Am I doing it right?

stephshirley
stephshirley Posts: 13
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys! I started my diet/new healthy lifestyle a month and a week ago and now I'm just reading other peoples posts and wondering if I'm wasting my time!
I eat less than 1200 calories a day and work out when I can, about 4 times a week and burn about 200 calories with these workouts. Will this help me lose weight? I've lost over 10lbs so far but I'm just not sure if it's gonna work out! When I first put my goals and exercise into myfitnesspal it told me to eat about 1200 and that I'd weight x amount of lbs in x amount of weeks?
I started at about 160lbs and now I'm at 144lbs and I'm 5'2

Replies

  • lyndzmcg84
    lyndzmcg84 Posts: 5
    Well done on losing 16lbs!!!

    What your doing is obviously working for you... I would say that you should maybe eat a bit more than 1200 calories if you are exercising but your weight loss has been great for such a small space of time. What are you doing at the gym??? Have you taken measurements to see how your body has changed???
  • stephshirley
    stephshirley Posts: 13
    I'm using the wii fit and walking to burn calories, the gym and I have fallen out.. I combine the workouts and do about 42 minutes, it varies from 160-200 calories burnt. Thank you so much, I'm struggling to believe it! Maybe my scales are broke! I measured myself when I started and again a few weeks ago, there isn't much difference at all:(
  • Yaya1976
    Yaya1976 Posts: 357 Member
    Losing 16 lbs is awesome. Sounds like it's working for you, why would you stop. Congrats on your success thus far :)

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • Rachelle1016
    Rachelle1016 Posts: 61
    What you need to evaluate is whether or not you'll be able to continue your calorie intake like that for the rest of your life. Since you're 5'2", you probably don't need much, but if you're starving yourself, you're eventually going to slow your metabolism down to a crawl. Are you losing weight, or changing your lifestyle to one you can keep?
  • stephshirley
    stephshirley Posts: 13
    It's a change of lifestyle, but I'm also doing it to lose weight. Before, I was eating far too much. Yeah, I wasn't eating junk food and processed junk for every meal but I was eating too much of the good stuff and the bad stuff and not doing any exercise at all. Once I achieve my goal of 123lbs, which puts me right in the middle of a healthy BMI I hope to stop counting calories but to carry on eating healthy and the right amounts. My main goal is to be healthy, and if losing weight comes from that then great!
  • jonesin_am
    jonesin_am Posts: 404 Member
    I am no expert. I just know what I have read on MFP and researched myself. Here are my two cents. Doing what you have been doing seems to be working for you, at least for now. But I would say to be healthy I would keep your net calories at 1200. Meaning if you eat 1200 calories a day but then you exercise you should eat back your exercise calories. I lost a good amount of weight at first too but then I hit a plateau that lasted months. The scale didn't budge until I started eating more. I was eating 1500 or so calories a day and burning about 500. Now I eat between 2000-2200 and burn anywhere from 500-1000 calories a day and have seen a loss every week so far. I also have a lot more energy to put into my workouts, am not so cranky, and NEVER hungry (unless I'm bored :) But to each their own. Good luck!

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