Can I really walk it off?

yummimummi

yummimummi

New member
I am very heavy. 110.6kg (243.8lbs). I have reduced my weight in the last 3 weeks from 116.2kg (256.6lbs) by walking and cutting certain foods from my diet. The walking is as fast as I can for around 60minutes whilst pushing my 11kg daughters (so 22kg) in a double jogging stroller. Its is only slightly downhill on the first leg then uphill (medium incline) to home with a 5 min cool down pace at the end.

My question is, am I doing enough? What should I be eating calorie wise? Thanks to fitday.com I can see that I have a little too much fat in my diet so I plan on making the changes.

I currently eat around 900 calories a day made up from mostly vegetables and protiens. I have cut out nearly all dairy and have completely cut out processed sugars (where I see them) and diet coke. I am taking a multivitamin supplement.

Can anyone help? I am of course thrilled with the weight loss so far and delighted to see my old face appearing from behind the chins, I have become obsessed with the mirror which is amazing because normally I avoid it. I just don't want to peak too soon or screw it up somehow. Any and all advice would be most welcome.

Laura
 
Im sure this is the first reply of many telling you your calorie intake is way too low for your weight.

You are so far below maintance that you are sure to be losing lean muscle as part of your weight loss.

If your body adapts to working and functioning at such a low cal intake it will probably be very difficult to maintain prolonged wait loss. Many people who do this lose a big chunk in quick time and then level off.
 
Yeah, those calories are hella low.

You can still lose some weight walking but I would add some sort of resistance training as well as something a little bit more exerting. Eventually your body will get used to the 60minute walk and the problem with walking is that it takes so long that its hard to make linear gains for very long.
 
Thanks for the replies. Any idea what my calorie intake should be? I really know ver little about nutrition. I do the walking for now because its something I can do with my kids as I have them 24/7 and no help with them.

I do have some free weights somewhere. Perhaps I can do something with those?

Do you have any suggestion of things I should be eating? I figured that fruit and veg and nuts would be ok but they are quite filling and don't have much calorie value.
 
How much time do you have right now...because you should read this:

(scroll down to the BMR estimation formulas)
Basal metabolic rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just used the one at the top for women. This helped my husband and I figure out how many calories we should be eating a day to lose weight based on the answer to our individual BMR.
There are other ways to find out how many calories you should eat to lose but here is one of them.

It may be a long read but you should always be willing to learn right? ^_^:hurray:
 
yummimummi said:
Thanks for the replies. Any idea what my calorie intake should be? I really know ver little about nutrition. I do the walking for now because its something I can do with my kids as I have them 24/7 and no help with them.

I do have some free weights somewhere. Perhaps I can do something with those?

Do you have any suggestion of things I should be eating? I figured that fruit and veg and nuts would be ok but they are quite filling and don't have much calorie value.
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Protein, protein, protein.


And some veggies, but then more protein.

Nuts have mucho calories. They are great but be careful. I would wager almost everyone miscalculates how many nuts they eat and how many calories.

Get a account now. And a food scale.
 
MAR1984 said:
Sorry to hear about your struggles. Based on the info you gave, I would say you're not eating nearly enough. At your current weight, eating 2000 calories per day should get you pretty close to 2lbs per week weight loss, and 1500 calories should get you close to 3lbs per week - especially once you factor in your exercise. At my current weight, I usually eat between 2000-3000 calories per day, and I've been averaging a weight loss of 3lbs per week. For diet, you can't really go wrong with balanced. 1/3 calories from protein, 1/3 from complex carbs, 1/3 from healthy fats. If your weight has only been stuck for a week, I wouldn't even call it a plateau. For me, the scale usually drops 2-3lbs in 2 or 3 days, followed by 5-7 days of holding steady, or maybe dropping 0.5-1lb. Then, another 2-3lbs come off in 2 or 3 days again. Other people follow different patterns. With eating so few calories though, you're never going to just stop losing weight. Your body will adapt to the low calorie diet and your weight loss can slow, but its never going to stop completely. If you really want to continue on such a low calorie diet, most of your calories should come from protein. Google PSMF to learn how to do it right. Its not something to just jump into though. Make sure you know what you're doing.
Click to expand...

my response in the aug challenge thread in case you haven't read it yet.
 
