New to all of this...help?

CCourtney106

Hi, my name's Courtney. I'm nineteen and new to counting calories in general....and I kind of feel like I'm all over the place, no matter how much I read about it. I know not to dip below 1200 net calories a day, so I've been eating about 1800 and then jumping on the treadmill--at a moderately paced walk on an incline--for an hour about four or five times a week, which my treadmill says burns around 600. Is this a good way to do it? I just started a few days ago, and want to make sure I'm doing this all correctly before I make any big changes. Any suggestions?

My height: 5'9
My weight: 168

My goal is to lose about thirty pounds. Any help would be appreciated. (:

P.S. Like I said, I'm entirely new to this stuff; I'm a little confused about BMR. How do I factor that into my weight loss? It puts it at 1600 calories per day... So should I disregard that myfitnesspal has my net calorie goal at 1200 and set it instead at the 1600?? This one has be stumped. Thanks for the help!!

rbloedow

Remember - the answer to almost every question you have can be found by searching these forums - there are thousands of people who have asked the same question about BMR - in fact, it's probably the most asked question on these forums.

That said - when it comes to walking - challenge yourself when you're walking.

Start at a moderate pace at an incline of 4-5, then increase the incline by 2 increments every 2 minutes until you get to a point where you can barely keep up. Then slowly back off the incline, 2 decreases every 2 minutes. After that, do some intervals; set the machine at a moderate incline, then go balls to the wall for 1 minute, then slow down a rest for another minute, repeat the cycle for 5-10 minutes.

Repeat the whole routine for one hour. You want to feel a little sore after every workout - not so much that you can't walk the next day though. Doing this routine will build stamina while burning a lot of calories.

pinkandstars09

I do 1200 calories a day and i am about 5'5 157 as of now. Some days i don't even it that. Its really up to the person. I don't starve myself but for me i am not a breakfast person only drink coffee and for lunch i usually have really good salads and for dinner its either salad or those steam able veggies and i do eat snacks threw out the day. They key is you need to count everything and buy a scale and it will totally help you.