WTF? Barely losing weight

Options
2

Replies

  • songbirdtree
    Options
    I'm not an expert by any means so I'm just going to say what works for me.

    First off, MFP says I should eat 1200 calories a day, but I personally lose faster if I have a few 1400 calorie days. I keep 1200 as my goal because I tend to underestimate my portions, but I think that 1400 keeps my body out of "starvation mode."

    Secondly, whenever I'm not losing weight, it's because I'm eating 1200-1400 calories a day, but those calories are high sodium frozen foods, carbs, fast foods, alcohol etc. If you're sticking to 1200 and not getting anywhere, it might help to re-focus on the content of what you're putting in your mouth. Track how many vegetables, fruits, water, lean protein, etc. and try not to eat any processed foods for a week as a way of prioritizing nutritional value over calorie counting.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    Options
    Also just looked at your diary.

    McDonalds...?

    Pizza Hut....??

    Yep, we were out and my son wanted to eat, so I grabbed a grilled chicken wrap as well.

    They don't have anything listed for our pizza place, so I figured PIzza Hut would be a good comparison.

    How old is your son? I never take my kids to Mcdonalds, they've never been. I usually get them a jacket potato with tuna to share when we're out.

    I'd take measurements if I were you so you can see the loss clearly. I've found that inch loss has been more regular for me than weight loss.

    When I first started losing weight, after my 2nd baby was 7 weeks old, I started gymming 5 times a week and eating probably 1200 calories a day, plus looking after a newborn and a just turned 2 year old. After the first month my personal trainer took my measurements and weight. I'd only lost 2lbs, but i'd lost significant inches.

    That was 17 months ago and I am 55lbs down now, and lots and lots of inches down!

    Please don't stress too much about what you weigh and don't let it derail your efforts!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,081 Member
    Options
    I know it's all progress ... believe me! Being able to put on two pairs of my jeans without a struggle is a definite win in my books. I just want to thank EVERYONE who took a moment to read and respond ... thank you thank you!

    I want to find out my TDEE ... silly question - should I just wear my heart rate monitor all day long and see what it says at the end of the day? Or is there some other way?

    I followed one of the links provided (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12) and I did get my BMR number too. It was:

    sedentary - 1859
    light activity - 2130
    moderate activity - 2401

    Under the Harris Benedict Formula it said 1549 calories and the Katch McArdle formula said 1293 calories.

    >> should I set my caloric intake based on this number or based on the TDEE?

    1. Do not wear your HR monitor to determine TDEE. It is meant for AEROBIC or raised-heart-rate activity only.

    2. Your TDEE ....if you do ANY planned exercise in your week, use Moderate Activity. If you just take care of kids or go to work, and do NO other exercise in the week, use Light Activity. Then subtract 15-20% from that for weight loss. Then eat that every day, do not add any exercise calories. That is the TDEE minus 15-20% method.

    3. If you would prefer to use Myfitnesspal's method, choose Moderate Activity. Choose whichever of these applies to you:

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


    THEN add in the Exercise you do, and eat those calories.

    Two different methods. Neither of whch has you at anywhere near 1200 calories, weigh and measure your food for one month. Adjust if necessary at the end of that month.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    Options
    Oh my gosh you are going to have people looking at your diary, even if you were at the correct weight (my advice is only open it to your friends)

    Will post again soon ok??? but go with my advice cos you will get slated (sadly)

    If someone is asking for advice then "slating" their food diary can be helpful. I certainly opened mine up when I first started on MFP for criticisms.

    Yes, mine is open. I'd rather someone were honest and told me if i were regularly eating something that could hinder my weight loss.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,081 Member
    Options
    Yeah, and people, don't pick apart her Food. She can eat what she wants within her calorie goals. As long as there is sufficient protein, fat, and carbs.
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
    Options
    Oh my gosh you are going to have people looking at your diary, even if you were at the correct weight (my advice is only open it to your friends)

    Will post again soon ok??? but go with my advice cos you will get slated (sadly)

    If someone is asking for advice then "slating" their food diary can be helpful. I certainly opened mine up when I first started on MFP for criticisms.

    Then maybe you can be a little more `tactful`


    This is a new person asking for help and advice....sometimes it can be helpful to be kind with `words of wisdom and advice1 just saying.


