Lin: Thanks! It's been a struggle but I think I'm on the right track!

envelope: I really like your suggestion and I think I'm going to give it a shot! I love smoothies and I can get creative with it!

Rennie:

Welcome Caramel! And good job, Maile!

Ok, I'm back on track as of today. Calorie counter on iPod, gym routine is a go... maybe I should talk to someone about my gym routine to see if it's good for weight loss... Anyway, I'm going to try and make daily posts about how things are going and to try to curb certain tendencies. I'm 173 this morning.

Thaisccs ..I was at the gym today also. Hope it helps both of us!

I'm off to Cleveland with 6 friends to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the day. I'm down to 177 this AM, which is 75 pounds lost - but not official until tomorrow - Wednesday is WI day. I better not blow it on the trip! I want to change my ticker tomorrow! Have a great day, everyone.

Lin

Happy Tuesday everyone. I see that entering the 60s is going to be a struggle. I am in the down a pound up to 170 and down again. I am going to try really hard today to make the weight down in the 60s.

So... I tracked my calories yesterday with MyFitnessPal on iPod. I programmed a 1300 calorie day and ended up 605 calories SHORT. I mean, I consumed about 1100 calories, but worked out about 400 calories. Is this why I don't lose weight? It's kind of frustrating suspecting that behaving is making my progress stall.

thaisics - I never count back calories burned from exercise.

LinJ - Hope you have fun and are able to avoid munching on all that snack food!

I did not get enough sleep last night...and the scale was up today. Booooo!

Envelope, I'm extremely confused about this whole calorie counting thing. Livestrong estimates I should consume 1095 calories and it's not taking the exercise into account... I always heard I should not go lower than 1200 calories/day so I'm even more confused now!

Thaisccs - I am not familiar with the live strong calculator, but I just put in your info (estimated your age) in the free dieting calorie calculator and it has your maintenance calorie estimate at 1741 for someone who does little to no exercise and has a desk job.

I choose the calorie range (I calorie cycle but average 1500 cals a day) I eat at for 2 reasons. The 1st was a range that I could comfortably eat at and not feel like I was hungry if I am making healthy choices. The 2nd I calculate the cals I would need to eat at to mantain at my goal weight.

Thais - (are you brazilian? I'm from Rio : )

Up until a week ago I was on WW following a certain amount of points which I think were between 1200-1400 cals a day. I have since been reading more about fitness, exercise and nutrition and the books I have read all talk about the need to eat more calories if you want to lose fat and build muscle, the minimum being around 1500 calories on low work out days to 1800-2000 on work out days. The depletion of calories do not allow for the fat to burn and muscle to build, and although you may lose weight for a while you do not build enough muscle to maintain the loss (bc it increases your metabolism)

So I have increased my calories this week and made some nutritional changes and am adding more of a weight lifting routine to my work outs rather than increasing cardio. Too early to tell but I'm interested in seeing how that works out.

We'll see : )

Claudia

Envelope - The thing I'm struggling with is... it's difficult to up my intake. I don't really eat that much these days. I eat six times a day (three meals and three snacks) but even then, I'm still not hungry. It's either this or the binge days I was having.

I used the calculator in free dieting, but maybe I did it wrong? I work out six times a week and I'm 26. It doesn't give me 6 times a week as an option, so I used 5 times a week. I'm getting maintenance at 2157 calories a day? I think I'm going to try and stay at 1300-1500 calories, depending on the hunger of said day. Thanks for the site indication!


calmeida - Yes, I'm Brazilian! I'm in Minas Gerais! This is so cool!

I think I'm going to start working with 1500 calories a day. I have two different routines: on mondays, wednesdays and fridays, I do just cardio (30-40 minutes); on tuesdays, thursdays and fridays, I do 20/30 minutes on the treadmill and a weight circuit.

So far, I'm up to 1135 calories and I still haven't eaten dinner so I think I'll be a little over my 1300 cal limit.

Had a great time in Cleveland with my friends at the Rock Hall. Snacks weren't too hard to resist until someone ordered spinach and artichoke dip to share. It was to die for, but I only had a little - I just used the small broken tortilla chips (because I understand that if they're broken it allows the calories to fall out. . .)

Off to bed and hoping for a good WI in the AM.

Lin

Love2b150- It does seem like the 170s are particularly slow to get through.Hope your day goes well today.

Thaisiccs: You might go to Sparkpeople.com..They have a calorie/fitness calculator..plus lots of ideas of losing weight.. I think your idea of 1300-500 is a good one,

Linjber..My family is currently addicted to the Costco artichoke/spinach dip. I try to stay away from it as it tastes too good. Good for you staying on during your trip.

I went to the dr today who was pleased that I have lost weight..Of course I weighed 170 at the Drs..At least I was 169 in the morning!

I'm with you! I started my diet weighing 184 lbs, then last week I was down to 178.25 and today I reached 173!

Good luck to everyone working their way out of the 170s! I don't know about you but I am finally being able to actually see and feel a difference after losing only 11 lbs which is making me super motivated!

TG

Rennie - sorry to give you false hope - my one friend always says to eat the broken cookie, chips, etc., because when they break it lets the calories fall out! LOL. SOOO sorry I mislead you!

Lin