????'s Diary

[????7]

Hi!

I joined this forum just yesterday and as I haven't made up my mind about a certain "diet" or workout program that I could follow, except for regularly getting out of the house by foot or bike and watching my eating habits, I thought I could at least start a diary.

I currently weigh 146lbs and want to reach 120lbs (see added ticker). I didn't set a deadline to reach this goal as I want to start a more active and healthier life overall. Once I made some progress and I can "estimate" some kind of weekly loss, I will re-think the deadline as an additional motivation.

I am curious about your journeys and progresses and I hope I can give support and receive it as well.

Hope you're all doing good and: Let the games begin

 

[tamnix]

Welcome! It's good to see that you've started a diary here for yourself!

 

[Steve]

Welcome to journaling and best of luck to you.

 

[????7]

Welcome! It's good to see that you've started a diary here for yourself!

Hi and thanks for the welcome!
I don't know how many diaries I started and never finished , but I should really stick to this one. It will help to stay on track.
Hope you're having a great day

 

[????7]

Welcome to journaling and best of luck to you.

Thanks so much!

I read your rant last night and I thought I comment on a few things in here...

First, there is a metric-ton of new people signing up to this forum on a daily basis. I think it is great. It actually blows my mind how many new members we have signing up.

Signing up is always the easy part... What blows my mind is that I was „naive“ enough to get myself into this

However, with the onset of new activity, I have noticed that everyone is looking for that "one routine" that leads to success.

I can’t count all the different workouts I have been reading up on. Unfortunately by reading them I already felt like I am doing a heck of work for me and my body, instead of spending the time outside and move my butt from A to B, which would have bourned way more calories I „waisted“ time by trying to convice myself that one of them HAS TO BE the right one for me I finally came to the conclusion that I am well capable of putting some kind of plan together by myself OR just walk out of the door!!!

To lose weight, you must create an energy deficit.

I am one of those calorie-counters and I was wondering if you could give just a rough estimate of what a healthy/realistic energy deficit would be?

You MUST eat at least 5 meals per day. Fact of fallacy?
Answer: Fallacy
If you can't squeeze in that many meals per day due to schedule, don't sweat it.

Oh, what good news! Including my snacks between breakfast/lunch and lunch/dinner I eat 5 „meals“. But do apples count as a meal? I don’t think so. And I feel well stuffed with what I am eating.
Some meal plans that are supposed to help to lose weight feature „real meals“ 5 times a day and how that is supposed to work out is beyond me. An energy deficit seems to be very hard to reach with the proposed calorie intake and the time people have to work out. Gosh, I really hope I got that right... *fears buttkick*

And last but not least: Thanks for the information and advice!!!

 

[Steve]

First, don't search for a workout. Anything you throw at your body, it will adapt to it and you will have to modify over time. Some routines plan for this and have modifications as time goes on. If you are going to pick a "pre-set" plan of attack, make sure it is one of these that plan for adaptations.

However, it is just as easy to learn the basic concepts and apply them to yourself. The end product should be a plan of attack that includes proper nutrition, weight training, and aerobic exercise. I also like to add flexibility work and "mental training" to this list. Might seem like a lot to some, but I am not asking you start all of this tomorrow. One step in front of the other is how you get anywhere in life. One step at a time.

With regards to calories, you call yourself "one of those calorie counters." This is good. As I said in my rant, the ONLY way to lose weight is to create an energy (calorie) deficit. So, you don't necessarily have to count them in order to lose weight. Some diets will minimize the consumption of food groups that indirectly regulates caloric intake. However, the way I look at it is, why risk it. I like to be sure that my diet is in check for my goals.

To find a starting point, I suggest reading my thread titled, "Starvation, Calories and Adaptations" It is a stickie in the "on topic" section of the forum. It walks you through finding your maintenance caloric intake using a variety of different formulas.

Once you determine your maintenance, a good starting point in terms of a deficit is 15-20% off of maintenance. This depends, however, on certain characteristics, but it is a good ball-park for generalities.