Not sure If I'm doing this right! Advice required.
Devilbabi
Posts: 20 Member
Hi All! I am currently undertaking this weight loss experience without a trainer and I was hoping to get some assistance please.
I currently weight 264 pounds, and am 5"11 . My first goal is 220 pounds, which is 44 pounds I need to lose. I have been working out and tracking throughout this year but nothing dedicated until now. I have been specifically logging for a month now, noticed about 2.4 pounds loss.
I was told that I should eat about 1200 calories a day, and I have manually changed my total on my calculator to reflect that. I am working out and trying to hit about 500 - 600 calories a day burn off.
As it stands, I feel like I am not losing as much as I want to be, am I eating too little or much? Am I burning enough in exercise a day? I have no idea here, so any help at all would be awesome.
I have done some reading here on the forums, and other places, but I feel like its all a little confusing for someone who has never attempted this kind of weight loss before?
Thanks for any assistance!
A
I currently weight 264 pounds, and am 5"11 . My first goal is 220 pounds, which is 44 pounds I need to lose. I have been working out and tracking throughout this year but nothing dedicated until now. I have been specifically logging for a month now, noticed about 2.4 pounds loss.
I was told that I should eat about 1200 calories a day, and I have manually changed my total on my calculator to reflect that. I am working out and trying to hit about 500 - 600 calories a day burn off.
As it stands, I feel like I am not losing as much as I want to be, am I eating too little or much? Am I burning enough in exercise a day? I have no idea here, so any help at all would be awesome.
I have done some reading here on the forums, and other places, but I feel like its all a little confusing for someone who has never attempted this kind of weight loss before?
Thanks for any assistance!
A
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Replies
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Try not to think of this as a diet, but as a lifestyle change. Losing weight too quickly or micromanaging every last calorie or work-out leads to obsessive behaviour; which is something I highly struggle with myself. Try to think of this as a long run sort of thing, lose weight healthy now and reap the benefits throughout. If you lose it too quick, you have the pain of maybe gaining it back even quicker than before or haulting your metabolism if too little calories are consumed. That being said, if you are losing at a 1-2lb a week steady, then there should be no cause for concern. Aiming for higher goals than that is an unhealthy thing, and weight loss should benefit your health as well as your happiness. Be healthy and be happy! Try not to worry about the numbers too much and think about the long term benefits.0
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Pardon me, I didn't see your 2.4lbs loss thing I must've read too fast.
Do you have a food scale? Are you weighing everything you eat or just some?0 -
1200 is the minimum you should have after taking into account your exercise calories. Your net calories are way too low, and you'll have to fight for every lb.
It also depends on how much you have to lose. Did you take the MFP profile? How many calories did it say for you to eat. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. I've lost 60lbs (7 of them in the last week) and I eat about 1700 cals a day.0 -
Who told you to eat 1200 calories? Your personal trainer? Did he tell you why 1200?
How many calories are you actually eating?
Do you weigh, measure and log everything?
What is you training routine overall like?
A friend of mine who recently lost 30kgs recommended that I manually change the total. He said this helped him to lose quicker, so I thought hey I should give that a go! I usually eat a little over 1200 a day. I don't stress too much as MFP told me my total should be 1350 so If I over shoot the 1200 a bit then I'm not too stressed. I am no weighing everything I consume, I do scan it though and enter it here.
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BornxVillain wrote: »Try not to think of this as a diet, but as a lifestyle change. Losing weight too quickly or micromanaging every last calorie or work-out leads to obsessive behaviour; which is something I highly struggle with myself. Try to think of this as a long run sort of thing, lose weight healthy now and reap the benefits throughout. If you lose it too quick, you have the pain of maybe gaining it back even quicker than before or haulting your metabolism if too little calories are consumed. That being said, if you are losing at a 1-2lb a week steady, then there should be no cause for concern. Aiming for higher goals than that is an unhealthy thing, and weight loss should benefit your health as well as your happiness. Be healthy and be happy! Try not to worry about the numbers too much and think about the long term benefits.
Im not stressing about it too much, I just want to get things started and I feel like its taking a while to see some results. I guess it can be frustrating.0 -
1200 is the minimum you should have after taking into account your exercise calories. Your net calories are way too low, and you'll have to fight for every lb.
It also depends on how much you have to lose. Did you take the MFP profile? How many calories did it say for you to eat. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. I've lost 60lbs (7 of them in the last week) and I eat about 1700 cals a day.
