Help please- Calorie budget advice, not losing weight!

CJsf1t

Hi, I am 31 y/o female, 5'6 , 102 kgs. My goal is to lose 30 kgs. Accordingly mfp set me up with 1620 cals budget. But my BMR is pretty high. 1750 cals (according to scooby). The same site suggested my cal budget as 1920 cals. But I found it to be too high. So I set it at my BMR. But a month later I haven't lost any weight. Well, initially after 1 week it went down by 1.5 kgs. But then it went back up and 2 weeks later its gone up even further to 102.7 kgs. I am measuring all my food with a food scale. My diet is vegetarian and ethnic. Some of the food I eat is not in the database. In such cases I measure all the dry ingredients and put it in the recipe tool, which shows how much cals one serving will be. While its not 100% accurate , its the best I can do with some food items I eat. Also when making the same dish again I make sure I use the same measurements.
I try to drink 2 liters of water everyday. I also exercise most days of the week. My exercise consists of upper body strength x2 , (mon,thu), lower body x2 tue, fri and two cardio sessions in a week.
I want to know what I am doing wrong and what I can do to correct it. Thanks in advance

Skycandy86

Set it lower than your BMR and report back in a few weeks.

Liftng4Lis

Why not try setting it to the 1620 that was recommended?

segacs

BMR is an irrelevant number, which is I think what's confusing you.

The online calculators are using a number called TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and deducting a deficit of 15-20% from that to come up with your calorie goal. That method already builds in your exercise into its calculations, so you don't log and eat back exercise calories on top of that. Which is why it's higher.

MyFitnessPal is using the NEAT method, which gives you a lower number excluding exercise, but then expects you to exercise, log, track and eat back your exercise calories on top of that.

That's why the discrepancy. Some people prefer method A, some prefer method B. It's personal. But it should come out to roughly the same, more or less.

Ultimately, all this is moot. If you're not losing weight after 2 months, you need to drop your calorie goal down a bit.

girlviernes

Everything is an estimate, both the online calculators and MFP. The best way to determine your calorie goal is to look at how many calories you are eating per day and what weight loss that results in over time. If you want to lose more you would reduce by 250 kcals to lose an additional 0.5 lb/week (on average).

MKEgal

bcomingfitmom wrote:

a month later I haven't lost any weight. Well, initially after 1 week it went down by 1.5 kg.
But then it went back up and 2 weeks later its gone up even further to 102.7 kg.
... I want to know what I am doing wrong and what I can do to correct it.

If you're not losing weight, you're not eating less than your body needs to run.
It's that simple.
It's not always easy to get the calories in / calories out correct, but it is a very simple math problem.
It sounds like you're doing the right things by weighing & measuring your food.

.
Here's a newbie help post where I've compiled links to helpful info.
Start with the first one: sexypants
Second, accurate logging.
Then the one about goal setting.
That has a link to this calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine, which will tell you not only your BMI (to see that
your goal weight is in a healthy range), but also how many calories and how many servings of the various food groups
you should eat to maintain that weight. You can either eat to maintain your goal weight, and eventually get there, or find
what you'd eat to support your current weight, then subtract 500 cal/day in order to lose 1 lb (0.5 kg) per week, which is
a reasonable goal when you have 60 lb to lose. As you hit plateaus, cut another 50 calories & give it a couple weeks.
As you get closer to your healthy weight, you'll lose weight more slowly, and should make your deficit smaller so you're
losing maybe 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) per week.

CJsf1t

Thank you for the advice. I have been thinking of reducing the cals back to 1620 again. I also saw someone reply on other thread that you can set your calorie budget at your goal weight BMR . is that OK?

DebzNuDa

As you say that Database is not giving your foods, I would recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27. From what I read, you seem to be trying to use the scale and all, that's great. But, you have to be accurate (those little bits add up to a LOT of bits). Good luck and keep keeping

CJsf1t

MKEgal wrote: »

bcomingfitmom wrote:

a month later I haven't lost any weight. Well, initially after 1 week it went down by 1.5 kg.
But then it went back up and 2 weeks later its gone up even further to 102.7 kg.
... I want to know what I am doing wrong and what I can do to correct it.

