It Feels Like Cheating

Riannea20
Riannea20 Posts: 4
edited January 28 in Motivation and Support
Oke, so this is probably going to sound very weird. But it's been bothering me for days now, and I need a second, third and possibly fourth opinion.

I'm 20 years old and currently I weigh 273 lbs. Which is like... a lot. And ever since I can remember I've been overweighted. Not always as extreme as I am now, but I've always been fat. I've been dieting since I was 14, and every diet I ever tried told me that I should eat less. Because eating less equals losing weight. Now I'm older I'm able to understand it doesn't work that way, what you eat is more important than how much you eat. But even though in theory I understand this, somewhere inside my mind a little voice is telling me that I should eat as little as possible. And that what I'm doing now isn't going to get me anywhere.

For example: Right now in my profile is set to a light active lifestyle. Which is true because this week we started exercising about three times a week. This means I have to eat 1600 calories a day! And everybody tells me, that after I've excercised I should eat back the calories that I burned...

With this I have two problems:
1. I feel like I'm eating to much, 1600 calories is a lot and to me it just seems like I'll never lose weight that way.
2. I still don't know what exactly I should log as excercise, like when I walk to the store which is twenty minutes should I log that or shouldn't I? And like today I cleaned our house, or parts of it anyway, and when I clean, I'm ruthless. I pretty much try to kill the dirt and dust. So I'm really tired and sweaty now (well not sweaty anymore I did take a shower first) Anyways I cleaned for 2 hours straight and I got curious and looked it up ont the site, and it turns out that cleaning is actually saved as an excercise! So should I like log it? Because to me that feels like cheating because well it's cleaning, it's not a sport or anything.

So long story short, I'm really confused and worried that I'm doing this all wrong. Does anybody else ever feel that way? And do any of you have tips for me?

Rianne

Replies

  • Lalasharni
    Lalasharni Posts: 353 Member
    Firstly, yes - log every exercise that you do, it will motivate you.
    As far as "eating back" calories, then if you've really worked out, then eat back, but eat clean healthy calories - you need to refuel your body. Junk food and cookies should be avoided here LOL!!
    You say that you dont believe it will work? Try for a month and see the results. As long as you log honestly, and maintain your exercise, it will work. Its working for me.
    Good luck.
  • cappri
    cappri Posts: 1,089 Member
    At 273 pounds 1600 calories is not a lot, in fact it is probably a very large deficit from how much you were eating. As for what to log as exercise I would log the walk, but not the cleaning, but that is just me. You will have to experiment with eating back exercise calories to find what works best for you.
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
    Hi Rianne, congratulations for getting started on your weight loss journey and trying to do it in a sane, healthy, sustainable way. It can be daunting when you're looking at where you are versus where you want to get to and wondering how on earth you're going to get there, but it is possible.

    As Lalasharni said, it's good to log what you're doing, particularly as you get started. Not only does it help motivate you, but it can be useful for a baseline in assessing how active you really are as opposed to how active you think you are. If you're at 1600 calories a day, I'd definitely consider eating back your exercise calories. Be careful you're not eating too little.

    I'm about 90 lbs lighter than you and clock in an average of around 1830/day, so keep an eye on your progress and if you find that you're not getting anywhere, consider calculating your RMR and TDEE (calculators can be found here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/rmr-calculator.html (RMR) and http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html (TDEE)) Once you have those numbers, try setting your calories around TDEE -20% (i.e. if your TDEE worked out to 3000, 20% of that would be 600, so your calorie goal would be 3000 - 600= 2400 cal/day)

    Just some food for thought.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    I bet if you would have logged for a week before you started you would find that you were eating around 2400 calories (or more per day). This is WAY WAY WAY MORE then 1600... Did you log before you started? Have you any idea how much you were actually eating? This is where people get messed up with 'eat more' because it does NOT mean eat more than you were eating before you started.. it means eat enough to fuel your body and have a reasonable deficit.

    So thinking that you will not lose weight on LESS than 2400 calories is incorrect. You can easily eat 1600 and MOST of your exercise calories and lose weight at a healthy and sustainable rate. You only need to eat a LITTLE less than what you were eating before and you WILL lose weight. As you lose then you keep subtracting a LITTLE (about 100 calories every 10-20 lbs) and you will keep losing weight.

    Weight loss is EASY.. You eat a LITTLE less than what you need to maintain your weight. It's 90% diet, portion control is your friend when you first start out. Just get used to logging everything, get a food scale as soon as you are able and start weighing your portions - It will amaze you, things that you 'think' are 1 portion are more like 2 or 3 but once you get used to what it looks like things will get easier.

    There are some things you probably should get familiar with that should help you understand what's happening and why you should eat your exercise calories (at least most of them). Start reading below.. ask questions if you need to - we all start somewhere ;)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?page=7
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    As far as WHAT you are logging for exercise that will be anything OVER your workouts - I found it far easier to set myself sedentary and log EVERYTHING extra - that's what I do now and have been doing for quite a while. Also, be aware that if you choose '2 lbs per week' for your rate of weight loss MFP will give you the absolute bare minimum calories that it can (in this case 1200) that is not derived from ANY scientific formula or anything.. You will eventually want to look at things like BMR and TDEE (in the articles above) and possibly re-set yourself to 1 lbs / week or better yet a custom goal..but for now, following MFP is fine and has worked for lots of people.

    Don't be scared to log your walks to the store and eat those calories... The worst thing you can do is actually UNDER-eat..it will slow you down like nothing else. Just keep it in your mind... you are NOT eating A LOT..You are eating less than what you did to maintain your 273lbs, you are giving your body enough fuel to function during your working out - you will lose weight ;)
  • Riannea20
    Riannea20 Posts: 4
    Thank you so much for your help and reactions :D I feel much better now. I'll certainly take all your advice. Do some extra reading and make sure I don't eat too little.

    Rianne
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