so my low cal diet won't work to lose 50 pounds?

eventually you'll hit a plateau and then struggle to get the weight off eating so little. it's 2:00 EST for me and i've already consumed 1,000 calories. feel free to check out my diary (i believe it's open). today i "splurged" and had a dunkin donuts plain bagel that i dipped into my garlic hummus that had a tablespoon of garlic infused extra virgin olive oil in it. sooooooo good!

i plan on running this evening before dinner then eating back those calories.

i hope your plan works out for you and you keep the weight off for years to come.

I have my calories set to what MFP suggest, but I keep hearing and have read about the TDEE - 20% I had a personal trainer/nutritionist tell me to use the MFP calories. I am scared to bump the calories to the TDEE -20% MFP has me at 1250, it was 1350, but since I lost 15 lbs, it took me down to 1250. It is hard to know what to do, becuase different people say diffenernt things.

OK - you told MFP "I want to lose XX pounds per week" when you signed up ...... TDEE doesn't work that way..... it just says take off 20% .... maybe that's 2 pounds maybe that's 1.5 pounds

MFP does not give you credit for exercise UNTIL you log it. The deficit is built into MFP BEFORE exercise. When you add exercise back .... it should be closer to TDEE which INCLUDES exercise.

Bumping up to 1350 is only 700 extra calories a week ..... this is very small when compared to 3500 (calories for a pound).

Also, why would you want to be 190, unless you are six feet tall?

Why not? If she feels good in her own skin at that weight, I don't see the problem. Not everybody wants to be stick thin...

Average body fat for women is between 25% and 31%. To maximize health, one should target the 25% range. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage

The average American woman is 5' 4"
At that height, 190 is 32.68 - which is obese

At 5' 6", 190 is 30.73% - Minimum acceptable
At 6'1", 190 is 25% - Maximum health benefits from losing fat.

Those numbers are completely meaningless. You cannot determine body fat using height and weight alone.

You're actually computing BMI, not BF%. BF% and BMI are totally different things.

You are losing weight. Probably a combination of lean muscle, fat and bone density. If you lost at a lower rate while eating a healthy number of calories, you would lose more fat and less muscle. If you did weight training at the same time, you would lose mostly fat, almost no lean muscle and no bone density. It's really up to you what "weight" you want to lose.

All this being to say: MFP isn't about trying to eat the fewest possible number of calories. It's about learning to eat at a healthy level for your body - not too much and not too little. Here are some ideas for adding healthy calories, since you say you are struggling with this:

Chicken with the skin
Steak
Cheese
Whole eggs (including deviled eggs, egg salad)


what she said
Full fat dairy (including cottage cheese, yogurt)
Fruit,
Peanut butter or other nut butters
Nuts
Avocado
Dried fruit (raisins, apricots, apples)
Brown rice
Dark chocolate
Salmon
Add Chia seeds to salads or yogurt
Olive oil
Smoothies
Granola/sports nutrition bars
Whole grains or whole grain products

No advice or "bashing" from me but I will say this...

...MFP has led me to learn about and from my body, I fight the urge to do a crazy fad, quick loss way of weight loss almost every week but I have done this before and it is not sustainable. This is the longest I have ever stuck at a weight loss journey and I know that my body needs to go slow in order to sustain.

Your body may start to tell you how it feels about 900cal a day quite soon, listen to it. Fight the urge for the quick fix and you will succeed.

Good luck.

And FYI I eat 1450ish per day and 20lbs down.

^^THIS!!!

More calories does not mean you are going to gain the weight back UNLESS you are eating more processed food and junk.

I started out at 184 lbs in Aug 2011. Yesterday I weighed in at 139.2...... 44 lbs, My goal was 150 lbs. Sure it took me a little over a year and a half, and I did it all by making healthy food choices and eating between 1300 and 1500 calories a day (up to 1750 now). I choose to eat foods that were better for me..... I chose to eat foods that were lower in calories but that I could have MORE of to help keep me full ( half a cup egg white scramble with tons of veggies). You will most likely gain your weight backing eating as you are now. Do not be scared of calories! Just choose your calories wisely. think of them as money..... you have 1200 cals a day (at min), be careful what you spend those cals on.

