What does a daily mail plan look like for female who works from home sitting at a desk all day?

Just as my title asks... I'm a female, 5'4" who tries to be pretty active and workout multiple times a week. I transitioned back to a call center desk job back in Sept after a 3- year stint working at an Amazon fulfillment center or 10hrs/day on my feet moving stuff around.

I have been struggling immense with my weight since as I was also taking online college courses when I started my new work from home desk job so as soon as my day job ended I was sitting at my computer. Then the stress of caring for a family member just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and the holidays, short days, cold crippling weather.

Anyway spring is here and I'm eagerly working to undo all 22 lbs of damage and nothing is budging.

I'm barely even hungry throughout the day so when I see how many calories I'm "supposed" to be eating I feel like it's wrong.

I can't lose weight. I was comparing notes with a friend who has lost 23 lbs in 9 weeks but she works cleaning houses all day so she's very physical and active all day but she was sharing with me your daily meal plan I'm like holy crap even at Amazon I didn't consume that much food every single day!!

My metabolism feels ever so slow.

So anyway I'm curious what a daily meal plan looks like for someone like me who already doesn't eat alot and sits on their *kitten* all day with the occasional 40-50 min workout AFTER work.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,905 Member
    Well, you'll have to plug your info into the Goals page. Since you have 22 pounds to lose, it's going to be slow.

    Set it to, "Lose 1/2 pound per week." Use the "Lightly Active" setting since you do have some activity with your care-giving and the last thing you want to do is under-eat.

    Once you have a calorie goal, start plugging your favorite foods into the FOOD page, tweak the portions and go from there.

    Most of us when we are in weight loss mode have to go easy on the sweets, make sure we're getting enough protein and vegetables and try to get a walk in.

    You can eat what you like within calories.

    Do that for a month and see how it goes. Don't make big changes in that time period because you want to get good (fairly accurate) trending data.

    It's going to be slow, you don't have much to lose.
  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
    Slow....? I've not got crazy with cutting back or anything but I've been overall doing well and I'm basically not gaining after almost 3 weeks now of eating better, working out a few times a week, etc.

    I actually gained a pound. I'd try to tell myself maybe I gained a couple lbs in muscle but I'm more realistic than that.

    Feeling so disheartened and discouraged. Makes motivation to do anything much less when it feels like any effort, no matter how diffcult, made no difference.

    🙁
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    How many calories per day are you eating, over these last 3 weeks? How accurately are you tracking? Using a food scale for solids, cups/spoons only for liquids? It sounds like you've perhaps found your maintenance range.
  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
    Most days I aim for 1200. I don't increase my cals with exercise. It's not perfect and only just started tracking again last week. Yesterday was my bd bday and Easter so this weekend was bad. Last week was kinda rough so I didn't really work out, with not seeing any progress whatever I wasn't very motivated to try.
  • pridesabtch
    pridesabtch Posts: 2,261 Member
    Being that you are only 5'4" 1200 calories isn't crazy low or anything, but you should be losing. It is unlikely that you are maintaining on that amount. Chances are you are eating larger portions than you are logging. Try using a food scale and measuring if you aren't already.

    I'm 5'1", and though the last few years have been bad for me, my past go with MFP I found that 1310 plus exercise afforded me a consistent weight loss going from 140 to 110 pounds. I did find that I could only eat back 50% of exercise calories from my Garmin and that exercise calories on MFP were usually much too high.

    Good luck!
    Nikki
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Short term fluctuations (up or down) are probably not really weight gain or weight loss. Like if I weigh 134 today and 132.5 or 135.5 tomorrow: it is NOT possible that I changed that much REAL weight in 1 day. But water weight can fluctuate easily.

    Commit to tracking, accurately & honestly, eating at a reasonable calorie goal for 6-8 weeks. Compare weight at day 30 to weight at day 0. And compare day 60 to day 30. That will show you a trend in terms of loss or gain.
    Most days I aim for 1200. I don't increase my cals with exercise. It's not perfect and only just started tracking again last week. Yesterday was my bd bday and Easter so this weekend was bad. Last week was kinda rough so I didn't really work out, with not seeing any progress whatever I wasn't very motivated to try.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    Most days I aim for 1200. I don't increase my cals with exercise. It's not perfect and only just started tracking again last week. Yesterday was my bd bday and Easter so this weekend was bad. Last week was kinda rough so I didn't really work out, with not seeing any progress whatever I wasn't very motivated to try.

    Some degree of consistency, in the sense of averages more than "strictly exact every single day" is useful. In that context, the individual rough days really matter less, and the fact that you let yourself become "not very motivated to try" is what matters more.

    All of us have some unusual days, probably, that involve more than goal calories, or less activity than we'd planned. But the majority of our days determine the majority of our progress, not just those odd days here and there . . . unless you let those distract you into not even trying.

    Your initial question (in the title) is really IMO not likely to lead anywhere. Why? We're all individuals. I'm a not very big (5'5", 125 pound) fairly old (65) sedentary (outside of exercise) woman, but I do eat my exercise calories. So, in theory (based on demographics) maybe you and I might have similar meal plans. Yesterday, I won't go through all the details, but I more than hit my minimum goals for protein (100g), fats (50g), and exceeded goal veggie/fruit servings (over 14 80g servings), plus had some chocolate. The calorie total was 2370. I do expect (if I follow a similar pattern, which is currently eating 1850 calories plus exercise) to lose a tiny amount of weight this week, maybe half a pound or a bit less.

    My meal plan will not help you, because I'm not you. Our approach is different, our needs are different. My overall approach to eating and weight loss *might* help you, though that's going to be pretty individual, too. It's described here:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

    No, it doesn't require or suggest that you lose as slowly as I'm doing. Rather, it's about how you can gradually remodel your personal way of eating, using foods you like, to lose weight at your chosen rate (correct MFP settings), eating foods you personally enjoy.

    Truly, though, if I can be frank, it doesn't sound like an eating plan is the big issue. It sounds like over-reacting to minor changes in behavior, or minor temporary (meaningless) scale fluctuations, is something that's making you derail yourself and feel bad. You can choose not to do that.

    If this sounds harsh, that's not my intention. Try to think of me as a concerned old internet auntie who is sometimes appallingly and baldly honest, but who really wants to see you succeed at your goals . . . because I do, sincerely.

    Best wishes!