35lbs to lose by the summer help

Quite a target, but when do you see summer starting? Divide this into weeks, then divide weeks by 35 - is it doable? Most advice says 2lb a week should be the maximum safe loss, although I understand those who have become very overweight can lose quite a bit more to start. Why not set your MFP target at 2lbs a week and see how it goes? Log everything (weigh out food) and if you can, get a fitness monitor so you can measure calories burned more accurately. I lost 18lb in 10 weeks doing this. Please feel free to 'friend' me Amanda, and best of luck...

Also for your exercising watch some youtube videos too if you can to get some ideas of what to do and your form. x

It largely depends on what your activity level will be. Set your account to about 1.5 lbs per week, get a food scale and work to be active. It's more probably that you will see that in the beginning but weight loss will generally taper if you don't increase activity to offset the expenditure difference driven by your extra weight.

Consider seeing a health professional like a doctor and try to see a dietician. The dietician can create a food plan that will work for your lifestyle.

amandabrookshaw wrote: »

i dont wiegh my food but i log on here
i dont really know what im doing

You must buy a digital food scale weigh every single thing and measure all liquids with calories in a measuring jug you can't know the weights etc by eyeball

xchocolategirl wrote: »

size102b wrote: »

amandabrookshaw wrote: »

i dont wiegh my food but i log on here
i dont really know what im doing

You must buy a digital food scale weigh every single thing and measure all liquids with calories in a measuring jug you can't know the weights etc by eyeball

I personally don't think weighing food is a requirement. I've personally lost 27 pounds, and I didn't buy a food scale so it's doable without. However, different things work for different people.

Really how can you possibly know how much your food weighs?
Calories are easily over eaten you shouldn't advise people not to weigh they're foods that's a number one reason people stop losing weight and gain weight
There's no way you could eyeball weights of food

Post a thread that you don't think people should weigh they're food if like to see the replies.

Is it required to log or weigh food, absolutely not. But considering the average trained professional under reports calories consumed by as much as 400 calories, it can considerable eat away at your deficit, especially, if you are not compensating with additional exercise.

It should also be noted that the leaner you get, the less room for error you have.

While you can lose weight without weighing your food, if you have a specific time frame, it would increase the likely hood of you reaching your goal b/c you will be accurate. Measuring cups and spoons can be very inaccurate (and listing on the sides of packages can be off by quite a bit, legally. The only way you can be sure is if you weigh. With me for instance, I can get away without weighing for the first few weeks b/c I have a bigger deficit. But once I get closer to goal, I typically have to break out the scales for everything for a while to make sure I'm on target, as my over all deficit is much lower (I'm only 5'4" which doesn't give me a lot of wiggle room when I'm below 130). With out the food scale, I tend to give myself portions closer to my husbands (he has more muscle mass than I do, and his job is very physical).

Fitness Blender on Youtube are brilliant, if you go to their actual website you can search for beginner workouts and they also have schedules you can purchase for about £10 and you keep for life.

Agreed set your goal to 1.5lbs for now, maybe till you get the first 15-20lbs off, then reduce to 1lb.

As above, weighing your food isn't a must but when you have a goal date to lose as consistently as possible, it's always best to reduce the margins of error with your logging.

At 2 lbs a week for 20weeks that could be doable but don't be dishartened if you don't manage the full 35lb. Just be realistic from the start and don't make it too hard for yourself, if struggling settle for 1lb a week and be happy with that.

You can do it! I lost 35 pounds in 12 weeks, although I started a bit higher (289) and am much taller. But that was also a lot faster than you want to lose.