Thanks all for such great advice! I had a horrible confidence crisis last night and binged on all the old crap! After a good nights sleep and my exercise in the sunshine this morning I feel better. Funny how eating that junk didn't make me feel any happier but a 1 hour walk did. Maybe the changes are already happening.
The tip about the livestrong.org website was a great help. I managed to calculate my calorie needs, and I have started a food diary. I love the way the 'daily plate' calculates everything I eat and the pie chart is so easy to read.
I have a long way to go. I think it is going to start with walking and lessons on nutrition. I also need to find a workout DVD that will give me the resistance training that my walking/cardio does not provide. Any ideas?
Thank you all so much,
Laura
 
Thanks all for such great advice! I had a horrible confidence crisis last night and binged on all the old crap!
Click to expand...

I bought a bag of Winegums last night, it was a bad idea. It's easy to do if you're feeling a bit down, heck I used to do it all of the time. But it is avoidable, there are plenty of other ways of feeling better, I suppose it's about finding the right one, so you can avoid food giving you that relief.

Walking can be a good way to lose weight, particularly when you don't have much free time, just as long as you break a sweat doing it, so try to walk faster each time. Maybe later change to running when you feel fit enough. I lost 1 stone in 9 months by stopping my binge eating and picking up the pace when I walked. But 1 stone in 9 months isn't a big achievement, but then I wasn't really trying. Had I gone for a better diet during the period, the chances are, I could have lost more. It might be worth seeing if you can get one.

I've found my gym to be a useful place, because they're involved with their members - making sure people can keep on top of their targets. It was interesting to have a fitness test because they can tell you an awful lot about your body - for example, I don't drink enough water and by drinking more water I'd help my metabolism, it also tells me how many calories I need to eat per day to stay the same weight on a rest day and the average I'd need to eat on a day of exercise.

But obviously, not everybody can join the gym, so maybe try to break a sweat whenever you can - certain lifestyles don't permit for a specific period in the day when you can give yourself a proper workout, but there's little moments in the day you've got free for a few exercises.

Best of luck.
 
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yummimummi said:
Thanks all for such great advice! I had a horrible confidence crisis last night and binged on all the old crap! After a good nights sleep and my exercise in the sunshine this morning I feel better. Funny how eating that junk didn't make me feel any happier but a 1 hour walk did. Maybe the changes are already happening.
The tip about the livestrong.org website was a great help. I managed to calculate my calorie needs, and I have started a food diary. I love the way the 'daily plate' calculates everything I eat and the pie chart is so easy to read.
I have a long way to go. I think it is going to start with walking and lessons on nutrition. I also need to find a workout DVD that will give me the resistance training that my walking/cardio does not provide. Any ideas?
Thank you all so much,
Laura
Click to expand...

Hard to give resistance advice without knowing where you are now in regards to strength. May be good with bodyweight movements for a while. Can you do a push up? Body weight squats, push ups, and crunches may keep you going for a while but soon you will need to join a gym or buy some free weights.
 
yummimummi said:
I am very heavy. 110.6kg (243.8lbs). I have reduced my weight in the last 3 weeks from 116.2kg (256.6lbs) by walking and cutting certain foods from my diet. The walking is as fast as I can for around 60minutes whilst pushing my 11kg daughters (so 22kg) in a double jogging stroller. Its is only slightly downhill on the first leg then uphill (medium incline) to home with a 5 min cool down pace at the end.

My question is, am I doing enough? What should I be eating calorie wise? Thanks to fitday.com I can see that I have a little too much fat in my diet so I plan on making the changes.

I currently eat around 900 calories a day made up from mostly vegetables and protiens. I have cut out nearly all dairy and have completely cut out processed sugars (where I see them) and diet coke. I am taking a multivitamin supplement.

Can anyone help? I am of course thrilled with the weight loss so far and delighted to see my old face appearing from behind the chins, I have become obsessed with the mirror which is amazing because normally I avoid it. I just don't want to peak too soon or screw it up somehow. Any and all advice would be most welcome.

Laura
Click to expand...

My advice? Keep doing whatever it is that you're doing.

You've lost 13 lbs in 3 weeks. That's AWESOME. So, don't feel as if you're not doing enough, because your current game plan is obviously working for you.

Can you make little changes here and there in both your diet and exercise plan in order to fine tune your performance as time goes on? Yes, absolutely. But, it's only been 3 weeks - AND, you've lost 13 lbs already, which is great - so, just keep doing what you're doing and let some more time go by before you start worrying about making any more changes.
 
