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New to group was recommended to you all...have ?s

jenniferannkoch
jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
I am somewhat new to MFP use an iPad and iPhone so have never used the forums before due to the fact that they dont show up on the apps and someone suggested that I do so I am using a computer elsewhere to ask for your help. To make a long story short I lost 65 pounds in 2010 by eating better, I didnt excercise because I hate it lol...and since then I have put 20 back on. I am having the worst time trying to get these 20 pounds off and dont know what I am doing wrong. Before I was doing weight watchers and since they changed their program I switched to MFP and have been doing calorie counting and excercise finally...lol. I started out at the 1200 that MFP set for me and the scale didnt move down, then I went up to 1500 and the scale is going up...I am frustrated and not sure what to do. How do I know how many calories I need, if I eat my excercise calories back or not etc?? I need your help please! Thanks in advance! I need this weight to get off of me I worked to hard to let it come back on!

Replies

  • knowak82
    knowak82 Posts: 200 Member
    Read the stickies for the EM2WL group regarding TDEE and BMR, and what to expect when upping your calories...those should answer A LOT of your questions! I'm guessing at 1500 calories you're probably still not eating enough!

    Good luck, and remember, you have to be patient! Those last few pounds are the hardest to get off!!!
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    The link that is given to calculate it all and the replies from everyone on it? I think it is titled "TDEE what is it and why you should not eat below your BMR" I just printed it all off and am reading now....I am at work and being naughty lol. Thank you for your reply. I am going to read and hopefully this can help me!
  • sedosher
    sedosher Posts: 142 Member
    Yup, you have the right info. It should answer a ton of your questions. Come back if you have more. :)

    Also, I don't know about the iPad, but on my Andriod phone I can go to myfitnesspal.com and access the community. It isn't ideal because you have to constantly zoom in to read, but it works.
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    Ok so I read through the sticky note on the BMR/TDEE as well as calculated on the site am still confused though...sorry....lol. So it calculated me at this:

    BMR - 1417

    TDEE - 2196

    Daily Calorie Based on Goal of - 15% - 1867

    So what am I supposed to eat for calories daily? I do not do much weights just hand weight and weight while walking and jogging on treadmill. I do treadmill, and yoga mostly also thinking of investing in a spin bike but I just bought treadmill last month so might be a couple months. I work out at least 3 days a week.

    Also I eat 3 meals a day, but do snacks count as a meal if so I eat 6 meals.

    Please let me know, thank you so much this is all so new to me I am so used to just using points from WW to do all my counting lol...thanks again...
  • knowak82
    knowak82 Posts: 200 Member
    Ok so I read through the sticky note on the BMR/TDEE as well as calculated on the site am still confused though...sorry....lol. So it calculated me at this:

    BMR - 1417

    TDEE - 2196

    Daily Calorie Based on Goal of - 15% - 1867

    So what am I supposed to eat for calories daily? I do not do much weights just hand weight and weight while walking and jogging on treadmill. I do treadmill, and yoga mostly also thinking of investing in a spin bike but I just bought treadmill last month so might be a couple months. I work out at least 3 days a week.

    Also I eat 3 meals a day, but do snacks count as a meal if so I eat 6 meals.

    Please let me know, thank you so much this is all so new to me I am so used to just using points from WW to do all my counting lol...thanks again...

    You should eat your "cut" value (1867) every day, except if your net calories are below your BMR (1417). If your net calories are lower than your BMR, then you need to eat back up to your BMR. It doesn't matter how many times a day you eat, as long as you're hitting your calorie goal every day.

    The ladies that started up this group really endorse consistancy and strength training to get maximum results and warn about the effects of "excessive cardio"--you can check them out on youtube if you search for "eatmore2weighless"--Kiki did a video about excessive cardio, and Lucia did a video about BMR and TDEE...
  • 202685tracy
    202685tracy Posts: 42 Member
    If you use your TDEE cut number as your goal 1867, than you eat this many calories regardless of how much you are working out...unless of course your calorie burn takes you below your BMR...IE if you burn more than 450 cals. So, lets say you burned 500 cals. 1867-500=1367. This is below your BMR, so you would want to at least eat teh few extra calories to bring you up to your BMR (50 cals). So, either set your goal at 1417 on MFP and eat back your cals, or set your goal at your TDEE cut number and don't worry about your workout cals. If you do it the latter way, than you will eat 1867 cals daily regardless of whether you workout that day or not.

