TIPS PLEASE!!!: How to Properly Enter Caloric Deficit to Lose Weight

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  • AMV91
    AMV91 Posts: 86 Member
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    There are many at home workouts that you can do with body weight or with a set of dumb bells. Lots of people can work out while watching their kids when they do it from home. I'd look into fitnessblender.com, You could do HITT twice a week that runs you 20ish minutes, they have many strength training workouts that would take 20-30 minutes as well, then you have your weekend where you could make more time to do 1-2 longer workouts.

    You don't need to workout at all, it just gives you more calories to use. There is always a way to get movement into your day though, regardless of how busy you are.
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    You don't need to exercise in order to lose weight but as @jessiferrrb has said there are other benefits, it doesn't have to be intentional exercise you can just increase your activity level by walking.

    Looking at your diary I just have one question - why are you eating so little? Your calorie allowance already includes a deficit.

    Take a look at this thread here to understand how you calorie allowance is calculated and why what you're doing isn't wise. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
    LinserSE wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    you don't need to exercise to lose weight. there are a ton of benefits to exercising, including cardiovascular health, strength, maintenance of lean body mass, but to just lose weight / fat you only need to be in a caloric deficit. you can accomplish that by only restricting calories in via your diet.

    For as low as my activity is, how low should my intake be to ensure I am in a caloric deficit??... I dont know how many calories I burn a day just by doing my daily routine... Do you/does anyone know what a good way to find out would be??

    MFP does that for you. That's what happened when you filled in your details and it gave you an allowance.

    Because of my lifestyle right now, I feel bad if I eat anymore than I do not and I dont really feel the need to eat anymore... Maybe I am too hard on myself... I just have a terrible relationship with food and I've changed a lot... I think I'm just scared if I allow myself any more I'll go back to my old ways... and I followed your link and entered my info, its telling me 2074-2667 calories, which I couldnt even imagine consuming in a day xD MFP before I changed my goal said 1,610, but I would usually never reach it so I made the goal a little smaller...
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    First and foremost: for weight-loss, calories are king. Exercise will give you a greater deficit. It'll improve your fitness. Speaking as someone who deals with stress and low-level anxiety issues, it often improves your emotional well-being. BUT to lose weight, it still comes down to taking in fewer calories than you burn, and you can accomplish that even without exercise. Note that I'm not saying you shouldn't exercise. Just that if you can't, it is still very possible for you to lose weight.

    I don't belong to a gym. I've bought some relatively inexpensive fitness equipment and work out from home. Primarily dumbbells and resistance tubes and bands, but also:

    A cardio step

    Ankle weights

    A stability ball

    A mat

    A book on strength training. There are a lot of good ones on the market. I'm using Strength Training: Exercises for Women by Joan Pagano. She's got multiple exercises for each muscle/muscle group and she provides guidelines for progress. For example, something like a basic lunge might be: Level 1: 10 reps, 1-2 sets, no weights; Level 2: 12-15 reps, 1-2 sets, 3-5lb dumbbells; Level 3: 8-12 reps, 1-3 sets, 8-10lb dumbbells. She also provides cardio-and-dumbbell interval workouts and sample full-body strength training regimens for different fitness levels.

    Also, I have a soccer ball and a bouncy ball, because they're used for some of the exercises.

    Now, when you say you're trying to stay as low on calories as possible, what sort of deficit are you running? How much weight are you trying to lose total and per week?

    I belong to Anytime Fitness, but never get out there... I have no books, but maybe becoming more educated would be beneficial.. Ill look into that one(:... I never consume any more than 1,200 calories a day with a BMR of 2,110, so roughly 990 calories a day without exercise... Im looking to lose as much as possibexD but definitely no less than 1 lb per week
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    gamerbabe14 wrote: »
    Eat at a calorie deficit, take the stairs, walk during your lunches, walk to the store, play games with the kids that involve activity. Take the kids for a walk. I've lost 35lbs eating at a calorie deficit and just walking. You don't have to go to a gym.

    Great tips, thanks so much(: the kids usually dont want to go out but I'll start trying harder(:
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    LinserSE wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    You don't need to exercise in order to lose weight but as @jessiferrrb has said there are other benefits, it doesn't have to be intentional exercise you can just increase your activity level by walking.

