am i eating too little?

kcmccormack

Ughhhhh another weight loss question!

I love and hate the internet. It's helped so much with nutrition information, but also confuses with so much conflicting weight loss information.

I'm 5'6, 136lbs, and 28 yr old female. I'm trying to tone up and get rid of the college beer...situation. Generally, tighten up. I've been doing the p90x lean routine. I'm currently on week 7, day 1. According to my stats on p90xcalories.com, I burn between 400-500 calories per workout. Yea,yea, maybe it's overestimating, but according to how much I'm dripping sweat and panting, I believe it's close enough. And I'm still a lil sore from my workouts, so I know they're working something, somewhere.

So, now I'm confused. Firstly, my maintenance calories (according to the googles) apparently is 2100-2300 since I work out 5-6 Times a week. So, if I subtract 500, I could eat 1600-1800 a day and lose 1lbs a week right?

So I set MVP to 1300 NET CALORIES right now. So everyday I'm under 1300 calories when I input my exercise calories. Meaning, I consume 1450-1750 calories before I subtract my workouts. Should be a huge deficit right? Ok, cool...EXCEPT I've only lost like 4lbs since December. Wtf?

Am I calculating wrong? I usually stick to ~20% protein, ~35% fat, ~45% carbs. I eat very clean, carbs from fruits, veggies, oats. Fats from PB, nuts, avacado. Protein from eggs, meat, legumes, Greek yogurt

Rarely pasta or breads. Like, ever. But I leave room for weekends glasses of red wine, and maybe a cookie. (You only live once right?) But I don't eat after dinner and no desserts.

I'm so confused why I haven't lost more. The more I Google, the more "wtf" I'm thinking.

Suggestions? Ideas? Am I being too impatient? Or am I eating too little?

elphie754

If you are not losing you are eating TOO MUCH not too little. Also bread and pasta have nothing to do with weightloss.

SergeantSausage

You are *measuring* wrong and eating quite a bit more than you think.

How are you measuring?

Liftng4Lis

Can you open your diary?

kcmccormack

How is it possible to eat too much when I have a such a calorie deficit from my maintenance level?

Laurend224

You don't have much if any to lose, losing the last few pounds can take a while. Eating 'clean' has nothing to do with weight loss.

Are you weighing and measuring your food with a scale? As you get close to goal, it becomes more important. Tighten up your logging if it's lax.

You'll get there.

kcmccormack

I use cups whenever I messure, or grams. Whatever the nutritional info is in, that's how I measure, be it tablespoons, cups, grams, whatever.

Liftng4Lis

kcmccormack wrote: »

I use cups whenever I messure, or grams. Whatever the nutritional info is in, that's how I measure, be it tablespoons, cups, grams, whatever.

You need to weigh everything except liquids. Additionally, you've lost 4 pounds since December, so a pound a week? That's fantastic! With so little to lose, half a pound a week would be great.
To answer your question, eating more will not help you lose weight.

kcmccormack

Thanks you, I'm logging everything. I thought eating the least amount of processed garbage was a huge part? 200 calories of cookie isn't the same as 200 calories of berries, no?

Phoenix_Down

kcmccormack wrote: »

How is it possible to eat too much when I have a such a calorie deficit from my maintenance level?

Stop going by Google and track your own data. It's a fine starting point but individuals will vary. Like I'm supposed to maintain at my activity level on 1700 but I dont. I maintain at 1900. Maybe that's user error but it can go both ways.

Also if you are not losing at your desired pace, yes, it means your intake needs to be adjusted. It's calories in vs our for weight loss. Macros for body composition and micronutrients for health.

Do you weigh your solid food on a digital food scale? Do you use measuring cups for liquids only?

You even admitted your calorie burns may very well be overestimated.

There's a lot of ?? going on.

Laurend224

kcmccormack wrote: »

I use cups whenever I messure, or grams. Whatever the nutritional info is in, that's how I measure, be it tablespoons, cups, grams, whatever.