    I dont want to get into a war of words, I am only suggesting that support is sometimes needed for people that are just starting out. We were all new here once!
  • OspreyVista
    OspreyVista Posts: 464 Member
    Options
    Sorry - I should have been more clear. I have been tracking my food religiously and I have the exact numbers in the food diary. For brevity in the post I used "around 1200", etc.

    I don't have a food scale but I do measure out my food so I'm confident that my food numbers are pretty close if not exact for what I'm eating.

    I do have a child but for the most part my day is pretty sedentary as I work at my desk all day.

    I'm definitely going to read all the links you've provided (thank you!) and I can't wait to dig into the one about eating more to lose weight but I'm wondering if that's really my problem - a few months ago, I tried dieting again - I was working out for 30 minutes a day 5 days a week and reduced my net calories to 1500 per day and I lost nothing in 2 weeks (so I promptly gave that up).

    This is all what led me to venting here because I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm drinking quite a bit of water - anywhere from 4-7 cups a day (a huge increase from drinking 1-2 before). Because I don't have a scale, some of my measurements on meat may be slightly off, but certainly not enough to cause massive errors. I track seasonings I use, sauces, and everything that goes into my mouth - even the teaspoon of ice cream that's on the scoop when I give my kid his dessert.

    Thank you both for responding and for your help. I feel great after having lost nearly 10 pounds (even if it was mostly the flu's doing) and I don't want to give up!

    Eating more to lose lbs helps me out. I can't do less than 1300 net calories at all or I won't lose weight. I've tried doing 1200, I just tried doing 1270. I was stuck at a certain weight for 15 days. I just upped my calories up to 1500 and within 2 days I lost 1 lb. So for me, eating more to lose helped me. Also~ I eat most of my exercise calories back most days as well so that at the end of the day my Net is at or close to 1500.
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Also just looked at your diary.

    McDonalds...?

    Pizza Hut....??

    Yep, we were out and my son wanted to eat, so I grabbed a grilled chicken wrap as well.

    They don't have anything listed for our pizza place, so I figured PIzza Hut would be a good comparison.

    How old is your son? I never take my kids to Mcdonalds, they've never been. I usually get them a jacket potato with tuna to share when we're out.

    I'd take measurements if I were you so you can see the loss clearly. I've found that inch loss has been more regular for me than weight loss.

    When I first started losing weight, after my 2nd baby was 7 weeks old, I started gymming 5 times a week and eating probably 1200 calories a day, plus looking after a newborn and a just turned 2 year old. After the first month my personal trainer took my measurements and weight. I'd only lost 2lbs, but i'd lost significant inches.

    That was 17 months ago and I am 55lbs down now, and lots and lots of inches down!

    Please don't stress too much about what you weigh and don't let it derail your efforts!

    He's almost six. I appreciate everyone's concern, but I'm not here for judgements on what my kid eats. For the record, YES my son occasionally eats at McDonald's where he has a glass of white milk, a yogurt, grilled chicken wrap, and apple slices. For the rest of the time, he eats healthier than 90% of the people I've ever run into. His diet is plum full of raw veggies and fruit, lean organic meats, and whole foods. So please, let's get off that topic immediately.

    I am going to take your advice on the measurements though - obviously, my clothes are fitting less snug so there's definitely been a weight loss ... maybe it's just not registering on the scale as much as it will on those inches. Congratulations on all your weight loss - that's absolutely terrific!!
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    I know it's all progress ... believe me! Being able to put on two pairs of my jeans without a struggle is a definite win in my books. I just want to thank EVERYONE who took a moment to read and respond ... thank you thank you!

    I want to find out my TDEE ... silly question - should I just wear my heart rate monitor all day long and see what it says at the end of the day? Or is there some other way?

    I followed one of the links provided (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12) and I did get my BMR number too. It was:

    sedentary - 1859
    light activity - 2130
    moderate activity - 2401

    Under the Harris Benedict Formula it said 1549 calories and the Katch McArdle formula said 1293 calories.

    >> should I set my caloric intake based on this number or based on the TDEE?