    Looking at your diary I just have one question - why are you eating so little? Your calorie allowance already includes a deficit.

    Take a look at this thread here to understand how you calorie allowance is calculated and why what you're doing isn't wise. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
    LinserSE wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    you don't need to exercise to lose weight. there are a ton of benefits to exercising, including cardiovascular health, strength, maintenance of lean body mass, but to just lose weight / fat you only need to be in a caloric deficit. you can accomplish that by only restricting calories in via your diet.

    For as low as my activity is, how low should my intake be to ensure I am in a caloric deficit??... I dont know how many calories I burn a day just by doing my daily routine... Do you/does anyone know what a good way to find out would be??

    MFP does that for you. That's what happened when you filled in your details and it gave you an allowance.

    Because of my lifestyle right now, I feel bad if I eat anymore than I do not and I dont really feel the need to eat anymore... Maybe I am too hard on myself... I just have a terrible relationship with food and I've changed a lot... I think I'm just scared if I allow myself any more I'll go back to my old ways... and I followed your link and entered my info, its telling me 2074-2667 calories, which I couldnt even imagine consuming in a day xD MFP before I changed my goal said 1,610, but I would usually never reach it so I made the goal a little smaller...

    But that's because your logging is inaccurate. Check out the post above from @StaciMarie1974 you're eating more than you think already. If you have a bad relationship with food, go and talk to a professional.

    Haha, okay not THAT terrible, I just love to eat... Ill recalculate and set it up now. Thanks for the tips!
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
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    My after-school babysitter gets quite a workout--she bikes with our kids, plays basketball or kickball in the backyard with them, plays the Wii and dances with them, does gymnastics with my daughter! Not sure how old your kids are but if you are caring for little ones, you probably can get in a ton of exercise--and the parents will LOVE YOU for it, believe me!
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    LinserSE wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    you don't need to exercise to lose weight. there are a ton of benefits to exercising, including cardiovascular health, strength, maintenance of lean body mass, but to just lose weight / fat you only need to be in a caloric deficit. you can accomplish that by only restricting calories in via your diet.

    For as low as my activity is, how low should my intake be to ensure I am in a caloric deficit??... I dont know how many calories I burn a day just by doing my daily routine... Do you/does anyone know what a good way to find out would be??

    Experiment. Sedentary is many office workers. But if you are young (you appear to be) or chasing after kids, etc. you might select lightly active. Then choose a weekly weight loss goal, and MFP will do the math.

    You might try the calculator for both settings. Then choose the number you think you can stick to. If you find you are hungry, or run down.....eat more.

    A better estimate for daily calories burned in an activity tracker (ie: FitBit). But plenty of people have lost weight before those were invented. EVERYTHING is estimates. Just start.....and tweak as you go.

    I had my personal goal set up, but following some of the advise of this thread, I just reset it to
    jjtweb wrote: »
    This little calculator will give you an idea of what you burn just by existing basically.

    http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/calories-burned

    Thanks, very helpful(: said 2,510, I eat around 1,200, so this tells me about 1,310 is my resting deficit... Great tool!
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Food diary feedback...

    I believe there are 200 calories in a standard cherry pop tart, you logged 1 pop tart at 100 calories.

    Weigh your pasta and log the weight in grams. What you fit in 2/3 of the cup is easily more than what the weight of the serving is intended. Each time you put a solid food in a cup, you're likely to end up with a differnet quantity of food.

    Weigh your bread slices. By your log 1 slice is supposed to be 26 grams. Is it? Probably not.

    For meats, are you eating 3 oz raw weight or 3 oz dry weight? Or are you assuming your portion is 3 oz? Make sure the method you used for weighing matches the database entry. Moisture cooks out, so the cooked weight is less, but the calories don't drop for the water going away.

    For homemade entries, did you make these and use the recipe builder? Or use an entry and assume it matched your food in nutritional detail and serving size? That sort of assumption leads to errors.

    Rice - weigh in grams dry for best level of accuracy. Again, what you fit in the cup could easily be more than what you've logged.

    Mission tortilla wraps: like bread, they often weigh more than the label indicates. Weigh them.

    That's just a quick look at a couple of days.

