Some MFP Basics

ladyhawk00

Bunch of questions out there today... :flowerforyou:

Jessicapages

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designerel

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ladyhawk00

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kje2011

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Love all this information on this topic!
A mfp friend gave me this link...I thank her and I thank you ladyhawk!! I have been a bit frustrated with my plateau. My goal is to get nice lean abs-not necessarily a 6pk, just little definition. of course my belly jiggle is the last to go.
I am going to up my calorie intake - and instead of losing 2lbs/week it is changed to 1.5. yes it seems counteractive to eat more....but going to give it a try. I will not be doing more exercise than I already do tho-running 30min in am and doing 30-45dvd (usually jillian michaels) dvds in the evening.
Thanks for the info!

kje2011

very well said....

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leanan21

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emchamberlain

Posting here for advice:

I'm 5'6" and my goal weight is 150. I have a large frame and tend to pack on muscle -- plus, I know my body. It doesn't do well below 145 or so. I've lost 21 lbs so far (and three-plus jeans sizes!), putting me at 162.8 currently.

So, my common MFP wisdom, as I'm 12-ish lbs from my goal, should I be at .5 loss/week? Or, because my goal is at the very top of my weight range/maybe a little over, should I be at 1lb/week?

I just shifted from 1lb/week to 1.5 lbs/week to compensate for my sloppy tracking, and that seems to have kickstarted me out of a plateau. I'm just curious to get others' opinions.

ladyhawk00

Posting here for advice:

I'm 5'6" and my goal weight is 150. I have a large frame and tend to pack on muscle -- plus, I know my body. It doesn't do well below 145 or so. I've lost 21 lbs so far (and three-plus jeans sizes!), putting me at 162.8 currently.

So, my common MFP wisdom, as I'm 12-ish lbs from my goal, should I be at .5 loss/week? Or, because my goal is at the very top of my weight range/maybe a little over, should I be at 1lb/week?

I just shifted from 1lb/week to 1.5 lbs/week to compensate for my sloppy tracking, and that seems to have kickstarted me out of a plateau. I'm just curious to get others' opinions.

Well, even if your goal is at the higher end of healthy, there are a couple of things to think about.

First, you're still within about 20-25 lbs of the healthy median for your height. So even if you were shooting for the middle of the range, you'd still be within a body fat level that would typically need a conservative deficit of 250-300 cals per day.

Second, if you tend to carry a lot of lean muscle due to body type (and especially if you're doing weight/strength training), you want to preserve that muscle, as it helps with weight loss and looking better. And too high of a deficit will tend to result in greater loss of lean mass.

Finally, since you're getting close to your goal, it will soon be time to ease into maintenance. Most people do best if they gradually increase cals to maintenance levels. Like driving a car, it's better to slowly ease to a stop at the stop sign, rather than waiting until the last minute and slamming on the brakes. Trying to drastically change cal levels doesn't work very well for most people. So you don't want to have to go from 1500 to 2000 all at once - its hard to maintain habits that way. So, if you reduce your deficit now, you'll have plenty of time to adjust your habits to account for a higher intake, you won't have a huge jump to make when you switch to maintenance and it will likely be easier to adjust to your maintenance levels and maintain that fantastic loss.

So, if it were me, I'd switch to 1/2 lb per week or around 300 deficit per day. :flowerforyou:

2garo2

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emchamberlain

Posting here for advice:

I'm 5'6" and my goal weight is 150. I have a large frame and tend to pack on muscle -- plus, I know my body. It doesn't do well below 145 or so. I've lost 21 lbs so far (and three-plus jeans sizes!), putting me at 162.8 currently.

So, my common MFP wisdom, as I'm 12-ish lbs from my goal, should I be at .5 loss/week? Or, because my goal is at the very top of my weight range/maybe a little over, should I be at 1lb/week?

I just shifted from 1lb/week to 1.5 lbs/week to compensate for my sloppy tracking, and that seems to have kickstarted me out of a plateau. I'm just curious to get others' opinions.

Well, even if your goal is at the higher end of healthy, there are a couple of things to think about.

First, you're still within about 20-25 lbs of the healthy median for your height. So even if you were shooting for the middle of the range, you'd still be within a body fat level that would typically need a conservative deficit of 250-300 cals per day.