    1. Do not wear your HR monitor to determine TDEE. It is meant for AEROBIC or raised-heart-rate activity only.

    2. Your TDEE ....if you do ANY planned exercise in your week, use Moderate Activity. If you just take care of kids or go to work, and do NO other exercise in the week, use Light Activity. Then subtract 15-20% from that for weight loss. Then eat that every day, do not add any exercise calories. That is the TDEE minus 15-20% method.

    3. If you would prefer to use Myfitnesspal's method, choose Moderate Activity. Choose whichever of these applies to you:

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


    THEN add in the Exercise you do, and eat those calories.

    Two different methods. Neither of whch has you at anywhere near 1200 calories, weigh and measure your food for one month. Adjust if necessary at the end of that month.

    Oohh .. super helpful! Thank you!
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    Options
    My weight started at just under 200 and I would *estimate* that I was eating around 2000-3000 calories - lots of carbs, white bread, pasta, etc. Basically I would eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

    A few weeks ago I had the flu and lost about 8 pounds. I used that as a new jumping point for reducing my calories. In the last week of November and first few days of December I was eating about 1400-1500 calories - with one or two days being under 1200 calories. The first week of December we got sick and my appetite was gone for about 5 days so I ended up losing those 8 pounds.

    For the past 2 weeks I've been eating - on average - 1200 calories. I've had a 2 or so days that I've been over by 50-100 calories, and a handful of days where I've been under. The problem is ... in those 2 weeks, I've BARELY lost 1.5 pounds. I'm not eating high fat foods (breakfast usually consists of yogurt and granola, lunch is a salad with chicken breast, and dinner is usually meat and veggies. Snack might be organic salted popcorn or a half cup of frozen yogurt.

    MFP set the 1200 calorie goal based on the fact that I'd like to lose 2 pounds a week, have a desk job and generally don't exercise but I do try to get in 20-30 minutes of something a few times a week.

    What is going on? How can I fix this. Motivation is a HUGE problem for me ... if I'm hungry and not losing any weight I won't stick with it. I SHOULD be losing quite a bit of weight since I went from eating anything and everything to eating very little. My calorie deficit is anywhere from 500 calories to 1000 calories a day!

    A few things strike me
    1. You may be underestimating how much you were eating before, you are unlikely to get to 200 pounds eating 2000 calories a day, nor does eating anything and everything usually equate to that little. If you were previousl gaining some of the food you have cut out takes you from overeating to maintainin, the remainder takes you from maintaining to losing
    2. You didn't drink much before so may have been dehydrated. The 8 pounds you lost was partly more water weight and possibly muscle, you can't shed that much fat that fast unless you are exercising like a Biggest Loser
    3. You should not be hungry nor eating "very little" on 1200 to 1500 calories, if you are you are eating the wrong foods. Fill yourself up on modest portions of protein, fibrous and watery foods with a little healthy fats (avocado, olives, block creamed or dessicated coconut, nuts, seeds, cocoa)
    4. Nine servings of low sugar fruits and non starchy vegetables is a HUGE amount of food yet few calories. Moderate your portion sizes of meat and fish to something supplying 25 to 30g protein if you are not already, weigh or measure your salads because just one serving of raw leaves is a MASSIVE plateful, so you may well only be eating two of your nine servings
    5. Granola is not a low fat or low calorie food by the UK definition, it's actually calorie dense and many brands contain loads of added sugar and fat - more calories from them than from the oats! - are you measuring your bowl or guessing? Try reducing the portion and/ or filling up on berries and other low sugar fruits and/ or switching to a sugar free wholegrain cereal
    6. Maximum of 10% of daily calories should come from fatty/ sugary/ processed foods: probably granola or frozen yoghurt not both. Consider snacking on fruit, veg, nuts and seeds
    7. Don't forget oily fish and make sure you get your three servings of reduced fat dairy each day - both of these are critical for health and supply nutrients which help with weight management
    8. Don't see enough mineral rich foods (beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, cocoa powder, dark green veggies)
    9. Consistently losing two pounds of fat a week may be a little ambitious if you are sedentary, unfortunately you don't generally burn many calories in 20 to 30 minutes, and you likely are not even hitting the minimum 10,000 steps each day with that.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    Options
    Also just looked at your diary.

    McDonalds...?

    Pizza Hut....??

