Help with some questions and a plan

AmberCarr
AmberCarr Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay I am starting up my lifestyle change. Been going strong for 7 days now, I know not long but I had to start! I am trying to loose at least fifty pounds. I would like to shoot for 2 pounds a week to start with. I have looked on several different sites and the BMR calculator seems to be different at each site, how do you know which is right? MFP had me at 1250 cals if I want to loose 2 pounds a week. I put in a goal of 1500 cals and have been slightly under that every day including my exercise.

I started incline training every day for 25-30 mins. I have an incline trainer that has iFit and I have the Julian Michaels loose weight for beginers on M,W,F, usually I do that workout twice a day. I have another program with Elizabeth Hasselbeck and I do that on T,TH,SU.

I have dumbells and was going to start doing some upper body lifting to help build muscle. I started with 10# and will need to stick with this for a few weeks. I did chest press, butterfly, shoulder lifts, and bicep curls. 3sets each of 12-20 reps depending on how I felt. I think I will do this 3 times a week on my Hasselbeck days.

So my questions are...........What should my calorie intake be? 35 female, 195, 5'4" I don't know which calculator to use, I know I need to have a 7000 cal week deficit but what do I start with and take that from?

Is this enough exercise for me to see any change? My heart rate is usually up, I sweat pretty good. Do I need to run on the flat too? I just want to loose fat, and change how my body looks!

If you have any suggestions on how to best accomplish my goals please feel free to post up.

Replies

  • michelle7673
    michelle7673 Posts: 370 Member
    Amber:
    Good for you in making a big change!!
    I started in mid-February (well, I actually started in January but didn't weigh myself til mid-Feb) with a target of 44 pound loss, and I'm 45. I've lost over half of that weight in 4.5 months. So the best thing I can tell you is that patience and consistency are key!
    The incline trainer is great -- I LOVE mine and use it a lot. But keep in mind that losing weight is at least 80% about what you eat. Are you doing 2-3 workouts a day? I think an hour a day is plenty, honestly, and building good sustainable habits is really what you want to focus on.
    If you feel comfortable at 1500, you could stick with that and try it for a month. Are you eating back exercise calories?
  • holly1283
    holly1283 Posts: 741 Member
    Yor questions are valid. My suggestion is pick one of those calorie defifcit amounts and stick to it. If you pick 20 different sites you might have 20 different levels. I just stuck with the MFP allotment. At first I did lose 2lbs. per week average. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Weight loss for each individual is different. I had about 100# to lose and now I kind of fell off the food wagon. My exercise is good. The more weight you have to lose the faster it tends to come off. Is your 50# from a doctor or dietician or just what you want? Make sure your expectations are realistic. From what you wrote you should be able to lose weight. Don't get discouraged if it isn't as fast as the 2lbs. per week. Any loss is a step in the right direction
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
    With the amount of exercise you're doing I would shoot for eating 1800-2000 calories a day (that includes exercise calories). I am 5'5", starting weight 217 and I've lost 48 pounds eating around 1800. I work out (cardio and strength) 5-6 days a week for about 45 minutes each day and do something active like biking or walking on the 7th day. I lost 1.5-2 pounds a week in the beginning and now average closer to 1 pound a week (I only want to lose another 20 ish pounds).
  • AmberCarr
    AmberCarr Posts: 21 Member
    I do at least 25 mins of incline training 6 days a week. I am using the beginner programs and they are good for now, like I said, my heart rate is up and I am sweating. On M,W,F I usually do my workout and either repeat it right away or wait till later in the day depending on what I am doing that day. I repeat that workout mostly because I feel the calorie burn was to low for me that time. I have tried to do the intermediate level programs but I am not in proper shape to do that yet. I will eventually move to the next level but I have to start at beginner, it bums me out because I feel I should be in better shape but I let myself get out of shape!

    I do eat back my exercise calories. Also I use my heart rate monitor on my incline trainer to keep track of that as well.
  • AmberCarr
    AmberCarr Posts: 21 Member
    I am also wondering if my "workouts" are enough. The programs say that they burn 170-330 depending on what program I have done that time, How does it know how many calories I burn? I know this is a generic number but will the amount of calories a person burns with these programs differ as they get in better fitness? I am complete out of fitness so would I burn more calories right now?
    At what point will I need to increase my workout?
    Like I said, the programs are from 25-30 mins each. on these calculators it asks about how often you work out, what are they considering a workout? Are they talking an hour long heart rate elevated type workout or like mine, 25-30 mins with HR up about 22-27 mins? It seems to me like the workouts might not be enough, like I should be doing at least an hour on them.

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