I apologize in advance for my laziness

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paigeshin
paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Quick intro: Hello! I'm a 19 year old student studying graphic design at art school. I realized that I'm just sitting down all the time doing studio work being a blob so I decided to work out.

Height: 5'5"
Weight: 158lbs

I just completed an hour on the elliptical on level 5-6 switching between going forward and backwards with four 15 second breaks for water in between. If I do this every day excluding Sundays, will I see any results? Oh and eating a healthy 1200 calorie diet of course!

Also, the exercise calorie counter said I burned 535 calories...is this reliable or should I invest in one of those HRM watches?
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Replies

  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    You eat 1200 calories and then burn 500 calories leaving you with 700 calories for the day?

    I think your version of "healthy diet" and ours may differ a little.

    Yeah, you're gonna see results. Expect hair loss and irritability at the start. Your metabolism will slow down. You will become less tolerant to cold because your body won't have enough fuel to keep your blood warm. If you're actually able to maintain this sort of extreme deficit for an extended period of time, say over the course of months, there will probably be organ damage, mental disorders, depression, obsession with food,

    The calorie counter on the elliptical is going to be as good an estimate as anything else. Unless you know your body fat %, amount of oxygen you can process (VO2 Max), etc it's all going to be within 50 calories anyway.
  • morticia16
    morticia16 Posts: 230 Member
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    This will help you burn calories, making it easier for you to maintain a healthy calor. net that is in deficit.
  • bkyoun
    bkyoun Posts: 371 Member
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    Is 1200 calories the number that MFP is telling you to eat to lose 2 lbs/wk?

    If so, then that is great. Keep it up. You will probably want to eat back at least half of your calories burned from exercise if you are only eating 1200 though.

    Also, get a heart rate monitor. It will be more accurate. The estimate from the machine is not accurate.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    What kind of results are you looking for? If you're just talking about weight loss, the calorie deficit MFP gave you will do that. Eat at a calorie deficit to lose weight. exercise for fitness.

    535 for an hour on the elilptical sounds pretty reasonable. Please make sure you eat back at least most of those earned calories.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I just completed an hour on the elliptical on level 5-6 switching between going forward and backwards with four 15 second breaks for water in between. If I do this every day excluding Sundays, will I see any results? Oh and eating a healthy 1200 calorie diet of course!
    Yes, you should see result with this. Are you eating 1200 total calories, or 1200 plus exercise?
    Also, the exercise calorie counter said I burned 535 calories...is this reliable or should I invest in one of those HRM watches?
    This depends on your fitness level, but that does not seem an unreasonable number for 60 min on eliptical.
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    Oh wow, thank you all for taking your time to respond back !!
    @vorgas Thanks for your time. Oh, I thought my "healthy" diet would be beneficial, but if you know how to prevent all those long term effects please share!
    @bcattoes Thank you for the info! 1200 total calories a day total. Isn't weight loss about netting negative amount of calories or do I need to eat it back? I'm so lost!
    @MinnieInMaine Hey there! Well, if this would help, my doctor did not know I weighed 160 lbs on the last check up. She said I didn't "seem" like I was overweight because I am a bit toned, but barely any shows because of the layer of fat haha. I'm just looking to burn this layer of fat off so I can see my muscles!

    Also in general, eating back your calories is necessary for healthy weight loss? Man calories are confusing.
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    This will help you burn calories, making it easier for you to maintain a healthy calor. net that is in deficit.

    I'm sorry, does that mean this way I'm going at it is "healthy?" Thank you!
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    Is 1200 calories the number that MFP is telling you to eat to lose 2 lbs/wk?

    If so, then that is great. Keep it up. You will probably want to eat back at least half of your calories burned from exercise if you are only eating 1200 though.

    Also, get a heart rate monitor. It will be more accurate. The estimate from the machine is not accurate.

    The net calories is what I looked up online about how many calories to eat for weight loss.
    I am unsure whether or not I got this exact number from MFP so I'll check now!
    I guess I'm investing in one now!
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    You eat 1200 calories and then burn 500 calories leaving you with 700 calories for the day?

    I think your version of "healthy diet" and ours may differ a little.

    Yeah, you're gonna see results. Expect hair loss and irritability at the start. Your metabolism will slow down. You will become less tolerant to cold because your body won't have enough fuel to keep your blood warm. If you're actually able to maintain this sort of extreme deficit for an extended period of time, say over the course of months, there will probably be organ damage, mental disorders, depression, obsession with food,

    The calorie counter on the elliptical is going to be as good an estimate as anything else. Unless you know your body fat %, amount of oxygen you can process (VO2 Max), etc it's all going to be within 50 calories anyway.

    Thanks for your time. Oh, I thought my "healthy" diet would be beneficial, but now I'm lost. Would it help if I upped the calories intake? I should also mention I do not care about my weight much because all I want to do is burn the fat off!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    @bcattoes Thank you for the info! 1200 total calories a day total. Isn't weight loss about netting negative amount of calories or do I need to eat it back? I'm so lost!

    Yes, weight loss is about a deficit. But 1200 calories is eating at a deficit, even without the exercise. So, calories you burn during exercise can be seen as "earned food calories". You can eat them back and still have the same deficit you had by eating less.

    If you are going by the eliptical machine, which can only give an esitmate, you may want to only eat a portion of them back. You need a deficit, but too large of a deficit can lead to hunger, fatigue, lethary and other symptoms. A large deficit for too long can lead to even more serious health problems.
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    @bcattoes Thank you for the info! 1200 total calories a day total. Isn't weight loss about netting negative amount of calories or do I need to eat it back? I'm so lost!

