Need to lose around 15lbs

DaveInFL · January 2014

Hi there, very new to all of this...tracking what I eat and how I exercise and I am looking to lose around 15lbs. I've had this goal for a while but never been that serious, especially with what I eat,and I think that is my biggest problem. So, I am hoping that tracking what I eat/drink will be a big help to losing the weight.

I'm 5'7" and 185lbs and want to get to 170lbs. My current goal/plan has me needing to intake 1350 calories/day, which is ok as long as I add some exercise in too.

I've always been fairly active. I run, play tennis (singles) and cycle but always seem to have a hard time losing the weight. I was down to 179lbs recently but having to travel every week for work and eating in restaurants with limited access to decent gyms also has an impact. Overall I don't think I look too bad, but definitely have a little gut...LOL

Will give this a few weeks and see how things go and see if just watching what I eat and keeping within my goal will help me lose the 15lbs.

Any advice/ideas would be much appreciated

khaleen · January 2014

Hi Dave!
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I want to lose 30lbs before carnival in April.
I'm 5'8" and (now) 158. I've 28 more to go. I've reduced my intake to 1200 calories and (I think) I'm pretty active. I do cross fit 4x/week, plus moderate activity during physiotherapy 2x/week.
I measure and weigh everything I consume, but the going is slow. How has your progress been? And what are you eating?
Do you have any special tips that have worked for you since you started? I try not to deprive myself the things I love (like an occasional donut) to keep cravings down, but I do manage to stick to my calorie allowance.

DaveInFL · January 2014

Hi

and thanks for the reply.
I literally started yesterday...LOL, so it is still very, very early days for me.

Eating depends to be honest. In the mornings it is either cereal or Jimmy Dean delights. Lunch I try a sandwich or wrap and then keep dinner as the bigger meal. Last night was grilled salmon with carrots, potatoes and onions, so not too heavy either.

angiemango · January 2014

Hi Dave.

You could find someone on here to befriend who's your height and ideal weight and look at how much and what they eat (in their diary) every day and see how much exercise they do. That way you'll know if you're eating more than you should be or not doing enough exercise. Just thought I'd mention it because when I joined I didn't realise you could look at other people's diaries. It kind of feels like snooping but it can be very enlightening.

I haven't had a donut in a while now... It's funny, up until a few years ago I thought donuts were just tasteless, rubbery blobs of dough but now even just the smell of them makes me start drooling. I think I was used to eating stale supermarket packaged ones rather than fresh ones.

DaveInFL · January 2014

To be honest donoughts and other junk foods have never really been of interest....maybe once in a blue moon.
I really do think that tracking what I eat will help a lot, as will seeing how what I eat and how many net calories I have left per day will hopefully give me motivation to work out more

I actually went out over lunch and did 20 mins on the elliptical and then around 30 mins on differing gym equipment.

Will definitely log what I eat every day and see how things work out over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll see some weight loss by then

DJ478 · January 2014

im also looking to lose 15 lbs im 5'3 currently 146 want to get down to 130 i currently am i stay at home mom i have an open diary eating hasnt been good at all but its getting there im not active at all i am currently doing 30 day shred and add another 20 minute workout to it

jaymek92 · January 2014

you should not be consuming 1350 calories a day. you should not even be netting 1350 calories a day.

if you workout only 3 times a week at a moderate intensity, your tdee is about 2350 and your bmr is around 1700. to drop a pound a week, eat about 1800 calories a day. if your drop the weight too fast (which you will by eating at 1/2 of your body's energy needs), you're more likely to gain it back instead of maintaining a healthy weight.

DaveInFL · January 2014

Sorry, MFP is showing that my net calories a day is 1350. I put the goal to lose 1.5lbs per week. I'll see how it goes for the new few days, but if I feel too hungry then I will up it to around 1500 or 1600.

Appreciate the feedback though, I was thinking that 1350 net calories was on the low side!

birdiecs · January 2014

1350 cal seems unnecessarily low considering your stats and activity level. With only 15lbs to lose such an aggressive cut will probably result in reaching goal weight flabbier than you'd like. That's what happened to me, trying to repair that now. I would figure out your TDEE and try a 15-10% deficit from there.

DaveInFL · January 2014

Some good feedback on here

How does one go about working out their TDEE?

birdiecs · January 2014

Some good feedback on here

How does one go about working out their TDEE?

