Couple questions about exercising and snacking

ceredonia
ceredonia Posts: 61
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all! Newbie here. :) I started about 2 weeks ago, I was recommended this site through a friend. I have a goal to lose about 30 lbs, give or take (depends on how I'm looking, 30 may be too much, I'm already "skinny" but am tired of my stomach/thigh fat), before next summer, so I have plenty of time. I'm not really trying to lose weight exclusively to "look better," but more "feel better" about myself and increase my health, along with changing my lifestyle. I've completely dropped soda (NOT EASY for me!!), nearly dropped all chocolate/sugar snacks (considering I'm surrounded by them at work, this was a near impossible feat and I slip once in a while) and am drinking way more water than I ever have before (also not easy!).

My general set-up is: going to the gym 3-5x/week (started out 3x, trying for 5x) and running a mile on a treadmill, and a mile on the elliptical during each visit. Some days I only do a .5 mile on one or the other. I'm also in a kick-boxing class at the gym, and am looking into trying Zumba, which I could do once a week if I like it (going to try it next week, keep getting too busy to go).

I'm supposed to be sticking to 1200 calories a day, but I'm finding that very hard to not go over by 100-200. I'm a notoriously picky eater, and NEVER eat healthy. I've only just started to appreciate salads, but not even fancy ones--just lettuce and some carrots once in awhile. The only fruit I eat are bananas and apples, which is rarely anyway, so I was hoping for some recommendations on stuff to try to branch out on. I really need to expand my pallet. D:

Basically, I was just wondering a couple things:
1) Is exercising like I am (treadmill/elliptical on a regular basis) enough cardio to effectively burn some fat/calories? Each takes me about 20-30 minutes to do a mile. I try to throw in some weight lifting sometimes too, but I just prefer cardio.

2) I'm trying not to be a calorie Nazi, so I don't beat myself up too much if I go over by a couple hundred, especially on days I went to the gym or was simply very active at work or whatever. Should I be trying to stick to the 1200 limit more strictly, or have people had the experience that it's more of a suggestion and not a rule?

3) I've been perusing the food & nutrition section on the site, but nothing has really struck my fancy as far as tasty snacks/meals. My regular snacks/meals (which I miss after trying to give them up) are soft pretzels with cheddar cheese (a favorite), deviled eggs (homemade with mustard and mayo only, yum), Tostinos frozen pizzas, and Pasta Roni dinners (fettuccine alfredo and shells & white cheddar being my favorites). Clearly I like to eat pasta and pizza, and fatty snacks. :P Anyone have any suggestions pertaining to maybe lower-calorie versions of these foods?

4) I like the Lara bars and use those for between-meal snacks. They're nearly 200 calories each--are these generally considered a good snack choice, or should I be aiming for something MORE healthy? I pretty much never eat nuts outside of their Nutz & Chocolate bars, heh.

I know that's a lot of questions, but I don't know where else to turn! Hopefully I can get some help. :)

Thanks, everyone! I'm glad to see so many people attaining their goals in here. Makes me feel better about myself and makes me think I CAN DO IT TOO! :)

Replies

  • mandieraye
    mandieraye Posts: 10
    Hi there. First of all I LOVE ZUMBA!!!!! I do it 3 times a week now. Next I eat like you kinda. I am very picky and hate salad of any kind. If your heart rate is in training zone it should be ok for the elliptical and treadmill. If you don't know what your heart rate should be the gym should have posters. As for food I never even make it to my goal calories of 1200. I like special k protein shakes, they are yummy and pretty filling. If you need a snack grab some cheese, or a low fat yogurt. Dinners I love grilled chicken with swiss cheese and honey mustard, and steamed veggies of some kind. If you are a snacker at work pack your own snacks from home. stay away from the vending machines. As for staying under 1200 calories the site factors in cheating. So if you are 100-200 calories over you will still loose weight just not as fast as you would if you were under.
    Hope this helps
  • ceredonia
    ceredonia Posts: 61
    I'm really excited to check out Zumba! Everyone I've talked to RAVES about it. :) So yay!

    I am a snacker at work, because I work 8-10 hour shifts alone and don't get snack/meal breaks. I co-own a local business so there's only 2 of us to trade off shifts, making it that we work alone all of the time. It makes it tough to find snacks that don't need to be refrigerated or reheated, I love crackers and chips but they add up fast! That's why I'm trying fruit and Luna bars (whoops, I said Lara before, I meant Luna).

    I feel bad going under, and I'm still hungry a lot of the time. I guess I'll just try to watch it better!
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
    check out this thread and re-evaluate your 1200 calorie goal:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6159-this-1200-calorie-thing-is-driving-me-up-a-wall
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
    As for staying under 1200 calories the site factors in cheating.

