am i doing it wrong?
Replies
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Youre only getting the amount of results you're earning from the amount of work you're doing.
If you work harder, workout harder, push harder, you'll see way better results.
Zumba and walking aren't going to get you as far as you think they will.
what else should I do, they were obviously only a few examples, you cant judge and say they are not enough when you dont no how many times a week i do it or what other strength training I do, I only posted them as examples
1. I cant judge - because first of all Im not judging. Im simply showing you cause and effect science here babe. The harder you push, the more/bigger/more noticeable results you will have
2. You cant be frustrated with me for not knowing what you purposefully excluded from your explanation
3. I didnt say anything other than these two things will not get you are far as you think they will - which is the truth, obviously from your whole post here explaining that you are disappointed. it doesnt matter how many times a week you do these things if you are putting in light to moderate effort and not grounding it with REAL strength training.
4. You said you're working out and not seeing the results you want. That's like saying, I bought 10 apples and Im really disappointed that I didnt come home with 20.
If you want more and better, you have to work smarter and better.
Im not judging you - Im helping you understand that it isnt about zumba or walking or cross fit or weights - its about balance - and its about how HARD you workout and its about how long you have maintained that consistency.
Zumba a couple times a week is cool - keep that up for at least 3 months.
ST 3-5 times a week is awesome! keep that up for at least 3 months.
Walking twice a day for a half hour? Awesome - prove you can do that for longer than 3 weeks.
once youve proven consistency in whichever exercise you deem to be easy and fun enough - and by consistency, i dont mean 4 times in two weeks, that just going 4 times - then you will KNOW what you need to do.
We cant tell you. Cause we arent in your body. But if you really are pushing yourself, really are holding a pattern you havent broken in months, and you push yourself to a sweaty puddle several times a week, and you still have seen ZERO changes - please see a physician immediately.
I want you to succeed.
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Well you're gonna have to suck it up and eat them anyway.
Why?
Hmm I don't know, but it might have something to do with good nutrition.
What does good nutrition have to do with weight loss?
Most people want to be healthy, not just skinny.
True, but the OP never mentioned anything about nutrition or being healthy... only complained about not losing weight. Fruits and veggies are not a prerequisite of weight loss.
I concede. Water weight melts off when you're dead.0 -
Im an extremely bad eater I dont eat any fruit or veg, and i no people will come on here and say "you have to eat them" I physically cant!
I eat a breakfast every morning usually it would be cereal with skimmed milk or wholemeal bread toasted.
I normally do not get time to fit in a lunch and sometimes eat a small dinner could I not be eating enough, MFP allows me to eat 1660cals which i find is alot.
You don't HAVE to eat them. I don't. Though I would recommend eating some when possible.
You just have to eat less than burn and have reasonable fat/carb/protein ratios. After that, it's just about consistency and patience.
Sensible post is sensible.
Just try staying in a calorie deficit consistently for 4 weeks and see if that triggers your weight loss.If you eat nothing but junk food in that time then so be it.
Once you have some success you will probably be motivated to eat more healthily but right now you just need to know the system works.
And it does....0 -
Youre only getting the amount of results you're earning from the amount of work you're doing.
If you work harder, workout harder, push harder, you'll see way better results.
Zumba and walking aren't going to get you as far as you think they will.
what else should I do, they were obviously only a few examples, you cant judge and say they are not enough when you dont no how many times a week i do it or what other strength training I do, I only posted them as examples
1. I cant judge - because first of all Im not judging. Im simply showing you cause and effect science here babe. The harder you push, the more/bigger/more noticeable results you will have
2. You cant be frustrated with me for not knowing what you purposefully excluded from your explanation
3. I didnt say anything other than these two things will not get you are far as you think they will - which is the truth, obviously from your whole post here explaining that you are disappointed. it doesnt matter how many times a week you do these things if you are putting in light to moderate effort and not grounding it with REAL strength training.
4. You said you're working out and not seeing the results you want. That's like saying, I bought 10 apples and Im really disappointed that I didnt come home with 20.
If you want more and better, you have to work smarter and better.
Im not judging you - Im helping you understand that it isnt about zumba or walking or cross fit or weights - its about balance - and its about how HARD you workout and its about how long you have maintained that consistency.