MFP tells me about 1350. I want to loose 20kgs, so at 1 kg a week that is my total apparently.0 -
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So, is there a way I can find out exactly what I should be consuming and burning off during workouts?0
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ok, I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark completely.0
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I failed and failed and failed until I changed my tack on a few things. Firstly... forget about your weight. As a man I looked to other males for inspiration and I noticed something; weight has NOTHING to do with health. the worlds strongest man is 400 lbs and according to his BMI and his weight he is severely obese. He has a body fat of 9%!
If you want to lose fat to get healthy remember these 2 things
1) the body is a machine and machines use fuel. If you put in less fuel and put in more work you will lose weight. Google BMR calculators (base metabolic rate) to find out what you need in calories. THEN take,,, say,,, 200 calories off it. Then go for a walk. I walk for an hour with music. The time flies and the calories get burned. The walk plus the reduced calories add up. I have dropped 14Lbs in the past 20 days doing this.
2) muscle is what burns fat fastest. doing SOME exercise will build muscle. The walking I do has given me legs like a rugby player and this is probably why I am burning fat TOO fast.
please DON'T look at what I have done and think "I can do that". because I have gone so fast I am probably looking at surgery to remove skin. it won't be pretty.
Notice I didn't tell you how many calories to eat and how much to exercise? Well, this goes back to that balance of fuel in the body. You just need to burn 500 calories a day MORE than you take in. in theory you could eat 5000 calories a day as long as you burn 5500. Don't believe me? Google "tom price calories" he's a strongman who eats 10,000 calories a day. That wasn't a typo; ten thousand calories a day. He has an athletic build.
If you need any thing else or clarification, just drop me a line hun.0 -
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When you entered in your current weight and goal weight, what did MFP tell you to eat to lose 1.5 lbs. a week? It seems to me you are eating way too few calories (or I suppose it's possible that you are really, really underestimating calories, but I find that harder to believe).
As you use the guided process (Goals > Change Goals > Guided), you can select your level of activity. I have my activity level set at Sedentary so that no regular exercise activities are counted in my baseline. Then, I enter in my "extra" exercise for the week. I try not to eat anything that I cannot at least roughly estimate, and I have found an eating pattern and foods that satisfy me without being overly caloric (eating breakfast every morning, peanut butter, protein, etc.). As you are first starting out, log everything you eat, every day (drinks included).
Remember to eat back (most) of your exercise calories. You should be slightly under the recommended number every day, as long as you are counting all food eaten and exercise completed. Calories minus exercise = your balance for the day.
Check out this site, which I think will make you rethink your calorie level: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ . Remember that food is fuel for exercise, and your eating a little bit less every day should not make you feel weak or angry all the time. If you don't feel deprived, you are more likely to stick to a healthy eating and exercise plan.
Oh, also, I have that RunKeeper is a good app that links to MFP and helps motivate me to do more walks, although it does tend to overestimate calories a smidge.
Good luck! Feel free to Friend me!
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Thankyou so much for all of that information, I really appreciate it!! Friended you as wellFreenarative wrote: »I failed and failed and failed until I changed my tack on a few things. Firstly... forget about your weight. As a man I looked to other males for inspiration and I noticed something; weight has NOTHING to do with health. the worlds strongest man is 400 lbs and according to his BMI and his weight he is severely obese. He has a body fat of 9%!
If you want to lose fat to get healthy remember these 2 things
1) the body is a machine and machines use fuel. If you put in less fuel and put in more work you will lose weight. Google BMR calculators (base metabolic rate) to find out what you need in calories. THEN take,,, say,,, 200 calories off it. Then go for a walk. I walk for an hour with music. The time flies and the calories get burned. The walk plus the reduced calories add up. I have dropped 14Lbs in the past 20 days doing this. Ok I gave this a go and my BMR is 1964, I have been consuming about 1200-1300 for the last 4ish weeks. I go for a walk daily, usually anywhere between 2-4kms a days. The last week I have just started jogging too, hoping that will help!
2) muscle is what burns fat fastest. doing SOME exercise will build muscle. The walking I do has given me legs like a rugby player and this is probably why I am burning fat TOO fast. If im not walking or jogging, I do a 30min cardio work out, maybe I need to add some weights to that.
please DON'T look at what I have done and think "I can do that". because I have gone so fast I am probably looking at surgery to remove skin. it won't be pretty.
Notice I didn't tell you how many calories to eat and how much to exercise? Well, this goes back to that balance of fuel in the body. You just need to burn 500 calories a day MORE than you take in. in theory you could eat 5000 calories a day as long as you burn 5500. Don't believe me? Google "tom price calories" he's a strongman who eats 10,000 calories a day. That wasn't a typo; ten thousand calories a day. He has an athletic build.
If you need any thing else or clarification, just drop me a line hun.
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So she's not losing weight because she's eating to few calories? How does that work? Why is it you find it hard to believe the OP isn't underestimating her calories where she doesn't account for calories accurately? Do you know something we don't?
