Losing weight has never been harder!!

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stargazgal
stargazgal Posts: 93 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Oh I'm spinning!! So much advice...but what is the best way?? I am currently needing to lose 40-50 lbs. I feel I am currently doing everything I need too from a fitness perspective; I get my weight training, cardio, HIIT, core etc etc
But I am told... Go paleo... Go low fat... Eat more fat...Eat 5 small meals... Eat your calories back.. Don't eat your calories back...you aren't eating enough... You're eating too much... Follow this macro follow that macro! Argh...
I can't lose no matter what I do. My yo yo dieting... My all or nothing exercise plans has resulted in a steady weight gain and I'm now 50 lbs heavier...and sad :(
Please any helpful advice

Replies

  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Okay, take a deep breath!

    Start off SIMPLE.

    Eat the calories MFP has calculated for you (or whatever calculations you're using), and eat back your exercise calories.

    If you don't begin to lose weight, then you can tweak. :)

    As for me, I only eat back 1/2-3/4 or so of my exercise calories. BUT I am a gnarled old 47-year-old perimenopausal sedentary woman with a bum thyroid. Different things work for different people. But if you try to jump at all of those things at once, you'll be lost.

    So start simple. Very simple. And then see where that takes you.

    Barring some extreme, and I am talking extreme medical condition or a notoriously weight-gaining and/or water retaining medication, such as steroids, if you eat at a deficit you will lose weight. It is likely you will be able to eat what MFP has given you (assuming you've entered your stats and activity level correctly) and be at a deficit.

    It really is as simple as that. Don't even futz around with your macros (fat, protein, carbs) yet. Just eat the amount of calories it is projected you should eat. Include your exercise and eat that. And then see where you are.

    Good luck!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    1) Determine whether you want to follow TDEE or NEAT/net method. The former includes exercise, the latter doesn't.

    2) Estimate your maintenance caloric needs with one of those two methods. External websites like health-calc or exrx.net or scooby's are worth checking out. TDEE = include your average exercise, NEAT = exclude any planned exercise from the calculation.

    3) Subtract 10-20% from the number depending on how fast you want to lose. Bigger = faster. Set as your goal.

    4) If you do not have body composition goals, eat whatever you want to eat within your calorie goals. If you want to track macros then you can, set them up according to your needs and preferences.

    5) If you do NEAT method, eat back 50-100% of the calories you log (I rec starting at 100%, reducing if rate of loss is slower than expected -- 20% is generally 1lb, 15% around 0.8, and 10% about 0.5lb per week respectively). If you do TDEE then don't log/eat back calories because they are accounted for.

    6) Weigh food for the most accuracy, but just be sure you are at least using the appropriate entires. Nothing generic, enter your own recipes, use entries for the state you are weighing/measuring (e.g. cooked entry for cooked weight).

    That's it. Exercise how you want, eat how you want, adjust after a few months of consistent logging (eat right up to your goals, log daily or almost daily) so you can have time to see trends, etc. I tried NEAT method for a few months but even with eating back all the exercise calories I lost too quickly despite using a calculator that is pretty on point for my general activity levels (health-calc). TDEE works better for me. I follow IIFYM lifestyle because thajt's what works for me. I eat x grams of protein and aim for slower weight loss and possibly higher carb before wokrouts because this is all what works for me and my goals, based on tweaking from months of logging and personal experience.
  • GoAnaGo12015
    GoAnaGo12015 Posts: 2
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    Awww I can completely understand your sadness and frustration. The answer to this question is not as simple as I wish it was. Yet it can be... The truth is all the above. 1. 1200 calories 2. Low Carbs like 50-65 3. Exersize at least 5 days a week. Like walking, running, swimming ... Dancing move your body! Watch the sodium its a killer on the scale
  • GoAnaGo12015
    GoAnaGo12015 Posts: 2
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    GoAnaGo12015 wrote: »
    Awww I can completely understand your sadness and frustration. The answer to this question is not as simple as I wish it was. Yet it can be... The truth is all the above. 1. 1200 calories 2. Low Carbs like 50-65 3. Exersize at least 5 days a week. Like walking, running, swimming ... Dancing move your body! Watch the sodium its a killer on the scale

  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Simplest.... Math, calories in vs calories out. It really is that simple. Here is my basic advice, not a fad, just basic math. Also quit listening to those that last time they lost "?", they obviously regained it......

    *Log EVERYTHING

    *Weigh Solids

    *Measure liquids

    *Exercise for fitness
    (weight lifting is my recommendation)

    *Be Honest with Yourself

    *Measure yourself, take silly pictures and then enjoy your progress.

    And............

    *****MOST IMPORTANTLY******
    READ THIS


    ======================================================================================================
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    ======================================================================================================

    THEN READ IT AGAIN........ :drinker:


    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
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    edited January 2015
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    There is one and only one thing you need concern yourself with: Caloric Deficit.

    All else is fluff... noise in the essential equation ... personal preference and opinion ... BroScience, Superstion, and Woo Woo. All of the above. None of the above.

    Caloric Deficit.

    Learn it.

    Live it.

    HINT: Like The Tortoise And The Hare, with dieting "Slow and steady wins the race". Be the turtle. Would advise something not too aggressive. A smaller deficit over a longer time period.
  • birdstudios
    birdstudios Posts: 25 Member
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    What SergeantSausage said: Caloric Deficit.

    As long as you are accurate and consistent, weight loss will suddenly feel kind of easy.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    The only way this worked for me (first time ever and I'm 47 now) is to throw away absolutely everything I have ever heard / thought I knew about dieting and concentrate on maintaining a calorie defecit

    it's simple

    it works

    try it

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