Don't Judge but 30/M going from 1200 to 1500 - Nervous

When I'm in 'losing mode', 1200 is my target as well. I'm 5'8, 43 and currently a hair under 150 - shooting for 140. I made it down to 145 and went on the suggested calorie intake that MFP calculated. I immediately shot back up to over 150.

Then I went on vacation and went back to damn near 160. 1200 works great for me and I eat back EVERY SINGLE CALORIE from activity, let me tell you. I rarely actually hit 1200, but am probably coming in at around 1400 average.

It's hard to really track it day to day because I'm training for 1/2 Ironman and will burn 2500 to 3200 calories on Saturday alone. In order to not f----g DIE from that workout, I have to fuel up on Thursday and Friday (2000 net on Thurs, 3000 on Friday), then I eat more normally on Saturday.

My motto is: Find what works for you - screw "common knowledge".

Best advice I ever got: Find what works for you and do more of it - find out what doesn't and stop doing it.

Oh, and don't eat bananas.

Those things are NASTY!! :laugh:

and last but not least...if you include your family in your exercise routine...not only will you be able to fit it in daily...you might also help them break the barriers around themselves, and also teach them a healthier lifestyle at the same time

First, I have to say my gut instinct is not to reply at all because this sounds like a trap. Based on your responses, you understand that your goal is based on inaccurate information and yet you are pursuing it anyway...

Second, anyone in this day and age who thinks about criticizing you for being a SAHD is not worth your time and certainly gets not respect from me or most other people. So you can definitely ignore anyone like that.

Third, I'm not a doctor, but I think you're not thinking straight... You are at the perfect weight to start working out at home (yes, you can make the time; it's just a matter of priorities). You don't need any special equipment really other than possibly a couple of barbells you can purchase anywhere (including Wal-Mart and sometimes even Goodwill).

I understand about being poor, trust me. This is the first year my wife and I could even think about spending money on gym and personal trainer. My wife is a SAHM, so we are living on my income alone. Because our health was deteriorating (we are in our early 40's, and she was right at 300 lbs and I was over 200), we knew we needed to take action (literally!). So yes, we are spending the big bucks and it aint easy... but she has lost 70 lbs and I have lost over 30 lbs so far since the beginning of the year. My trainer said (in essence) I am at a good weight to start focusing on strength training now and less on weight loss. I am only 5'7" and weigh 176 -- so you can see where my concern for you comes from. I am not a large framed person. My current profile photo shows me at my heaviest (216 lbs). I look nothing like that now (except the hairline! :P).

So don't worry about 1500 calories. I would even bump it up to 1600 or maybe more, try to get your heart rate up to around 140 or so for 30 minutes a day and do some core exercises and you will be a knockout in no time. You can find exercises all over the place on the internet now (including Men's Health online; they have some great stuff!).

Good luck, and be healthy.

I understand your skepticism and I respect it. There are very few people out there as naive as me that would openly admit it but we exist. The internet gives voice to introverts like me, and while most introverts use it to release anger and rage, I use it to constructively figure out my life and get good advice.

I plan on going up to the 1500 after seeing all these comments, I just needed some support. Being highly sensitive brings a lot of fear with it; I can't help that I am naive and very easily tricked into believing things that aren't true (gullibility?) so I have to figure most things out on my own and then ask a board of professionals to set me straight.

I will incorporate exercise as soon as time permits. Even bodyweight exercises (like suggested above) sound affordable to do; it's really just about time at this point. Tonight I am sacrificing 2 hours to this when I should be doing laundry, vacuuming, getting school supplies at a 24 hours supermarket, cooking meat for the morning, and getting the kids to bed (11pm here). So to be responsible for so much with no help makes life a bit difficult to find time alone.

Thank you again for your advice though, I appreciate it.

2 hours for exercise? Most of my workouts never exceed an hour, in fact if you are doing weight training, it is recommended to limit your workout time, because you need to eat something to replace your glycogen stores, and to help your body get the proteins to start repairing the muscle.

Many exercises you can do with your kids. They might even enjoy it. If they are little, take them to the playground, and while they are playing, do a couple of sets of pull ups on the monkey bars, dips on the park bench, and push-ups on the sidewalk or grass. Lunges around the perimeter of the playground, or jump squats work well, too.. Youtube has some tabata exercises that can be done outside, your kids may even want to try them with you.

I don't mean to be short with my response but the answer is in this thread. I am getting tired and way behind responding instead of cleaning; but I want you to know that I did see your reply and the answer is some where else in the thread. Thank you again for your input, I will be trying to exercise when my situation improves.

I think he misunderstood your comment about spending 2 hours to this. I understood that comment to be directed at spending time here in this forum, not exercising... right?

If you log onto the lite n easy website they have a tool to work out how many calories you should be having

http://www.liteneasy.com.au/nova/app_recommendmealplan.aspx

Good on ya I net 2,100 a day and lose 1lb/week while I'm cutting. Nothing to be nervous about.

I'm really glad the BMI conversation has occurred and you may be reassessing BMI's utility. My wife and I both looked at BMI with a strong degree of skepticism. It's not the super-easy calculation that made us balk, it's the description column defining "healthy" applied and is continued to be considered 'valid' after so much debunking. It doesn't take too much looking to find adjustments based on gender and age. If you have a few minutes and a tape measure, the tools at http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/ will quickly show you where you fit in and can help dial in your weight goals. Adding in any degree of movement will help avoid injuries from daily life and help maintain muscle mass while burning fat.

I think I just burned 1200 calories just reading 6 pages of this thread. Kinda interesting. I have my thoughts as probably many others do. Hmmm. Well done on the weight loss, good job. Nothing more to add than that really. You seem pretty secure in what you want to achieve and have argued your points well. I do think your goal weight is very low for a man, but you seem set in that so I wish you luck if achieving that weight will make you happy :-) oh and another thing. Take a chill pill. The world won't end if you take 30 minutes off to have a break/exercise/do something un-house work related. The dishes and laundry will still be there after you take a break. Everyone needs a little time to themselves. Don't be quite so tough on yourself maybe.