zohars

From what I've been reading for myself, with exercise you pretty much can do anything you feel like you want to do. Listen to your body, and you can continue to run / strength train / anything. I've read that the first trimester you probably won't feel like exercising much, but if you feel up to it, it won't hurt you or…

I'm 5'3" and currently at 158. My doctor said she was happy with where I'm at now, so I've started to shift my focus to functional goals (more endurance / strength) rather than as much what the scale says. Based on how I feel now, I think I'd like to get down to 150. Not so much because I'm unhappy with my weight, but I…

Lots of high-calorie good snacks. Nuts are a great one (healthy fats, dense so you don't have to eat too many). You can also try eating more small meals, and once you've been good for most of that food, something that's not *strictly* healthy is always an option.

The first week I lifted weights I gained at least 3 lbs, which was just crazy. Turns out if you're not used to it, your muscles will get swollen with water as they work on repairing themselves. It took me like 2-3 weeks to come back to normal, but it can apparently take up to a month. Also, don't worry about bulking up,…

1200 is only really a minimum for people who are used to dieting in an unhealthy manner and think they won't lose if they eat more than say, 800 calories a day. So it's not a real minimum, more like a "seriously everyone, don't starve yourself." You should be eating 500 less than maintenance (Which I think would be 2000 ~…

Get the dress tailored! Cheaper than buying a new dress, and you'll look your best!

Calorie counting is not really an exact science, so much varies from person to person. You can check cardio activities by comparing to your heart rate (or by having a heart rate monitor). I've been guessing and hoping it works out reasonably correctly. Once you've tried something for 3-4 weeks you can revise depending on…

How much do you weigh now and how tall are you? When you get closer to your goal weight it can get harder because you're already so close to a healthy weight (depending on your goal). Eating really cleanly can help, as can strength training if you don't already do that.

Actually, using a(n) HRM is not a very accurate way to count calories burned during strength training. This blog post explains it far better than I could: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training-17698

My heart rate does very similar things to yours. One thing to keep in mind is that the 220 - age is not completely accurate for everyone. Normally when I get into the 180s I will get a strange pressure in my ear that tells me to stop what I'm doing (so I do). I'd say as long as you're feeling good, it shouldn't be a…

My grandmother introduced me to Laughing Cow cheese wedges. Specifically, their Light Swiss wedges only have 35 calories a piece. Combine them with some low-calorie crackers and you get a great snack for not many calories

You could try having a post-workout shake / smoothie? Since getting enough protein is important when you're trying to lose weight, I'll often do a scoop of protein powder with some fruit / milk after exercise to both help my body recover, get some good nutrition, and get on track for calories. You can even put spinach in…

Yay for trying out strength training! What happens is called "body recomposition." You can read about it here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/weight-training-for-fat-loss-part-1.html Basically, if you eat perfectly, you will end up building some muscle while losing fat. If you eat well (high protein, mostly…

This thread has some good info on BMR http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/301237-looking-for-opinions-on-my-plan The short answer is that you do not want to eat less than your BMR. BMR is what you would burn if you were in a coma all day. Being "lightly active", for example, means you multiply your BMR by 1.3 to get…

Your plan sounds good.The main thing I'd suggest is to make sure you're not getting most of your calories from carbohydrates. Fruits and veggies are good, but otherwise getting as many of your calories as possible from fat and especially protein (shoot for at least 100g a day of protein) should help you both fuel your body…

If it's just a little muscle soreness, you could still go for a run (start slow so your muscles have time to warm up, and then you would be fine). But it sounds like it might be more than that, in which case you definitely want to wait until you're 100% before going out again or you'll have a much longer recovery the next…

To gain muscle mass you are going to have to gain some fat along with it, so the basic goal is to gain muscle while minimizing fat gain. Ways to do that include weight training, eating lots of protein and generally fewer carbohydrates, eating enough (you usually eat above maintenance to build muscle), and rest days (don't…

I'm not hard-core into health food, so my general rule of thumb is I want most of what I'm eating to come from whole-ish foods I prepared myself (with bonus points for eating lots of veggies, though fruits are not bad either). So, I'll consider an omelet I made with two eggs, some butter, lots of onions, and half a tomato…

It doesn't look like you're eating so little that it would be a problem (the standard minimum for women is at least 1200 calories). Have you also been tracking your measurements? If you keep doing the right things, you will lose weight with time. The only thing I'd suggest you change is maybe adding in some bodyweight…

Do you have a good pair of shoes? I know waitresses and nurses carefully pick good shoes, but your main other option would be a different form of exercise.

You might want to look into some of the high protein, high fat, low carb diets. Eating fat will not make you fat. Also, if your diary is representative and you're working out that much, you are definitely not eating enough.

Since averages are what matter, if I'm done eating for the day, I just will quick-add roughly how many calories I think I might have eaten, and just get back on track tomorrow. Since you're probably running at least a deficit of 500 calories each day, even if you went 1000 over what MFP said to eat when you ate out, that…

From what I've read, it will temporarily increase a bit, but you need to do it to get your body functioning right again. If you don't, you'll have more and more trouble losing any fat (and mostly just feel more sick or lose muscle). So you should eat at what your maintenance should be for a little while (if you look online…

I was actually hoping this morning that one serving of cereal is more than fits in my measuring cup :)

I went with the EatSmart one off of Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001N07KUE ) since it is reviewed so highly.

This seems like a decent possibility: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/german-chocolate-fudge/detail.aspx You can also look around allrecipes.com for other recipes that might be more similar, but that should give you a basic idea.