Want to lose weight but have no idea where to start!!!

Use the MFP calorie and activity tracker to set up your calories based on activity level and make a point to eat less calories than your allowed limit.

When you exercise MFP will add in additional food calories for you. Don't eat all of them back. Maybe eat half the extra calories back.

I am turning 58, 5'2" and over the last 2 years, I went from 117 to 141(all belly). I am trying a low carb diet change. It's been 16 days. Eating 700-900 calories a day, staying under 100 carbs, usually 60-70 and only lost 3 lbs. This programs says I don't eat enough, but this is who I am. I have cut out all snacking, carbs & sugar add weight. lol. Will the changes kick in eventually? Seems really slow progress or not working.

OK, even if you don't have a monthly cycle give it some time. Periods often create strong weight fluctuations, but those happen for other reasons as well, so it's good to give things some time before trying to readjust your plan.

Good luck!

casandraeaddy wrote: »

@hipari i put the lightly active exercise 1-3 times a week because I just started and didn’t want to go higher than that just in case I didn’t do exercise more than 3 days a week I will adjust when my activity level goes up. I use the scanner option and verify the information is correct on MFP be the container I’m scanning. I do not have a monthly cycle as I had to have a hysterectomy in December. Thank you for your help !

MFP's designed for you to set your activity level based on your daily life (job, home chores, etc.), not including intentional exercise. Then, it wants you to log exercise when you actually do the exercise, and eat back a reasonable estimate of those calories, too.

It seems like doing it that way would better suit you, if you're uncertain of exercise amounts? (It will put the calories on the day of exercise, but if you want to "bank" some and eat them on a near-future day, that's fine. Quite a few people go by their weekly total, to do that. (It can be seen in the phone/tablet app, on the Nutrition/Calories/Week View part of the app. I don't think it shows up in web-browser MFP).

If you prefer to have the same calorie goal every day whether you exercise or not, a slightly better way to do that** would be to use an outside TDEE calculator to estimate your calorie needs, then manually set a calorie goal in MFP. (** That's because of some technical differences in how they typically do the calculations between NEAT (pre-exercise) needs calculators, which MFP is one of, and TDEE (all-activity) needs calculators. There are lots of TDEE calculators, but one I think is help full is https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ , which has more activity levels to choose from, with good descriptions of the activity levels, and uses/displays multiple different research-based formulas so you can see the range of variation between different studies' implications).

BTW: I personally use the MFP method, with a pre-exercise calorie goal, then log and eat back exercise. Been doing it that way for almost 5 years now, to lose weight for almost a year, and now to maintain a healthy weight.

It's good that you're checking the scanner results against the package, because the scanned entries are no more accurate than any others in the database: They're still crowd-sourced (user entered), so can be wrong, sometimes very wrong. It's not a direct data feed from the manufacturer, as some people imagine.

You don't have to answer this question on the forum, but what type of hysterectomy did you have? Sometimes they leave one or both ovaries in place, sometimes they remove them. If you still have ovaries, you can still have hormonal cycles that can have water weight implications for some, even though you're not having actual menstrual periods anymore.

Best wishes!

casandraeaddy wrote: »

@AnnPT77 I filled out the information on the link you posted however, with all the numbers and things to look at my eyes went cross eyed lol

In regards to the hysterectomy they did leave both ovaries.

If the TDEE calculator is a bit much, I'd suggest you use MFP as designed, then: Set your MFP activity level based on what your life is like not including intentional exercise. Then, log your exercise when you do it, and eat those calories back, too. (It's fine to carry some over to a later day.)

Some people worry that their exercise calories may be overestimated. A common strategy is to eat back half or three-quarters of them at first, until you have that 4-6 weeks of actual weight loss experience. At that point, you can use your average weight loss rate to figure out whether you can eat a little more for better energy/fullness, or can safely eat a little less to lose faster without it becoming unsustainable or unhealthful.

Best wishes!