losing those last (and first) few pounds!

clairibou1
clairibou1 Posts: 124
edited October 2 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone....I feel really needy and self-conscious posting this, but I am really discouraged and in need of support, so here goes.
First, a little bit about myself: I am a full time student- I go to school, come home, and do between 3-6 hours of homework every night. In addition, I teach a 3 year old preschool class once a week at my Church, I take irish dance lessons, and I attend a cheer and power tumbling class every Friday. School just started a couple of weeks ago, and literally, ALL of the wind went out of my sails! I had been doing pretty well- I joined MFP around May of this year (i think) and quickly went from about 160 lbs to 142 over the summer. When school started, I was determined to keep losing weight. However, after many late nights and early mornings, I am hardly finding the time and strength to work out. Fitting in runs, walks, and strength training is ridiculously difficult, and it is hard to schedule around school and meals. My other source of frustration has been my goal weight. The first 15-ish pounds were easy to lose, but now that I am so close, it is getting harder and harder to maintain my efforts and keep up my motivation. I read success stories every day on here, but I can't relate to most. Lots of people on here have lost at least 50lbs (or plan to), have struggled with physical problems because of their weight, or have been told by their doctor that they need to lose weight or it will have serious consequences on their health. First off, I TOTALLY admire you guys, and would never want to offend you! I am just frustrated because, unlike you, I have never had that kind of motivation- despite being a little overweight, I am still pretty healthy, but I am not quite happy with the way I look. The bottom line is, I am fed up, overworked, and discouraged. If there is anyone out there whose experiences are even slightly like mine (or even not at all) I would love to hear from you! Again, I do not want to offend ANYONE by posting this, and I do not want to sound like a lazy, whiny slob either. I am just frustrated (ok, how many times have I said that? It's the sleep depravation, I swear). I am almost embarrassed to post this, but at this point, I will do anything!

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    First, welcome and it's great to hear you lost 16 lbs. Like yourself, I only have about 30 lbs to lose from the start. I am now down to my last 10 ish... If you can provide some basic data, like age, heigt and weight, then we can figure otu about how many calories you need to consume. Once we have that information, we can start your on your journey. The advantage you have, is your are young (I am guessing since you are in school) so your metabolism is naturally higher. Lets start here.
  • clairibou1
    clairibou1 Posts: 124
    pseulemon- thank you SO MUCH for being willing to help! here is some basic info:
    age: 17 (almost 18)
    height: 5'8.5
    weight: 142
    MFP says I need to consume 1200 calories, but I am thinking about raising that, because if I go above, I feel like I failed, and if I go below, I am afraid I am starving myself and end up eating way more than I should.
  • michielmouse
    michielmouse Posts: 2
    I think everyone goes through this. Heaven forbid you get a cold and feel like all that work is being sucked away. What I find helps when I'm having trouble is actually to up my exercise goals in my head, not on the program. I tell myself that I'm going to TRY to work out every single day, because if I do that, I I find that exercise videos work well for this, or Wii games that really involve moving. I catch myself half-butting it for the first few minutes, but I find my motivation after my heart rate gets up there. Plus, then I know that its ONLY 35 minutes (or however long the video is). The tangible timeline makes it seem more do-able. Hope this helps. It's helped me, I just hit my goal of 47 pounds lost, after having added 5 more pounds to my goal before. I had always been chubby, not unhealthy, but overweight. I can't tell you how liberating it feels to be thin, to go out and not feel like the fat girl. I hope you get there, you just have to push. These humps are always short if you push through, it's when you give in that it gets worse. Keep it up!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    pseulemon- thank you SO MUCH for being willing to help! here is some basic info:
    age: 17 (almost 18)
    height: 5'8.5
    weight: 142
    MFP says I need to consume 1200 calories, but I am thinking about raising that, because if I go above, I feel like I failed, and if I go below, I am afraid I am starving myself and end up eating way more than I should.

    yea, problem is, being young your metabolism and muscle mass is naturally higher so you naturally have to eat more. Even if you are lightly active (pretty much walking around campus), I am thinking about 1800 calories.Your basal metabolic rate (BMR, or the amount of calories if you slept for 24 hours is around 1489). That means, you burn that many calories donig nothing. If you then add in the multiplier for your activity level (1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for lightly active, 1.55 for moderately active, etc... ) you take that against your BMR..


    So at lightly active, its: 1489 x 1.375 = 2050
    I would then subtract 250 calories (.5 lbs a week) to get your number of 1800. I chose that deficit as you are within 20 lbs of your goal or around that. Also, this doesn't factor in your exercise that you do a few times a week.

    My suggestion, start with 1800, it should help with the weight loss. If you don't lose weight after a months (yes a whole month), then you should increase your calories by 200 until you start to lose weight. If you start to become more active, aka workout more, you need to increase your calories as well. Also, since i am using the multiplier or total daily energy expended (TDEE) mutliplier, you do not have to eat exercise calories unless you are truely hungry.


    Keep in mind, if you aren't gaining weight in several weeks (like every week for a month) you are not eating past your level of maintaining. Which means your body can be burning more. Now if you go to 1800 and you start gaining (not just one week but several consecutive weeks) back off 200 calories until you see weight loss has began. This approach will allow you to figure out how active your metabolism is. Also, if you can, get in the strength training or some HIIT training. If you want a cardio affect, add your legs into the equation when you are doing arm exercise.. aka, do a lunge and a bicep curl at the same time.
  • clairibou1
    clairibou1 Posts: 124
    thank you so much! this is really what I needed right now. I am constantly trying to figure out what my daily calorie intake should be and my level of activity on here...this is a quick and easy fix! again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,422 MFP Moderator
    thank you so much! this is really what I needed right now. I am constantly trying to figure out what my daily calorie intake should be and my level of activity on here...this is a quick and easy fix! again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

    This is far from a quick and easy fix. It's just one method to help your on your journey. I have been using this method for almost a year and I am constantly revising it.


    Also, do yourself a favor, and reduce your carbs to 50%, protein to 30% and fats to 20%. Cycling these ratio's every 30 days will help keep your body guessing.
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