Cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Best Way to Be Consistent with Food Plan on FitBit

I am trying to drop between 30-40 pounds. Being a Nursing Student, I am trying to do the Hardest food plan via FitBit which is a calorie deficit of -1000 per day. Realistically, I can't cut down on that many calories, as I study quite alot, which requires constant levels of glucose, via food. Any advice would be appreciated as to how I can stick with a plan that is reasonable. At this point, I think I am going back to Medium food plan. Since getting my FitBit over a week ago, I've been walking consistently for 1 hour everyday. Nevermind the steps, although I try to reach 10,000 per day, I walk for 1 hour every day in the morning, and even track my food. 

Best Answer
0 Votes
4 REPLIES 4

Hi @kmendoza,

 

Yes, I agree Medium plan would be good to try. Weight loss is a long-term endeavor, so I think that kind of plan would suit you well. Too often we see people go for aggressive caloric deficits and then run into issues sustaining it or with flattening their metabolism.

In my experience, the amount of glucose needed to sustain brain activity is fairly minimal, calorie-wise, so I wouldn't worry much about that. Best of luck!

 

Work out...eat... sleep...repeat!
Dave | California

Best Answer

Thank you @WavyDavey! I guess my expectations were somewhat unrealistic. Considering the amount of time it took to gain about 30 something pounds is about 1.5 years, it seems reasonable that it would take an equal amount or even longer time to shed the same weight gained. I have been trying to drink more water, and walk every day.

Best Answer
0 Votes

@kmendoza wrote:

I am trying to drop between 30-40 pounds. Being a Nursing Student, I am trying to do the Hardest food plan via FitBit which is a calorie deficit of -1000 per day. Realistically, I can't cut down on that many calories, as I study quite alot, which requires constant levels of glucose, via food. Any advice would be appreciated as to how I can stick with a plan that is reasonable. ...


You are taking me back to my long days in the library during college and law school.  There is definitely something about all the mental energy needed to assimilate new material, that makes you hungry.  And yet, I probably would have saved myself decades of being overweight had I tried hard to develop the habit of NOT eating while studying.  

 

My first suggestion would be to go to the medium food plan shooting for about 500 cal/day deficit, but to eat ALL or nearly all those calories during meal times.  I like four meals/day, but if you are studying late into the night, you might try to break your calories up into five or six meals.  

 

My second suggestion would be to look at the foods you are eating and look to add more minimally processed food and more veggies so as to fill you up more when you do eat.  

 

My third suggestion would be to take advantage of the Fitbit reminder to move prompts and get up every hour while studying and walk around the library or your apartment or wherever for 5-10 minutes/hr.  Long 3-5 hour bouts of studying without movement are not efficient.  If you take movement breaks you will assimilate the material better and you’ll probably find it easier to avoid mindless eating thereby making it easier to stick with your meal plan as well.

 

 

Scott | Baltimore MD

Charge 6; Inspire 3; Luxe; iPhone 13 Pro

Best Answer

@kmendoza wrote:

Considering the amount of time it took to gain about 30 something pounds is about 1.5 years, it seems reasonable that it would take an equal amount or even longer time to shed the same weight gained.


Here are some recommendations I’ve seen related to sustainable weight loss that make sense to me:

  • lose no more than 10% of your starting weight in one uninterrupted stretch of weight loss
  • diet for no longer than three months before switching to maintenance
  • maintain for as long as you dieted (e.g. three months) before switching back to a deficit
  • lose no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week

If your starting weight is 170 pounds and you use the -10% / 3 months weight loss followed by 3 months maintenance model, the schedule would look as follows:

  • weeks 1 to 12: 170 to 153
  • weeks 13 to 24: maintenance at around 153
  • weeks 25 to 36: 153 to 137.7
  • weeks 37 to 48: maintenance at around 137.7
  • weeks 49 to 60: 137.7 to 123.3

With that model, you would be at your stated goal of 125 in just over a year. It would require a calculated daily deficit of 708 calories for the first weightloss phase, 637 for the second phase and 574 for the third phase.

 

If you chose a more linear (and less aggressive) approach – having a constant daily deficit of 500 calories (for a weightloss of 1 pound per week) – the schedule would look as follows:

  • weeks 1 to 12: 170 to 158
  • weeks 13 to 24: maintenance at around 158
  • weeks 25 to 36: 158 to 146
  • weeks 37 to 48: maintenance at around 146
  • weeks 49 to 60: 146 to 134
  • weeks 61 to 72: maintenance at around 134
  • weeks 73 to 82: 134 to 125

The total time needed would be slightly more than 1.5 years.

 

Note I used the larger desired loss you mentioned in another topic (170 - 125 = 45), not the smaller loss mentioned in this one (30-something).

Dominique | Finland

Ionic, Aria, Flyer, TrendWeight | Windows 7, OS X 10.13.5 | Motorola Moto G6 (Android 9), iPad Air (iOS 12.4.4)

Take a look at the Fitbit help site for further assistance and information.

Best Answer