    Also, you may want to check out the various videos on Youtube that are under the Eat More to Weigh Less group.

    Good Luck.
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    Thanks so much that makes much more sense.

    Another question then...will doing cardio and not really any weights hurt my weight loss with eating these calories? I just bought my treadmill and love running on it, it is like therapy the also is true for yoga. I cannot at this time watch any youtube videos I am at work but later tonight if I can I will check them out....I guess what I am saying is I cant cut out cardio I need it....but I am not oppposed to adding in weights if need be.

    I am not sure what I am gonna do about what I am setting my MFP calorie goal to, I am afraid that I will have a bad busy/crazy week where no excercise is done and then I just ate all those calories with no burn...or that I might want to work out 5 days one week instead of three or two days instead of 3....you know what I mean. I might not be as consistent depending on my work/kid/husband lol....
  • natini
    natini Posts: 347 Member
    Thanks so much that makes much more sense.

    Another question then...will doing cardio and not really any weights hurt my weight loss with eating these calories? I just bought my treadmill and love running on it, it is like therapy the also is true for yoga. I cannot at this time watch any youtube videos I am at work but later tonight if I can I will check them out....I guess what I am saying is I cant cut out cardio I need it....but I am not oppposed to adding in weights if need be.

    I am not sure what I am gonna do about what I am setting my MFP calorie goal to, I am afraid that I will have a bad busy/crazy week where no excercise is done and then I just ate all those calories with no burn...or that I might want to work out 5 days one week instead of three or two days instead of 3....you know what I mean. I might not be as consistent depending on my work/kid/husband lol....

    I manually set my calorie goal. My goal is 1900. I continue to log my exercise but I dont look at the "Net" number. I look at the "Food" number on my iphone. If my net number is less than my BMR then I will eat until the Net number reaches my BMR. It is just a different way of looking at it, but I dont do anything different.
  • knowak82
    knowak82 Posts: 200 Member
    :bigsmile:
    Thanks so much that makes much more sense.

    Another question then...will doing cardio and not really any weights hurt my weight loss with eating these calories? I just bought my treadmill and love running on it, it is like therapy the also is true for yoga. I cannot at this time watch any youtube videos I am at work but later tonight if I can I will check them out....I guess what I am saying is I cant cut out cardio I need it....but I am not oppposed to adding in weights if need be.

    I am not sure what I am gonna do about what I am setting my MFP calorie goal to, I am afraid that I will have a bad busy/crazy week where no excercise is done and then I just ate all those calories with no burn...or that I might want to work out 5 days one week instead of three or two days instead of 3....you know what I mean. I might not be as consistent depending on my work/kid/husband lol....

    I think the thing about cardio is that it burns a LOT of calories, so chances are you would have to eat back a bunch of calories to get back to your BMR. What activity multiplier did you use when calculating your TDEE? A lot of people find that they UNDERestimate how active they really are...

    I think the main focus of the group and this way of eating is consistancy, consistancy, consistancy with how much food you are giving your body...one week here and there with a little less exercise (or a little more) isn't going to affect the overall process. You just have to try to be as consistant with your eating and exercise as your life will let you! You CAN do it
  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
    We never tell anyone to stop anything they love doing, however, when you just start eating you do find it difficult to burn the calories and eat them back, hence you tend to slow down a bit on the cardio.

    Also, most are looking for a nice toned look, cardio makes you smaller, but you no real tone...the lifting is what produces the transformation.

    So, it really depends on what you are looking to do.
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    Eating is a problem I have never had LOL! I can eat and eat and eat....lol.

    But I see what you mean about cardio...

    so being new to excercise besides the treadmill that I am going to do what would you recommend doing for weights I have no idea...lol...I have 2, 5, 10 pound weights at home. I guess my main goal is weight loss but I would also love to be toned again! I dont want to be bulky by girl toned you know what I mean lol...
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    :bigsmile:
    Thanks so much that makes much more sense.