Zumba a couple times a week is cool - keep that up for at least 3 months.
ST 3-5 times a week is awesome! keep that up for at least 3 months.
Walking twice a day for a half hour? Awesome - prove you can do that for longer than 3 weeks.
once youve proven consistency in whichever exercise you deem to be easy and fun enough - and by consistency, i dont mean 4 times in two weeks, that just going 4 times - then you will KNOW what you need to do.
We cant tell you. Cause we arent in your body. But if you really are pushing yourself, really are holding a pattern you havent broken in months, and you push yourself to a sweaty puddle several times a week, and you still have seen ZERO changes - please see a physician immediately.
I want you to succeed.
This is the best post in this entire thread. Good advice.
(I needed to hear it too)0 -
I have started MFP in August i lost the 2 pounds in 2 weeks
Why did you quit and what makes you think that 2 pounds in 2 weeks is not acceptable?
You seem to lack patience.
I quit because I didnt have the motivation and yes I can be lazy at times but i do try give 100%
Then I think you have your answer.0 -
Sounds like your biggest barrier may be your own excuses. You know what needs to be done and skipping lunch and eating an unbalanced diet is not it. I'm all for encouraging but do the work or don't. Just don't expect the same results when you don't do the work.
^ +1. No, more like + a million.
This^^^^^
And do you KNOW the difference between know and no?0 -
Try juicing your veggies if you can't stomach them. You are cheating your body out of vital nutrients.
Also, 2 lbs in 2 weeks is not that bad, you just have to keep going 0 -
Sounds like your biggest barrier may be your own excuses. You know what needs to be done and skipping lunch and eating an unbalanced diet is not it. I'm all for encouraging but do the work or don't. Just don't expect the same results when you don't do the work.
^ +1. No, more like + a million.
This^^^^^
And do you KNOW the difference between know and no?
sorry I didnt KNOW this was a spelling exam........ no need to be rude!0 -
Try juicing your veggies if you can't stomach them. You are cheating your body out of vital nutrients.
Also, 2 lbs in 2 weeks is not that bad, you just have to keep going
thanks for the advice 0 -
I can't comprehend why I continue to try to help.0
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bump0
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I can't comprehend why I continue to try to help.
I appreciate your help. thanks!0 -
Hi i am a personal trainer been training for many years. Yes i can help you however there is many things that need to be taking into consideration #1 how many calories you consuming a day, #2 how many calories you burning a day, #3do you have any medical issues, #4 what is your basal metabolic rate.0
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To lose 1 pound per week, you must eat at a deficit of 3500 calories, or 500 calories per day. If you were eating 1680 calories, plus exercise calories and were not losing weight, then quite simply you were not at a calorie deficit.
So one or more of the following is the problem-
1. Your BMR may not be as high as MFP says it is. At 5'3" and 188, unless you are extremely muscular, then your body fat % is probably around 45%. The BMR calculators on here do not take BF% into account when figuring your number. If you use the Katch-Mcardle calculator, your BMR is closer to 1350. That puts your maintenance level without exercise around 1600.
2. Exercise calories can be grossly over estimated. MFP gives me twice the calories that I actually burn, using a HRM with a chest strap. If you are eating back at least half of your calories, you are not getting any calorie deficit from your exercise, and possibly eating even MORE than you burn.
and/or
3.Most people underestimate their calorie intake by 10% or more. Do you measure and weigh everything? Do you use the nutritional info on the labels, and are you making sure of the serving sizes? Some of the calories listed on some foods in the database are inaccurate, since most of them are put in by users.
Add all of the factors together and you can see why you aren't losing weight.
If you are actually eating 1680 cals per day, and not losing weight, then you are NOT eating too little. Science doesn't support that theory. No way can you go into starvation mode in only 2 weeks when you have that much extra weight to lose. It may sound nice to have people tell you to eat more, but that wont get you to where you want to be. Unless you up the exercise A LOT.
Pick a moderate calorie level. Log everything you eat. Be consistent. Don't eat all your exercise calories back. Be patient.
You will get there.
Good tip also- find women around your age, height, and starting weight who have successfully lost weight. Find out how they did it.0 -
I love the above post from DebbieLyn63
It should be required reading for all new people - especially on under/over estimating0 -
How long did you try your weight loss the first time? Also, how much weight did you really have to lose the last time?0
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Good luck to you. Nevermind the pompous snippy people.0
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how much do you have to lose? Are you considered overweight now? There could be many factors!0
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This is my second time on MFP and I'm not losing anything.
