Relatively new to MFP and have a question!
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deejaroo
Posts: 12 Member
So, I'm trying to lose weight, THE HEALTHY WAY, incorporating whole foods, vegetables, fruits, water, and exercise. It's actually been going pretty well, and I just hit the 40lb loss mark from the beginning of my journey on Weight Watchers (which I started two years ago!). ANYWAY, what's your opinion on how many calories to eat? In Weight Watchers, we are given a certain number of "points" and activity gives us additional "Points" but we can choose to eat, or not eat, activity points. MFP seems to suggest that we eat our activity calories. I'm 5'0 (my license says 4'11") and need to lose another 30-35 lbs. (I'm also 42, so this is HARD - SHeesh!). I've been walking twice a day (having my pupper girlie is great for that) and burn anywhere between 400-600 calories. I try very hard never to eat under 1200 calories, but also choose not to eat my exercise calories. Anyone have an opinion on this? Let me know! 
Thanks so much for your help!
Thanks so much for your help! 0
Replies
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MFP will calculate your calories for you assuming you select an appropriate x pounds per week and activity level. 0
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Hi , I just watched a documentary on weight loss, the documentary addressed the issue that intense exercise does not correlate with extreme weight loss. Exercise is important as it benefits health and the cardio system and weight training is good for bone density and toning but the main key to weight loss is to monitor food choices, read the labels watch for hidden sugars and high fat content that means leaving out sodas, fast food joints, French fries, potatoe chips and all other chips, watch out for high fructose corn syrup, very bad stuff so read the labels and watch out for sugar dense foods and to weight portion sizes of the healthy choices such as whole grains, fruits , vegetables and low fat {non deli} meats eg fish, chicken without the skin, tuna or alternatively hummus. Get a scale and weigh food portions.
Get this one tsp of sugar is about 4.2 grams a soda will have the equivalent of 7 tsps. of sugar in it.0 -
If you are eating only 1200 calories per day and burning 400-600, then you are have a net intake of only 600-800 calories per day. This is dangerous territory and can lead to metabolic damage and a potential eating disorder. Also, looking at your profile picture, assuming the ones on the bottom are current, you do not have 30-35lbs to lose and may want to seek counseling for body dysmorphia.
If the pictures are not current, then you still should reevaluate your daily calorie goals and choose something more reasonable that doesn't have as high a risk of health problems.0 -
Hi , I just watched a documentary on weight loss, the documentary addressed the issue that intense exercise does not correlate with extreme weight loss. Exercise is important as it benefits health and the cardio system and weight training is good for bone density and toning but the main key to weight loss is to monitor food choices, read the labels watch for hidden sugars and high fat content that means leaving out sodas, fast food joints, French fries, potatoe chips and all other chips, watch out for high fructose corn syrup, very bad stuff so read the labels and watch out for sugar dense foods and to weight portion sizes of the healthy choices such as whole grains, fruits , vegetables and low fat {non deli} meats eg fish, chicken without the skin, tuna or alternatively hummus. Get a scale and weigh food portions.
Get this one tsp of sugar is about 4.2 grams a soda will have the equivalent of 7 tsps. of sugar in it.
Ignore this post. Sugar and dietary fat are not evil.0 -
You will get all kinds of responses from all kinds of people. People believe what they are telling you (whether they are right or wrong) and are trying to be helpful. Some will be insistent that their's is the only way to go.
I let MFP decide how many calories I should eat daily. Just like I let my scale tell me how much I weigh and H.R. monitor tell me how many calories I burned. Are they right? I don't know but, they're better than me trying to guess.
I eat 1200 calories a day and DO NOT eat back my exercise calories (I can see all the horrified/angry responses now). MY feeling is that I want to lose weight and, if I eat extra calories for exercising that's defeating the purpose. People talk about putting your body into starvation mode. Maybe if I didn't eat anything, for days, my body would do this but, as long as I'm eating, and moving, and losing weight, I don't believe this. I have been consistently losing about 2 lbs. a week. If this doesn't continue to work for me I will try something else. But, for now, it's what I do. THIS IS NOT BASED ON ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION, just what has worked for me. Since you are not me, this may not work for you. Both sides of the "starvation mode" controversy will site medical stats to back them up. I'm sure I could find lots of info on the internet to back me up...if I cared.
Good luck. I hope you find what works for you. Just don't take everything people tell you as gospel.
Oh, and haters, if you don't like what I wrote, TOO BAD! It's my OPINION just like whatever comes out of you is your OPINION!0 -
Sugar and certain fats are evil.
They are the major source of obesity in U.S. and England. France and Denmark are the first to impose an extra tax on unhealthy foods with high sugar,
If you have a chance go to You Tube and watch Supersize me. Watch what happened to a healthy young guy who dined soley on McDonalds food. The fast food joints are now into bundling ie the soda/main meal and chips included in one price, it keeps their profits up and the consumer thinks he is getting a bonus for $1 more.
Big Sugar should be taxed like Big Tobacco. It is coming.
