Need to lose about 70 lbs. I am sooo lost...

[kiki03]

I am 30 years old, 5' 3, 211 pounds 47.7% body fat and so tired of it. D-O-N-E.

I have had my fitbit flex for a week and I love it. I have lost 8 pounds this week. I know that most of it is water weight but it is still motivating. All of this being said I am lost. I do not know what I am doing. I do not know that first thing about losing weight healthily. How many calories should I be consuming? How many should I be burning? I have a lot of pain in my body associated with my weight therefore I want to lose it as quickly as possible. I want to be aggresive in my weight loss but not stupid. My goal is 140 pounds. 20% body fat. Can anyone help me?

P.S. Looking for friends on here as well if you want to add me. Thanks!

Kiki 

[Wallyworldgal]

There is a formula I could look up for you if you would like but basically you need to be eating a minimum of 1,200 calories a day. Then to lose 2 lbs a week (which is the max recommended) you need a deficet of 1,000 calories. If you say burn 2,500 calories then you want to be eating around 1,500 calories. I have noticed my fit bit must be low on what it says I burn because when I have a large deficeit of 1,000 calories I don't seem to lose weight (due to not eating enough calories instead of burning your body will store it) but when I eat closer to what I burn I lost almost 2 lbs. So just keep track of EVERYTHING you eat and especially what you drink and set small goals daily such as burning a certain number of calories or walking so many steps or miles a day. My goals are to burn 2,500 calories a day, walk 10,000 and drink 78 oz of water a day. It is nice to have more than one goal a day because when I hit one goal it motivates me to finish the other goals.

[SunsetRunner]

Well done on being one week in 🙂 Today is my first day of using my new fitbit flex 🙂 I've previously had other fitbits but they don't wash too well or survive dog jaws either so something that I can keep on my wrist has got to give me half a chance!

My plan is to use my fitbit flex alongside the 5:2 fasting way of life and have synced my fitbit to myfitnesspal to log my calorie intake - I put my details into it and it gives you an idea of calorie allowances for various weight losses per week (up to 2lb per week as this is generally what is considered to be best in order to keep it off).

I've got a genetic condition which causes me loads of pain and being fat certainly doesn't help either!

Onwards and downwards! 🙂

[kiki03]

If I am eating 1500 and burning 2500 then it is like I am only eating 1,000 calories right? And that would be below the 1,200 minimum. Is that ok? 

[Wallyworldgal]

Yes that is perfect. You are fueling your body 1,500 calories but are burning 1,000 extra calories to create a deficiet of 1,000 calories a day. If you do that for 7 days straight that is a deficiet of 7,000 calories which is 2 lbs lost!

[SunsetRunner]

If you are burning 2500 calories and only eating 1500 calories then you are under eating.

The minimum calories you have to eat per day is 1100 (though some say 1200), and that you need to eat this much, regardless of how much you exercise, in order to lose weight. Any additional calories earnt through exercise can be eaten too and technically you will still lose weight - depending on how close you are to your ultimate goal.

You can work out your basal metabolic rate (how many calories you need to exist without getting out of bed!) by googling for a BMR calculator. 1 pound of fat is approximately 2000 calories so in order to lose 2 pounds per week you need to eat 4000 calories less per week.

My BMR is 1980 cals per day. In order to lose 2 lbs of fat per week  I need to eat 1408 calories per day.

1980 x 7 = 13,860

13.860 - 4000 = 9860

9860 / 7 = 1408 (rounded down).

EDIT

1lb fat equates to about 3500 calories not 2000 as stated above! Apologies!

[Wallyworldgal]

Actually it is 3,500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat not 2,000 so your math would be off on how much you need to burn to lose two pounds. You need to burn a deficeit of 7,000 a week to burn up to two pounds. If you program your fitbit online to very hard it will show you need a deficeit of 1,000 a day to lose 2 lbs. 

[SunsetRunner]

This is true - sorry my numbers are wrong but the principle is the same.

.... and I wonder why I'm fat!

[kiki03]

My BMR is 1731.

1731 x 7 = 12,117

12,117 - 4000 = 8,117

8,117 / 7 = 1,160

So that is the minumum amount that I have to eat to lose 2 pounds a week right? And this doesn't count exercise. So say I burned 300 calories working out I would need to eat those 300 or I would be at 860 calories eaten for the day? Right? I hope so. I know it is not rocket science but I want to make sure I understand.

