3500 calories to gain 1 pound
mizuranch3070
Posts: 10 Member
Hello,
I have a question that’s been bothering me. I’ve read lately that you need to consume 3500 calories to gain 1 pound. And I take that as on top of your “running cost” which seems to be 1800 for my gender and normal weight. Last year I managed to gain a lot of weight over 6-7 months and I decided to put a typical day, actually one of the worsen days I had back then when I worked long shifts and didn’t bring lunch with me which wasn’t that common. When I do that I reach 2197 calories to be exact. I also calculated the intake I have today, I am not on any specific diet or the like, and it’s about 1450 calories a day.
I don’t really understand how I could have gained almost 30lbs last year from that calorie intake and how I could not be losing any weight nowadays on my new intake?? When everyone says that weight is basically calorie in, calorie out.
I don’t exercise at all. According to my phone’s health app I average about 6000 steps a day and that’s commuting to work and working standing up.
Does it make sense or is my metabolism not fully working..? I can also magically gain 10lbs over night, no joke. I don’t feel bloated from it at all and I don’t have to pee a lot either.
I have a question that’s been bothering me. I’ve read lately that you need to consume 3500 calories to gain 1 pound. And I take that as on top of your “running cost” which seems to be 1800 for my gender and normal weight. Last year I managed to gain a lot of weight over 6-7 months and I decided to put a typical day, actually one of the worsen days I had back then when I worked long shifts and didn’t bring lunch with me which wasn’t that common. When I do that I reach 2197 calories to be exact. I also calculated the intake I have today, I am not on any specific diet or the like, and it’s about 1450 calories a day.
I don’t really understand how I could have gained almost 30lbs last year from that calorie intake and how I could not be losing any weight nowadays on my new intake?? When everyone says that weight is basically calorie in, calorie out.
I don’t exercise at all. According to my phone’s health app I average about 6000 steps a day and that’s commuting to work and working standing up.
Does it make sense or is my metabolism not fully working..? I can also magically gain 10lbs over night, no joke. I don’t feel bloated from it at all and I don’t have to pee a lot either.
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Replies
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I can't calculate the calories I had yesterday, so I don't know how accurate I would be trying to recall what I consumed 6 months ago. (actually I can look it up on MFP; but, that's another story).
The 3500 Calories refers to gaining or losing 1lb of FAT. You don't gain or lose only fat on a day to day basis.
10lbs overnight is an extreme variation. Time of the month, exercise, and whether you are switching back and forth from a low carb regime or whether you engage in long bouts of aerobic exercise and/or eat meals high in sodium may all play a role in that.
I note too that your caloric difference per your recall could account for 20lbs of fat change in the 6 to 7 months you mention. Add in another 10lb of overnight weight change due to water weight and you have your 30lbs.
6000 steps a day corresponds to lightly active.
By the way, and this is no joke. IF you truly believe that you can calculate what you were eating a few months ago at any level other than "hey I used to eat a whole pizza and now I eat a half a pizza", your level of precision when it comes to counting calories is an order of maginitude less than the one I try to use
Weigh your solids before eating them by preference. Don't forget condiments. There are no zero calorie products in sufficient quantities.18 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »Hello,
I have a question that’s been bothering me. I’ve read lately that you need to consume 3500 calories to gain 1 pound. And I take that as on top of your “running cost” which seems to be 1800 for my gender and normal weight. Last year I managed to gain a lot of weight over 6-7 months and I decided to put a typical day, actually one of the worsen days I had back then when I worked long shifts and didn’t bring lunch with me which wasn’t that common. When I do that I reach 2197 calories to be exact. I also calculated the intake I have today, I am not on any specific diet or the like, and it’s about 1450 calories a day.
I don’t really understand how I could have gained almost 30lbs last year from that calorie intake and how I could not be losing any weight nowadays on my new intake?? When everyone says that weight is basically calorie in, calorie out.
