Relatively new to MFP and have a question!

deejaroo
deejaroo Posts: 12 Member
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
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! :)

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    MFP will calculate your calories for you assuming you select an appropriate x pounds per week and activity level. :)
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
    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.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    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.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    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.
  • Katkamm77
    Katkamm77 Posts: 108 Member
    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!
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
    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.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    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.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    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:
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    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.
  • 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.
  • niftyafterfifty
    niftyafterfifty Posts: 338 Member
    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.
  • bethannien
    bethannien Posts: 556 Member
    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.
  • aliasbee
    aliasbee Posts: 27
    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 MFP
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    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?
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    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.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    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.

    hD238444F
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    hD238444F

    Can't. Stop. Looking. Thank you.
  • towne18
    towne18 Posts: 5 Member
    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 touch
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
    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.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    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.
  • missmegan831
    missmegan831 Posts: 824 Member
    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.

    Sugar and certain fats are not evil... too many calories and not enough movement is evil!!
  • deejaroo
    deejaroo Posts: 12 Member
    Ok, so Hi everyone!! I'm the goofy girl that started all this! LOL! Just want to say that, believe it or not, I don't disagree with any of you (except for the dude who says I don't have 30 lbs to lose and NO, I do not have body dysmorphia. You're looking at a picture... I'm looking at me.) Anyway, like I said in my first post, I have made a big change by eating whole foods. I DO eat sugars - NATURAL sugars from fruits and vegetables. I try to avoid white sugars, flours, and stick with meats, vegetables, and foods that come from nature. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the whole McDonald's food putdown, as a matter of fact, if you ask my 3 year-old, he'll tell you that "McDonald's is 'poopy food'"! The crap they're finding out is in McDonald's foods? NO THANKS! (plastics in buns, edible plastics in chicken nuggets, pink slime in burgers... they can keep it!!) It sounds like my question may or may not have a whole bunch of different answers. With Weight Watchers, we have the option to eat our exercise points, and I didn't know if it's the same thing on here. I had been running (did the couch to 5k program - which is FABULOUS), ran a 5k, a 3.5 miler, a 5 miler and was training for a 10k, but found out I have arthritis in my foot. So once I'm used to my orthotics, I can start running again, so I'm trying to burn the daily calories I did when I was running, just spreading it out between two dog walks (one in the morning and one at night). I feel great with all the exercise, sleep like a baby, and don't feel overwhelmed, so that's great too!

    One other question... I exercise a lot every day, but I have a sedentary job (accountant). When calculating my BMR and the base calories I need per day, do I add the exercise and say I'm "active" because then it's adding the exercise calories on twice, right? Or do I say I'm sedentary? I'm so confused!!!!
  • deejaroo
    deejaroo Posts: 12 Member
    What's TDEE?????
  • deejaroo
    deejaroo Posts: 12 Member
    (QUOTE)
    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?
    [/quote]

    I weigh and measure all foods, and am quite certain that I am accurately representing my calories in. Calories out? Well, I use Map My Run, which does take into account my speed, the elevations that I walk (hills), my weight, the distance, and the time I'm walking. Your guess is as good as mine whether it's accurate or not, but I'm going to go with it, because it DOES take into account those factors.

    At 5'0 (that's being generous) I am "obese" at the 150 lbs that I am currently, so yes, I do have more weight to lose, however, I completely agree that I very likely need weight training! There's definitely "jiggle" and I know building muscle will burn more fat. Got any suggestions on a good home plan for weight training? I'm doing the 30 day Shred by Jillian Michaels because the 20 minutes fits nicely into my already packed day and I like that it includes weight training, aerobic exercise and ab work. I also own the Insanity series, but I am definitely not up to doing that just yet... that's....well... it's INSANE! LOL
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    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?

    I weigh and measure all foods, and am quite certain that I am accurately representing my calories in. Calories out? Well, I use Map My Run, which does take into account my speed, the elevations that I walk (hills), my weight, the distance, and the time I'm walking. Your guess is as good as mine whether it's accurate or not, but I'm going to go with it, because it DOES take into account those factors.

    At 5'0 (that's being generous) I am "obese" at the 150 lbs that I am currently, so yes, I do have more weight to lose, however, I completely agree that I very likely need weight training! There's definitely "jiggle" and I know building muscle will burn more fat. Got any suggestions on a good home plan for weight training? I'm doing the 30 day Shred by Jillian Michaels because the 20 minutes fits nicely into my already packed day and I like that it includes weight training, aerobic exercise and ab work. I also own the Insanity series, but I am definitely not up to doing that just yet... that's....well... it's INSANE! LOL
    [/quote]
    I'm bumping this to come back to tomorrow. I'm out the entire day traveling.

    Please go ahead though and answer the rest of (3) above and (4). It will help.

    Home weight training? What equipment do you have and what kind of budget do you have? Body weight and dumbbell/kettle bell training work well, but in terms of long term progressive overload and bang for the buck, barbell training is a very good choice.

