Newcomer says what...

sydneynicole95

Hi guys, I'm Sydney and I'm new to these forums and everything. I am a senior in high school hoping to loose some weight before I go to college. I hope to be around 110, but I'm content with 120 as well. I weigh about 145 now, and I am 5 ft 2. Here's my concern.
I eat fairly healthy - I only consume actually about 900-1200 calories a day, usually. I also may not exercise exactly everyday, but I am in color guard and do basic dance classes which depending upon what season it is give me about an hour or two of working out at least 2 days a week, not to mention my practice at home everyday for at least 30 minutes.
My biggest concern is where I go from here. I am going to try to exercise more. My mother purchased the "Insanity Workout" for herself, but I have also used it on the past few days where I haven't been too busy. To sum it up, Insanity is like P90x, it's a workout video that lasts for 40 minutes per session and has different ones you can alternate through. But, you need no equipment and it's hard as heck.
Am I going about this right? What can I do to make my body better? As a teenager going off to college, what do you suggest I do to not only better myself to be more healthy for college, but to continue these habits while I am there?
And my final question...
Why the heck am I continuing to gain weight if I am consuming the "healthy" calorie amount for my body?!

birdvsplane

My freshmen year of college I got a little to used to the dining halls "buffet style" servings, often eating way more than I needed to simply because I could. Make sure you assert self-control when given the opportunity to eat as much as you want! The food tracker on this site should be a big help, I know it's helped me just in my daily life plan out meals and recollect how much I've had and can have.

My biggest piece of advice would be to get comfortable in your college's Rec center. After I gained a little weight, I made sure to hit up the rec whenever I had some free time. Learn when the good hours to go would be (Sunday nights are often packed, mornings are usually pretty free).

Just try to keep this in mind and you should be fine, good luck!

guardian419

Do some forum searching and figure out your BMR/TDEE and go from there. 900-1200 is not enough for you nutritionally.

As for why you're gaining... do you underestimate your food, not count soda, not count something else?

TurtleRunnerNC

I don't think you are eating enough. Find your BMR and TDEE @ scoobysworkshop.com and eat somewhere in the middle and you will lose weight.

You don't want to eat below your BMR (the # of calories your body would use just to function vital organs if you were in a coma). I am 5'3'' and 128lbs mine is 1306. I don't eat below that if I can help it.

isitsororo

If you are carefully counting your calories and you're gaining weight with 900-1200, something fishy is going on. If you use MFP to track your calories now, maybe you will realize that you are eating more calories than you think you are. Otherwise something is a little off in your body.

sydneynicole95

Thanks for the advice guys.
I've visited the college I saw the rec center and fell in love, it was very clean and very spacious. It didn't seem to be too packed and it was a Friday afternoon. I also plan to have a small fridge in my dorm and my cousin (roommate) and I both plan to stock it with fruit, veggies, and water. Our snacks might be some bread with (organic) peanut butter,
I'm not sure if I'm miscounting anything - honestly I feel like my biggest downfall is that, while I don't want to sound rude about my school, I often eat lunch in my high school's cafeteria. My breakfast is usually like, fruit and a drink. Lunch though at my school is always the same, it's fruit, veggies, fries, and water. Then dinner is usually again, fruit with maybe some grilled chicken and nuts with more water. If I have a snack in the day it's normally something like a granola bar or low-fat yogurt.
It's rather hard to measure how many calories are consumed in a high school cafeteria setting where you're not sure what brand or how much they are serving you exactly. I'm thinking about starting to bring my lunch to school. Either way, when I checked MFP and put in everything I knew, and estimated the school lunch with what I had today, I came up with a little over 1,000 calories for today, with all my meals and snacks included.
I'll be sure to maybe try to actually consume more calories and just be more careful where they come from and to keep on exercising.

CoachJake83

Those calories sound pretty low to me. Sometimes eating too low puts your body into storing mode, where it releases hormones that say "hold onto everything, there's no food coming in! Hold on boys and girls!"

If you create a safe deficit of around 20% less than maintenance, your body will have enough to sustain most muscle tissue, and comfortably allow fat loss cause it's not in an extreme condition or anything.

If you want to do Insanity, try starting off around 1600-1800 calories. Make sure you get enough protein while you're in a deficit. 40% or so of your calories can come from protein, even 50% if you can handle that much. Maybe 25-30% from carbs to kick start things.

Set your calorie / macro goals in MFP, hit those DVD's to your max, and watch the weight come flying off. Just don't starve yourself!