Check out how the Sugar Lobby in the U.S petitioned the government to withdraw funding from the World Health organization when it was prepared to issue warnings regarding sugar contents in food.
The food giants lobby like crazy Watch the CBC documentary Big Sugar sweet white and deadly and to observe their tactics.0 -
You will get all kinds of responses from all kinds of people. People believe what they are telling you (whether they are right or wrong) and are trying to be helpful. Some will be insistent that their's is the only way to go.
I let MFP decide how many calories I should eat daily. Just like I let my scale tell me how much I weigh and H.R. monitor tell me how many calories I burned. Are they right? I don't know but, they're better than me trying to guess.
I eat 1200 calories a day and DO NOT eat back my exercise calories (I can see all the horrified/angry responses now). MY feeling is that I want to lose weight and, if I eat extra calories for exercising that's defeating the purpose. People talk about putting your body into starvation mode. Maybe if I didn't eat anything, for days, my body would do this but, as long as I'm eating, and moving, and losing weight, I don't believe this. I have been consistently losing about 2 lbs. a week. If this doesn't continue to work for me I will try something else. But, for now, it's what I do. THIS IS NOT BASED ON ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION, just what has worked for me. Since you are not me, this may not work for you. Both sides of the "starvation mode" controversy will site medical stats to back them up. I'm sure I could find lots of info on the internet to back me up...if I cared.
Good luck. I hope you find what works for you. Just don't take everything people tell you as gospel.
Oh, and haters, if you don't like what I wrote, TOO BAD! It's my OPINION just like whatever comes out of you is your OPINION!
You have been losing 2lbs per week because you are morbidly obese and as such have more to lose. I assure you that your weight loss will slow down once you have less to lose.0 -
Sugar and certain fats are evil.
They are the major source of obesity in U.S. and England. France and Denmark are the first to impose an extra tax on unhealthy foods with high sugar,
If you have a chance go to You Tube and watch Supersize me. Watch what happened to a healthy young guy who dined soley on McDonalds food. The fast food joints are now into bundling ie the soda/main meal and chips included in one price, it keeps their profits up and the consumer thinks he is getting a bonus for $1 more.
Big Sugar should be taxed like Big Tobacco. It is coming.
Check out how the Sugar Lobby in the U.S petitioned the government to withdraw funding from the World Health organization when it was prepared to issue warnings regarding sugar contents in food.
The food giants lobby like crazy Watch the CBC documentary Big Sugar sweet white and deadly and to observe their tactics.
:huh:0 -
Sugar and certain fats are evil.
They are the major source of obesity in U.S. and England. France and Denmark are the first to impose an extra tax on unhealthy foods with high sugar,
If you have a chance go to You Tube and watch Supersize me. Watch what happened to a healthy young guy who dined soley on McDonalds food. The fast food joints are now into bundling ie the soda/main meal and chips included in one price, it keeps their profits up and the consumer thinks he is getting a bonus for $1 more.
Big Sugar should be taxed like Big Tobacco. It is coming.
Check out how the Sugar Lobby in the U.S petitioned the government to withdraw funding from the World Health organization when it was prepared to issue warnings regarding sugar contents in food.
The food giants lobby like crazy Watch the CBC documentary Big Sugar sweet white and deadly and to observe their tactics.
You do understand that your body needs fats and sugars, right? And that documentaries are not things you should rely on solely because they do have biased agendas, right? Do more research on both sides of the coin to get a well rounded understanding of what is really going on.
Don't demonize foods. Stop looking for some government cover up to blame and focus on getting to your fitness goals.
You want to get fit mentally, not just physically, and cultivating a bad relationship with foods is not healthy.0 -
I like the TDEE - 25% method. But that's just what's working for me. I tried the 1200 calories method and completely stalled out.0
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If you're hungry eat them; if you're not, don't. You'll figure out what works for you. If your weight loss stalls, you may need to eat more or exercise less.0
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Last week, I was eating 1100-1300 cals per day and exercising. I lost like 2+ pounds but was exhausted. This week, I ate betweeen 1500-1900 cals per day (based on my activity level), lost 1.4 pounds and have lots of energy.0
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Best thing to do IMO is try an advice that appeals to you, get as many ways to monitor yourself as possible (weight, activity tracker, whatever) and keep track of your progress. Your body will tell you what's working. If a method stops working, adjust it until it works again. Nothing works all the time! (Well except for the energy in, energy out thermodynamic equations, but we don't have 100% accurate ways of measuring exactly what our body is doing, and what we are eating all the time. Everything is pretty much a close ballpark. There will be fluctuations in accuracy)
It's true that as you get to a lower fat percentage, the speed you lose weight will decrease. That's because there isn't enough fat left in your body to burn when you eat with a deficit, so expect to have to eat a bit more as you get closer to your target goal.
I'm losing 2lbs a week. I am not morbidly obese, I am obese, however by bmi standards. I hope we can be nicer with our words sometimes. :-/
When I hit somewhere around 150 I expect to have adjusted to losing 1.5 or even 1 lb a week.
