Cutting carbs

You may well be burning 1500 calories on an elliptical but that would take me personally 3.5 hours at a resistance of 17 out of 25 and a speed of about 5mph

I'm 5'8, 160lbs, female and fairly fit

if you weigh a lot more perhaps you could cut that time down

just be careful believing what machines spit out and go by weight loss

OP I do think maybe you might wish to reevaluate your calorific and protein minimums and your exercise programme

When you lose weight all scale weight is a mixture of water, fat and LBM (eg muscle)

You really might want to limit the amount of muscle you lose, because muscle is what makes us, at a decent body fat% dependent on aesthetic ideal, look and feel awesome.

In defecit a good protein minimum is to consider 0.64g - 0.8g protein per lb bodyweight (fat minimum at 0.35g per lb bodyweight)

Cardio, elliptical work, does burn more calories than strength training. But a progressive resistance programme will further help protect you from undue loss of LBM as you cut. But for cardiovascular health you really only need a couple of 20-30 minute sessions per week

There are bodyweight programmes and weights programmes and a whole range of programmes that fit into progressive resistance but I would strongly, strongly recommend anyone does this

also you need to eat to fuel your life and exercise so too low and you'll get exhausted, ill and give up.. too high and you won't lose weight .. keep your weight loss at around 1% of your total bw as a decent enough guideline, average it over each 6- 8 weeks rolling period and you should be getting decent feedback for how much you are actually eating vs burning

best of luck

yarwell wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

yarwell wrote: »

jakeziskin1 wrote: »

Also 1500 is yes recommended but I don't believe it is always necessary.

Me neither, no idea where it came from and MFP haven't implemented it on the automatic goal setting.

Yes you do

http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1375583-a-message-about-myfitnesspal-s-updated-nutrition-goals

Sadly the referred document does not support 1,500 as a lower limit...

" A patient may choose a diet of 1,000 to 1,200 kcal/day for women and 1,200 to 1,500 kcal/day for men. "

Perhaps as well they never implemented it.

Sorry yarwell I didn't look at the document just at MFP stating they'd set a 1500 minimum for men. As I am not male I didn't know this was another glitch. "To align with these guidelines myfitnesspal has implemented a separate calorie minimum for males of 1,500 calories per day. Previously, the minimum was 1,200 calories for both men and women." perhaps @alex can look into this?

As for the document embedded in that page, I'll admit I haven't read it in it's entirety but assumed that the MFP team had hence the line above.

I will absolutely concede that I can't easily find a minimum recommendation in that document but I'd love to know the surrounding context of that quote you've provided if you'd be so kind.

To support MFP's stance as detailed on that page I did find this:

When I scanned I found this which would imply that there is no need for dropping to VLCD status for the majority (I note MFP say " users with guidance from a physician or registered dietitian can customize their goals" :

"Goals of Weight Loss and Management.
The initial goal of weight loss therapy is to reduce body weight by approximately 10 percent from baseline. If this goal is achieved, further weight loss can be attempted, if indicated through further evaluation. A reasonable time line for a 10 percent reduction in body weight is 6 months of therapy.

For overweight patients with BMIs in the typical range of 27 to 35, a decrease of 300 to 500 kcal/day will result in weight losses of about 1 ⁄2 to 1 lb/week and a 10 percent loss in 6 months. For more severely obese patients
with BMIs > 35, deficits of up to 500 to 1,000 kcal/day will lead to weight losses of about 1 to 2 lb/week and a 10 percent weight loss in 6 months. Weight loss at the rate of 1 to 2 lb/week (calorie deficit of 500 to 1,000 kcal/day) commonly occurs for up to 6 months. After 6 months, the rate of weight loss usually declines and weight plateaus
because of a lesser energy expenditure at the lower weight."

Oh I see so it's a definition..gotcha