What leads to successful weight loss?
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There are 3 things that I can think of that will help you be successful: accuracy, consistency and determination.
Accuracy: Be accurate in your logging. Use a food scale to make sure your portion sizes are accurate. It works a lot better than measuring cups, and a heck of a lot better than eyeballing portions. Along with that you want to make sure that you are using the correct entries in the database. That means avoiding entries marked "generic" or using a homemade entry that you did not create. This link will help you with logging accuracy.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
Consistency: Make sure you are logging everything on a daily basis.
Determination: Motivation comes and goes and if you rely only on motivation it might throw you off track. Stay determined, especially on those days where you just aren't feeling up to logging or exercising. Just dig deep and do what you need to do.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »
Come on, let those feels flow through you.mckennasihde wrote: »oh please people-- just take it with a grain of salt and calm down.
Oh please. You're pretty unaware of how things work in general. Especially with your new crusade against scales.TimothyFish wrote: »My god the amount of horrible advice at the top of this thread is unreal.
No one, no one listen to the stuff below. It's just so bad.mshaver221 wrote: »I would suggest starting out with some good cardio. 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. On the 4th day, do some weight training. Do this for a bout 3 weeks. Then start incorporating some more lifting and circuit training.TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Yes, it is horrible, isn't it? The horror of the government spend our hard earned tax dollars to pay for a study that tells us we need to exercise if we want to be healthy. With as much money as we give them, they ought to be telling us to sit in front of a television and stuff our faces with potato chips.
I have nothing against you or anyone else using a scale. I've just grown tired of seeing people imply that weighing food is going to solve all weight loss problems.
So what's your solution. Also, I'm requesting to see what progress you've made using your methods.
Over the last 90 days, my weight loss average has been 1.94 lbs per week. I eyeball my food portions and I put in about seven hours of exercise each week. On non-exercise days, I eat 1600 calories. On days I exercise, I eat as many as 800 extra calories.
You must be very good at it. You must also have some nice wiggle room between your TDEE and your calorie consumption that the margin of error doesn't matter.
You keep assuming that everyone else is like you.
You know what they say about assumptions.
And... here's the REAL kicker... please do tell me how your eyeballing is more accurate than a scale for logging purposes? Do you really know how many calories you consume?
When you get down to the last bit of weight you have to lose and your rate of loss slows down, what will you do then?
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TimothyFish wrote: »cbhubbybubble wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:
- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Where does the 90 minute minimum for weight loss come from? Is that a suggestion for exercising out a bad diet and not calorie counting or? No way I exercise 90min every day and I've lost over 65lbs. I lift weights 40-60 minutes 3-4x per week. I try to get in a walk with the dog or on the treadmill if I can and I go to yoga once or twice a week. I do all that to get fit, but I've lost weight by eating at a calorie deficit
In reading the report, it is a little hard to figure out what they are basing it on. I don't think they are saying this is without reducing calories. I think what they are saying is that people who are overweight need to exercise more so that the increased health benefits of exercise counteract the increased health problems associated with obesity.
What report? Care to link us? Or does it just no exist?0 -
mamapeach910 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »
Come on, let those feels flow through you.mckennasihde wrote: »oh please people-- just take it with a grain of salt and calm down.
Oh please. You're pretty unaware of how things work in general. Especially with your new crusade against scales.TimothyFish wrote: »My god the amount of horrible advice at the top of this thread is unreal.
No one, no one listen to the stuff below. It's just so bad.mshaver221 wrote: »I would suggest starting out with some good cardio. 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. On the 4th day, do some weight training. Do this for a bout 3 weeks. Then start incorporating some more lifting and circuit training.TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Yes, it is horrible, isn't it? The horror of the government spend our hard earned tax dollars to pay for a study that tells us we need to exercise if we want to be healthy. With as much money as we give them, they ought to be telling us to sit in front of a television and stuff our faces with potato chips.
I have nothing against you or anyone else using a scale. I've just grown tired of seeing people imply that weighing food is going to solve all weight loss problems.
So what's your solution. Also, I'm requesting to see what progress you've made using your methods.
Over the last 90 days, my weight loss average has been 1.94 lbs per week. I eyeball my food portions and I put in about seven hours of exercise each week. On non-exercise days, I eat 1600 calories. On days I exercise, I eat as many as 800 extra calories.
You must be very good at it. You must also have some nice wiggle room between your TDEE and your calorie consumption that the margin of error doesn't matter.
You keep assuming that everyone else is like you.
You know what they say about assumptions.
And... here's the REAL kicker... please do tell me how your eyeballing is more accurate than a scale for logging purposes? Do you really know how many calories you consume?
