Help - I don;t know what i'm doing

HannahsBestLife · June 2023

Hello

So.. I started this year at 128kg, I told myself i would lose 10kg through 'Mindful eating and exercise' which I have now done am and currently 117.4kg.
I am here to start tracking though, clean up my diet and set longterm healthy habits.

I was wondering if someone with some experience would be able to help me with a few things though;

How many calories for a female,117kg, 164cm, personal training 2xpw, Cardio 2x per week ? Is the 1200 a day i've been assigned too low? or is that normal with someone like me who works 60+ hours sitting down?

Whats the best things to focus on when starting out to ensure success? ie water, micros? calories? tracking?

How do I work on self-discipline to ensure I make good choices and track daily?

How do I make having to lose 50+kg seem a little less daunting?

Anyway, I appreciate any help / advice I can get

Please give it to me straight too, I know i'm very fat, that i've waited far to long to try take control of it etc. I'm not niave to how big I am so honest feedback would be most appreciated

Thanks in advance x

Lietchi · June 2023

Have you set up your goals on MFP? It will give you a calorie goal, based on your personal data and daily activity level (exercise gets added in your diary on days when you do it and it will increase your calorie goal.

1200 calories was assigned where/by who?

It sounds very low, and it's pretty much the lowest you can eat and still sort of get adequate nutrition. I'm your height and started my weight loss at 94kg and was eating 1700+ calories a day (and a heavier body needs more calories, so you have even more margin).

Instead of setting a goal immediately, you could also just log as you are eating now to lose those first 10kg, so you have a baseline.
Calculators like MFP are just sophisticated 'guessing machines', using population averages, so if you track your intake and use some math (7700 calories below maintenance to lose 1kg) you'll see how many calories you need personally.
And as you lose weight you can decrease gradually (a smaller body needs fewer calories) or, like I did, stay at the same amount but become more active.

Losing between 0.5 and 1 percent of your bodyweight per week is the recommendation, 1200 calories would probably exceed that (losing weight too fast can be risky health wise).
And also, you're more likely to be (too) hungry. I much prefer slower weight loss without suffering 🙂

Rockmama1111 · June 2023

The straight talk: With that level of activity and your height and weight, eating 1200 calories per day will probably make you miserable. I wouldn’t be surprised if you find you could eat 2500 calories to maintain, meaning you’re getting a 1300 calorie deficit. That’s a LOT.

You say you’ve been practicing mindful eating and you’ve been successful. You could start by just tracking what you’re already doing to a) build the habit of tracking and b) get a good baseline for what you need to do to further tighten up. With a few weeks of data, you can explore the MFP nutrition reports.

Edit: I just realized @Lietchi said basically the same thing first, but better.😊

csplatt · June 2023

How much are you losing per week? That will tell you / us a lot!

kshama2001 · June 2023

I put your stats into MFP. I arbitrarily made you 30 years old. I selected the max weight loss of 1 kg per week, and got 1250 calories per day. This would be BEFORE the calories you earn from exercise. Since you didn't mention these, I'm assuming you are not eating your exercise calories back, and so, yes 1200 is too low.

Also, I'm about an inch taller than you and started at a little less weight. I too selected the mass weight loss of 2 pounds per week. By lunchtime the very first day, I realized I needed a less aggressive weekly weight loss goal

164 cm = 5'4.5"? So, you're not short. It's only very very short women, who are also sedentary, who need as low a calorie budget as 1200.

See more here: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

This is one thing that can happen with too few calories:

Instead of every few days, the binges can also happen on weekends. Or, people can successfully lose weight for long stretches of time, then binge for long stretches of time, regaining all the weight they'd worked so hard to lose, plus usually more.

Have a much less aggressive calorie deficit will help with the discipline aspect

Also, experiment to find what foods fill you up the most for the least calories. People who can stick to keto are satiated by fat. I'm not. I love fat, but don't find it especially filling. What fills me up is hitting my MFP protein and fiber goals. I prioritize carbs from foods like rice, beans, fruit, and veggies. Others like super bulky meals, aka "volume eating."

kshama2001 · June 2023

I just saw that you mentioned "personal training." Is a PT who gave you 1200 calories per day? They are not necessarily the best source of advice about nutrition. They could have given you 1200 out of ignorance or because they assumed you would eat more and so buffered it. Either way, not great advice. But common advice, as noted in https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

Hey, I just noted that article used this example: Female, 40 years old, 5’4″, Lightly Active, which, depending on your age, could describe you. (Although MFP would have you call yourself Sedentary due to your job and log your exercise separately, and eat those calories back.)

You are 259 pounds. For the 250 pound woman in their example, they give 1970 calories for a 20% deficit.

Since you're here on MFP, I suggest you set your goals, which can be found here on desktop: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change-goals-guided and maybe start with a goal of losing .75 kg per week. Log your exercise and eat those calories back. It can take some work to find calorie burns that are not inflated - some people just eat 50% of their calories back. We have lots of threads on this

Disregard "How many times a week do you plan on exercising?" - it does not factor in, and should not be included there as it is confusing.

HannahsBestLife · June 2023

Thanks you so much for your replies everyone! Yeah it was on here that it says 1200, have adjusted it to slower loss and now it's at 1430. Will try that and eat back half excessive calories as mentioned and see how I go 😊
Thanks again so much x

Help - I don;t know what i'm doing

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