Seeking help please!

tlw7

ive been tracking my calories and busting it with home crossfit workouts (push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, burpees, etc) and also running.
I've been under in calories and have watched for the last 2 months.."you will weigh this much in 5 weeks." My weight hasn't moved. Lost a tiny bit, gained back a tiny bit over easter but really there has been no change overall in 2 months. I have a vacation at the end of June and need some changes. I'm 5'8" 151.8.

I dropped to 143 (lowest ever!) this summer with just running..marathon training and really only ran 3-4miles 2-3x a week with a longer run on the weekends. No food tracking at all. I also thought about it today, I was breastfeeding at the time but not very much, maybe 3x a day.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thank you

janejellyroll

If you open your diary, you may get some useful advice. This sounds like it may be a logging issue.

ElizabethKalmbach

... 151.8 sounds pretty good for someone your height. I'm at 19% body fat when I get down to 145, and I'm about 3" shorter than you are.

ruggedshutter

If the scale isn't moving 99% of the time it's because you are eating too much. It could be due to logging errors or missing meals and estimating. I recommend buying a digital food scale and weighing everything that you eat. Food scales aren't expensive (~$20) and it will save you a headache.

kikichewie

I've got similar stats but I'm 155 today. Taking a few days off for Easter and a short camping trip canceled out a month's worth of results and then some. I'm still battling back. I'm going to guess that both of us are experiencing water retention from working out, if not some actual muscle growth. (I'm focusing on lifting heavy as I can w the Strong Curves program, plus some running intervals.) I think we both just need to be patient and careful w tracking. Eventually the scale will start to move down. FWIW, my goal is 135 or 140, depending on how I feel when I get there. That should be a comfortable weight for me, based on past experience. But remember that you are already at a healthy weight, even if you are high fat or want to work toward an aesthetic goal. It just means it will take longer. We canprobably expect to see 1/4 to 1/2 pound a week over time, but it won't be linear.

Liftng4Lis

Can you open your diary?

tlw7

I've opened the diary. Also, I weigh and measure all of my food. I don't even take one nibble or animal cracker from my kids bc I don't want to track it.

tlw7

Any ideas???

PeachyPlum

Are you weighing in grams or ounces? Weighing in ounces is not very accurate.

tlw7

Both

TimothyFish

With as many people as there are who say they weigh and measure everything and still don't lose weight, I don't have much confidence in people's ability to use a scale to come up with an accurate calorie count. But whatever your calorie count is, it is too high. Reduce what you are eating and you will lose weight.

tlw7

I'm pretty competent in weighing and measuring my food. I don't want to go to low either bc that doesn't always work. I was a little lower before and didn't lose..added some cals and lost a little but really haven't gotten far or really even close to where I'd like to be.

MKEgal

2 things:

I'm seeing lots of bars and meal replacement shakes, and lots of things that should be occasional treats.

Also, your calories are all over the place... 1779, 2030, 2331, 1920, 1994, 2094, 2300.
What is your actual calorie goal? Eat that, or slightly less. Ignore exercise ("net") calories.

But you do generally seem to have some decent amount of fruits & veggies, as well as lean protein, so that's good.

tlw7

I eat bars bc they are easy to grab with kids. One protein drink is always post exercise the other when I'm hungry in the afternoon. It's best to look at my tracker before easter...went out of town and had a hard time tracking and been a little off since. My cal goal is 2100. So you think I shouldn't eat any exercise cals? I think most of the time I don't.

PeachyPlum

It seems like you go out to eat a lot. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but when you eat restaurant food you really have no idea on the calorie count. The company may post nutrition information, but if the person preparing your sandwich is generous with the meat and mayo, your sandwich could have way more calories than listed.

tlw7

I go to chickfila 1x a week and jasons usually 1x (when it's just me and the kids). Not too often and I make sure I run is part of my workout on those days. Don't think that's the reason I not seeing any changes on the scale. My arms are more toned so maybe I have gained a little muscle but I still feel the wt should be coming off.

PeachyPlum

tlw7 wrote: »

I go to chickfila 1x a week and jasons usually 1x (when it's just me and the kids). Not too often and I make sure I run is part of my workout on those days. Don't think that's the reason I not seeing any changes on the scale. My arms are more toned so maybe I have gained a little muscle but I still feel the wt should be coming off.

We've told you several things you're doing that cause people weight, and you don't think that any of them are the reason (even though they are true).

So what would you like the reason to be?

beemerphile1

tlw7 wrote: »

I eat bars bc they are easy to grab with kids. One protein drink is always post exercise the other when I'm hungry in the afternoon. It's best to look at my tracker before easter...went out of town and had a hard time tracking and been a little off since. My cal goal is 2100. So you think I shouldn't eat any exercise cals? I think most of the time I don't.

A goal of 2100 seems rather high for a female of your size. Are you sure it is correct?

Your calorie goal is higher than mine as a 6'1" male.

SLLRunner

tlw7 wrote: »

ive been tracking my calories and busting it with home crossfit workouts (push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, burpees, etc) and also running.
I've been under in calories and have watched for the last 2 months.."you will weigh this much in 5 weeks." My weight hasn't moved. Lost a tiny bit, gained back a tiny bit over easter but really there has been no change overall in 2 months. I have a vacation at the end of June and need some changes. I'm 5'8" 151.8.

