I just joined in March, but I've lost 13 pounds...I feel like I pushed myself when I wasn't feeling well, but could have pushed harder. I need to buckle down this month and get in the gym 5 days a week. I really don't have a problem controlling my food intake, I just feel like I need to exercise more and lose quicker. I know it's me and I need to get over the mentality and just take one day at a time. I have a goal of 20 lbs for the month of April, so hopefully I will get that goal or at least close to it. Good luck to everyone!

I lost 10 lbs in March, was hoping for more but I'm okay with that. Was sick for the last two weeks and though I kept my calorie intake where it should be, I didn't exercise a bit.

Now its April, feeling better and time to get back on track. I want to the scale to start moving again.
My plan is to keep my protein up, keep my carbs under 130, keep the sodium under 2500 and get back into exercising.
I tend to hover in the 1200-1300 net calorie range and I would like to push that up a bit this month, maybe go for 1400+ net a day.

To answer Tammy's question, My calories are set at 1620 by MFP and that is a 2lb loss a week setting. I have lost 35 lbs in 10 weeks, which is 3.5 lbs a week on average. That said, I haven't really lost any in the last week and a half but the week before I lost 5 lbs and the week before like 2 lbs and the week before that, nothing. I think it all averages out over time but from my experience, I don't see that every single week that I eat a 3500 or 7000 calorie deficit that I lose the exact expected weight that week, sometimes more, sometimes less but it averages out.

Thanks for answering. So if I could ask another based on your answer, the calorie deficit you mention, is that part of your exercise calories that you choose to not "eat" ? If not, would you mind a quick education on how the deficit is based? I am still so new at all this, and would love to see a 3lb lose average/ week.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, only been at this for 10 weeks.
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Here is what I learned so far.

To lose 1 lb of fat, you need a weekly deficit of 3500 calories. To lose 2 lbs, you need a 7000 calorie deficit.

If you are on your MFP home page and click goals, the right side of the page will tell you how many calories you burn a day from normal daily activity. This is based on weight, height, male/female, age and activity level. Mine is currently at 2,570 calories/day.

My daily goal to eat is 1,620 calories/ day. The 2570 that I burn from just being alive and sedentary minus the 1620 that I am supposed to eat every day leaves me with a 950 calorie a day deficit. 950 x 7 days a week = 6650 calorie deficit a week.
MFP says that is 1.9 lbs loss a week. Remember, you need 7000 calorie deficit for 2 lbs.

For a few reasons (super picky eater) I don't eat 1620 a day. If I were only to get 1200 calories a day, 7 days a week, my weekly deficit would be about 9450. If 7000 is the magic number for 2 lbs, 10500 would be the magic number for 3 lbs. Mine is somewhere in between those two.

I don't have that big of a deficit every week, I just chalk it up to 'when you have more to lose, the weight comes off a little faster', plus the first week or so was higher for water retention loss, which throws off the numbers a little.

As for exercise calories... i don't know. I have to eat them back enough so that I net at least 1200 calories a day. If I eat less than 1200 net, I don't lose. Plus, the experts recommend that you don't dip below 1200 net a day, or else... Some of my MFP pals burn 1400 or so calories a day exercising. If I exercised that much, I would probably need to rethink my plan.

Hope this helps. This is what works for me, for now. I know I may have to adjust things as the weeks and months go by.

Wrote out a reply and checked my diary to see the calorie number MFP gave me to answer Tammy and idiot me didn't open it in a new tab so .. I lost everything I wrote :explode:

So shorter this time I'm new this week, I saw a friend post something in this group, and I wanted to join, no offense to the people that are here to lose 20 pounds but it's nice to converse with people who understand what it's like to be at the higher weight ranges whether it be now or earlier :blushing:

I lost 12 pounds in March and hope to lose 10 more + in April. I made a goal to lose 50 by my birthday this year (April) which obv isn't going to happen now. I made the same goal last year and didn't make it then either, but this time I won't make the mistake of freefalling back up in weight once I knew I wasn't going to make it. 10 pounds a month I'm happy, anything else is a bonus

And forgot to edit in that MFP gives me a calorie limit of 2220, which seems way too high for me.. I know I do weigh like 415, and usually exercise 600ish cals a day, but I usually only eat around 1400, tho there are days like today where I ate more, 2k lol.

So in the month of March I lost 22 pounds. My goal for April is 25 pounds. Good luck to all!

awesome!!! Care to share any secrets