Need to lose 150 pounds. Help?

samdambrosio87 wrote: »

1000-1200 calories a day (I try to cycle/alternate so my body doesn't get use to one intake). I usually burn 1000-1200 calories a day. I started using a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps. I'm a nanny, so I'm moving all day as well. I try to do body weight exercises and my friend just introduced me to insanity, which I begin next week. I'm accurately counting, measuring, portioning.

Perhaps you're right, I should get checked for thyroid issues. But I've never had an issue before.

buuuuut now I see that you are eating 1,000-1,200 calories per day. I still say you are either underestimating calories in, overestimating calories out, or both.

1000-1200 calories is far too little to be eating for your weight. I started at 318 and am 241 right now. Been working at this since July and I literally just eat at the goals MFP sets for me for a 1.5 lb loss a week. You don't need to be that drastic and I bet you're starving. That's going to be really hard to maintain and live that way in that sort of calorie deficit your entire life. You need to rethink your calorie goals and find something that you can stick with forever because you're essentially going to be doing this for the rest of your life. Most of us will anyways. Anyways, when I was 285 I was getting somewhere around 1800 calories a day for a 1.5 lb loss. Maybe you just need to eat more. But hey, I'm no professional.

I lost 25 pounds since I started using striiv touch, any band like fitbit will help, it will accurately measure calorie burned and that will help tremendously. I also try to keep carbs under 100 per day and walk 15,000-20,000 steps...

samdambrosio87 wrote: »

faeriesue1 wrote: »

samdambrosio87 wrote: »

1000-1200 calories a day (I try to cycle/alternate so my body doesn't get use to one intake). I usually burn 1000-1200 calories a day. I started using a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps. I'm a nanny, so I'm moving all day as well. I try to do body weight exercises and my friend just introduced me to insanity, which I begin next week. I'm accurately counting, measuring, portioning.

Perhaps you're right, I should get checked for thyroid issues. But I've never had an issue before.

You're consuming 1000-1200 calories a day and burning the same, so you're surviving on zero calories? Is that right?

Yes. I guess I'm not understanding the whole "creating a deficit" thing correctly?

You don't need to burn off everything you eat. Your body is already burning calories just surviving, so you're really starving yourself. That said, if you are exercising off everything you consume you would be losing weight. How do you calculate your exercise burn? How many calories does MFP give you to eat?

There are a number of incorrect things being said in this thread. Let's see if we can dispel them:

• You should be eating more? Nope. If you're not losing weight, it's because you're eating too much, not too little.
• You're measuring calorie intake accurately? Nope. If you think you're eating 1000-1200 calories per day, then you're clearly not measuring accurately. Get a food scale and weigh everything in grams. Log and track your cooking oil, condiments, etc. Make sure you're using the correct database entries -- the non-starred ones and the USDA ones for meats, vegetables, etc. and the accurate ones for packaged foods that correspond to the labels. Be as stringent as you can.
• You're burning 1000-1200 calories/day in exercise? Highly unlikely. Most of that is factored into your normal daily activity, so if you're also logging it as exercise, you're double-counting those calories.
• Your food digests too slowly? That wouldn't account for not losing weight over time. That might account for daily fluctuations and water weight. But if you're eating at a calorie deficit, you'll still lose weight. Ergo, you're clearly not eating at a calorie deficit.

And finally there's this:

The only grains/bread I eat are low carb/high fiber wheat tortillas. I don't eat potatoes, rice, corn. I eat most my calories for breakfast and lunch, and my dinner is usually light. I try to break up my meals so I'm eating 5-6 times a day because it 3 solid meals a day definitely wasn't working. My metabolism is so slow, my food would not digest for hours when I ate 3 squares a day.

None of that is necessary. You don't have to restrict foods or eat at certain times to lose weight. You can eat anything you like, at any time of day. You just can't eat more than you burn.

If you are truly measuring and accurately logging and still not losing for several weeks in a row, definitely see your doctor. There ARE a few conditions that can affect the metabolism.
I have Hashimoto's disease, and can honestly say I gained weight despite eating low calorie and exercising. I measured and weighed everything I put in my mouth and was at a large deficit for months. It wasn't until I was properly medicated and following a healthy plan that I was able to start dropping weight.

segacs wrote: »

There are a number of incorrect things being said in this thread. Let's see if we can dispel them:

• You should be eating more? Nope. If you're not losing weight, it's because you're eating too much, not too little.
• You're measuring calorie intake accurately? Nope. If you think you're eating 1000-1200 calories per day, then you're clearly not measuring accurately. Get a food scale and weigh everything in grams. Log and track your cooking oil, condiments, etc. Make sure you're using the correct database entries -- the non-starred ones and the USDA ones for meats, vegetables, etc. and the accurate ones for packaged foods that correspond to the labels. Be as stringent as you can.
• You're burning 1000-1200 calories/day in exercise? Highly unlikely. Most of that is factored into your normal daily activity, so if you're also logging it as exercise, you're double-counting those calories.
• Your food digests too slowly? That wouldn't account for not losing weight over time. That might account for daily fluctuations and water weight. But if you're eating at a calorie deficit, you'll still lose weight. Ergo, you're clearly not eating at a calorie deficit.

And finally there's this:

The only grains/bread I eat are low carb/high fiber wheat tortillas. I don't eat potatoes, rice, corn. I eat most my calories for breakfast and lunch, and my dinner is usually light. I try to break up my meals so I'm eating 5-6 times a day because it 3 solid meals a day definitely wasn't working. My metabolism is so slow, my food would not digest for hours when I ate 3 squares a day.

None of that is necessary. You don't have to restrict foods or eat at certain times to lose weight. You can eat anything you like, at any time of day. You just can't eat more than you burn.

fantastic post as always!