ottermotorcycle Member

You shouldn't lift weights every day, at least not in the same muscle groups. Find a program that splits you or do a full body workout every other day and do some light cardio on the days in between if you still want to get a workout in. I recommend New Rules of Lifting (for Women, but the programs aren't very different.)…

On days where I go out drinking, I have a hard workout earlier in the day so I have more caloric "wiggle room." But mostly, I think I'm going to cut down on my drinking. It's not that I don't have the calories for it. It's that I don't think drinking is worth it... if I binge drink, I'm an out of control mess, and if I…

As of now, I only want to be more muscular. But when I get there I could see myself feeling this way. I'm pretty quiet in real life so I feel like it might make me feel weird to not be small? But this topic really doesn't apply to men the same way. Society tells men to have muscle mass. Society tells women to be thin and…

I don't deny myself... if I want chocolate or ice cream, I work it in. An actual serving size of ice cream is generally ~200 calories and is doable on most diets. I do like frozen yogurt as a suitable substitute since there's a red mango on campus, and I can get healthy mix-ins like almonds and strawberries! And sometimes…

I do full-body workouts when I work out, so I skip at least one day in between workouts. I go about 3x/week. I'm using New Rules of Lifting and it's really great so far! I start stage 3 this week and I've made great improvements. Before then I would do isolated moves, was using weight machines, and did an upper/lower…

I think you should work your way up to somewhere between 1800-2000 calories and lift heavy weights to get the stomach you want. Someone else made a note about posture and that's something that I actually learned recently so I wanted to share. Stand yourself up straight and put your hand on the very bottom of your back.…

I actually *really* like my protein powder. It's chocolate, and when I blend it with some cold skim milk and a cold banana.. maybe some PB2 if I'm feeling it.. it tastes just like a milkshake but I know it's healthy! After that, I could never pass up a good steak. Grilled chicken is a staple of my diet, and I like my…

There's nothing wrong with hitting or going over your fat goal. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. I look at my fat intake and go "Hm. Interesting" and then I forget about it.

This really happened. Learned this lesson from Sailor Moon... don't trust weight loss gimmicks. +5,000

I think you should start weight lifting now. You're at a healthy weight, and if you want to be lifting heavy, I'm sure you know that you're in it for the long haul. Eat around maintenance or at a VERY slight deficit (.5lb/week or less) and lift heavy weights. Your body will transform. You won't need to cut extra fat from…

This is probably going to sound like it's coming out of left field, but I think you should bulk. You're very thin and you're eating too little. I think you should gradually increase your calories until you're eating at a slight surplus (200-300 calories above maintenance) and do some (heavy!) weight lifting 3 days a week,…

If you set your goal to your BMR, eat back your exercise calories. But you are very close to your goal (congrats!) and may find you need to increase your calories again soon, as you should be losing less than a pound each week. Or you can not do that, and just really enjoy your cheat meal, or have a "maintenance day" once…

Literally double your meal plan. Take everything you're eating, and eat it again. Even that might not be enough, but you'll be in the ballpark of a healthy plan and will be able to get more reasonable criticisms on it.

MFP doesn't take much of anything into consideration, but I don't think the problem is that you should be eating less. You are eating at a minimum level. You're young according to your profile. And you're hungry. Eat more throughout the day. There's no way you got to a place where you need to lose weight and are incapable…

Hi there! These topics are a little confusing so it's absolutely no worry that you had to post about it. That's what we're here for :) You seem to already know that eating 1200 calories a day is not healthy or sustainable - that is first and foremost. Clearing up your BMR will help you understand why. BMR is just the…

Hi there. Glad to see you're enjoying MFP so far. Personally, I tried the 1200 calorie diet and had horrible effects from it. I was 18 and at a healthy weight, just wanted to lose about a pound a week for maybe 2-3 months, but I mostly sat on my butt all day so MFP gave me a 1200 calorie goal. I was hungry. Then I had lots…

When you go to change your "goals" you just choose "custom" instead of "guided."

Try "calisthenics" instead of "strength training" for better numbers. I've been following that and it works MUCH better since I KNOW I need to eat more when I lift. Though I know people say you only need 1g protein/pound of lean body mass, I aim for 1g/total body weight. It makes more sense, especially when you are BOTH…

Congratulations on your loss so far. Given that you have less than 20 pounds left to lose, it's time to lower your rate of loss. I'd say adjust it and start taking in more calories. You may want to eat back fewer of your exercise calories (50-70% or so) since you won't have such a low goal and MFP tends to overestimate…

I think this is a very bad idea. It's a VLCD (very low calorie diet) and should ONLY be done under the supervision of a qualified doctor. No one on MFP can or will tell you that this is a healthy idea.

While "starvation mode" has a lot of hype that surrounds it that is completely unnecessary, I have to diverge from the crowd here. There's a reason you get that warning, and it's because you're eating too little. That's probably not the reason you gained a pound - that is most likely water - but you should definitely be…

It depends on what you're measuring, definitely. The areas where you have bulked, you might have higher measurements - I'm thinking mostly upper body (shoulders, arms) but maybe thighs and calves too. But your waist and other high-fat areas will likely go down. The net result would be a smaller body at the same weight, yes.

Why are you trying to avoid overeating protein and fats? Generally those are the macros I prioritize - loss, maintenance, or gain.

Here's the thing: 1. MFP calorie estimates are NOT, generally, accurate. They usually overestimate. 2. If you are eating at 1200 calories a day, which I do not recommend, you MUST eat back your exercise calories. Kay, a few more things: Find out what your BMR is (you can search for a BMR calculator online) and use that as…

While sometimes it works for people to have fruits and vegetables as "free" foods, as it encourages them to eat more, that's the first thing you should change if you're not seeing results. The number one thing to do if you see no results is to log, log, log. Log everything. Measure everything. Weigh your food if you can.…

Calories don't count on your birthday. Your body refuses to put on any fat because it knows that this is the date on which it was born. It's a scientific fact, proven, by science.

I mean, 2 pounds per week is already a pretty aggressive deficit. You've got to be tired if you're under-eating a 1000 calorie deficit. Isn't it a big shock, to eat so little? Aren't you hungry? Maybe those are things you'll notice after you add in that extra 200cal... so I guess take this as a warning. It's okay, for the…

If you're maintaining your weight where you are, then just keep exercising and don't eat any more. You don't have to eat less, you just have to move more. Your run and walk routine sounds good. Are you doing that? You should be. Or maybe intervals, but you might hate them and honestly I don't want to tell anyone to do…

Herbs and sprinkles you may be able to get away with not counting - or adding a "quick add" 5-20 calories. These things normally don't have too many calories. Other than that, measure everything. A food scale actually makes it easier instead of harder. You can just put whatever bowl you're using on the scale and zero it,…

I guess it's the carbonation that makes things bitter, because personally I hate seltzer. I hate it. It's gross. I'd rather never have carbonation again. I've never used a sodastream but maybe you can make it *less* carbonated and therefore less bitter? Or maybe it would be helpful to infuse it with the fruit after you…