A couple questions about losing.

TracyLeigh318

As my title says, I have a couple questions. First, after I finish my diary for the day, the bottom always says that I'm eating too few calories. But isn't that sort of the point? Shouldn't you not eat more than your daily allotment and cut out excess? I'm not starving myself in any way. Should I be doing something else?

Next, when did people who wanted to lose a lot generally start seeing a change? I've really been sticking with this for less than a week. Other than sore body parts from the gym and the satisfaction of not eating a lot, my scale hasn't really changed. When can I expect to see something good?! Thanks in advance!

rompers16

I believe you get that message when you eat below 1200 calories a day. Eat more.

TracyLeigh318

Right. But isn't the point of weight loss to eat fewer calories?

kr3851

The point of weight loss is to eat fewer calories than before, not fewer calories than MFP says. If it gives you 1200, eat 1200. Don't eat 800 and think you're doing a great thing.

Edited to add: You should stick with something for a few weeks before giving up. 4 days isn't really long enough for your body to adjust and for things to start happening (fat loss, metabolic changes, muscle gain). Most weight loss in the first week is water weight - eat what MFP says, exercise regularly, and changes will happen eventually.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

The point is to eat at a modest deficit. 1200 calories is the lowest amount that's considered healthy.

As to when you'll see a loss it just depends. Some people start losing right away but others take longer. Be patient, this is a long term thing.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Also, read this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

nkyjennifer

Fewer yes, but not too few. Eating too little will derail weight loss results in the long run because it's too hard to maintain. It usually leads to binges and other setbacks.

When you signed up with MFP, you filled out some info about your height, weight and activity level. The calorie goal they gave you includes a calorie deficit. You can eat all of the calories your diary has allotted to you and still lose weight.

It's not fast, but it's healthier than losing too much too fast.

TracyLeigh318

OK. So how does eating more calories benefit? I get what you're saying about eating 1200 or whatever MFP says. But how does it work to eat more rather than fewer?

nkyjennifer

Also, read this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Agreed - this post breaks it down wonderfully.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

There's some debate about whether your metabolism slows as your body adjusts to calorie restriction. Honestly that's probably not going to be a problem if you have a lot of weight to lose. But for me it's about health. You want to maintain your muscle because muscle burns more calories even when you're resting. Also it'll make you look better when you're skinnier. Also you have to get adequate nutrition and fuel your body. Finally, the Minnesota Starvation study showed a serious increase in mental health problems when healthy men started eating a very low calorie diet. Read about that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

"Among the conclusions from the study was the confirmation that prolonged semi-starvation produces significant increases in depression, hysteria and hypochondriasis as measured using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Indeed, most of the subjects experienced periods of severe emotional distress and depression.[1]:161 There were extreme reactions to the psychological effects during the experiment including self-mutilation (one subject amputated three fingers of his hand with an axe, though the subject was unsure if he had done so intentionally or accidentally).[5] Participants exhibited a preoccupation with food, both during the starvation period and the rehabilitation phase. Sexual interest was drastically reduced, and the volunteers showed signs of social withdrawal and isolation.[1]:123-124"

ETA: the metabolism does slow eventually if you restrict too much too long. Some people have exaggerated this effect though-- you cannot GAIN weight when severely restricting. You can hit plateaus though where you will stop losing. When I joined MFP I was maintaining at 900 calories, which is a ridiculously low amount. I gradually increased calories until I could lose weight eating 1500 and maintain on ~1750

arlenem1974

If you eat less then 1200 calories your body will go into starvation mode. You don't want to be like someone who has anorexia do you? No energy look like the walking dead. I eat between 1200-1250 calories per day and I have been on here for just over 2 months. You will lose and you will feel good doing it. The healthy way.

dg09

The deficit is already built in to the number. You're looking to lose 120lbs, so 1200 calories is already awfully low IMO. Ultimately, someone is just going to give a condensed version of what you could read in the link above. Just read it and learn.

As for your second question. Visually? Probably a week or two. On the scale + measurements? Could be a day or a week.

kestrel359

there is enough debate on here about your first question that I'm not going to answer it, sorry. As for your second question, there is a quote (I don't know by whom) that basically says, "it takes 4 weeks for you to notice a difference, 8 for those close to you to notice, and twelve for everyone else to notice."

maricash

MFP's calorie goal for you already includes a deficit. For example, if you said that you wanted to lose a pound a week, they already subtracted 500 calories from the amount you burn in a day. You don't need to eat less than that.

If you really want to lose weight AND keep it off, you need to develop habits that you can sustain. Sure, you could eat 500 calories a day and lose some weight, but how sustainable is that? Not very. You don't need to starve yourself, just eat at a modest calorie deficit compared to what you burn, which, again, MFP has already calculated for you.

As for noticing a difference, it can take a while to really see a significant loss on the scale. You weight will fluctuate every day due to water retention. You won't know if you're really losing until you've lost enough to get outside of that fluctuation. For example, when I started here my weight fluctuated between 230 and 235. Now it's between 195 and 200. Hopefully, it will soon be between 190 and 195. Don't worry if you don't see a drop right away. Record your weight whenever you weigh yourself and graph it so you can see the trend.

Take pictures every month or so. This will help you see changes. I wouldn't have realized how different I look now if I hadn't been taking pictures. They don't look too different from one month to the next, but if I go back three months (or around 15 pounds), they look quite different.

TracyLeigh318

So I read the whole road map and I figured out what I really should be eating in calories a day. But somewhere, I lost what I should put in as calories burned per week. If anybody else has used Dan's numbers, do I put it my F2F daily calories number x 7? So my F2F daily calories number is 2714. I was trying to make changes to my calorie goals and that said I should burn 2280 calories a week. I go to the gym 4x a week or so. That number seems awfully low.. What am I doing wrong? Can someone help me?

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ILiftHeavyAcrylics

So I read the whole road map and I figured out what I really should be eating in calories a day. But somewhere, I lost what I should put in as calories burned per week. If anybody else has used Dan's numbers, do I put it my F2F daily calories number x 7? So my F2F daily calories number is 2714. I was trying to make changes to my calorie goals and that said I should burn 2280 calories a week. I go to the gym 4x a week or so. That number seems awfully low.. What am I doing wrong? Can someone help me?

.

That's 570 calories per workout right? What kind of workouts are you doing? I can tell you that 300 cals/hour is generally considered a decent burn. And you want to leave yourself a margin of error because MFP tends to overestimate how much you're burning. Most people say to get a heart rate monitor. I don't do enough exercise to need one-- I just eat back half the calories it gives me for exercise and call it good.

cappri

"it takes 4 weeks for you to notice a difference, 8 for those close to you to notice, and twelve for everyone else to notice."

This!

VictoriousMommy

"it takes 4 weeks for you to notice a difference, 8 for those close to you to notice, and twelve for everyone else to notice."

This!

I second this! I started at 243, and it wasnt until I was about 205 is when people started to notice, including my husband! I also only weigh myself once a week. It took me a while too...I have been keeping track of my weight for 74 weeks and have lost 72 pounds (82 altogether)...so its an average of about a pound a week.

Yes you should eat a little more. I like a handful of almonds as a snack, they are higher in calories and fat, but good for you. Its good to eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. I know you go to school, so you probably dont have a lot of time, but sometimes planning out meals and snacks is a good way to stay on track.

dzmikki

Check out this article.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8.htm