Oh Boy. I am asking for it...

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Katalyst77
Katalyst77 Posts: 79
in Health and Weight Loss
My #1 priority is to fuel and move my body properly and be HEALTHY!
Second to that (although a very close second) is to lose 110 pounds. When I started on MFP two months ago, I had different ideas of what it would take to lose that weight. I thought that if I watched my calories and worked out like crazy the weight would magically fall off. I got better and better at watching my calories and some weight did come off. Then I posted an invitation for input on my food diary, got some great input, did some research and started changing things around and including watching my carbs more more weight came off. More recently I had a MFP friend, whose opinion I respect, mention BMR and TDEE (I confess I had never heard of either). So I did more research and discovered that perhaps I knew nothing about proper weight loss at all. I have always known calories vs. calories out is the formula ... and that is still true. But not all calories are created equal and lets not forget my first priority. I am a chunky chunkerton at 287. I am really liking exercise and these two things combined put my BMR and TDEE at a really high number. When I look back at my food diary I find that a lot of times I really wasnt getting enough calories to fuel myself properly at all. I want to FIRE my metabolism up...not put it to sleep... Now, if I WASNT watching my carbs and fat and trying to eat good, healthy foods (pay no attention to the marshmallows, chips, and caramel apple sucker today folks ;) then eating my BMR would be easy peasy! But I am really struggling to meet those calories and still keep my fat under control and my carbs down around 225! What do I do?? What should I focus on!? I feel like I am juggling and I keep dropping one of my balls!! (lol! Sorry for that :) Help me please!!!

Replies

  • Josie_lifting_cats
    Josie_lifting_cats Posts: 949 Member
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    Protein. Add shakes, adds calories and protein. I don't struggle with this much, but I do long bike rides and feed myself with gu packs and such along the way, too. I hope that helps!

    (p.s., my favorite calorie filler is wine. Shhhh.....don't tell!)
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    HEALTHY FATS!!!

    Avocado
    Macadamia nuts
    Olive oil
    Coconut oil
    Grass-fed butter or ghee
    Nut butters
    Grass-fed beef, pastured chicken
    Pastured eggs
    Good quality cheeses
    Did I mention Avocado?
  • Katalyst77
    Katalyst77 Posts: 79
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    (p.s., my favorite calorie filler is wine. Shhhh.....don't tell!)

    I love wine also...and I live in a great area for wine...but there are all of those carbs to consider!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Stop trying to arbitrarily cut out macronutrients, and you won't have this problem. Why are you trying to cut carbs AND fat? You can't do both at the same time, and quite frankly, there is no good reason to cut either of them, unless you have a serious medical condition that requires it.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    There really isn't too much of a reason to watch fat. If you do watch fat, don't eat transfats and minimize saturday fat. With that said, eat plenty of lean proteins (chicken, turkey, lean steak cuts like sirloin, lamb, bison, etc...). Also, adding protein shakes will help. I am a big fan of muscle milk, eas and body fortress. Also, aim to get plenty of fruits and veggies (especialy veggies) so you can get adequate fiber. Fiber has been beneficial as yoru body can't process it but it tries very hard to do so, so you burn a few more calories. Additionally, when you eat lean whole foods, you reduce your sodium a lot.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    I would really recommend keeping it simple. Eat to a reasonable calorie deficit, get enough protein and fats and fill the rest in wherever (including carbs). Also, I would recommend starting resistance training.

    ETA: the best thing you can do is to make sure you log every day and be accurate and complete with your logging. Yesterday looked fine - but you did not log for quite a few days before that and the entries before that I saw did not look complete.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    I would really recommend keeping it simple. Eat to a reasonable calorie deficit, get enough protein and fats and fill the rest in wherever (including carbs). Also, I would recommend starting resistance training.

    ETA: the best thing you can do is to make sure you log every day and be accurate and complete with your logging.

    This and what Psulemon said are what I would listen to if I were you.
  • Josie_lifting_cats
    Josie_lifting_cats Posts: 949 Member
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    Stop trying to arbitrarily cut out macronutrients, and you won't have this problem. Why are you trying to cut carbs AND fat? You can't do both at the same time, and quite frankly, there is no good reason to cut either of them, unless you have a serious medical condition that requires it.

    True this. Honestly, the wine has not seemed to inhibit my loss whatsoever.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Stop trying to arbitrarily cut out macronutrients, and you won't have this problem. Why are you trying to cut carbs AND fat? You can't do both at the same time, and quite frankly, there is no good reason to cut either of them, unless you have a serious medical condition that requires it.

    True this. Honestly, the wine has not seemed to inhibit my loss whatsoever.

    Having a glass of wine once in awhile won't affect it much (wine is the better of the alcohols). Where it becomes a problem is where you drink too often or when you have low body fat and want to cut up. There are several women I work with that have trouble cutting fat as they drink 3 days a week.
  • Katalyst77
    Katalyst77 Posts: 79
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    I would really recommend keeping it simple. Eat to a reasonable calorie deficit, get enough protein and fats and fill the rest in wherever (including carbs). Also, I would recommend starting resistance training.

    ETA: the best thing you can do is to make sure you log every day and be accurate and complete with your logging. Yesterday looked fine - but you did not log for quite a few days before that and the entries before that I saw did not look complete.

    I think you are right! I think I have been over-complicating things. Can I blame my ADHD? Grrr.... it is so hard to tell what is important because there is so much freaking information out there about so many different things. I was trying to eat less carbs (because I think I was really going overboard in the carb department) but also keep my fat at a reasonable level... which is tough but possible...but now that I am trying to eat my BMR, it doesnt seem to be. I think watching carbs has helped steer me away from so much processed food (which is good) so I am going to keep my eye on that still but as far as fat maybe I just should focus on making sure I am getting mostly "good fats"?

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