I don’t exercise at all. According to my phone’s health app I average about 6000 steps a day and that’s commuting to work and working standing up.
Does it make sense or is my metabolism not fully working..? I can also magically gain 10lbs over night, no joke. I don’t feel bloated from it at all and I don’t have to pee a lot either.
You have to weigh the food you eat, otherwise, most people grossly underestimate how much food they eat and the calories that correspond to that amount of food. You need to weigh food on a scale to get an accurate calorie count. What you are doing is just guessing.9 -
If you're calculating what you ate today like you're calculating what you ate back then then you are largely underestimating and need to buy a food scale now.12
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I suspect your calorie counts, both then and now, are off.14
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Because you don't know what you're doing yet as far as calculating. How are you going to calculate one day by guessing and then say how did I gain weight all year??
Just start logging. And do it accurately. Log your drinks, condiments, cooking oils. Weigh your food if you're not losing.12 -
I just did the math and you gained that much weight by eating about 287 calories a day over your maintenance calorie level. Extremely easy to do if you aren't accurately weighing your foods and accurately tracking calories.27
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There's a psychological concept called the Hawthorne Effect. What was discovered was that the act of observing a particular behavior alone changed the behavior, often without the observed being aware that they are doing anything different.
So, apart from the fact that there's no way to really know how many calories you're eaten every day, and it's astoundingly easy to eat many more calories than you realize if you're not weighing and measuring everything you eat down to the nano-particle, there's a really good chance that you simply ate less than you would normally, just because you were keeping track.11 -
Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.4 -
jennifer_417 wrote: »There's a psychological concept called the Hawthorne Effect. What was discovered was that the act of observing a particular behavior alone changed the behavior, often without the observed being aware that they are doing anything different.
So, apart from the fact that there's no way to really know how many calories you're eaten every day, and it's astoundingly easy to eat many more calories than you realize if you're not weighing and measuring everything you eat down to the nano-particle, there's a really good chance that you simply ate less than you would normally, just because you were keeping track.
I’ve never gone through a day keeping a food diary. It was just one evening I was a bit bored and had a food app and thought I’d see how much I had eaten that they and put it in. But that’s true then I couldn’t know down to every particle. So I didn’t think it was exact but I thought I’d at least get a ballpark
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
when im maintaining i dont have to work out. maintaining is easy for me. when i need to lose, i do workout. thats me, and my body, and my eating habits (developed over 5 years and a loss of 100 pounds). Other people may be different.
none of this is rocket science.5 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
Yep. You don't have to "work out" though unless you really want to increase the amount you can eat. "Staying active" can help. The difference is small but it's there. Walk, move, etc.
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
Over the course of a year, the typical adult eats between 700,000 and one million calories, and yet the homeostatic feedback system of hunger and satiety is so finely tuned that many of them maintain a more or less constant weight, or just gain a few ounces a year. That's despite widely varying activity levels from day to day or week to week. It's striking.
It's equally striking that a number of changes in the American diet and environment in the past half-century have disrupted that feedback mechanism for most Americans—look at the data and graphs on this NIH website. Adult and childhood obesity rates started to go up in the 1970s. The same is true in much of the world. It's not just an individual problem.4 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
By being aware of how many calories, on average, they are eating. As others have said, you don't need to work out, and certainly not 'constantly', to maintain your weight, but if you choose not to be active at all then you need to be aware that you need to eat less.
And what are you putting on that toast to get it to 280 cals??4 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
they don't eat the toast before bed8 -
The 3500 calorie rule is kind of misleading. It can take more calories than that to gain a pound. When you take into account of the tef effect of food, cost to repair the body, and cost of storage, it could take more or less. People just use the 3500 calorie rule because that is the approximate caloric value in an lb of strait fat.1
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
Lots of possible ways.
Some people like me, whose hunger/activity signaling us kinda broken, log food & count calories long term.