Thank you! I was really enjoying my walking and seeing results until I realised I was not getting enough calories. I was feeling great up until that point. I tried eating more today and ate around 1200 calories. Thing is, I never really consumed that much in the first place, I just didn't move at all!
I have taken on the 6 week challenge on the onehundredpushups.com website. I was suprised at my strength and am planning to complete the 100 push ups, 100 sit ups and 200 squats challenges.
I guess I wanted to keep my calorie intake low until I can at least do some running or cardio other than walking. If I can lose another 13-18lbs before December I will then be skiing a couple of times every week until April. I was planning to increase my calories at that point. I probably sound like an idiot to those of you who know about this kind of thing. I honestly just went with what I thought was right instead of what actually is.
 
Just a quick question. If ones calorie intake is already around 900-1000 per day do they still need to start eating around 1500 calories to lose weight?
 
yummimummi said:
I am very heavy. 110.6kg (243.8lbs). I have reduced my weight in the last 3 weeks from 116.2kg (256.6lbs) by walking and cutting certain foods from my diet. The walking is as fast as I can for around 60minutes whilst pushing my 11kg daughters (so 22kg) in a double jogging stroller. Its is only slightly downhill on the first leg then uphill (medium incline) to home with a 5 min cool down pace at the end.

My question is, am I doing enough? What should I be eating calorie wise? Thanks to fitday.com I can see that I have a little too much fat in my diet so I plan on making the changes.

I currently eat around 900 calories a day made up from mostly vegetables and protiens. I have cut out nearly all dairy and have completely cut out processed sugars (where I see them) and diet coke. I am taking a multivitamin supplement.

Can anyone help? I am of course thrilled with the weight loss so far and delighted to see my old face appearing from behind the chins, I have become obsessed with the mirror which is amazing because normally I avoid it. I just don't want to peak too soon or screw it up somehow. Any and all advice would be most welcome.

Laura
Click to expand...

You need to eat at least 1200 calories as a woman or your metabolism will go into starvation mode. (You'll still lose weight, but it won't be optimal for you, and you'll risk having very low energy and other side effects. There was even a news story of a woman who died after eating 500 calories a day for 11 weeks. You just don't need to starve yourself to lose successfully.)

Eating only 900 calories means you will be missing out on nutrients and it's just not a program sustainable in the long term.

Even on the show Biggest Loser, where their goal is to lose as much as possible as fast as possible they're told not to eat too little, and the trainers say again and again that if you eat too little you won't lose as much because of a change in metabolism.

I don't know exactly how many calories you should eat, but since your weight is quite high its more realistic for you to aim for something like 1500 calories. You don't really want to lose more than 2 pounds per week anyway, because you run an increased risk of having loose skin at the end if you drop the weight too fast. So I would use an online calculator to tell you how many calories you need to maintain, and cut that by 1000 a day to lose the 2 pounds per week. (Which would include loss from exercise.)

I would also say you should do some weight training to prevent muscle loss. Otherwise congratulations on your lifestyle change :)
 
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¨Decided to take the advice and increase my calorie intake. I gained 3lbs in 2 days. Is this normal? I didn't increase the fat, just calories and some carbs but mostly protien! Argh!
 
yummimummi said:
¨Decided to take the advice and increase my calorie intake. I gained 3lbs in 2 days. Is this normal? I didn't increase the fat, just calories and some carbs but mostly protien! Argh!
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Put your logic hat on for a sec.

A lb. is roughly 3500 calories.

You gained 3lbs in 2 days.

Did you eat 6k calories above maintenance for those 2 days?

No? Didnt think so. Then guess what? You didnt gain 3lbs of fat. Or muscle, or any other soft tissue.

Probably your calories went up. Your water intake went up. Your sodium intake went up. You retained some water.


Dont sweat it. Or do. Really. Go sweat somewhere. You'll feel better.
 
yummimummi said:
¨Decided to take the advice and increase my calorie intake. I gained 3lbs in 2 days. Is this normal? I didn't increase the fat, just calories and some carbs but mostly protien! Argh!
Click to expand...

It's perfectly normal, it's not fat it's things like bowel contents and water weight. I experience this every time I have the flu and don't eat for a few days. (I also weigh myself every day, and sorry for TMI but things like bowel movements or eating salty foods affect my weight. It might help you to make a graph of your weight and enter a value every day. For my case there is a lot of up and down fluctuations within an overall downward trend.) Like the other poster said, in order to gain 3 pounds of weight you would need to eat an excess of 10500 calories on top of what you need to maintain.
 
You will loose some weight but after a few weeks your body will get used to walking and will not bin as much, so it'd help if you changed it a bit every week or few weeks. Like walking, then biking, abd if there's snow you could cross country ski. It's fun and burns a lot! Just some tips, ;) good luck! I know you'll get your goal!
 
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