back your exercise calories, your body may go into starvation mode and start storing fat for 'future'.

@ all please correct me if I'm wrong

You are correct Archana jee but example given (1200) - 50 is dangerous in my opinion. It is also true that people have a tendency to overestimate the exercise they do, so if in doubt, choose the lower activity level. Simply dont rely on MFP's figure on Indian Foods as you know it is bit tough to estimate the exact worth of Indian dishes in terms of calories, especially for Sodium.
Please NOT GO BELOW 1200 in any condition.

amessam8

Hi Juhi,

As others have said, there really is no secret. However, the strategy is a combination of diet and exercise. When I say diet, I do not mean it in the verb tense, but rather as a noun. Its more about the quantities of what you eat (and their nutritional content) that not eating at all.

Please pick a combination of foods that are nutritious and that complement each other. For example, bananas are a healthy and filling fruit and provide needed supplements such as potassium, but they also contain high amounts of sugar as compared to berries for example. This does not mean that you should not eat bananas and only eat berries, but rather, that you should consume foods in relation to one another. It may not be advisable to have a banana in the morning then later in the day have a fruit smoothie (containing bananas and other high sugar fruits) later in the day and think, 'wow, I've just had a 'healthy' eating day'. You may have, but in consuming those two things, you also may have gone over the recommended consumption of sugar for the day. So weigh everything that you eat and plan your meals accordingly. In order to find out what amounts of carbs, proteins, fats and sugars you should be consuming for your age, weight etc..you should consider using the MFP setting or the IIFYM.

Secondly, it is advisable that you do a combination of high and low intensity exercises including weight training. If you are walking on the treadmill at the same pace for the same amount of time each dat 7 days a week, then the body gets used to that and it is no longer a challenge for you. I would assume that that means that your heart is not 'pumping hard' and therefore maybe you're not burning as many calories as you could. That being said, vary your exercises and challenge yourself. Also include resistance/weight training. This will add tone and definition as you loose and (many experts have said) that weight training burns calories even after you've finished working out.

eric_sg61

No secrets-only discipline, consistency and adherence.

mamadon

I've noticed some people are telling you to eat low carb, or low sugar etc... as far as weight loss is concerned eat whatever you want as long as you are at a calorie deficit. There are a couple things you can do to figure out what your deficit should be. MFP can calculate it for you. Theres also many on line calculators that can figure your tdee (total dailry energy expediture) this is how much your body burns each day. In order to lose weight, you need to eat less than your tdee. I reccomend that you weigh and measure every bite that goes into your mouth. We often eat more more than we realize.

_Juhi_

I've noticed some people are telling you to eat low carb, or low sugar etc... as far as weight loss is concerned eat whatever you want as long as you are at a calorie deficit. There are a couple things you can do to figure out what your deficit should be. MFP can calculate it for you. Theres also many on line calculators that can figure your tdee (total dailry energy expediture) this is how much your body burns each day. In order to lose weight, you need to eat less than your tdee. I reccomend that you weigh and measure every bite that goes into your mouth. We often eat more more than we realize.

Thank u so much... will keep dese in mind.
I Calculated my tdee itS 2797 calories. And I have almost 1200 calories everyday...its much lesser right? Will it reduce the pace of my body to lose weight?

_Juhi_

Hi Juhi,

As others have said, there really is no secret. However, the strategy is a combination of diet and exercise. When I say diet, I do not mean it in the verb tense, but rather as a noun. Its more about the quantities of what you eat (and their nutritional content) that not eating at all.

Please pick a combination of foods that are nutritious and that complement each other. For example, bananas are a healthy and filling fruit and provide needed supplements such as potassium, but they also contain high amounts of sugar as compared to berries for example. This does not mean that you should not eat bananas and only eat berries, but rather, that you should consume foods in relation to one another. It may not be advisable to have a banana in the morning then later in the day have a fruit smoothie (containing bananas and other high sugar fruits) later in the day and think, 'wow, I've just had a 'healthy' eating day'. You may have, but in consuming those two things, you also may have gone over the recommended consumption of sugar for the day. So weigh everything that you eat and plan your meals accordingly. In order to find out what amounts of carbs, proteins, fats and sugars you should be consuming for your age, weight etc..you should consider using the MFP setting or the IIFYM.

