Newbie and needs help?

Grinreaper · September 2011

Hi guys!

I know, it's a bit typical to see an adolescent on this website trying to be skinny. That's not my main goal however-- I just don't want to be a part of that statistic-- that 2/3 of Americans will be overweight! In the ageof McDonalds in the middle of a forest and around every corner, we must struggle together to fight this!
I DO want to be a bit slimmer though. I don't want to hear any of that "Love yourself" stuff-- I've tried, really! But I know I will become more confident if I DO slim down.

With that being said, i want to know:
What exactly motivates you to exercise? How do you get over that pain while you're exercising and keep going? It seems like I can NEVER get past being in pain and out of breath, so my workout is discontinuous! I get discouragedso easily , but I really want this!

AND! How do you overcome overeating? I know it's not good to NOT eat when you're hungry. it's good to feed your stomach. But I also hear that it's good to shrink your stomach size by restricting food when you're hungry? That way your food intake is less? My chemistry teacher says the main concept of weight loss is to burn more than you consume...
So..
Should I consume less or exercise more?

Guys! Please help! I'm just a newbie!

meeperoon · September 2011

The burning more than you consume thing is right, but remember your body is burning calories ALL THE TIME, even when you doing nothing. MFP calculates exactly how many cals you should eat in order to cover your daily burn without exercise then if you say you do exercise you add those cals on because you have burned extra for your day...

You don't have to exercise, thats your choice, but MFP will help you calculate it all. Some say eat your exercise cals back some say don't.

Dont starve yourself, it wont do any good it will make weight loss slower, dont deprive yourself of the foods you love (thats one of the great things about this site) just make the portions smaller and soon you'll figure out what a good portion size is.

Do what you can and what you like but dont panic about going over your cals by a little bit one day because you can always do a bit of exercise to earn them back.

Its all about moderation and forming a new way of eating which is right for you.

P.s Im not doing massive amounts of exercise, im just eating what MFP tells me and I'm still losing weight with a little of wii action and general walking in a day to day life.

Randynorthridge · September 2011

Yes we have fastfood restaurants on every corner, just like we have a food/Mart that sells junk in every gas station. Go to any grocery store and you'll find the same stuff there too. We can blame whom ever we want but what it comes down to is taking responsibility for what we put in our mouths. It's all about making the right choices wherever we go to buy food, and it isn't easy!

You've come to the right place to slim down. The key here is to log all your food and try to be as close to your calorie goal as possible. If you don't cheat on your food diary and log everything that goes in your mouth you'll see where you need to cut back or add.

I would recommend that you add sugar and sodium grams to you diary.

As far as exercising goes. If you're having a hard time (we all do) start out slow, go easy and just try to improve each week. You should never exercise to the point where you're out of breath or in pain. Google interval training for begginers and start there.

You asked "Should I consume less or exercise more" . I say we should try to consume calories that meet our goals and then tweak our calories as we learn from each other along the way! Yes, exercise more!

Good luck to you

MikeSEA · September 2011

I don't know what kind of pain you're experiencing, but it doesn't sound good. Maybe you're trying to do a little too much too quickly? You don't have to kill yourself at the gym to burn fat and increase strength.

As far as overeating goes, I have faith in my daily caloric goals. Do I still get hungry and want a snack? Yup, sometimes I even just want to eat because I'm bored. So I'll have a handful of low fat/low salt popcorn and a few almonds. It doesn't fill me up, but I still feel like I'm eating something.

Losing weight is about what goes in your mouth, not what you do in the gym. That said, the right diet combined with the right program can help decrease the amount of muscle lost during your calorie deficit.

Here's what I do, which may not work for you:

-Calculate your daily caloric needs (TDEE);
-take away 20% of that...that's your daily goal.
-if you're exercising try for 1g of protein per lb of body weight (or target body weight if you're very heavy)
-try for 25-30% of cals from fats.
-calculate the rest of your calories from carbs.

carbs and protein = 4cal/g while fats provide 9 cal/g

HMonsterX · September 2011

It seems like I can NEVER get past being in pain and out of breath, so my workout is discontinuous! I get discouragedso easily , but I really want this!

It's called Exercise! That's the point! It hurts, it sucks, it makes you out of breath. Just shows it's working! You get used to it, don't worry.

Main thing is remember....this wont happen overnight. Be prepared to be in this for the long haul. So many people start out, get discouraged by how long it will take, and fall off. Make changes that you would be happy doing for the rest of your life.

Grinreaper · October 2011

Hi guys, I just wanted to reply to all of you who replied to me-- I'm glad that everyone is so supportive and understanding despite the fact that I'm young and new here.

I'll try to do little intervals and get a little sore once in a while...
I wish the best of luck to all of you and hope you guys lose a lot of weight!

HMonsterX · October 2011

Bottom line when you exercise. Don't exercise to burn calories! Exercise doing something you WANT to do as you enjoy it! Me, for example, i play in badminton leagues. I just want to win, have fun, etc. It also happens to burn between 800-1600 calories! Purely as a by-product of having fun!

Newbie and needs help?

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