I hope you see that what you are doing is SO SO SO unhealthy and in the long run, will cause harm...... Please start eating more, you won't regret it and you will feel amazing.... especially when you reach your goal and you are able to keep the weight off!

I was very discouraged by a friend on my list. We both had the same amount of weight to lose - 100+ pounds. We started on the same day. I decided to go with the road map and she kept doing her less than 1200 cals a day. She lost about 3 pounds every week and every body was cheering her on. I was determined to lift heavy and eat healthy. I was jealous of her losing so fast.

Flash forward one year. I am down 74 pounds, I can deadlift 110 pounds & doing Stronglifts, I am running for 32 minutes straight, I am healthy. My hair is thick and shiny. I pay attention to my macros. My friend is about 10 pounds from her goal. She posted the other day that she has serious vitamin D deficiencies, has a lot of loose skin and her hair is falling out.

It may take me another year to lose all my weight, but I will do it. You can too. There are lots of ways to go about it. The key is whether you want to be healthy at the end or not.

Good luck in your decision. :flowerforyou:

I have a difficult time believing there are actual doctors monitoring your friends and they will likely regain their weight because they are not learning how to eat for a healthier life style. They are learning how to crash diet.

This sounds a lot like the prep for bariatric surgery.

Almost certain she is talking about the Medical Weight Loss Clinics, or something of their equal. NONE of which have a doctors name associated with a location. It actually states you are supervised by a highly trained staff. I had a friend that worked for about the equivalent of one of these places, she was not a doctor, but she was the one setting up the meals plans and diet supplements etc. The only doctor sponsored weight loss I can find is through local hospitals, including bariatric doctors.

I should be eating 1700 calories according to the 'in place of a road map' thread.

i've been eating about 900 calories a day.

my plan is to stay on 900

Really?

Think about this for a second.

You didn't get to 250 pounds because you're so darn smart about food. You don't become obese because you make good decisions about nutrition. Right?

So, you went and read a thread full of fantastic info and direction about weight loss because you're 250 pounds and want to lose weight. So what do you do? Throw all that advice and information out the window.

Really?

Yup, she went from 251 to 236 in 2.5 weeks on the Roadmap. That's 15 lbs in 2.5 weeks, or 6 lbs/week. That's pretty dang good. At that rate (assuming a completely linear loss), she could lose 50 lbs in a little over 8 weeks, or just about two months.

How that is not fast enough, I don't know, but while eating 900 calories/day instead of 1700 may get her there a bit faster, the long-term outlook is not nearly as good. Her body might resist going past a certain point, whereas at 1700, she can probably continue to lose assuming she has more to lose from there.

Imagine how much faster she could lose eating 400 calories!

i did that, i used to eat one meal a day, i would go to work with no breakfast, drink a bottle of coke in my lunch break or rice cakes with cheese, i would come home and have a plate of pasta with soup, or mushy peas and thats all i would eat all day. other days i might of had a packet of noodles for lunch, sometimes i had jacket potato cheese and beans, or tinned pasta meals. anyway if i was to work that out now i was probably only having bout 800 calories a day.i never exercised, the only exercise i did was going to work, i lost 3 stones in less then 3 months, i was always tired, i got very depressed and unstable, i then met my husband and started to eat proper meals i put on so much weight because my body wasn't used to that kind of food but i was happier. i put on 5 stone in 10 years and i'm paying for it now, i'm trying again but this time i am monitoring my food properly and exercising to tone my body, i have lost 16 pound in 6 weeks, i am the happiest i have ever been and i have so much energy. please don't go the same way i did i felt i was nearly on the verge of an eating disorder and it was scary, the reason i put on the weight was because i lost it too quick. one time during my diet i was so hungry i ate 10 fake mars bars and lost half a stone. please listen to your fellow mfp people and control your diet sensibly, the reccomended calorie intake will help you and teach you about nutrition along the way, also exercise will make you feel stronger willed. good luck on your weight loss, we all have your best interests at heart. sorry bout the essay lol :flowerforyou:

