Help me lose weight!
frezisha
Posts: 21 Member
OK so since May I have gained 2lbs, I freaked out as I saw the number on the scale a moment ago.?142.6 I haven't weighed that in years! That is now almost 5 lbs higher than what I was! I'm always in the 130's..This is so devastating & ruins my whole day 😥 Help me
5
Replies
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Don't let two pounds ruin your day.
Put your stats into MFP. Choose a reasonable calorie goal (like .5 pounds a week). Log your food and consistently meet that calorie goal. You don't have a lot to lose, so you'll need to be patient and consistent. Good luck!4 -
Frezisha, make sure you put your activity level into MFP as low activity or even lower, like sedentary, if you’re going to input your exercise calories. If you don’t, MFP will set your calorie requirements too high and you will not see progress! I’ve just learned this the hard way by following MFP’s calorie allotment for a “very active” person like myself and realizing the weight was not coming off because I was also entering my exercise. By the end of the day I had wayyyyy too many calories left over. Once I changed my activity level to the lowest one and then entered my exercise, the calories I am allowed went down and now I will start getting somewhere. Hope this helps you3
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Frezisha, make sure you put your activity level into MFP as low activity or even lower, like sedentary, if you’re going to input your exercise calories. If you don’t, MFP will set your calorie requirements too high and you will not see progress! I’ve just learned this the hard way by following MFP’s calorie allotment for a “very active” person like myself and realizing the weight was not coming off because I was also entering my exercise. By the end of the day I had wayyyyy too many calories left over. Once I changed my activity level to the lowest one and then entered my exercise, the calories I am allowed went down and now I will start getting somewhere. Hope this helps you
She should set her activity level based on her actual pre-exercise activity - job, home chores, non-exercise hobbies, and that sort of thing.
If she's truly sedentary, before counting exercise, she should use "sedentary" (labeled "not very active" in some versions of the app, I believe). But if she's a bricklayer carrying hods of bricks all day long (or even something like an RN on her feet for 10-12 hour shifts), she should set to "active" or "very active", depending on what the truth is.
On your other thread, people said not to count your exercise when you set your activity level. You were counting your exercise in setting your activity level, then logging that same exercise. That's double counting.
On the other thread, they didn't say that everyone should set their activity to sedentary. Only sedentary people should set their activity level to sedentary.5 -
OK so since May I have gained 2lbs, I freaked out as I saw the number on the scale a moment ago.?142.6 I haven't weighed that in years! That is now almost 5 lbs higher than what I was! I'm always in the 130's..This is so devastating & ruins my whole day 😥 Help me
Hi, frezisha! Take a deep breath, it's gonna be OK.
Jane gave you good advice: Set up MFP to lose 0.5 pounds a week, with accurate profile settings (age, weight, etc., plus an accurate pre-exercise activity level), and follow that goal. At a slow rate of loss - which is appropriate for you - you'll probably see normal water-weight fluctuations on the scale hide your actual fat-loss progress for a while, so patience is important. A weight-trending app may help (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account, Weightgrapher, etc.), though you'll need about a month of daily weigh-ins entered before it has enough data to do a good job for you. (They do statistical projections, not magic tricks
).
I've been maintaining my weight for 4+ years after losing from obese to normal, and have been doing pretty much that slow-loss thing we're recommending to you, for the past few months, to lose a few "vanity pounds" ( ) within the healthy range. I'm down from the mid/high 130s to upper 120s/low 130s now, with no great stress, strain or difficulty.
Don't let it ruin your day. Just do what needs to be done, in a healthy way. Drama is optional.
You can do this: Best wishes!9 -
OK so since May I have gained 2lbs, I freaked out as I saw the number on the scale a moment ago.?142.6 I haven't weighed that in years! That is now almost 5 lbs higher than what I was! I'm always in the 130's..This is so devastating & ruins my whole day 😥 Help me
Hi, frezisha! Take a deep breath, it's gonna be OK.
