Majorly Confused! HELP!

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mizzsmith123
mizzsmith123 Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
So im 141lbs and last year i was 121lbs, i have put on a little bit of weight over the last year and really want to loose it again (mostly through eating takeaways and rubbish lol) I exercise about 4/5 times a week and eat roughly about 1200 calories a day. HOWEVER... I have just been told that i need to eat MORE if i want to be loosing weight :S... so confused! I thought that to loose weight you need to exercise more and cut your calories. I want to eat around 1000 calories a day, I have a balanced diet and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I possible burn around 300 calories a day exercising. The idea of eating more to loose weight just confuses me if im being honest! Im hardly going to go into starvation mode if im eating three balanced meals a day! Any advice would be fab :). Am i ok to be eating 1000.-1200 calories a day?

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  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    You need to educate yourself. Then you won't be confused.

    Calculate your BMR and your TDEE.

    Set your MFP to lose .5 to 1 lb per week. Eat back your exercise calories. You will be eating more than 1200 calories per day on your exercise days.

    Do the program as the program was built. While you are doing that. READ. Everything you can get your hands on about weight loss. Learn how your body reacts to food and exercise. Once you feel more knowledgeable, then you can manipulate the MFP program to suit your needs.

    The biggest problem I see with your plan is that you will not be able to maintain 1000 calories per day for the rest of your life. If you stick to the plan that you are suggesting then when you go back to your old eating habits you will gain all the weight back that you lost and then some, because you have destroyed your muscle in the process of starving yourself which will lead to an changed metabolism.

    You need to learn what you have to do for the rest of your life to maintain your desired weight.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Bump for later
  • vtpixie
    vtpixie Posts: 39
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    Go to find members and put in Helloitsdan. He's got a ton of information about this stuff and it's really helpful.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    why would you WANT to only eat 1000 calories?! food is good, surely you want to eat as much as possible!? i know i do!!! its the only reason i exercise!
  • mizzsmith123
    mizzsmith123 Posts: 12
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    Tbh i have never been a big eater, for example in the mornings I will eat ceral, then for lunch il eat a fresh chicken salad with loads vegtables and for dinner il have chicken and rice or say soup and crackers for dinner or something like that. I dont ever really snack. I dont really get hungry, but i think the reason I have put on weight is beacause I am not eating enough food.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    So im 141lbs and last year i was 121lbs, i have put on a little bit of weight over the last year and really want to loose it again (mostly through eating takeaways and rubbish lol) I exercise about 4/5 times a week and eat roughly about 1200 calories a day. HOWEVER... I have just been told that i need to eat MORE if i want to be loosing weight :S... so confused! I thought that to loose weight you need to exercise more and cut your calories. I want to eat around 1000 calories a day, I have a balanced diet and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I possible burn around 300 calories a day exercising. The idea of eating more to loose weight just confuses me if im being honest! Im hardly going to go into starvation mode if im eating three balanced meals a day! Any advice would be fab :). Am i ok to be eating 1000.-1200 calories a day?

    The reason you aren't losing is because you aren't fueling your body. Each body has a calorie requirement to function properly. When you eat too few calories, your body does two major things: 1. release cortisol to preserve your body fat (BF is the most abundant way of acquiring energy) and 2. if there isn't enough stored energy, your body will start to catabolize lean body mass (converts the amino acids in muscle for energy). If your body is already at a healthy weight (statistically, not by your opinion) it fights harder to maintain weight. Over the years of famine, the body has developed response mechanism to maintain weight (cortisol to spoke to early).

    So how do you beat that, you eat enough that your body will see adequate fuel so it will drop body fat. This is where BMR and TDEE. BMR is your metabolic functions. The amount of calories your body burns if you slept 24 hours. TDEE, is the total amount of calories you burn throughout a given day to include; bmr, daily lifestyle (job) and exercise. TDEE is key to weight loss as this is where you want to form a deficit. Too large, and your body conserves (see link for more information). From your TDEE, a 20% deficit seems to be a sweet spot for many people (including myself). If you want to estimate your calories, use the second link or post your height, age, weight, daily lifestyle and workout routine and we can estimate.



    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

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