When you get down to the last bit of weight you have to lose and your rate of loss slows down, what will you do then?
eyeballing= exact calorie intake for this guy.0 -
So food scales are now a bad thing? Didn't know that. Guess I'll stick to the bad thing since it always works.0
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OP you can strength train or do cardio. You can even do both. It's all up to you. Those will help in your caloric deficit. Which is your ultimate goal when you want to lose weight. You don't have to eat in as big a deficit when adding strength training and or cardio. That's a great thing. You can eat more and still lose weight. What I've learned and I can only speak for myself and the others I've helped, cardio helps you lose weight, but, strength training (weight lifting) helps you look better when you lose the weight. Without the weights some people just look like a smaller version of themselves. That can be a good or bad thing. Good luck.0
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Weight training is far more effective in changing your body for both men and women. I was a cardio girl but now I train with weights daily and do cardio twice a week maximum and have managed to completely change my body (and lost a stone).
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Also the key to weight loss = CONSISTENCY. Find a healthy lifestyle that you enjoy and that you can stick to for the long term. For me, that's lifting weights and filling my diet with protein, protein and more protein! I chuck a cheat meal in there every 2-3 weeks too, planned in advance
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consistency in logging and exercise. Also drink plenty of water0
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No, you guys are all missing the point. My method is inherently inaccurate. How could it not be? I eyeball my food portions. There are a few things that I don't bother logging. But here's the thing: It works.
It works because instead of worrying about getting my calorie counts as accurate as they can be, I'm focusing on the end result. Calorie counting, even with a scale, is inaccurate. The only accurate method of determining calories in food destroys the food. You should always work with an inaccurate system like you would fire a shotgun. You aim in the general direction and shoot. If you miss, you adjust your aim and fire again. Putting a scope on a shotgun doesn't help much. With weight loss, you aim for what you think will give you weight loss, but if it doesn't, you eat less or you increase your activity. If you're losing weight too quickly, you increase your food intake or cut back on exercise.
As for what I'll do when I get down to the last bit of weight, past experience tells me that I'll probably overshoot my goal. When that happens, I'll increase my intake by some amount. If I'm still losing weight, I'll increase it some more. If I'm gaining weight, I'll decrease it.-1 -
TimothyFish wrote: »No, you guys are all missing the point. My method is inherently inaccurate. How could it not be? I eyeball my food portions. There are a few things that I don't bother logging. But here's the thing: It works.
It works because instead of worrying about getting my calorie counts as accurate as they can be, I'm focusing on the end result. Calorie counting, even with a scale, is inaccurate. The only accurate method of determining calories in food destroys the food. You should always work with an inaccurate system like you would fire a shotgun. You aim in the general direction and shoot. If you miss, you adjust your aim and fire again. Putting a scope on a shotgun doesn't help much. With weight loss, you aim for what you think will give you weight loss, but if it doesn't, you eat less or you increase your activity. If you're losing weight too quickly, you increase your food intake or cut back on exercise.
As for what I'll do when I get down to the last bit of weight, past experience tells me that I'll probably overshoot my goal. When that happens, I'll increase my intake by some amount. If I'm still losing weight, I'll increase it some more. If I'm gaining weight, I'll decrease it.
considering that about 40-50% of obese people overestimate the calories in their portion size, your "method" is one that is not applicable to the population at large.
I am glad you found a method that works for you, but for 75% of the rest of us a food scale is going to be more accurate than eyeballing
I would also hazard a guess that food scale is going to be more accurate for 99.9% of new people on MFP that are just getting started...
So to try and tell a beginner to jut "eyeball" portions, because it works for you, is disingenuous.
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TimothyFish wrote: »My god the amount of horrible advice at the top of this thread is unreal.
No one, no one listen to the stuff below. It's just so bad.mshaver221 wrote: »I would suggest starting out with some good cardio. 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. On the 4th day, do some weight training. Do this for a bout 3 weeks. Then start incorporating some more lifting and circuit training.TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Yes, it is horrible, isn't it? The horror of the government spend our hard earned tax dollars to pay for a study that tells us we need to exercise if we want to be healthy. With as much money as we give them, they ought to be telling us to sit in front of a television and stuff our faces with potato chips.
The government cant even get the government right, I sure as hell don't look to them for health advice.0 -
All I've ever said is that weighing food is inaccurate. I never said it wasn't less inaccurate than eyeballing. The problem I see with telling people they have to weigh their food is that it causes people to obsess over something that will always be inaccurate, when all they really need to do is eat less than what they have been.-1
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TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:
- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Now I'm confused. Your first post said you needed 10.5 hours of exercise per week to lose weight. But then you say you are steadily losing weight with only 7 hours per week?TimothyFish wrote: »Over the last 90 days, my weight loss average has been 1.94 lbs per week. I eyeball my food portions and I put in about seven hours of exercise each week. On non-exercise days, I eat 1600 calories. On days I exercise, I eat as many as 800 extra calories.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »All I've ever said is that weighing food is inaccurate. I never said it wasn't less inaccurate than eyeballing. The problem I see with telling people they have to weigh their food is that it causes people to obsess over something that will always be inaccurate, when all they really need to do is eat less than what they have been.
The problem is that you tell people who are usually looking for answers to why they have stalled this.
