To ask how do I actually lose weight?

[Strivetobe]

I've tried different calculators but they all say different things and I'm very easily confused so I'm not sure what exactly I'm meant to be doing.

I want to lose about 20 pounds so that I can reach the optimum BMI for my sport hobby. It's intensive on the body and a bmi of 20 means that I will both likely be better at it and will have a much lower risk of injury because I'll have less weight to haul around.

I'm currently 140 pounds and have a bmi of 23. I'm 5ft 4, don't do very much exercise other than my sport but trying to increase it to short daily runs.

How many calories should I be eating a day and how much exercise?

I'd really appreciate it if someone could please tell me because I'm a bit dumb

Do you also include any fluids with your calories? Anything from tea, soda alcohol?

Read The Diet Fix by Dr Zoe Harcombe so that you can learn the truth about calories.

Eat what you eat already, but don't have four bourbon biscuits. That will wipe out anyone's calorie deficit.

@julensaor I was trying to be helpful to the op. You are just being rude. I put all my food intake into MyFitnessPal and so I did the same based on her description. That’s why I asked is there anything else?

I would also recommend building muscle by lifting heavy weights. I also do a sport which benefits you to have lower body fat and higher muscle-gymnastics.
Your food is very carb I would try lowering the carbs and eating more protein and fat especially if you’re interested in building muscle.

@julensaor, @Decormad38 is right, there are far too many variables in the OPs example menu to calculate the caloric value.
Just out of interest, how do you log your food on MFP? Do you weigh anything or just eyeball?

Sorry @julensaor and @Decormad38, I think I got your names the wrong way round

No that’s what I was saying the op gave an account of her diet but seemed low when put into counter. Too much missing. Not including drinks etc. That maybe why no weight is shifting!

The ops not even overweight. Just had a moment where I thought why am I bothered!

Can I suggest that your weight is ok, you are within your bmi range, do not be so hard on yourself. If you don’t count calories then you are probably eating a lot more than you think. Give yourself a break.

@Decormad38 If I'm not on MN then I'm on MFP sorting out my food diary for the week

5 foot 4 and 140lb is a bmi of 23.9.

lifting is ideal for changing body shape but maybe you also need some cardio to speed up your metabolism. Google 'resting metabolic weight'

Remember to include any drinks in your counting calories.

what is your sport of choice btw?

Also wondering what sport you do?

Is it more you need to tone up rather than lose weight maybe?

OP are you vegetarian, I can lose 7lbs in 5 days using grapefruit

I seriously doubt that anyone who weighs 140lbs could lose 7lbs of fat in five days using anything other than a sharp saw and a sharp knife.

7lbs of water maybe.

Ditch the bourbons - that's nearly 2000 empty calories a week if you have 4 every day. Do you do weights at the gym? That would help you tone up and build muscle which will increase your resting metabolic rate. You're not an unhealthy weight but I'm the same height and feel flabby at 10st and pretty good at 9st, though that still wouldn't get me to BMI 20.

My sport is rock climbing. I don't currently do any weights, what weights should I be doing?

I know I should probably start counting how many calories I'm eating. I'm just not sure how many I should aim to be eating. 1200?

I'm just not sure how many I should aim to be eating

Just stick "calorie calculator" in Google. You will get plenty of tools to help you work it out.

I'm not sure where you've heard that a bmi of 20 is ideal for a woman climber. There's so much more to consider than weight. If someone's 'recommended' this to you I'd ignore. If you want to lose a bit of weight that's one thing, but don't get hung up about it. There's far more you can do to improve your climbing than lose a few pounds.

Incidentally, I climbed my best grades when I was at my heaviest

Honest answer? By a lot of graft. The calculus of energy density in food compared to energy burned is far, far more brutal than most people realise which is why so many people are overweight. Eating 1200 calories a day is actually REALLY hard.

1. Weigh and calculate absolutely everything. It's very, very easy to get way more calories than you realise. Most people's bowl of breakfast cereal, for example, is way larger than portion for which a calorie count is provided on the box. Most people drastically underestimate what they are consuming because they don't weigh stuff.

1. Measure your exercise and be really honest about what you are burning.

1. Track everything in an app - and remember if you cheat you are only cheating yourself.

I really REALLY wish I could take my own advice.

I started using myfitnespal and definitely underestimate how much I eat. This is partly because when I make myself a salad, it is not always possible to calculate just what and how much I am eating, as I add various bits and pieces. Therefore I have realised I am eating far far more then I think.
My conclusion is to stick to items than can be measured accurately, or as someone else said, ready meals have the calories on the item

Do you feel healthily hungry in the last half hour before each meal? If not, try reducing your food quantity a bit until you do. Find something other than the Bourbons to snack on - if the usual suggestions of fruit and celery aren't "solid" enough, try 3-4 brazil nuts. And always try drinking a glass of water when you feel desperate to nibble something - sometimes that's enough to keep you going till the next mealtime. I'm your height and last summer reduced from 133 to 112 without counting calories, just cutting down intake. You won't get down that far as you'll have more muscles than me and muscles are heavier than fat. Think of yourself changing your diet for life, so make changes you are happy to live with - if you change the way you eat, your body will start feeling satisfied on less food, and stop craving sweet stuff.

Think also about how your body likes to time its food - mine likes a good breakfast and a lunch not more than 4 hours afterwards, but isn't fussed about eating lots in the evening, so I serve myself much smaller potions than everyone else in the evening (and eat really slowly so I'm not staring at an empty plate while everyone else still has a mound of delicious food).

I’m rather concerned that someone at a perfectly healthy BMI wants to calorie restrict down to the bare minimum on rather debatable grounds. If you starve yourself to that degree, you will lose muscle as well as fat, and may get obsessed with the process of getting ever thinner.
My DD is a keen rock climber, and her BMI is certainly not as low as 20. BMI is not a very useful measure in any case, as it doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle. Many rugger players have an “obese” BMI, but are muscle packed and healthy.
I’d focus more on exercises to build upper body strength, OP, and forget BMI.