futuremanda Member

Not directly, no. If you try to go too aggressive with cutting calories, you can have negative side effects that *essentially* will hinder you... like causing you to give up or overeat like crazy. :) Do try to eat a minimum of 1200 on average though. I see one day you were more like 1100, then more like 1500. That's okay,…

I would not be concerned, personally. Getting adequate fat and protein is awesome. If you want, you can switch the optional tracking column from "sugar" to "fibre". If you're getting enough fibre, and you feel good, it's likely fine. (There is even an eating plan called LCHF, low carb, high fat, high protein. I think the…

It isn't meant to make you feel bad. Everyone here who is trying to lose weight was eating above maintenance calories, we all have stories, and no one wants you to feel ashamed or is trying to make you feel that way. It is just meant to point out that before you joined MFP or before you started dieting/cutting calories,…

There are a lot of good tips in this thread, but this stuck out to me as what would probably help ME most. For me, I find that knowing the social script is really helpful with my anxiety. Social scripts are scripts we all know. Like, you walk into a restaurant, you stop at the "wait to be seated" sign. A staff member will…

I guess I was thinking shorter term. Like, "oh, I'll just eat at maintenance, pop down to 19%, then bulk" when really, it'd be a long road. My brain was just adding tone or context or something that wasn't there. Thanks!

I'm probably just confused, but: If you are around 23-24% bf, how will eating at maintenance get you to 19% bf? Or do you mean maintaining for a few weeks and then cutting? And I agree with this:

Yep. You create a consistent calorie deficit over time. Your body has energy needs (from living, working, exercising) and these needs are now not being met with food. It will tap into the fat stores it created for just such a time. (As well as other tissues, actually, including muscle.) The fact that you did crunches that…

Dairy has sugar naturally. (Around 12g a serving I think?) Any yoghurt with less is probably not fully dairy, meaning they're using something else as filler. (Sort of like how a lot of grocery store ice creams are not ice cream.) Any yoghurt with no more, or not much more, will be either plain, or using artificial…

When you start a new exercise routine, increase intensity, increase frequency, and the like, your muscles may retain water to help them heal up. Like, several pounds of water. It comes back off, so please do not stop exercising for fear of gaining weight... it's water, not fat or muscle. Weight also fluctuates as part of…

Are you cleared for exercise? Have you been told to stay away from anything in particular? (It just sounds like you're still in physio, so that's important info.) Also, you could work on losing weight even without exercise. It's a bit easier with exercise, of course, and exercise feels good, but you could *still* get…

Agreeing that stretching is great on rest days and that daily stretching gives the best benefits, as well as warm muscles being more receptive. But it's also worth noting that your flexibility is not an absolute, it's more of a range, and you will see it vary. Some days you will be more stiff than others, so look more at…

You can try searching for "standing yoga". Or "chair yoga". Alternatively, you can put together your own routines. A good place to start might be Yoga with Adriene's foundations videos. She makes videos that focus on one pose. You could work on the details of poses that you CAN do, and string together foundation videos…

Your appetite should adjust somewhat to be more appropriate for what you eat. It will not randomly adjust to lower than that with no provocation.

On the Check-In page there should be a button to edit previous weight entries. You can change your starting weight there, and/or delete old weigh-ins that don't apply anymore.

The bolded part is an excellent plan! Knowing your true maintenance will be better than any calculator or estimate from a nutritionist.

It is important to log everything! But I don't think you are. On Friday, you ate... one sandwich? That's it? On Wednesday you ate nothing? Last Sunday, you had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast and nothing else the whole day? If this is really how you are eating, you're going to hurt yourself. If it is not,…

Yep it would change with overall weight loss. Due to genetics, you might lose proportionally or in sort of weird chunks, seemingly more off the hips one month, more off the waist another, etc. And I promise you don't look disgusting, but I know the feeling you mean. Would a different type of underwear help? Something that…

Why do you "feel" you should eat 1200?

The scale is weighing your whole body, you know. Hair. Muscle. Food working its way through your system. Water. You will weigh something different throughout the day, as you eat, use the washroom, drink, etc. Going up 5 lbs after working out, hitting the steam room, and then drinking some water means... absolutely nothing…

You can keep losing weight by controlling diet alone. The calorie target MFP gives you will give you the weight loss, no exercise needed. With MFP, exercise calories are supposed to be eaten back, so it's more like, exercising lets you eat more and still lose. So now you don't have those calories available to eat. That…

You need to be high in fat if you want to go low carb. Look up LCHF, for example. And fat is pretty important, actually, so a low fat diet is probably not the best option anyway, unless your doctor has given you specific instructions. Fat, carbs and protein are called "macro nutrients". Emphasis on "nutrients". You're…

Try determining what you want before you go do it. Make sure to consider the roots of your feelings -- are you extra hungry, so you need satiating options (with protein and fat) or are you having more "treat" cravings? Plan out something that will properly satisfy you with minimal damage. (And remember that your calorie…

Have a treat or save the cals for treats on other days, like auddii says. Occasionally, like truly rarely, is fine. "Sometimes" is probably not great. Regularly will definitely be a problem over the long term.

If your calorie target is 1200, this is because it is not recommended to eat less than 1200 for health reasons. So MFP doesn't reward the behaviour. Of course, if your calorie target is 1200, you are sometimes going to come in a bit under, and it isn't as satisfying to go a bit over, either. So probably you should just not…

Yep!

Yep it is normal. It's just water retention. Nothing to do about it besides what you're already doing + learning to accept it.

For every 0.5 lb a week, it'd be 250 calories per day. But MFP will also adjust your calories down as you lose weight. So you started with 1540, at 278 lbs. MFP was either going to auto-adjust your calories down soon, or the next time you re-ran your goals (whether you change anything or not, just looking at them and…

Well giving up will get you to your goal probably never, so it isn't really a great option. You'd likely end up back here in a few month or years even further from where you want to be. Eating more does not cause you to lose more weight. Eating too little will not stop weight loss. Eating too little could cause other…

You could check your maintenance calories for your current weight, and plan to eat about that, or basically decide that anything under would be acceptable. Meaning you'd make little or no progress that day ... but you also wouldn't backtrack and you won't feel super hungry or sick or worn out. (And you may or may not…

I do my best, and often that means I do as well as any other day. But sometimes I will eat 100-300 more calories, or work in a treat or snack that I wouldn't otherwise have had. I operate the same as usual, it's just that I may have more cravings and more hunger that fall into what I don't ignore. (ex. feeling physically…