Looking for some Guidance/Help

bradmitzelfelt
bradmitzelfelt Posts: 15
in Health and Weight Loss
I am, I guess, severely overweight and have made the decision to lose weight. For about a week and a half now I've been trying to eat less and walk around an hour a day (I do it in twice a day increments of about 30 minutes as I'm in school atm). I'm eating between 1200 and 1500 calories a day, while once a week I try to eat like I used to in order to keep my body thinking it's getting as much as it was in calorie intake. Despite this, I haven't lost a pound in a week's worth of eating less (and better) and exercising. Am I eating too little? Is it possible to eat less and exercise more and not lose weight? Help and guidance would be appreciated.

Replies

  • jessicanicolelemons
    jessicanicolelemons Posts: 15
    I am new to this as well so hopefully someone can help u better than I can...In my opinion u r not eating enough..Are u eating ur calories that u burn thru exercise? good luck and i hope u find the answers ur looking for
  • imjenjen00
    imjenjen00 Posts: 75
    Welcome :)

    My first thought is that you're not eating enough but it's hard to tell because we can't see your diary. What foods are you eating to make up that 1200-1500 calories? And what are you eating on your cheat day? You're doing a really good thing by walking for an hour day.
  • CoachChrisD
    CoachChrisD Posts: 207 Member
    Brad i just posted a blog about that perticular situation that you are having. i added you as a friend so go read the blog it's tittled
    " top 10 reasons you are not loosing weight"
  • nczuczu
    nczuczu Posts: 611 Member
    First of all, I am no expert. This is just my best guess with the information you have provided.

    How many calories you are given to eat depends many factors, including your height and weight, your lifestyle, and how many pounds you want to lose each week. Have you used the tools and that is how many calories MFP has set you up to eat? I am a woman, 5'6" andand hope to lose 70 lbs. MFP has me eating only 1270 calories.

    Just based on the information at hand, you are a man and want to lose 150 lbs. If I were to guess, you are eating too few calories. I would suggest you eat more. You must be hungry all the time!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    I am, I guess, severely overweight and have made the decision to lose weight. For about a week and a half now I've been trying to eat less and walk around an hour a day (I do it in twice a day increments of about 30 minutes as I'm in school atm). I'm eating between 1200 and 1500 calories a day, while once a week I try to eat like I used to in order to keep my body thinking it's getting as much as it was in calorie intake. Despite this, I haven't lost a pound in a week's worth of eating less (and better) and exercising. Am I eating too little? Is it possible to eat less and exercise more and not lose weight? Help and guidance would be appreciated.

    Men have greater caloric requirements for women and that amount is probably too aggressive for your body even though you are severely overweight as you put it. I know personally, I did much better at 2600 calories, than I ever did at 1800 calories. Why don't you bump it up to 1800 calories for about a month to see if that helps. Also, keep in mind that weight loss isn't linear and it could take some time to adapt.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    1. You are probably eating too little. Go into the apps sections of the website and find the BMR calculator on the right-hand side. BMR is the number of calories your body needs each day to stay alive (heart pumping, lungs breathing, digestion, etc.). That should be the absolute minimum you eat on a regular basis.

    2. You need to be patient with results. If you aim to lose 1 lb a week, you will lose 1 lb a week *on average*. The fact is that body weight fluctuates based on all sorts of factors (including starting to exercise), and the size of these fluctuations can easily obscure 1 lb of fat lost. You want to see your body weight going down over time.

    Good luck! :drinker:
  • erin4455
    erin4455 Posts: 135
    Those seem like really extreme dietary changes already. Have you considered seeing your doctor and being checked out for abnormal Thyroid or insulin levels? Could be worth checking out because even though you've severely cut your calories, I would assume you would have dropped a few pounds in water weight by now.
  • tonitass
    tonitass Posts: 22 Member
    Could you add me as a friend also? I would love to read your blog about 10 reasons...
  • Esther50
    Esther50 Posts: 252
    Please add me also, I want to read the 10 reasons!!!
  • pwnderosa
    pwnderosa Posts: 280 Member
    Hi there! Wow congrats on making the decision and starting to make some great changes! I agree with above to be patient with the weight fluctuations, even though it can be REALLY hard, that is why I just stick to my program and only weigh every couple of weeks or so...for me I lose nothing for 3 weeks then 5lbs at once usually so the week to week can vary a lot.