    Yes, weight loss is about a deficit. But 1200 calories is eating at a deficit, even without the exercise. So, calories you burn during exercise can be seen as "earned food calories". You can eat them back and still have the same deficit you had by eating less.

    If you are going by the eliptical machine, which can only give an esitmate, you may want to only eat a portion of them back. You need a deficit, but too large of a deficit can lead to hunger, fatigue, lethary and other symptoms. A large deficit for too long can lead to even more serious health problems.

    Ohhhhh I see. That cleared up so many things! Sorry for being lazy and not looking up these things myself and THANK YOU for taking your time replying back!! I had forgotten about those calories the body just burns doing sedentary activities daily. I will watch what I do and eat I guess and hopefully not get sick or anything harmful happen. Again THANK YOU!
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Thanks for your time. Oh, I thought my "healthy" diet would be beneficial, but now I'm lost. Would it help if I upped the calories intake? I should also mention I do not care about my weight much because all I want to do is burn the fat off!
    [/quote]

    If fat burning is your main goal a large deficit is not necessary. You may want to increase your calories and increase your protein to build muscle which will help burn fat. With too large a deficit you tend to burn muscle along with fat.
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    Thanks for your time. Oh, I thought my "healthy" diet would be beneficial, but now I'm lost. Would it help if I upped the calories intake? I should also mention I do not care about my weight much because all I want to do is burn the fat off!

    If fat burning is your main goal a large deficit is not necessary. You may want to increase your calories and increase your protein to build muscle which will help burn fat. With too large a deficit you tend to burn muscle along with fat.
    [/quote]

    Hello and thank you for replying.

    I guess fat burning is the priority, but isn't fat burning directly related to weight loss? But like you say I'll lose muscle as well if I keep doing what I'm doing so would the increased protein intake and building muscle help prevent that?
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    From I have read and seen, increasing protein and making sure your deficit isn't too big helps retain muscle while losing weight,
  • SarahFrances84
    SarahFrances84 Posts: 2 Member
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    You should buy a heart rate monitor regardless. It tracks your time, calories, fat burn and more. Ever since I got mine I love it. The calories on "MyFitnessPal" are different for each person depending on how in or out of shape they are and their endurance which the app does not track. I have the Womens Polar heartrate monitor. I'v never had a problem with it!

    You do not need to workout 6 days a week. You can do 4x and see the same result. I would not recommend doing the same workout everytime. You might want to switch up elliptical with running or even biking to start out.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Also, the exercise calorie counter said I burned 535 calories...is this reliable or should I invest in one of those HRM watches?

    HRM won't give you any more calorie burn accuracy than the machine. Just cut that number in half, and track it for a while, after a few weeks your weight loss progress will tell you how close to the actual burn you are.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    If all you want to do is burn fat, you will get much better results eating more calories and doing strength training rather than cutting a bunch of calories and doing just cardio. That is a good approach if you have a lot to lose, but when you're relatively close to your goal weight or looking for body recomposition, a smaller deficit with plenty of protein in your diet and strength training, such as weight lifting or bodyweight exercises is a better method.
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
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    I am one inch taller and 9 years older than you. I started at 210 pounds in February and have lost doing 1500, 1600 and now 1700 calories NET per day. I am now about 159 pounds. I eat back most, but not all, exercise calories. Some weeks I save 100 calories a day and have a nice 600 calorie treat on the weekend. If I find I am craving a treat for more than a day, I find a way to fit that into a day's calories.

    It doesn't have to be torture, you don't have to chain yourself to a machine and starve yourself. Definitely consume extra protein during this time, so you don't lose as much lean body mass. You might aim for 1 pound lost per week instead of 2; you'll probably still lose more than 1 anyway, as the numbers are based on averages.

    Good luck!

    Edited to add: Oh yeah! Definitely do weight training, a couple times a week! It doesn't seem to burn a ton of calories (on me anyway) but I cannot complain about the results!
  • morticia16
    morticia16 Posts: 230 Member
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    This will help you burn calories, making it easier for you to maintain a healthy calor. net that is in deficit.

    I'm sorry, does that mean this way I'm going at it is "healthy?" Thank you!

    I wanted to say that with exercise you will burn more calories. In parallel, to do it in a healthy way, you need to find the right balance for your net calorie intake; the one that is in deficit and helps you lose weight at a healthy rate.
  • paigeshin
    paigeshin Posts: 10 Member
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    I am one inch taller and 9 years older than you. I started at 210 pounds in February and have lost doing 1500, 1600 and now 1700 calories NET per day. I am now about 159 pounds. I eat back most, but not all, exercise calories. Some weeks I save 100 calories a day and have a nice 600 calorie treat on the weekend. If I find I am craving a treat for more than a day, I find a way to fit that into a day's calories.

    It doesn't have to be torture, you don't have to chain yourself to a machine and starve yourself. Definitely consume extra protein during this time, so you don't lose as much lean body mass. You might aim for 1 pound lost per week instead of 2; you'll probably still lose more than 1 anyway, as the numbers are based on averages.

    Good luck!

    Edited to add: Oh yeah! Definitely do weight training, a couple times a week! It doesn't seem to burn a ton of calories (on me anyway) but I cannot complain about the results!

    Oh wow!! I am so happy for you about your results congratulations!
    I will try applying them and definitely do weight training as well! Thanks for the advice and for your time!!

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