New Here! Any advice on my plan of attack?

laurasmith2277 wrote: »

Hi there!

I am a 53 YO grandma with a goal weight of 160 by end of May. Monday I was 180. I am 5'9". Think this is doable in 12 weeks? I would appreciate any feedback/input on my "plan of attack" to get to my goal.

Hi! As context, I'm a 65 YO woman who lost 50-some pounds with MFP back in 2015, and have been maintaining a healthy weight since. Shorter than you at 5'5', currently 125 pounds.

Although I want to lose the weight for my own desire of liking my body again - the end of May is my son's wedding and I always do better with a "finish line". Helps with the motivation. My plan is:

1. Decrease carbs (daily goal of 10% of my macros)...knowing I'll land about 25% daily. This has worked for me before.

If you find that controlling carbs helps you control calories, that will help you. Some people, for example, find their appetite more manageable on lower carbs. Other than that kind of thing, carb level is a matter of personal preference, not directly relevant to fat loss, which is all about calories. (Varied carb levels do tend to result in bigger water weight fluctuations that may confuse scale results, but that's not fat, so I don't find it worth much worry.)

For health, and to avoid losing unnecessarily much lean tissue while losing fat, it's important to get adequate protein, and we also need a certain minimum of fats for robust good health. (Sometimes people cut fats too far, because they're calorie dense, but it's not the best nutritional plan, generally.) Get enough protein, get enough fats (especially mono- and polyunsaturated ones, which many people tend to under-consume - nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil are some good sources). To that, add plenty of varied, colorful veggies/fruits, and that adds up to decent overall nutrition. Usually, for overall nutrition, what we put into our eating is more important than avoiding individual things.

2. Water goal of 100 oz. a day.

Similarly, if drinking more water helps you manage your appetite, it's useful. For health, what matters is adequate hydration, which is very individual. For most people, thirst is a good guide. (Remember that all non-alcohol liquid beverages count toward hydration, along with the fluids in fruits, soups, etc.) A good indicator is whether your urine is a pale yellow color, not clear or dark. (It may be a bright yellow if getting lots of certain water-soluble vitamins.)

3. Track my food on MFP for accountability and ability to measure

That worked really well for me. It's not essential if not struggling with unexpected weight loss rate, but I found it super helpful to use a food scale as much as possible. Not only is it more accurate, but it's quicker and easier once you learn the tips & tricks. They only cost around $20.

5. This week my husband and I started a 9 week Beachbody program.

Good show! Usually those include some strength work, if only bodyweight type stuff. Including some strength exercise is helpful to retaining muscle alongside fat loss, along with adequate protein. Since your goals seem to be size and appearance related, you might wish to consider an actual progressive strength training program, since those can give faster appearance and "firmness/tightness" results. There is a list here of some that other people have found helpful:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Despite the title, it includes some that use bodyweight, and don't require one to have much equipment or gym access.

6. I already play tennis 1-2X a week - but honestly having done that for 45 years...my body is used to that so I don't think I can count that as over and above in the exercise department.

Exercise burns calories, whether it's exercise we've long done, or new. It's part of your calorie expenditure, and needs to be considered in some way, or you can risk too-fast weight loss (which is not healthy, and can be even more risky at our age).

7. Swim 2 times a week. (40 minutes each time)

Swimming is good. It's great that you're including multiple modes of exercise that challenge the body in different ways. It's not clear to me how much of a challenge this total exercise load will be for you, at your current fitness level. It's good to be aware that a sudden increase in exercise can cause fatigue that bleeds calories out of daily life activity (because we rest more, in possibly subtle ways). That effect can be counterproductive, i.e. result in slower weight loss than we might expect. Usually I'd suggest that people gradually ramp up exercise, rather than adding a bunch of new challenges at once.

A thing to be aware of is that increased exercise often brings some water retention (for muscle repair), which as I mentioned before can temporarily obscure fat loss on the scale. If you see a sudden multi-pound scale jump, *especially* one right after an exercise, without a calorie increase or activity decrease big enough to explain it, it's almost certainly water weight, and not worth worry. (It takes roughly 3500 above maintenance calories to gain a pound, so it's not like we wouldn't notice that major a change.) That temporary fluctuation will sort itself out on the scale in a few days to a couple of weeks, so NBD.

Any other suggestions? Thoughts on if 20 pounds in 12 weeks is reasonable? I do weigh myself everyday. I know you aren't supposed to do that - but again - it makes me feel accountable. For whatever reason I see changes in the scale about every 3-4 days.

I think 20 pounds in 12 weeks is quite aggressive, unless very overweight/obese, which you aren't. It's common around here for folks to suggest that sensible weight loss is something in the range of 0.5%-1% of then-current body weight per week, with the lower end of that a better idea when within around 25 or so pounds of a healthy weight. So, for someone your size, that would suggest losing maybe up to a pound a week at first, but slower later.

I get that you have a strong desire to reach a certain weight for the wedding. I'd point out that overall good appearance involves not just bodyweight, but also glowing complexion, lustrous hair, and a lively vivacity. Too-fast weight loss can put those things at risk.

In general, slow weight loss can be frustrating, especially in context of an important life goal. On the flip side, fast loss can increase health risks (things like fatigue at the low-consequence end, up to hair loss, increased chances of osteopenia/osteoporosis, and beyond those to a higher potential for things like gallbladder issues, and at an extreme even heart problems.)

If you're scale motivated, but making major exercise changes, you might benefit from using a weight trending app, such as Happy Scale for Apple devices, Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a free Fitbit account, but you don't need a device), Weightgrapher or others. They're not magic, but they do some statistical averaging of recent weigh-ins to try to suss out a weight trend, amongst misleading water weight fluctuations.

It can also help to do some tape-measurements regularly (maybe once a month?), and progress photos (front, back, side, wearing something minimal or close fitting . . . but don't go with undies, because you may want them later as the "before" images in a set of brag pics!).

TIA for any advice/suggestions/input!

Oh! And I'm not THAT familiar with MFP...other than the tracking of food. What other cool stuff should I be utilizing? Forums, tracking....am I missing anything else?

The forums can be really helpful, IMO, especially the things in the "Most Helpful Posts" part of each forum topic area. In the forum, questions can draw lots of diverse opinions, some of which will be more diplomatic or palatable to an individual than others, but there's usually some good knowledge to be gained IME.

With a combination of calorie-appropriate diet, plus well-rounded exercise, you can anticipate some major positive changes by the wedding day. Wishing you great success!

2021WLjourney wrote: »

2021WLjourney wrote: »

You are very active and your goal sounds reasonable, though on the fast side. You are already doing lots of cardio too. Maybe add 1 or 2 anaerobic exercises? With weights or using body weight? If your husband has subscribed with Beachbody I’m sure you can find some online streaming exercises there.
I remember the yoga-pilates workouts were 🔥

If you are watching your food and portion control works, you should be down 1-1.5 lbs each week. Unless of course you “eat” your exercise calories. Wouldn’t do that if you can.

Oh and a big one for many is alcohol/wine. That can quickly add up calories that weren’t planned for. Better to stay away for a while.

Just remember, the smaller you are, the longer it may take. Our bodies don’t like letting go of our last reserves.
Good luck!

Huh. My post got 4 disagrees and I’d like to learn what that may have been related to. Could some of you please comment why or what part of my post you disagree with?
Thank you!

NOT eating back exercise calories. If she burns 700 calories in a day and is already set to lose 1.5lbs a week, then the deficit would be 1450 calories. She would end up undereating.

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