New & Trying to Figure it out... Help

kbeaumont88

I started MFP about 45 days ago and have lost about 10 pounds, which is good. This week I seem to have slowed down, which I knew would come eventually. I am curious what advice people have who are around my size who have done well.

Stats:
Age: 24
Starting Weight: 173 (in 2010)
Starting MFP: 166
CW: 155
GW:120

MFP puts me at 1200 calories to lose 2 pounds per week, so I try to meet that and hope for 1-2 pounds a week. I work out at least 3 times a week and burn about 1000 calories in those workouts, I typically do not eat back my workout calories. I was only getting about 1000 calories a day on average because of the healthy choices I was making... and not realizing it wasn't adding up enough until the end of the day.... but I know that wasn't enough. I have added snacks throughout the day, such as nuts that have more calories but are still healthy, so that I eat every 2-3 hours since that is supposed to help with weight loss and metabolism. I have been reading more about TDEE and finding I should probably be eating more to lose weight as I may have already plateaued being at only 1200 cals. From what I am finding I should maybe be eating closer to 1500-1700.

Does anyone have some suggestions for me. I am doing this the healthy way that will have lasting results. I don't mind if I don't lose exactly 2 pounds a week.. I just want progress and suggestions for my calorie intake and burning calories, such as whether 1000 at a time isn't good and I should only try for about 500 per workout?

Any suggestions or comments are appreciated

marlainalauren

Hi there!

I'm not a fitness professional or a doctor. But I DID just visit my doctor last Thursday and asked her about My Fitness Pal. (She's an awesome doctor by the way!) She's not a fan of counting calories, but she did say that for optimal results, if you're sticking to a low glycemic, healthy diet, she suggest just adding a zero to your desired weight. So if you want to be 145, you should take in no more than 1450 calories per day, all while ensuring those calories are from healthy sources. She also said that your desired weight should be in the healthy range of your BMI. I hope this helps!

tricksee

1200 cals over a long period of time will eventually repress your metabolism to the point where you won't burn body fat without starvation.

So firstly, I'd suggest upping your calories.

I don't know what kind of cardio training you're doing but if it's LISS (low intensity) like walking or jogging on a treadmill for an hour a day. Don't bother. Do HIIT instead, you'll get better results.

Also incorporate some strength training into your routine.

smichelle65

When you set up your MFP profile, what did you set as your activity level? 1200 calories seems very low for the amount you are burning. Maybe change your goals to lose 1lb/week instead of 2.

allshebe

The first question would be are you really burning 1000 calories per workout? If you're using exercise machines, it seems like a lot of them grossly over estimate calories burned. The slowing down could be too few calories or it could be a short term blip (more salt than usual, TOM, sugar intake, etc). I'd stick with what you are currently doing for another week or two and reassess. If your loss is down to more or less nothing, try increasing calories by 100 per day, upping once every week or so, but I'm not sure at what point you would decide whether or not increasing is helping.

kbeaumont88

On T/R I go to boot camp and then follow that with Zumba. I wear a HRM and it averages a total of 1000 calories burned for the 2 hours. Other days I try to walk or do an extra Zumba class. I could look at my settings because I believe when I set it up I put lightly active and now I have been moving more.

That's a good point to see how my body is in another week or 2, because the 2 pound gain could be due to the TOM.

I am hoping that adding snacks throughout the day will help and if it doesn't then I could try upping my calorie intake and see how my body reacts.

Thank you for the suggestions so far! I find everyone's opinion helpful!

joshuadavisped

1200 cals over a long period of time will eventually repress your metabolism to the point where you won't burn body fat without starvation.

So firstly, I'd suggest upping your calories.

I don't know what kind of cardio training you're doing but if it's LISS (low intensity) like walking or jogging on a treadmill for an hour a day. Don't bother. Do HIIT instead, you'll get better results.

Also incorporate some strength training into your routine.

pretty much this
the increase in calories will get your metabolism going and burning 1000 calories per workout is actually a lot. I think one hour of jogging at a 8-9 min mile pace will burn like 800 calories which is pretty intense lol (idk if someone can verify this or correct me if i'm wrong)

Greenrun99

Does anyone have some suggestions for me. I am doing this the healthy way that will have lasting results. I don't mind if I don't lose exactly 2 pounds a week.. I just want progress and suggestions for my calorie intake and burning calories, such as whether 1000 at a time isn't good and I should only try for about 500 per workout?

Sounds like you know what you need to do, figure out your TDEE based on your activity and eat that number.. or use MFP and eat back exercise calories.. which would put you around the same amount of calories (1200+1000 or 1800+ calories).. burning 1k is moderately active btw.

Oh and don't expect 2lbs every week.. cause ya that won't happen.

jonjhayden

I would suggest strength training. Many people neglect strength training because they don't want to get "bulky". Research has shown that this just doesn't happen. In fact muscle is laess bulky by far. Also, one key thing to keep in mind is the metabolic difference between fat and muscle. The purpose of fat is stor energy with a minimal amount of energy lost. Muscle, however, is not. Muscle requires significant amounts of energy to "live", fat does not. That being said, if you lose ten pounds of fat and gain say 6 pounds of muscle, while you may have only have a net weigh loss of 4 pounds, but that extra 6 pounds of muscle needs a constant supply of calories to maintain its existence. In other words, you burn more calories at your basal metabolic rate (just sitting doing nothing). This means you boost your potential to burn calories and more weight loss! I hope that makes sense.

Another benefit is that while you may only have a newt weight loss of 4 pounds (in the scenario above) you will lose a dramatic amount of inches. You much less "bulky".

Case in point for the use of strength training in promoting greater weight loss (or at least claorie burn) is the latest Winner of the The Biggest Loser, Danni. She set records for the amount of muscle that she gained on the show. This increased muscle helped propel her to a victory on the show. She simply was able to burn more calories than the others because she had more muscle requiring calories.

I personally have not yet started a strength program in my work outs. I plan to. I am kind of waiting to see a plateau in my weight loss...or I am procrastinating. Regardless my advice to boost your weight loss is to add strength training to your work out schedule.