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What does MFP tell you to do with your calories, when you input all your info into the setup? Go with that.

Also, organic food isn't any less calories than non organic and will make no difference to your weight loss. All the Pinterest and IG looking photos of "clean" and "healthy" foods are basically just fetish art, try to keep that in mind and eat foods you enjoy in ways that satisfy you while staying in a moderate calorie deficit. And dig in, it's not a sprint.

IMO I wouldn't start with such a drastic calorie cut. What calorie goal does MFP give you to lose a pound a week with your stats? You definitely don't need to eat organic. You can eat fresh or frozen veggies, both equally good. It took me a while, but I do a lot of food prep with fresh, non processed foods. It has actually turned out to be cheaper than buying canned or boxed foods. I just look for sales and will freeze meats.

4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »

1. Forget most of what you have read about weight loss, especially if it comes from some sort of magazine.
2. Eat what you like and can afford, at times that work for you, and stay within your calorie goal.

I have had success mostly eating the same stuff I always ate. Obviously some things had to change, if I wasn't over eating I never would have needed to lose weight, but I didn't have to go organic, eat clean, or start cooking super special meals. My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so eat the meat, a smaller amount of potatoes, and throw in some veggies and I have a meal that fits better for me. Most of my normal recipes still fit, I just have to pay attention to portions and not eat too much of it. Tacos, chicken pot pie, casseroles, and spaghetti or alfredo dishes were all staples before and after I started dieting.

I think these two links are extremely helpful and can help you get the most out of MFP:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

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

The first covers accurate logging and some of the tools in MFP to help you make things easier. The second discusses caloric needs and setting goals. These two posts completely changed my MFP experience and helped me be much more successful, so I hope they do the same for you.

~best wishes

I was coming in to post the sexypants link. Read it, do it. Enjoy your successes and learn from your failures.

The thing that all of those diets have in common is that they only work if they get you to eat less than you use. The amount of calories that you consume to stay at your current weight is your maintenance number. Anytime you consistently eat less than that number, you will lose weight. How much less determines how fast you lose. But remember, speed isn't everything. You need to find a deficit that you can consistently maintain, maybe not every day, but averaged over weeks and months, and you need to be prepared to eat less for the rest of your life. The less you weigh, the fewer calories it takes to maintain your weight. This is why people often regain weight: they eat a very low calorie diet to lose weight quickly, hit their goal weight, and go right back to their previous eating habits.

So (1) figure out roughly what your maintenance calories are, (2) figure out an eating style that allows you to maintain some sort of deficit, and (3) make changes that will last you the rest of your life so that you don't regain the weight you lose. You can do this - it really is a lot simpler than it sounds. When the goal is losing weight, it doesn't matter what kind of food you eat, when you eat, or what your macro balance is. These can all be valuable tools to help you maintain the deficit you need, but bottom line is you need to eat less than you use.

ETA: And remember that this is a process and that your weight isn't a single, stable number. There are lots of great links to check out around here, but bottom line is, it's normal not to see overnight results. You've got to be patient and determined.

seaglasstreasure wrote: »

Joanna2012B wrote: »

IMO I wouldn't start with such a drastic calorie cut. What calorie goal does MFP give you to lose a pound a week with your stats? You definitely don't need to eat organic. You can eat fresh or frozen veggies, both equally good. It took me a while, but I do a lot of food prep with fresh, non processed foods. It has actually turned out to be cheaper than buying canned or boxed foods. I just look for sales and will freeze meats.

To lose 1lb per week it says 1,550. I have a very short height - 5'1" barefoot, 5'2" with regular tennis shoes. The lowest safe it says to eat is 1,200 so I couldn't even lose two pounds without exercising a lot and not eating the exercise calories back which people said you need to eat your exercise calories back.

What is your current weight? If you need to lose 100 lbs, there's no way it set you up with 1550 calories. Put in the correct stats in MFP and see what it says. You have to put your current weight in, and your goal weight. It sounds like you put your goal weight in as your current weight. Only very small 5'1 people would need 1500 calories.

seaglasstreasure wrote: »

emcclure013 wrote: »

Use the guided setup on MFP and set it to a 2lbs per week loss and see what your goal should be. Eat those calories. All of them. Eat whatever you want so long as it fits in those calories (even ice cream, carbs, whatever bad thing other diets say is the devil... doesn't matter so long as it fits). Weigh and measure your food to make sure you're being accurate, and don't "skip" logging anything. If you stay within that magic number you'll lose weight.

Give it time and be patient - as someone already said, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Think ahead in months. If you lose 2lbs per week for a month, that's 8lbs. That's almost 50lbs in 6 months, and you can do it eating whatever you want, so long as it fits into your goal. If you can't do it, set your weight loss per week lower so you can eat more. A loss is still a loss - you're looking for a sustainable lifestyle, not a crash diet that you'll burn out on and end up right back where you were.

