Resonable time frame to drop 30-40 lbs?

Soundbodysoundmind
Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I am 19, female (obviously), and I weigh 164 my height is 5'4. I want to weigh roughly around 130, I have done a lot of research!
I am medium frame and a "ruler" shaped body measurements are 40-32-41. I am kind of stuck. I lost 11 lbs, but now I am at a plateau despite that I eat 1300 calories a day and if I eat more than 1500 calories I gain weight quickly.
So three questions...
Am I eating enough? Should I be doing more cardio to drop the fat and is 30 minutes enough for cardio??? Or more toning exercises?
Anything would be great, thank you!

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


    Here are the general guidelines. Some weeks may be more, some may be less.


    Also, do you use a food scale? And can you open your food diary?

    Depending on how much time you can exercise, i would say 3-4 days of resistance training, 2-3 days of cardio and if you want, 1 day of flexibility/active recovery.
  • kristixo
    kristixo Posts: 38 Member
    Definitely add some resistance training in there! Muscle buns fat, so it's a really important component of weight loss! Good luck, I know how frustrating plateaus are.
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.
    And what are some examples of resistance exercises? And how long should I do cardio for?
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.

    Using your hands for portion sizes is not accurate. How do you know what kind of portion to log when you take a "handful" of something? Using a digital food scale to weigh all solids and viscous foods will help to improve your accuracy

    Also, when another poster said to open your diary - that means to go into the food diary settings on this website and make your food diary visible to anyone on this site, so that others can take a look at how you've logged things and then make suggestions as to what you can do differently to improve accuracy.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.

    Using your hands for portion sizes is not accurate. How do you know what kind of portion to log when you take a "handful" of something? Using a digital food scale to weigh all solids and viscous foods will help to improve your accuracy

    Also, when another poster said to open your diary - that means to go into the food diary settings on this website and make your food diary visible to anyone on this site, so that others can take a look at how you've logged things and then make suggestions as to what you can do differently to improve accuracy.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    here is the link to make your food diary public. But yea, a hand is not a good way of measuring food. You are probably eating a lot more calories than you think. Pick up a food scale from Amazon or walmart. Personally, i love my ozeri.


    Also, how many hours a week do you want to exercise? Are you exercising at a gym or home? If home, what equipment do you have?
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.

    Using your hands for portion sizes is not accurate. How do you know what kind of portion to log when you take a "handful" of something? Using a digital food scale to weigh all solids and viscous foods will help to improve your accuracy

    Also, when another poster said to open your diary - that means to go into the food diary settings on this website and make your food diary visible to anyone on this site, so that others can take a look at how you've logged things and then make suggestions as to what you can do differently to improve accuracy.

    That's true, thank you!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Reasonable time would be 30-40 weeks.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.

    Using your hands for portion sizes is not accurate. How do you know what kind of portion to log when you take a "handful" of something? Using a digital food scale to weigh all solids and viscous foods will help to improve your accuracy

    Also, when another poster said to open your diary - that means to go into the food diary settings on this website and make your food diary visible to anyone on this site, so that others can take a look at how you've logged things and then make suggestions as to what you can do differently to improve accuracy.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    here is the link to make your food diary public. But yea, a hand is not a good way of measuring food. You are probably eating a lot more calories than you think. Pick up a food scale from Amazon or walmart. Personally, i love my ozeri.


    Also, how many hours a week do you want to exercise? Are you exercising at a gym or home? If home, what equipment do you have?