Use a scale for solids.Cups, tablespoons etc for liquids only.

kcmccormack

Thank you for the kind encouragement guys! The internet is so conflicting about this stuff. For such a simple concept, it sure doesn't seem simple

Liftng4Lis

kcmccormack wrote: »

Thanks you, I'm logging everything. I thought eating the least amount of processed garbage was a huge part? 200 calories of cookie isn't the same as 200 calories of berries, no?

The berries are more nutritious of course, but the cookie tastes better and it's irrelevant, so long as you're in a deficit, you will lose.

kcmccormack

How do you get a super accurate reading on any of this stuff? I've even read hrm are not always accurate. Is that what you guys use? I far as the scale goes I don't have one so no I don't use it. Do you use it for everything other than liquids? What do you use as your reference guide to make sure ur weight vs calories is accurate even mfp sometimes has different calories for same sized items

Has anyone had more success without all this counting calories *kitten*? Or are those ppl mythical like healthy sundaes and unicorns?

grandslam2015

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

kcmccormack

Phoenix_Down wrote: »

kcmccormack wrote: »

How is it possible to eat too much when I have a such a calorie deficit from my maintenance level?

Stop going by Google and track your own data. It's a fine starting point but individuals will vary. Like I'm supposed to maintain at my activity level on 1700 but I dont. I maintain at 1900. Maybe that's user error but it can go both ways.

Also if you are not losing at your desired pace, yes, it means your intake needs to be adjusted. It's calories in vs our for weight loss. Macros for body composition and micronutrients for health.

Do you weigh your solid food on a digital food scale? Do you use measuring cups for liquids only?

You even admitted your calorie burns may very well be overestimated.

There's a lot of ?? going on.

So how did you find out your better with 1900 not 1700? Trial and error? It's such a teeny difference!

arditarose

kcmccormack wrote: »

Thanks you, I'm logging everything. I thought eating the least amount of processed garbage was a huge part? 200 calories of cookie isn't the same as 200 calories of berries, no?

Doesn't matter. That's still 200 calories. 3,500 of them equal a pound. What would the difference be? Maybe one will keep you fuller longer and keep you from eating over your deficit throughout the day. Maybe not.

kcmccormack

Maybe I'm confused, but what do people mean when they say eat back the calories? As long as your net calories are 500 under what your body needs to function at your activity level, isn't that a sufficient deficit?

I've never understood that "eating back what you burn". If you create your (average) 500 calorie deficit through eating less and exercising more, then you'd have to eat like over your maintenance level to eat it back?

kcmccormack

I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

kcmccormack

grandslam2015 wrote: »

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

Thank you! Very helpful

arditarose

kcmccormack wrote: »

I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

Some people do IIFYM. They track their macros instead.

kcmccormack

arditarose wrote: »

kcmccormack wrote: »

I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

Some people do IIFYM. They track their macros instead.

How did you find out what to aim for in macros?

kcmccormack

I've always believed macros were as important, if not more so, than calories

kcmccormack

grandslam2015 wrote: »

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

arditarose

kcmccormack wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

kcmccormack wrote: »

I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

Some people do IIFYM. They track their macros instead.

How did you find out what to aim for in macros?

I don't do it that way. I get it, but it's not my thing.

grandslam2015

kcmccormack wrote: »

grandslam2015 wrote: »

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week

kcmccormack

grandslam2015 wrote: »

kcmccormack wrote: »

grandslam2015 wrote: »

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week

Gotcha. This is super helpful. Thank you guys. I would've never found IIFYM

kcmccormack

grandslam2015 wrote: »

kcmccormack wrote: »

grandslam2015 wrote: »

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week

Oh I actually meant if you guys input your exercise calories in MFP or just use it to track whAt you've consumed?

Christine_72

I've just about given up tracking my macros!! I'm either always over or under. Very rarely spot on with each of them

kcmccormack

christinev297 wrote: »

I've just about given up tracking my macros!! I'm either always over or under. Very rarely spot on with each of them

Yea, I figured that would be the case. I'm not hard-core enough to do it that way only, but it gives me a better idea for my goal than MFPs defaults.

Have you had better success another way?

ness4

Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.