New and need advice

MFP is designed so you are meant to eat back your exercise calories.

As for junk food addict tips, don't restrict yourself completely, just try and make it work within your calorie allowance. For example, I can fit McDonald's into my day just not every day.

Most people here don't restrict anything, (unless following keto, or low carb etc) they just try and work their treats into the day.

danparamore wrote: »

Hi

So im new to this, 17 stone and 5’10. I want to lose 4 stone and MFP has given me 1,600 a day to eat. However im such a junk food addict im struggling, any tips? And when am I likely to reach my goal?

Also can you ear all your excersize calories back?

Thanks

Everyone is different, but reading your post, I'm thinking about two things that are sometimes in conflict with each other.

First, it's true that you can eat anything you want (including "junk" food**), and if you stay within an appropriate calorie goal, you'll lose weight. (I'm not sure what you mean by "junk" food, BTW - different people use it with different meanings.)

Second, some kinds of commonly eaten foods aren't very filling, so it's hard to feel satisfied eating only those foods, within a fairly low calorie level. Some of those not-very-filling foods are things that some people think of as "junk". And some of the not-filling foods have high calories.

Now, like I said, weight loss is all about proper calories. But using those calories on filling food is important if you're going to stick with it. Also, most people want to be healthy, not just thin, so it's important to get some nutrition in there, too.

Basically, you're going to want to find out what foods are filling for you. For some people, that's proteins, like meat or eggs. For some, it's fats, like nuts or cheese. For others, it's high-volume things, like veggies and fruits. Some need a mix. Sometimes timing matters, when it comes to keeping you full (it doesn't matter for weight loss, except in this "do you feel full and happy" way). So, people eat anything from one meal a day to 6 meals a day, of varying sizes, within their calorie goals.

One thing you can do is to gradually remodel how you're eating, to get to a new variation where you balance enjoyment, nutrition, and feeling full. You can do this by logging your food, then looking at where you're "spending" lots of calories on things that don't help you feel full, and/or have little nutrition for their calories, and reduce those, while adding other foods you enjoy that keep you fuller and give you better nutrition. It doesn't have to happen all at once. You can keep eating foods you like. Some of them can even be "junk foods". Does this make sense?

If so, there's a more complete description of one way to do this, in this thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm

Oh, and: If you let MFP set your weight loss goal, it expects you to log your exercise, and eat those calories, too. Some people worry that exercise calories may be overestimated, so start by eating back only part of them, maybe 50%, until they see how things are going (4-6 weeks). Not eating back any exercise calories is guaranteed to be inaccurate, and could result in losing weight too fast, which is not a healthy thing to do.

Your calorie goal of 1600 is already pretty low, so I'd strongly suggest you eat back at least some of your exercise calories. I'm a 5'5", about 9.5 stone li'l ol' lady, age 63, and I'd lose weight pretty rapidly on 1600 calories - I'm thinking you'll lose weight on that, too. (I ate back all my exercise calories while I was losing weight.)

Best wishes!