need my confidence back

[Nosehair]

Hey guys,

 

So I started on a weight loss journey two years ago, when I lost about 10 kg by working out and eating mostly Paleo. However, lately the weight has creept back up on me.. and my confidence is pretty low right now since my father in law referred to me as chubby last weekend. I could be mad at him, but honestly he has a point. I am a little chubbier than I'd like to be. Mostly I just want my confidence back and am hoping you guys can help motivate me.

 

I think I am suffering from emotional eating, I'm always a little but hungry and I also enjoy a rather lavish lifestyle (alcohol, fantastic food, coffee etc.) Hard for me to say no to people, including myself. 

 

In order to stop this bad habit I plan to count calories (1260 a day, or so my FitnessPal told me to aim for), while still mostly eating Paleo. I quit smoking last week (which has been relatively easy), but now I also want to kick my emotional eating habits. I think I need to find a new way of dealing with negative emotion, although I'm not sure how.

 

Also, I plan to go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week, doing like 15 mins of cardio and 45 mins of weighlifting (I do a mix of free weights and machines. I'm not fully confident with free weights yet) every time. More info about my body: I am 1.68 meters, weight about 68 kilo's, most weight located on my boobies and stomach. 

 

Okay, that's it for now! I hope I can meet these goals while also motivating some other people here on the forum, any other Dutch people by any chance?

 

xx Nosehair

 

ps. About my nerdiness. I'm one of those people who doesn't seem nerdy when walking down the street but secretly is. I love science, a lot.

[Talee]

Hi! Good luck on your challenge, I definitely will try to help motivate you (I also need motivation) (and congrats on quitting smoking )

 

P.S I'm a quarter dutch.. (I would love to learn how to speak it)

[Nightside]

Getting into a fitness/health regime can be difficult, many, me included, have to overcome our inner Sloth BUT once you overcome it the rewards are fantastic and seeing results make you want more of it, a virtuous circle as it were.

I know its a cliche but if I can do it the most people can do it .

A piece of advice if I may, break your targets into small short term goals then it does not seem so overwhelming, so may stumble on the journey but remember two steps forward and one step backwards will get you to journeys end.

Good luck.

[Nosehair]

Thanks guys! So far it's going really well - but then again I have always had the discipline to lose weight. It's keeping it off where I stumble. Alas, I have lost some weight already. Tonight is the Dutch game for the world cup, so the challenge for me today will be not to join in with everybody mindlessly munching and drinking tonight!

[Tanuki]

1260 is low. I mean, you can go that low if you want to, it won't kill you    , but MFP tends to put everybody on 1200ish regardless of their needs (I think if you set it to a pound a week it drops you to the 1200s, but with your workouts you could lose fast on more). I lost weight fast - too fast, really - on 1450-1500. With more intense workouts, you may need to eat more or your energy will tank.

 

A TDEE - total daily expenditure estimate - calculator will give you an idea of how much you burn in a day. You can then aim for less than this number, and customise MFP just to go for that number. ie: you might find your TDEE is about 2000, and thus you may decide to eat 1700, with a 300 calorie deficit. Or a 400 cal one. It lets you be more flexible. Right now I maintain around 1750, and add exercise on top of that (so, if I do a 200 calorie run, judged on a monitor, my daily need becomes 1950.)

[Nosehair]

Indeed 1260 calories is low - it's what I aim for on days when I do not work out. Since I tend to bike around a lot - this also allows me to usually eat more calories even when I didn't do a workout. I'm guessing I will adjust it to be more in the 1500 range when I start working full time, it's much more doable when you are at home anyway like me (I just graduated, and finding a job is not going as smoothly as I had hoped). I'll take your advice and check with a TDEE, thanks!