so many conflicting arguements

Terri73

gets so confusing

Eating calories back or not
lots of cardio v cardio in big amounts not good
strength training v not too much
starvation mode myth or fact

on and on it goes

Figure i'll try and balance it out and let my body tell me what to do!!!

Denziee

eat within your calorie range, exercise, eat back your exercise calories, drink water.
easy done.

Enigmatica

Yep. I read a lot and try different things to see what works for *me*.

abillings9

Yeah, this is where I am at too. Been at it for over a month now and have yet to find my losing groove.

seseymj1

How do you know what your calorie range is? I have been on 1200 but when I checked on another site then that was saying I should be on min 1400?

Boz1625

The way I see it is this: This is not a race. Sometimes you just need to play around with it to figure out what works for you. Everyone is different, therefore what works for some people's metabolism will simply not work for yours.

I'm set up through MFP to have enough of a calorie deficit each day to lose 2 lbs. I am training for a half-marathon right now, so I have days where I burn a large amount of calories, and then I have days in which I am scheduled to rest and therefore do not have any exercise calories.

Some days I eat all of my calories from exercise. Some days I only eat 10 of them. Some weeks I lose 2 + pounds, some weeks I lose less than 1. I have had weeks where the scale has not moved at all despite my best efforts.

The point I am getting to is this: If what you are currently doing is not working for you, take a week to shake things up. Try eating all of your exercise calories for a week and see what happens, or don't eat any of them and see how it goes.

kevanos

What you need is a nice balance of everything.

Do cardio. The more the better for weight loss.
Do weight training. It will build muscle, cause more fat loss and help keep th fat off once you lose it.
Avoid starvation mode(fact) by eating enough calories.
Chose to eat or not to eat you calories back. Both work, chose 1. To eat them back simply follow the set up on MFP. If you rather not eat them back, then up your daily calories a bit (find your TDEE(google it) and substract 500 to 1000 calories for a 1-2lbs/week fat loss).

cacrat

As far as your last two points. I'm not sure how anyone would say you're doing too much strength training. Unless of course your goals were such that you were just going to be wasting time doing too much. But as a woman you can't bulk like the men will with weights, you don't have the hormones.

Point me to a study that says starvation mode is a "myth". I'm not sure I've heard of anyone claiming that eating nothing, or close to, is beneficial in the long term. Too little calories and your body eats itself.

SunLove8

Bump

BrattyLori

Ever watch that show Heavy, where the obese people live on a program where they exercise a BUNCH and all their meals are prepared for them? These folks are NOT being served their exercise calories. They are being served balanced 1200 calorie diets. And that's how they lose all that weight.

scagneti

Ever watch that show Heavy, where the obese people live on a program where they exercise a BUNCH and all their meals are prepared for them? These folks are NOT being served their exercise calories. They are being served balanced 1200 calorie diets. And that's how they lose all that weight.

And everyone knows that what they show on reality shows is 100% accurate without the SLIGHTEST bit of exaggeration or manipulation.

cacrat

I wouldn't take a show where they take an extreme example of human anatomy and exploit it. There are A LOT of things wrongs inside the bodies of obese people. Things that normal and even overweight people don't deal with: insulin resistance, leptin resistance, etc. I'm not sure that the people on those weight loss shows are eating the minimal calories. In many instances just changing a minor part of their diet is enough.

kevanos

Ever watch that show Heavy, where the obese people live on a program where they exercise a BUNCH and all their meals are prepared for them? These folks are NOT being served their exercise calories. They are being served balanced 1200 calorie diets. And that's how they lose all that weight.

I did a quick search and was unable to find how many calories they are given each day.

Where did you hear they only eat 1200 calories, that seems unlikely to me.

scagneti

I wouldn't take a show where they take an extreme example of human anatomy and exploit it. There are A LOT of things wrongs inside the bodies of obese people. Things that normal and even overweight people don't deal with: insulin resistance, leptin resistance, etc. I'm not sure that the people on those weight loss shows are eating the minimal calories. In many instances just changing a minor part of their diet is enough.

I know that I would be completed rivetted by a show with slow, steady weight loss, showing reasonable amount of exercise and calorie consumption. I'm sure that the networks would love that too!

Or they'll put on another show where people are treated like circus animals because of their weight and haven't been taught a thing on how to live the rest of their lives when they're away from the watchful eyes of their handlers.

tata_rio

Adding to what has been said already, moderation is definitely important. You shouldn't spend 3h on a threadmill, even less if you haven't been active, it won't do any good.

My advice would be to choose a couple of unhealthy things on your diet and cut them down, while adding a couple of healthy things to it. Also, it has worked for me and may work for you, try to stick to the healthy starches in the evenings, or avoid all of them at that time (anything made with refined sugar/flour)... Drink water preferably, whenever you feel thirsty, before, during and after workouts (you'll naturally notice you'll be drinking about 8 glass a day), and watch your processed foods/sodium intake.

Then, focus on doing weight training for 20-30min a couple of times a week and cardio for about the same amount of time 3-4 times a week. See where those changes take you. Maybe on the first week you may only do one of these things, then you can add as you feel compeled to.

One last thing, which also has worked for me is that I used to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and overtime went into a more processed food diet, which led me to have no desire to eat a salad for example. For several months now, I adopted a green smoothie in the morning, I blend a cup of berries, a banana, a hand full of spinach, 2 dried prunes and a tbsp of ground flaxseed. Since I started drinking this, I actually feel more compeled to eat salads and healthy foods. But, keep in mind that if you load the salad with cheeses, meats and unhealthy dressings, your weight will reflect that.