I’m 5’1 and need to lose 40 pounds

[Anonymous]

For the umpteenth time, you lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym.

[Anonymous]

Forget how long it takes. Putting a time frame on weight loss just makes it more stressful and it is so hard to control how quickly the weight will come off.

Focus on your diet. To weight 125 aim for 1250-1500 calories/day (goal weight x 10-12) and 90-125g of protein (goal weight x 0.7-1) a day. For foods- focus on high protein at every meal and snack. Hit your protein target and stay in your calorie range. Be consistent and the weight will come off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to focus way more on the dieting portion than the working out portion. Do workout , I’m not saying don’t. But the biggest component of losing that much weight is overhauling your diet. Eat about .75g of protein per pound of body weight. Split up the remaining calories between fats and carbs. Weigh everything you eat; you CANNOT eyeball a portion and you WILL end up overeating/undercounting your true caloric consumption. You need to start at a manageable deficit; don’t starve yourself on 1200 a day, you will not be able to adhere to it and will struggle to lose.

Agree with all of this except the calories. at 5'1, 1200 calories is generous. I did 1200-1400 while working out (hard, running, weight lifting or orangetheory) and I'm 5'8. I lost 25 lbs in 3 months and have kept it off for a year.

I'm 5'1 and trying to lose 10 pounds - goal weight 115. I've been eating 1200-1500 calories a day, weighing and tracking everything I eat, trying to keep my carbs to a lower percentage of my overall calorie intake and eating no refined sugar but otherwise not restricting. I'm doing orangetheory 3-4 times a week and a full body heavy lifting session 1-2 times a week depending on how those OTF sessions shake out. I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a week, so it is definitely slow going. I think with 40 lbs to lose at 5'1 you could follow a similar plan and start out losing a bit more per week, but the closer you get to your goal weight the harder it will be to lose. I'm 41, have a hormonal IUD and take an antidepressant that both anecdotally cause weight gain or inhibit weight loss. It's hard work!

Just an FYI that losing 1-2 pounds a week is not slow, There can be a swoosh of weight loss the first week, particularly when going on a low carb diet but that is water (still feels good).

My advice if you want long term success is to have some patience and use an app that tracks your calories or a program like weight watchers (that effectively tracks calories but in a much simplified manner). Losing weight is in what you eat, fitness is what you get with exercise. As they say, you cannot out run a bad diet.

[Anonymous]

You are 23 and already complaining of slowed down metabolism?
Oh dear summer child. Wait until you hit 30 then 40. Watch what you eat. It’s 80% diet (at least).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to focus way more on the dieting portion than the working out portion. Do workout , I’m not saying don’t. But the biggest component of losing that much weight is overhauling your diet. Eat about .75g of protein per pound of body weight. Split up the remaining calories between fats and carbs. Weigh everything you eat; you CANNOT eyeball a portion and you WILL end up overeating/undercounting your true caloric consumption. You need to start at a manageable deficit; don’t starve yourself on 1200 a day, you will not be able to adhere to it and will struggle to lose.

This advice is spot on. Focus on diet - mostly proteins, some fats and veggies, and low carbs. Track and don’t go above 1200. Keep moving but you don’t need intense workouts. Get the diet straight then you can add in more exercise. If I track in this way, I slim down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to focus way more on the dieting portion than the working out portion. Do workout , I’m not saying don’t. But the biggest component of losing that much weight is overhauling your diet. Eat about .75g of protein per pound of body weight. Split up the remaining calories between fats and carbs. Weigh everything you eat; you CANNOT eyeball a portion and you WILL end up overeating/undercounting your true caloric consumption. You need to start at a manageable deficit; don’t starve yourself on 1200 a day, you will not be able to adhere to it and will struggle to lose.

Agree with all of this except the calories. at 5'1, 1200 calories is generous. I did 1200-1400 while working out (hard, running, weight lifting or orangetheory) and I'm 5'8. I lost 25 lbs in 3 months and have kept it off for a year.

I'm 5'1 and trying to lose 10 pounds - goal weight 115. I've been eating 1200-1500 calories a day, weighing and tracking everything I eat, trying to keep my carbs to a lower percentage of my overall calorie intake and eating no refined sugar but otherwise not restricting. I'm doing orangetheory 3-4 times a week and a full body heavy lifting session 1-2 times a week depending on how those OTF sessions shake out. I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a week, so it is definitely slow going. I think with 40 lbs to lose at 5'1 you could follow a similar plan and start out losing a bit more per week, but the closer you get to your goal weight the harder it will be to lose. I'm 41, have a hormonal IUD and take an antidepressant that both anecdotally cause weight gain or inhibit weight loss. It's hard work!

I'm 5'1 and my goal weight is also around 115. I am currently 129. I had gotten down to 127 from 144 and now I can't seem to lose anymore weight. I gained 2 lbs back since last Fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I’m on the pill. So I would be 10 pounds lighter if I went off it. I did start gaining more weight when I went on it. From there I just kept gaining and paired with no exercise. I agree that I might need to adjust my plateau but still definitely need to lose weight. Thank you for your suggestions!!!

