ITT: Ask me anything about losing weight..

Why are you so hung up on your weight? Fat is fat. To lose fat you'll need to burn more calories than you consume. This also has a side effect of lowering your weight. You can try to recomp and balance out muscle building while losing fat, but it's not efficient and your results will be faster if you focus on losing weight firs then gaining some muscle.

Hello, thank you so much for doing this. I have a question.
I am 29
5'5
SW 183
CW177.8
GW155

I have been tracking my calories and exercising at least 5 days a week (rockin' body right now) for almost 2 months now and during this time I have only lost 5 pounds. I do not count my calories one day a week but I do watch what i eat I don't overeat or anything like that on that particular day.
My current level is set to sedentary and MFP gave me 1460 calories a day to lose 1 pound per week. I do eat most of my exercise calories back which I track with a chest strap HRM.

Do you think this is a good calories intake and if not what should I be doing? My issue is that I feel like I am not losing weight consistently every week. Do you think I am doing something wrong? Please help

Why do you eat back the calories you have burned? A pound is 3500 calories, this means you should eat your 1460 everyday and you must burn at least 3500 calories weekly to see a pound loss. You do this by exercising, writting down how much you burned and keeping track of it. This means that you need to burn atleast 500 calories every single day through exercise for 7 days to loose one pound.
And if you choose to exercise only five times a week you would need to burn at least 700 calories through exercise daily. It is recommended people exercise between 5 - 7 hours a week.

The day you don't count calories you should be exercising to make sure you don't eat and store over 1460 calories.
It is advised to add more exercise before cutting back their calories...

I don't know if anyone has asked about this (it's a LONG thread people!), but have you worked with anyone hypothyroid? I'm lifting heavy and seeing decent results (I have SHOULDERS now!), but I have the constant, nagging feeling that most of the numbers / calculators / recommendations that I come across, which are aimed at people with a normal metabolism, don't quite apply to me. For instance, I read a recommendation today that I should be eating 2,000 cals a day since I'm lifting heavy. Trust me, there's no damn way. MFP says my maintenance is ~1,600 cals, and I'm thinking that may not even be correct.

It's hard enough to figure all this stuff out, but throw in a screwy metabolism and it's really fun. *sigh*

(Yes, Uponthisrock, I know... I'm a unique flower... )

Oh, and I should mention that I'm recomping. My daily calorie goal is 1,500 and I eat exercise cals back depending on if I'm hungry, if I think I'm lacking something that day, if I get a hankering for something, if I want milk after my workout, etc.

Well, if the numbers don't add up don't go by them. You'll have to meticulously log every calorie and determine what you need to gain or lose weigh the old way - by trial and error. Eat the same calorie intake and macros and do the same types of exercises (types and frequencies). Do this for 3 weeks. Adjust calories up or down as needed.

I'm having a hard time figuring my TDEE out, in turn, my weight loss is not going so well.

I don't eat many carbs that aren't fruits/veggies, and I eat a lot of protein.

I'm also exercising at least an hour a day.

What do you suggest?

Just pick a number (calorie number) and start there. Adjust up or down as needed after 3 weeks.

Carbs are not an issue in the weight loss equation. Good that you eat a lot of protein, but you need to eat less calories than you burn to lose weight.

SUBLOG
Hi thank you for your offer and first let me congratulate you for such an amzing weight loss success! Awesome, with that said, may I ask what qualifications you have to give an informative and well documented answer for your questions>? Are you a certfied personal trainer, nutrition specialist or simply the guy next door that lost a bunch of weight and is willing to help others in their journeys?
Please don't find offense in what I am saying...it is just that by you stating that you will answer anything and then reading how you eat and the lack of nutrients from vegeatbles you state you don't have it leads me to believe that perhaps you are not the most qualified to offer nutrition and exercis einformation, unless of course you are certified with nationally recognized entities and perhaps you might want to share which? This can created a sense of trust in the information you provide to hundreds of hopefuls out there looking for help.

You are an inspiration but I would like for you to post your qualifiications to answer specific questions...Thanks so much!

My concern is that when I, an RN responded to someone here about her concerns about her belly fat, he did not like it at all. I just asked her "if she was avoiding simple sugars, except those found in fruits, veggies and dairy"? Sublog responded this way:
"Stop making sweeping statements about sugars. All carbs are broken down to glucose (except for fiber). Sugar is not bad for weight loss while in a calorie deficit. Please stop posting about sugar in this thread. There are plenty of other threads you can talk about sugar in".
I would have to say, he is simply the guy next door who is very lucky, as I agree, his answers, his diet, and his sarcasm are not of those of a professional. And not of one I would model.

Well, since a few people here want to poo-poo on my thread. I've decided I was going to wrap up this thread. I will no longer be fielding questions in this thread.