glenn1978

I posted this in another thread, but it applies here.

By and large losing weight is about taking in less calories then you need to burn in a given day. What has worked for me (down 40 lbs since November) is using the free calculators on this site:

www.freedieting.com

Using the calculators, you should be able to get a baseline for what your daily caloric needs are. You may be taking in more calories then you need and not even know it. No calculator is perfect but it will at least give you an idea of how many calories you need to take in during a given day to maintain or lose weight.

After that you can choose how you want structure your eating and your cardio so that you maintain an overall caloric deficit.

After you know your daily needs you will want to be sure to structure your diet in a way that you receive your calories in a balanced way. I use a 40C/30P/30F breakdown, but there are others. In fact there is a calculator for that as well on the website. You need to take a look at the overall picture of your diet and make sure that your calories are where they should be for your body.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your weight loss and hang in there.

glenn1978

Also, I would not trust the "calories burned" calculations you get from fitday. If I ate the 3000 calories that it says I would burn, I would be ballooning not maintaining. For some reasons, the numbers just seem to be a little high.

Lizzycritter

I agree with that glenn. I log in sleep, it seems to make the numbers more reasonable to me.

amscholz

Muscle does weigh more than fat because it is more dense. Take an equal size of each and weigh them. The muscle will weigh more. Anyways, I am having the same problem. Eating less and exercising but the numbers are not going down. Actually they are doing the opposite and going up some. My PT at the gym told me it is because your muscles are actually what burn your fat and right now I had so litle muscle to start with that my weight would go up as built muscle in the first month or two but that after that I should start seeing the numbers go down as I develop more muscle to burn the fat. Don't worry about the number right now. Look for a difference in how your clothes fit or how firm your legs, arms, etc feel. Those will be the first signs that what you are doing is working. Good luck!

glenn1978

It is true that muscle will burn more calories at rest then fat does, but I would get frustrated waiting for my muscles to catch up to my goals. If you are trying to bulk up, I would understand where your PT is coming from. However, if you are trying to cut and just drop weight, then I would suggest lowering your calorie intake by a few hundred calories so your body has to get its energy from the stored fat on your body and not what you are eating.

Again it all depends on what you are trying to do.

Faith17022

Why don't you try tightening your ab muscles during daily activity? Tightening your abs will help you burn more calories, build up your core muscles, help reduce back problems, improve posture, and give you tight, firm, and washboard flat abs. I'm trying to do that as well. So while you are sitting at the computer, or even lying down, you can squeeze your abs and let the calories burn off.