    Not knowing your stats (height weight etc) it's hard to judge your diet but I bet you can eat quite a bit more and still lose and that can make it a lot easier to stick to in the long run, consistency is key. Good luck & congrats! I added you, would love to cheer you on! :)
  • bradmitzelfelt
    bradmitzelfelt Posts: 15
    For those who were wondering, I'm 5'8" and weigh 362lbs. According to the sites BMR I should be eating 2597 calories per day. That just seems like a hell of a lot. Most people here seem to think I eat too little, and a few other people have told me the same thing, so perhaps I should up my calorie intake? Should I go all the way to the 2597 or somewhere below that? I'm currently trying to lose about 2 lbs a week so I should be eating 2200. Is 2000 too low?
  • Fredrigo
    Fredrigo Posts: 134 Member
    As another man with a lot of weight to lose I suggest you use the MFP tracking tools to generate your caloric goals and follow them it's much easier to learn to eat 2100 calories if you've been eating 2150 rather than trying to eat 1600 when you've been eating 2400. By slowly changing your eating habits those changes will have a better chance of lasting.

    Secondly I would encourage you to weigh yourself daily preferably at the same time and wearing the same thing (naked before showering is a prime example). When you have over a hundred pounds to lose your weight can fluctuate by several pounds a day but if you track regularly you should be able to slowly see a trend more importantly it will be easier to tie your weight changes to specific things from the previous day that's how I've discovered foods to avoid and activities to do more of.

    Best of luck and feel free to send me a friend request.
  • Sunka1
    Sunka1 Posts: 217 Member
    You have taken the first step and congrats on that. I am no expert but I know that when a trainer suggested I eat every two to three hours, I thought it was crazy. It has worked though! The trick is that you MUST include protein in all those meals and you should try to do a little strenghth training. Even if the weights are as light as 2lbs. it will help. It is the first time I have ever used a protein powder and it has been helping me get my protein intake up to what I consider insanely high. If you like fish, get as much as you can and of course veggies and some fruits. Yes I would try trusting the MFP calorie goals. We will all be here for you.
  • nyakosansaunt
    nyakosansaunt Posts: 3 Member
    Congratulations on your decision to get healthier. Just follow MFP's protocol as it relates to you and stick with it. You WILL lose weight. My suggestion is to follow the caloric guidelines set for your weight loss goals and cut out the cheat day. If you want to eat more, increase your workout/walking time for that day and the calories you burn working out will be added to your daily calorie allowance. Just keep envisioning yourself thinner and hold on to your resolve--you WILL get there if you keep at it. You've got a whole bunch of folk rooting for you.
  • bradmitzelfelt
    bradmitzelfelt Posts: 15
    Ok. I ate close to 2000 today (MFP says to eat 2200). I also burned 490 (roughly) calories today via walking. Does that seem alright? Should I eat more? I don't want to eat more today because I'm over on sugars and don't really have anything sugar free. This will help me plan my meals for the next week, though.
  • Ferraro518
    Ferraro518 Posts: 8
    Hi. First off, congrats on the decision to become healthier. I just began using MFP just under a month ago and I am 5'10 female and started at 257lbs. MFP has me at 1600 calories per day to lose 2 lbs per week on average. At first, I thought that was way too high because I have only had success ( short term) with less calories. Well,I figured I would give it a chance since my crash calorie way has never worked for the long term and I was always miserable and hungry. As of last week, I am down 8 lbs and weigh in again tomorrow. ( I only weigh in one time per week). This really does work, even though I originally thought the calories were too high. By adding exercise and more water with better choices, I finally feel for the first time in about 10 years that I can really do this. My suggestion is for you to up your calorie intake so you don't lose your drive due to lack of progress and remember that it may come off slowly but that way truly does have the best success rates when it comes to keeping it off. Good luck to you.
  • msherrodmorfin
    msherrodmorfin Posts: 12 Member
    Yes yes yes.. If you eat too little then your body will go into a preservation mode. Log your information 100% accurately into MFP. Eat the calories it tells you to eat.. Be aware of portions.. if you exercise log it... I tried for the longest time and nothing came off.. I mean NOTHING.. and I was doing hours and hours of high impact aerobic activity... but I wasnt eating my daily calories or on some days even coming close..
    Stick to it.. It will happen!!!
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    Yes, you should eat more.