    I dont have a scale or anything like that, I use preset foods others have logged from the labels... Ill make my priority to get a scale and measure more accurately what my intake REALLY is... I usually just trust the labels... Thanks for the feedback(:
  • RubyLou25
    RubyLou25 Posts: 212 Member
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    storyjorie wrote: »
    My after-school babysitter gets quite a workout--she bikes with our kids, plays basketball or kickball in the backyard with them, plays the Wii and dances with them, does gymnastics with my daughter! Not sure how old your kids are but if you are caring for little ones, you probably can get in a ton of exercise--and the parents will LOVE YOU for it, believe me!

    This. My daughter and I go on walks all the time. If I have full days off and nothing going on, we'll head to a state park and walk/hike, go to the pool and swim.

    I know my sisters kids loved when she turned Zumba videos on and would do them with her.
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    storyjorie wrote: »
    My after-school babysitter gets quite a workout--she bikes with our kids, plays basketball or kickball in the backyard with them, plays the Wii and dances with them, does gymnastics with my daughter! Not sure how old your kids are but if you are caring for little ones, you probably can get in a ton of exercise--and the parents will LOVE YOU for it, believe me!

    4 kids, one 6 months, 3, 4, and 7!! Haha, their quite indoor-sie but they also get around, more outdoor stuff should stop them from having as much energy and keep me on my feet more often(:
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    I second the endorsement of fitnessblender.com - you can work out at home while watching the kids. It doesn't need to take hours, you can rack up a couple hundred calories in 20 minutes of hard work, with no equipment other than your own body and a screen.

  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Ps-you have many unlogged days.

    What are your current stats? How much are you trying to lose? When did you start counting calories?

    The short answer to 'how do I lose weight' is to accurately and honestly log your calories, every day, and have patience. At the rate of .5-1 pounds per week for most women (more if you weigh more), weight loss takes months rather than days/weeks.

    Ahh, gotcha, and I definitely will start being more accurate. I am going to take the kids out tonight and find out. Ill go the the gym and weigh myself really quick (my scale broke) and serious tracking has been off and on for a long time, has been inconsistent, which I'm done doing... I want to be better at it. And I know a lot of those days in between tracks I was not eating anything, or just drank coffee... or just ate a pack of gummies... I had a pretty bad day a few days before and it made me kinda edgy about eating, and without even knowing it, a couple days had gone by and I felt like garbage...
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    RubyLou25 wrote: »
    storyjorie wrote: »
    My after-school babysitter gets quite a workout--she bikes with our kids, plays basketball or kickball in the backyard with them, plays the Wii and dances with them, does gymnastics with my daughter! Not sure how old your kids are but if you are caring for little ones, you probably can get in a ton of exercise--and the parents will LOVE YOU for it, believe me!

    This. My daughter and I go on walks all the time. If I have full days off and nothing going on, we'll head to a state park and walk/hike, go to the pool and swim.

    I know my sisters kids loved when she turned Zumba videos on and would do them with her.

    Thats a good way to keep everyone involved and active, thanks for the tip!(: we dont have any big parks or hills near us but I have some fun and active ideas I'm definitely going to pursue now!!(:
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    I second the endorsement of fitnessblender.com - you can work out at home while watching the kids. It doesn't need to take hours, you can rack up a couple hundred calories in 20 minutes of hard work, with no equipment other than your own body and a screen.

    Ill have to look it up! YouTube has it??
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    LinserSE wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    You don't need to exercise in order to lose weight but as @jessiferrrb has said there are other benefits, it doesn't have to be intentional exercise you can just increase your activity level by walking.

    Looking at your diary I just have one question - why are you eating so little? Your calorie allowance already includes a deficit.

    Take a look at this thread here to understand how you calorie allowance is calculated and why what you're doing isn't wise. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
    LinserSE wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    you don't need to exercise to lose weight. there are a ton of benefits to exercising, including cardiovascular health, strength, maintenance of lean body mass, but to just lose weight / fat you only need to be in a caloric deficit. you can accomplish that by only restricting calories in via your diet.

    For as low as my activity is, how low should my intake be to ensure I am in a caloric deficit??... I dont know how many calories I burn a day just by doing my daily routine... Do you/does anyone know what a good way to find out would be??

    MFP does that for you. That's what happened when you filled in your details and it gave you an allowance.