Most people who weigh food don't obsess. A scale is a tool. And a useful one in helping people analyze their intake. It's not helpful to undermine its value based on your very narrow personal experience. Especially since the margin of its inaccuracy is really rather insignificant compared to your method.
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TimothyFish wrote: »No, you guys are all missing the point. My method is inherently inaccurate. How could it not be? I eyeball my food portions. There are a few things that I don't bother logging. But here's the thing: It works.
It works because instead of worrying about getting my calorie counts as accurate as they can be, I'm focusing on the end result. Calorie counting, even with a scale, is inaccurate. The only accurate method of determining calories in food destroys the food. You should always work with an inaccurate system like you would fire a shotgun. You aim in the general direction and shoot. If you miss, you adjust your aim and fire again. Putting a scope on a shotgun doesn't help much. With weight loss, you aim for what you think will give you weight loss, but if it doesn't, you eat less or you increase your activity. If you're losing weight too quickly, you increase your food intake or cut back on exercise.
As for what I'll do when I get down to the last bit of weight, past experience tells me that I'll probably overshoot my goal. When that happens, I'll increase my intake by some amount. If I'm still losing weight, I'll increase it some more. If I'm gaining weight, I'll decrease it.
I at least try to open my eyes and point the shotgun at the target. Not just wave it around. What an apt analog. Heck, you probably shot your hunting dog.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:
- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Now I'm confused. Your first post said you needed 10.5 hours of exercise per week to lose weight. But then you say you are steadily losing weight with only 7 hours per week?TimothyFish wrote: »Over the last 90 days, my weight loss average has been 1.94 lbs per week. I eyeball my food portions and I put in about seven hours of exercise each week. On non-exercise days, I eat 1600 calories. On days I exercise, I eat as many as 800 extra calories.
My first post states the guidelines the CDC will give you. The study that came up with those guidelines was focused on how much activity people need to be healthy, not how much activity people need to lose weight. Obviously, you could lie in bed all day and lose weight, but that isn't the healthiest way to lose weight.
My 7 hours per week is mainly due to the sun setting so early. This summer, I'll probably be putting in 10+ hours of exercise. But by that time, I should be at my goal weight anyway.
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mamapeach910 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »All I've ever said is that weighing food is inaccurate. I never said it wasn't less inaccurate than eyeballing. The problem I see with telling people they have to weigh their food is that it causes people to obsess over something that will always be inaccurate, when all they really need to do is eat less than what they have been.
The problem is that you tell people who are usually looking for answers to why they have stalled this.
Most people who weigh food don't obsess. A scale is a tool. And a useful one in helping people analyze their intake. It's not helpful to undermine its value based on your very narrow personal experience. Especially since the margin of its inaccuracy is really rather insignificant compared to your method.
You can't really determine how much people should expect to lose based on their calorie deficit if you can't accurately determine what their calorie deficit is. Even if you could determine how much people are eating to the 1/100th of a calorie, the inaccuracies in calorie burn estimates would make it pointless. The most accurate answer we can give people who aren't losing weight is that they are eating too much and exercising too little. While we don't have accurate information about how much they are eating and how much effort they are putting in, they know exactly (though they can't express it) and can adjust their intake and effort as required.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »The minimum exercise guidelines are:
- 30 minutes daily for general health benefits
- 60 minutes daily for maintaining weight
- 90 minutes daily for losing weight
Now I'm confused. Your first post said you needed 10.5 hours of exercise per week to lose weight. But then you say you are steadily losing weight with only 7 hours per week?TimothyFish wrote: »Over the last 90 days, my weight loss average has been 1.94 lbs per week. I eyeball my food portions and I put in about seven hours of exercise each week. On non-exercise days, I eat 1600 calories. On days I exercise, I eat as many as 800 extra calories.
My first post states the guidelines the CDC will give you. The study that came up with those guidelines was focused on how much activity people need to be healthy, not how much activity people need to lose weight. Obviously, you could lie in bed all day and lose weight, but that isn't the healthiest way to lose weight.
My 7 hours per week is mainly due to the sun setting so early. This summer, I'll probably be putting in 10+ hours of exercise. But by that time, I should be at my goal weight anyway.
You know the recommendation is for activity not outright exercise?
Anyway, back to the OP.
A couple of people have mentioned consistency. This can't be underlined enough. Not only is long term adherence key to successful loss and maintenance but frequency of exercise is also a key to successful gains in most sports related objectives.
For me, lifting required 3+ sessions per week to see gains, running is a 2x per week thing initially to be upped to 3/3-4 to see gains. In no way would I benefit in 10 hr or more a week of these at my level or goals. That would likely lead to rapid injury and actually hurt me in achieving my objectives. Ramp up slowly, build capacity in the sports you chose. I do have a few weeks a year when I cycle 15 hrs plus but that's more from pleasure not training. ymmv.
Again, any guidelines on hours of activity or exercise should be applied in the context of history, weight, capacity, lifestyle and goals.
(Btw, My daughters climb and fence and do other things. Even competitive fencing doesn't require 10 hrs a week except at elite levels. )
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