If you're not losing weight, you're not eating less than your body needs to run.
It's that simple.
It's not always easy to get the calories in / calories out correct, but it is a very simple math problem.
It sounds like you're doing the right things by weighing & measuring your food.

.
Here's a newbie help post where I've compiled links to helpful info.
Start with the first one: sexypants
Second, accurate logging.
Then the one about goal setting.
That has a link to this calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine, which will tell you not only your BMI (to see that
your goal weight is in a healthy range), but also how many calories and how many servings of the various food groups
you should eat to maintain that weight. You can either eat to maintain your goal weight, and eventually get there, or find
what you'd eat to support your current weight, then subtract 500 cal/day in order to lose 1 lb (0.5 kg) per week, which is
a reasonable goal when you have 60 lb to lose. As you hit plateaus, cut another 50 calories & give it a couple weeks.
As you get closer to your healthy weight, you'll lose weight more slowly, and should make your deficit smaller so you're
losing maybe 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) per week.

Thank you. Some times all these numbers get me so confused. What I am realising is that my limit is a little high. I guess I have to do some trials to find out what is ideal for me.

BWBTrish

Do you weigh ALL your solid food on a food scale or do you measure with cups

CJsf1t

DebzNuDa wrote: »

As you say that Database is not giving your foods, I would recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27. From what I read, you seem to be trying to use the scale and all, that's great. But, you have to be accurate (those little bits add up to a LOT of bits). Good luck and keep keeping

For packaged goods and raw food I try to use USDA list. But for some ethnic recipes which aren't in the database I measure all the ingredients and put it in the mfp recipe generator. It then gives me calories per serving value. And I always add 5% more to it for safety

segacs

bcomingfitmom wrote: »

Thank you for the advice. I have been thinking of reducing the cals back to 1620 again. I also saw someone reply on other thread that you can set your calorie budget at your goal weight BMR . is that OK?

Nope, BMR is not a relevant number here. That's what your body would burn just by being alive, i.e. if you were in a coma. But you're not in a coma. You burn more calories than your BMR just by getting out of bed in the morning and going about your normal daily life.

There is a theory that says you can set your calories to your goal weight TDEE. But that's usually a very SLOW way to lose weight, so it's probably not recommended.

DebzNuDa

bcomingfitmom wrote: »

DebzNuDa wrote: »

As you say that Database is not giving your foods, I would recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27. From what I read, you seem to be trying to use the scale and all, that's great. But, you have to be accurate (those little bits add up to a LOT of bits). Good luck and keep keeping

For packaged goods and raw food I try to use USDA list. But for some ethnic recipes which aren't in the database I measure all the ingredients and put it in the mfp recipe generator. It then gives me calories per serving value. And I always add 5% more to it for safety

That's great. Would you want to show us your dairy so that we could possibly help?

CJsf1t

DebzNuDa wrote: »

bcomingfitmom wrote: »

DebzNuDa wrote: »

As you say that Database is not giving your foods, I would recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27. From what I read, you seem to be trying to use the scale and all, that's great. But, you have to be accurate (those little bits add up to a LOT of bits). Good luck and keep keeping

For packaged goods and raw food I try to use USDA list. But for some ethnic recipes which aren't in the database I measure all the ingredients and put it in the mfp recipe generator. It then gives me calories per serving value. And I always add 5% more to it for safety

That's great. Would you want to show us your dairy so that we could possibly help?

I opened up my diary. So you can please let me know if you have any suggestions.

JayRuby84

I looked at your diary. It looks like you log fairly well and from what you describe, you really do try to find the correct calorie info. One thing I noticed was that there are quite a few days that you go over the cal limit and on a few days didn't log dinner at all. I think if you lower your target and make sure to log everything each day you'll have more success. When I get frustrated because of not losing, I always go back and look at what I ate while I was losing, and compare it to more recent weeks.