This is so disappointing, Im eating my calories allowed and exercising everyday e.g. Zumba, walking, stationary bike?
I lost only 2 pounds my first time on this.
what am I doing wrong, can anyone help me?
All I can do is tell you what worked for me. Perhaps some tidbit will help:
We are all human. We have good days and bad days, all of our lives. The tools you find and use to get out of a funk will serve you the rest of your life, and you will always need them. I call it sharpening your sword for battle and you will always need to keep your blade sharp for the rest of your life. We may get to relax at times for a few moments, but life is a bit of work until the end.
There is nothing easy about this journey. Don't give up. Keep your eye on the prize. You do not have to be perfect to do this. You just have to have more good days than not. A bad day is not the end of the world. Tomorrow is a new day. Just pick it right up again. Be kind to yourself at all times and never beat yourself up.
Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy.
There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.
Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.
Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.
The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.
As far as calories…
To say eat more is wrong.
To say eat less is wrong.
If you plug in all your info (typically age, gender, height and weight) into one of those calculators what you get is the average metabolic rate of a group of people who share your age, sex, height and weight. What you DON’T get is YOUR EXACT calorie needs. It's a place to start.
To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.
You want to eat as healthy as you can because it makes you feel better and perform better, and makes you healthier. There are a bunch of tricks and clean eating; reducing sugar (especially HFCS), fiber, white flour vs whole grain, low carb, low fat, on and on. All that matters is calories for weight loss. If you need to eat a certain way for health reasons or to feel better do it, but extensive good food and bad food lists will drive you insane at some point, it’s a constantly moving target. Just eat what you like, mostly healthy, mostly balanced, within a calorie budget. We all know what healthy is by now, just do it.
Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).
If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.
Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.
Everyone needs resistance training to improve their health and bone density and this will especially improve your quality of life when you get older. But you will not gain all that much lean body mass as fast as everyone thinks. Guys of course will gain more. A DXA scan will prove the point. There are lots of stories about changing size but no one REALLY knows unless they do a DXA scan. Here's more about that --> http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-and-bulking/ this is true whether you IF or not. My DXA scans proved that I really didn't gain that much lean body mass yet I look very muscular for a female. I have very high bone density from over 30 years of lifting yet my lean body mass is still only 104 lbs and my RMR is still only 1380.
I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am. Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.
Cardio is good for you but it is optional. I love cardio, but you can't out exercise too many calories. Of course you burn calories, but not near what all the HRM's say. I learned the hard way, running marathon after marathon (yes even multiple runs during the day), as well as hitting the gym hard, martial arts, staying active all the time, not eating while watching TV, not binging, not mindlessly eating, not pigging out, not having emotional eating issues, yet I gained weight year after year, each decade putting on the pounds. I worked harder and harder, not able to figure out what was wrong. It didn't seem like I ate too much, but for my small size I did and didn't realize it until just a few years ago when I finally started losing weight by eating less.
Everyone is different, but it's very easy to do a lot of cardio and think you can eat more than you really need, especially when you need to lose weight. It is also easy to think that you are burning more fat than you really are. Just do cardio if you enjoy it and because it's good for you.
Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.
The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.What is the exact number of calories for you?
We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.
In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.
This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.
-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)
I am short, petite, small; my RMR is low compared to others. With my doctors approval I had to eat less than or right around 1000 calories to lose weight. We are all different. There is no one size fits all. Even people my height and gender are different and some need more calories than I do. My doctor checked my hormone levels throughout my 60 lb weight loss journey (from obese down to 10% body fat) and everything was fine. I got stronger and stronger at the gym, my running and weight lifting strength improved even while eating on a significant calorie deficit. My DXA scan proved I did not lose lean body mass or go into starvation mode.
Also you do not have to eat the same amount of calories every day. You can think of it as a weekly calorie budget. You can eat low some days and high some days. You can be flexible. You can find what is sustainable for you.
While you don’t have to worry about starvation mode when you have significant fat on your body, as you get closer to your goal you do need to increase your calories slightly as you get leaner as here’s why:
The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.
At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].
