130lbs to 120lbs - diet over exercise?
FairyDust92
Posts: 7 Member
Okay so I'm 5"6 and 130lbs but I used to be 120lbs before I moved to London 5 months ago 
I have been doing Bootcamps where I live but struggling with eating. I usually do 4-5 Bootcamps a week so altogether I probably burn 1500 calories a week...
I have my calories fixed at 1400 at the moment but I'm struggling to lose weight. My question is this:
Should I be focusing more on what I'm eating rather than calories? I find it hard to not crave chocolate and sugar but if I did perserve and stuck with this would it help?
Any thoughts would be amazing! I'm new to this
thank you.
I have been doing Bootcamps where I live but struggling with eating. I usually do 4-5 Bootcamps a week so altogether I probably burn 1500 calories a week...
I have my calories fixed at 1400 at the moment but I'm struggling to lose weight. My question is this:
Should I be focusing more on what I'm eating rather than calories? I find it hard to not crave chocolate and sugar but if I did perserve and stuck with this would it help?
Any thoughts would be amazing! I'm new to this
thank you.0
Replies
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I find I no longer crave sweets and chocolates. I have to make everything fit into my daily/weekly goal so...that limits me to fresh, whole foods and a small treat here and there. Your palette may even change and you may prefer less sweet things. I think the key thing is you shouldn't feel deprived. Have that shot of Amarula or whatever as long as it fits into your calorie limits.
Are you weighing your food? You HAVE to weigh as that gives you the most accurate estimate of how many calories you are eating.
You are probably burning far more than 1500 calories a week if you are doing a bootcamp 4 - 5 days a week. Do you eat the exercise calories? Are you wearing smaller clothes now because you are losing inches/centimeters? And how long have you been trying to lose weight?0 -
Weight loss is about how much you eat. Period, end of story, that's it. Additionally, it doesn't matter WHAT you eat, as long as you eat less than you burn. So have a chocolate, or a biscuit, or whatever else your heart fancies, just make it fit into your calorie deficit for the day.
Exercise is beneficial for health, fitness, enjoyment - but if you don't control what you eat and ensure that it is less than you burn, you won't lose weight no matter how many bootcamps (or any other exercise) you do.
So, if you focus on keeping your calories in check, you will definitely be able to lose that 10 pounds.
One final piece of advice: the faster you lose weight, the more of the weight lost is muscle. With only 10 pounds to lose, your target should be set at 1/2 lb per week (that's right, one half pound) to keep the muscle around and ditch the fat.0 -
I find I no longer crave sweets and chocolates. I have to make everything fit into my daily/weekly goal so...that limits me to fresh, whole foods and a small treat here and there. Your palette may even change and you may prefer less sweet things. I think the key thing is you shouldn't feel deprived. Have that shot of Amarula or whatever as long as it fits into your calorie limits.
Are you weighing your food? You HAVE to weigh as that gives you the most accurate estimate of how many calories you are eating.
You are probably burning far more than 1500 calories a week if you are doing a bootcamp 4 - 5 days a week. Do you eat the exercise calories? Are you wearing smaller clothes now because you are losing inches/centimeters? And how long have you been trying to lose weight?
to the bolded, no you don't HAVE TO weigh your food. People have been successfully (and unsuccessfully) losing weight for ages, well before anyone ever gave a thought to weighing food. Sure it is probably the best way to be as accurate as possible, but not weighing your food does not spell disaster and weight gain.0 -
Are you weighing your food? You HAVE to weigh as that gives you the most accurate estimate of how many calories you are eating.
to the bolded, no you don't HAVE TO weigh your food. People have been successfully (and unsuccessfully) losing weight for ages, well before anyone ever gave a thought to weighing food. Sure it is probably the best way to be as accurate as possible, but not weighing your food does not spell disaster and weight gain.
Of course she doesn't have to weigh her food. She also doesn't have to lose weight. She's saying she's not losing weight so something's wrong, somewhere. And weighing her food IS going to give her the most accurate estimate of how many calories she's eating.
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Are you weighing your food? You HAVE to weigh as that gives you the most accurate estimate of how many calories you are eating.
to the bolded, no you don't HAVE TO weigh your food. People have been successfully (and unsuccessfully) losing weight for ages, well before anyone ever gave a thought to weighing food. Sure it is probably the best way to be as accurate as possible, but not weighing your food does not spell disaster and weight gain.
