Advise needed!

hollybugs

I am 33 year old
5'7"
166 pounds currently
Mother of 4 children.
Happily Married

I stay at home during the day with my kids and I have set my activity level at slightly active. I stay busy doing housework and running kids around. I am running 3 times a week, I have started biking and doing crossfit. I try to weight train or do 45 minutes of cardio daily.

I am trying to get the last 20 pounds off. I have MFP set at losing 2 pounds per week. From what I have read seems like the recommended 1200 calories seems quite low. I lost 2 pounds the first week but none the 2nd week. Are my calories possibly too low? Recommendations?

(feel free to friend me, I need all the help I can get)

Contrarian

You might have more success if you change your settings to lose 1lb per week. 2lbs is a lot to lose when you are only trying to drop 20. Also, eat your exercise calories. You need that fuel.

soonergirl03

I'm also a stay at home mom and I have 33 more pounds to lose, I'm in the same situation as you! I have been doing 1200 calories the past 8 months and I have lost 57 pounds now I can't lose anything. I started running in Jan using the C25 program and now I'm running 3-4 days a week about 2 1/2 miles a day except for Sat and I run 4-5 miles on the days I only run 2 1/2 I usually try to do 30 more minutes on another cardio machine plus weight trainning 2-3 times a week. MFP says I should consume 1200 calories but my husband thinks thats way too low for what I'm doing I also have a bodymedia that I wear and it shows my calories should be 1655 a day. I'm confused if I should up my calories I guess I have nothing to lose since I'm not lossing at 1200 calories I'm just afraid my body is so use to 1200 calories that I'm not going to lose or worse gain weight!

Contrarian

Increase your calories.

hollybugs

A pound a week would be awesome. I just want to see steady results!

hollybugs

I feel the same way. I would hate to eat too much. I just don't know what the right balance is!

Carmenbraun55

I would recomend to read the in place of a roadmap by Helloitsdan. I did run into the 1200 calories trap to and even if it worked at the start it I did stop losing for almost 4 month until I came across the IPOARM. Now I'm eating around 1800 to 200 calories per day and losing steadily 0.5 to 1 pound a week.

mnflame

The first two weeks I was on here, I set to 2 pounds a week and I didn't lose anything. Granted, I had a bit of a hard time staying under the 1250 or calories they gave me. Since I set it to 1 pound a week, I now have 1750 calories a day and rarely eat all of them (actually I stay about 1300-1400) and I I've lost 5 pounds. I'd say up the calories and the weight may come off faster than you think. Plus, I kind of only have been using MFP as a guide. One of my major problems is mindless eating, so I'm really concentrating on only eating when I'm hungry. So, if I only eat 1000 cals one day, but I didn't starve myself and I chose healthy food, I consider that a good day. Same with if I eat the whole 1750; if I only ate when I was hungry and I chose healthy (or close to healthy, can't be perfect all the time), then I feel as though that was also a good day. I'm just trying to learn to listen to what my body is trying to tell me.

pspetralia

Since you only have 20 pounds to lose I would switch the goal to losing 1 pound a week.

Annaruthus

My MFP says "NET CALORIES CONSUMED"

So if yours says 1200, that means your total calories minus your exercise calories should equal 1200.

Example:

If I eat 1600 calories today, but I burned 400 calories during my workout for the day~

1600-400= 1200 NET CALORIES CONSUMED

Now, I still eat higher than 1200 net calories consumed, but please keep this in mind when trying to understand what your food goal for the day is.

ShallaLovee1

I feel the same way. I would hate to eat too much. I just don't know what the right balance is!

Try it at different caloric intakes. I've went from 1200 to 1700 back down to 1300-1500. It's about finding what works for you. You seem very active so you need more energy than I would. So increase you caloric intake, keep doing what your doing and you'll see results. Don't just count on the scale though. It's inches, clothes fitting, body fat loss, gaining muscle. All of these things are a factor in this journey.

debbiekarch

Keep your protein up especially when you are working out. It should be a lot higher on those days. Also keep your sugar carbs under 25 and try to eliminate filler carbs (anything with flour). Try to keep your carbs to vegetables except potatoes, peas, carrots. Keep fruit to 1/2 cup berries or less a day. Good Luck! You can do it!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy

Read this. And eat more.

hollybugs

Thank you all, you opinions are super helpful! Best wishes to you all in your own journey!