SO FRUSTRATED AND JUST ABOUT TO GIVE UP

Hi!! I was SUPER frustrated and confused too, but I think the rule of thumb is just to stick with it and calories in, calories out.

I read a site that pretty much "changed my life" - or at least changed how I understand the BMI/calories, food, exercise thing.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php

If you go by what the site says - basically, you need a certain number of calories (food) to just get by. "Maintenance" calories.
The "maintenance" calories are what you need just to live. If you ate that, you would neither lose nor gain weight. Sure you can get into one calorie being better than another, but we all know eating veggies is better for you than pizza. That's the easy part.

The link above has how to get that number, but it's here, too: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php#section3

After that, it's all loss, right? Let's say you eat 1800 calories a day for maintenance (that's mine, so you'll need to find out yours. I'm 5'8" and sedentary).

NOW - one pound of fat is 3500 calories. That's 500 calories to either burn or *not* eat every day. This really works for me when I am measuring exactly and not lying to myself about what i have been eating. That handfull of M&M's just slips my mind. Often.

So - find your maintenance calories (mine for reference): 1800
To lose 1 lb per week, kill 500 calories a day: -500
You should NET = 1300 calories.

The NET is if you ended up eating 1800 calories anyway, but you exercised it off instead of not eating it. :-)

I am NOT a dietittion or fitness expert or anything, just a girl trying to lose a pound - but this seems to be working for me. Usually. I ignore BMI and all the other stuff. I just don't understand it. I need it simple. I do take my measurement and weigh myself. I need to know where I'm starting from. Just keep going!! You can do it! Keep it simple and you'll do great!

Do you understand this??
You need to know what your body burns on its own without any activity. That is your BMR.
If you eat over your BMR you will gain (unless you work out and burn extra calories)
If you eat under your BMR you will lose.
Simple as that.

Look at the thread started by the Original Epic, this is dealt with multiple times on that thread. I hope this helps.

i wouldnt have a clue how to find it..

and i just am wanting simple answers rather than the ongoing babble happening in most threads.. thus far i have gotten some amazing advice being upfront and just asking for no medical garble..

so thus far i am to eat... i would say 1500- 1700 calories a day ( pick a number and stick with it.. ) and NOT eat back the calories i earn... but still wondering about the whole going under net calories..

i will give an example.. i go to work all day and eat about half my calories maybe 700. and that leaves me with about 800 for dinner and snack at night. Then on the way home i go to the gym and i work out.. and i work out hard... i do 30 min on the ellipitcal doing intervals then 10- 15 min stair master (if i can handle it that is damm hard) according to MFP i am gaining about another 600 calories.. which now gives me a net of 100 so i have to eat a full days worth at night... that scares the crap balls outta me

this is why i am confuesed.. and to be honest. i would love someone to give a simple this is how you do it answer.. i think if this was easier to understand.. obesity wouldnt be such an issue. I am not going to give up i have to do this.. i just am so stressed by it all my coritsol levels are sky high right now i am sure...

I understand. Basically when i work out i will only eat back some of my calories. If I’m hungry I will eat if not then i won’t. As long as you’re not under 1200 calories you should be good. At least that's what has been working for me. If you don't want to eat that much at night then don't maybe save some cals for in the morning or the next day. You don't have to go day by day you can go week by week. As long as you’re not eating more than what you burn then you WILL lose weight. Also you want to be drinking A LOT of water because it helps flush out your system and helps other body parts function properly. The reason you are probably seeing a gain is because of the 30DS when I did that video i gained as well because of the muscle i was building. This is still a good thing because muscle burns fat. You will be losing inches even though the scale doesn't say your weight is going down. If you are eating right and moving your body then you WILL lose weight. Just stick to it! Because it is so worth it! You didn't gain all that weight over night so don't expect to lose it so fast. One baby step at a time! Everyone loses at their own pace

I doubt you are burning that much in a half hour, no matter how hard you are working. I am part of a boxing club. "burn 1000 calories an hour!!!" yada yada club. I always took them at face value and put in 1000 calories on class day. Then I got a somewhat reliable heart rate monitor and found out it was closer to 600 calories an hour! I was so upset! Makes sense why I wasnt losing!

