Kind of Confused...

If you can keep up all that exercise it'll really help you get to where you want to go with more lean mass.

As long as you're eating enough (> 1200 calories or so) you will be losing weight in a pretty healthy way. MFP likes to recommend that you eat back your exercise calories but these are typically overestimated so if you eat them all back you'll see slower results (but still results).

Starting at 313 lbs/5'9" you should be able to afford to target as much as 2lb/week weight loss initially. See my post for some figures that can help you work out for yourself a calorie target that you like.

The less you eat the faster you'll lose but with that amount of exercise you'll feel hungry and possibly miserable all the time. It's more important to go with a sustainable plan than to lose as quickly as possible.

Osric

If you're letting MFP calculate your exercise calories, only eat back about half of them. MFP is notorious for overestimating calorie burn, but it's using a general calculation. If you get a heart rate monitor, your burn number will be a lot more accurate.

And you will need to adjust your calories later on. If you're losing 1-2lbs a week right now, you're in the zone. However, as your weight goes down, the amount of calories you need goes down and you have to reasses. I did mine every 10 lbs lost and worked for me.

Basically, what you're doing seems like a good plan to me. Start slow, retrain your brain and body to what normal food portions are, and go from there. It is slower, but at least it'll be easy to sustain later!

OsricTheKnight wrote: »

The less you eat the faster you'll lose but with that amount of exercise you'll feel hungry and possibly miserable all the time. It's more important to go with a sustainable plan than to lose as quickly as possible.

This is an important principle to keep in mind. As Dr. Yoni Freedhoff has reiterated on his blog and in his book The Diet Fix, you're not likely to stick to a new lifestyle if it makes you miserable or it's not sustainable. So:

- Exercise is great, but if you're not going to exercise like that for the rest of your life, back off a bit.
- A big calorie deficit is great, but if it leaves you feeling terrible at the end of the day (or earlier), eat a bit more.

Moreover, it's a good idea to take stock every month. How does your progress compare with your goals? Are you satisfied? Is it worth changing anything?

One final point: You're working out every day of the week, or nearly. Are you allowing sufficient rest? For strength training, you shouldn't work the same muscle group two days in a row. Muscles need rest if they are to recover from the damage that strength training inflicts (deliberately, because muscles are stronger when they recover from moderate damage). Similarly, any high-impact cardio (running, jumping, etc.) requires rest days for recovery. Most cardio should be done at moderate intensity, with only one or two really intense workouts per week. "No pain, no gain" is wrong.

MFP will work as well as you make it work. Log accurately by using a food scale (it is easier than you would believe) and eat to your calorie goal. Since you would fall into the obese category, with permission from your doctor, you probably don't need to eat back any exercise calories until you drop into a lower BMI category. Good luck, and find a motto to motivate yourself. Mine was "If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up!"

I always eat back at least some of my workout calories, especially with foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates and protein. I'm wanting to build lean muscle mass, so you need to feed your body if that's a goal of yours. MFP's exercise calories don't deduct the amount of calories you'd be burning for being sedentary, so it over estimates by 10-33 percent. That said the overestimation isn't enough to where you will gain weight if you eat all of them, just you may be losing weight at a slower rate than you're intending to. There's a great post about this over on reddit.

You're probably safe not eating any exercise calories back as long as you're not creating a deficit of losing beyond 2.5 pounds (8,750 calories) per week, or 1,250 calories per day. This deficit would be based on your daily calorie needs for maintaining weight. Beyond 2.5 pounds per week is generally considered unhealthy weight loss. Also make sure you let MFP recalculate your daily calorie needs every 10 lbs you lose. Your body requires less energy with the less body mass you have.

For workouts, just remember that you need to let your body recover between strength training sessions. If you feel sore in the muscle group you're working out still, wait until you feel mostly recovered before your next work out or you aren't going to see that much benefit from it. Starting out, you may find you can only train a muscle group once or twice a week. Eventually your body's recovery will build up to the point where you should only need one day off between strength training sessions. Cardio you can always do and is great for keeping up extra calorie burn on your off days. If you want to strength train more often, divide it up to focus on different muscle groups each work out day (upper body and lower body). There's debate whether 1 or 2 rest days from all activity is beneficial or just for burn out, but it's probably not a bad idea to give yourself rest. After all, anything you start doing you need to sit down and ask yourself if this is something you think you can make time for the rest of your life. Weight loss is about routine change and commitment, not a temporary shift in habit. Allowing a couple days for recovery will also make vacations less detrimental to your routine.

amyepdx wrote: »

"If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up!" Love this - thanks!!

teedouble20 wrote: »

Finally went shopping! Yes, I agree. I find myself hungry after workouts so I'll stick to a snack after, probably fruit or a light shake. I can definitely benefit from a food scale as portion control is a problem area for me.
I went for a 30 minute walk since today was a rest day but I will cut back on the daily strength training. I totally get how my muscles need to recover, great advice. My main focus is to get healthy, find the right balance and stick with it.
And, "If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up!" needs to be on a tshirt! Thanks guys!

Glad you liked my motto. I put it on my ticker here (which of course no longer works with the vanilla forum software)

You said your diary was public but its not yet.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Sounds like you are doing great. 1760 is a reasonable number of calories, so I think it's okay if you have some leftover, although I'd feel free to eat back some if you are hungry. (It's good to leave some on the table if using MFP's estimates for exercise calories, as they can be overstated.) What you want to watch out for is refusing to eat back any and letting yourself feel weak or hungry or deprived, as that can lead to motivation becoming much harder. So long as you feel good, sounds like you are on the right track.

I found that it really helped my state of mind and motivation to include workouts from the beginning and I am glad I started getting more fit right away, so if you are enjoying yourself keep it up! I started somewhat easy to establish the habit in a way that would feel fun, and then just naturally started pushing myself more. At this point (I'm almost to maintenance) the exercise part is the easiest part.

This, exactly. Especially if you enjoy it, it's a good idea to do it! Once it becomes habit, it's very easy to just keep on doing it.