    Yep, we were out and my son wanted to eat, so I grabbed a grilled chicken wrap as well.

    They don't have anything listed for our pizza place, so I figured PIzza Hut would be a good comparison.

    How old is your son? I never take my kids to Mcdonalds, they've never been. I usually get them a jacket potato with tuna to share when we're out.

    I'd take measurements if I were you so you can see the loss clearly. I've found that inch loss has been more regular for me than weight loss.

    When I first started losing weight, after my 2nd baby was 7 weeks old, I started gymming 5 times a week and eating probably 1200 calories a day, plus looking after a newborn and a just turned 2 year old. After the first month my personal trainer took my measurements and weight. I'd only lost 2lbs, but i'd lost significant inches.

    That was 17 months ago and I am 55lbs down now, and lots and lots of inches down!

    Please don't stress too much about what you weigh and don't let it derail your efforts!

    He's almost six. I appreciate everyone's concern, but I'm not here for judgements on what my kid eats. For the record, YES my son occasionally eats at McDonald's where he has a glass of white milk, a yogurt, grilled chicken wrap, and apple slices. For the rest of the time, he eats healthier than 90% of the people I've ever run into. His diet is plum full of raw veggies and fruit, lean organic meats, and whole foods. So please, let's get off that topic immediately.

    I am going to take your advice on the measurements though - obviously, my clothes are fitting less snug so there's definitely been a weight loss ... maybe it's just not registering on the scale as much as it will on those inches. Congratulations on all your weight loss - that's absolutely terrific!!

    Sorry, I didn't mean to judge. I have a real hatred of fast food places, but that's just me! I live in England and there's a certain sort of person who hangs out at places like Mcdonalds!

    Weight loss sometimes takes a while to show on the scales. Also, ignore MFP when it says 'in 5 weeks you should weigh x amount'. I have never lost the amount it predicts!
  • vaborn25
    Options
    Watch the sodium. Sodium makes you retain fluids, hence more water weight. Now, you need sodium, but try not to go over the recommended daily amount. I think this week I have been over every single day and did not lose a pound of weight, even though I met my calorie goal and exercised at least 60 minutes a day.-which I thoroughly enjoy. Next weeks goal is to be at or below the sodium levels.
  • ozigal
    ozigal Posts: 173 Member
    Options

    Sorry, I didn't mean to judge. I have a real hatred of fast food places, but that's just me! I live in England and there's a certain sort of person who hangs out at places like Mcdonalds!

    Weight loss sometimes takes a while to show on the scales. Also, ignore MFP when it says 'in 5 weeks you should weigh x amount'. I have never lost the amount it predicts!

    Wow... You didnt mean to be judgemental and then you made another judgement! I live in the UK. Maybe you'd like to tell me what sort of person that makes me when I go to McDonalds which I do on occasions?

    Anyway.... barely losing weight? I have had the same issues as you. I was ill to start with and dropped a lot of weight in the middle of this year. Just over a month ago I was sick again and as soon as I was well I started trying to eat healthier and get fit. The first thing I did was put on weight. I believe it was probably the water loss etc from when I was ill coming back. I then lost weight for a couple of weeks. This week I have put weight on again (only 1kg - 2lbs) but that is disheartening.

    Luckily I have a scale that shows fat percentage and lean mass and I can see those changing for the better so it is possible that maybe you are gaining muscle and losing weight. As a few other people have said, when you do lose the weight you will lose a bit all in one hit. I have no idea why it works that way but that's what seems to happen with me as well.

    In the meantime, dont get disheartened, continue counting your food calories and exercise well. You will lose the weight if you continue....
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    My weight started at just under 200 and I would *estimate* that I was eating around 2000-3000 calories - lots of carbs, white bread, pasta, etc. Basically I would eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

    A few weeks ago I had the flu and lost about 8 pounds. I used that as a new jumping point for reducing my calories. In the last week of November and first few days of December I was eating about 1400-1500 calories - with one or two days being under 1200 calories. The first week of December we got sick and my appetite was gone for about 5 days so I ended up losing those 8 pounds.