    Okay, thank you!
    Right now I can't do much cardio because I have a broken foot, but I am going to try to do rowing. I read that it's the next best thing to do. That and swimming, but I can't move my foot at all.
    I workout at home, I have an elliptical, stationary bike, one of those home gyms that have the pull up bar and has the bars for leg lifts for abs, a large exercise ball, weights (3,5,8lbs.) I have a thigh toner, jump rope, I just bought an exercise ban today. So I have quite a big that I can do. I also made a workout schedule for the days of the week like what I'm going to work out on what days for approximately how long.
    I guess it is my diet, it's frustrating because I almost do not know what to eat or how much the proportions should be. ):
    Also this is an off the wall question, but how do you curb your cravings? I tried having a cheat day, but I can't last that long if I wanted chocolate or something. Diabetes and hypoglycemia runs in my family so it's hard to force myself away from sugar. Any suggestions?
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    Reasonable time would be 30-40 weeks.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    Thank you!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Okay, thank you!
    Right now I can't do much cardio because I have a broken foot, but I am going to try to do rowing. I read that it's the next best thing to do. That and swimming, but I can't move my foot at all.
    I workout at home, I have an elliptical, stationary bike, one of those home gyms that have the pull up bar and has the bars for leg lifts for abs, a large exercise ball, weights (3,5,8lbs.) I have a thigh toner, jump rope, I just bought an exercise ban today. So I have quite a big that I can do. I also made a workout schedule for the days of the week like what I'm going to work out on what days for approximately how long.
    I guess it is my diet, it's frustrating because I almost do not know what to eat or how much the proportions should be. ):
    Also this is an off the wall question, but how do you curb your cravings? I tried having a cheat day, but I can't last that long if I wanted chocolate or something. Diabetes and hypoglycemia runs in my family so it's hard to force myself away from sugar. Any suggestions?

    Calorie deficit for weight loss. Exercise for fitness. If you are limited in your workout, you can still lose weight. I highly recommend a food scale, as others have suggested. You might be surprised how high some of your portions really are, particularly on higher calorie foods such as peanut butter. A rounded tablespoon could be 1.5 servings as compared to weighing it. That could be an extra 60 calories. It doesn't sound like much, but it will add up quickly, especially since you seem to be doing this with a lot of your foods. You don't need to avoid sugar unless you are diabetic or hypoglycemic. Given the family history, reducing it may be a good choice thought. You can do this by increasing your consumption of whole foods and reducing the amount of processed foods. Many things that are labelled 'low fat' will have an increase of sugar to compensate for flavor differences.

    I would suggest that you get a scale and when you enter your foods in the diary, try to avoid the entries with an * beside them. The * denotes that it has been entered by another user and could be incorrect. If you have to use one of the entries made by another user, confirm it's accuracy from the package label before using it.
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    Okay, thank you!
    Right now I can't do much cardio because I have a broken foot, but I am going to try to do rowing. I read that it's the next best thing to do. That and swimming, but I can't move my foot at all.
    I workout at home, I have an elliptical, stationary bike, one of those home gyms that have the pull up bar and has the bars for leg lifts for abs, a large exercise ball, weights (3,5,8lbs.) I have a thigh toner, jump rope, I just bought an exercise ban today. So I have quite a big that I can do. I also made a workout schedule for the days of the week like what I'm going to work out on what days for approximately how long.
    I guess it is my diet, it's frustrating because I almost do not know what to eat or how much the proportions should be. ):
    Also this is an off the wall question, but how do you curb your cravings? I tried having a cheat day, but I can't last that long if I wanted chocolate or something. Diabetes and hypoglycemia runs in my family so it's hard to force myself away from sugar. Any suggestions?

    Calorie deficit for weight loss. Exercise for fitness. If you are limited in your workout, you can still lose weight. I highly recommend a food scale, as others have suggested. You might be surprised how high some of your portions really are, particularly on higher calorie foods such as peanut butter. A rounded tablespoon could be 1.5 servings as compared to weighing it. That could be an extra 60 calories. It doesn't sound like much, but it will add up quickly, especially since you seem to be doing this with a lot of your foods. You don't need to avoid sugar unless you are diabetic or hypoglycemic. Given the family history, reducing it may be a good choice thought. You can do this by increasing your consumption of whole foods and reducing the amount of processed foods. Many things that are labelled 'low fat' will have an increase of sugar to compensate for flavor differences.

