Beginner (sort of) in need of advice

hillaryannli · May 2016

Hi all,

I have been overweight my entire life and have lost/gained weight here and there. I have long been unhappy about my appearance and I am ready to make a complete lifestyle change. One additional motivator for me this year is that I am getting married in 5 months!

I am currently 210lbs at 5'4 and am looking to lose 40lbs before my wedding day. My ultimate goal is to lose 60-70lbs. I am working with a personal trainer over the next six months and I read online about weight loss and fitness plenty. But, I have this constant frustration feeling like I don't know or understand what I am doing. It seems this is a numbers game with CICO but everyone has such different opinions on what has worked for them, it's hard to know what is the best process to follow.

So, I'm curious, what helped you get started? Did you read a specific book or follow a certain website? What made everything 'click' for you? I am trying to understand the HOW and the WHY.

Thank you!

malibu927 · May 2016

Reading posts on here was what helped me. These are probably the most important to go through:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10257474/starting-out-restarting-basics-inside

UncaToddly · May 2016

Bear with me, this will be long, it is how I am.

I too have been heavy to obese most of my life. Most allof my family has been the same way. When I graduated from high school in 1985, I was 6', 185 pounds and felt I could stand to lose 10 or 15 pounds. Little by little I went to 200, then 225, then 250 until I reached my peak in Feb. 2015 at 387. I had a bit of a heart scare that turned out to just be stress (thankfully) but knew I had to do something. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted. Burger King might be a Double or Triple Whopper with cheese and bacon with large fries, large Coke, 2 or 3 extra sandwiches (dbl cheeseburger, chicken crisp jr, etc) plus 10 or 20 nuggets. When we ordered pizza, we would get 2 large and I would eat mine and half of my wife's. AYCE buffets? Yeah, I got my money's worth.

I had to do SOMETHING though, I had knee issues, back issues and getting around was getting to be more painful. I started with just working on portion control. Instead of eating everything available I would eat 1-2 servings and put the rest away and take it for lunch.

My doctor had previously given me a referral to the bariatric center in the hospital he is part of but I never went, I didn't want surgery. After the scare, he explained that they have other plans that don't involve surgery so I went. I was 365 at the time I believe. They explained that I was insulin resistant, pre-diabetic and had all 5 of the criteria for metabolic syndrome and here is how my body is working (or not working). They set me up on a low carb/high protein plan and wanted me to eat every 2 to 2-1/2 hours. It worked out well. Eating better can be expensive but eggs are cheap so I started doing a lot of eggs, Greek yogurt, string cheese, and nuts especially during the day at work. I work in production so every 2 hours there is a break. 6am - Yogurt/string cheese, 8am - 1 hard boiled egg, 10am -1 hard boiled egg and 1 string cheese, 12p - 28g Nuts, 2p - 1piece of string cheese. Dinner was larger but typically just one good serving of whatever the wife made, meatloaf, Fish, steak, chicken, whatever. Mixing up what I am eating has helped. Mixing in Protein bars for lunch or Pork Rinds for snacks. Edamame Pasta instead of traditional. Keeping things varied but within what I am working with macro wise.

As time went on I was down to the 330s this past Thanksgiving and was able to get new pants (from a 52 and going up to 46!). I started feeling better and started doing small walks with the dogs and sometimes not (1+ mile around the neighborhood). My knees and back were able to handle it compared to NEEDING to push the cart at the store because I couldn't walk very far in the past without pain.

The holidays I pretty much just held even there in the 335 range and in February I started working on it again. I bought a food scale and started weighing as much as I could. We would buy the mixed deluxe nuts at Costco and I would buy snack bags and break them down into 28g packages. I would slice up Chinese BBQ pork into 28 or 56g packs. It makes it easy to just throw the lunches together or know exactly how much you are eating when you grab them.

