Using app

I'll answer because the personal specifics are different from Margaret, which 100% doesn't imply criticism of Margaret. What she does is great. It's that we're different people.

Purplestuff102 wrote: »

Hey so what do u do what does your day look like do you strength train and exercise and eat healthy.

I strength train sometimes, but more often do forms forms of cardio that are more muscle-challenging. That's not an ideal choice. If I were smarter and more disciplined, I'd strength train routinely. I tell other people to strength train, because that's the best plan.

Most of the year, I do cardio 6 days most weeks for half an hour up to 2 hours. (Two hours sounds like a lot, but that's typically something like a casual and very enjoyable bike ride. On-water rowing is usually an hour to an hour and half, but there are water breaks and such. Indoor exercise - still biking and rowing - is more like half an hour to an hour.)

But you know what? I did all of that for a dozen years while class 1 obese, and stayed obese. Exercise burns some calories, but it's easy to eat that many extra calories (without even noticing, if not calorie counting).

When I got the food calories where they needed to be, I lost weight down to a healthy weight, and have been at a healthy weight for nearly 8 years since, still calorie counting most days.

I can't say whether I "eat healthy" without knowing what "eat healthy" means to you. I eat in a way I enjoy, and I think that's important, but individual. Personally, I eat probably 80%+ whole foods or lightly processed foods, and maybe up to 20% processed foods and treats, approximately. I don't eat fast food much, because I think it's yucky.

Calories are the biggest factor, and the only direct one, when it comes to fat loss.

Do you use a food scale

Yes. It's not only more accurate, it's quicker and easier than cups/spoons. Eyeballing isn't accurate enough for routine use, for me. Some people make it work.

I want to lose like 140 pounds so I don’t want to gain muscle mass. That’s where I got the whole log food and walk for me thing. I increased my water intake.

Keep strength training. No one gains muscle mass fast enough to outpace even a minimally observable fat loss rate on the bodyweight scale. Since muscle gain is even slower when in a calorie deficit for fat loss, you don't need to worry about gaining muscle mass.

The main reason to keep strength training while losing weight is to remind your body to keep the muscles you have. Overweight people tend to have more muscle mass than slim people of similar activity level. Since muscle is slow and difficult to gain, keeping what we have is extremely useful.

I’m just trying to predict what the future might look like if I stop strength training and just focus on logging food and walking and drinking water.

Thanks

If you focus on logging food and walking, and eat the right number of calories, you'll lose fat. Eat too few calories (lose too fast), you'll lose more lean mass (like muscle) alongside that fat loss, which is a bad idea.

The mere act of logging doesn't cause weight loss, of course. Getting the right number of calories causes weight loss, logging just helps you accomplish that.

Exercise is good for a body, but optional for weight loss. Even walking is optional (as long as you hit the right inactive calorie level), but I absolutely don't recommend the zero exercise route for health reasons. (People who literally can't move can lose weight, though.) I didn't significantly increase exercise while losing weight, though I was a bit more consistent with strength training during that phase.

Stop strength training, high odds you'll lose muscle mass. That's not a good idea. It will very slightly reduce your calorie burn at rest, but more importantly make it less easy, fun, and natural to move in daily life. Less daily life activity means lower all-day calorie burn, possibly much lower.

Water consumption is fairly irrelevant to weight loss unless it helps you manage appetite. Drink enough that your urine is pale yellow, not clear or dark, and that's sufficient for health and weight loss.

Best wishes!