I dropped to 143 (lowest ever!) this summer with just running..marathon training and really only ran 3-4miles 2-3x a week with a longer run on the weekends. No food tracking at all. I also thought about it today, I was breastfeeding at the time but not very much, maybe 3x a day.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thank you

Hi TLW,

I have looked at your diary and here's what I think is going on.

I think you are unintentionally eating more than you realize by underestimating your calories. This happens when you don't weigh your food and take that extra walk to research correct calorie counts. MFP has so many different calorie estimations that it's hard to figure out which is correct. I usually read packages and research at the USDA website.

You have 6 ounces of salmon at about 260 calories, which would make it about 43 calories per ounce. Salmon is actually about 58 calories per ounce, which means that 6 ounces would be 348 calories.

You have one half of oatmeal at 150 calories. Is that dry or cooked? Always weigh things like oatmeal dry. Also, 1/2 cup of oatmeal does not necessarily come out the the same as the oatmeal in grams. In other words, a half cup of dry oatmeal generally has more than 150 calories.

I notice a lot of general entries in your diary, which means you most likely don't weigh your food. I encourage you to buy a cheap food scale and use it for everything you eat, I guarantee you will see the difference. Make sure your measure your liquids, and don't forget to log every single thing you eat. For example when you make a sandwich or a salad, weigh and log everything separately.

As for exercise, because of your height and weight, I am not so sure you calories burned are overestimated, BUT I do notice you log your circuit training. Is this weight lifting? Circuit training/weight lifting should only be logged at 1 calorie because the calories are too difficult to estimate. Log only cardio.

I hope this is helpful to you.

futuremanda

beemerphile1 wrote: »

tlw7 wrote: »

I eat bars bc they are easy to grab with kids. One protein drink is always post exercise the other when I'm hungry in the afternoon. It's best to look at my tracker before easter...went out of town and had a hard time tracking and been a little off since. My cal goal is 2100. So you think I shouldn't eat any exercise cals? I think most of the time I don't.

A goal of 2100 seems rather high for a female of your size. Are you sure it is correct?

Your calorie goal is higher than mine as a 6'1" male.

Yeah that does seem high. Do you have a super physical job? If I use your stats in another calculator, and choose lightly active, I get 1998 as your *maintenance*. Moderate bumps it to 2252. (Sedentary is 1744.) But you'd subtract 500 to get 1 lb a week, or 250 for 0.5 lb. So I'm guessing you're set up for something like active lifestyle, 0.5 lb per week loss?

SLLRunner

tlw7 wrote: »

I've opened the diary. Also, I weigh and measure all of my food. I don't even take one nibble or animal cracker from my kids bc I don't want to track it.

I did not see this before I replied. However, your diary does have some mis-estimations in them as noted in my post above.

SLLRunner

tlw7 wrote: »

I go to chickfila 1x a week and jasons usually 1x (when it's just me and the kids). Not too often and I make sure I run is part of my workout on those days. Don't think that's the reason I not seeing any changes on the scale. My arms are more toned so maybe I have gained a little muscle but I still feel the wt should be coming off.

Please keep in mind that most fast/restaurant food has underestimated calories. In other words, that chickfila sandwich you love so much that is 350 calories is most likely more.

SLLRunner

MKEgal wrote: »

2 things:
Also, your calories are all over the place... 1779, 2030, 2331, 1920, 1994, 2094, 2300.
What is your actual calorie goal? Eat that, or slightly less. Ignore exercise ("net") calories.

As to the bold part: this is not correct. The OP runs, therefore she needs to properly fuel her body for those runs.

tlw7

I used a calculation from my sisters workout program-can't remember the body builder lady's name (maybe Jessie's girls?) but she had some complicated calculation...which added a few more then mfp. I wasn't losing weight w mfp original estimate and bumped it up...lost a little but haven't seen much change since. I am pretty busy all day..I chase a 3.5 and 1.5 yr old around.

As far as the exercise I track..I wear my hr monitor and post my workouts (push-ups, burpees, etc) under general..but enter the cals my hr monitor says I burn. When I track food..I pretty much always scan the barcode so it's surprising to hear the amts would be off so much. I do measure my food with a scale but I'll start tracking only in grams now..may help with those small differences. 2100 doesn't seem too high as I'm a former college athlete and hold a decent amt of muscle..but will drop it down some more and see if there is a change.

And what do you think about eating some cals back. Generally don't eat all or really any back. Should I eat some back from what I burn on my runs and nothing with my other workouts?

SLLRunner

tlw7 wrote: »

I used a calculation from my sisters workout program-can't remember the body builder lady's name (maybe Jessie's girls?) but she had some complicated calculation...which added a few more then mfp. I wasn't losing weight w mfp original estimate and bumped it up...lost a little but haven't seen much change since. I am pretty busy all day..I chase a 3.5 and 1.5 yr old around.

As far as the exercise I track..I wear my hr monitor and post my workouts (push-ups, burpees, etc) under general..but enter the cals my hr monitor says I burn. When I track food..I pretty much always scan the barcode so it's surprising to hear the amts would be off so much. I do measure my food with a scale but I'll start tracking only in grams now..may help with those small differences. 2100 doesn't seem too high as I'm a former college athlete and hold a decent amt of muscle..but will drop it down some more and see if there is a change.

And what do you think about eating some cals back. Generally don't eat all or really any back. Should I eat some back from what I burn on my runs and nothing with my other workouts?

You never bump your calories up if you're not losing weight, and anytime you do bump them up you must still be in a calorie deficit and accurate about your intake/output.