Hi, my name is Becca, and I love the encouragement of this group! So cool to see women stepping out of their comfort zones and committing to be healthy. NO quick fixes!!!

Anyway, heres my story...
Struggled with eating disorders for about 10 years throughout highschool, college, and my early 20's. Finally decided to stop all that madness and ended up getting heavier and heavier. This was compounded by having 5 babies in 10 years, and being unable to lose weight while nursing them. But no excuses. I got fat because I ate crap and didn't exercise!

About a year ago I was so heavy I will never publicly admit to anyone exactly how much I weighed! I was utterly miserable and finally had the courage to do something about it. I discovered clean eating and started doing that January 2, 2011. I joined MFP and tracking food really helped me to deal with my emotional eating, but still was struggling. Up until this point i was mostly doing cardio, usually around 2 hours a day. I finally decided to start doing weights about 9 months ago, starting with p90x. I loved it, and then got turned onto Cathe Fredrich videos, and slowly started doing more weights, but still struggled to let go of my cardio because I was afraid I needed that to lose the fat. Last summer I was really struggling with my weight, and had hit a plateau that ended up lasting 5 months. Alot of people kept telling me to stick it out, do more cardio, etc. and I followed all of that advice but it clearly was not working. I was losing my hair, having blackouts, feeling weak, tired, and cranky. No wonder, I was burning around 1500 calories a day, and eating 1200 or less. Finally I decided to increase my calories and busted out of that plateau. I was so excited!!!

By the end of the year I had lost about 100 pounds, but still doing crazy amounts of cardio. So recently I decided to kind of take a break from trying to lose weight, reset the metabolism, and focus on muscle building (still hesitant to call it a bulk because I think I'm still too fat for all of that!) Ill be back to eating at a deficit in May, and I've been cutting my cardio back slowly. Im at about 45 minutes 3 days a week now, and I eat back every single exercise calorie, lol. My TDEE is around 2600, so I average about 2500-2800 calories a day. Thats alot of food, and lately its been a real mental challenge for me to eat that much. Good days and bad days.

Excited to see what changes this next year brings. I still have another 20 pounds that I would like to lose. Currently I am about a size 6 (funny because I am the same weight I am when I wore a size 12-14 years ago). I would like to get down to about a 4. Its so much more about muscle and body fat now than it is a number on a scale. I love lifting and want to continue my training and see where it takes me!

Stay the course ladies! It is hard to take this leap but I have confidence in the process!

Hi my name is Susan i am 47 years old i started MFP in January 2012 , the first week i lost around 4 to 5 pounds i done got down to 15 pounds shred and even when i did the weight watchers i would get down to 15 pounds loss and than the weight would loss came to a stale i am eating around the 1800 calories diet i am now weighting 242 i started out at 256 i mixes my exercises between low impact aerobics to walking i need to know what to do to get the pounds to come off. Some body help!::frown: :

First thing to do is read the topic on TDEE...then do your calculations and follow the suggestions once you have done your calculations. I have a feeling your calories are still a bit too low, but when you do the calculations you will know for sure.

If you haven't started strength training...oh you are missing out...add that to your routine lady!

Hi, my name is Lori. I'm 47. I started on MFP Oct. 2011, but was pretty inconsistent with it for the first month or so.
Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of my 12 day hospital stay that jump started the path I am on. I am a former athlete...and hoping to return to that "tag" in the near future.

I am 6' tall and obviously can "carry" alot of weight, but I just let myself slowly gain 5-10 lbs. a year for TOO many years. We don't own a scale, so I have no idea what my "heaviest" weight might have been, but I know I saw 262 at the Y a few years ago. Scary.
It took me a while, but I just was tired of being heavy...and not flexible like I used to be....

I had lost 45 or so lbs. before my health scare just by giving up "whites" (bread, potatoes, rice, ect.), quit drinking soda, started walking and doing the wii.

While in the hospital, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. During the first few days of the 12 days in the hospital, with 4 insulin shots in the belly per day, they were able to get my blood sugar under control and start me on *oral* meds....which I've been taking since. I found out I have high blood pressure at the same hospital visit...and had foot surgery. Yep, I was a hot mess.