As I started losing again and feeling better I started walking more. Taking the dogs for the "big walk" through the neighborhood that worked out to 2.3 miles. I started taking more longer walks alone because I do it faster than with the dogs and worked up to 3.2 miles on some of the routes I take. Then extended them a little and it was 3.7. One Saturday after eating pork rinds for breakfast while watching Bacon Paradise on TV (then cooking up a pound of bacon and eating it along with a bunch of M&M's) I told myself I HAVE to go walk some of this off. My daily calories is set at 2160 and I was at 1700 by 11am. I ended up doing a massive 6.2 mile walk around Renton, WA (where I live). It took me 2 hours but I burned around 1100 calories of that 1700 I ate.

I love food and pretty much have made myself work it off. I can get home from work and have eaten 750-850 calories by that point and have to watch what I eat for dinner and snacks..... or I can get my butt out and walk and earn some playroom in the diet. So I typically do 3.2-4 miles through the neighborhood at 3.5mph+.

It has been a combination of cutting back, learning how to eat and what is acceptable for me. When I started I HAD to be pretty strict with myself. I HAD to jump in with both feet and I would fail badly on the weekends and feel terrible about it. I eventually came to the decision that I will be as good as possible during the week when it is much more regimented because of work and I would do the best I could on the weekend and expect to fail miserably. And sometimes I do. I just accept that it WILL happen and that it isn't killing my progress, just slowing it down. I was at 302 last Thursday and had sub 300 in sight. We had a bake sale at work for breast cancer and on Friday morning there were free leftovers. I didn't do so well.

So we went to Sizzler for dinner and I overate then too. In for a penny, in for a pound even walking the 3.2 miles back to my car from Sizzler. It slowed things down, it didn't wipe out everything I am doing.

Friday the scale read 298 pounds. The first time below 300 in over 8 years. 89 pounds lost in the last 14 months or so, most of it in the last 9 or10.

I think for me the biggest thing I have learned and done is accepted that everyday I am not going to be great and that is OK. I have also accepted that I have eat only in my calories and keep a deficit or I can get butt out there and do the walk and gain another 400-700 calories I can eat back if I want.

Hearing weight compliments when you are STILL 300 pounds..... that gets ya kinda juiced too.

AspenDan · May 2016

I've started to love weighing/logging food and meticulously planning my food for the day. Something about nailing my calorie intake down to maybe only 10% error feels awesome.

This has helped me hugely in losing weight..imo, pick a calorie goal, whatever it is, and try that out for a few weeks...see if you lose weight? If so continue, if not, lower it for a few weeks??

meritage4 · May 2016

logging everything
staying at or under carbs given
Walking most days

34 lbs down it is working!

seska422 · May 2016

hillaryannli wrote: »

It seems this is a numbers game with CICO but everyone has such different opinions on what has worked for them, it's hard to know what is the best process to follow.

So, I'm curious, what helped you get started? Did you read a specific book or follow a certain website? What made everything 'click' for you? I am trying to understand the HOW and the WHY.

Thank you!

The best process to follow is the one that works for you.

The best part of calorie counting is that, for weight loss, all that matters is that you consume fewer calories than your body uses. That's it. People can do low fat or low carb or anything and, as long as they have a calorie deficit, they will lose weight.

The easiest way to stick to a calorie deficit, IMO, is to keep your way of eating as close to your normal way of eating as you can. Eat smaller portions and/or substitute calorie-dense foods that you like with other foods that you also like.

You'll need to experiment to find what makes you comfortable and keeps you satiated.

40 pounds in 5 months may not happen. Any weight loss is a victory, even if it doesn't come as quickly as you'd like.

WordWhisperer · May 2016

What worked for me (50 lb in 5 months as of today) is this: math.

I know that sounds silly but it's true. Once I finally understood the math, it has honestly been fairly easy.

Let's say your body burns 2000 calories a day just in the process of keeping itself alive (and I'm assuming you know where to find BMR formulas to figure yours for real). If you want to lose a pound per week, you need to eat 500 calories less than this per day (since 3500 calories is a pound). That means with zero exercise, and a 1500 calorie intake, you'll be down 20 pounds by your wedding day.

