SO confused.

sfoxy219
sfoxy219 Posts: 103
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm sure this is on here a lot but here goes anyway. Ok so I have been trying to lose weight for years now in various ways. It s been gain lose gain lose battle. I'll stop losing on one method and then try another and gain more weight. I don't do pills or special diets (atkins, south beach, zone). It's so freaking confusing. Eat more, eat less, stand on your freaking head while juggling apples in your underwear. <---LOL

So as for the last 2 years. 2011 i tried the "eat more" thing. I was going to the gym 3-4X a week burning about 400-600 calories a day eating about 1500-1800. I gained 17 pounds and NOT in muscle. I went from a size 6 to almost a 10. :( As for this year to start with i was eating 800-1000 calories a day and lost 10 pounds in a month but then i started to binge ( I know i was under eating) and gained it back.

So here I am. In April stuck at 150 pounds. 20-25 pounds is all I want to lose. What should I do? MFP says I should eat 1200 a day, if i exercise, do i eat those calories back and why? I really don't want to gain again. I know I need to eat healthy food and exercise. That is about the only part that makes sense.

Replies

  • cpettigrew
    cpettigrew Posts: 168 Member
    You should probaly eat some, if not all of your calories back, depending on how you feel. If you do now want to eat all your exercise calories back, starting adding some back in slowly, until you find a happy medium. If you are feeling tired, sick, light headed, getting constant headaches, etc., definitely add the calories back in. I don't usually eat mine back in unless I am feeling hungry.
  • kfuog
    kfuog Posts: 24 Member
    You sound like you're about my size. MFP also set me at 1200 calories a day in order to lose weight. I started in January and have lost 11 pounds. Not quite a pound a week, but I'm pleased, and I really think this will work for me. Four more pounds to go!

    First, the 1200 calories is what you eat if you don't work out at all. If you exercise, track that, and eat those calories too, so that you end up with NET 1200 calories per day. You should still lose weight. Someone our size probably needs about 1600 calories per day to maintain their current weight (at least, that's that MFP said I would need when I stopped losing and wanted to maintain instead), so even with eating back the calories you work off, if you net 1200 you should still be losing weight.

    Second, be completely honest with yourself. If you don't want anyone else to see what you are eating, then don't open your food diary. That's fine. But make sure you're honest with yourself. Put in EVERYTHING you eat. Put in your exercise, but don't exaggerate that either. This is for YOU, so you can't help yourself if you're not tracking everything.

    Keep up the exercise at the gym. It's just good for you. Great that you're already in the habit of going 3-4x per week. Change up what you do at the gym. My trainer points out that if you always do the same exercises, your body adapts and does not need to work as hard. Try different things. Do both cardio and weight training. (Note: when you mark your weight training in MFP, it does not track the calories--so annoying! Instead, put it under cardio for "circuit training" and use the calories they provide. Or, if you have a calorie counter, go with what it says you burned.)

    Good luck, and don't give up!
  • sfoxy219
    sfoxy219 Posts: 103
    I don't have a gym member ship any more sadly. Can't afford it. Now i run, walk, play tennis and what ever else i can do to exercise. I want a bike so badly. Also I do log everything accordingly, I never make things smaller or over exaggerate my exercise. I want everything to be exact. Lying is only shooting myself in the foot. LOL. My journal is open to my friends only.

    I'm 22, 5'8 and 150 is this helps at all. I want to get to 125-130. I would love to do it in 2 months but I know that is not going to happen. I think I could be there by august. Sucks I wanted to lose it by summer. What have i been doing the last four months??????
  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
    Sfoxy you don't sound like you're overweight. I'm about an inch shorter than you and I'm 65kg so that's I think 143 lbs. You probably don't need to stick to the minimum of 1200 calories a day. I think if you even up your calories a little bit you will still lose. So if you're really hungry I say eat a little bit more, but it's all trial and error. Also a word of warning - MFP overestimates the exercise calories burned so be careful with that.
  • sfoxy219
    sfoxy219 Posts: 103
    Sfoxy you don't sound like you're overweight. I'm about an inch shorter than you and I'm 65kg so that's I think 143 lbs. You probably don't need to stick to the minimum of 1200 calories a day. I think if you even up your calories a little bit you will still lose. So if you're really hungry I say eat a little bit more, but it's all trial and error. Also a word of warning - MFP overestimates the exercise calories burned so be careful with that.

    " MFP overestimates the exercise calories burned" Really? I'll have to check with come other sites and make my own exercises then. I'm not overweight. I just want to lose some to feel good about my self. I have always hated how I look, I wish I could just lose weight on the upper part of my body. Especially my face, I have such a fat face. LOL

    My arms, face, back and stomach is what I don't like. My legs are nice. :) Arms just need lots of toning.
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