Of course she doesn't have to weigh her food. She also doesn't have to lose weight. She's saying she's not losing weight so something's wrong, somewhere. And weighing her food IS going to give her the most accurate estimate of how many calories she's eating.
i didn't say it ISN'T going to give her the most accurate estimate; in fact I pretty much said it is. But no one HAS TO weigh their food. My point, which seems to have gone over your head, is that it's not mandatory and success can come even if one doesn't wish to weigh their food. It will just probably take longer.0 -
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For those last stubborn pounds i would focus more on quality of foods. Fruits, veggies, proteins and drop the junk or processed food. You can eat a whole lot more veggies than you can in that small piece of chocolate and stay satisfied longer. The last ten are the hardest. Whole foods are the best.0
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If you're not losing, you're eating too much to lose. Most likely you're eating more than 1400 calories per day. People are, in general, pretty bad at estimating their calories eaten, especially if they've never spent some time weighing/measuring/learning about portion sizes.0
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I think more info would be helpful. Have you not lost any weight in 5 months? Were you doing boot camp the entire time, at 1400 calories, no downward trend at all?0
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I was you. I was eating the 1200 calories recommended by MFP to lose weight and i was exercising daily; I thought i'd burn between 1000 and 1500 calories per week. Yet i was never seeing weight loss. I later used another app and found out I was still eating too much for weight loss, I should have been eating around 1000 calories or atleast exercising more to see a weekly change. I also don't trust alot of these forums, they'll tell you things that don't make much sense. You can still crave sugar and such, but ensure your total calorie for the day is below that 1400 (if accurate). Try to get an HRM to increase accuracy when you're exercising. And at the end of the day, or with each meal, add a 10% increase to your calories. It's better to over estimate than under estimate. Try to improve accuracy when logging food, you don't have to weigh food but you can use a 8oz cup to measure rice, pasta etc a little better. Also try to drink lower calorie drinks , diet soda,coffee, "detox" water, tea, even kool aid isn't so bad. If you want I can give you some more tips that helped me0
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Keep in mind, it is going to be slow at this point. Your working at the lower end of the healthy BMI range for your height. I'd expect that 0.5 lbs per week is going to be a normal rate for you at this point.
I'll just leave this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU
If you aren't, you also might want to use an app like Happy Scale (iOS) or Libra (Android) to track your weight trends. These apps will help you see past the normal day to day fluctuations to what is actually happening with your weight.0 -
I was you. I was eating the 1200 calories recommended by MFP to lose weight and i was exercising daily; I thought i'd burn between 1000 and 1500 calories per week. Yet i was never seeing weight loss. I later used another app and found out I was still eating too much for weight loss, I should have been eating around 1000 calories or atleast exercising more to see a weekly change. I also don't trust alot of these forums, they'll tell you things that don't make much sense. You can still crave sugar and such, but ensure your total calorie for the day is below that 1400 (if accurate). Try to get an HRM to increase accuracy when you're exercising. And at the end of the day, or with each meal, add a 10% increase to your calories. It's better to over estimate than under estimate. Try to improve accuracy when logging food, you don't have to weigh food but you can use a 8oz cup to measure rice, pasta etc a little better. Also try to drink lower calorie drinks , diet soda,coffee, "detox" water, tea, even kool aid isn't so bad. If you want I can give you some more tips that helped me
I'm not trying to be rude to you, but I really hope the OP doesn't listen to the part about 1000 calories. You did not and should not have been eating around 1000 calories to lose weight and neither should the OP. Exercising more makes sense because it creates a larger calorie deficit, but 1000 calories isn't necessary or recommended for weight loss. To be honest, you probably weren't weighing your food on a food scale so you thought you were eating 1200 calories per day, but you were eating more. Then when you lowered it down to 1000, you truly went down to a deficit range but weren't actually eating 1000 calories. Aside from extremely rare cases, there is nobody in the world who can't lose weight on a true 1200 calories.0 -
Dark chocolate more than 70% cacao satisfies my chocolate craving. The higher the % the better. I found 86% that is super. It's good for you too and 1 square is only 60 calories.0
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All that matters is the calorie deficit .
And yes, you need to weigh and measure everything to get an accurate count. Especially as you are 130 already.
I'm 131 trying to get back to 128lb.
I'm losing about a pound a month of fat, and I just have to make sure I'm eating 100g per day of protein and lifting weights, to not lose any muscle.
Firstly I always plateau for a few weeks while my fat cells get used to the idea they will have to shrink. I'm of the school of thought that they release the fat and then replace with water so you weigh the same for a bit even though you're doing everything perfectly.
Secondly, at this slow loss, I have to weigh every day and average every 7.
I am eating just a little under what I need, I'm a bit hungry as meal times approach but I'm not starving.
