Trying to lose 20 pounds! :)

adelitas_star

I'm a girl, 18 (almost 19) years old and I'm about 5'3" - 5'4". I weigh 141 pounds and my body fat (according to Fat2Fit is about 29%. I want to lose 10 pounds by the start of November, or at least SOME weight, because of an event I have going on. And I want to lose 20 - 25 pounds total, or reduce my body fat to 20%. I hope to get it down to about 24% by next May as I have an event I (possibly) want to wear a bikini for.

I used Fat2Fit ratio to find out how many calories I should eat and it says to eat about 2100 calories.

I used this site: http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator to find out my TDEE and it's roughly 2300 - 2500. It varies per day because some days I'm more active than others. I used this site as well: http://scoobysworkshop.com/ and it says to eat about 1900 calories to lose weight. So I'm aiming for 1800 - 2000 a day.

I exercise 5 days a week. Monday, wednesday and Friday being a circuit of cardio and strength training. 3 minutes on cardio, then I do some strength exercises (taking turns on muscle groups) and then I repeat. It's 30 minutes of cardio and 40 - 50 minutes of strength training. Tuesday and Thursday I do 30 minutes of pretty intense cardio. I'm also looking into pilates.

Besides exercise, I usually spend an hour or more a day cleaning (mostly sweeping my front and back yard) and/or walking around in my back yard. I'm active a good portion of the day. I always make sure I get about 90 minutes of activity a day.

For my diet, I usually eat whole grain toast or healthy cereal for breakfast with some fruit and light yogurt on the side. Lunch is usually meat with vegetables, with some hard boiled eggs, nuts, or peanut butter to go with it. Dinner is always a salad and a decent sized portion of chicken. I give myself a small treat once every two weeks or so. I drink green eat (with no sugar) and more than 8 glasses of water a day.

Could I lose 10 pounds, or an inch or so by the first week of November? I have an event coming up....

PS. I get the 2000 calories thing from reading "In Place Of A Road Map" by Helloitsdan. I recommend that to anyone.

fizzletto

I think it's more realistic to aim to lose 1lb a week, so you'll have lost around 6lbs by then. Remember, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are to KEEP it off once it's off. It's not a race. I know you have an event coming up though so if you keep going with the regime you outlined in your first post I see no reason why you can't achieve your 10lbs by then.

By the way I'm a 19 year old girl, 5'3" and have a similar goal to you (I want to be between 115-120lbs) so you can add me if you want some support from a similar girl!

adelitas_star

Alright, thank you. What's your workout plan and have you had any results yet? ) If I can ask~

adelitas_star

Bump! ))

adelitas_star

BUMP

geekyjock76

Have you been maintaining your body weight for some time? If you have, and remember what you've eaten in the past 3 days, you can log it here and it will give you a more accurate estimate of your present TDEE than would the formulas. Again, that's assuming those 3 days are typical for what you eat and level of activity.

Regardless, with 20 lbs to lose, set a moderate deficit no greater than 25% below maintenance. Once you get down to 10 lbs, you will have to reduce the deficit down to perhaps 15% below maintenance. Make the reduction of calories from eating comprise the bulk of the total deficit and supplement the remainder from strength training and a little cardio. In the end, it's the deficit that will reduce body fat.

If your predicted TDEE is 2300 and give yourself a deficit of 25%, then that's a 575 total deficit. You could eat 400 less calories (1900) and engage in 175 total planned exercise calories. Don't worry about the NEAT activities such as brushing teeth, sweeping or anything like that as its nearly impossible to calculate daily expenditure for such things.

adelitas_star

My weight has shifted up and down a little bit, about 3 pounds for the last month, I've been eating the same thing (calorie wise) for quite a while. Only recently did I increase my calories from 1500 to about 1900. After I add my exercise, plus my walking and such the calories MFP recommends for me goes from 1500 to about 1800 - 2000 calories.

adelitas_star

Bump