    I would suggest that you get a scale and when you enter your foods in the diary, try to avoid the entries with an * beside them. The * denotes that it has been entered by another user and could be incorrect. If you have to use one of the entries made by another user, confirm it's accuracy from the package label before using it.
    Thank you! That was a lot of good information... Maybe that is what I'm doing wrong. I'll try a scale tomorrow and see how it goes. Thank you!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    I use this website's app as my "diary" and food scale, I just started trying this way of using your hands for proportion sizes, I tend to have bigger eyes than my stomach so I helps me realize I do not need to eat that much.

    Using your hands for portion sizes is not accurate. How do you know what kind of portion to log when you take a "handful" of something? Using a digital food scale to weigh all solids and viscous foods will help to improve your accuracy

    Also, when another poster said to open your diary - that means to go into the food diary settings on this website and make your food diary visible to anyone on this site, so that others can take a look at how you've logged things and then make suggestions as to what you can do differently to improve accuracy.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    here is the link to make your food diary public. But yea, a hand is not a good way of measuring food. You are probably eating a lot more calories than you think. Pick up a food scale from Amazon or walmart. Personally, i love my ozeri.


    Also, how many hours a week do you want to exercise? Are you exercising at a gym or home? If home, what equipment do you have?

    Okay, thank you!
    Right now I can't do much cardio because I have a broken foot, but I am going to try to do rowing. I read that it's the next best thing to do. That and swimming, but I can't move my foot at all.
    I workout at home, I have an elliptical, stationary bike, one of those home gyms that have the pull up bar and has the bars for leg lifts for abs, a large exercise ball, weights (3,5,8lbs.) I have a thigh toner, jump rope, I just bought an exercise ban today. So I have quite a big that I can do. I also made a workout schedule for the days of the week like what I'm going to work out on what days for approximately how long.
    I guess it is my diet, it's frustrating because I almost do not know what to eat or how much the proportions should be. ):
    Also this is an off the wall question, but how do you curb your cravings? I tried having a cheat day, but I can't last that long if I wanted chocolate or something. Diabetes and hypoglycemia runs in my family so it's hard to force myself away from sugar. Any suggestions?

    If you don't have a lot of weights, i would look to start a body resistance program. You can use stuff like fitnessblender.com to come up with a workout routine or buy their predevelop programs. There are many moves that can be done while your food is injured.

    Next, I would really look to up your proteins and your fats. Both will increase satiety which makes you full longer. Adding more fiber can help too. This will also be good since both diabetes and hypo runs in your family as both generally are managed in conjunction with a LCHF diet. Also, I have a feeling 1300 calories is too little for you. I ran the numbers and even if you are only working out lightly for 5 days, then 1700 is going to be a bit better. If anything, once you get a food scale which should be immediately, I would increase calories, especially protein. The increase in calories to around 1700 will help aid the recovery process and additional amino acids from protein will help too.
  • Dilvish
    Dilvish Posts: 398 Member
    you are on the right track. You just need to do more cross training because your body is used to the exercise you are doing now. Swimming is great for overall health but not that good for weight loss. Weight bearing exercise is going to provide more results if you have primarily been doing mostly cardio.
    Warm up for about 10 minutes on your favorite cardio machine and then spend the rest of your workout doing weights. Free weights work best because you use more muscles, but slowly increase the weight as you go.

    30-40 lbs is attainable but if you have plateaued then it is likely you won't see more than a couple of pounds lost per week. This is typical when your body gets used to a routine. You need to shock your body into a new routine. A good way to start is intervals. go full bore for 2 minutes then rest for 2. try to maintain this for the entire workout and increase the full bore time up to 10 minutes. This type of training makes your body react by burning more calories because you are tricking it into thinking you are in "fight or flight" mode

    1300 calories is not enough on a weight bearing exercise program. 1600-1900 would be more appropriate as long as the food is wholesome (nothing from a package or can).
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    Thanks you guys!(:
    That was a lot and good information!(:

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