Yeah it won't set me at a low enough calorie goal to lose two pounds per week without over exercising and then not consuming the burned exercises calories. Calorie counting only I can only lose just over 1lb per week. And people told me it's not safe to try to lose 2lbs per week by exercising and then not eating back the exercise calories.

1500 is a good place to start. These numbers are all estimates anyway.

After a few weeks you can tweak that goal up or down based on actual results. Don't get too hung up on....it's 1.5 pounds a week vs. 1 pound a week. Just pick a number you can live with for awhile.

Here's an estimator for your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) aka maintenance..........include exercise (if you intend to do it): http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Then take 500 calories (1 pound a week) or 750 calories (3/4 pound a week) off the top and skip logging exercise altogether. Your exercise calories would be accounted for in TDEE, but not in MFP.

1550 should get you a 1 pound a week loss. If you are too hungry and will quit the diet then you need to up your daily to 1600 or 1650. You will have less of a loss but you won't give up in discouragement.
I don't want you to fail. Too many times I've gone on a 1000-1200 cal diet and given up after 3 days because I was starving.

Why does every one always say to eat back your calories? There is no one diet for everyone. Eat back your calories if you need to, but if you don't need to, then don't.

Cheap food doesn't have to make you gain weight. Expensive food doesn't mean you'll lose weight.

So you need to budget your calories and your money about the same and still be content. A head of lettuce is usually $.99 and can feed me 4-5 times with very few calories. $.99 worth of meat won't fill me as much. But also I'm not happy with lettuce only, and I'm not happy with meat only. Beans are cheap but I'm not eating them every day. Eggs are cheap. I like eggs. Still can't eat everyday but they do make up a big part of my diet. The biggest changes come from swapping out high calorie or higher cost foods with cheaper foods. A whole baked potato instead of a bag of chips. Homemade rice instead of box convenience food rice.

Eat cereal for breakfast. Oatmeal is cheaper but if you like cereal, eat it. Don't eat breakfast if you're not hungry, but don't set yourself up to eat junk from the vending machine on your coffee break because now you're too hungry. Hard boiled eggs are portable. Make egg muffins, mini egg quiches and take them with you.

Sandwiches are fine. Do you put mayo on them? Cheese? look for small things that you can cut out or reduce. I smaller layer of mayo, or no cheese.

Some veggies are cheaper, some are too expensive. Cauliflower was $2.97 a pound the other day. I can get ground beef for almost that much.

Celery is usually $1 a bunch. I can eat celery all day long. That's a good value for me.

I'm diabetic and follow Keto, and 1200 cal day. My opinions are varied.

sagesunshine wrote: »

1550 should get you a 1 pound a week loss. If you are too hungry and will quit the diet then you need to up your daily to 1600 or 1650. You will have less of a loss but you won't give up in discouragement.
I don't want you to fail. Too many times I've gone on a 1000-1200 cal diet and given up after 3 days because I was starving.

Why does every one always say to eat back your calories? There is no one diet for everyone. Eat back your calories if you need to, but if you don't need to, then don't.

Cheap food doesn't have to make you gain weight. Expensive food doesn't mean you'll lose weight.

So you need to budget your calories and your money about the same and still be content. A head of lettuce is usually $.99 and can feed me 4-5 times with very few calories. $.99 worth of meat won't fill me as much. But also I'm not happy with lettuce only, and I'm not happy with meat only. Beans are cheap but I'm not eating them every day. Eggs are cheap. I like eggs. Still can't eat everyday but they do make up a big part of my diet. The biggest changes come from swapping out high calorie or higher cost foods with cheaper foods. A whole baked potato instead of a bag of chips. Homemade rice instead of box convenience food rice.

Eat cereal for breakfast. Oatmeal is cheaper but if you like cereal, eat it. Don't eat breakfast if you're not hungry, but don't set yourself up to eat junk from the vending machine on your coffee break because now you're too hungry. Hard boiled eggs are portable. Make egg muffins, mini egg quiches and take them with you.

Sandwiches are fine. Do you put mayo on them? Cheese? look for small things that you can cut out or reduce. I smaller layer of mayo, or no cheese.

Some veggies are cheaper, some are too expensive. Cauliflower was $2.97 a pound the other day. I can get ground beef for almost that much.

Celery is usually $1 a bunch. I can eat celery all day long. That's a good value for me.

I'm diabetic and follow Keto, and 1200 cal day. My opinions are varied.

Not everyone says to eat back your calories, but the people who do say it are saying it because that is the way that MFP is designed. Whatever method you choose, it's wise to *somehow* account for the calories you are burning though activity.

mumfy23 wrote: »

Although the Calories In, Calories Out is mathimatically correct - eating in moderation is not what got me to be overweight. So no chips, icecream, candy, etc. in the house for me to avoid temptation. To each their own.

