johncaraher Member

1200 is probably too low a goal for you anyway, given your current weight. What does MFP recommend? (I suspect you're overriding the recommendation... though I'm older and a guy, I'm at about 175 pounds and MFP says I should take in 1500 cal/day to lose 1 pound/week. MFP's recommendations are actually quite accurate for…

You'll feel better if you can get back to taking care of yourself - and you've already proven that you can do what it takes by dropping those 20 pounds. College will be there when the circumstances are right; meanwhile, you've got to live your life!

Man, you're sure tough on yourself! What would you tell a friend who'd done what you've done? Probably, "Way to go!" It's OK, you can treat yourself as you would a friend! Now if a 5k no longer means much to you, set your sights on a new goal. But don't discount what you've achieved!

As another non-runner, if you really want to go for it I think you can and should. If you don't finish it's not like they're going to abandon you to the wolves or something! I started on MFP last January and by late April I was regularly doing 45-60 minutes on a stationary bike at a fast pace. On a whim I signed up for a…

What kind of workout? With weights you probably should take days off, but you can do cardio pretty much every day. I wouldn't worry about water retention at all because you really should only look at the long term (week-to-week or longer) trend in weight, not the largely uncontrollable fluctuations that happen from…

If a machine gives numbers I use those. I mainly use a stationary bike and it gives higher numbers than MFP, and I tend to lose weight a bit faster on average than MFP predicts (over the past year). I'm not sure the level setting on the machine means much by itself; it's the combination of the setting and how fast you can…

As other have said, it's a pain at first but you need to develop a habit; then it gets easy. I have to eat first so when I hear the alarm I switch my focus to breakfast immediately. Mmmm, what am I gonna eat? That builds a little momentum for me...

I was pushing 140/90 at 210 pounds and now I'm around 175 pounds and maybe 115/70. So yes...

You're doing great!!! Good for you, and happy birthday!

Don't ever worry about not losing weight in a given week! There are so many reasons your weight can fluctuate day-to-day, or within a day, and the fluctuations are typically at least as large as any reasonable, sustainable one-week weight loss. If you don't lose several weeks in a row, then you should re-evaluate what…

I don't see the point in not logging a day, good or bad, unless it's just too much hassle to access the site. At the same time, this is a tool anyone can use any way they see fit, and so long as people get the results they're looking for, then good for them! If logging bad days would cause someone to "give up" out of shame…

Oh, I didn't know about Nimoy! I've invited students from one of my classes (physics) to my house for the Hawking episode; I suspect Nimoy would be MUCH better but that falls during our Spring Break anyway

Well, you've lost 8 pounds according to your ticker... what I'd do if I were you is first ask how far off I want my intermediate goal to be, then figure out how much I'd expect to lose if I kept losing at the same rate. Then maybe take a little bit off whatever that weight turned out to be if I wanted to challenge myself.…

One way to dodge the whole sedentary/lightly active/active question is start with sedentary but then record all your activities. You should also just see what it says you should be taking in at different activity levels, so that you can look at things you do basically every day and see whether those add up to "upgrading"…

Well, some of this is just life - you mention the dismal weather, some people are just sensitive to that (you've probably heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder). But look, you've dropped 68 pounds according to your ticker - that's great, and you can catch yourself before you undo that. I was sick a few weeks ago and that…

It does need to be said, over and over again, and you said it well :)

I only see it when I click that I've completed my food diary for the day. I'm not sure whether there's another way to see it...

You don't suck - you made a smart decision to quit smoking and it's well worth a short-term weight gain to put that behind you!I applaud your effort and am confident that if you can quit smoking you can also get your other habits back on track in due course. Good for you!

I think you should ignore the scale entirely. 117 pounds is perfectly appropriate for a 5'2" woman - the calculator I'm looking at pegs the BMI at 21.4 and says your weight is in the 11th percentile (compared to American women of the same height and age). Losing 10 pounds puts your BMI at 19.6; the same site says this is…

My goodness, one pound in one week is just great! At this rate how long would it take to lose the 10 pounds? Far less than it took to gain it, right? You should be encouraged, not discouraged!

Just be sure to invite rather than nag. Yes, the excuses not to are frequently lame - I'm sure he knows that. My wife and I both have lost weight in the past by tracking calories and when I stopped doing so 8 years ago my weight crept up slowly but surely... in January I joined MFP and just forwarded the link to her…

I do and it has worked for me. But I'd say don't do it because you think you have to... I try to stay a little under most days because of the occasional days when I have to eat out and tend either to go over or not be able to assess very well what I ate. What matters over the long run is what you take in compared to what…

It's probably a weird obsession with numbers at this point... (yeah, I'm strange). Oh, and I guess comments on progress from my wife.

That looks like plenty! Also, it depends on what counts as "a change" for you. You should be alert for all kinds of changes, including overall energy level, extensions in how long it takes to feel tired, etc. in addition to physical changes like weight and measurements. You might have noticeable positive changes well…

Moore's Law makes any computer-themed flick age badly. I remember my very first hard disk - a vast 20 MB of computing decadence for my Mac Plus. Who could ever use all of such a drive? I felt the same way about the 4 MB of RAM I'd installed so I could run the first version of Mathematica. My first computer was a TRS-80…

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas; I've been at it for just a month or so and never really thought through how to react to a disrupted routine. I'm on a hockey team and yesterday went out and played (because on even on a recreational hockey team death itself is a barely acceptable excuse for missing a game!) but that's…

Good point - that's helped me too! (in reply to stormieweather on using the diary)

It is mind-boggling how much salt gets added in any kind of processed food! The closer the ingredients you used are to vegetables straight from the field or garden, fresh meats, etc. the more control you have over how much (if any) salt makes its way in. If you do need to buy something canned be sure to check labels -…

Michael Pollan ("In Defense of Food" and other books) has a nice rule of thumb. If it's something your grandmother (or great-grandmother) would recognize as food, eat it. (In other words, think 1950 or earlier.) He also says if a food makes a health claim, avoid it. I'm not a fanatic about this, but it's amazing how much…

There are random variations in weight. If you're exercising and sticking to moderate eating habits it should sort itself out in the long run.