Advice for me?

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Welcome to MFP!!I will check out your diary and give any helpful advice I can.Feel free to add me:)

You should definitely be eating more. I looked back at the beginning of February, and all of your net cals are below 1000. That's really hard on your body.

Since you have been dealing with stomach issues and new medications, it makes it all the more difficult to evaluate what you're doing and give you good advice. So, here's my best suggestion: At the top of this forum are a bunch of stickies. Read them. All of them. There is a ton of great advice in them that should answer most of your questions. (Oh, just read you're doing this already. Great!)

As for your math...." I did 2730-145 (protein) - 72.5 ( fat)= 2512/4= 628. There is no way that is right, lol! "

145 grams of protein x 4 calories per gram = 580 calories
72.5 grams of fat x 9 calories per gram = 652.5 calories
580+652=1232.5 calories
2730-1232.5=1497.5 calories (of course, that half calorie is silly, round up or down)
1497.5 divided by 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates = 374.375 grams of carbohydrates

Hope that makes sense.

Personally, while I think that is a great way to determine your calorie target, I prefer another approach. Go to the Tools section and figure out your BMR. Never net less than that. Track your exercise calories and eat most of them (I don't say all of them only because I don't trust the calorie burn calculations all the time).

Also, many very smart people on here say the following: Only go for a 2#/week weight loss if you have 75+ pounds to lose. From 50-75#, go for a 1.5#/week loss. For 25-50#, go for 1#/week loss. For under 25#, go for a 0.5#/week loss.

So I think you're definitely in the stage where you should only go for 1.5#/week loss. If this gives you a net calorie target higher than your BMR, then eat that target plus exercise calories and not the lower one for BMR. Whichever is higher.

As for exercise, what works best for me is a combination of heavy lifting 2-3x/week, high intensity intervals (2-3x/week), with 1-2 sessions of longer duration, steady-state cardio a week. But the main thing is find things you enjoy and stick with it.

Hopefully, all of this will give you a better sense of direction. Best wishes!

The diet portion is where I fail, the working out part happens to be part of my education/job. My educated advice to everybody is to get off the machines!! They work isolated muscles ONLY, whereas free weights work the target muscle as well as all the muscles that support the position; which helps us burn more calories and see results sooner. I'm going to incorporate more muscles if I do standing bicep curls with dumbbells or a bar than sitting on a machine. While standing you stabilize at the core, activating back and stomach muscles with every rep! The contraction of the muscle is where most of us think the most work is happening, believe it or not, if we control the return motion (eccentric part) we will challenge the prime mover and the assisting movers; control all motions, don't use momentum. If you are uncertain what to do, hire a trainer for one session every few months to change up your routine. I'm on the fence about cardio: if you are doing cardio at high PRE (can hardly speak short sentences) do you really need 60 min? If I go hard for 30-40 min sometimes I'm burning more calories than my casual 60 min stroll on the treadmill. In 25-40 min, I am red faced and dripping sweat, some days I just don't have that intensity in me so I have to increase my time. Ultimately this is all about what works for you and what you like, we are all different and some things work better for some than others. Yikes, sorry so long winded, hope this helps a little.

Thanks Funky!

MY BMR according to the tools is "Your estimated BMR is: 1,673 calories/day*" Doing the other way that Fitness said I came to 2730? Or do I use my target weight for that too? I'm sorry for being so dense, I just don't get this. That's 1,000+ calories a day that I am missing in terms of these equations.

Actually, I think he forgot to tell you about the step where you create your deficit by subtracting your calories from your TDEE. Subtract 500 calories per day to lose 1# a week, for example.