    Not true. please be sure to read all the newbie threads pinned to the top of this forum.
  • mandieraye
    mandieraye Posts: 10
    Go get a good vitamin. Time released is best. I figured that out the hard way. I got sick a couple days ago because I hadn't eaten and had already done 2 classes. Hmm no fridge or microwave that makes it a little difficult. Bananas don't need to be in the fridge. cheez its are 150 calories for 25 eat them slow. Get a favorite flavor and savor them. I don't work so I am home all day, trust me it is very hard not to eat all the munchies my husband has in the house. If you cut apples and put a little lemon juice on it. they can be out for a while. I will keep looking for non fridge or microwave things
  • ysaidpie
    ysaidpie Posts: 83
    If you exercise, you can put your exercises in to see how many calories you burned. So if your burning a couple hundred calories exercising- u get to eat those back, so that you NET intake for the day is 1200 calories. I think you will still lose if you go over 1200 a little. I don't know about MFP "factoring in cheating" so that you will still lose :/ I guess it depends on how much weight u have to lose. I am at 117 and eat 1200 along with running 2-3 miles daily and my loss has been SLOW... Without cheating. But at 1200 calories my maximum loss per week that I can reach is only half a pound anyway. Some food ideas-
    Someone here had a recipe for pizza tht sounded good. It used these 100 calorie flatbreads and grilled chicken with hot sauce and blue cheese to make a "buffalo chicken pizza." but you could use the flatbread and make any type of pizza. Turkey burgers are good, especially if you add your own seasoning like onions & garlic. Anything you make with meat, just substitute with ground chicken or turkey for a healthier alternative- like tacos or chili. Also, I invested in a kitchen scale and it has been the best purchase ever for me! I suggest the same for you, because this way you can still eat what you want to eat, but measure it to make sure your getting the right portion. I measure my pasta before I cook it, and weigh out the sauce. Whole grain pasta from barilla is good. I also really like the Healthy Choice meals for a quick grab & go lunch or dinner. There are a lot of really good flavors available (even alfredo) and they are usually about 300 calories per meal. As far as exercising goes, anything that gets you moving will burn fat if you are not eating more than what you are putting out. Keep working on the elliptical ad treadmill and your endurance and speed will come very quickly!!
  • mandieraye
    mandieraye Posts: 10
    If you go to goals it tells you how much you normally would intake. the site subtracts calories depending on how many pounds you want to loose. If you go over a little you will still loose weight. Most people put they want to loose 1.5 to 2 pounds a week, so that is how the site gets 1200. If you go over it would be just like you put you want to loose 1 to 1.5 pounds. You will still loose weight slowly.
  • Cytherea
    Cytherea Posts: 515 Member
    As some others have said, going over by a few hundred just means that you lose a little bit less slowly. If you want more than 1200 calories, change your goals to less losing less pounds per week.

    Also, *definitely* add in your exercise. If you are exercising you get to eat those calories back. So maybe if you haven't been doing that, you can start doing that first, instead of changing your goals, and see if that makes a difference.

    As for snacks, there are some less-unhealthy seemingly unhealthy things. lol. So for microwave dinners, look for the Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Michelina's Lean, etc. versions of your favorites instead of the normal ones (you still can find alfredo!). And Lean Cuisine has different kinds of pizzas that are single serving and pretty good. If you want to still make the boxed mac and cheese type things, use fat free milk and less butter/margarine than it calls for. Maybe do it slowly, just use a little bit less each time so that it isn't a huge difference, but you'll definitely be helping yourself if you can use less butter. Eventually, you could probably get down to using none (or barely any!) at all! If I'm making a box pasta like that, I sometimes will use no butter (or just a tiny bit) and a little bit extra milk to make up for it.

    Deviled eggs are ok- hard boiled eggs you can eat and mustard won't hurt you at all, so many just use lite mayo instead of regular mayo. I've been using it for a while now and even my husband can't tell the difference between that and regular mayo, which is pretty awesome.

    If you like chips, look for pretzel crisps. Pepperidge Farm makes them and so does Snack Factory. They have all different flavors and they are a pretty awesome snack, very low in fat. You could also just get some 100 calorie packs. I find that they are great because I can eat all of the snacks that I love in a pre-portioned size so that I know I'm not hurting myself at all.

    Best of luck! You can do this! =)
  • Paige1108
    Paige1108 Posts: 432 Member
    1200 is a pre workout number, then you work out, and calories are added that your body needs to fuel that work out. You'll still lose at the rate you requested because your calorie deficit is built into the 1200 and remains constant, even if you eat all your exercise calories. I hope this makes sense.

    I eat and love Larabars. Good luck reaching your health and fitness goals.
  • ceredonia
    ceredonia Posts: 61
    Thanks for the advice, everyone!

    I *do* factor in my workouts, which is nice on those days I can eat like 300-400 more calories and enjoy a bigger dinner. :P My biggest problem besides snacking is just that it's hard to eat multiple times a day at work (healthy things, anyway) so I'm working on that. Most days I only really get lunch OR dinner, depending on my shift. Today I'm bringing a sandwich for lunch and a Luna bar for my snack, and I'm off at 5pm so I'll actually get dinner. I'm working on ideas to make mac and cheese and portion it out for a couple days, stuff like that.

    I really appreciate all the suggestions for foods! I think I'll go to the grocery store and start hunting around. :)
  • ceredonia
    ceredonia Posts: 61
    I also went back into my profile just now and updated it. Apparently I'd entered that I wanted to lose 1 1/2 lbs per week, I changed it to just a pound/week (not in a huge hurry, and less of a stress) and I can eat up to 1360 calories instead of 1200. I think this will help my mindset a lot. I can always eat less than 1360 (well, I can try, haha), and maybe it'll help me start getting to 1200 a little easier.
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
    hope that works for you, keep us posted on your progress. I'm glad you decided to eat more :)
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