Some people, whose signaling works well, feel full when they've eaten the right amount, or feel extra energetic when they've eaten a bit much so they move more, and it balances out at a healthy weight.
Some people are creatures of habit, who've learned the right amount of food to eat, and they stick to that.
Some use a scale weight or the fit of their clothes to notice when they've gained a bit, then cut back eating a little until the scale or the clothes' fit say they're back where they want to be.
And some people ignore all of that for long periods of time and get steadily fatter.10 -
The toast comment is a bit off but it just reminded me of what I learned during pregnancy that the only extra calories you need is like a cheese toast, haha. Which feels insane when I think about how hungry I was when pregnant.
Okay like this. I suffer from ADHD, I want to mention that it isn’t an excuse just relevant to how my life was and is shaped. Routine is one of the things that is directly related to the disorder.
My biggest problem is that I don’t eat regularly. But I always felt that when I do try to eat like “you should” I do nothing but eat!! I get hungry several times a day but that doesn’t mean I feel act on it. So usually my energy intake is small bites here and there and then dinner. No cheese toast either, haha. I don’t eat bread at all because I don’t like it. Only baguette if it’s a special night and we eat nice cheese. I don’t eat a carb or starsch with dinner daily, we can skip that a lot of times, not for dietary reasons just both me and the husband don’t like how heavy it feels in the stomach.
I eat dinner around 6 pm. And if I eat anything after that it’s only something yummy, BUT, I don’t eat huge amounts. I have however now thanks to you guys learned that it doesn’t have to be. Usually it’s about 10 pieces of potato chips (I feel very sick from chips, I think it’s the fat so I can’t eat many) or I eat about 5-10 pieces of candy (I lack a lot of my enamel so I get bad tooth pain from candy).
I add the info in brackets just to explain that I don’t really think I am underestimating my intake there because I don’t stop eating to “think about my weight”, it’s like physical very motivating reasons, haha.
I’m horrible with liquids, that I realized that in order to get my liquid intake I add some syrup to my bubble water in the evening. That definitely adds a few calories, not a whole lot but usually in life you have a lot of “not a whole lots” and they add up.
So thank you all for the insights, I can definitely see that I am definitely eating enough to put on weight and to now be stable at my current weight (which however though is too much).
When I’ve tried to change my life and eat regularly I’ve always freaked out because all the food makes me put on weight, I thought at least
!
I gain weight very easily and my ADHD also contributes to this in the way that my brain 1: loves any kind of reward since my reward system is dysfunctional 2: gets more exhausted than a non-ADHD brain and sugar cheers it up. So that’s how I end up eating a couple of candies several times a week. Added to this mess I’ve had both iron and vitamin d deficiency which has just been sorted out, adding to me being exhausted and unable to force a proper routine on myself, which takes double the effort for me.6 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the replies!
The sudden gain of 10lbs I just threw in there because I find it very annoying and strange.. I figured though that my previous weight gain wasn’t just instant. I have no idea why I sometimes lose 10 pounds for a few days and then bounce up over night. That’s a lot of water weight I thought, haha.
I wonder about the calorie counting, the food I put in was food I knew I ate then but could be more estimated (I mean that’s what I thought) like a very specific “tv-dinner” meal and happy meal at McDonald’s sort of thing. Not like “I had maybe 150g steak and 2 potatoes”. Is it the same with being off then? That’s why I chose to mimic a typical day when I didn’t bring food since I can’t possibly know the amount of food. I’m an extremely routine set person and easy to predict but I don’t think you guys are wrong..
I obviously must be off. Because if it takes 3500 calories over the 1800 then I obviously ate that in order to steadily gain so much weight.
To put on 30lbs in a year you would only need to eat approximately 280 calories a day in excess. So if your maintenance is 1800 (I’m not sure of your height and weight) and you are eating on average 2197 a day it’s means you will gain a pound every nine days. You don’t have to eat the 3500 calories extra in one, just a cumulative total of excess calories.