You don't have to eat back exercise calories if you don't want to, but I would suggest doing so if you start to feel lightheaded or sluggish. You don't have to eat it all back either, you can eat 25% or 50% or any old percent under 100% you want and still lose weight if you eat by MFP calculations.
Don't get discouraged if sometimes it seems you're eating more calories than you thought. Packaging can be off by up to about 20% You can't fail if you keep trying. :-) Good luck and welcome to MFP0 -
OP, my thoughts/questions:
(1) I agree with the above poster that mentioned your pictures and that you may not have much left to lose. If you're unhappy with the way you look up close due to shape/jiggle then consider weight training.
(2) If you are weighing and measuring your food and truly only getting 1200 calories a day, while truly burning 400-600 calories a day, then that's not a good approach. I hesitate to get too excited about this though as so many people seriously underestimate what they are eating and overestimate what they are burning.
(3) How long have you been eating like this, and are you really logging your food accurately every day?
(4) What does your weight loss look like since you've been using your current approach?0 -
Sugar and certain fats are evil.
They are the major source of obesity in U.S. and England. France and Denmark are the first to impose an extra tax on unhealthy foods with high sugar,
If you have a chance go to You Tube and watch Supersize me. Watch what happened to a healthy young guy who dined soley on McDonalds food. The fast food joints are now into bundling ie the soda/main meal and chips included in one price, it keeps their profits up and the consumer thinks he is getting a bonus for $1 more.
Big Sugar should be taxed like Big Tobacco. It is coming.
Check out how the Sugar Lobby in the U.S petitioned the government to withdraw funding from the World Health organization when it was prepared to issue warnings regarding sugar contents in food.
The food giants lobby like crazy Watch the CBC documentary Big Sugar sweet white and deadly and to observe their tactics.
:huh:
I love sugar. Clearly it hasn't hurt my progress.0 -
Sugar and certain fats are evil.
They are the major source of obesity in U.S. and England. France and Denmark are the first to impose an extra tax on unhealthy foods with high sugar,
If you have a chance go to You Tube and watch Supersize me. Watch what happened to a healthy young guy who dined soley on McDonalds food. The fast food joints are now into bundling ie the soda/main meal and chips included in one price, it keeps their profits up and the consumer thinks he is getting a bonus for $1 more.
Big Sugar should be taxed like Big Tobacco. It is coming.
Check out how the Sugar Lobby in the U.S petitioned the government to withdraw funding from the World Health organization when it was prepared to issue warnings regarding sugar contents in food.
The food giants lobby like crazy Watch the CBC documentary Big Sugar sweet white and deadly and to observe their tactics.0 -
Can't. Stop. Looking. Thank you.0 -
I was doing 1400 a day and not eating my exercise back. I was eating a lot of protein and little carbs. I try to not eat after 5 and try very hard to drink a lot of water. I restarted this journey may 6th 2013 to date I have lost 41#. I stalled a bit this past week but with some encouragement from MFP gals I am coming back. I do what I feel works for me and my situation. NO two people are alike in any fashion. As my friends have recently told me log, log , log. I try my best and the last few days feel much better. I am moving my calorie limit down to 1200 now. I agree that it seems counter productive to eat what you have exercised off I ate it once for my body.
Good luck keep in touch0 -
There is no question about it we do need some sugar. The evolutionary process hardwired us to consumer fats and sugar, Back in the good old days when our ancestors climbed out of the trees and became hunter gathers sugars and fat came in the form of fruits which were seasonal and fats in the form of meats . The sugars were in short supply. In the winter food was hard to come by hence early hunter/gather would store up on sugars/fruits by consuming and also fats when the hunting was easy. This was to get them through the lean times and winter months.
The body is a machine that will store extra foods when we overeat it is part of our evolutionary development. However today it is summer all year round and sugar comes in all forms, from the somewhat deadly high fructose corn syrup outlawed in some countries, to refined white sugar. It is from these people become obese.
A healthy source of sugar is through fresh fruits.
It is by breaking the cravings for the unhealthy sweet stuff that one can achieve long term weight loss.0 -
There is no question about it we do need some sugar. The evolutionary process hardwired us to consumer fats and sugar, Back in the good old days when our ancestors climbed out of the trees and became hunter gathers sugars and fat came in the form of fruits which were seasonal and fats in the form of meats . The sugars were in short supply. In the winter food was hard to come by hence early hunter/gather would store up on sugars/fruits by consuming and also fats when the hunting was easy. This was to get them through the lean times and winter months.
The body is a machine that will store extra foods when we overeat it is part of our evolutionary development. However today it is summer all year round and sugar comes in all forms, from the somewhat deadly high fructose corn syrup outlawed in some countries, to refined white sugar. It is from these people become obese.
A healthy source of sugar is through fresh fruits.
It is by breaking the cravings for the unhealthy sweet stuff that one can achieve long term weight loss.
Nice story. Pseudoscience, but nice story.
I eat refined sugar and HFCS, and drink alcohol in moderation. The key is moderation.0
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