IANAD, but here's what I did:

1. Count calories / weigh food. Can't emphasize this enough. You can't judge how much you're eating from looking at it, at first. A "serving" in packaged food is probably a quarter of what I would typically eat. So, yeah - four servings at a time adds up. I was hitting 800-1200 calories most days, others 1500 or so net.
2. Cut the sugar and starch. This will be HARD for 2 days, while your body purges itself and you get over the addiction. But it WILL get easier, I promise. NO soda, candy, donuts, cookies, muffins, pancakes, waffles, chips, pasta, juice, french fries, cereal, ice cream. I also suggest cutting down (if possible, to zero servings; if not, 1-2 MEASURED servings per day) of: white rice, bread, fruit. Limit the use of oils in your cooking as much as possible, one tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories - there goes a tenth of your daily allotment on basically nothing at all.
3. So what's left to eat? Well...it is a change, for sure. But there are palatable options once your taste buds adjust and you get rid of the addictive craving of sweets. If you're not vegetarian, it's a hell of a lot easier. Lots of salads/greens, beans, mushrooms, yams, squash, other fibrous veggies. Broccoli and cauliflower are very substantial in the stomach. Red peppers add a great sweetness without a lot of calories. You can eat a HUGE salad that will forcibly fill you up with relatively few calories (as long as you don't load it up with packaged dressing). Throw in some hard-boiled egg and cheese for protein/fat and flavor. Sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Packaged salads are a huge help for me - love the chopped salads or little packaged salads you get at the grocery store. And you can just take it easy on the dressing, or use ranch instead. Quinoa and brown rice are great for a carb base, but be very careful with portion size. Brown rice, in particular, has a fair amount of calories for Berries in moderation. Nuts in moderation (they are healthy but have a lot of calories, be VERY careful of serving size here. Half a tin of cashews and you're done for the day. Alcohol? Honestly, I'd still have a couple of beers or a glass of wine once or twice a week, while socializing...but the problem is, it tends to drop your inhibitions, so you find yourself eating a "couple fries" and next thing you know how many calories whazzit anyway and maybe just one more beer and there goes the week. So, be careful there (although see CHEAT DAY below). Very dark chocolate in tiny moderation if you like it and can eat it without restarting the sugar engine. A good alternative: protein bars, very treat-like. One or two a day maximum, though - they can add a bunch of calories better spent on actual food. If you're not vegetarian, any non-processed meats are fine, although lower fat meats have fewer calories via science. Again, portion control: a 12-oz steak is too much. Eat one chicken breast. Or a half. Your body WILL adjust to these smaller portion sizes, believe me. After a couple weeks, you can't even finish a typical restaurant portion. So, basically: eat a lot of staples, get used to eating real food, and then you can adjust and add foods back in as necessary, once you know what a portion is. It's not so bad, and better than feeling fat and tired and basically falling asleep in the afternoon at your desk (speaking from experience). Sriracha! Seriously--it adds so much flavor we barely use salt any more. Lots of stir fries with mainly veggies, but also some meat or tofu.
4. Cut out breakfast. It's a heck of a lot easier to eat fewer calories in a day when you eat one less meal a day. For me, it's breakfast. Don't believe the hype - you do NOT need to eat breakfast to have energy. Or I don't, at least. If you really really love breakfast, and can live with a lot of eggs, cut out lunch or something. But cutting out breakfast worked great for me.
5. Intermittent fasting (IF) - for me, this idea was the inspiration for cutting breakfast. Basically, I eat for 7-8 hours a day. Lunch at noon, maybe a protein bar around 3-4 if I was hungry, then dinner around 7. Perhaps a little post-meal treat. Then NO snacking in front of the tv at night. There are giant threads about IF, I won't go into the full idea here. But it did/does work for me. Even when I stopped restricting my calories so crazily, IF helps me maintain. 16 hours no eating, then 8 hours during which I eat. Plus, it's a heck of a lot easier than trying to eat 6 small meals a day or whatever. Eat a meal. Eat a snack (sometimes). Eat another meal. Don't think about food again until the next day. Pretty nice, and pretty easy once I got used to it.
6. Cheat Day!!!! Mmm hmm, this makes it easier, just being able to say: on Saturday, I'ma eat breakfast, eat lunch, eat dinner, drink a beer, eat some dark chocolate almonds, live a little. It makes things vastly easier at first, to know that you can eat your fill once a week, feel truly full. And, over time, that becomes less important. First of all, your stomach is smaller, so even if you sit down in front of a rack of ribs, you can't finish it. And it's better in the relationship, too, to have a day where you're not calorie policing yourself in front of the wife/hubby/SO/fam, and you can just hang out in a social setting and have a meal. NOTE: Do NOT activate your sugar cravings on this day! NO candy. NO soda. In fact, pretty much try to leave everything in the point #2 NO list out. Cheat w/quantity and satiety, not by eating the crap you used to eat. But, yeah, once a week, have a slice of good toast with breakfast, maybe some hash browns. Eat a burger for lunch. My cheat days were about 2000 calories, not 4000, so don't go crazy and end up eating every calorie you didn't eat the other days, but have some fun once in a while.
7. No change in exercise. It's hard to change multiple habits at once. So, keep doing what you're doing exercise wise, unless you already have a yen to amp it up. I just wanted to try losing the weight without complicating things. Once you change your exercise level, it gets a lot harder to judge what's going on. Exercise adds muscle (which adds weight), changes your metabolic rate, etc. Exercise is great, don't get me wrong, but you DO NOT lose weight through exercise. It is diet and calorie control, through whatever methods you need to take. Period. (Again, I Am NOT A Doctor - this is what works for me.)
8. And, finally, a philosophical note: Don't worry too much! Nothing is set in stone, and screwing up doesn't invalidate what you do right. When I started losing weight, I ate ice cream every night one week because it was going to waste in the freezer (a single, measured & weighed portion). It's fine. You have 2 cheat days one week because you go out twice - it's fine. Don't give up...but also don't decide that every exception is ok. It's sticking to a plan that will let the calories come off. If you wanna work out, great, your body composition will change and you may look and will feel better, but you may not lose the full 35. And that's ok. :-)