You do burn more when you weight more though. Not saying your wrong! I'm just saying you may weigh a lot less than her. IDK

As a biomedical scientist, I would say, if you're eating the right amount of calories and you're not losing, have you taken a very close look at exactly what you're eating? And ask yourself this as you go through your food diary (btw, don't get tied up on the daily stuff, look at weekly-monthly habits, those I find give you a bigger and better picture of how your habit tends to be):

1) Have I eaten enough fiber per week?

2) Do I drink enough water to pass that fiber along?

3) Are all my vitamins sufficient or am I missing a specific one or ones?

4) How much green leafy veggies am I getting? (Chances are if you get less than a cup a day, you're going to have to increase and you'll start losing weight).

5) Do I have enough muscles to burn the amount of fat energy that I do eat or should I increase my protein intake/decrease my fat intake?

6) Do I enjoy a lot of salty foods?

7) Do I choose to eat cheese or dessert or do both? (Why do I ask this? Because the French are very well known for their love of dairy and dessert, yet they don't face an obesity epidemic as we face here today, why is that? Well one of the glaring eating habits that they have is that they don't eat their cheese with their food, they eat it like they eat dessert, by itself to enjoy the flavor. They choose cheese or dessert not both and it really helps with their portion control.)

8) Do I eat in a hurry a lot? (Sometimes eating on the run can cause logging accuracy issues.)

A lot of people like to tout that they don't have to exercise to lose weight, just calorie count, but your body has so many ways to get around changing eating habits metabolically that really, exercise so you can eat more of a variety and alternating the gross amount of calories you eat per day can help you avoid being stuck in a rut.

Do you understand this??
You need to know what your body burns on its own without any activity. That is your BMR.
If you eat over your BMR you will gain (unless you work out and burn extra calories)
If you eat under your BMR you will lose.
Simple as that.

Er... you're misunderstanding BMR. BMR is what you burn in a coma. without any daily activity. You burn more than BMR every day by getting up and moving around, going to work/school/whatever. You will not automatically gain weight eating over BMR. "TDEE" is the correct term - that is BMR + daily activity calories. MFP estimates this for everyone in your "goals" page as "Calories Burned - From Normal Daily Activity", which is based on your height/weight/age/gender and normal daily activity level.

Edited to add: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390142-what-is-tdee <--- check this out for an understanding of BMR vs TDEE

No I'm not misunderstanding BMR. "You need to know what your body burns on its own WITHOUT ANY ACTIVITY. That is your BMR."

I was explaining in simple way (like she has asked) how this whole thing works.
If you eat over what your body is burning (BMR and OF COURSE other movements throughout the day) you will gain weight!
If you eat under you will lose.
I think your misunderstanding my way of explaining this whole thing. So cool it down a little. okay?

just want to thank everyone who has posted here. it's been really helpful ('specially the calorie counter website) as i've been trying to figure out how many calories i should or should not eat. and it really helps to know the numbers behind gaining or losing one pound.

thanks you all are awesome!!!! sooo i have been trying to figure this out and here is my game plan..

I am figuring out my BMR ( funny thing is when i go to diffrent sites i get diffrent numbers each time lol gonna get an average and work with that.)
and from what i understand simply..

BMR is what i need to eat to "survie"
then my TDEE is what i eat to stay the same with NO exericise.
soooooo
my goal is to take 500- 1000 calories off my TDEE and not go below my BMR...

and stick with that number...

I am going to look at my exercise calories as my opps(bonues) calories earned... if i get 500 extra calories a day by working out and i go over my set limit... well they come from my opps calories...

I think this is right... anyone want to add anything???


Again.. thank you all very much for getting me through a very hard day.. everytime i was about to say F*** it and eat that ice cream i got a notification of someone posting here... lol kismit(sp) if i do say so myself..

that sounds like a great plan to me! just make sure you log everyday and accurately, even if you take a biteful of something, so if you plateau or stop losing, you'll be able to take a look at your diary and notice the little things.

also, find your target heart rate (usually about .6-.8 of maximum. to find maximum, 220 - [your age] and mulitply by .6 or .75 or .8 depending on how hard you want to work out). make sure you exercise within your heart rate to burn fat. and try interval training, where you do cycles of really fast/hard sprints and 1-2 minutes of rest.

good luck girly, and never ever give up!