Help me to stop overthinking this weight loss thing.

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Hi everyone! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. I'm 23 years old, 5'3" and as of last week (6/24/2014) I weighed 159.2 lbs. My goal, for the past 3 years, has been to reach 130 lbs. Here's a little of my back story:

In November of 2009, I was a hefty 188 lbs after having my daughter earlier that year. I was lazy, unmotivated and I ate whatever I wanted until finally I had enough. I used MFP and went to the gym consistently and ended up losing 30 lbs! These were my results (hope the picture loads, this is my first time):

photo_zps1ea3c126.png

If that picture didn't load, here's a direct link to Photo Bucket: http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj575/h_montigney/photo_zps1ea3c126.png


So anyway, yes I was happy. Then, I fell off the wagon AGAIN. Luckily, I never managed to get back to 188lbs but I can't seem to shred these last 30 lbs no matter how hard I try. I just started using MFP again last week and and I'm great at staying under 1200 cals a day and I'm currently on Day 3 of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. But I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually eating less than I should. I see these posts about TDEE and blah, blah, blah and I realize that I actually have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Maybe 1200 cals was ok when I was 188 lbs but I'm questioning what it should be now.

I'm just wondering if anyone can send some support my way and reassure me that I'm not overthinking this too much.

Replies

  • DanceswithWow
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    Good jpb
  • Minkekj
    Minkekj Posts: 5 Member
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    Your calories are too low. How long have you been eating sub-1200 calories? Also, I'm not familiar with the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Is there a lot of HIIT cardio involved? With cardio, the more you do upfront, the more you're going to have to do, down the road, in order to maintain your weight loss. I can't give you an exact calorie count because every body is different, but I know that eating 1200 right now is going to hose you down the road. Let me know if I can be of any more help.
  • hmontigney
    hmontigney Posts: 56 Member
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    Your calories are too low. How long have you been eating sub-1200 calories? Also, I'm not familiar with the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Is there a lot of HIIT cardio involved? With cardio, the more you do upfront, the more you're going to have to do, down the road, in order to maintain your weight loss. I can't give you an exact calorie count because every body is different, but I know that eating 1200 right now is going to hose you down the road. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

    I've been eating 1,200 for a while. I changed my goals today to lose 1lb per week and it upped my calories to 1,310. Maybe that'll work? I'm trying to get off these last 30lbs the same way I got rid of the first 30 but it's proving to be quite difficult.

    The 30 Day Shred is circuit training. She combines cardio, strength and abs for a 20 minute workout. There isn't much to do with HIIT cardio with this but my body has been sore since yesterday so I'm guessing it's working for now. I plan to do this for the 30 days it requires and then I know I have to up my exercise if I'm ever going to acheive the transformation I'm aiming for. I've always wanted to weight train but I can't get past the beefy guys at the gym yet. They intimidate me, lol.
  • LoneWolf_70
    LoneWolf_70 Posts: 1,151 Member
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    dont believe the pseudo science. 1200 for someone your size is fine. can ya do it forever? prob not, but you're NOT going to starve or go into starvation mode. all ridiculous. Drink like 60+oz of water a day, high protein diet and LIFT weights.