Need calorie help from people who have lost A LOT OF WEIGHT

spike90

Hi everyone. I don't want to sound mean or offend anyone, but I am only looking for help from people who have lost a lot of weight (from watching their diet and exercise) as there bodies would compare more to mine and in my situation.

* I am a 41 year old female. I started this journey in Jan of 2012 with 162 pounds to lose and am down 79 pounds so far.

*I was not overweight growing up (was in the Army Reserves so have the prefect bootcamp body) and started to gain after pregnancies (mainly my second) and marriage, just not being active in sports anymore and eating out for most meals (from fast food to fine dining). I have guessed that I probably ate 4000-5000 calories a day on average back then and sometimes a lot more.

*I have lost most of the 79 pounds in the first 8-10 months last year and have continued to gain and lose the same few pounds for the past few months (I will say that from Thanksgiving to early January I feel off the bandwagon and ate horribly with lots of Christmas treats and could not exercise due to doctors orders for a medical condition that I had at the time. This caused me to gain 16 pounds over that time....which I lost by the beginning of March).

* For the first few months of 2012 I did not exercise and only watched my calories and the weight started falling off (but I know in the beginning the weight always comes off easier).

*I have always gone by the calories that MFP has me set at which were in the 1700s and are now at 1520 (although I do go over from time to time). I am set at lightly active as I do try to do 30-60 minutes of cardio every morning and some calisthenics (including some light weight training) every night (and of course I have dogs to walk as well).

*I have tried eating back all exercise calories, I have tried eating back 1/2 exercise calories and I have tried eating back no exercise calories. I just can't seem to find the right plan anymore.

*I wear a HRM (Polar FT 7) when I work out and I wear a Fitbit 24/7. I do not use MFP caculations for exercise.

*I eat out some still as I work an executive job and have business lunches or dinners (although if I am not starving I just pick at my food and bring the rest home for hubby and then eat lunch that I packed from home when I get back to the office).

*I eat a lot of processed foods. I do not like to cook, do not have time to cook from scratch, and am not a good cook. I try to get 3/4 to a full gallon (sometimes more if sodium is doubled) of water in a day due to this sodium level (and I have to pee a lot every hour it seems...usually pretty clear). I do have a great food scale and weigh (or measure) all food that I eat at home. I use to heavily salt pretty much everything I ate but quit that practice over a year ago and only eat the salt that is now already in the food (boy was this a HARD habit to break) **I am not going to change the type of foods that I eat...just looking to find the right amount.

*I can't stand any vegetable cooked (with the exception of onions and peppers). By can't stand, I mean will actually make me puke! I do try to get some fresh veggies in daily (which I was really poor at before but am getting much better at lately).

*I eat three meals a day and have to force myself to eat breakfast as I am not usually hungry until after noon and I get up around 5-6am (which is when I do my cardio workouts).

*I am not usually hungry but want to eat because my taste buds are wanting it or I am just sitting around thinking "I want something!" Willpower, willpower, willpower.....

*I do snack usually late afternoon and then at night after dinner (when I seem to be the hungriest even if I ate a huge meal). I save my fresh fruit for my night snacks. According to my doctor something in my brain does not click and tell me that I am full so I have to be really careful.

*I have had all my numbers checks at the doctor and blood work done and they are all great (and were all great 79 pounds heavier as well). I come from a very long living family (most people live to be aroun 100 and my Grandma lived to 105). My parents are 79 and 84 and they have great numbers. My mom is about 70-80 pounds overweight and has been as long a I can remember but has great numbers as well and only needs to take a medicine due to a car accident that she was in that caused 4 brain surgeries in 6 days. So, I don't have medical issues that have been passed down to me (except for bad joints). This is why my blood work and numbers have always been great and surprising at being 162 pounds overweight.

Here are the questions that I have for people that are now or have been in a similar boat to me:
1. Am I eating too high calories (gross calories)
2. Am I eating too low calories (gross calories) (if I went by TDEE -20%, I would have to eat 2300 calories which I feel like would make me gain loads of weight) Should I switch to the TDEE plan (have heard both postives and negatives about it)?
3. How much exercise calories should I eat back? All, 1/2, none and based on how many gross calories??

Please check my food diary (and exercise dialy) as I am going to make it public for this thread. Please note that I make a note in my comment section about sugars from fresh fruit. I do this because I am okay with these sugars as they are natural sugars and not feel they are the same as the sugars that in my other foods (especially processed foods).

I don't drink any beverages but water (plain, unflavored water) and unsweetened iced tea (decaffienated if possible). I do occassionaly have a diet soda but typically log it when I do. No coffee, juices, punches, lemonades, nothing else.

My sodium is not listed but it is in the "full report" as well as in my Fitbit diary on their website. I have done basically the same types of cardio and calisthenics for many months so I will continue with this routine. It did use to box as well but have not done it in a few months....plan to get back into it when time permits.