Jane gave you good advice: Set up MFP to lose 0.5 pounds a week, with accurate profile settings (age, weight, etc., plus an accurate pre-exercise activity level), and follow that goal. At a slow rate of loss - which is appropriate for you - you'll probably see normal water-weight fluctuations on the scale hide your actual fat-loss progress for a while, so patience is important. A weight-trending app may help (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account, Weightgrapher, etc.), though you'll need about a month of daily weigh-ins entered before it has enough data to do a good job for you. (They do statistical projections, not magic tricks ).
I've been maintaining my weight for 4+ years after losing from obese to normal, and have been doing pretty much that slow-loss thing we're recommending to you, for the past few months, to lose a few "vanity pounds" ( ) within the healthy range. I'm down from the mid/high 130s to upper 120s/low 130s now, with no great stress, strain or difficulty.
Don't let it ruin your day. Just do what needs to be done, in a healthy way. Drama is optional.
You can do this: Best wishes!
Thank you so much! As I recaluated my info on here my carbs have gone up to 50%, protein at 20% & fats at 30%. Doesn't this seem a bit too high on the carbs? I was thinking I would need to increase my protein..1 -
OK so since May I have gained 2lbs, I freaked out as I saw the number on the scale a moment ago.?142.6 I haven't weighed that in years! That is now almost 5 lbs higher than what I was! I'm always in the 130's..This is so devastating & ruins my whole day 😥 Help me
Hi, frezisha! Take a deep breath, it's gonna be OK.
Jane gave you good advice: Set up MFP to lose 0.5 pounds a week, with accurate profile settings (age, weight, etc., plus an accurate pre-exercise activity level), and follow that goal. At a slow rate of loss - which is appropriate for you - you'll probably see normal water-weight fluctuations on the scale hide your actual fat-loss progress for a while, so patience is important. A weight-trending app may help (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account, Weightgrapher, etc.), though you'll need about a month of daily weigh-ins entered before it has enough data to do a good job for you. (They do statistical projections, not magic tricks ).
I've been maintaining my weight for 4+ years after losing from obese to normal, and have been doing pretty much that slow-loss thing we're recommending to you, for the past few months, to lose a few "vanity pounds" ( ) within the healthy range. I'm down from the mid/high 130s to upper 120s/low 130s now, with no great stress, strain or difficulty.
Don't let it ruin your day. Just do what needs to be done, in a healthy way. Drama is optional.
You can do this: Best wishes!
Thank you so much! As I recaluated my info on here my carbs have gone up to 50%, protein at 20% & fats at 30%. Doesn't this seem a bit too high on the carbs? I was thinking I would need to increase my protein..
The MFP defaults aren't too bad for most people, including the 50% carbs.
This is a little bit more of a step beyond that basic, and others may disagree, but while losing weight I personally shot for:
* 0.6-0.8g protein minimum daily per pound of healthy goal weight (use middle of normal BMI range if unsure), which is roughly equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass.
* 0.35-0.45g fats minimum daily per pound
* Rest of calories as more of either of the above, or carbs, or even a moderate amount of alcohol sometimes.
At 5'5" and now in maintenance, I went to round numbers: 100g protein minimum, 50g fat minimum. I literally don't think about carb levels, unless it comes up on a thread. Looking backward, I'm usually close to 45-50% carbs.
Some people find one macro or another more satiating, so you can adjust accordingly (within reasonable range of adequate nutrition, of course). Some people find carbs either trigger their appetite (so reduce them) or help their energy level (so eat more), but that sort of thing tends to be quite individual. You can experiment.
Carbs are really demonized these days. Part of what I think happens is that when people think of "carbs", they think cookies or bread or pizza or soda/pop - things that are not very filling, relatively high calorie, maybe not very nutrient-dense, but easy to overeat. But in reality, sweet baked goods, and stuff like pizza, often get more calories from fat than carbs. It's not universal, but quite a few people find certain kinds of carb-rich foods quite filling: Beans, whole potatoes, oatmeal, various veggies, etc. What is filling is also pretty individual, but you can experiment and see what works for you. Carbs, as such, are not the universal enemy.