Yeah no. You are already setting yourself up to fail by blindly stating as fact you would drop 10 lbs of of fat by going off the pill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to focus way more on the dieting portion than the working out portion. Do workout , I’m not saying don’t. But the biggest component of losing that much weight is overhauling your diet. Eat about .75g of protein per pound of body weight. Split up the remaining calories between fats and carbs. Weigh everything you eat; you CANNOT eyeball a portion and you WILL end up overeating/undercounting your true caloric consumption. You need to start at a manageable deficit; don’t starve yourself on 1200 a day, you will not be able to adhere to it and will struggle to lose.

This is way too much

It’s “way too much” for day to day life but this is what successful dieting looks like when you have 40 lbs to lose. Obviously if OP loses it and moves into maintenance it won’t look this stringent but it will take this kind of effort to lose that much weight.

[Anonymous]

Eat veggies, lots of green veggies and don't put a refined carb into your mouth. Don't overeat fruit either. Basically a piece of salmon, green beans for lunch and dinner. Eggs and cheese of some kind for breakfast. Cabbage, spinach, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, radishes and similar should be main part of your meals. Some protein, not a whole chicken. Try to get to noon without eating, or skip dinner, once you do it a few times, hunger goes away. If you skip dinner, don't overeat in the morning and for lunch the next day. One cup of cooked green beans is around 80 calories, even if you have three cups you will not be over your calorie limit most likely.
Avoid nuts and beans for a few weeks. No rice either nor potatoes. If you feel famished, eat a bowl of cut up cabbage with salt and vinegar as a salad or a while avocado with salt and lemon on. I also love Wendy's salads, I find that even with dressing I still lose weight if I stick to my veggie choices. No steak and ribs for a while.
So either what I suggest or count calories and stay with very low calories. If you follow my suggestion, you are likely to stay under calories and lose weight. Treat yourself once a week with ice cream or a Georgetown cupcake, or whatever rock your taste buds and you miss it. Don't let that ruin the while day, meaning don't have a gallon of ice cream. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

The only thing that I need to do is change my diet

you can't outrun the fork

Diet is THE THING you need to do, Op

[Anonymous]

OP - a consultation with a nutritionist wouldn't be a bad idea. From there, a good diet and tons of cardio will yield positive results. How long you ask? It varies from person to person. Stay motivated and you'll see changes in weeks.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Why is it so hard to believe that your caloric intake is too high? Another thread has a similar issue, there op is going to check her thyroid, here 10lbs are because of the pill. I was on the pill, it didn't add 10lbs. Maybe 2,3. The whole culture is messed up, always something else is to blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to believe that your caloric intake is too high? Another thread has a similar issue, there op is going to check her thyroid, here 10lbs are because of the pill. I was on the pill, it didn't add 10lbs. Maybe 2,3. The whole culture is messed up, always something else is to blame.

I’m not blaming the pill so relax. I’m just saying that i hold a lot of water be of the pill. Jeez. I’m just saying the pill hasn’t helped in a good way when it’s comes to health

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to believe that your caloric intake is too high? Another thread has a similar issue, there op is going to check her thyroid, here 10lbs are because of the pill. I was on the pill, it didn't add 10lbs. Maybe 2,3. The whole culture is messed up, always something else is to blame.

I’m not blaming the pill so relax. I’m just saying that i hold a lot of water be of the pill. Jeez. I’m just saying the pill hasn’t helped in a good way when it’s comes to health

But it is not why you’ve gained 40 lbs and become obese. What we are telling you is you will never fix the real issue if you insist on pretending you gained 10 lbs from the pill. You will continue to be the person who overeats and then swears they can’t lose even though they ate 1000 calories for 3 months and have a busted metabolism. Your choices and actions led to your weight- not the pill, not a thyroid, not some imaginary metabolic issue. You basically take ownership of fixing this out of your hands when you pretend otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to believe that your caloric intake is too high? Another thread has a similar issue, there op is going to check her thyroid, here 10lbs are because of the pill. I was on the pill, it didn't add 10lbs. Maybe 2,3. The whole culture is messed up, always something else is to blame.

I’m not blaming the pill so relax. I’m just saying that i hold a lot of water be of the pill. Jeez. I’m just saying the pill hasn’t helped in a good way when it’s comes to health

But it is not why you’ve gained 40 lbs and become obese. What we are telling you is you will never fix the real issue if you insist on pretending you gained 10 lbs from the pill. You will continue to be the person who overeats and then swears they can’t lose even though they ate 1000 calories for 3 months and have a busted metabolism. Your choices and actions led to your weight- not the pill, not a thyroid, not some imaginary metabolic issue. You basically take ownership of fixing this out of your hands when you pretend otherwise.

I never said that you’re over exaggerating. Clearly I know why I’m 40 pounds over weight. You’re just over reacting. I mentioned the birth control bc another poster mentioned they use hormonal IUD. So I onlymentioned the birth control in response to that poster. Without the birth control of course I would have an issue with my weight. I’m not saying I’m not going to fix the issue because I “insist on pretending I gained 10 pounds bc of the pill” so please don’t act like you’re so woke and tell me about my feelings and now I view my body.