Female, 5'5 - 350 lbs needs help

aphrogirl2002
aphrogirl2002 Posts: 36
in Health and Weight Loss
As you can see from the heading, I have a lot to lose. I am relatively new to the website and becoming acquainted with all it has to offer. MFP says I can eat 1870 calories/day. I have been reviewing different profiles and I see many people seem to keep their counts around 1500. Do you think it would be detrimental to go below 1870? Also, I am recovering from knee surgery. Does anyone have any suggestions for low impact exercises I can do with a bad knee? Are there message boards for people with 100+ pounds to lose?

Replies

  • fguillory
    fguillory Posts: 291
    Hey my starting weight was 347 and my calories were 1850. I lost 27lbs. So i dont think you have too many calories also the way mfp is set up you can lose weight without working out too much while your knee recovers
  • michaelsgirl1210
    michaelsgirl1210 Posts: 37 Member
    The more you lose, the more you'll have to drop your calories to keep losing, so I'd say go with what MFP says for now and slowly adjust down. You don't want to shock your body too badly, and it will be easier for you to stay in your calorie limit if it's a little higher. Plus you'll naturally have a higher calorie burn right now, so eating that many calories is not a bad thing. The only thing I hate when I lose a couple of pounds is knowing that I'll either have to cut more calories or do more exercise to maintain my weightloss.
  • justjenn1977
    justjenn1977 Posts: 437 Member
    I Was 340 when I started... (~268now)

    when I first started everyone said "stick to 2200" or less... BS!

    I started by logging with no changes... after one week I averaged my daily cals and was at about 3500... so my first calorie goal was 3200.... then after two weeks it was 3000... then 2800... you get the drift...

    my point is... if *I* were to automatically cut to 2200 or less then I would have felt like I was starving... but by cutting 200 cals at a time I was able to gradually cut my way down to a more reasonable amount...

    btw I now eat around 1600 cals and I am feeling fine... I do carb cycling at this point so I don't log in my diary... I just eat low carb for 4 days then normal for 1 day... and I have gotten to the point that I don't look things up and I don't worry too much... if I get stuck on the scale I go super anal about logging... but once I break through te plateau I relax more... I have gotten to where this is more lifestyle than diet...

    I did the same thing with my activity... I had a pedometer in the begining and I logged for a week and averaged... so my first goal was 1500 steps a day... and it was HARD... then I worked my way up to where I was >10K daily... now I have a monthly MILE goal of 100... and most months I make it... I think by jan I will be moving my goal to 120...

    it is all mind games... baby steps and mind games :) play and have fun!!!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i'm also 5'5 and am about 150 lighter than you and I eat 1800 calories (actually a little more than that), so if anything, you might want to eat more, or just stick with MFP guidelines and eat back your exercise calories on top of the 1800 you eat per day

    you definitely want to try and eat as much as you can and still lose weight to not run the risk of hurting your metabolism. you basically want to keep your metabolism running at a good level to make sure you're always burning fat. think of your metabolism like a furnace, and you need fuel for a furnaces to work. food is that fuel


    another option is going to this site http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and picking a weight like 50 pounds less as your goal weight. this site will let you know how many calories you would need to eat to maintain that goal weight, which of course means youd be losing weight until you get there. that way you wouldnt have to fiddle around with constantly dropping your calories and can just do it a few times. that's what i've been doing and it's been working well and i dont have to stress about refiguring my calories every 10 pounds

    for low impact things definitely look into water aerobics. you can get a great workout without placing too much stress on your joints. and of course there's always weight training
  • taximommie
    taximommie Posts: 2
    Ok don't laugh but seriously, you need to start somewhere and more cautious I would think. Try using the workout on the WII...just for awhile to get your balance, build a little stamina and limber up some. You might be surprised how much it could help you at first. Slowly start adding in other workouts. I started on the WII...and within a month was doing P90X. The WII helped my body stretch, learn balance again, and gain confidence. i enjoyed the running even and the goofy games that helped with reactions. Balance at flexibility are not friends of those overweight...I know from past experience. I have lost over 100 lbs, so I am talking from experience. Best of luck and stay focused.
    FYI...loved the ski jump game, soccer heading game, and volleyball.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

    I suggest you join this group, you will learn a lot!

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