    Another question then...will doing cardio and not really any weights hurt my weight loss with eating these calories? I just bought my treadmill and love running on it, it is like therapy the also is true for yoga. I cannot at this time watch any youtube videos I am at work but later tonight if I can I will check them out....I guess what I am saying is I cant cut out cardio I need it....but I am not oppposed to adding in weights if need be.

    I am not sure what I am gonna do about what I am setting my MFP calorie goal to, I am afraid that I will have a bad busy/crazy week where no excercise is done and then I just ate all those calories with no burn...or that I might want to work out 5 days one week instead of three or two days instead of 3....you know what I mean. I might not be as consistent depending on my work/kid/husband lol....

    I think the thing about cardio is that it burns a LOT of calories, so chances are you would have to eat back a bunch of calories to get back to your BMR. What activity multiplier did you use when calculating your TDEE? A lot of people find that they UNDERestimate how active they really are...

    I think the main focus of the group and this way of eating is consistancy, consistancy, consistancy with how much food you are giving your body...one week here and there with a little less exercise (or a little more) isn't going to affect the overall process. You just have to try to be as consistant with your eating and exercise as your life will let you! You CAN do it

    I used that one that is pinned to this groups forum...scobby something...and thank you :)
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    Why can you not do 20 or 25% why does it have to be 15%? Just curious...
  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
    Because if you are like most, we have eaten at such a strict deficit for so long...it is time to fuel the body....15% is a good cut to cause weight loss at a slow pace...plus it will help you to keep your muscle mass by giving the body enough fuel. AND, it also gives you a little wiggle room to possibly go down to 20% later on...way later on..lol.
  • jenniferannkoch
    jenniferannkoch Posts: 25 Member
    I see....I am not sure if this is going to be what I should be doing after learning all about it, I would rather lose 2 pounds a week and I am not a weights person really. I can learn but am really content with my cardio...My main goal is to be in a healthy BMI and lose 20 pounds so that I can fit into the clothes I wore last year....losing 65 pounds and then gaining back some is really taking a toll on me I want to stay at my goal! I would love to have some tone but that is not top priority....does that make sense? What do you think is this a good fit for me?

    Had to edit it....my wording sounded bad. I DO want to be healthy and not just skinny....lol...
  • rosied915
    rosied915 Posts: 799 Member
    This is my understanding:

    When you just focus on losing SCALE WEIGHT by "Very Low Calorie Diet" (aka 'the MFP 1200'), you are losing FAT AND MUSCLE, damaging your metabolism and when you DO eat over 1200 calories, you will GAIN FAT.

    If you WEIGHT TRAIN (and EAT) you will GAIN MUSCLE and LOSE FAT, invigorate your metabolism and keep it burning, allowing you to eat like an adult, wear smaller sized clothing and look BETTER in them and END the YO-YO DIETING!!

    Yes, you may weigh more ON THE SCALE, but your clothing size will be smaller, you will BE smaller and you will EAT MORE!!

    The SCALE is the biggest LIAR and in no way an accurate measure of success......think about it.......
  • lillebanon
    lillebanon Posts: 214 Member
    I see....I am not sure if this is going to be what I should be doing after learning all about it, I would rather lose 2 pounds a week and I am not a weights person really. I can learn but am really content with my cardio...My main goal is to be in a healthy BMI and lose 20 pounds so that I can fit into the clothes I wore last year....losing 65 pounds and then gaining back some is really taking a toll on me I want to stay at my goal! I would love to have some tone but that is not top priority....does that make sense? What do you think is this a good fit for me?

    Had to edit it....my wording sounded bad. I DO want to be healthy and not just skinny....lol...

    Since you have lost weight and gained it back before, this is VERY MUCH a great approach for you. When you lose weight slower by eating a smaller cut, you are way less likely to gain it back after you meet your goal weight. The weight training is not required for this approach, alot of us just like it. The math all still works the same, no matter what type of exercise you prefer.