[kiki03]

Ah crap. Well nevermind. lol

[Maxit]

You want to be healthy, not just lose weight.  So don't make this a sprint (i.e., lose as much as possible in the shortest period of time possible) but take this opportunity to learn how to fuel your body for the long term.  The reason most people who lose a lot of weight gain it right back is that they are "on a diet" until they hit the magic number then are "off a diet" and go back to eating the same old way.  You do not want this person to be you:)

While you are releasing fat into the wild (smile) you want to be retaining muscle.  So eat well, making sure that you eat sufficient protein, whole grains if you are not gluten intolerant, and green leafy veggies along with a bit of fresh fruit every day.  Then when you reach your goal weight, continue to eat well and mindfully.   Increase your activity gradually - this will actually help with pain issues (and make sure you have good shoes!). 

[betpchem]

My advice is don't try to "diet" - what you want is to have a healthy lifestyle you can keep for the long haul. Try to cook more and eat fewer prepared foods. Eat smaller meals (it helps to use smaller plates) that are mostly made up of vegetables and whole grains. Keep moving during the day; do the little things like parking further away from your destination so you have to walk more, that sort of thing. It's all about the little things - they add up. 

Good luck!

[lyro]

Hi Kiki,

I can't answer specifically, but I can tell you this.  I have lost weight twice before, but unfortunately did not keep it off.  This time around I'm a little older (and a little wiser, I hope), but it has been more difficult to lose the weight, and this time around it is mostly that stubborn belly fat.  I am hoping that the FitBit Flex will assisit me with trends as well as motivation, and as far as the weight loss part, I am setting very small goals for myself.  My hope is that I can achieve these small goals, one at a time and hopefully build on my success until I get where I want to be.  Sent you a friend request.

[Heybales]

Keep this simple, this went everywhere very confusingly.

You must eat less than you burn to lose weight, too much and it'll include muscle mass - you'll want that.

For 70 lbs to lose until 50 - you can do your 2 lbs weekly goal, which is indeed the 1000 cal deficit daily.

Go over on your protein goals, and include some full body resistance training to make it fat only that is lost, not muscle.

If you feel like you have to eat 1500, then indeed be active enough to always burn 2500.

You'll get to eat more if you burn more, less if you burn less.

When you get to 50 lbs down to 25, set it for 1.5 lbs weekly, or 750 deficit.

25 - 10 - 500 deficit.

Last 10 - 250 deficit.

If by aggressive you mean tabloid claims at the checkout - forget it.

If by aggressive you mean still reasonable as above - doable.

[kimny72]

Hi Kiki!

Go to "Log" and see where it says "Food Plan". Hit one of the arrows util it says "Plan Summary", then click the "Edit Plan" button and follow the instructions. This will give you somewhere to start.

No formula can for sure tell you how many calories to eat. So give this a few weeks and see what happens. If you start to lose lbs then keep going. If you don't lose, take it down 100 cals or so. Unfortunately it's all just educated guessing, so you need to be patient until you figure it out.

I log my exercise here and my food at MyFitnessPal. Logging my food is a bit of a pain but it is so easy to lie to yourself about what you are eating, until you see it in black & white. I don't plan on logging forever, but I feel like doing it for now is helping me figure out what foods fit calorie wise but still fill me up and make me happy!

Best of luck to you and please hang in there!

[gmurtie]

Be encouraged,  Getting the Fitbit Flex was a start for a real change in my eating and fitness habits.  You sound like you found something that works for you,  You lost 8 Lbs. the first week.  You will not be able to sustain that amount of weight loss on a weekly basis but don't give up.  Find something that provides you with a 1-2 LB a week loss and stick with it.  

Replace bad habits with good habits.  Stay plugged in to the fitbit community.  Walk as much as you are able. Gradually you will feel capable of doing more.  Avoid "fringe" kind of diets.  If it sounds stupid it probably is. Keep it simple and steady.  This has worked and brought healthy, sustainable, weight loss to the greatest number of people.  Good Luck    

[kaithorup]

One of the reasons you can carry on a deficit and not lose weight is because you are starving and your body is creating hormones to hold your weight.  It's a survival mechanism.  

What you have to be sure you do is KEEP EATING!

Now, the way you do this is you have to only eat enough at each sitting to not feel hungry.  Spread it out.  GRAZE.

So, if you line up a healthy meal plan:

Breakfast:  Egg White Omelette w/ spinach, mushrooms, a sprinkle of goat cheese and a cup of oatmeal with almonds.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich on Ezekial whole wheat, lettuce, tomato and swiss and a spinach salad with olive oil and lemon.  

