Some advice for the newbie

hlinkous83
hlinkous83 Posts: 30
in Health and Weight Loss
I am new to this whole weight loss and dieting thing. I have been counting my calories and exercising now for 3 weeks. I have lost 9 pounds so far. I have been very cautious of all of the daily nutrition goals, often coming in under my allowed calorie intake. I am, however, having trouble staying within my sugar and protein goals. I exceed these almost daily. Most of my sugar is coming from fruit and vegies and most of the protein from lean meat. My normal day looks like this:

Brakefast-2/3c Special K with 1/2c skim milk
Lunch: Turkey sandwich or wrap (on wheat bread or tortilla) with vegies or a piece of fruit
Dinner-Lean protein like chicken, fish or shellfish, rice and a vegie or 2 vegies
Snacks-fruits like berries, melon or an apple, low fat cheese stick or raw vegies

Do any of you have any advice on bringing my sugar and protein intake down to the desirable level? I don’t want to starve but I do want to be successful! I have also been doing cardio daily (I am currently at 25 minutes on the treadmill but am increasing my time by 2 minutes each day) as well as about 15-20 minutes of other exercises like crunches, squats etc.

One more question and I will be done. I have recently started taking CLA supplements (4 a day) and am thinking about adding fish oil supplements as well. Have any of you used these and did they help?

Thanks so much in advance for all of the advice!!!

Replies

  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    Unless you have a health concern there's not really much reason to track sugar. It's a carb which you're already tracking. If your going over on your protein, but are under on carbs or fat you could change your macros settings. Raise the protein up and lower one of the others a bit to even out.
  • hlinkous83
    hlinkous83 Posts: 30
    Great advce, thank you!
  • RandomMiranda
    RandomMiranda Posts: 298
    I only pay attention to my sugar if I've been having unhealthy sweets. If its all from fruit, don't worry about it. Protein is good, it would be very difficult to get too much of it, especially if you are balancing it with carbs and fats. Don't overthink it or get bogged down in details. What you're doing is obviously working, so keep it up.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    The default protein setting on MFP is based on the FDA's MINIMUM recommended protein requirement. If you do not want to lose lean body mass while you lose weight, I would suggest increasing the protein goal. This link is helpful for determining your protein and fat requirements (yes you NEED fat too!)

    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

    Unless you have kidney issues, you would be hard-pressed to even come close to eating too much protein, so increasing it is not going to hurt you.

    As far as sugar, I pay absolutely zero attention to that. I don't know how MFP came up with that number, but one or two pieces of fruit will make you go over for the day. I am guessing that unless you are diabetic, it doesn't apply to you.

    For me, I care about 3 things in this order:
    1) hit my calorie goal
    2) hit my protein goal
    3) hit my fat goal

    Once I do that, the rest of my calories are used for whatever I feel like eating.
  • hlinkous83
    hlinkous83 Posts: 30
    I have been finding it hard meeting my calorie goal while eating healthy. Maybe I am being too strict on myself. I feel like I eat alot but usually end up only eating around 1000/day.
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    Don't worry about the sugar unless you have a medical issue. Protein will help maintain your lean body mass, so eat up.

    Even if you don't want to join the group, reading all the threads in this group with stickies next to them would be very informative. Good luck to you.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-
  • TX_Aggie_Dad
    TX_Aggie_Dad Posts: 173
    I have been finding it hard meeting my calorie goal while eating healthy. Maybe I am being too strict on myself. I feel like I eat alot but usually end up only eating around 1000/day.

    This seems exceptionally low. Make sure you are measuring your body fat % as well so you can see if you are losing body fat or also losing a bunch of lean muscle. Very low calorie diets (I'd say 1000 qualifies) can cause you to drop "weight" quickly, but much of that will be muscle/lean mass as your body holds onto the body fat thinking it is starving. You want to maximum body fat loss while trying to maintain (or even increase) lean body mass.
  • hlinkous83
    hlinkous83 Posts: 30
    If 1000/day is very low, is the 1200/day that they calculated for me acceptable?
  • TX_Aggie_Dad
    TX_Aggie_Dad Posts: 173
    If 1000/day is very low, is the 1200/day that they calculated for me acceptable?

    Is that your BMR or TDEE? I'm sure there are others here that can provide a much more detailed explanation, but I generally stick with the TDEE - 20% based on the level of working out that I do. I'd say that is a place to start. Then you stay there for a few weeks and see how your body responds.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    If 1000/day is very low, is the 1200/day that they calculated for me acceptable?

    "they" calculated 1200 for you because that is as low as MFP will go. My guess is that you chose an unreasonably fast weight loss rate instead of going with the recommended.

    Calculate your BMR and TDEE and eat enough food so that your net is somewhere in-between those two numbers if you want to lose weight in a healthy manner.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    by the way, if you are having a hard time meeting calorie goals, ditch the shakes and eat real food.
  • hlinkous83
    hlinkous83 Posts: 30
    LOL...no shakes for me! I have just been eating only healthy things and nothing 'bad' like fast food, sodas and candy. I did calculate my BMR as 1,737/day and my TDEE is 2787-25%=2090/day. So, are you saying that my daily caloire intake should be between 1737 and 2090? I am sorry for all of the questions, but I an new to all of this.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    LOL...no shakes for me! I have just been eating only healthy things and nothing 'bad' like fast food, sodas and candy. I did calculate my BMR as 1,737/day and my TDEE is 2787-25%=2090/day. So, are you saying that my daily caloire intake should be between 1737 and 2090? I am sorry for all of the questions, but I an new to all of this.

    Sorry about the shakes thing, I got confused with another poster that was drinking Special K protein shakes!

    If your TDEE is 2787, then eating 2090 would put you at an average weight loss of about 1.4 lbs/wk. Your TDEE (2787) is how much you would need to eat to stay at your current weight. You don't want to net below your BMR, so you just need to eat somewhere between those in order to lose weight.
  • hlinkous83
    hlinkous83 Posts: 30
    I appreciat everyones advice. It is very helpfull!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I have been finding it hard meeting my calorie goal while eating healthy. Maybe I am being too strict on myself. I feel like I eat alot but usually end up only eating around 1000/day.

    1,000 calories total? Yes, that is too low. You should also be eating your exercise calories back as well. Losing weight too quickly results in muscle loss along with the fat loss.

    It's easy to bump up your calories with healthy fats. Roast your veggies in olive oil, smear some peanut butter on apple slices, toss a (small) handfull of nuts on your salad. Greek yogurt has tons of protein .... select 2% if you need more calories.

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