But you've indicated you want to lose twice that, so you would have to eat at a 1000 calorie per day deficit without exercise. This is probably not do-able. It's just too restrictive for most people, and in this particular hypothetical, unhealthy..

You know what IS do-able though? Adding in some exercise to make that 1000 calorie per day deficit. Is it going to be fun to try to burn 500 calories a day? Mmmm, no. But maybe you eat 1300 calories (700 deficit) and get 300 calories worth of exercise.

I'm sure you were probably already familiar with all this math, but your question was what worked for others, and this is what worked for me. Math doesn't lie. It's a system I can understand and work within. When I know I've gone over my 1440 calories, or I want to hurry the progress along, I'm going an extra lap around the park to keep my deficit where I'd like it.

A fitness tracker helps me guesstimate this information about calories from exercise, and yes I know that's imperfect, but it's close enough that my 2 pound per week target has for five months now consistently ended up at 2.5 pounds per week, or 10 pounds per month.

Based on the numbers you provided, and the time frame you have, I think you should give serious consideration to throwing out the window the whole "you don't have to exercise to lose weight" thing that pops up every two seconds on this site.

While that is a mathematical fact of course, you've got an aggressive timeline for your goal, and I think you should make your goal easy on yourself by committing to at least a daily walk - possibly more, if you don't want to eat at a restrictive deficit.

I highly, highly recommend a fitness tracker.

Good luck!

middlehaitch · May 2016

@wordwhisperer
'
Let's say your body burns 2000 calories a day just in the process of keeping itself alive (and I'm assuming you know where to find BMR formulas to figure yours for real). If you want to lose a pound per week, you need to eat 500 calories less than this per day (since 3500 calories is a pound). That means with zero exercise, and a 1500 calorie intake, you'll be down 20 pounds by your wedding day.'

Ones BMR is the calories one needs just to stay alive. That is not where you subtract a deficit from.

One can use MFP, which uses the NEAT method which does not include exercise.

Or an off site TDEE calculator that does include exercise.

@hilaryannli, use the number MFP sets you for your goal. It works. Eat what you like to eat, just less of it so you are eating to your goal.
If you decide to exercise eat back 50-75% of those calories back. You need them to fuel the exercise and ward off lethargy in everyday life. You will still lose at the goal you put in if you weigh your food and log as well as you can.

A food scale for solids and measuring cups and spoons will really help with accurate logging.

Keep things easy, it doesn't have to be complicated. All you have to do is eat less. MFP will help you do that.

Cheers, h.

arditarose · May 2016

I just started logging my food and stayed at the calorie goal MFP gave me. While the weight was coming off I was studying/reading/learning as much as I could about nutrition, reading food labels, and figuring out what was satiating for me.

WBB55 · May 2016

1. Get a FitBit. It will tell you how many calories you burn per day.

2. Buy a digital scale to weigh foods you eat, so you can accurately track your intake

3. If 1>2, you will lose weight over the long term.

Do this for 6 weeks, then tweak your intake/exercise if you're not losing at a steady rate.

In the meantime, if you have questions, come back and ask,

ejllewellyn85 · May 2016

Hi, you'll be inundated with advice so I won't write loads.

I think calorie counting is over rated (many people will disagree with that). If you just write down what you eat in a day (e.g. lunch = chicken sandwich) you can pick up on negative trends without the need for the tedium of working out the calorie values of every single ingredient, a lot of which is guess work anyway unless you literally weigh/measure every single component part- which is a bit OTT/unnecessary in my opinion.

Number one tip- get moving. Start slowly. Little & often, & build it up. When you start you may find that even after 10 minutes of exercise your arm hurts whilst cleaning your teeth, for example, but over time the initial pain subsides.