    Because of my lifestyle right now, I feel bad if I eat anymore than I do not and I dont really feel the need to eat anymore... Maybe I am too hard on myself... I just have a terrible relationship with food and I've changed a lot... I think I'm just scared if I allow myself any more I'll go back to my old ways... and I followed your link and entered my info, its telling me 2074-2667 calories, which I couldnt even imagine consuming in a day xD MFP before I changed my goal said 1,610, but I would usually never reach it so I made the goal a little smaller...

    How is eating the default minimum going to help you change your relationship with food? If you can't reach 1,610 calories now, how are you going to do during maintenance?

    Perhaps you are being to strict. Just change the habits you can change forever. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. It's not about eating perfectly "healthy" whatever your definition is.

    Because you don't have time for exercise, a really large deficit is going to go against you even more. I never liked strength training BUT I know that is one thing that can protect the lean muscle mass I already have....another protector is a moderate deficit (the 3rd protector is adequate protein).
  • mellypepper
    mellypepper Posts: 1 Member
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    In your MyFitnessPal app set a weighloss goal. It will calculate how many calories you burn based on your level of activity and tell you exactly how many calories to eat each day for healthy weight loss. YouTube also has excellent workout videos now. You can do them while watching the kids from your phone or a computer. I do the dance workouts and my 6 year old does them with me because she thinks it's fun. Just search for aerobic exercise and a ton of videos will pop up. The 30 min Bipasha Basu Break Free video burns about 320 calories.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    LinserSE wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    I second the endorsement of fitnessblender.com - you can work out at home while watching the kids. It doesn't need to take hours, you can rack up a couple hundred calories in 20 minutes of hard work, with no equipment other than your own body and a screen.

    Ill have to look it up! YouTube has it??

    Yep! Just search for fitness blender. Be sure and watch Kelli's video about not being perfect - she comes from a history of a bad relationship with food, and it might be helpful to you.
  • LinserSE
    LinserSE Posts: 55 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    LinserSE wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    You don't need to exercise in order to lose weight but as @jessiferrrb has said there are other benefits, it doesn't have to be intentional exercise you can just increase your activity level by walking.

    Looking at your diary I just have one question - why are you eating so little? Your calorie allowance already includes a deficit.

    Take a look at this thread here to understand how you calorie allowance is calculated and why what you're doing isn't wise. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
    LinserSE wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    you don't need to exercise to lose weight. there are a ton of benefits to exercising, including cardiovascular health, strength, maintenance of lean body mass, but to just lose weight / fat you only need to be in a caloric deficit. you can accomplish that by only restricting calories in via your diet.

    For as low as my activity is, how low should my intake be to ensure I am in a caloric deficit??... I dont know how many calories I burn a day just by doing my daily routine... Do you/does anyone know what a good way to find out would be??

    MFP does that for you. That's what happened when you filled in your details and it gave you an allowance.

    Because of my lifestyle right now, I feel bad if I eat anymore than I do not and I dont really feel the need to eat anymore... Maybe I am too hard on myself... I just have a terrible relationship with food and I've changed a lot... I think I'm just scared if I allow myself any more I'll go back to my old ways... and I followed your link and entered my info, its telling me 2074-2667 calories, which I couldnt even imagine consuming in a day xD MFP before I changed my goal said 1,610, but I would usually never reach it so I made the goal a little smaller...

    How is eating the default minimum going to help you change your relationship with food? If you can't reach 1,610 calories now, how are you going to do during maintenance?

    Perhaps you are being to strict. Just change the habits you can change forever. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out. It's not about eating perfectly "healthy" whatever your definition is.

    Because you don't have time for exercise, a really large deficit is going to go against you even more. I never liked strength training BUT I know that is one thing that can protect the lean muscle mass I already have....another protector is a moderate deficit (the 3rd protector is adequate protein).

    Maybe I am... I just see so much bad in every kind of food I eat... BUT someone also pointed out earlier I'm likely eating more than I realize with using default foods on here... So once I get accurate, I'll work on improving my intake v. outtake, and I'm going to try and find a way not to psych myself out when I realize I ate something that wasn't as good for me as I thought it was or a little bit more of something than I originally anticipated I would... I just hope I get to that 'maintenance' stage some day...

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