    For the past 2 weeks I've been eating - on average - 1200 calories. I've had a 2 or so days that I've been over by 50-100 calories, and a handful of days where I've been under. The problem is ... in those 2 weeks, I've BARELY lost 1.5 pounds. I'm not eating high fat foods (breakfast usually consists of yogurt and granola, lunch is a salad with chicken breast, and dinner is usually meat and veggies. Snack might be organic salted popcorn or a half cup of frozen yogurt.

    MFP set the 1200 calorie goal based on the fact that I'd like to lose 2 pounds a week, have a desk job and generally don't exercise but I do try to get in 20-30 minutes of something a few times a week.

    What is going on? How can I fix this. Motivation is a HUGE problem for me ... if I'm hungry and not losing any weight I won't stick with it. I SHOULD be losing quite a bit of weight since I went from eating anything and everything to eating very little. My calorie deficit is anywhere from 500 calories to 1000 calories a day!

    A few things strike me
    1. You may be underestimating how much you were eating before, you are unlikely to get to 200 pounds eating 2000 calories a day, nor does eating anything and everything usually equate to that little. If you were previousl gaining some of the food you have cut out takes you from overeating to maintainin, the remainder takes you from maintaining to losing
    2. You didn't drink much before so may have been dehydrated. The 8 pounds you lost was partly more water weight and possibly muscle, you can't shed that much fat that fast unless you are exercising like a Biggest Loser
    3. You should not be hungry nor eating "very little" on 1200 to 1500 calories, if you are you are eating the wrong foods. Fill yourself up on modest portions of protein, fibrous and watery foods with a little healthy fats (avocado, olives, block creamed or dessicated coconut, nuts, seeds, cocoa)
    4. Nine servings of low sugar fruits and non starchy vegetables is a HUGE amount of food yet few calories. Moderate your portion sizes of meat and fish to something supplying 25 to 30g protein if you are not already, weigh or measure your salads because just one serving of raw leaves is a MASSIVE plateful, so you may well only be eating two of your nine servings
    5. Granola is not a low fat or low calorie food by the UK definition, it's actually calorie dense and many brands contain loads of added sugar and fat - more calories from them than from the oats! - are you measuring your bowl or guessing? Try reducing the portion and/ or filling up on berries and other low sugar fruits and/ or switching to a sugar free wholegrain cereal
    6. Maximum of 10% of daily calories should come from fatty/ sugary/ processed foods: probably granola or frozen yoghurt not both. Consider snacking on fruit, veg, nuts and seeds
    7. Don't forget oily fish and make sure you get your three servings of reduced fat dairy each day - both of these are critical for health and supply nutrients which help with weight management
    8. Don't see enough mineral rich foods (beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, cocoa powder, dark green veggies)
    9. Consistently losing two pounds of fat a week may be a little ambitious if you are sedentary, unfortunately you don't generally burn many calories in 20 to 30 minutes, and you likely are not even hitting the minimum 10,000 steps each day with that.

    The 200 pounds came after I quit smoking and gained a ton of weight after I had my son, but you're right, I probably definitely underestimated the number of calories I've eaten in the past.

    For the granola I was measuring. I would normally put one of the yogurt cups into a bowl and top it with 1/8th of a cup of the organic flax granola.

    I definitely try to fill up on the veggies - I loved that I could eat a couple of bowls of salad for lunch! Broccoli is a big hit here so we generally eat that at dinnertime too.

    I definitely agree that I need to find other foods that are lower in fat especially. I've never really liked fish (unless you count the boxed kind or some restaurants fish and chips ... but then I think that defeats the purpose of trying to eat a healthier option). Other than when I eat the yogurt, I don't get a lot of dairy just because I've been worried about the calorie count. But I think that's going to change now that I know I should be eating a bit more than what MFP initially put into my goals.

    My son hates beans and lentils so it's hard for me to get those into my diet. How much more dark green veggies would you suggest?
  • shierrarobin
    Options
    Honey you're not eating enough calories. Even if you don't get to exercise every day you should still eat more than that. I'd say don't go under 1500 since you are exercising as often as you can. If you were doing nothing but sitting around all the time then that many calories would be okay, but you're not. Check out these vids on youtube. Jayme explains things pretty well:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Iw1thBlLA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypygfB3wKVs
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Also just looked at your diary.

    McDonalds...?

    Pizza Hut....??

