I am new. Do I just ease myself into 1200 calories per day?

mygalsal76 wrote: »

allenpriest wrote: »

Your goals are too aggressive. That's why you are getting that calorie target and why you think it is unrealistic. It's unrealistic. Slow down. You didn't gain the weight quickly and you won't lose it quickly either. Make lifestyle changes that you can maintain the rest of your life. Then you can keep the weight off and avoid yo-yo weight loss and gain.

Is 17 pounds in 11 weeks and 47 pounds for the year unrealistic? I am not trying to be a jerk. It seemed sensible to me., but I could be wrong. What goals do you suggest?

It is not unrealistic it just takes a lot of discipline. You will have to exercise a lot weigh your food including measuring cooking oils and condiments. You will have to reject food that contain uknown calories or designate one day a week/month in which you are a bit free. If you want it all gone within a certain time you will need to stick to a certain plan. It can be done with protein, loads of non starchy veggies (1 kg à day) and 0.5 kg of raw vegetables, 3 L of water, a soup a day and 6 meals or more instead of 3. IMO that's it in a nutshell.

mygalsal76 wrote: »

mlinci wrote: »

I have very similar stats to you (40 yrs old, starting weight 185 lbs, current 168 or so - losing steadily 1 lb per week on abou 1500-1600 calories a day). I wouldn't last a day on 1200.

How much exercise do you get?

I walk on average about 7000-9000 steps a day, which brings my calorie expenditure to about 2100 calories a day on average. I don't do any other exercise, other than regular stretching exercises at home.

I set my activity level to sedentary, and I measure my step count through my Fitbit. If I'm completely sedentary, for example when I'm at home with a cold, my basic expenditure is about 1,600. On days I walk a lot, say 15,000 steps, it tells me my expenditure is about 2,500 calories. Overall, I think both Fitbit and MFP have been quite accurate, as I've been losing exactly as predicted.

MsObesityRehab wrote: »

mygalsal76 wrote: »

allenpriest wrote: »

Your goals are too aggressive. That's why you are getting that calorie target and why you think it is unrealistic. It's unrealistic. Slow down. You didn't gain the weight quickly and you won't lose it quickly either. Make lifestyle changes that you can maintain the rest of your life. Then you can keep the weight off and avoid yo-yo weight loss and gain.

Is 17 pounds in 11 weeks and 47 pounds for the year unrealistic? I am not trying to be a jerk. It seemed sensible to me., but I could be wrong. What goals do you suggest?

It is not unrealistic it just takes a lot of discipline. You will have to exercise a lot weigh your food including measuring cooking oils and condiments. You will have to reject food that contain uknown calories or designate one day a week/month in which you are a bit free. If you want it all gone within a certain time you will need to stick to a certain plan. It can be done with protein, loads of non starchy veggies (1 kg à day) and 0.5 kg of raw vegetables, 3 L of water, a soup a day and 6 meals or more instead of 3. IMO that's it in a nutshell.

There really is no need to do all that. You can eat no raw veg, eat starchy carbs, drink no plain water or soup a day. And you can eat just 1 meal a day if you like.

All that matters is eating less than you burn off.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

MsObesityRehab wrote: »

mygalsal76 wrote: »

allenpriest wrote: »

Your goals are too aggressive. That's why you are getting that calorie target and why you think it is unrealistic. It's unrealistic. Slow down. You didn't gain the weight quickly and you won't lose it quickly either. Make lifestyle changes that you can maintain the rest of your life. Then you can keep the weight off and avoid yo-yo weight loss and gain.

Is 17 pounds in 11 weeks and 47 pounds for the year unrealistic? I am not trying to be a jerk. It seemed sensible to me., but I could be wrong. What goals do you suggest?

It is not unrealistic it just takes a lot of discipline. You will have to exercise a lot weigh your food including measuring cooking oils and condiments. You will have to reject food that contain uknown calories or designate one day a week/month in which you are a bit free. If you want it all gone within a certain time you will need to stick to a certain plan. It can be done with protein, loads of non starchy veggies (1 kg à day) and 0.5 kg of raw vegetables, 3 L of water, a soup a day and 6 meals or more instead of 3. IMO that's it in a nutshell.

There really is no need to do all that. You can eat no raw veg, eat starchy carbs, drink no plain water or soup a day. And you can eat just 1 meal a day if you like.

All that matters is eating less than you burn off.

For 17 lbs in 11 weeks or more. It is necessary. And raw veggies are good for you. And I didn't say "no starchy carbs" I said 0.5 kg of non starchy veggies. It helps stay fuller when eating less and less calories while exercising more.

JanetYellen wrote: »

If I had to eat only 1,200 a day, I would be eating paint off the walls.
I'm your height. Do not exercise. Consider 1,400 to 1,600 until you get used to weighing food.
Little daily calories sets me up for bingeing (each and every time).

I want to respectfully disagree with the advice not to exercise. For me it's an important part of the picture. I want to feel stronger, healthier and more energetic, not just weigh less. Go ahead and eat more to compensate for that exercise, but absolutely add some strength training and cardio in.

And absolutely eat more than 1200 calories a day! Sounds like 1600 would have you losing a pound a week.

goldthistime wrote: »

JanetYellen wrote: »

If I had to eat only 1,200 a day, I would be eating paint off the walls.
I'm your height. Do not exercise. Consider 1,400 to 1,600 until you get used to weighing food.
Little daily calories sets me up for bingeing (each and every time).

I want to respectfully disagree with the advice not to exercise. For me it's an important part of the picture. I want to feel stronger, healthier and more energetic, not just weigh less. Go ahead and eat more to compensate for that exercise, but absolutely add some strength training and cardio in.

And absolutely eat more than 1200 calories a day! Sounds like 1600 would have you losing a pound a week.

I'm pretty sure the person was saying they doesn't exercise and yet still eats more than 1200. She wasn't suggesting to the OP that she stop exercising.

I'd say it also depends on you. If you are good at being consistent and delaying gratification, set your loss to one pound per week and maybe put in an extra workout per week.
If not, you may need to do a bigger deficit to see initial progress, keeping in mind that you're in it for the long hall.
Or do a combination. When I started about a year ago, I set my deficit at 1.5 pounds which put me at 1600 calories, but two days a week I ate 1200 calories. Something similar might help you to eat less in the long run.
Btw, you're already at an advantage. You have reasonable goals and are planning ahead. Best!

Keep in mind that walking your dog for 30 minutes probably burns 150 calories if you are doing a quick pace - you can add some of those calories back in to you calories allotment for the day and the more you move the more you get

if you go onto the nhs bmi calculator and input ur info it will recommend a calorie range to lose weight if u choose the middle to lower end you will lose weight - the website promotes sustainable weightloss and lifestyle changes
you can always decrease the cal total but if you go straight to 1200 there's nowhere left to go down - so if you don't mind it taking time but likely will be more permanent loss then stick with that guide

I kind of eased into the lifestyle instead of easing into lower calories. Like first, I just wrote down what I ate. Then I logged on MFP, but didn't weight everything. Now I'm weighing about 90% of my food and I'll probably continue that way until I stall. I'm a tall guy and have a large margin for error, so this has all worked pretty well for me.