[Dianne042425]

Hi yall!

I was told by a girl in another forum to check this forum out! This seems to be where I should be asking my questions. I have never been overweight but I have always been trying to lose about 15-20 pounds. I need to shape up. My ultimate goal is to get down to 18-20% body fat and at a weight of 118-120. I am currently 5'5 and 138 at around 26% body fat. My question is, becuase you dont have a lot to lose, do you really have to be extremely strict to lose the weight? Do you really have to stay at 1200 calories, exercise every day, not drink, and rarely mess up? I just simply cant make all those changes at once. I normally eat around 3k calories, rarely exercise, and drink a lot on the weekends. So I have a lot of adjustments to make. Is it possible to lose weight (when you dont have much to lose) just by making smaller changes. I dont need to lose all the weight in a hurry; like 2 months, but I would like to lose around 15 pounds in 3 months or so.. Is this possible? I also have a jaded idea that the only way to lose weight when you dont have much to lose is to eat very low carb. Is this false? Is there ANYONE out there that has lost 15-20 pounds when they didnt have much weight to lose in the first place? Please I need some motivation through success stories!!! That would be amazing!! Thanks for listening!!!

[thesame7lbs]

Originally Posted by Dianne042425

My question is, becuase you dont have a lot to lose, do you really have to be extremely strict to lose the weight? Do you really have to stay at 1200 calories, exercise every day, not drink, and rarely mess up? I just simply cant make all those changes at once.

Hi Dianne,

I've already PM'd you about some of this but I thought it was worth posting here as well because I'm sure there are other people with similar questions.

I determined early on that I was not going to get through the day on 1200 calories. I see people all over 3FC talking about 1200 calories, but I just don't think that's necessary for everyone. I would much rather hear about people starting at 1600 or 1800 and giving it some time to see how it works. There is evidence that people who are formerly obese have much slower metabolisms than never-obese people of the same height/weight/gender. So some of what you see on 3FC reflects the experiences of people here who have different weight histories. Start with something you can live with. See how it works. Tweak it.

I exercise 5x/week, usually 1 hour. IMHO, for most people, 7 days is not appropriate, unless one or more days is light (walking, non-power yoga, etc). I truly believe your body needs a day of rest. And it never makes sense to launch into an exercise program that is not sustainable. That said, I made a conscious commitment that exercise is my highest personal priority (by "personal priority" I mean the first thing I do for myself after I fulfill my commitments to my family). It is not easy to fit in my workouts -- three young kids and a husband who often works 7 days/week -- but I have not missed a workout since I committed to this schedule in early April.

I have definitely cut back on my drinking (but still have a drink or two once or twice a week). Too many calories, plus the alcohol makes me more willing to go off food plan. But if you can fit it in your calorie allotment, and not overeat after a drink or two, I say all's fair.

I think most "experts" recommend that you make changes a few at a time rather than all at once. All at once is too much, too overwhelming for most people. But as far as losing weight by making small changes, well, it depends what those changes are. You read about "park farther from the store" and "take the stairs." Well, bull. That's just not going to do it. What is going to do it is math. Consume fewer calories than you burn. Do you have to jump in with a 1000 calorie/day deficit? Absolutely not. But your changes have to be meaningful. You have to eat less and exercise more.

Welcome to 3FC and to the Featherweights!

[Busystudent]

I'm new to this so this may be a really dumb question but when you say consume less than you burn, do you mean calories burned by working out? I'm eating about 1000 calories a day and working out on an elliptical that tells me i'm burning about 300, so do I need to be working out more than that?

[thesame7lbs]

Not a dumb question, BusyStudent! There's so much to learn about with all of this -- and of course, there are both facts and opinions. You'll find a lot of both on 3FC.

Your body burns calories all day and all night, even if you do absolutely nothing -- just to keep your heart beating, your diaphram contracting, your body at a toasty 98.6. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) refers to the number of calories your body uses in a 24-hour period if you were to stay in bed all day.

Then, everything you do on top of that requires more calories. Even if you never exercise, just walking around your house, standing on line at the supermarket, carrying your laundry up the stairs, you are burning calories (not too many though because I do a TON of laundry and it never made me skinny).

Just google "BMR calculator" and you will get a ton of hits and lots of good reading. Try a few different calculators to get a sense of your BMR.

Then you can take it a step further and do some calculations that take into account your daily activities and exercise. This helps determine how many calories you burn in an average day. This number can be a good jumping off plan for determining a calorie level that will lead to weight loss.

Keep in mind that all of these numbers of estimates. There are many individual factors that contribute to BMR and to how many calories you burn doing various activities.

Which brings me to the exercise machine. They are notorious for overestimating the number of calories you are actually burning. I use a heart rate monitor but even that I do not trust (mine is pretty bare bones -- maybe the fancier models are more trustworthy).

It takes 3,500 calories to make a pound. So if you want to lose one pound in one week, you need to eat, on average, 500 calories fewer than you burn each day. Some people do this by aiming for exactly 500 each day, while some vary the amount of the deficit each day, averaging 500 over the course of the week.

I think that's all the facts I have on hand, now for the opinion... (assume motherly tone here): I would suggest that 1,000 calories is too low to start out. You are young and your BMR alone is well over that. Please do some calculators and consider starting higher and seeing how it works over a couple of weeks. This website includes the line: Generally, it is inadvisable to ingest fewer calories than your basal metabolic rate. I will admit, I have not really seen that advice elsewhere, but it makes sense. That is the number of calories your body needs to perform all of its basic functions. If it doesn't have enough calories for respiration, circulation, digestion, etc, well, to me that just doesn't sound like a recipe for good health. (turn off motherly tone here ).

Whoo! Sorry so long! I'm not a girl of few words, that's for sure. But now I'm off to do some yoga!

[Dianne042425]

Thesame7lbs,

Can I just say youre awesome! You not only give me motivation and HOPE everytime I read your posts, but you have such great advice! Thank you for your positive attitude and realistic attitude on losing weight!