Jesus.. how is anyone ever able to keep a stable weight then without constantly working out to keep the metabolism on level hardcore? 280 calories is like a toast before bed?!
Lots of possible ways.
Some people like me, whose hunger/activity signaling us kinda broken, log food & count calories long term.
Some people, whose signaling works well, feel full when they've eaten the right amount, or feel extra energetic when they've eaten a bit much so they move more, and it balances out at a healthy weight.
Some people are creatures of habit, who've learned the right amount of food to eat, and they stick to that.
Some use a scale weight or the fit of their clothes to notice when they've gained a bit, then cut back eating a little until the scale or the clothes' fit say they're back where they want to be.
And some people ignore all of that for long periods of time and get steadily fatter.
This was very insightful, must be that way. I did have the problem a few years ago that I mistakenly always eat until I was “thanksgiving full”. I’m not sure why I got to that point but that’s what I thought meant I was full. Might have been because my intake during the day was sooo extremely low that it went into overdrive.
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Don't look at what you ate in the past, start today, log everything you eat accurately, and keep logging each day... then you will know in a few weeks time what your average calorie intake is and how your weight is doing by then.
10lbs is a huge flucutation but we see others tell of high fluctuations like that here alot, probably from excess sodium.0 -
Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.
I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.
I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.4 -
Smoking is also a way to stay slim. I used to smoke and even tbough I used to ONLY eat out at restaurants for about 10 years, I stayed slim all my life (around 130lbs at 5'7 37yo)
Now I don't smoke anymore and it is a different story...
Now I don't know how to learn to eat and stay slim without counting...10 -
mizuranch3070 wrote: »Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.
I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.
I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.
132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there.
I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)1 -
gebeziseva wrote: »Smoking is also a way to stay slim. I used to smoke and even tbough I used to ONLY eat out at restaurants for about 10 years, I stayed slim all my life (around 130lbs at 5'7 37yo)
Now I don't smoke anymore and it is a different story...
Now I don't know how to learn to eat and stay slim without counting...
Yea I smoked for a good 10 years and still gained 100+ pounds so no... smoking is not a way to stay slim.9 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.
I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.
I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.
132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there.
I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)
I would loooove 125 but I’m just done being unrealistic I just don’t think I can get there unless I manage to really crack the code in weight loss. But I’m not sure how to when I’m not willing to exercise.
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Well it's not essential to exercise to lose weight its about keeping a calorie deficit. i.e eating less than you burn.1
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Exactly. It seems difficult when they also say you should eat 5 times a day to keep the metabolism going.7
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mizuranch3070 wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »mizuranch3070 wrote: »Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.
I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.
I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.
132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there.
I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)
I would loooove 125 but I’m just done being unrealistic I just don’t think I can get there unless I manage to really crack the code in weight loss. But I’m not sure how to when I’m not willing to exercise.
If you think that way you’re automatically making it impossible. Just work on it incrementally, every 5-10 lbs. And it doesn’t have to happen in 1 straight shot. If you want to stick to 132 for a year and get really comfortable with it, then very slowly start losing another 5-10-15 lbs, you will likely have a different perception of your diet and weight.
I could have never imagine myself less than 140. Over the years with patience and consistency I got down to 109. And I’m shorter than you. Just try to keep yourself open and willing, and stay the course.
ETA exercise isn’t necessary for weight loss, just to repeat another poster. Just a calorie deficit.1 -
gebeziseva wrote: »Smoking is also a way to stay slim. I used to smoke and even tbough I used to ONLY eat out at restaurants for about 10 years, I stayed slim all my life (around 130lbs at 5'7 37yo)
Now I don't smoke anymore and it is a different story...
Now I don't know how to learn to eat and stay slim without counting...
Yea I smoked for a good 10 years and still gained 100+ pounds so no... smoking is not a way to stay slim.
Well if this is what happened to you then I was completely wrong. This means smoking is never a factor for other people. What was I even thinking... duh!4
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