Is this going to work?!?

pumpthejam2015 · March 2015

5'6'' 29 yo female. I'm 180, I want to be 150 by July 1. I eat minimal carbs, no sweets, no soda. I'm eating mostly clean. I don't count cals, just eat when I'm hungry, but I know that I'm not exceeding 1200-1500/day. I'm eating lots of eggs, lean meats, veggies, and some fruit. I'm trying to do a paleo-ish type diet, but not nixing carbs 100% bc of all the running I will work up to.

I'm on my second week of running. I am bumping it up from 2 to 3 miles a day for a minimum of 3 days a week, sometimes more if I can get it in.

Am I realistic with my goals?

SexyKatherine73 · March 2015

no

the_san_man · March 2015

Personally, it took me 5 months to lose 40#'s eating clean , 50/25/25 macros, working out 4days per week. Granted, I am a guy so there's that. I eat 1880 (RMR) and 2100 (workout days) cals per day. Drinking half my body weight in ounces of water also does wonders.

It's not really about losing weight as much as losing %body fat. I lost 6" in the the waist and am more defined than I have been since high school. So 40#'s down is great but dropping almost 10-15% body fat was the ultimate goal anyway.

greaseswabber · March 2015

pumpthejam2015 wrote: »

5'6'' 29 yo female. I'm 180, I want to be 150 by July 1. I eat minimal carbs, no sweets, no soda. I'm eating mostly clean. I don't count cals, just eat when I'm hungry, but I know that I'm not exceeding 1200-1500/day. I'm eating lots of eggs, lean meats, veggies, and some fruit. I'm trying to do a paleo-ish type diet, but not nixing carbs 100% bc of all the running I will work up to.

I'm on my second week of running. I am bumping it up from 2 to 3 miles a day for a minimum of 3 days a week, sometimes more if I can get it in.

Am I realistic with my goals?

You want to lose 2.5 lbs per week. That is higher than what is typically considered realistic. 1-2 lbs per week is a healthy rate.

I'm curious how you know you're not exceeding 1500 calories / day if you aren't counting.

3 miles is 20 to 40 minutes of running, which you are doing three times a week. That isn't going to add a great deal to your calorie deficit, but it will improve your cardiovascular fitness.

How long have you been on your current eating plan? This is pretty aggressive and the feedback you get will be your scale weight, how your clothes fit, or body measurements. Those things take time to happen, and if you are in fact eating more calories than you think you won't see the results you want.

There are lots of posts with great information on the forums. My suggestion is to search for posts about setting your goal weight, realistic loss rates, and running for fitness vs weight loss. I'd also suggest searching for posts about weight lifting. Many female users lift weights as part of their weight loss plan and have seen spectacular results.

moto450 · March 2015

I wouldn't worry about how quickly you want to lose the weight. If you do you won't get discouraged when it doesn't happen, or if it doesn't happen. My personal thought is that if you're not counting calories you should be. You say you're eating a certain amount of calories, but you really have no idea if you're not tracking them. Just my personal opinion. I really wish you the best of luck!

riffraff2112 · March 2015

This is a calorie counting site so....most feedback will steer you in that direction. Find out your daily requirements, and set a target of losing 1-2lbs per week (highly recommended to not exceed this), MFP will spit out an amount for you to eat. Pretty simple really.

Cardio is great, 3x a week is definitely sufficient.

Throw in some weight training and you are on your way. Good luck.

krysmuree · March 2015

You are likely consuming more calories than you think if you're not counting your calories or weighing your food. Why are you heavy? Because you lost track of how many calories you consumed, like many of us? Then not learning proper portions and counting calories will get you nowhere and you'll probably consume more calories than you think by guesstimating.

I am 188lbs and my goal is 145lbs and I'm hoping to hit it by next January. Your goals are pretty unrealistic, in my opinion. Try not to worry about necessarily getting down to a certain weight by a certain time and focus on learning good habits for the long run. .5lb - 1lb weight loss per week is good; 1lb-2lb is doable.

Good luck!

pumpthejam2015 · March 2015

I wonder how many days a week I should be running. So far I'm doing a minimum of 3. I'm trying to work my way up.

AmyRhubarb · March 2015

I don't count cals, just eat when I'm hungry, but I know that I'm not exceeding 1200-1500/day.