Secondly, it is advisable that you do a combination of high and low intensity exercises including weight training. If you are walking on the treadmill at the same pace for the same amount of time each dat 7 days a week, then the body gets used to that and it is no longer a challenge for you. I would assume that that means that your heart is not 'pumping hard' and therefore maybe you're not burning as many calories as you could. That being said, vary your exercises and challenge yourself. Also include resistance/weight training. This will add tone and definition as you loose and (many experts have said) that weight training burns calories even after you've finished working out.

Will it be okay if I increase my pace..there r different programs available on the treadmill...
And thank u so much for d suggestions.

CyberEd312

Eat within a caloric deficit if I am trying to lose weight, get my butt off the couch and moving, and log and measure my food.... Beyond that treat it as a lifestyle and what you put into it is exactly what you are going to get out of it.... Best of Luck

zoeysasha37

There's no secret at all! All you need is a calorie deficit. Read the sexy pants sticky, it may be helpful to you. In short, you don't need herbalife or any other mlm scheme to lose weight. Get yourself a food scale, weigh and measure everything you consume, log it all accurately and you'll be fine. Find an activity that you enjoy, and do it :-)

_Clarana_

Perserverance and patience. It sucks, but one day you'll get on the scale, or try on some clothes or something, and have a nice surprise.

_Juhi_

Thanks alot guys! I really got to know alot from each of ua replies...Thankuu : -)

loulamb7

If you TDEE is 2700, you should be able to reduce that by 10-20% to create a good deficit. So you should be able to lose by eating 2160-2430 calories per day, therefore 1200 would be to low. If you do use TDEE do not eat your exercise calories back since they are already accounted for in the TDEE number.

If you use MFP's calculations for calorie intake, then you do eat some to most of your calories back based on your experience.

I didn't find weight loss very difficult. The only secret is to eat at a moderate deficit.

115s

Boosted my metabolism up some.

999tigger

Use MFP plus some scales to log what you eat. Do it every day so you learn about what you are eating.

Learn how to eat healthily.

Start doing some strength/ resistance exercises as well as cardio at the gym or home. Exercise calories can create flexibility to eat back and thereby enjoy more food or not have to cut back on as much and still lose weight.

Read the forums and learn from others. You will see the same advice being given by people who are losing weight. No fads, but a calorie deficit along with a change in what you eat and how much. Think long term and losing at a steady pace.

The max safe rate of losing weight steadily is 2lb a week. I dont think your target of 30kg in 5 months is going to happen.

snowflake930

The secret is to eat less calories than you burn, and log everything you eat and drink. MFP is a great place for doing this.
Preferably, you want to give your body fuel that will give you good nutrition. Fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and eggs, whole grains, low fat dairy. You can lose just eating at a calorie deficit, but avoiding processed foods will give your body better nutrition. If I can do this (I will be 63 at the end of the month) anyone with no health issues can do it!

Best of luck to you, you can do this!

sbrownallison

I'm a lot older than you (thus it is harder for me to lose), but it took me about 15 months to lose 60 lbs, which is roughly the amount of weight you are trying to lose. I log food every day, and I measure or weigh all foods eaten. For the most part I do not eat bread -- and very little meat. Also, like you, no pastries, cakes, cookies, etc. Since I am NOT perfect, there are times when I fail to follow all my rules -- but I know that these are the steps I must make to not only lose weight but also to maintain my goal weight. And, of course, I exercise (aerobic, weights) a total of about 7 hours a week. GOOD LUCK. You can do this, even though it is difficult!