But, boy am I thankful for modern meds! Thankfully, I didn't lose my toe, or foot. They were able to get the infection under control with the 3 weeks of IV antibiotics. I spent the next 9 weeks and 4 days "no weight bearing" on the injured foot...using a walker and then crutches as I regained my strength. The wound care nurses took such good care of me. And I have a really wicked scar to show for it!

All of that blah, blah, blah to say....I''m glad I've found this site. It's helping me continue on my healthy "life" plan.
I'm down to 190, but think I would be healthier around 175-ish. (That's somewhere around my college playing weight.) I know that's just a number. It's actually a little "high" according to some of the charts I've seen, but I'm hoping that will be a good weight for me.

Is anyone else diabetic? Any thoughts about the calories/carb situation for weight loss?

The diabetic nurse tried to start me on 1,200 calories when I left the hospital. I quickly ditched that as I became more active. Thankfully, I didn't cannabalize my family.

Honestly, my goal is to get OFF these meds and I think it's possible.

Can't wait to continue learning from you all!

Hi there,

i'm tiptoeing into this with a flicker of hope...who knows..maybe THIS is what i've been doing wrong all these years.

I do have one question though..you all seem to have already lost a significant amount of weight doing the 1200 calorie plan..with over 80lbs to lose, is this for me as well??

I have a million other questions, but i'm sure i'll find the answers as i browse more through the group. (i already posted one in the group below this one to confirm my math was right cuz um..2400 calories on NON WORKOUT days?? um. really?).

Thanks so much for all this info and sharing it with us - (for free lol!!)

Here's hoping!
Lisa

Hey lady yes there is hope and you have found the answer with eating. If you| like try googling tdee calculator and plug in your info to check the numbers. There are a few out there. And yes try the 15% cut off tdee for at least 4 wks to get ur metab going. Chg ratios as suggested, eat 6 meals, and drink prot shk after right after wkout.

Keep us posted!

Hi, I am Corinthia!

I have been on MFP for almost 1 year now. My stats are 284.4 as of this morning. I am 5' 5.5 inches tall and 40 years young.

My calculated TDEE using site is 3108
My calculated BMR is 2446.99
I exercise 4-5 times a week: my burn is normally 400-500 calories

How many calories should I be eating?

Subtract 15% from your tdee and that is your nonworkout calories.

Hi, I am Renee.

I will be 60 years old this month ( I just can't believe it!). I tried for 10 years to lose weight with a low carb method but I could never stick with it. For 5 years I added going to the gym 4 or 5 days a week and still no results. When I joined MFP I couldn't believe how much more I was eating, even at my first goal of 1340 calories per day. I calculated that I was probably only netting about 500 to 700 calories before MFP!

After 5 months I had lost about 18 lbs! I was thrilled! But now I have hit a 10 week plateau. I'll have to admit this is a little scary. I increased from 1200 to 1540 calories three weeks ago and I'm up a couple of pounds. As of today I'm increasing to 1700 calories. I'm trusting that this is the answer. It does make sense to me since I lost when I first joined and starting eating more than I was eating before.

Hi! My name is Amber. I'm a SAHM to 1 year old boy/girl twins who are tons of fun! I've been married for 4 years to my wonderful and very supportive hubby.

I started MFP on June 1st last year and have lost about 65 lbs to date. I have followed anywhere from 1200-1500 calories since starting MFP. A very good, very supportive MFP friend has been trying to convert me to "eat more" for quite some time, so I finally took her advice and have been eating more for about a week and a half now. She ran all of my numbers for me (thank God, because I am so easily overwhelmed) and my calorie goal is now at 1740 and my carbs/fat/protein are set to 40/30/30. My weight hasn't budged much yet, but I'm giving it time

I am doing 30 Day Shred through the month of March and I go to the gym twice a week. I burn at least 200 calories a day and as much as 1000 on the days I go to the gym (depends on what I do).