I've lost just over 40 lbs since the beginning of January, & I didn't start exercising regularly (just the odd bit here & there)until mid way through February, so it is do-able :-)

fitnessblender.com is good as (1) unless you want to buy a specific program all of their workout videos are free (2) you have the option of using the exercise diary so you can list what you intend to do in a day & mark each video as complete once done (3) there's no godawful background music (4) you can search the video database by time, difficulty level, exercise type etc. (5) no calorie counting involved (although they do bang on a bit about calorie burn but that's easy to ignore).

Basically it just takes consistent effort to see results, one day of exercise here & there won't do anything.

Good luck!

Lenala13 · May 2016

What got me going was to focus more on exercise and healthy eating and finally understand that the changes I need to make have be ones I can maintain for life. So I'm taking it nice and slow. Just trying to live healthier one step at a time. A book that worked for me to get me focused was Lose It Right by James Fell, but go with what works for you.

kommodevaran · May 2016

hillaryannli wrote: »

I have this constant frustration feeling like I don't know or understand what I am doing. It seems this is a numbers game with CICO but everyone has such different opinions on what has worked for them, it's hard to know what is the best process to follow.

So, I'm curious, what helped you get started? Did you read a specific book or follow a certain website? What made everything 'click' for you? I am trying to understand the HOW and the WHY.

These are great questions! You are thinking right in separating the HOW from the WHY. But this means separating the process from the method, as well.

CICO is the process by which weight is regulated. A sustained calorie deficit creates weight loss. "Eat less, move more" is the short and blunt version. This is the WHY, and the process, and the one thing that everybody does and has to do to lose weight, whether they know it or not, whether they "believe" in it or not, and whether they do it deliberately or not.

The method, on the other hand, can be a lot of different things, whatever suits you, your preferences, your lifestyle, your beliefs and ethical points of view. This is where weight management gets individual, where the personal challenges begin. The HOW. Lots of people have success by counting calories, others get obsessed by the numbers. Some people stop eating at a certain time each day, and that works because it stops them from mindless eating. Others snack all day. Some people go low carb, which can help stop cravings for sweet foods. Others miss the carbs too much or lose energy on too little carbs. A good strategy can be to find foods high in volume but low in calories, or it can be to get in plenty of fat and protein.

I've read a lot in the past 2 1/2 years. A lot of "clicking" happened right here in the forums. Losing all the guilt and worry about food and eating has helped me lose and keep off 50 pounds. Food is no longer the enemy. But to give you a list of all I've read wouldn't be very useful, it's better to expose and then address your personal obstacles.

Unknown · May 2016

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ilex70 · May 2016

No specific book or website here. Load of experience though.

The upside of multiple failures at weight maintenance?

Well I know a lot about what doesn't work for me.

My HOW is delaying eating until later in the day, starting with a good amount of protein in the morning, small frequent meals, focusing on hitting a daily protein goal, weighing and measuring food, and regular exercise...starting with whatever I can do and then increasing volume and intensity as I go. I'm goal oriented so I usually have at least a few goals in progress too.

What works for you may be quite a bit different. Yes, you need to maintain a calorie deficit. And I do agree that with an aggressive goal exercise will be needed. But your way of eating may not be much like mine at all.

My WHY is multiple and I expect that is true for most. Being really heavy is physically uncomfortable and tiring. Doesn't look too cute (at least on me). And I'm middle aged and have a family history of weight related disease, specifically diabetes.

You WHY does matter. Doesn't matter though if your why is to be healthy or look good naked; it's determination and consistency that get you from A to B.

dawnda1234 · May 2016

I have lost 50 pounds in 5 months and have 70 to go. I started with just wanting to eat healthy. I googled healthy dieting and read everything I could about eating healthy for weight loss. The key is to educated yourself and then pick the healthy foods you like to eat and track your calories. You will learn to tweak your diet as you go along. When you feel your ready start exercising. Again the key is to find activities that you enjoy. It really makes you feel better both mentally and physically. I would suggest you stay away from highly restrictive diets that promise quick results. They often result in failure and bingeating. It's so cliche but to loose weight and maintain it you need make a lifestyle change tailored to your individual needs. I hope this helps.

Beginner (sort of) in need of advice

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