Wanting to lose 80-100 lbs..Needing help and advice please!!

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ahutchison19
ahutchison19 Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
What should my net be in the diary? I eat about 1,200 or under a day and work out, but my net has only been 173- at the lowest. Is that number suppose to be negative because you are suppose to burn more than you take in??
I have been on here for 2 weeks now, well I signed up before but then never did anything with it because I found I was pregnant..Now I am back and ready to lose pregnancy weight x2 plus some. I have lost 7 lbs but I want to make sure I am at the right levels to get the best results. Any tips or support would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

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  • ozonenrhia1
    ozonenrhia1 Posts: 34
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    Hi, If you are loosing and feel great I would think you are on the right path:) Me just loosing inches lol..I am on my second week and have lost one pound, 3 inches off my hips, 1 off my waist, 1 off my thighs lol.. I have to be the cool kid to loose inches first lmao! :)
  • deevatude
    deevatude Posts: 322 Member
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    ur net should never be a negative number

    ur net should be 1200
  • catinohio
    catinohio Posts: 82 Member
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    If you're referring to the Net when you run a Report, I've found it to be really quirky. It has something to do with how it calculates exercise. It totally confused me when I started; now I rarely, if ever, check Reports.
    The most helpful thing for me is the "Complete this Entry" feature, which estimates what you'd weigh if your daily calorie intake & exercise were the same for 5 weeks. If it shows a weight lower than my current weight (especially if it's 5 lbs lower), I know I'm on track.
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
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    I net 1500-2200 cals per day.
  • whitecapwendy
    whitecapwendy Posts: 287 Member
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    Keep in mind that you need at least 1200 calories and probably much more just to survive (for your heart to beat, and all your body's organs to work). You need to make sure you eat at least 1200 calories and eat back some of your exercise calories. If you are making wise choices as far as food--lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, and avoiding a lot of processed foods. and if you are moving (exercising as you are able) and drinking a lot of water (some say you should drink half your body weight in ounces of water), you will lose weight.
  • hjkcollins
    hjkcollins Posts: 20
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    If you are eating less than 1,200 calories and working out you are not eating enough, what happens is you're putting your boy into starvation mode and it stores the fat. My first two years of my journey, I ate 1300-1400 calories per day and the last year doing beachbody planned programs such as p90x and insanity to name a few it recommends 1800 calories for me to get maximum results of toning. Having a goal of 80-100 lbs is doable but slow and steady wins the race, it took me 2 years to loss 115 lbs and then last year has been toning and maintaining.

    If you are in need of support and motivation and have a facebook page friend request me https://www.facebook.com/heidi.collins.39?ref=tn_tnmn

    Keep up the great work, its a lifestyle change!

    Heidi
  • ahutchison19
    ahutchison19 Posts: 10
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    Thank you guys for the help!!
  • 20kb13
    20kb13 Posts: 161
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    You should probably be eating more than 1200 calories (I'd suggest setting your goal to lose 1-1.5 lbs a week instead of the 2lbs a week) and if you aren't eating enough or if you are exercising a lot but not eating more than weight loss will be really slow.

    I don't always eat the exercise calories. I try to get as close to possible as my daily calorie goal without the exercise calories. But I have noticed that on weeks where I eat some of those extra calories 1-2 days of the week I lose more weight.

    I think it takes some time to play around with the goals, how many calories to eat, eating those exercise calories, etc. to figure out what works best for you. Good luck with your journey and feel free to add me if you need support and motivation.
  • RoosMommy01
    RoosMommy01 Posts: 88
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    My best advice is to do what works best for you. Play around with the numbers. You will get TONS of different answers from this website. People tell you what works for them, or what they have heard from this website but it may not be true for your body.

    I hit a plateau a few months back at 1600 calories and I was working out (walking mainly for about 30-45 minutes a day) and everyone told me I wasn't eating enough. I joined that group on here called "Eat more to weigh less"..followed that for about a month and a half and was gaining like a mad woman. Everyone I spoke to told me to eat 1800-2000 cals a day. I was gaining weight on the scale AND in my measurements...so that obvisiously wasn't working for me. I am currently at 1500 and working out Sunday-Thursday about an hour a day doing cardio and strength training and it is steadily coming off.

    The other big debate on here is whether to eat exercise calories back. I personally don't...if I'm hungry I eat, if I'm not then I'm not going to sit around and shove food in my mouth because I have to reach a certain number. I do NOT think you will go into starvation mode in a few days of low cal days. I think it's important to listen to your body. When I was eating 1800-2000 cals I was MISERABLE!! I didn't feel like moving much less exercising!

    I'd love to support you on your journey so feel free to add me if you want. :smile:
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    When I first started on MFP in June of 2011, I was friends with several people who also had a lot of weight to lose.

    I, for the most part, ate 1700+ a day. As I lost weight, I INCREASED my calories manually. I never, ever went below 1500, and I was only at 1500 for a short time before I realized it was ridiculous. My net most of the time was 1000-1500 a day; this is when I was obese. As I lost weight, I ate more. I aimed to net at least my BMR. (you can calculate yours here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html)

    Two other friends kept decreasing their calories as they lost weight. They were eventually eating 1200 or fewer a day - well below their BMR.

    Both of them lost weight quickly. I was jealous at times.

    But it turns out it's not a race. I'm still here. I lost 137 pounds. I've been maintaining it for 6 months so far. I feel healthy and have loads of energy. I like how my body looks. I like how strong I am and how fantastic my endurance isf. My metabolism is strong - my TDEE is around 2500-2600. I did not starve to get here, and I do not need to starve to maintain here.

    So, this is my advice:

    Go here and calculate your TDEE: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    Subtract 750 from that number (you have a lot to lose, so a larger deficit is okay at the beginning). That is your calorie goal. There is no need to eat exercise calories because you have already included them in your TDEE calculation (of course, if you have a highly active day, eat to your satiety levels).

    Re-calculate if you change your activity level significantly. As you get closer to your goal, drop your deficit to 500. Then 250.

    It is my experience that if you continue to net such a low amount of calories, you will eventually burn out on this. You will be exhausted and hungry and give up.

    Losing weight does not have to be painful, and you definitely don't have to be hungry. My goal this whole time was to eat as much as possible while still losing weight. It was only a liiiiiiiiiittle uncomfortable. I certainly made sacrifices (sorry, gas station donuts at work, you're not worth it) but I also enjoyed my life along the way (dinners out, cake at birthdays, etc).

    Lots of tips and introspection on my weight loss on my blog if you're interested: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ShannonMpls

    Best of luck :) You can do this!

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