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

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.

LinserSE wrote: »

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...

There is no 'bad' food. All foods are made up of a combination of fats, carbs, and protein (except alcohol). There are sub-optimal diets, however, which is how many of us got fat to begin with.

OP- it sounds like you're putting too much pressure on yourself to eat perfect and then getting discouraged when your daily intake doesn't go as planned. I'd start with cutting yourself a break. Since you're just starting at this, maybe don't even worry about the calories goal yet. You've identified that you don't have a great relationship to food; I suspect that a good first step is just to take an accurate look at what you're eating without judgment. Remember that no foods are 'bad'. Some will help you get to your goals better than others. Once you get that scale and start accurately logging, look at where you can make small changes to get better nutrition. Maybe instead of 1.3 cups of rice (from your diary), you'll be satisfied with .75 cup of rice and more veggies. Perhaps instead of a cherry pop-tart, you'll be happier with a piece of toast and .5 cup of fresh cherries. Whatever it is, satiety is a very individual thing and no two people are going to have the exact same macro breakdown.

[/quote] 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 [/quote]

THIS ^^^ is the right attitude. Also, for what it's worth, most successful losers on here still have candy, and chips, and fast food from time to time.

If its overwhelming to think of the big picture/goal weight: then focus 5 pounds at a time. I started at 178.5. (Well, I'd been heavier before but the last time I started losing weight, this was my #.) So I looked forward to getting under 175. Then to being under 170. And so forth.

LinserSE wrote: »

First thread, here we go!(:

You know the typical story of "I just don't have time to go to the gym". Well, during the week I am living proof that this statement can sometimes be true. I work a 7-5 stressful job, get home at 6, then babysit until 10:30 at night, shower, and repeat. I've tried taking them to my gym, Anytime Fitness, but no ones allowed in without a membership past 8, but more importantly than that, they don't allow kids.

So what do I do? Try to work out on weekends, of course! But, more often than not, I'm stuck shopping and taking care of normal every-day things I'm not able to do during the week because of my schedule. I also do not have the opportunity to go to bed early enough during the week to be able to wake up and work out in the morning.

So, the big question: with a white-collar office job, not having a whole lot of activity, and averaging about 1 trip to the gym a week, how can I still lose weight?? I follow what I think is a pretty good diet ( reference open diary pleasec: ) and try to stay as low on calories as possible because I am aware of my situation... ANY and all advise is much appreciated

I need to ask one quick question first - you said "babysit" so I assume they are not your kids? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

LinserSE wrote: »

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...

I suggest that you get a new battery for your own scale, if that's what's needed, or go to Goodwill and get another scale for home use. It is most accurate and consistent to weigh yourself at home, first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking. Later in the day you will weigh more and it will fluctuate more due to clothing, what you've eaten that day, and generally just how the body works. I gain 3-5 lbs before 8am and noon every day.

You also can read the sticky threads at the top of this forum and the Fitness forum for tons of tips and info.

I'm a little bit confused by your question--when you set up MyFitnessPal, it generates a calorie goal for you. Do you not trust their calculation?

I agree with others that making sure your food entries are really accurate is super important. Using a scale is super helpful. They are cheap on Amazon or I bought one at a local discount store, Grocery Outlet.

I also agree with others that you can 1) increase your daily non-"exercise" activity, such as taking stairs whenever possible, and walking more (for example, park farther away from your destination so you have to walk a little bit more), playing more active games with the kids you're babysitting, etc. You can also do some stretches and isometric-type exercises at your desk (just Google for some ideas).

Also agree with those who suggested working out at home. Workout videos on YouTube are free. You can also Google some exercises and choose a few that appeal to you and start making them a habit.

Don't be too aggressive with your goals. It took time to put the weight on, and it will take time to take it off again. Just be diligent and really experience your successes, when you see you've lost a pound or two, give yourself credit for that and let it motivate you. Rather than focusing on how many pounds you still have to lose, and letting it depress you (and possibly lead to giving up or binging or blowing off keeping up your MyFitnessPal entries).

My final suggestion for you is take it a little easier on yourself. We all have our challenges, and everyone here obviously has challenges with food, so it's not like you are some kind of freak or defective human being. There are reasons we are where we are. Remember that so you don't feel like you need to get down on yourself!!!!

LinserSE wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

It sounds like first you need to address your issues with food - there are no bad foods, you are not bad for eating certain foods, you are not bad for eating an appropriate amount of calories to fuel your body and your active lifestyle.

You said you don't know how much you want to lose but want to lose as much as possible, that doesn't sound like a healthy mindset either. You need to figure out where you are currently, what a healthy goal weight would be for yourself, what a reasonable rate of loss would be (hint - if less than 25 lbs to lose, you should be aiming to lose no more than 0.5 lb/week). Losing too quickly, and/or eating too little - has a lot of negative effects: loss of lean body mass, hair loss, brittle nails, sallow skin, fatigue, sometimes even organ damage if you are consistently eating very low calories.

Spend some time reading the stickied Most Helpful Forum Posts at the top of each section. The Getting Started section in particular, like these:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

and this collection: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260499/i-like-old-posts-and-i-cannot-lie/p1

Good luck.

The recommend to get me in the upper half of my BMI would be 145... translating to 135 to lose... wow... that's a whole person...0.0 Anywho, thanks for the wishes and advise!

Most people take this thing in chunks with short term goals and long term goals.

Good, bad and ugly...you gotta (accurately) log every single thing, every single day. There are definitely days when I am eating at maintenance or above, an extra craft beer or an extra cookie that puts me just over the top, but f'it, because it's accountability between me and my goals.

LinserSE wrote: »

kam3190 wrote: »

Op please eat more than 1200 cals if you are 275 lbs. I was losing 3 lbs a week (too much,) last year at 252 eating 1800 cals a day without any purposeful exercise. Also with 4 kids (me to) it's impossible to be sedentary.

I ate 999 yesterday but I'm trying to find more calorie dense foods I can eat without wrecking my nutrition goals for the day... I have no balance yet... I need more protein most days and more fats than carbs, but idk what foods I can substitute/add on to make this happen...

MFP does a lousy job explaining this. Your macros are targets. It's ok to go over them. (It's also ok to manually adjust them for ratios that work better for you.) The thing to not go over is the calorie goal. However, at 1200 calories with your stats, your calorie goal is too low.

If you want more protein and fat, one easy way to accomplish that is with red meat. (Unless you are vegetarian or vegan - please advise if this is the case.)