    Yep, we were out and my son wanted to eat, so I grabbed a grilled chicken wrap as well.

    They don't have anything listed for our pizza place, so I figured PIzza Hut would be a good comparison.

    How old is your son? I never take my kids to Mcdonalds, they've never been. I usually get them a jacket potato with tuna to share when we're out.

    I'd take measurements if I were you so you can see the loss clearly. I've found that inch loss has been more regular for me than weight loss.

    When I first started losing weight, after my 2nd baby was 7 weeks old, I started gymming 5 times a week and eating probably 1200 calories a day, plus looking after a newborn and a just turned 2 year old. After the first month my personal trainer took my measurements and weight. I'd only lost 2lbs, but i'd lost significant inches.

    That was 17 months ago and I am 55lbs down now, and lots and lots of inches down!

    Please don't stress too much about what you weigh and don't let it derail your efforts!

    He's almost six. I appreciate everyone's concern, but I'm not here for judgements on what my kid eats. For the record, YES my son occasionally eats at McDonald's where he has a glass of white milk, a yogurt, grilled chicken wrap, and apple slices. For the rest of the time, he eats healthier than 90% of the people I've ever run into. His diet is plum full of raw veggies and fruit, lean organic meats, and whole foods. So please, let's get off that topic immediately.

    I am going to take your advice on the measurements though - obviously, my clothes are fitting less snug so there's definitely been a weight loss ... maybe it's just not registering on the scale as much as it will on those inches. Congratulations on all your weight loss - that's absolutely terrific!!

    Sorry, I didn't mean to judge. I have a real hatred of fast food places, but that's just me! I live in England and there's a certain sort of person who hangs out at places like Mcdonalds!

    Weight loss sometimes takes a while to show on the scales. Also, ignore MFP when it says 'in 5 weeks you should weigh x amount'. I have never lost the amount it predicts!

    Thank you. I'm not a fan of fast food either, but when it happens we try to make our best choices. That's good to know too ... I'm forever looking at that number thinking it's impossible to reach! :)
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Watch the sodium. Sodium makes you retain fluids, hence more water weight. Now, you need sodium, but try not to go over the recommended daily amount. I think this week I have been over every single day and did not lose a pound of weight, even though I met my calorie goal and exercised at least 60 minutes a day.-which I thoroughly enjoy. Next weeks goal is to be at or below the sodium levels.

    Thanks for the tip! I'm going to start tracking that because it's not on my diary right now.
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Honey you're not eating enough calories. Even if you don't get to exercise every day you should still eat more than that. I'd say don't go under 1500 since you are exercising as often as you can. If you were doing nothing but sitting around all the time then that many calories would be okay, but you're not. Check out these vids on youtube. Jayme explains things pretty well:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Iw1thBlLA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypygfB3wKVs

    Thanks ... that definitely seems to be the consensus. Thanks for the videos - I'll check them out this evening!
  • businessmama
    businessmama Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Thank you to everyone for all the help and encouragement so far! I just have another quick question so I can get my calories in line for next week and moving forward.

    When I found my BMR (using my current weight instead of my actual goal weight) and it gave me the 2130 calories for light activity ... is that the number I need to subtract 15-20% from to obtain the number of calories I should be eating? So I'm looking at 1700-1800 calories then. WOW that's a big difference from the MFP guide.

    What is the number I should set for fat, protein, carbs and sodium? I read in one of the links that fat and protein should be around 30% and carbs at 40% ... is that about right? I didn't see anything for sodium though.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,081 Member
    Options


    Sorry, I didn't mean to judge. I have a real hatred of fast food places, but that's just me! I live in England and there's a certain sort of person who hangs out at places like Mcdonalds!

    Weight loss sometimes takes a while to show on the scales. Also, ignore MFP when it says 'in 5 weeks you should weigh x amount'. I have never lost the amount it predicts!

    Ms. England- I'm pretty sure that your judegemental "certain type of person" statement was unintended, but, WOW. Could you BE any more judgemental?

    Lovely.

    Op, businessmama, I'd lock down my Food Diary if it were me....oh, wait, I've always had a locked-down Food Diary, specifically for people like Ms. I-Live-In-England.

    If you like McDonalds or your son does, nothing wrong with going there a couple times a week. Pay no attention to her.