I'm just CONFUSED! Are my weight loss goals unrealistic?? UG

Allison128

Ok... So I'm just really confused and frustrated.

Here are my stats:
I'm 28 ( turning 29 on Ja. 28th)
5'1
Cw: 136
GW 117-120
MFP caloric intake 1200

I have lost 21 lbs thus far...great... I know!

Anyways.. I know my weight loss per week has slowed. Its not completely haulted yet... but VERY slow. Maybe this is me just being impatient.

So I re-calculated my BMR, I am a nurse. Its says a nurse is "light activity"... which I think whom ever decided that... is obviously not a nurse. I feel like I'm on my feet all day. anyways...

My MFP BMR calculation is 1284!!!

I'm aiming to lose 2lbs a week. Is this just unrealistic for me? I used MFP to calculate my calories for 1 pound a week and it says to eat 1230 calories. I'm just confused.

I try to eat my exercise calories. I'm so close to my GW I can taste it. Now I'm feeling hungrier a lot lately.

Any tips??

Holton

I found that when I had plateaued in my weight loss that UPPING my calories actually did boost me back into weight loss. You will see results if you increase your calories by 100-200 a day and fluctuate them weekly. PLUS I think your weight loss goal of 2 pounds a week may be too high as you are nearer your goal weight it tends to come off slower; I would consider resetting it to 1/2 to 1 pound per week instead. Just my suggestions for what worked for me. Everyone is different; just do it healthy and don't get so caught up in it happening FAST. Good luck to you!

mandijo

Way to go! I'm not an expert, but I'd say that if you are already down to 130, you're not going to see results the way you would if you were bigger. I'd set your goals a little lower and work extra hard to achieve them so when you do pull 2 lbs a week, you will be pleasantly surprised. It will come off, just a little slower, but you're doing great!

meggonkgonk

Actually being so close to your goal weight, you should proly adjust your settings to .5 lbs per week. I know it sucks and is counter intuitive, but it is part of getting ready for maintenance. There's a couple of stickys on the subject if you check the boards- as you get closer to your goal the loss slows down. I am actually getting close to the same point myself once I reach "healthy" BMI I will likely do the same.

Allison128

thanks! I think I will try that! I think I would be happier just meeting a .5 -1lb loss a week than no pound loss!

I'll try exercising more too!

I just need to relax! I'm getting married in August and I'm ordering my dress soon and I'm just getting impatient. I 've got plenty of time.. I know.

Allison128

Thanks.

I adjusted my goals to .5 lbs per week. You are right.. I did read that you should start preparing yourself to maintain. I was playing around and it said my caloric intake to maintain at 120 is like 1600 calories! I am so used to eating 1200 calories a day.. I think I would feel like I'm over eating! So I should slowly work back up. I put in for a 1 pound loss and it was only 30 extra calories a day... so I don't think would help me!!

Well Thanks again for the advice! I will try this. Its going to be so weird eating 1400 calories! I only eat that much if I work out a lot! haha!!

Maybe I will get surprise with a 2lb/week loss here and there! I think i put myself in starvation mode =(
Maybe thats why I've been feeling so hungry lately!

Thanks again! I really appreciate it!

FitnessTim

I'm at the point that if I lose .5 per week I still consider it progress. I even find gaining weight to be acceptable when you are so close to optimum.

The problem is that it becomes very difficult to track. Is my gaining weight just a normal fluctuation or did I slack off too much? I find that weight training helps because if I do gain weight it is mostly muscle and not too much fat.

Some days, I go all out and cut back on my calories while increasing my cardio just so I can see the weight drop for the week.

I do agree with the post that occassionally going over your calorie intake helps. I do this on a regular basis now. The amount of energy I have after eating large for a couple of days more than makes up for the calories.

Allison128

I see what you are saying! I have read this other places too. I guess I just didn't see 16lbs to go as being almost there.... I know.. I'm a loser haha!!

Allison128

I was reading other websites too and they were telling me to eat 1200 calories =( Well... i'm going to listen to MFP !

misslizz6958

Try eating less of your exercise cals. No more then half is recommended

SHBoss1673

OK Allison,

First, yes, a nurse would be lightly active most likely. You have to remember, walking is one of the most common activities humans can do, and as such, the muscles we use to walk are highly conditioned and very efficient at walking. The more you do, the more efficient they become. Efficient muscles don't burn as many calories. So assuming you do it 5 or 6 days a week for 8 to 10 hours a day, I doubt your resting heart rate is much higher than it is for the rest of your day (sleep aside). So yeah, lightly active is probably right. An active lifestyle would be something like a trainer or maybe a dock worker who inconsistantly but daily moves boxes by hand (I.E. not all day, but sometimes, so they don't get to the activity), and a very active person would be like an athlete or a bicycle messenger.

