Hi I'm Melissa

melissa3324

I'm Melissa from TN. I'm 25 and currently weigh 304lbs. A couple years ago, I was all the way up to 330lbs. Then I stopped eating fast food for a year and went all the way down to 285lbs. Last summer, though, I gained about 15 lbs or so from eating fast food while on vacations and things. Then, back home over winter and fall I gained about another 12 lbs. I couldn't figure out how I was gaining so much weight so quickly, since the year before I had dropped so much weight without doing anything.

I had stopped eating fast food and started cooking meals But then I suppose I was eating wayyy to much in my meals. A bunch of carbs like speghetti and hamburger helper and stuff like that.

Anyway, a couple months ago I realized that if I did not do something I would become so big that I would become bedridden in the next few years. So, I decided to start doing water aerobics because I could not walk because of all the pain I was in.

I know people say that when I'm this big I burn calories just by being alive so all I needed to do was cut down on my food. But exercise, to me, helps with my mental health and my physical health. It makes me feel exhilarated and makes me feel better about myself. After about a month and a half of exercising at the gym, I am in considerable less pain than I was before. A couple days ago, I was able to walk 3 miles without being in that much pain at all. I am also able to stay on the elliptical at the gym for 8 minutes, when I first started I had trouble just staying on there for 2. I also feel a lot stronger than I did a couple months ago.

I did not start counting calories until today, though. I like this site except where the number on the my home page is your net calories. It is trying to give me back calories that I lost from exercising, telling me I need to eat them back. Is there any way to turn this off? It says I have over 700 calories to eat today, and today is basically over. I am not hungry. Even without the net calories, there is still 500 calories left.

How accurate is it where it tells you how much weight you will lose in 5 weeks if everyday was like today?? It says I will lose 15 lbs in 5 weeks. That would be AWESOME, but I don't know if that is possible or not.

happydaze71

Hello,
I never eat back my exercise cals, but that's just me, and yes it will tell you you have lots of cals left to eat if you've entered your exercise for the day, I just ignore it.
Lots of people have different ways of doing this, so you will get some different responses.
First of all I want to say congratulations.... for deciding to get your life back!!
Junk food is so dangerous in terms of what it does to our health and our weight, I don't eat it at all now, it just makes me sick.
You can do this, you are in control of your life and what you put in your mouth, and I am so proud of you that you are exercising and counting calories.
Well done and good luck with everything!!!!

chigh22

Hi Melissa!

I don't eat back my calories either. Although I will say that I am not strict with myself when it comes to net calories. For my height and weight I supposedly can eat about 1450 calories per day and lose one pound per week. I have loosened this to 1200-1600 calories per day and that is much more doable for me. I have noticed that there are simply some days where I am not as hungry and I will find myself on the low end of the calorie range. I always end up being a little bit more hungry the next day so when I look at my weekly summary of calories I fall exactly where I need to. As far as the 5 week projected weight loss I would say that it is probably pretty accurate. Honestly I find 5 weeks to be too long of a goal. I try to take each day and be the healthiest that I can be.

Portion control used to be a big issue for me. I have found that daily walking before dinner (my most dangerous meal) has really curbed that. I take the time on my walk to think about all the benefits that making healthy choices makes. I can tell that you have realized that too with experiencing less pain while working out! That is amazing. If I am really struggling with the urge to get fast food then I eat a healthy choice with a big salad and an apple. I love chinese food so their asian meals can curb that for me. I usually can find good deals on them for about $2 each (which is significantly cheaper than fast food).

I am happy that you decided to join the site! My family does it so that offers a lot of support because this can be very time consuming but very rewarding! Good luck!