Thought I knew it all...

I have been overweight all my life, but now am gaining and am ready to commit to a lifestyle change. I thought I knew everything there was about weight loss... but after spending a day at this site I feel very lost. 

Am I suppose to eat around 1200 a day and exercise to lose weight, or am I not eating enough in comparison to my rigorous workouts?

I have half-heartedly been attempting to lose weight for 6 months now, and nothing seems to be working.  This is my first attempt at calorie counting combined with 1-2 hours of cardio and 3x/wk strength training.

 In case it makes a difference, I am 40 yrs old, female, 5'3", and 185 lbs.

 Any and all advice is appreciated!

Mommster 

To be safe, you should always, alwayssss eat 1200 + whatever you burn during deliberate exercise.

1200 calories a day for a women is strictly Sedentary.

"You burn 2000 calories during a typical day. Remember that this estimate is based on your body weight, height, age, gender, and your average level of activity" 

This is what I got when I calculated your Expenditure.

Your highest safe deficit is 800, meaning you can lose up to 1.6 lbs a week.  Or less if you choose. 

A 500 calorie deficit is 1lb a week loss.  This means you can eat 1500 calories a day with no exercise to lose 1lb a week.

Your BMR is 1566 (for your age, height, gender, and weight).  Which means that you need a minimum of 1566 calories each day.  So, aim for eating 1575 calories daily.  Then, for your workouts, figure out how many calories your burning each day and figure out your deficit.  Let's see if I can explain this right...

BMR = 1566
Calories Burned during 1 hour of low-intensity cardio =  420 calories

Add those two up (1566 + 420) = 1986

Now, if you ate 1575 calories, you would subtract that from the 1986 we got with the last equation (1986-1575) = 411

That would make you lose approx. 1 lb a week.

For weight loss, a 500 calorie a day deficit will result in approx. 1 lb a week loss.

So, each day, take your BMR (1566) and add it to the # of calories you burn during your workout.  Take that number and subtract the # of calories you eat.  The resulting number should be between 500 and 1000 for healthy weight loss.

Easy equation:

BMR (1566) + Exercise = Calories Burned
Calories Burned - Calories Eaten = Deficit

Deficit needs to be between 500 and 1000 for healthy weight loss. 

I think the previous advice are both good advice.  They are two different outlooks, one is because some people say to never go below your BMR  (The amount of calories you burn by just laying in bed doing nothing).    I think a lot of people agree with that, but I don't necessarily, just because many guided diets tell you to go lower. (My BMR is 1511 and I've been told by 2 different personal trainers to aim for 1400 calories).  I know Biggest Loser is only a TV show, but there's another example where they go below BMR.  I can see why people agree with that though, because you can still lose adequate weight and not go under your BMR.  At any rate, you are gonna be at a deficit.  I don't think your body counts weather or not that deficit is below your BMR!

That being said, either way you go out of the two previous posts you will see success.  Give it time though, that's the biggest thing.  You HAVE to be patient.  Don't weigh yourself, measure instead.  If you weigh yourself, you might see the scale stay the same or perhaps go up a little bit because you're working out and gaining muscle but just give it time. 

I say aim for 1300-1400 on the days that you don't work out and add 200 calories or so on the days you do (depending on how much you burn)

Good luck!!!

 You can do it!!!!

Thanks you guys... now it makes a little more sense!! 

I don't mind gaining a normal amount of muscle...  I am just fed up (excuse the pun) with being FAT!!

 My fear is that I have screwed up my metabolism by doing atkins successfully (lost 40 lbs in 4 months for a year) then that awful "soup" diet (lost 10 lbs for two months) then tried atkins again and failed (gained 15)

Now that I realize that the quick fix isn't going to work, I am working my butt off at the gym and eating really good... and waiting for results. 

 

Thanks again!!

Mommster 

I know how you feel, I too messed  up my metabolisim sorry can't spell, but wanted to let you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it took me 3 months of working out 5 times a week and watching what I eat, and logging what I eat, to finally make the scale move!!!!  So I'm just warning you it could be along haul, but eventually you body will give in!!! And just so you know 10/25/07 was 207, finnally on 1/28/08 finnally hit around 203!  1400 cal a day and working out, but hopefully I'm on a roll now!!!

Holy crap!! 3 months???  Did you see a dr. to find out why things weren't working? I am thinking of doing a metabolic test they offer at my gym for $50... but I cant imagine 3 months....