A storm of questions in my head...Exercise, Proteins, Diet,

Hello! I am going to take a stab at the questions for you.

1. Pick whichever brand you want that does not have a lot of fat or sugar in it. Some brands add fats and sugars to make them taste better, but this can help you to NOT lose weight. I prefer the ones from Max Muscle (www.maxmuscle.com) but you can find some other decent ones at other stores. Max Muscle has so many different flavors that I don't ever get bored with it which is why I like them so much.

2. Not sure what those are...if they are pills, I would stay away from them. Fat loss is best accomplished by eating a balanced diet and exercising.

3. Depending on how many calories are in your shake, you could have it as a meal replacement. I prefer to have mine either before or after my workout as a snack. I've been told that having it right after strength training workouts can help muscle fibers rebuild and reduce soreness, and this is actually what I am going to try next week.

4. As far as how many proteins ans carbs, this is unfortunately going to be different for different people. I honestly believe and have seen from my experience that a good starting point for anyone wanting to lose weight is to stick to a ratio of 50-55% carbs, 30% protein, and 15-20% fat. You can plug those numbers into MFP manually once you decide how many calories you should be taking in.

5. When I looked at your food diary, it looks as though you are not eating enough food. Somedays you are at 1100 calories or less which can send you into starvation mode (basically meaning that your metabolism will slow down, and any weight you may lose will most likely be your muscle mass and water instead of fat which is what our goal is.) I would try to increase to a bare minimum of 1200 calories a day, probably more. Most people's BMR is actually over the baseline 1200 mark, and you shouldn't go under that. I would personally start at 1400 calories, and then you can manually put in this number as well as the ratio above into MFP. When you do that, start adding foods to the diary until you have planned out one good, solid day of eating close to those goals and use that as an example of what you should be doing.

6. Absolutely NOT. See above. Most people don't eat enough when they are trying to lose weight, because conventional thinking says that food makes us fat, less food makes us skinny. The truth is this: we feed the muscle with nutritious food and cut out bad "junk" food and this in turn helps us exercise better and it is the exercise, not the lack of food, that cause the fat loss.

Good luck!

I use Precision engeneered protein powder...I get it from Puritan Pride a vitamin wholesale co online. They have specials like buy 1 get 2 free from time to time! I like it because it is mild...not artificially sweet.

I go to a weight loss clinic and my DR has me on 110 grams of protein and 1400 calories. They did a BMR test when I began. It was way cool. It took all of 10 minutes of me breathing into a machine and it told me my basal metabolic rate. So now I know how many calories to stay below!