Newbie

Hi everyone, hope some one can help! Am a newbie here, but unfortunately not a newbie at struggling to lose weight.

I am 21 years old, 5"3 and 154lbs. A couple of years ago I managed to lose about 2 stone on weight watchers, but didn't stick to the diet so have been maintaining at my current weight since. I am deeply unhappy with my weight - or more importantly the way I look, so i am constantly trying to find an easy simply way to lose weight.
A couple of months ago I started slimming world, and found it far from simple and easy. My weight loss was very slow, and I was getting very frustrated. Then, a few weeks ago my father in law suddenly passed away, so me and my fiancé went to stay with his mum for a while, and the diet was obviously the last thing on my mind.
Since returning home, I have been having a serious think about the best way for me to lose weight. I wasn't happy with the slimming world way - it was always at the back of my mind that I wasn't getting enough calories which could have been slowing down my weight loss. I am getting so discouraged and downtrodden because I just want to cut down what I eat and lose weight with some exercise, but it just isn't happening.
So I have been reading up on calorie counting, and it appeals to me because the control seems to be put back into my hands, rather than being constricted to a plan so to speak. However, I have a couple of questions.
Firstly - what about fat? Do you simply count calories? The thing that worries me is that I could think I am doing well, when I might be taking in a lot of fat or saturated fat. I am obviously aware which foods are better for me, so I will always try and make informed decisions. Also, dont you get extra calories from the fats in food? So when a biscuit has, for example 100 calories in it, yet has 3.2g of sat fat in, wont there be extra uncounted calories? Or are they taken into account on the food labeling? (Sorry if thats confusing!)
Secondly, I looked at that sticky that explains how to work out required calories etc (Which is great btw!) and it came out that I should eat about 1500 cals to lose a lb a week, and that to me just seems quite a lot! Is this a usual amount of cals to eat to lose weight? I work 5 days a week running around in a restaurant so I'm not sure how active that makes me?
Also, it would be great to get any tips or anything that you guys have picked up along the way :)
Thanks a lot for reading, sorry about the ramble!
Hannah x
 
Hi hun, im 24yrs old im 300lbs and need to lose about 150lbs to be happy with my weight so a LOT to lose, ive tried them all, even had a gastric band which still aint helped so im resorting to calorie counting, lost 4lb my first week and im on 1650 cals to lose 2lb a week so ur cals sound fine x

Add me on fbook if u want hun its Verity Jane Heads :) x
 
Hi Hannah! (an daisy :) ) I'm quite new to minimins too. The sticky works out the amount recommended for your height weight etc but CC is very flexible. Lots of us are on less/more depending on what works for us. You'll probably have to tweak your cal limit as you go to find that balance between losing and living lol

If you run round a lot and work out too then you'd be surprised at what you can shift! The BEST thing about CC is being able to eat back any calories you burn from working out....guilt free haha

As for fats etc then I'd suggest checking out a free site called my fitness pal which a lot of ppl here use! You log what you eat and you can see your nutritional info for the day too! There's set goals for fat protein carbs etc but as far as I've seen (and I'm really not an expert) most ppl use these as a guide but it could help you get a rough idea whether your diet is healthy as well as low calorie ;)

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Hi Hannah,

I don't count fat, I tend to find that stuff with higher fat has higher calories anyway so I find myself staying away because the cals put me off, because of this I'm guessing there are no "secret" cals. However I have much more to lose than you, I may find that when I get closer to goal I have to be more aware of fat, but that could also be due to my metabolism getting used to operating on fewer cals... It's a tough one because everyone is different, so it requires a bit of trial and error.

I'm eating 1350 net cals a day to lose 1.5 lbs per week, but my job is desk work so only my typing fingers get a workout!!! If you are active 1500 sounds about right, you need to make sure your body has enough fuel and nutrients or it will bite you in the bum later. Again, remember everyone is different so be prepared to have some weeks where losses are a bit rubbish and you need to have a shake up of your plan. x

Good luck and let us know how you get on. x
 
Just to add to what Lindsey said, please please don't go under what you 'need' in cals, it might seem like a lot but our bodies are very fragile things so if you underfeed it bad things WILL happen - it doesn't matter how young, fit and healthy you are and you don't need to be underweight by any means either for these things to happen!

I don't want to scare you but I just want you to take that little bit of advice onboard before you start. Best of luck xx
 
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