I don't see how you could know if you're not actually logging. and 'eating clean' or 'paleo-ish' alone won't get you there either, if you're eating too many cals you will gain rather than lose.

VanillaGorillaUK · March 2015

The first few weeks you'll lose 10+ lbs of water (not fat). You'll be convinced it's working.

For a little while (2-4 weeks) the weight will keep coming off and then suddenly, the results will stop. You won't understand why, you'll try some crazy fad diet in attempt to keep the results coming. After a few more weeks you'll quit.

Your shooting in the dark.

Until you get serious about long term calorie counting it's not going to happen. Listen to the advice of people here, who have mastered losing weight and been doing so for years, start counting your calories.

DemoraFairy · March 2015

pumpthejam2015 wrote: »

I wonder how many days a week I should be running. So far I'm doing a minimum of 3. I'm trying to work my way up.

How many days a week you should be running to achieve what? If you're looking to lose weight, then how much you're running doesn't matter. What matters is your calories. If you run for 2 hours everyday but are still eating more calories then you're burning, you won't lose weight. Equally if you do no running or any sort of exercise at all but you're eating less than you burn you'll lose weight. For losing weight, calories are all that matters.

If you're running to improve your fitness or you're aiming to compete in something then you might want to try asking for advice in the fitness forum, they might be able to give you a more specific workout regime.

Sued0nim · March 2015

pumpthejam2015 wrote: »

5'6'' 29 yo female. I'm 180, I want to be 150 by July 1. I eat minimal carbs, no sweets, no soda. I'm eating mostly clean. I don't count cals, just eat when I'm hungry, but I know that I'm not exceeding 1200-1500/day. I'm eating lots of eggs, lean meats, veggies, and some fruit. I'm trying to do a paleo-ish type diet, but not nixing carbs 100% bc of all the running I will work up to.

I'm on my second week of running. I am bumping it up from 2 to 3 miles a day for a minimum of 3 days a week, sometimes more if I can get it in.

Am I realistic with my goals?

You have no idea how many calories you're eating so how can you say what you're not exceeding

and you want to lose 30lbs in 3 months

sheldonklein · March 2015

It is possible to lose 30 pounds in 90 days. I and many others have done it. Keep a 1200 calorie daily deficit. However, that's hard to do if you only have 30 pounds to lose. And it's especially unlikely if you aren't accurately counting and measuring. Finally, you are overemphasizing the importance of exercise to short term weight loss.

cb2bslim · March 2015

Same boat. You and I are almost pair. I'm 5'5" and was 173.4 lbs. I've lost 15.2 lbs in 39 days so far (average 0.4lbs/day) I cook healthy meals and stay away from boxed and canned items. My sodium intake is 900-1500. I try not to eat out as much during my weight loss journey because of the sodium. I try to give myself a cheat meal once a week. I'm not as active as a lot of the MFP members but I do fast pace walk everyday 45-60 min. It can be done. You need to weigh and enter your foods. Enter your exercise. Good luck!

malibu927 · March 2015

If you aren't counting calories, you can't be sure about how much you're eating, and 30 pounds in 3+ months at your size is pretty aggressive. Why not aim for a pound a week and count them to ensure you will lose weight?

Tabithas_Transformation · March 2015

I'm 5"7 and I've lost almost 28lbs in the last 3 months just counting calories BUT I have over 150lbs to lose and I'm losing at around 2lbs a week. At my size, that's realistic and acceptable. At your size, 2lbs a week is going to be too aggressive.

What is happening on July 1st that you need to weigh 150lbs by? 30lbs is a lot of weight to lose at your current weight. It won't matter how much you run and how 'clean' you eat if this isn't going to be sustainable for you long term and if all bets are off come July 1st.

Please have a lurk around the forums and read similar posts to yours. There is a lot of wonderful advice that you could really benefit from.

Also:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/

Roxiegirl2008 · March 2015

You really should be counting calories. One common mistake that people make when starting a running plan is over eating. Personally I am very hungry when I finish a long run (10+ miles) so it is very easy to over eat. Since you are only at 2-3 miles you are not burning that many calories (I am not sure of your pace) but it would be very easy to get in the mind set "I just ran 3 miles so I can have XYZ" and it won't hurt.

Is this going to work?!?

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