-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)
For me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.
When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.
Wishing you the best! -Bobbie
Could I get this book on audio, so I can listen to it on my drive from Columbia to St. Louis next week? PUHLEEEAAASSSEEEEEE!!!!
It's her standard copy and paste job she uses on most things she responds to, seems kind of lazy and impersonal in a way.0 -
thanks all for the advice.. really has got me re-thinking this.0
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Just a comment about "not being able to eat vegetables":
Nobody is born with a special set of tastebuds or a special stomach that can't tolerate any vegetables. You don't like vegetables as an adult because your parents didn't make you eat them and become accustomed to them as a child. You can like them if you try. Omitting fresh, healthy produce from your diet won't get you very far nutritionally. They add a lot of bulk, nutrition and fiber.
It's time to be an adult and find a few vegetables that you can tolerate, then grow to like.0 -
Eat veggies, lean meats and plenty of water. Stay away from sugary foods and drinks, sodium and late night eating before bedtime. Incorporate resistance training and at least 30 to 40 minutes of steady cardio or minimum of 20 minutes of HIIT 6 days a week. Also get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep. The 2 pounds you lost was probably just water weight. Bottom line: burn off more calories than you consume. It's that easy.0
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Just a comment about "not being able to eat vegetables":
Nobody is born with a special set of tastebuds or a special stomach that can't tolerate any vegetables. You don't like vegetables as an adult because your parents didn't make you eat them and become accustomed to them as a child. You can like them if you try. Omitting fresh, healthy produce from your diet won't get you very far nutritionally. They add a lot of bulk, nutrition and fiber.
It's time to be an adult and find a few vegetables that you can tolerate, then grow to like.
I don't think its so simple. I did eat vegetables as a child, but I never ate fruit, except bananas, I was at times pushed to eat them but some vegetables made me fell like throwing up, the rest just tasted terrible - I don't have allergies- that just how my brain worked. As I grew older I was more open to eat fruit, and now I eat berries - (which are now something I love), citrus fruit and a lot more, but I cannot eat apples,pears, and others - they still make me feel like running out of the room just being with someone eating them.
As a parent - there is no way I would make my children eat any food - I encourage them to try things only.0 -
Good luck to you. Nevermind the pompous snippy people.
We want you to succeed. Dont worry too much about the posts from someone who has made no progress and just joined the site and calls the people with success stories "pompous snippy people". No one is judging, we just dont want to see you make the same mistakes that thousands of people are making on this website and in general. You asked a question and let us in, so we came in and we're trying to impart a little insider trading info to help you avoid a lot of wasted time.
Nevermind the bitter people who float around calling random strangers they've never spoken to- silly names. Watch and see what those who have beaten the demons have to say. Not the ones just smiling and hugging and saying its ok, tomorrow is a new day.
Doesnt work like that. Forgiving yourself for slacking doesnt correct the slacking.
I truly wish you success. 0 -
Watch and see what those who have beaten the demons have to say. Not the ones just smiling and hugging and saying its ok, tomorrow is a new day.
+10 internet points to you, yoovie.0 -
Good luck to you. Nevermind the pompous snippy people.
We want you to succeed. Dont worry too much about the posts from someone who has made no progress and just joined the site and calls the people with success stories "pompous snippy people". No one is judging, we just dont want to see you make the same mistakes that thousands of people are making on this website and in general. You asked a question and let us in, so we came in and we're trying to impart a little insider trading info to help you avoid a lot of wasted time.
Nevermind the bitter people who float around calling random strangers they've never spoken to- silly names. Watch and see what those who have beaten the demons have to say. Not the ones just smiling and hugging and saying its ok, tomorrow is a new day.
Doesnt work like that. Forgiving yourself for slacking doesnt correct the slacking.
I truly wish you success.
thank you! 0 -
Monster Rehab has 20 calories but 220mg of sodium.I would also suggest looking at what you are drinking. Even though a diet soda may not have calories it has a lot of sodium.
Diet soda only had about 30-40mg doesn't it? That's really not much sodium.0 -
This is my second time on MFP and I'm not losing anything.
This is so disappointing, Im eating my calories allowed and exercising everyday e.g. Zumba, walking, stationary bike?
I lost only 2 pounds my first time on this.
what am I doing wrong, can anyone help me?