I do take measurements every few weeks and most of these inches where lost early last year as well. I have actually gained 2.2 pounds so far this month...erg!! but my measurements have me down between 1/4 to 1/2 almost everywhere so I know changes are going on slowly but I can't see them as I actually look "fatter" now than I did 79 pounds ago (with clothes off at least). With clothes on I can see a different from the beginning but not a change over the past few months.

I know this takes time but I don't feel I should go month after month after month without a loss unless I am building a lot of muscle which I am not doing as I only want to tone the muscles under the fat so when I get all of this weight off and have the excess skin cut off I will look toned and fit. I only weigh about 10 pounds less now than I did last October!

~~~~~~When you give me advice, can you please jot down a short note of how much you have lost and over what period of time and how you did it (exercise and calorie wise). I know we are all different, but what I am doing just isn't working anymore and I am hoping to try what others have tried to see if it is the right thing for me.~~~~~

Thanks everyone!

Just noticed how long this is.......sorry

RayDWeger

50 lbs over a 5 year period. Maintain by diet. I do exercise but I do that more to build muscle and keep my metabolism up than for weight loss. A little perspective on exercising to lose weight you have to sprint length of 3 football fields burn off the calories from one doughnut or a brisk walk at 4 mph an hour to burn of 1 hamburger. Weight loss is 80 percent diet 20 percent exercise.

Processed food is not your friend and will be challenging for you to maintain any form of consistent weight loss.

There is tons of information available if your committed to change you will find the way or find a partner to help you get there. Everyone is different and to a large degree you have to be willing to become your own experiment. Honestly track and log all your calories and break your current eating habits. Learn to eat 5 to 6 times a day find out what your Existing BMR is AND DON'T UNDER EAT. When you under eat your body will go into starvation mode and try to store everything you eat as fat to survive. One last recommendation would be to find out what your daily blood glucose levels are doing. If you are carb intolerant you will have to make serious changes to your diet. I suffer from this and until I figured it out it was very difficult to shed the last 15-20 pounds i had. Adjusting my eating plan to compensate for my carb intolerance I have lost 16 pounds since March 1st.

Good luck

abheshek

here are some tips:-

1) stop eating processed foods

2) start eating home made foods

3) reduce sodium intake to less than 2500mg aka 1 table spoon

4) drink a glass of water before every meal,that would stop you from overeating

5) exercise daily for atleast an hour

6) sleep for atleast 5 hours

7) maintain an active lifestyle and be busy in some or other activity..


Note: if you don't mind ,your post is just too long and one would run out of patience reading it...be brief next time

you can also add me as a friend if you want any further help

FredDoyle

here are some tips:-

1) stop eating processed foods

2) start eating home made foods

3) reduce sodium intake to less than 2500mg aka 1 table spoon

4) drink a glass of water before every meal,that would stop you from overeating

5) exercise daily for atleast an hour

6) sleep for atleast 5 hours

7) maintain an active lifestyle and be busy in some or other activity..


Note: if you don't mind ,your post is just too long and one would run out of patience reading it...be brief next time

you can also add me as a friend if you want any further help

Good idea overall...

1. Good idea but not required for weightloss
2. Good idea but not required for weightloss
3. 2400mg sodium is a teaspoon of table salt
4. no comment
5. 30 mins cardio is enough
6. Most experts say 7-8 hours sleep is optimal
7. Good idea

XXbrendaXX

Hi there friend! Congrats on the 79 lbs!! :flowerforyou:

I have lost 108 lbs in the last 9 months, and have at least another 40 (probably more) to go. In the beginning it came off very quickly, as it will when you have so much to lose. I also know I was eating well below the calories MFP set for me to lose 2 lb a week tho. For me, I think I needed to see results quickly to keep me motivated to stay with it - and it was very motivating watching the scale go down several numbers each week.

When I felt my body telling me it needed more, I upped my calories to where MFP actually set me to lose 2 lbs a week. That is where you see my weight loss numbers fall to mostly -1's per week (I have recorded my weekly weight loss on my profile since I started). That was frustrating, so I upped my cals again to where they set me at to lose just 1 lb per week, and I'll be darned if I didn't lose 3 lbs a week!

Right now my calories definitely vary from day to day....anywhere from 1200 up to 1800, but usually in the middle. I'm finding switching it up often seems to spur bigger loss numbers right now. I luckily have not really hit a plateau (yet). :ohwell:

As for food, I am lucky and really like most vegetables. I also eat alot of fruit. I do tend to eat too much processed foods as well,
but I try to plan it to where my sodium is under daily. When my sodium is over I definitely notice bloating/swelling and water weight gain!!

As for exercise, you definitely outdo me there!! :blushing: You are my exercise role model!! I didn't exercise at all the first few months - I had a knee that really bothered me, and wanted to get some weight off before I hurt it even worse. Now I just walk for exercise, usually on my treadmill. And I am lazy at it, I do not do it every day like I should, and not for as long as I should. I know when my results start to slow more, I will definitely have to add more exercise. (I also do not eat my exercise cals back).

I don't know if any of this will help you at all, but hopefully you will start seeing results of your hard work again soon! You are such a positive, supportive friend here, who keeps us all motivated to keep at it!! Thank you for that!!

Brenda