Second, if you tend to carry a lot of lean muscle due to body type (and especially if you're doing weight/strength training), you want to preserve that muscle, as it helps with weight loss and looking better. And too high of a deficit will tend to result in greater loss of lean mass.

Finally, since you're getting close to your goal, it will soon be time to ease into maintenance. Most people do best if they gradually increase cals to maintenance levels. Like driving a car, it's better to slowly ease to a stop at the stop sign, rather than waiting until the last minute and slamming on the brakes. Trying to drastically change cal levels doesn't work very well for most people. So you don't want to have to go from 1500 to 2000 all at once - its hard to maintain habits that way. So, if you reduce your deficit now, you'll have plenty of time to adjust your habits to account for a higher intake, you won't have a huge jump to make when you switch to maintenance and it will likely be easier to adjust to your maintenance levels and maintain that fantastic loss.

So, if it were me, I'd switch to 1/2 lb per week or around 300 deficit per day. :flowerforyou:

Thank you! I've been doing "maintenance-lite" for a little while, trying to just eat sensibly without tracking religiously, and i've been able to maintain well that way. I'm trying to jump back into losing the last bit, but I think I'll up my calories back to 1lb/week so I can fuel my workouts! (And yes, I strength train, run, and do yoga. Lots of exercise!)

Julie252

Thank you so much for this helpful advice. I've been on MFP about six weeks. After an impressive 8 lb loss I've been stalled out gaining and losing 2 lbs the last couple of weeks. I'm 5'7" and cw:148. I am 8-12 to my goal. I am set at losing 1 lb/ week, though I have just changed to 0.5 lbs/ week per your advice. My question: my tanita scale estimates my body fat is 32%. Since I have relatively high percent of body fat, do you think I should UP my weekly deficit? I don't have many pounds to lose but lots of fat. Ultimately, I really want to lower my body fat more than I care about weight. Thoughts on this?

ladyhawk00

Thank you so much for this helpful advice. I've been on MFP about six weeks. After an impressive 8 lb loss I've been stalled out gaining and losing 2 lbs the last couple of weeks. I'm 5'7" and cw:148. I am 8-12 to my goal. I am set at losing 1 lb/ week, though I have just changed to 0.5 lbs/ week per your advice. My question: my tanita scale estimates my body fat is 32%. Since I have relatively high percent of body fat, do you think I should UP my weekly deficit? I don't have many pounds to lose but lots of fat. Ultimately, I really want to lower my body fat more than I care about weight. Thoughts on this?

No, a higher deficit is NOT the answer to improving body composition. A higher deficit will often INCREASE body fat percentage, because when your deficit is too high you're likely to burn more muscle, reducing lean mass. The best way to reduce body fat percentage is weight/strength training (and no, women will NOT bulk up) and proper nutrition. You want a conservative deficit, a good amount of protein and healthy fats, and lots of strength training with heavy weights and body weight exercises.

Ellastrong

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Julie252

Thanks so much! I seem to be on the right track with everything but my deficit was too high. I have adjusted it and thrilled to have a higher calorie allowance. This whole thread has been very helpful.

Wanda66

Thank you - lots of things I don't know here...

healthychelsea

this is a great post!

ladyhawk00

Thanks, glad it helped :flowerforyou:

hedwardsb

I joined MFP recently, and I've been struggling with this because I set my goal as a pound a week, but I have less than 15 to lose. I am a person who really needs to eat every 3 hours, so on most days I've been starving. At one point, I changed the goal to 1/2 a pound a week, but then I felt like I was wimping out as far as will power, so I changed it back. Your explanation & recommendations makes me feel validated to eat the greater calories.

ladyhawk00

I joined MFP recently, and I've been struggling with this because I set my goal as a pound a week, but I have less than 15 to lose. I am a person who really needs to eat every 3 hours, so on most days I've been starving. At one point, I changed the goal to 1/2 a pound a week, but then I felt like I was wimping out as far as will power, so I changed it back. Your explanation & recommendations makes me feel validated to eat the greater calories.

Yeah, I think we often don't realize that a sustainable lifestyle doesn't require a lot of "willpower". We always think there should be deprivation when losing weight, when there really shouldn't be all that much. Not that it's easy, but it shouldn't make us feel like we're being tortured daily. Whatever makes it sustainable is the best way to go about it...even if it means being "wimpy."