There's no way I could do this right without being organised.0 -
Springfield - how many calories are you eating daily? One pound a month. Wow. I'm close to your stats and I guess I'm being very impatient.0
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Body fat is 3,500 calories per pound. What will you do, regarding exercise, after you lose the weight? Still 4-5 bootcamps? Phrick has the correct answers. In addition, the bootcamps "may" be causing you to replace body fat with muscle - so your weight would go up. But your body measurements would be changing - are you tracking those? If so, how are they looking? Weight is not the only factor. Weight loss is all about eating properly. Exercise is required for overall health and well-being, but I think many non-uber-athlete types would have a hard time overcoming overeating with exercise most of the time. It's all about what you put in your mouth, and how much of it - period!
The average person will eat about 2,400 calories during today's Superbowl, and thousands more throughout the day. Think about it. And you hear people say 'It's OK, I'll just go for a long walk'. Well, walking 1 mile burns about 100 calories for a 160 pound person, less for someone smaller.
So let's say you consumed 5,000 calories for the day (which is less than what an average person will eat today at a SB party)... You'd have to walk 50 miles to burn those calories. How will you do that? 5 miles a day for 10 days? 2 miles a day for 25 days? It's simple simple math. If you walk 1 mile a day, like I do, then it'd take 50 days just to make up for 1 day.
Eat a balanced diet which contains a "reasonable" amount of calories and ALL the macros (including fat). You can do it. Also, log every damn thing you put in your mouth. Records are critical here. Records and exercise are the #1 predictor of re-gain after loss. If you don't record and/or don't continue your exercise, you'll almost certainly re-gain the weight.0 -
You need to be in a deficit to lose weight. If you are maintaining 130 with that activity, you are not in a deficit! Make sure your 1400 cals is really the correct number you are eating.0
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I agree totally with Phrick and RikMackie above - unless you are really practised, weigh your food. 1400 would give you what you are looking for, but not madly fast. You'll get there 0
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Springfield - how many calories are you eating daily? One pound a month. Wow. I'm close to your stats and I guess I'm being very impatient.CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Springfield - how many calories are you eating daily? One pound a month. Wow. I'm close to your stats and I guess I'm being very impatient.
I'm netting about 1600-1700.
My maintenance is 1750 without exercise (maybe a little more as thats my 128lb figure)
Any food or wine I want I have to earn with exercise.
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You need to be in a deficit to lose weight. If you are maintaining 130 with that activity, you are not in a deficit! Make sure your 1400 cals is really the correct number you are eating.
There's a chance she's plateauting, not maintaining. I say give it a month and keep accurate records.0 -
Body fat is 3,500 calories per pound. What will you do, regarding exercise, after you lose the weight? Still 4-5 bootcamps? Phrick has the correct answers. In addition, the bootcamps "may" be causing you to replace body fat with muscle - so your weight would go up. But your body measurements would be changing - are you tracking those? If so, how are they looking? Weight is not the only factor. Weight loss is all about eating properly. Exercise is required for overall health and well-being, but I think many non-uber-athlete types would have a hard time overcoming overeating with exercise most of the time. It's all about what you put in your mouth, and how much of it - period!
The average person will eat about 2,400 calories during today's Superbowl, and thousands more throughout the day. Think about it. And you hear people say 'It's OK, I'll just go for a long walk'. Well, walking 1 mile burns about 100 calories for a 160 pound person, less for someone smaller.
So let's say you consumed 5,000 calories for the day (which is less than what an average person will eat today at a SB party)... You'd have to walk 50 miles to burn those calories. How will you do that? 5 miles a day for 10 days? 2 miles a day for 25 days? It's simple simple math. If you walk 1 mile a day, like I do, then it'd take 50 days just to make up for 1 day.
Eat a balanced diet which contains a "reasonable" amount of calories and ALL the macros (including fat). You can do it. Also, log every damn thing you put in your mouth. Records are critical here. Records and exercise are the #1 predictor of re-gain after loss. If you don't record and/or don't continue your exercise, you'll almost certainly re-gain the weight.
I don't think she'll be gaining any muscle just by sheer chance and at a deficit.
It takes excess calories and a lot of full body heavy progressive lifting to build muscle.
Ie 1750 calories extra a week can give us a quarter of a pound muscle if we are diligent and lucky! (Plus equal amount fat).0 -
try not eating processed carbs and sugar... When I eat white sugar I crave more sugar, when I eat white carbs I crave more carbs.
If you do boot camps a lot I think it's your eating.
Try not eating 4 hours before you go to bed.
And eat lots of protein, it will keep you fuller, longer.
Also drink more water.0
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