i did that, i used to eat one meal a day, i would go to work with no breakfast, drink a bottle of coke in my lunch break or rice cakes with cheese, i would come home and have a plate of pasta with soup, or mushy peas and thats all i would eat all day. other days i might of had a packet of noodles for lunch, sometimes i had jacket potato cheese and beans, or tinned pasta meals. anyway if i was to work that out now i was probably only having bout 800 calories a day.i never exercised, the only exercise i did was going to work, i lost 3 stones in less then 3 months, i was always tired, i got very depressed and unstable, i then met my husband and started to eat proper meals i put on so much weight because my body wasn't used to that kind of food but i was happier. i put on 5 stone in 10 years and i'm paying for it now, i'm trying again but this time i am monitoring my food properly and exercising to tone my body, i have lost 16 pound in 6 weeks, i am the happiest i have ever been and i have so much energy. please don't go the same way i did i felt i was nearly on the verge of an eating disorder and it was scary, the reason i put on the weight was because i lost it too quick. one time during my diet i was so hungry i ate 10 fake mars bars and lost half a stone. please listen to your fellow mfp people and control your diet sensibly, the reccomended calorie intake will help you and teach you about nutrition along the way, also exercise will make you feel stronger willed. good luck on your weight loss, we all have your best interests at heart. sorry bout the essay lol :flowerforyou:

Awesome for you!!! Glad to hear you didn't get back to your old ways!

A couple friends used to weight about as much as me. They signed up with a medical weight loss clinic. One has lost 40 pounds in the last two months. She eats about 900 calories a day, she's still losing. The other has hit a plateau at about 180. They don't eat sugar or salt, all protein, carb and veg. I don't eat the same thing as them.

If I could quickly get down to 180 it would be easier to focus on the best way to lose for long term health.

Could I get information instead of just bashing?

Look, if you're not willing to put in the time to do it correctly, then why even bother? Why jump in and crash diet to begin with and then try to learn the way to do it right? So, you may lose more slowly, but you will still lose.... and you'll learn how to keep it off in the process. I don't see why this is so difficult to understand.

YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO BE PATIENT. It's not bashing, it's logic.

I weighed 251 2.5 weeks ago. I'm down to 236. I should be eating 1700 calories according to the 'in place of a road map' thread. I did all the calculators.
i've been eating about 900 calories a day. Its easy for me to do and i'm losing a lot of weight. i don't think i'm capable of eating 1700 calories. I can either eat a lot of calories (like 2600) or very little.

my plan is to stay on 900 a week until I stop losing weight and then start adding 100 calories a week back. I think ill plateau around 180 pounds and probably gain back like 10 pounds while my metabolism goes up when I add back calories

As someone else already said: You didn't gain that weight by eating only 900 calories your entire life! But now, 1700 calories are too much for you?... buhuuuuuuuu!!

Are you aware how much calories it takes to actually get to over 200 pounds???

What's with thew attitude: I can only eat too little (900) or to much (2600 calories)???

Your plan is WRONG! Period.

People don't choose between winning a Nobel prize and not having a job. they choose something in between! I suppose you are a candidate for a Nobel prize then, since you only aim for one opposite?

Be realistic, eat less then 2000 calories, and there won't be that "planned" 10 pound gain you mention. You'll just lose weight. Simple as you gained it!

If I could quickly get down to 180 it would be easier to focus on the best way to lose for long term health.

Could I get information instead of just bashing?

In what way would a crazy crash diet make it "easier to focus on the best way to lose for long term health"?

That doesn't make any sense.

Carrying out your plan is a bad idea and you know it. Did you expect something other than bashing by posting a plan you know well and good is horrible?

OP posts: "So my low cal diet won't work?"
OP hopes to get: "No, it's fine! Lose 50 pounds through malnutrition and crash dieting now. Worry about silly things like health and long term success later. What you need now is a crazy plan you know is wrong."
OP gets: "Uh, no, it won't work and you know it."
OP responds: "Can I just get information instead of bashing?"

Hmmm.. your normally a bit more cordial in your responses... not enough Poptarts today, I guess. I love that you kinda assume that the OP just wants to her own advice.

I'm generally more "cordial" to people who don't straight-up say that they know what they are doing is wrong but they're going to do it anyway, then post several more times in the thread complaining about the response they're getting.

dafuq i just read?

What are you losing 50 pounds of with this methodology, I ask?