ITT: Ask me anything about losing weight..

Okay, apologies, will try to be more specific here.
I am trying to lose about 10-12 pounds more in a healthy way. I am a vegetarian, and as a general rule, also avoid milk and eggs. I am currently training for a half marathon while trying to keep my caloric intake restricted to about 1300-1400 calories so that I can continue to lose weight.
1. I have iron deficiency and feel exhausted a lot while exercising. How can I increase my iron intake on a vegetarian diet?
2. Have you found, at any point during your weight loss journey, that your fitness and diet regimen has affected your brain function. By this, I mean, low mental energy, inability to focus, or perform to your peak level? If so, how did you combat it?
3. I am 5'6'' tall, and my Body Fat percentage currently is about 24-25%. Is there a goal body fat percentage I should target to be fit?

Please let me know if this is more unambiguous. Thanks for your help.

1. Are you under the care of a physician? Not sure of many iron rich foods that are non meat off the top of my head. Do you take iron supplements?
2. Yes, some days I feel not as sharp as others. It's never really bad, though.
3. That's a subjective # you'll have to figure out what type of body you want. I would as a general rule of thumb say low 20's on women and low teens on men.

It's difficult to train for running events and maintain/improve body composition. You really need to focus on one or the other at a time. If you are training for running events, you need the extra food and carbs to full your muscle/refill your glycogen levels. Eat enough to try to maintain your weight while training for a run event IMO.

Just jumping in here as I am a vegetarian with a slight iron deficiency - good foods are fortified cereal (cereals like Special K and Weetabix have really high iron), spinach, beans, cashews, lentils, oatmeal, raisins, chickpeas, tempeh and whole-wheat bread.

Jumping in here also: Nutritional supplements. Under the direction of a physician, nutritional supplements. This is very important, as too much iron can cause some pretty unpleasant health problems, even as iron deficiency may be no fun for you, an excess can lead to some very painful side effects.

Some multivitamins, like Centrum Silver for Women, are designed for women *ahem* who have reached a certain level of maturity; where iron deficiency can become an issue.

Otherwise: BEANS! Beans are good, because they have a fairly high protein content too. Most people will advise soaking them overnight, as this both makes them easy to cook with and helps maximize your ability to absorb the iron in them. Put them in a container, with as much water as the container will hold, and stick it in the refrigerator. For best results, change the water a couple of times. Overnight is best, but 6-8 hours before using the beans is sufficient; so you can do it in the morning in time to cook dinner too.

How accurate do you reckon those machines in the Gym are when it comes to giving you an accurate reading of the calories you have just used.

We have 2 rowers at our Gym, and I can match the person next to me stroke for stroke on the same levels, and see the machine say they have burned oh so many more cals that mine lol,
I stick to what I call the hard rower, if its wrong I do not wana cheat myself.

Bump

:drinker: Good morning! Here comkes a can of worms: Everyone here on MFP insists that I eat back all my exersize calories, but I just cant wrap my head around that concept, It seems to me that eating them back defeats the purpose of exersizing. I've been eating them back but not losing weight so should I try not eating them? Also I have a really bad back(two spinal cord injuries and 9 disc that have ruptured) I have complete mobility tho. I can do the illiptical for 45 min. and the treadmill for 45 min. I'm only niticing changes in my legs. Can you suggest any exersizes for my tummy? I cant do the traditional crunchies any suggestions?:sad:

OP - you crazy fool! :laugh: Seriously, thank you so much for starting this, your story is an inspiration and I'm so glad you're willing to spend time and effort helping the rest of us out. I haven't got a question at the moment, I just want to make sure I've got this topic saved in my newsfeed for proper perusal later - and to say a huge 'thank you' for holding out a helping hand :flowerforyou:

I was wondering if you could take a look at my food diary and let me know what you think of the foods that I am eating and so forth. I had a nutritionist help me with the formula for calories as using MFP had me on a plateau for quite a while. I am currently at 1630 with my activity level already counted in. On some days I was below which I know isnt very good but I am working on making myself eat more. I thank you for any advice you could give me on my eating habits. I try to eat 3 meals with 2 snacks daily. I got my macronutients set up per the guy who set up my calorie intake but I don't think Im hitting it right. I seem to have hit a plateau again and don't want it to drag out like last time. Please and thanks in advance. Also, for everyone here if you need to look at my diary to see what he is talking about when he replies, go for it. My diary is open to public.

Hello Brave One & Congrats on your success! :happy:

Ok, there was a recent question in my group that came up about the effectiveness of drinking a glass of chocolate milk after a workout... have you ever heard of this?

I see from your profile you like to eat ice cream, daily (wow)... is there something scientific to this dairy/protein/sugar that makes you a fan or is it just your way of making your lifestyle change sustainable??

Would this help a person have better results is what I'm getting at?

Bumping for today's lessons

love it bump

bump - need to read later.

Bumping so I can see all the questions and answers! Great post, btw! Thx!

My goal is to have a low fat, high muscle body. I've read over and over you can't build muscle on a low calorie diet, but I don't want to gain weight. Currently I upped my calories to my goal weight maintence and will be lifting heavy 3 to 4 days with cardio. I wear a heart rate monitor and aim to burn 500 calories a day. I don't add in those calories so it would drop me to a 1500 calorie diet basically. Will I be able to build muscle on this. Any ideas appreciated.