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My Plan that’s worked!
annehammock
Posts: 3 Member
Hello! For some background, I gained about 30 pounds in just a few months due to stress and over eating. I tried to do diets and exercise plans that were just too hard and that I never stick to. This time around, all I did was restrict my calories per day. The app calculated I should only be eating about 1,200 a day to loose about two pounds per week. I am a very low energy person and very rarely exercise (like 2x a month). Just sticking to the calories count, but eating whatever food I want, has worked! While it’s a much slower pace, I have managed to loose almost 20lbs in less than 3 months. It was hard to adjust to in the beginning, but now I eat much less, get hungry much less and still manage to cover my cravings! I just wanted to share my story and my plan to encourage others to take it easy on themselves, so you can stick to it, and it still works! Any other similar stories?
14
Replies
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That's terrific that you've discovered the secret to weight management!
However, just a caution for you or any lurkers, if you were only 30 lbs overweight, you should not have been (or continue to be) pursuing a 2 lb/week goal. That is only for very obese people. 20 lbs in 3 months is absolutely not "a slower pace". And just an FYI, the lowest calorie allowance MFP will give a woman is 1200. Many are given this when they enter an overly aggressive goal, and it won't actually result in a loss of 2 lbs/week because it doesn't represent the deficit required to achieve that (because the deficit required to achieve that would be unsafe). Someone with only 30 lbs to lose should choose 1 lb/week and will likely have more calories to work with. But yes, once an appropriate goal is chosen, all you have to do is hit that number.
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Congrats on your success, but that is a really fast rate of loss and not something that should be encouraged. With only 30 pounds to lose, choosing 2 pounds a week is not advisable. 1,200 calories is the bare minimum recommended for women, and the vast majority of women could eat more and still lose weight at a reasonable rate. The app would have given you a more appropriate calorie goal if you chose to lose 1 pound or a half pound a week instead. Faster is not always better.6
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you lost the weight too fast and will probably gain it back2
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trulyhealy wrote: »you lost the weight too fast and will probably gain it back
While it's true that weight loss does not have a very good long term success rate, regardless of how one loses it, there's no reason for pessimism. One advantage of slower weight loss is that it allows a person time to develop the habits they will need for permanent weight management, and to gain a clear picture of their calorie needs. The OP can still achieve this going forward.
Edited to add: OP, it would benefit you at this point to change to .5 lb/week (certainly no more than 1) and begin easing into maintenance. Once there, most find continuing to log beneficial, at least until you have a good grip on what your true maintenance calories are.13 -
trulyhealy wrote: »you lost the weight too fast and will probably gain it back
This is not necessarily true. It depends on what she does going forward.
People can also lose weight slowly and gain it back.
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Wanted to add:
OP...congratulations with your weight loss. All that is left is to put together a plan going forward.5 -
trulyhealy wrote: »you lost the weight too fast and will probably gain it back
This is not necessarily true. It depends on what she does going forward.
People can also lose weight slowly and gain it back.
#me_irl4 -
I’m new to this site and at this point i still have 100lbs to lose.
SW: 359
CW: 277
GW: 175
Hopefully, I’ll lose 2lb a week on a modified low carb diet.
?: do you use the exercise calories you gain? I have thought that using the calories kinda defeats the purpose. What are your thoughts?
Look forward to your comments.
Marabeth2 -
I’m new to this site and at this point i still have 100lbs to lose.
SW: 359
CW: 277
GW: 175
Hopefully, I’ll lose 2lb a week on a modified low carb diet.
?: do you use the exercise calories you gain? I have thought that using the calories kinda defeats the purpose. What are your thoughts?
Look forward to your comments.
Marabeth
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p11 -
OP, this thread probably didn't go the way you expected it to
A couple of things:- If you read around in the forums a bit, you'll see many of us are proponents of not having to follow a specific diet to lose weight. Calories determine weight loss/gain. Macros, types of food, food quality can affect health, satiety, fitness; with a wide range of ways to be healthy and satiated. So yes, lots of us have experienced something similar.
- Two lbs per week is a pretty aggressive rate of loss with only 30 lbs to lose. Now that you are closer to goal, please do eat more and slow your pace down. It can be very challenging to moderate your calories to maintenance if you lose weight at high speed right through to goal weight. For many folks, that's how yo-yo dieting starts. And we don;t want that to happen for you!
Anyway, congrats on the realization and on your success so far :drinker:9 - If you read around in the forums a bit, you'll see many of us are proponents of not having to follow a specific diet to lose weight. Calories determine weight loss/gain. Macros, types of food, food quality can affect health, satiety, fitness; with a wide range of ways to be healthy and satiated. So yes, lots of us have experienced something similar.
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Hello all,
Sorry for my delay, I never thought I’d get any responses so I never really thought to check. So thank you all for responding, and I understand the concerns. The changes I made did not affect my energy levels or health, and I certainly was not starving myself. In the beginning, I made lower calorie choices so I could eat when I was hungry, but after I adjusted a bit I could eat what I wanted in smaller portions. I have always been on the lower side of an average BMI and my weight gain was extremely rapid. I did my research and the app also did not alert me it was too fast, and I stand by the fact that it wasn’t unhealthy.0 -
I’m new to this site and at this point i still have 100lbs to lose.
SW: 359
CW: 277
GW: 175
Hopefully, I’ll lose 2lb a week on a modified low carb diet.
?: do you use the exercise calories you gain? I have thought that using the calories kinda defeats the purpose. What are your thoughts?
Look forward to your comments.
Marabeth
Thanks for the response. I found that when I did exercise, I tended to want more to eat, so I didn’t stop myself. Sometimes it seemed like it defeated the purpose, but don’t discredit the calories you earned!0 -
annehammock wrote: »Hello all,
Sorry for my delay, I never thought I’d get any responses so I never really thought to check. So thank you all for responding, and I understand the concerns. The changes I made did not affect my energy levels or health, and I certainly was not starving myself. In the beginning, I made lower calorie choices so I could eat when I was hungry, but after I adjusted a bit I could eat what I wanted in smaller portions. I have always been on the lower side of an average BMI and my weight gain was extremely rapid. I did my research and the app also did not alert me it was too fast, and I stand by the fact that it wasn’t unhealthy.
Your maintenance calories are about 1950 calories per day. When you selected 2 pounds per week the app could not give you a full 1000 calorie per day deficit because that would have dropped you to 950 calories. It capped you off at 1200 which was actually about 1.5 pounds per week. So you actually did hit an app safeguard which made your weight loss slightly less aggressive.4
This discussion has been closed.
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