Age: 25
Height: 5' 7"
HW: 286
MFP SW: 257
CW: 192
GW: 140-150

I'm not new to MFP, but I am very new to this whole eating more thing, so I'm glad to be here to understand it better and have support

Hi,
I am 34 years old
SW: 220
CW: 213
GW: 150

I was doing 1600 calories a day and was losing just under 1 lb a week. I kept reading posts about eating more. So I checked out a recommended website Fat2FitRadio.com and it recommended I eat about 2200 calories a day. Well I am definitely NOT hungry. I also started NROL4W and have modified my protein to 30%. I workout 6-7 days a week as I am weight training 3 days a week and doing a C210k training program 5 days week.

On the website recommended on this thread, my BMR is 1672 and my TDEE is 4819. I will be trying this 2200 calories a day for a couple of weeks or a month.

Hi everybody!

My name is Friederike and i have been on MFP several times ^^

I started my weight loss journey in autumn of 2010. It was back then when i met my boyfriend. First person in a very long time who wasnt completely negative abouth my weight. He just accepted me the way i was. He did not ask me to lose weight or anything and it was exactly what i needed. Not criticism all the time but acceptance. I started to realize that i am a good person and that i deserve better. So i started to treat myself better.
I had no concept or was following any diet program. Just basic stuff. Regular excercising, less crappy food, more healthy food :-)
It worked for me. By Spring of 2011 i had lost about 25 Kg. And guess what happened... i hit a plateau. I guess we all have been there...
At that point i started about thinking concepts, diets and stuff and also came here for the first time. I ended up spending last summer with switching between starving and overeating all the time. Of course this resulted in gaining weight. Luckily i have not been alone and after a kind of melt down i decided to take a break. I banned my scale, stopped counting calories and started living again. Yes i did gain some weight but not like dramatically. In the beginning of this year i decided that i am strong enough to continue my weight loss. I lost a couple of pounds so far weighing 80 Kg now (started with 102 Kg in 2010).
To be honest i am too unpatient sometimes... i do want to fall back into old behaviour patterns like starving and excercise like a maniac. So I am happy that i found this group here. I know treating your body good is the most important thing. I want to to lose weight but in a good and healthy way :-)
I really hope I will have the strength!

Not qordy at all...it is great to learn about each other.

I had a car accident 2007 and suffered herniated disks in my lower neck and lower baxk. I strength train and keep my core strong to avoid the back pain that is exacerbated when my tummy muscles are weak. Glad you are finding ways to strngth train bec the strong core makes such a difference.

Oh and I eased up myself..at first unknowingly...1200, 1350, 1500 little loss then nothing...I then read some forum and blogs then excerpt from NROLWFW and it was like a bulb went off....upped to 1800 and gosh I lift so much heavier, feel so much stronger and lost 7.2lbs in the 13wks....may not seem like a lot but I have leaned out a lot and lost the fatty look that I had. I have a few pounds to go but I am soooo much happier now.

I started taking glucosamine a few months ago, and that helped tremendously. I was having back and hip pain. Since working out, I do feel so much stronger, especially in my core. It's great!

Jessica, try and find a MSM and glucosamine supplement. MSM is AWESOME...it helps reduces swelling in the body AND it helped when nothing else did with my allergies. OH MY GOODNESS...I live in FL and something is blooming all the time. I HAD HORRIBLE allergies...tried everything including things that ended up pulled off the market. I started taking 5k mg a day and 30 days later it was like yesterday I had allergies and the 30th day BAM NOTHING....Oh man, what a life changing experience for me...no runny red eyes, nose, no dripping in the back of my throat anymore...even when the cars are laced with pollen...no allergies..if it is really bad out and I have a sign of allergies I just take 7k for a couple days and gone...ok didn't mean to go off on a tangent...

Hi everyone! My name is Lisa and I am 33, 5ft tall. This is my 65th day here on MFP. I started at 139lbs and I am now down to 132. 7lbs loss. I really wish it could have been more. I know it does not seem like I have a lot to lose, but I am short so the weight really shows on me. I started out at the 1200 calorie limit like most people. I did not like the way I felt. I don't want to DIET, I want to change the way I eat and look at food forever. I was a coke-aholic. I drank coke from morning to sunset. Now I have not had a coke in the 65 days. Ok, back to the calorie battle. I did some research like many others on this site. I found someone to help me with my numbers and I upped my calories to about 1600. I think I need to re-adjust them though. I hope I can get some tips here and meet others that are having the same struggles.

Not qordy at all...it is great to learn about each other.

