Looking for somone how speaks newbie

With only 17 lbs to lose, that does seem high... What did you set your activity level at?


I found setting my at sedentary then tracking all my activity works best for me. Seeing all my little activities add up , encouraged me to do more...

Also a couple of times when I was adjusting my goals I accidentally selected GAIN 1 LB A WEEK instead of LOSE.... (d'OH)

I'm sure the "pros" can offer more facts and stats, but for your height/weight, you burn about 2000 calories just sustaining life that's before you start doing anything like getting dressed, walking to your car, etc.

I'm 5'4" and I started at 298, I was given 1900ish calories to start with! so while 2500 sounds a bit high, it's not crazy. personally, I'd stay away from 1200 calories... that's too low. what do you have your lifestyle/goals set at? sedentary? active? a half pound a week? two pounds a week?

Try visiting a dietician at least one time and see what advice they can give you to help you on your journey

Sadly, I have no links. However, I do know that 1200 - 1300 is waaaaaay too few calories for you. If 2592 sounds like too much to you, shoot for 2000. MFP gives me about 1200, but I am way shorter than you, (5' 3") and under 200lbs.
I'm pretty sure starvation mode is different for everyone. I am equally sure that 1200 cal. will put you in starvation mode, unless you were already eating under 2000 cal to begin with. Eating too few calories will help you lose weight, but it will also slow your metabolism way down. If your metabolism slows down and you slide back into your regular eating habits, you'll just gain the weight back really quickly. (Trust me on this one. I have been there and done that.) In starvation mode, your body also stores fat, thinking that there is no food available. I doubt you want that.
Bigger people actually have higher metabolisms, because they need to process a bunch of food to maintain their size. I'm pretty sure that 1200 - 1300 cal. for a girl of your height and weight will just freak your body out. 2000 cal. is the amount set for reference man (the imaginary person daily value percentages are based around). Reference man is both shorter and lighter than you, so I wouldn't worry about 2000 cal being too much. MFP's estimate is probably right on the money.

My understanding is that you can get away with a bigger calorie deficit when you have more to lose - but the way I look at it is that if you are eating 1200 cals/day while you are 300 pounds, what are you going to drop it to when you are down under 200?
I think that it's good advice to eat at least your BMR every day - go to the TOOLS section on MFP and you can calculate it.
Use this as a guide and try it for a month of so and see how you go.

With only 17 lbs to lose, that does seem high... What did you set your activity level at?


I found setting my at sedentary then tracking all my activity works best for me. Seeing all my little activities add up , encouraged me to do more...

Also a couple of times when I was adjusting my goals I accidentally selected GAIN 1 LB A WEEK instead of LOSE.... (d'OH)

17 pounds to lose? Did I miss something?

^^^This.

OP you dont eat enough.

For your height and weight you have enough ATP to blast fat and gain muscle while on a deficit.
Why in the world did you cut to so far below BMR?

Okay i'll break it down.

TDEE is how much energy you use daily.
So 5'11
Modertae activity
Female
305lbs

Basic numbers for you....

BMR 2199
TDEE 3408

BMR is the basal metabolic rate or Resting rate.
Its the cals you should eat only if sleeping all day or comatose.
This calorie count will provide proper nutrients to vital organs.
Eating below BMR for extended periods of time will reduce leptin and increase cortisol.
This tells the body to maintain fat stores because its expending WAY more energy than its taking in.
Cortisol will seek out damaged proteins AKA lean tissue and burn it for fuel.
This will lower your lean mass and drop BMR even deeper into the hole.

Believe it or not, a large percentage of Obese 2 and 3 people arent overeaters!
They are under eaters who dont know better.

TDEE is how much energy you use daily in calories.
Eating belw TDEE will help you lose fat.
Eating at or belw BMR will help you lose a lot of weight for a while but 20-50% of that will be lean mass.

You also have enough ATP in your muscles to actually gain lean mass while in a deficit.

So by the basic number without Body Fat calculated into the info you should be eating no less than 2300 cals.

Set MFP to 2700 daily.
Protein and Fat 30% each.
Contact me in a month and we can rerun numbers.
By then youll have less fat!

=D

PM me for a more detailed report.

Helloitsdan ... you are a rockstar ! this is the info i was looking for ... so how do i eat more calories without adding in crap, so far my only concious decisions have been tocut out crap and not eat cause im bored, i cannot say that i eat cause im bored or that i am going hungry ... honestly i cannot imagine eating more food at this point so how do i get more nutrition out of the amount of food i am eating ? show me the way grasshopper !

Follow a 90/10 rule!

90% whole foods! the closer it is to its form in nature the better.
10% junk!

So on a 2k cal diet you get 200 cals of junk a day.

PM me...
Age
Height
Weight
Body Fat% (find the link to get this on my profile)
Activity or how often you workout

I'll run specific numbers in the morning.