My advice - weigh everything. Do your best to stay away from processed foods - a sandwich of white bread, sodium filled turkey isn't going to fill you up. Buy things on sale and plan around it that way. Don't eat canned beans - eat dry beans and freeze them. Frozen fruits and veggies are a good option this time of year. Wait for sales and then stock up on lean proteins, etc. Pinterest is your friend. Find budget friendly/diet friendly recipes.

Good luck.

Setting aside that some people might find a sandwich of white bread and deli turkey to be a satisfying lunch, there are some processed foods that are filling, convenient, and healthy options for people who are watching calories. I may not like a turkey sandwich, but a sandwich thin with hummus and baked tofu (all of which are processed) is a quick and filling lunch for me. Avoiding a food just because it has undergone processing is less useful than paying attention to which processed foods fit into your goals and satisfy you and which don't.

I ate processed foods every single day when I was losing weight. If someone chooses to avoid them for particular reasons, that's fine. But there is no reason one has to stay away from them in order to lose weight while also meeting their nutritional needs.

Rickster1967 wrote: »

Yeah the eating exercise calories back question really depends on the individual

A small woman on 1200 should probably eat all her calories back

A huge fat man like me gets enough food anyway and has plenty of energy stored so doesn't need to replenish burnt calories.

The principle is there to see. Dieters need to be their own lab rat. See what works for them in terms of successful, healthy weight loss, sustainable eating patterns, nutrition and establishment of long term eating habits.

I know for instance that when I get closer to target I will have to start eating them back and therefore eating closer to TDEE.

This is why logging food and exercise consistently and accurately is so important. As well as aiding in the actual weightloss journey, it provides vital information to help design your own individual diet plan

I would think that when a larger man is deciding whether or not to eat back his calories his initial calorie goal and his level of activity would be important considerations as well. Your size isn't the only thing to consider.

Rickster1967 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

Rickster1967 wrote: »

Yeah the eating exercise calories back question really depends on the individual

A small woman on 1200 should probably eat all her calories back

A huge fat man like me gets enough food anyway and has plenty of energy stored so doesn't need to replenish burnt calories.

The principle is there to see. Dieters need to be their own lab rat. See what works for them in terms of successful, healthy weight loss, sustainable eating patterns, nutrition and establishment of long term eating habits.

I know for instance that when I get closer to target I will have to start eating them back and therefore eating closer to TDEE.

This is why logging food and exercise consistently and accurately is so important. As well as aiding in the actual weightloss journey, it provides vital information to help design your own individual diet plan

I would think that when a larger man is deciding whether or not to eat back his calories his initial calorie goal and his level of activity would be important considerations as well. Your size isn't the only thing to consider.

I didn't say it was, size was only used to define the type of individual

I was responding specifically to this: "A huge fat man like me gets enough food anyway and has plenty of energy stored so doesn't need to replenish burnt calories." A larger man would still want to consider his initial calorie goal and his activity level -- not just his size -- when deciding whether or not to eat back some or all activity calories. It was the "doesn't need" that prompted me to respond -- I think there are some situations where a larger person absolutely should consider eating back activity calories -- an aggressive calorie goal, a higher level of physical activity, etc.

If I'm misunderstanding you, then I apologize.

You've got great advice on this thread so I can only repeat: put your stats into mfp and eat within your calorie allowance. Get a food scale and weigh your food. If you buy items you can use the mfp barcode scanner to get the product calories - very convenient. Weight loss is about developing a personal eating plan so eat the food you like. I went through stages - initially I kept 1/4 of my calories for snacks and eventually didn't snack as much. I watched an obesity documentary every day for the first month for motivation. It seems to get easier. You can eat fast food too - use the search facility on the forum for tips. I eat taco bell chicken fresca tacos, egg mcmuffins and McDonald cheeseburgers regularly. All of this is fine as long as you stick to your calorie allowance. The skinnytaste blog has great low-fat recipes. The chicken enchilada slow cooker soup is basically canned veg plus chicken. The slow cooker hamburger stroganoff is tasty and cheap. Keep experimenting as you go. Read the forum threads for tips. Read the maintenance threads so you understand that once you get the weight off, you need to keep it off. Mfp works. I dropped from obese to fat in 3 months. I'm tackling the next stage in 3kg mini-goals. Good luck!!!

Folks, the 110 pound goal has no effect on how her calorie target now is calculated by MFP. Zero. None.

All goal weight affects is things like the profile page progress ticker (display of how many pounds to go until goal and that sort of thing).

Please don't overcomplicate the setup & getting started issues by questioning her goal. She has plenty of time to decide and adjust that later if necessary.

Furthermore, she's 5'1". 110 may be perfectly sensible.

OP, you've gotten some great advice above about starting, and your current calorie target seems sensible. There's no need to worry about goal weight precision right now. Plenty of time for that later!

Best wishes for success!