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OK so since May I have gained 2lbs, I freaked out as I saw the number on the scale a moment ago.?142.6 I haven't weighed that in years! That is now almost 5 lbs higher than what I was! I'm always in the 130's..This is so devastating & ruins my whole day 😥 Help me
Hi, frezisha! Take a deep breath, it's gonna be OK.
Jane gave you good advice: Set up MFP to lose 0.5 pounds a week, with accurate profile settings (age, weight, etc., plus an accurate pre-exercise activity level), and follow that goal. At a slow rate of loss - which is appropriate for you - you'll probably see normal water-weight fluctuations on the scale hide your actual fat-loss progress for a while, so patience is important. A weight-trending app may help (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account, Weightgrapher, etc.), though you'll need about a month of daily weigh-ins entered before it has enough data to do a good job for you. (They do statistical projections, not magic tricks ).
I've been maintaining my weight for 4+ years after losing from obese to normal, and have been doing pretty much that slow-loss thing we're recommending to you, for the past few months, to lose a few "vanity pounds" ( ) within the healthy range. I'm down from the mid/high 130s to upper 120s/low 130s now, with no great stress, strain or difficulty.
Don't let it ruin your day. Just do what needs to be done, in a healthy way. Drama is optional.
You can do this: Best wishes!
Thank you so much! As I recaluated my info on here my carbs have gone up to 50%, protein at 20% & fats at 30%. Doesn't this seem a bit too high on the carbs? I was thinking I would need to increase my protein..
The MFP defaults aren't too bad for most people, including the 50% carbs.
This is a little bit more of a step beyond that basic, and others may disagree, but while losing weight I personally shot for:
* 0.6-0.8g protein minimum daily per pound of healthy goal weight (use middle of normal BMI range if unsure), which is roughly equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass.
* 0.35-0.45g fats minimum daily per pound
* Rest of calories as more of either of the above, or carbs, or even a moderate amount of alcohol sometimes.
At 5'5" and now in maintenance, I went to round numbers: 100g protein minimum, 50g fat minimum. I literally don't think about carb levels, unless it comes up on a thread. Looking backward, I'm usually close to 45-50% carbs.
Some people find one macro or another more satiating, so you can adjust accordingly (within reasonable range of adequate nutrition, of course). Some people find carbs either trigger their appetite (so reduce them) or help their energy level (so eat more), but that sort of thing tends to be quite individual. You can experiment.
Carbs are really demonized these days. Part of what I think happens is that when people think of "carbs", they think cookies or bread or pizza or soda/pop - things that are not very filling, relatively high calorie, maybe not very nutrient-dense, but easy to overeat. But in reality, sweet baked goods, and stuff like pizza, often get more calories from fat than carbs. It's not universal, but quite a few people find certain kinds of carb-rich foods quite filling: Beans, whole potatoes, oatmeal, various veggies, etc. What is filling is also pretty individual, but you can experiment and see what works for you. Carbs, as such, are not the universal enemy.
Thank you so much for explaining this to me! I was scared about carbs but you made me understand they aren't necessarly bad! I will try out something similar to those macros & see how I do! 😊 You're awesome!4 -
I put my level to sedentary because I'm not on my feet majority of the day. Some web sites count my activity level as 'active' because I exercise for 30 min to an hour, 5 days/week. Considering it's the only chunk of change I have right now, I'm pretty sure I'm considered sedentary otherwise lol. Now if I had my job right now before the lay offs, then I'd put active because I was on my feet back and forth over 8 hrs/day. Add the exercise and my MFP bank would be flowing. 😏0
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While losing 45 lbs, my weight would sometimes go up or down by 5 lbs during the week merely based on water intake.0
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