I had a car accident 2007 and suffered herniated disks in my lower neck and lower baxk. I strength train and keep my core strong to avoid the back pain that is exacerbated when my tummy muscles are weak. Glad you are finding ways to strngth train bec the strong core makes such a difference.

Oh and I eased up myself..at first unknowingly...1200, 1350, 1500 little loss then nothing...I then read some forum and blogs then excerpt from NROLWFW and it was like a bulb went off....upped to 1800 and gosh I lift so much heavier, feel so much stronger and lost 7.2lbs in the 13wks....may not seem like a lot but I have leaned out a lot and lost the fatty look that I had. I have a few pounds to go but I am soooo much happier now.

I started taking glucosamine a few months ago, and that helped tremendously. I was having back and hip pain. Since working out, I do feel so much stronger, especially in my core. It's great!

Jessica, try and find a MSM and glucosamine supplement. MSM is AWESOME...it helps reduces swelling in the body AND it helped when nothing else did with my allergies. OH MY GOODNESS...I live in FL and something is blooming all the time. I HAD HORRIBLE allergies...tried everything including things that ended up pulled off the market. I started taking 5k mg a day and 30 days later it was like yesterday I had allergies and the 30th day BAM NOTHING....Oh man, what a life changing experience for me...no runny red eyes, nose, no dripping in the back of my throat anymore...even when the cars are laced with pollen...no allergies..if it is really bad out and I have a sign of allergies I just take 7k for a couple days and gone...ok didn't mean to go off on a tangent...

I'm going to have to do some googling. I don't believe I know what MSM is.

Hello everyone! I found this group while I was researching the topic "eating back exercise calories" and I am sooooo thankful! My trainer has been telling me for MONTHS to be eating 1800+ calories a day and I just could NOT wrap my brain around that. I have been a big girl all of my life and my "brain sense" always told me you gotta eat less Lori.

But..I am hoping I can LEARN and do so with this group - how to Eat More to Weigh Less! I have lost 48 lbs. so far in approx 3 years and I have about 30-ish more to go.

I am so excited to have found you guys!!! Whoop!

oops double post

Hi everyone,
My name is Leanne, I started just over a year ago and feel like I have been successfull to this point. The past year I lost 71 lbs, I feel that is just about right for a healthy weight loss. I have come to love running, and have incorporated lifting into my workouts. I am stronger, fitter and the smallest I have been since high school (like so many others).....

.....Buuuuut, I still have so far to go, I am still over the 200 lbs mark, but oh so close to Onderland (only 4 little lbs). Getting into Onderland isn't really a top priority for me though!!! Who doesn't want to see that number drop bleow the 200 mark???? Well I do, but I wan't to be there strong and lean, and if it takes me an entire month to do it, so be it!!!! I am not overly fond of the scale as a measure of success anyway.

I guess my biggest fear of upping my calories, is filling them with cookies and crap. I do a good job at home keeping the crap out, but I were I work I have access to crap at no charge, a lot of down time!! The idea of eating more doesn't get to me too much, but I just need to fill my diary with healthy choices...

I do a lot more lurking for info than asking, but would love to get a little more involved...

Thanks for reading, and I will try to make an effort to post more in the group!!!

Lol...I will tell you from personal experience, when upping the calories if you change your ratios to 40 carb, 30 prot, 30 fat, it is hard to carb binge. As a matter of fact, I stopped binging period. I plan my meals and eat on time, I am never hungry, and literally to get in a snack I have to put it in the diary and like last night I may not eat it...I just don't crave all the junk anymore. I guess because I am always satisfied, I just don't ever sit in front of the tv binging. It was such a difference that my husband commented on it. He has called to say he is bringing home some treat or other that I love and I tell him please don't because I am not hungry. Some days I don't hit my goal number because I just can't eat anymore much less to even think of binging. So, said all that to say, I don't know if others are experiencing the same here, but I know for me I have access to everything because I have 4 kids that I buy goodies for...but I sure don't touch it. I even bought Artic Zero ice cream and as low in everything as it is, it doesn't affect my numbers really and it took me four weeks to eat a pint...I mean the old Lucia on 1500 cals would have scarfed it in a night! lol