I know a lot of people have success with this method but it has never made sense to me. Oh, I get the math part but applying it to the real world doesn't make sense, imho. At least not for me because I mix my exercise program up so much. Some weeks I might lift heavy 3x, sometimes 2x. Some weeks, I might not ride my bike outside at all or go for any long walks or hike because the weather sucks and I don't enjoy this stuff in the rain but as soon as the sun shines and the air has any warmth in it from that sun, I'm outside doing that type of stuff. Sometimes for just a bit, sometimes for hours. Sometimes instead of but, at other times, in addition to other exercise. Sometimes I run, sometimes I don't. And then I mix up all sorts of classes never attending the same ones but, rather, going to what sounds like fun that day and fits into my schedule better, and the calorie burns are really different from step aerobics to spinning to cardio-kickboxing to zumba to pilates to yoga to P90Y to hydro-fit, etc. And, sometimes, I realize I'm overtraining because I'm totally zonked all the time and I take 3-7 days off depending how long it takes to get my mojo back and where I'm really missing those workouts. So, you see, that system seems too static to me for my lifestyle.

Because of that, I prefer to go with BMR+exercise calories. And, if you do the math, It really doesn't come out much different. In your case, TDEE-750=1970. BMR+400 calories for exercise (just guesstimated on what you might burn)=2073. And,since I figure you should only eat back about 70-70% of exercise calories because burn estimates are always going to be iffy and since most people under-report their food intake, this really puts you at 1973. So, 1970 or 1973. Not much difference is it?

So, I say, go with whatever method works for you but I really like using MFP the way it's set up. BMR+ exercise calories so you have some control and can more easily tweak depending on your activity level. It just makes more sense to me and makes me feel more in control.

375 grams of carbs seems so high too, I'm so confused right now and I don't understand why.

Well, it would be high for me. I have diabetes (controlled via diet and exercise) and that amount of carbs would make my blood sugar levels sky-rocket. In addition, I would lose my ability to control my appetite due to blood sugar crashes that would require eating even if not technically hungry to raise the level and could get me on a nasty roller-coaster that's no fun to ride. It could also effect people with other metabolic problems like PCOS, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, etc. Personally, I do fine if I keep my carb intake to about 80-100 grams/day although I do occasionally go over with my splurges, I seem to be OK with that as long as it's not chronic. I suggest you play around with the carb amount until you find what works best for you. Of course, if you lower the carbs, you'll need to raise the protein and fat. The easiest way to do this is with percentages by going into the Goals section and changing your goals, not letting the website do it for you.

I know that to lose a pound a week I would need to consume 3500 less calories per week. So 1.5 pounds would be 5250 calories less per week. So I eat 1,673 per day and burn 500 per day for exercise, then I would lose only a pound per week?

Should I just concentrate on those 1,673 calories? Don't eat back my exercise calories? Or only a portion of them? Argh!

BMR is what your body burns if you lay in bed all day and do nothing. I'm guessing you never do that unless you're dang sick. Your NET should never go below your BMR. So, do what I suggested above (eating back most exercise calories). The reason why you don't want to net under BMR is that this could lead, over time, to metabolism slowing down. If you have a low day here and there, no big deal, as long as you're not stringing numerous days in a row together. I will often do a low day on purpose if my hunger levels are low or to offset a splurge but I try to never do two or more days in a row.

Anyway, you will see a lot of people throwing the term starvation mode around. This is actually your body's metabolism slowing down as the body always seeks equilibrium and, if you cut calories too low, it will slow down the metabolic rate making it harder to lose weight as your body will need less calories to function. I just think the term starvation mode is a bad name for what is happening. The people that keep cutting calories lower and lower while losing are usually just slowing their metabolism down. And, also, losing LBM (lean body mass) as well. LBM includes muscle but also other tissues. In extreme cases, it can even effect the heart and other vital organs. Yeah, they might get to their goal weight quicker but at a horrendous loss. Exercise, especially lifting heavy, will maintain some of that LBM but diet and nutrition is crucial.