DebzNuDa

Mom...thanks for showing the diary. Am I'm correct that you have been logging for about a week? Right now it's a little hard too make any suggestions since it has been such a short time. I would suggest watching a couple of weeks to look at what you're eating. Of course, we all say the same things: be accurate with logging , be consistent, try to keep moving your body (probably not a problem with a toddler LOL), make sure you drink plenty of water (coffee and tea count), etc. I might suggest that you go down on the calories to maybe 1500 calories a day but you have to be sure that you are eating healthy and reach all of your macros and micros. We and I are the same height but I am a lot older. I don't want you to give up on your goal by making it miserable on the way but you may just be eating at maintenance. You won't gain but you won't lose either. The diary has been up and down but it's only been about a week. Add my as a friend and I will help your as much as I can if you wish. If not, that's okay too but this is a great support group here. Keep smiling and good luck either way

morowinder

If you are not losing weight, you are eating too many calories, it's that simple.
Actually since you gained some weight, you are eating way too many calories.
So either you need to lower your daily calories significantly, which seems unlikely as 1600 is pretty low at your weight, or you are cheating.
Maybe you are not including all the empty calories from drinks? Maybe you forget to include some calorific part of your meals (oil, salad dressing) or just round numbers down in your favour.
Also mind that weight loss tends to come in spurs, you may stay same weight for couple of days and then loose a pound overnight.

RoxieDawn

The recipe tool could be throwing your numbers off. Also for lifting weights you should up your protein in take. Carbohydrates are center of your diet...

For the recipe builder ( enter in all the ingredients into the tool). I will total up the liquid ingredients and see how many cups it makes. Then I will total up the solid ingredients and see how many cups this makes.

For example if I put 5 cups of liquid and 1 1/2 cups of solids this could = 6 1/2 cup servings... or of course you could serve this out as 4 servings or even 8 servings at 3/4 cup servings, etc.... just a thought.. And of course weighing all the ingredients could get you there as well..

CJsf1t

quote="DebzNuDa;32281777"]Mom...thanks for showing the diary. Am I'm correct that you have been logging for about a week? Right now it's a little hard too make any suggestions since it has been such a short time. I would suggest watching a couple of weeks to look at what you're eating. Of course, we all say the same things: be accurate with logging , be consistent, try to keep moving your body (probably not a problem with a toddler LOL), make sure you drink plenty of water (coffee and tea count), etc. I might suggest that you go down on the calories to maybe 1500 calories a day but you have to be sure that you are eating healthy and reach all of your macros and micros. We and I are the same height but I am a lot older. I don't want you to give up on your goal by making it miserable on the way but you may just be eating at maintenance. You won't gain but you won't lose either. The diary has been up and down but it's only been about a week. Add my as a friend and I will help your as much as I can if you wish. If not, that's okay too but this is a great support group here. Keep smiling and good luck either way [/quote]
I have been logging for a month now but only since past two weeks I have been logging all my meals. I think I will try to cut down about 50 cals next couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Thank you for taking out time to answer my queries.


P.s . I am sending you friend request

CJsf1t

gia07 wrote: »

The recipe tool could be throwing your numbers off. Also for lifting weights you should up your protein in take. Carbohydrates are center of your diet...

For the recipe builder ( enter in all the ingredients into the tool). I will total up the liquid ingredients and see how many cups it makes. Then I will total up the solid ingredients and see how many cups this makes.

For example if I put 5 cups of liquid and 1 1/2 cups of solids this could = 6 1/2 cup servings... or of course you could serve this out as 4 servings or even 8 servings at 3/4 cup servings, etc.... just a thought.. And of course weighing all the ingredients could get you there as well..

When I use recipe bulider I usually measure all solids using scale. then divide the total in 4 (cuz we are three of us at home) for each serving.