Next, the reason why your calories only went up by 80 when you went to 1 lb is because you're using the goals wizard to calculate your deficit, and that wizard has a hard floor of 1200 calories. So even though you put in 2 lbs a week, it only subtracted enough to get you down to 1200. Basically if your maintenance cals are 1600, 2 lbs a week would have been 600 cals, which isn't enough to give you the micro and macro nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and carbs/fat/protein), as a nurse, I'm sure you see people who come in with maledies related to nutrient deficiencies all the time, the WHO (World Health Organization) concluded after a massive study (in the 80's I believe) that the average female needs a minimum calorie amount of 1200 in order to provide the necessary nutrients for long term survival. NOTE that was the minimum, not average. Because it's an average, smaller woman could probably get away a little under, but this site doesn't differentiate. Plus, while 5'1" is relatively short, it's not THAT short, and I wouldn't go much under that.

Lastly, yes, as you approach your "goal weight", and your body fat % comes down, you have less fat stores to make up the deficit that you created. Which means in order to maintain healthy weight loss and not start slowing down the metabolism and keep you from burning muscle mass and storing extra fat, your deficit needs to correspondingly shrink (I.E. eat more calories). And exercise calories become vitally important at this stage, you need to let your body know it's ok to burn fat, to do that you need to keep it fueled, exercise calories do this.

As to how to raise your calorie levels while avoiding weight gain, that might happen anyway, as your body adjusts to the new amounts of calories, it might initially add a few lbs of fat, that's fine, it's normal, it'll stop after a few weeks. The way to keep this to a minimum and maybe stop that from happening all together is to increment your calorie increase. I.E. raise your calories by 100 for 2 weeks, then do it again for 2 weeks...until you get to the place you want to be. It takes the body 5 to 10 days to adjust to a new calorie amount, let it adjust, let the ph levels and hormones balance out before you worry about weight loss again.

Lastly is just something that I tell a lot of people that are close to goal or at goal. Don't worry so much about a specific weight, you're healthy now from a weight standpoint, but we don't know if your body fat % is healthy, that's far more important at this stage, I would recommend having a DEXA (as a nurse you might have access to that), MRI, hydrostatic, or bod pod test done, any of these will give you an accurate body fat %. If your above 25% you would be better off working to remove body fat than worrying about a weight. Remember, weight is a mix of everything (muscle, bone, connective tissue, water...etc.) and it doesn't tell the complete story for a person, especially when they are at a healthy weight.

hope this helps.

-Banks

Allison128

OK Allison,

First, yes, a nurse would be lightly active most likely. You have to remember, walking is one of the most common activities humans can do, and as such, the muscles we use to walk are highly conditioned and very efficient at walking. The more you do, the more efficient they become. Efficient muscles don't burn as many calories. So assuming you do it 5 or 6 days a week for 8 to 10 hours a day, I doubt your resting heart rate is much higher than it is for the rest of your day (sleep aside). So yeah, lightly active is probably right. An active lifestyle would be something like a trainer or maybe a dock worker who inconsistantly but daily moves boxes by hand (I.E. not all day, but sometimes, so they don't get to the activity), and a very active person would be like an athlete or a bicycle messenger.

Next, the reason why your calories only went up by 80 when you went to 1 lb is because you're using the goals wizard to calculate your deficit, and that wizard has a hard floor of 1200 calories. So even though you put in 2 lbs a week, it only subtracted enough to get you down to 1200. Basically if your maintenance cals are 1600, 2 lbs a week would have been 600 cals, which isn't enough to give you the micro and macro nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and carbs/fat/protein), as a nurse, I'm sure you see people who come in with maledies related to nutrient deficiencies all the time, the WHO (World Health Organization) concluded after a massive study (in the 80's I believe) that the average female needs a minimum calorie amount of 1200 in order to provide the necessary nutrients for long term survival. NOTE that was the minimum, not average. Because it's an average, smaller woman could probably get away a little under, but this site doesn't differentiate. Plus, while 5'1" is relatively short, it's not THAT short, and I wouldn't go much under that.

Lastly, yes, as you approach your "goal weight", and your body fat % comes down, you have less fat stores to make up the deficit that you created. Which means in order to maintain healthy weight loss and not start slowing down the metabolism and keep you from burning muscle mass and storing extra fat, your deficit needs to correspondingly shrink (I.E. eat more calories). And exercise calories become vitally important at this stage, you need to let your body know it's ok to burn fat, to do that you need to keep it fueled, exercise calories do this.

As to how to raise your calorie levels while avoiding weight gain, that might happen anyway, as your body adjusts to the new amounts of calories, it might initially add a few lbs of fat, that's fine, it's normal, it'll stop after a few weeks. The way to keep this to a minimum and maybe stop that from happening all together is to increment your calorie increase. I.E. raise your calories by 100 for 2 weeks, then do it again for 2 weeks...until you get to the place you want to be. It takes the body 5 to 10 days to adjust to a new calorie amount, let it adjust, let the ph levels and hormones balance out before you worry about weight loss again.