I hope this helps. You inspired a rant. I guess this was waiting to come out. Cheers and good luck! (You can even learn to like kale - I did!!!!)

1. Can't disagree with count calories, weigh food. At least measure at the very very least for the foods you can. Weighing is the most accurate, especially for those of us who may overestimate.

2. You don't have to cut foods out of your diet to lose. It can help some people with making sure they stay inside their caloric deficit. I have a PB sandwhich for breakfast, I eat chocolate, some girl scout cookies. Had a donut. I eat portion sizes and make sure they fit into my deficit, and I still lose weight.

3. Personal preference, because of #2, I don't eat half that stuff. Don't like it, not going to force myself. 4-5oz chicken (since we said weighing was best)

4. You try and cut my breakfast, I will likely end up cutting you because I'm hangry. Many people like to get their calories from breakfast and have small lunch/dinner or any combo of that. I will also cut you for cutting out my lunch or dinner. Hangry b!tch. If you can go without a meal because you're not hungry, then go for it. Not necessary.

5. See #4. Haaaaangry

6. Cheat days are variable for people (see: multiple threads on cheat days/meals), not necessary if you don't cut foods out of your diet so you won't crave them. And eat meals. I'd say cut down on calories some days and 'save up'. A lot of people watch their total calories for the week, not for the day so maybe on Friday they have 'saved up' enough unused calories for an extra slice of pizza.

7. Do wuh? What? Exercise how you want. Calorie deficit is what nets you the weight loss. Exercise is good for overall body health. You have to lift a pretty decent amount to start tacking on muscle weight. I'm not sure how changes make it harder to know what's going on. I'll grant you exercise calorie burn tends to be a exaggerated since it's a general # despite intensity, but still. If you're using MFP to calculate your deficit, it does not account for exercise, so you'll want to eat back about 50% (because again the burn estimate is inaccurate) so you don't have a huge deficit (which can cause your body to be inadequately fueled).

8. I'll grant you that. Beating yourself up over not being perfect is never a good idea.