    Also, you may want to re-post this in the Eat, Train, Progress group as SideSteel and Sara have much more experience helping others and they devote much of their online time to that. You'll also limit the responses to those in that group.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 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! :)

    thats a lot of walking!

    if yo ureally are walking for 2-3 hours and burnt hat many cals you should definitely be eatign them back so you NET 1200 cals.
  • mebepiglet123
    mebepiglet123 Posts: 327 Member
    Try googling scoobys workshop ... It works out tdee, it asks you how much you exercise., weight height age etc.... It will give you amount of calories to eat based on the info you provide... Be aware the calories will be high, don't freak out, this does work just takes time, for your body to readjust if you have been in a calorie deficient for a while.

    TDEE is total daily energy expenditure.
    BMR is basal metabolic rate... Wha it take to make our heart beat, blood pump, etc.....
  • 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!

    Well said.
    I am the same. I eat 1200 calories a day, and my goal is not to eat active calories. For my body, that is what I need to do to lose weight. And mostly, it works fo rme as well.
  • deejaroo
    deejaroo Posts: 12 Member
    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?

    I weigh and measure all foods, and am quite certain that I am accurately representing my calories in. Calories out? Well, I use Map My Run, which does take into account my speed, the elevations that I walk (hills), my weight, the distance, and the time I'm walking. Your guess is as good as mine whether it's accurate or not, but I'm going to go with it, because it DOES take into account those factors.

    At 5'0 (that's being generous) I am "obese" at the 150 lbs that I am currently, so yes, I do have more weight to lose, however, I completely agree that I very likely need weight training! There's definitely "jiggle" and I know building muscle will burn more fat. Got any suggestions on a good home plan for weight training? I'm doing the 30 day Shred by Jillian Michaels because the 20 minutes fits nicely into my already packed day and I like that it includes weight training, aerobic exercise and ab work. I also own the Insanity series, but I am definitely not up to doing that just yet... that's....well... it's INSANE! LOL
    I'm bumping this to come back to tomorrow. I'm out the entire day traveling.

    Please go ahead though and answer the rest of (3) above and (4). It will help.

    Home weight training? What equipment do you have and what kind of budget do you have? Body weight and dumbbell/kettle bell training work well, but in terms of long term progressive overload and bang for the buck, barbell training is a very good choice.

    Also, you may want to re-post this in the Eat, Train, Progress group as SideSteel and Sara have much more experience helping others and they devote much of their online time to that. You'll also limit the responses to those in that group.
    [/quote]

    Ok, so I have been eating the WHOLE foods way, and monitoring everything I eat since March, but have been eating "clean" since the end of July, so for about a month. My weight loss has been pretty steady (this past week was only -.2, but I have a scale that calculates body fat % and that's gone down significantly. I haven't taken my measurements in a month, so I should probably do that. (Actually, I'll do that tonight and give you what the clean eating/1200 calorie way has done in that regard.)

    My house has TONS of equipment, including a weight bench,(Now we're talking OLD SCHOOL weight bench) a total gym, barbells, hand weights (ranging in weight), and an elliptical machine. One of the things that I'm struggling with is finding a workout that fits into my schedule. The Insanity workout is a good one, however, I have a dog (the best dog in the world) and she needs exercise too, so I've been combining her exercise with mine. When I was running, she would run with me (like I said, she's the best!) and now that I'm walking, we walk together. Since I walk so early, and it can be dark, I'm glad to have along my shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman mix. Not too many people want to mess with her! My hope is to get a weight training program that isn't 2 hours long, because that wouldn't fit in to my world (have 3 kids (and the furry one) and a husband, work full-time, etc).

    I really appreciate everyone's input, all the resources, all the research you've all done. I'm trying to be smart about this, and not compromise my efforts to get on a healthy track. One thing I COMPLETELY agree with is MODERATION!!! I wouldn't be able to live the rest of my life thinking I could NEVER have xxxxxx. (probably chocolate! LOL) The other day I was craving chocolate, and the OLD me would have found some and eaten every last bit of it that we had in the house... The NEW me has decided to adopt a HEALTHY relationship with food, and make BETTER chocolate choices. Soooooooo, I took some dark chocolate, melted it, dipped some bananas in it and froze them. Seriously people. YUMMOOOOOO!!! I got my chocolate fix, with some natural sugars. Better choices, and GET THIS.... There's STILL SOME OF THEM IN THE FREEZER. Again, that would NEVER happen with "OLD ME"!!

    So this "ME" is making progress, and I hope for it to continue. I look forward to more info, and thanks mebepiglet123 for the scooby's workshop reference. He's got TONS of great information that I've only scratched the surface reading! Definitely looking forward to delving into that some more!!!

    :) DJ
  • aetzkorn14
    aetzkorn14 Posts: 169 Member
    I didn't let MFP calculate my calories....I felt 1220 wasn't enough for me so I try to consume 1600-1700ish but I will burn a lot of that off. With that said....if I get hungry I still eat I do not deprive myself. I also lift weights and under eating kinda makes building muscle counterproductive. I have steadily been loosing weight...not 2lbs a week but I have put on so much muscle that my "weight loss" isn't going to be a big number. Muscle will help you burn calories faster even when sitting still so I highly recommend adding it in. I have only lost 15lbs but in the last 12weeks my bf% has changed 7% which I think is so much more important.
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