Lastly is just something that I tell a lot of people that are close to goal or at goal. Don't worry so much about a specific weight, you're healthy now from a weight standpoint, but we don't know if your body fat % is healthy, that's far more important at this stage, I would recommend having a DEXA (as a nurse you might have access to that), MRI, hydrostatic, or bod pod test done, any of these will give you an accurate body fat %. If your above 25% you would be better off working to remove body fat than worrying about a weight. Remember, weight is a mix of everything (muscle, bone, connective tissue, water...etc.) and it doesn't tell the complete story for a person, especially when they are at a healthy weight.

hope this helps.

-Banks

So.. I should eat ALL of my exercise calories. Got it... Should I just aim for .5 lbs versus 1 lb then? .5lb is 1480 calories. If I do that.. you say I shouldn't just jump to 1480 though. Just increase slowly.. s0 increase to 1340 for 5-10 days then increase to 1480?? I should expect to gain a little just becuase my body is readjusting???? How soon should expect my weight to start readjusitng back down?? I want these pounds GONE! haha!!

Banks You are AWESOME! Thanks soo much for your help!

SHBoss1673

So.. I should eat ALL of my exercise calories. Got it... Should I just aim for .5 lbs versus 1 lb then? .5lb is 1480 calories. If I do that.. you say I shouldn't just jump to 1480 though. Just increase slowly.. s0 increase to 1340 for 5-10 days then increase to 1480?? I should expect to gain a little just becuase my body is readjusting???? How soon should expect my weight to start readjusitng back down?? I want these pounds GONE! haha!!

Banks You are AWESOME! Thanks soo much for your help!

So, 1/2 lb is great, you should be able to tweak the exact amounts a little. I would say 10 days between raising calories would be the minimum I would do, 5 is to fats IMHO.

As to whether you will initially gain, and how long it will take. That really depends on your body, your genetics, your exercise routines, your eating habits, stress levels...etc. It's difficult to predict that type of thing. You may gain 5 lbs before you start losing again, and it may take 6 weeks, or you may start losing again right away, noticing changes immediately. There's no easy way to tell ahead of time.

I'll reiterate though, that body fat should be your number 1 priority right now, not weight. I'm telling ya, you could have 2 women, side by side, same height, same age, similar measurements, same genetic ancestry. They could look (with clothes on) almost identical. And one woman could be 25 lbs heavier (YES I said 25 lbs) than the other. That woman who's 25 lbs heavier, almost undoubtedly she is stronger, faster, more alert, has healthier skin, stronger bones, catches colds less often, has better blood test results...etc. all because she has less body fat and more lean tissue (this being a consequence of eating healthier and exercising more often). And the real eye opener, have them strip down to their skivvies. How much you want to bet that the heavier woman has much better muscle definition, and much less fat hanging around?

Once you get healthy, it's not all about weight any more, it's about body fat.

Allison128

So.. I should eat ALL of my exercise calories. Got it... Should I just aim for .5 lbs versus 1 lb then? .5lb is 1480 calories. If I do that.. you say I shouldn't just jump to 1480 though. Just increase slowly.. s0 increase to 1340 for 5-10 days then increase to 1480?? I should expect to gain a little just becuase my body is readjusting???? How soon should expect my weight to start readjusitng back down?? I want these pounds GONE! haha!!

Banks You are AWESOME! Thanks soo much for your help!

So, 1/2 lb is great, you should be able to tweak the exact amounts a little. I would say 10 days between raising calories would be the minimum I would do, 5 is to fats IMHO.

As to whether you will initially gain, and how long it will take. That really depends on your body, your genetics, your exercise routines, your eating habits, stress levels...etc. It's difficult to predict that type of thing. You may gain 5 lbs before you start losing again, and it may take 6 weeks, or you may start losing again right away, noticing changes immediately. There's no easy way to tell ahead of time.

I'll reiterate though, that body fat should be your number 1 priority right now, not weight. I'm telling ya, you could have 2 women, side by side, same height, same age, similar measurements, same genetic ancestry. They could look (with clothes on) almost identical. And one woman could be 25 lbs heavier (YES I said 25 lbs) than the other. That woman who's 25 lbs heavier, almost undoubtedly she is stronger, faster, more alert, has healthier skin, stronger bones, catches colds less often, has better blood test results...etc. all because she has less body fat and more lean tissue (this being a consequence of eating healthier and exercising more often). And the real eye opener, have them strip down to their skivvies. How much you want to bet that the heavier woman has much better muscle definition, and much less fat hanging around?

Once you get healthy, it's not all about weight any more, it's about body fat.

Ok got it!! Thanks for the possible gain warning. I'd probally freak out and go back to 1200 calories!! haha!! Thank you for your always wise words! I guess I had rather have 135 lbs of muscle on me than be 136 lbs of fat! Ok.. I'm going to keep doing my strength training and cardio! Thanks so much. 1200 callories to 1480 does seem like a big jump so thank you for recommending I do it slowly. I will listen to you!