Dinner:  Salmon filet with broccoli, carrots and a sweet potato.  

All this is great, but tied to you working out and creating a deficit, your metabolism will slow down and your body will hold weight because the deficit makes your body think it's starving.  

So, here's what you do...

Breakfast:  Omelette  

Mid-morning Snack:  Oatmeal

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich

Mid-Afternoon Snacl:  Spinach Salad

Dinner:  Salmon and broccoli  

After Diner Snack:  Sweet potato

What you have created here is three more opportunities for digestion, which burns more calories and increases your metabolism.  You have also kept your blood sugar levels steady with no big peaks or valleys, which maintains your energy levels and keeps you feeling satiated.    Your body only utilizes X amount of calories each meal and the overage is stored as fat.  In this plan, your body burns what it needs and nothing is stored.  Your body also receives a steady supply of food so it never feels like its starving even though you are maintaining a daily deficit.  

I would also add waking up with 16 oz of water with the juice from two lemons (I prefer limes) mixed with a packet of stevia, first thing upon waking.  Then go walk, run or whatever.  Come home and have your first meal.  I would also go to sleep with 16 oz of water.  It does wonders keeping you satiated throughout the day.  

[Heybales]

---

@kaithorup wrote:

What you have created here is three more opportunities for digestion, which burns more calories and increases your metabolism.  You have also kept your blood sugar levels steady with no big peaks or valleys, which maintains your energy levels and keeps you feeling satiated.    Your body only utilizes X amount of calories each meal and the overage is stored as fat.  In this plan, your body burns what it needs and nothing is stored.  Your body also receives a steady supply of food so it never feels like its starving even though you are maintaining a daily deficit.   

---

Sadly there are no studies showing that eating more has ANY benefit to weight loss - outside personal preference.

No matter when you eat the calories, spread out or all at once, the energy expended to process the food is the same. There is no metabolic benefit from eating smaller meals more often.

Also, eating so frequently is going to actually keep insulin elevated, and it never gets a chance to come back down to normal. About 3-4 hrs when it's about to, you are eating again causing it to go back up again.

If anything - you are actually shooting yourself OUT of fat-burning mode as the body stores the carbs and uses the food for immediate energy needs.

Again, if you have a medical condition that makes that smart, then fine. But just by itself that is a myth.

And in a diet, even eating that 1 meal a day, you'll never top off all your glycogen stores, so there won't be anything to store as fat then.

Your body takes 72 hrs of NO food to start to feel threatened with starving, and actually during this time metabolism goes up studies have found.

Skipping a meal doesn't threaten your body.

Got a lot of myths and bro-science in those comments that actually has no bearing on weight loss by itself.

Personal preference perhaps.

But I'd counter that constantly eating and keeping insulin up can make ones feel hungrier.

[kaithorup]

I am so not interested in debating on this site.  There's FB for that.  I was trying to be helpful but now I'm just not interested.  

Believe what you'd like to believe.  

I would venture to say that if it were as simple as burn more calories than you take in, then there would be no such person experiencing plateaus or who works out very hard and makes little progress while others work out every so often and stay in shape.  <- the story of my life.

WHEN you eat is as important as WHAT you eat.  And there are many factors at work.  First, you have to take in less calories then you burn.  Second, you have to work to keep your hormones in check (insulin, leptin, cortisol); each one having a very real effect on whether or not you will gain or lose weight.  Third, you should eat to your metobolic type (mine is protein type, for example).  Fourth, you have to get enough sleep to avoid overtraining and so your body can repair itself.  Fifth, you should food combine for better digestion and proper nutrient absorbtion.  Sixth, you should ensure you're not suffering from candida overgrowth which will sink any chances of you losing weight every time.  Seventh, do you have a proper balance between diet, cardio and weight training?  Are you losing fat or are you losing muscle?  Are you eating the right ratio of protein to carbs to fat?  Are you eating the right fats, or are you eating too much?  And so it goes...

Each one of these things effects your ability to lose weight effectively.  Unfortunately, it's not as simple as you say.  God knows, I wish it were.  For the 30% out there who can't figure out why they're so special (am I just big boned?  Is it the genes I've inherited? Was I just born lucky?); I guarantee one or more of these things I've listed is the factor.  

So, again, believe what you'd like to believe.

[Maxit]

For someone not interested in debating, you sure debate a lot 🙂 just sayin'

Whether or not people have metabolic types, or eat at certain times of the day, I totally agree with balance & moderation in both food intake and exercise, to achieve a healthy fit body.