All I can do is tell you what worked for me. Perhaps some tidbit will help:
We are all human. We have good days and bad days, all of our lives. The tools you find and use to get out of a funk will serve you the rest of your life, and you will always need them. I call it sharpening your sword for battle and you will always need to keep your blade sharp for the rest of your life. We may get to relax at times for a few moments, but life is a bit of work until the end.
There is nothing easy about this journey. Don't give up. Keep your eye on the prize. You do not have to be perfect to do this. You just have to have more good days than not. A bad day is not the end of the world. Tomorrow is a new day. Just pick it right up again. Be kind to yourself at all times and never beat yourself up.
Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy.
There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.
Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.
Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.
The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.
As far as calories…
To say eat more is wrong.
To say eat less is wrong.
If you plug in all your info (typically age, gender, height and weight) into one of those calculators what you get is the average metabolic rate of a group of people who share your age, sex, height and weight. What you DON’T get is YOUR EXACT calorie needs. It's a place to start.
To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.
You want to eat as healthy as you can because it makes you feel better and perform better, and makes you healthier. There are a bunch of tricks and clean eating; reducing sugar (especially HFCS), fiber, white flour vs whole grain, low carb, low fat, on and on. All that matters is calories for weight loss. If you need to eat a certain way for health reasons or to feel better do it, but extensive good food and bad food lists will drive you insane at some point, it’s a constantly moving target. Just eat what you like, mostly healthy, mostly balanced, within a calorie budget. We all know what healthy is by now, just do it.
Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).
If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.
Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.
Everyone needs resistance training to improve their health and bone density and this will especially improve your quality of life when you get older. But you will not gain all that much lean body mass as fast as everyone thinks. Guys of course will gain more. A DXA scan will prove the point. There are lots of stories about changing size but no one REALLY knows unless they do a DXA scan. Here's more about that --> http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-and-bulking/ this is true whether you IF or not. My DXA scans proved that I really didn't gain that much lean body mass yet I look very muscular for a female. I have very high bone density from over 30 years of lifting yet my lean body mass is still only 104 lbs and my RMR is still only 1380.
I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am. Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.
Cardio is good for you but it is optional. I love cardio, but you can't out exercise too many calories. Of course you burn calories, but not near what all the HRM's say. I learned the hard way, running marathon after marathon (yes even multiple runs during the day), as well as hitting the gym hard, martial arts, staying active all the time, not eating while watching TV, not binging, not mindlessly eating, not pigging out, not having emotional eating issues, yet I gained weight year after year, each decade putting on the pounds. I worked harder and harder, not able to figure out what was wrong. It didn't seem like I ate too much, but for my small size I did and didn't realize it until just a few years ago when I finally started losing weight by eating less.
Everyone is different, but it's very easy to do a lot of cardio and think you can eat more than you really need, especially when you need to lose weight. It is also easy to think that you are burning more fat than you really are. Just do cardio if you enjoy it and because it's good for you.
Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.
The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.What is the exact number of calories for you?
We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.
In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.
This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.
-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)
I am short, petite, small; my RMR is low compared to others. With my doctors approval I had to eat less than or right around 1000 calories to lose weight. We are all different. There is no one size fits all. Even people my height and gender are different and some need more calories than I do. My doctor checked my hormone levels throughout my 60 lb weight loss journey (from obese down to 10% body fat) and everything was fine. I got stronger and stronger at the gym, my running and weight lifting strength improved even while eating on a significant calorie deficit. My DXA scan proved I did not lose lean body mass or go into starvation mode.
Also you do not have to eat the same amount of calories every day. You can think of it as a weekly calorie budget. You can eat low some days and high some days. You can be flexible. You can find what is sustainable for you.
While you don’t have to worry about starvation mode when you have significant fat on your body, as you get closer to your goal you do need to increase your calories slightly as you get leaner as here’s why:
The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.
At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].
-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)
For me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.
When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.
Wishing you the best! -Bobbie
....but what about all the threads and people on them, along with the online calculators and BMF/FitBits that all give us a pretty darn high daily caloric allowance? granted 'high' is definately a relative term, but still per my previous average on BMF of 2700-3000+ burns per day, i was still slowly gaining on 1600 cals! crazy. i dunno...starting to think we all just need to eat less!?0
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