    Don't worry about being over in sugar. MFP sets that as the target for added sugar, but then counts all sugars. Very annoying. Basically, carbohydrates = sugars + fiber. As long as you aren't going over in carbohydrates and are hitting your target for fiber, your sugar counts will take care of itself.

    By the way, don't feel the need to be perfect at the start. Log everything you eat. Over time, you'll start to see trends emerge that show you how you can change your habits to be healthier. For example, logging showed me that I was eating way too much starch in the form of bread, pasta, and rice. Now I know to eat much smaller portions of those.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    For those who were wondering, I'm 5'8" and weigh 362lbs. According to the sites BMR I should be eating 2597 calories per day. That just seems like a hell of a lot. Most people here seem to think I eat too little, and a few other people have told me the same thing, so perhaps I should up my calorie intake? Should I go all the way to the 2597 or somewhere below that? I'm currently trying to lose about 2 lbs a week so I should be eating 2200. Is 2000 too low?

    If your goal to lose 2 lbs a week is 2200 calories, that should be your net calories. Net meaning, if you workout and burn 300 calories, than you should eat 2500. If MFP is estimating the exercise calories, eat 50% of them back just in case it's over estimating. And 2600 calories isn't too crazy. I am 193 lbs, 30 yr old and 5'11" and my cut phase has me around 2500-2700 calories and I maintain at a little over 3000 calories. And that is with a desk job and working out 45-60 minutes a day for 6 days a week.
  • Sheakat
    Sheakat Posts: 29 Member
    Keep up the good work! It is DISCOURAGING
  • Sheakat
    Sheakat Posts: 29 Member
    Sorry about hitting the post button too soon. I, too was working out like a b@#!#+ for 2 weeks, and didn't lose an ounce. Now, it's starting to come off. I don't have alot of weight to lose, about 20 pounds, but it took a while for it to start to work.
    I made a commitment to make better choices with food and exercise and after 6 weeks, I'm down almost 10 pounds. Keep it up, it will come!
  • Jus_Drea
    Jus_Drea Posts: 3
    Can you add me? I would like to read 10 reasons I'm not loosing weight
  • JefferyMartin
    JefferyMartin Posts: 42 Member
    Hi,

    You have to look at everything in your life. How much food you consume, process foods, stress level, and exercising. Add me if you like I can help out a lot.
  • nczuczu
    nczuczu Posts: 611 Member
    Ok. I ate close to 2000 today (MFP says to eat 2200). I also burned 490 (roughly) calories today via walking. Does that seem alright? Should I eat more? I don't want to eat more today because I'm over on sugars and don't really have anything sugar free. This will help me plan my meals for the next week, though.

    I am happy you started eating more. I can't even imagine that your body was functioning very well at 1200 calories. You are not suppose to starve yourself. I would stay stick with the 2000 calories if it feels good for you. You can increase/decrease as you go along. You will have to figure out what works best for you and your body.

    It may be helpful if you open up your diary. That way we can see what you are eating and better help you figure out what to change. If you are eating fruits, they contain sugars, but you should be eating these (in moderation of course). Food that is Sugar Free, doesn't necessarily mean healthy. As others have stated, eat more protein, whole grains and fruits/veggies.

    You can do this!!!
  • stephfranke
    stephfranke Posts: 84 Member
    hello and congrats for taking an important step in changing your lifestyle!! I found that when i started, the scale barely moved for almost 8 weeks. So don't lose heart, once it starts moving it will go. I find my pattern is lose 4 lbs, gain 2, lose 4 gain 2... a zig zag.. .but I look at the overall, and am down and heading in the right direction! Keep up the fight.

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