I need help losing a lot of weight ( around 100 pounds)

I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

Replies

  • TakeTheLongWayHome
    TakeTheLongWayHome Posts: 816 Member
    Instead of looking at it like a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change. You have to change habits you have made for yourself. It takes time. You didn’t get that heavy quickly, and you won’t lose the weight that quickly. Good luck to you.
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,105 Member
    Completely agree with the 2 posters above, I have over 100lbs to lose - I lost 70lbs but have put a lot back on in lockdowns. I started with qeasy, quick wins like swapping fizzy drinks for water, low fat soft cheese instead of cheddar, fibre one brownie bars instead of cake and logging everything that went in my mouth.

    The app will give you a calorie allowance based on your personal data and goals, I started with a 1lb per week loss as this only reduced my intake by 500cals per day, which I found very doable. Choose the level you think you can achieve and remember you can adjust it at anytime, you might want to go straight in at 2lb per week or start a bit slower until you get used to the app and to logging.

    You can also add friends too, if you think that will help, some people have open diaries which is good for picking up tips.
  • Lynatea
    Lynatea Posts: 311 Member
    Agree with all the above. Welcome to MFP! You can do this, you just gotta do it!
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    Did you do the guided set-up on this site, @nearspk640? It will give you a calorie target. Then just start logging your food honestly, even (especially) when it’s not good. You’ll start to see where you can make tweaks to your diet to do better.

    Please be committed to the long haul. Give yourself 2+ years to lose the weight. Be kind to yourself when you slip up, and get right back to it your next meal.

    Lastly, the podcast Half Size Me is awesome. The host has lost 170 pounds and kept it off for 9 years.
  • Jessie24330
    Jessie24330 Posts: 224 Member
    Small goals so you hit your goals and get a "win" fairly often. If you have lost "only" five pounds, find something that weighs five pounds and carry it around for a while, you'll see it's not nothing. They say that for every pound you lose, it takes four pounds of pressure off your knees, so in the beginning I used to like to think of that number since it made it seem better to me. Learn the difference between hunger and desire/thirst/boredom. It took me 34 years to learn this but it's made a massive difference. For me, I had to learn that "hunger" coming from anywhere but my stomach wasn't really hunger. And even then to drink some water first. Jumping into everything can feel overwhelming for a lot of us, so don't feel bad to just work on your diet and then add exercise later. Don't even feel bad if you need to work on your diet in stages and not restrict calories as much as you want from the start. Get one of those apps that keep a graph of you weight so when you stop losing for a bit, you can easily see that you have come a ways and not give up. Progress is progress, even if it's not as fast as we'd hope.
  • Ccgreen72
    Ccgreen72 Posts: 1 Member
    Good Advice here. I agree with starting small. Log everything you put in your mouth. Seeing in black and white what you consume holds you accountable. It also brings awareness. I am on a 29 day streak of logging. My longest ever, and I've been on and off with MFP for several years. I'm finally getting a grip on my food intake. Slowly but surely is so much more effective than a quick fix. After a few weeks to a month, you'll start to see where your gains and losses fall on the scale following the prior days intake. Baby steps, small victories. They add up to huge rewards. It's a learning process. Good luck to you! You've got this!
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    nearspk640 wrote: »
    I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

    I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

    Since you are just starting, I'd suggest to primarily focus on tracking your normal food for a week or so. If you use the goal setting feature to create a target, start with any easy target of 0.5 lbs a week and then increase it later when you are in a rhythm.
  • RockingWithLJ
    RockingWithLJ Posts: 243 Member
    edited January 2021
    nearspk640 wrote: »
    I'm 28, 5"3,currently around 280-290 I've always been overweight since I was a kid and I always say imma diet and lose weight but it just never happens or i get discouraged and give up.

    I got this app to hopefully help keep track of things, but I'm still a noob lol. So any tips on losing that much weight, what i should be aiming for calorie wise, how to keep focused. Any help would he appreciated thank you.

    You're giving up because your goal is only on the scale. When you change your lifestyle the weight will follow but you need to thoroughly enjoy what you're doing. My goals for example is to be stronger. I want to be able to do 20 pull-ups without assistance. I'm not there yet so I created smaller goals in how many sit-ups and pushups I can do in hopes to eventually reach that bigger goal.
    You also need to celebrate your non-scale victories to keep that Focus strong. Also take your measurements so you can track your progress that way as well. Other than that you're really going to want to focus on your diet. 80% of it is all what you fuel your body with so incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet cut out the junk especially the processed Foods and refrain from getting take out when you can
  • LisaGetsMoving
    LisaGetsMoving Posts: 664 Member
    Assuming you're not super active right now, I would shoot for around 1800-2000 calories per day, and logging in everything consistently, even if you go over. You're inputting data when you do, and the results become obvious over time. Then, I would start walking adding a few minutes each day until you are getting 45-60 minutes daily. Once you see the weight start coming down and the endurance building, then add something else into the mix, to keep it interesting and to keep your body strength progressing. Try and add in things that move your body that you find enjoyable, whether it's bicycling or lifting, or frisbee golf or dancing or Nintendo boxing. Enter all your calories and exercise and just watch the information that you get back from this program but also from your own body: Are you losing too fast and need to bump up calories? Which days seemed to click and what didn't. All of that begins to reveal itself as you cruise along. But you have to it. Do it daily. Don't expect overnight success. Oh, and take before pictures and measurements so that a year or so from now you can compare.