refinedredbird Member

The fastest way to lose inches is to weight train.

I recommend high intensity interval training (HIITs) instead of steady cardio. It burns fat in less time than walking on a treadmill for an hour. Start walking for a minute, then sprint as fast as you are able 45 seconds, then walk and rest for a minute, back and forth for about 10-15 mins. OR - a real killer is the stair…

Step away from the scale! Follow your caloric goals and move your body. Stop looking for instant gratification and be patient. Check back with the scale in a month or two.

Meal prep on Sundays for the rest of the week has been the most helpful. Also, I second Halo Top ice cream. It has a lot less calories than traditional ice cream and it is really good. I have a sweet tooth and I find dark chocolate almonds also ease cravings.

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This should be a lifestyle change - not a diet. When you overeat in a day, you keep living your life and get back on track with your next meal.

If you are trying to simply lose weight you can eat whatever you want as long as it stays within your calorie limits. Fruits and vegetables tend to have fewer calories than processed foods so you can eat a lot more of them than you can calorie dense foods. Everyone has an opinion about whether there is such a thing as good…

The more weight you have to lose, the faster the weight loss is. Every body is different. Any loss of weight is a success and "only 2 lbs" is progress. My advice is to not over think and complicate this journey. Eat the calories allotted to you (don't try to eat too little and starve to death either, this isn't a race) and…

I keep myself busy with activities. I also try to eat smaller meals and snacks gradually throughout the day so I won't be so hungry I overeat.

If you are burning 300-500 calories a day and and your calories are 1510, that would mean some days you are eating around 1200 net calories which is pretty low when you want to maintain your weight. I would recommend calculating your TDEE at an active level so your exercise is already included and then eat those calories…

I believe in being able to eat the foods you like because if you start being too restrictive, you are going to give up and feel like you are being punished. If this is going to be a lifestyle change, eat what you enjoy in moderation. Moderation is really the key. Check your serving sizes and stay within your calorie goals.…

What kind of activities do you do? The number on the scale is just a number. It doesn't tell you your body's fat percentage, measurements do. I would recommend (if you don't already) lifting or lifting more and making sure you are eating a lot of protein. I have seen people show pictures of themselves when they lost a lot…

Do you lift? Lifting helps lower your fat percentage. The scale does not take that into account when you see how much you weigh. Maybe focus on your measurements more than the pounds. It is a better indicator of progress in my opinion.

Lifting/strength training will help you lose body fat, but where you lose the weight cannot be controlled and is often genetic. Even if you lose weight it might not be where you want to lose. I personally lose weight in my upper body/arms first and my lower half loses much more slowly.

Lifting is always a great idea and it gave me much better results than cardio ever did. I started with Stronglifts 5x5 which consists of alternating routines of squats, overhead presses and deadlifts one day and squats, bench press, rows the second day while adding 5lbs of weight each session and doing 5 sets of 5 reps.…

You can find out how many calories to eat by using a TDEE calculator.

Are you keeping track of every little thing you eat? Are you measuring your portions correctly? Are you drinking enough water? Are you over estimating any exercise you might be doing? Are you eating too few calories? Are you taking body measurements to see if you lost inches and perhaps gained muscle? The scale can be a…

According to a TDEE calculator, your basal metabolic rate is 1815 which is really the calories you need for your body to function. Eating 1200 calories does seem too small for your height, weight, etc. Your TDEE with a desk job is over 2100 calories without exercise included. Even with a deficit of that number, it will…

Lifting is always a good option. Cardio is great and all, but I never really saw my body transformation until I started lifting.

If you don't have a lot of weight to lose, it takes longer to lose weight healthily. 2 pounds a week may be too drastic for your size and maybe only 1/2 - 1 pound is a better deficit. You should never eat below 1200 calories daily. That should be your minimum amount and to be honest, depending on your height, weight, age,…

The less weight you have to lose, the slower the weight loss is. I would suggest you be more patient.

The best way is to lose body fat percentage which changes when you eat enough protein and when you do strength training like lifting weights. I personally use a barbell and do compound moves such as deadlifts, squats, bench presses and overhead presses. You can do strength training using just your body weight too. You can…

If you are including your calories burned in your TDEE + deficit then you do not have to eat calories back. If you do not include the workouts in your TDEE, you need to eat them back. You body needs a certain amount of calories to function and repair. It is not counter productive. If you have lost 10lbs in 2 months and you…

Losing inches is more important than the scale because you are lowering fat percentage and increasing muscle. I have seen people gain weight on the scale, but look more amazing than they did at a lighter weight because of strength training.

My biggest regret was not lifting weights right from the start. I would recommend weightlifting and sticking to your calorie goals, high in protein. You may not be able to lose all the weight you are planning on by your deadline, but weight loss isn't a race and a "quick fix" isn't sustainable.

If you don't have a lot to lose in the first place, small losses are big wins. Any loss is progress. You also may be gaining muscle from your exercise and taking measurements will help you see that. Just be patient and make sure you eat enough. Not eating enough can be detrimental to your goals as well.

My recommendation is to not drive yourself so crazy. Eating something over your calorie goal one day is not going to result in a total fail of your changing lifestyle. If one night you want to eat something you enjoy, eat it. Wake up the next morning and continue on. Weight will vary over time anyways. Losing 3-4 lbs per…

First of all, I love your avatar. Second, the goals of MFP are based on how much weight you want to lose per week. So if you don't have a lot to lose, but you want to lose 1.5 lbs a week, that's a large deficit and may go below your BMR. I personally prefer to use the TDEE method because I ended up feeling increasingly…

The best way to find out about how many calories you should consume is to use a TDEE/BMR calculator online. You will type in your stats and your activity level and it will tell you your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or the calories your body burns just to function and that is the minimum amount of calories you should eat per…

Your BMR is the minimum you should be eating and your TDEE - your deficit is how much you should eat per day to lose weight. I would set your TDEE to at least slightly active or eat back your exercise calories. Weight loss isn't always going to go as planned and some weeks may not have a loss or the scale may say you…