High expectations Good? Bad?

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brettferreira
brettferreira Posts: 6
in Motivation and Support
Hi how is everyone doing. I started my journey on march 5th 2013 at 6ft and an unknown weight. Around march 19 after two weeks of 1500 calorie diet and 45 minutes of walking a day i weighed myself in at 399. I continued strong and weighed in a month later on april 15th at 389 lbs. Also i must ad i stepped up from 45 minutes of walking and added a nightly 15 minute run/walk( run until i'm out of breath walk to catch up rinse and repeat) about half way into the month. Before this i didn't moved much during the day and ate roughly 4000+ calories a day so this routine at my size and sedentary lifestyle should be a decent start so i thought. I feel as if 10 lbs is a bit low for my first month. When i was about 23 i lost about 50 lbs from doing an atkins diet and walking about an hour a day in about 2 months. Did i maybe lose a good amount of weight in the first unrecorded two weeks? I know i didnt lose 30 lbs but right now i feel like i should have lost maybe 20 so far. after weighing in i've been eating horribly mostly because i haven't been food shopping in a while and when i eat anything i see as unhealthy i just say the heck with it and eat whatever i want. I still do my daily exercises and am going food shopping tomorrow. I eat two meals of steamed chicken and 2 servings of white rice each meal. A little advice would be much appreciated. Thank you

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  • Textmessage
    Textmessage Posts: 387 Member
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    I'd say don't obsess over what could've and should've happened before you actually weighed in. I pretty much did the same thing when I first started (not weighing my initial weight until a month in), but I realized there's no point fretting over my progress up to that point.

    If you're committed, everything will continue to fall into place. Now that you have a number in place as a starting point, go from there.
  • mermaidtongue
    mermaidtongue Posts: 3
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    Don't let arbitrary measurements like weight readings on a scale get you down. What it boils down to, really, is health. You know if you're being healthier and you know if you're not... Just keep focussing on being healthy & don't be too restrictive. Since you started off eating roughly 4000 calories, I think you can comfortably cut it down to around the 2000 mark (1500 seems a bit low tbh) and still lose weight around the same pace. Try not to obsess about numbers. Instead focus on eating healthy, whole foods and the weight will just drop off. Also sometimes there's a period of plateaus but don't let those discourage you. Just keep 'plugging along'. :) I know, easier said than done. :')
  • brettferreira
    brettferreira Posts: 6
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    I would say i'm committed at this point. I just really want to know where i'm going wrong so i can fix it and begin to drop the weight like a lot of other heavy starters. I see a lot of 300 lb people doing what i do and lose 15 lbs a month. My first few months should be the bigger numbers. Thanks for your replies and congrats on the loss.
  • brettferreira
    brettferreira Posts: 6
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    Yea mermaid i was thinking about going to 2000 a day because some days i feel like i have no energy. And i think you're right about the whole numbers thing. This is going to have to last my whole life and i can't seem to stop looking at it like a diet or quick fix. I think i just get excited when doing the right thing.
  • KhinoHoang
    KhinoHoang Posts: 59
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    Do NOT compare yourself with other people. As long as you are trying to be better than you were yesterday, you are going to get there.

    But if you think you can do better, for yourself, then push yourself harder. If you were used to eating 4000, I would slowly decrease your caloric intake and increase your workout activity a little bit each day/week/month or something to that effect.

    Otherwise, if you want to go hard, then wake up take a preworkout, and do a fasted workout before you start your day and control your cals from there.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    1500 a day is nowhere enough if you're walking 45 minutes every day and are over 300lbs.

    What does MFP tell you to eat if you want to lose 1lb a week? Do that. And maybe don't eat back your exercise calories (guessing around 300 calories a day), but eat at least what MFP is telling you to eat.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    I'm guessing the 50 pounds you lost before on Atkins came back when you stopped, right? That's what usually happens when you go to an extreme, drop the pounds quickly, and then stop the diet.

    I agree that you might not be eating enough. Dropping from 4000 cal to 1500 is probably a shock to your body, let alone adding in the exercise. Remember, you don't have to eat the whole elephant at once, one step at a time :wink: Kudos on increasing your exercise intensity as you go - that is an important component.

    10 pounds in a month is actually quite good. Most experts (and even the MFP system) suggest losing 1-2 pounds a week for healthy, lasting weight loss. 10 pounds a month is just over that (and that's okay, IMO, considering your starting point). You didn't put 30 pounds on in a month, I'm betting, so why expect to take it off in a month? Slow and steady (and sustainable) is the way to go.
  • Gabrielm80
    Gabrielm80 Posts: 1,458 Member
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    Just think do you want to be guarenteed to weigh 80 pounds less with in in 6 months or a guarantee to be in great shape the rest of your life. Baby steps. Your body will fight you if you crash diet, it will think your starving and start adding fat even when your eating decent. The goal here by what I am reading is to ease your body into the weight loss so it doesn't work against you. I was fat in middle school and got fit in high school by not dieting but pushing my body burning calories. I pushed my body and gradually had a tight body until my wife had kids and I put old habits back. I weigh a lot for my height and I would love to drop the 10 pounds a week I know I could if I crash dieted, but that never works for anyone in the long run. Don't go out and eat all the greasy burgers you want, but don't deny yourself food in the name of weight loss. Pick good choices that will help your heart out but ease into the lifestyle. You are on the right path. I hope I helped. I am new to this system too but it feels familiar to what I did in high school. Eat complex carb, cut simple carb, eat protein cut down on beef, and make sure you have enough nutrients every day. I personal feel its more important to balance you body nutrient over anything else. Make those you goal over starving yourself. Best of luck
  • brettferreira
    brettferreira Posts: 6
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    Yea i am going to have to get over the weigh ins because this is going to be a life long thing. Everyone seems to be saying its not the numbers but consistency. Thank you and everyone for your replies.
  • JessHealthKick
    JessHealthKick Posts: 800 Member
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    I weight only every few weeks, and make how I feel and my eating habits the most important thing.

    Set very low goals - so then if you don't achieve them such as 'eating at least one serve of fresh vegetables every day and losing 5-10lb in a month' you can say 'well, that was slack. I should do better!). If you make a goal of 'don't eat any chocolate all month and lose 20lbs' when you don't achieve it, you'll just justify it as 'well, the goal was so hard anyway, never would have reached it'

    My 2 cents :)

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