All I know is that if I eat too few calories (WAY too few calories, in this case), I feel like crap and don't stick to my plan. Also, I was attempting to be nice.
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Your most likely not eating 1200. I'm guessing that you aren't weighing and measuring properly. If you where truly eating that little, you'd be losing. Get a scale and learn how to weigh and measure everything you consume, then learn to log it properly.0
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When you entered in your current weight and goal weight, what did MFP tell you to eat to lose 1.5 lbs. a week? It seems to me you are eating way too few calories (or I suppose it's possible that you are really, really underestimating calories, but I find that harder to believe).
As you use the guided process (Goals > Change Goals > Guided), you can select your level of activity. I have my activity level set at Sedentary so that no regular exercise activities are counted in my baseline. Then, I enter in my "extra" exercise for the week. I try not to eat anything that I cannot at least roughly estimate, and I have found an eating pattern and foods that satisfy me without being overly caloric (eating breakfast every morning, peanut butter, protein, etc.). As you are first starting out, log everything you eat, every day (drinks included).
Remember to eat back (most) of your exercise calories. You should be slightly under the recommended number every day, as long as you are counting all food eaten and exercise completed. Calories minus exercise = your balance for the day.
Check out this site, which I think will make you rethink your calorie level: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ . Remember that food is fuel for exercise, and your eating a little bit less every day should not make you feel weak or angry all the time. If you don't feel deprived, you are more likely to stick to a healthy eating and exercise plan.
Oh, also, I have that RunKeeper is a good app that links to MFP and helps motivate me to do more walks, although it does tend to overestimate calories a smidge.
Good luck! Feel free to Friend me!
MFP told me to consume about 1350 a day and I will lose about 1kg a week on that, apparently. I stupidly set it too 1200 because I was told that would accelerate the process, I have set it back now though.
I set mine as Sedentry too, I try to walk anywhere between 2-4kms a day, and have just started jogging as well. I use a HRM and the app Map My Walk and it feeds back into my MFP. I change the calories burnt on it too reflect what my heart rate monitor shows.
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MFP told me to consume about 1350 a day and I will lose about 1kg a week on that, apparently. I stupidly set it too 1200 because I was told that would accelerate the process, I have set it back now though.
I set mine as Sedentry too, I try to walk anywhere between 2-4kms a day, and have just started jogging as well. I use a HRM and the app Map My Walk and it feeds back into my MFP. I change the calories burnt on it too reflect what my heart rate monitor shows.
It's a learning process. It sounds like you are on the right track! 0 -
So she's not losing weight because she's eating to few calories? How does that work? Why is it you find it hard to believe the OP isn't underestimating her calories where she doesn't account for calories accurately? Do you know something we don't?
All I know is that if I eat too few calories (WAY too few calories, in this case), I feel like crap and don't stick to my plan. Also, I was attempting to be nice.
Oh gosh, it seems that everywhere you go there's one or two of these types! Thank you so much for your help none the less, your advice is more then welcomed.0 -
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Freenarative wrote: »You just need to burn 500 calories a day MORE than you take in. in theory you could eat 5000 calories a day as long as you burn 5500.
No. The idea is not to burn off every single calorie you eat plus more so you 5000/5500 theory is not a good idea.
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Here are two links that may be good to review. The video makes an important point at 7:25.
Your goal should be to eat as much as you can while still encouraging weight loss. I am certain you can eat more than 1200 calories and still lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW6SvIbmyAs&list=UUXDX5yHGUm5xIKv46yxm9JA
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
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I've normally eaten 1200 calories by lunch. I'd die if that was all I could eat all day. And if that was all I ate on a regular basis, I'd start to see things like my nails become brittle, my hair fall out, etc. At your weight and height, you can certainly eat more and still lose weight. I know you want the weight to come off immediateley, but that's not best for long-term weight management. Lose too quickly, and you're more likely to lose muscle, which you really want to keep. Lose too quickly, and your skin will be saggier as it takes some time for it to recoil.
As a pp said, you don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. I can create a caloric deficit on days when I eat 2400 calories. Check out this website for more info:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
What types would that be?So she's not losing weight because she's eating to few calories? How does that work? Why is it you find it hard to believe the OP isn't underestimating her calories where she doesn't account for calories accurately? Do you know something we don't?
All I know is that if I eat too few calories (WAY too few calories, in this case), I feel like crap and don't stick to my plan. Also, I was attempting to be nice.
Oh gosh, it seems that everywhere you go there's one or two of these types! Thank you so much for your help none the less, your advice is more then welcomed.
You know the type, the ones with their science and facts.
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