It took me awhile to get it into my hard head that I should eat exercise calories back. Once I did, I started losing scale weight better but, also, my exercise program seemed to be more effective because I was losing inches like crazy. But, after awhile, even that stalled out until I got it into my thick skull that eating at 1200+exercise calories was still too low for my body. I have raised my calories to just above my BMR (rounded up to 1400) and am losing better again (both inches and scale weight). I plan to gradually up it again once my body becomes used to 1400+Exercise cals. Why? Because I want to retain LBM and my energy levels and I want to get to my goal weight and be able to eat fairly liberally to maintain my weight instead of eating like a bird for the rest of my life. So, to me, the slow weight loss (although my inches are going down faster than the scale would indicate) is worth repairing my metabolism and not having to eat minimally the rest of my life to stay slimmer.

As far as the exercise, I have been doing the c25k program. I'm on week 2 day 2 now. I've been repeating each one twice because I feel I am struggling with the running part. I then follow that by 20 minutes on the eliptical. I alternate rest/higher speed/ rest/ higher speed for the 20 minutes. I then do my strength training of legs/abs or upper body/ abs. I don't know if this is working for me yet (today I tried the bike, but to be honest I hated it. I like the elliptical the most!). I am trying to work out 6 days a week, because I need to keep the momentum. I worry that if I only go 2-3 days per week, I will lose my motivation and get in a rut. I do enjoy waking up and going though, makes me feel a lot better!

Thanks again for the help!

I think most people would tell you that you should do the weights first. If you do the cardio first, you really can't go all-out on the weights as you have reduced your glycogen levels and other chemicals in the body which power the muscles. Again, my thick head sometimes takes awhile to "get it". When I was first lifting, I mixed it up like you are and did lighter weights, more reps. I saw some progress but not a lot. I finally decided to try lifting heavy. On days I do that, I do a 10 minute warm-up on one of the cardio machines (usually the dreaded stairmaster) and then do my heavy weights with lower reps. (And, remember, heavy just means heavy for you). After I'm done, if I have any oomph left, I'll then do some HIIT on one or more of the machines (elliptical, treadmill, bike, rowing machine). Sometimes I'll do 5 minutes on one and then move to the other. If I've really lifted hard, 5-10 minutes is about all I have energy for. I just do this to tap myself out.

When I really want to do a good cardio workout, I do it on days I don't lift. To make this work for you, you might want to just lift your whole body on the days you lift, and then take 2-3 days off from lifting heavy, doing cardio on those days.

Just something to consider. I think the most important thing with exercise is doing things you enjoy. I am now totally sold on the concept of doing high weights/low reps as my body is changing so much quicker this way as I'm losing inches in the waist, hips, thighs, and butt much quicker doing it this way. And I love feeling stronger all the time. So I enjoy it, so I do it. That's one of the reasons why I mix up my other exercises so much, because I get bored doing the same things over and over and need to mix it up to keep from getting bored. (Plus, I'm all about working your body differently all the time as I think it's healthier by hitting different muscle groups in different ways and lessening the chance of getting injured by chronically using muscles, joints and ligaments the same way all the time, but that's for another discussion.)

But if your current routine is what you prefer, it's best to do it that way even if most exercise experts will tell you it's not the most efficient use of your time. The most important thing about exercise is finding something you will do on a regular basis because you enjoy it.

Last tip: ignore the scale for awhile. I took me 2-3 weeks before I even dropped 1# and I was super-confused about it but my pants were getting looser. If you're exercising, the scale really doesn't tell the whole story. A few months back I went down a pant size. Well, sure I had lost more weight so that makes sense, right? Then a couple weeks later I started lifting heavy. In about 5-6 weeks, I went down another pant size but had only lost one more pound on the scale. While, sure, I still want to see it go down more, it's the least important measure of success to me. I focus on the inches and the increase in fitness levels. So, imho, your best focus is on completing C25k and increasing your weights and any other fitness goal you want to target. The inches will follow and so will the scale.

Oh, and remember with caloric intake, you may have to continue to tweak for awhile. If you go about a month and don't see any drop in the scale, you might want to start playing with the macro-nutrients (protein/fat/carbs).

Hope this helps a bit. I'm not really an expert. Simply passing along what works for me and the wisdom of others. Best wishes.