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/ has some helpful calculators

DaveInFL · February 2014

So, according to http://www.fitnessfrog.com/ my TDEE is 2,124 if exercise level is classified as little to none. However, even though I do have a desk job I feel that I do try and work out at least 3 times per week. This would normally break down to 20-30 miles on the bike once per week and a singles match of tennis, let's say 90 mins on avg. I do try and get to the gym once per week to do some cardio. So, should I change my activity level to light exercise then? If I do that my TDEE is estimated at 2,433.

So, what does that mean exactly? Does that mean if I hit my TDEE I'll just maintain my current weight? If that's the case that the MFP goal of 1350 net calories does seem very, very low to me. I would think I need to be closer to 1700 or 1800 which would still allow me to lose 1lb per week.

Thoughts?

birdiecs · February 2014

1700-1800 sounds like a much better calorie goal for you. I say give it a try for a few weeks and then tweak it if necessary.

DaveInFL · February 2014

Ok, thanks again. I think even my body was telling me I need more calories since I was getting hungry. Trying to drink more water too.

Experttrainer · February 2014

There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat.. U want to lose 2 lb or 3 lb at the most.. How old are u? Here's a whole chart of BMI and body fat, so see where your age fits on here.. Use the fat %, take 170 lb, times it by whatever % under ur age. Example: 170 x.20 (20%) = 34 lb. U must lose 34 lb of fat too.. That's another story. U take your body weight x body fat %, then take body weight minus the decimal # fat, then that's how much pound of fat u have.. Then take body weight minus that, = lean muscle..

- Body weight x fat % = fat pounds
- Body weight - fat pounds = lean muscle

Body Fat %

Men Women

Essential: 3-5% 8-12%
Athletes: 5-13% 12-22%
34 or less: 8-22% 20-35%
35 - 55 years: 10-25% 23-38%
56 years +: 10-25% 25-38%

BMI

18% = Underweight
18.6 - 21.99% = Acceptable
22.0 - 24.99% = Acceptable
25.0 - 29.99% = Overweight
30.0 - 34.99% = Obese 1
35.0 - 39.99% = Obese 2
40 % = Obese 3

DaveInFL · February 2014

Thanks for the detailed reply. Not sure I followed all of what you said though

Sorry.

Yesterday I was in Publix (supermarket chain here in FL) and there have these new machines for blood pressure and weight/BMI. Can't remember what they are called but they begin with a 'H'. Anyway, blood pressure was perfect and my BMI was around 29%, which puts me at over weight. Now, if I remember correctly, BMI is not an exact science as it doesn't take several things into account, but I suspect it's a good ball park.

Ok, so I am 44 years old, 5'7" and currently at around 183lbs, so I've lost around 2lbs since Tuesday of this week, so not too bad. Because of the running/cycling and tennis I have pretty strong legs with big calfs and strong upper leg muscles. The area that gets affected the most is the guy

I'm not looking for a 6 pack, or even a 4 pack, I'd just like to lose some weight and have a slimmer gut and smaller love handles...LOL.

Getting back to what you was writing below. So, if I am 44 and my BMI was 29% then I would multiply my current weight (183) x 15% (44-29) which would mean I have around 27lbs of fat and 156lbs of lean muscle? Am I understanding what your wrote below correctly?

Either way, I know I have a ways to go.

I have a few more questions also.

1. Today I went out and did 75 minutes of cycles at an average speed of 18.22 mph. According to Endomondo that equates to 1,583 calories for someone at my weight/age. So, that means my current net calories is sitting at -651, even after eating breakfast before I cycled and breakfast #2 after cycling. I basically still need to eat 2,241 calories to reach my daily net goal. Is it best to try and use this as a good, aggressive day and try and keep my net calories really low? Perhaps I could eat an additional 1,500 calories today and come in at a net of 900 or so calories, or it it best to try and eat all the 2,241 remaining calories and meet my daily goal of 1,590?

2. I seem to be constantly over on my sodium in take. Some days it can be almost double my goal of 2300mg. Yesterday was a bad day and so was Thursday, even what I would consider a good food day still takes me 500mg over the sodium goal set by MFP.

DaveInFL · February 2014

Bump bump

Need to lose around 15lbs

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