Hello!

I am a 25 year old who is extremley overweight and have been for years and have finally decided enough is enough. i recently ( 7 days ago ) started counting calories and have lost 2 pounds since! I tried using the calorie calculator tools online to see how much i should be eating for my weight (I weigh 298) and they all give me a different amount. I have been eating about 1400 a day. I feel a lot better already after just a week. Counting has also opened my eyes to how much i was probably eating before! between the taco bell and large sodas, i wasn't even paying attention which explains how this has all happened to begin with I switched to all whole grain and instead of snacking on chips at work i'm snacking on carrots and grapes. I haven't eaten out since at fast food and when i went to a resturaunt with a friend i just ordered a side salad with light dressing on the side. Making the change has been a lot easier than i thought, so far. I try to work out everyday but it does get hard because i work at 4am and when im finally off 9 hours later i am so tired, but i still squeeze in about 20 minutes of cardio. I take the stairs instead of elevator at work now as well. I'm interested in hearing peoples success stories!! They motivated and inspire me.

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a calorie counter too and like you I found it eye-opening and realized I didn't need to eat as much as I thought I would! At your weight you can probably get away with eating more than 1400 calories and still lose, but if you find that amount to be good, then you can certainly stick with it. Just don't stress if you happen to go over a little

Don't worry about "only" being able to do 20 minutes of exercise! That's plenty and it's much better than doing nothing at all!

Welcome !! I too count calories...since Feb 9th I have lost 23 pds doing it ...how much do you weigh? 1400 might be too little ....I have 1400 per day and weight 215 ...

Good luck !!

Carri

Hi there! I'm 24 (25 next week). I started back on my weight loss 7 days ago too and I've lost about 2 lb now as well. Isn't it a great and motivating feeling? I haven't been too active yet because the baby is keeping me in the house, but I have been calorie counting and it is just wonderful to get my system feeling 'clean' again with healthy eating. I am doing calorie counting about 1900-2000 calories a day right now (I am also nursing my baby... so that's probably about 1400-1500 going to me and 500 going to her)... not sure if I need to adjust that yet or not but it worked this week so we'll keep on it.

i am about your size, and age. i eat no more than 1800 calories a day. 1400 does seem too low. i usually wont go less then 1500, and i have been making a lot of progress

I too, count calories, and i am on day 14 of my weight loss journey. it has been much easier this time around, but i never really took my diets seriously before, 3 days on, then i cheat, and i quit. and so it goes.

ive been walking at night before bed, usually 30-60 minutes, it burns a ton of calories at my size. even eating 1800 calories a day, my bmr and excercise show that i burn up to 1000 calories a day more than i eat.

i also agree with what you said about not realising how much you used to eat, i started thinking about all the sodas, little snacks etc, and i was taking in like 4000+ calories! its horrifying!

thank you all for the reply, i have bumped up my calorie intake to 1500 and plan on meeting with a nutritionist just to get a better insite of how much i should be eating and what i should be eating. This site is very motivating! when you tell someone you want to lose 100 pounds they look at you like you're insane and that it will never happen, but when i come on here i see that it CAN happen. I'm very excited to start losing weight and getting healthy. I recently got out of an abusive relationship where my bf would call me fatass and nasty whenever he got upset at me and he would cheat on me with skinny girls often ( i found out recently ) and having someone i loved call me all of those names so often really motivated me. I don't wnat to sit around being depressed over it all anymore, i want to DO something about it so i can start loving myself.

Its been 8 days since i changed my lifestyle and i'm down 3.4 pounds, i don't work out as much as i should but my eating has completely changed and i feel good about this!

congrats!! Stick around! We're ALL here for you!