Thoughts on my plan?

stephchadz

I seem to have hit a plateau. I haven't lost anything over a month even though I have been very accurate with my logging and exercising 3-4 times a week. I've decide to use another website to calculate my BMR, then use that to calculate how many calories I need to maintain and calculate my deficit based off of this number instead of what MFP thinks it should be. According to my calculations I have been eating under my BMR this whole time, which isn't good at all. Hopefully I will have better luck and get out of this slump by upping my intake a bit and keeping up with my current exercise routine. Thoughts on this plan? Will this help?

IsaackGMOON

It might, it might not.

OP how many calories are you eating and what are your current stats?

stephchadz

Height is 5 feet 4 inches.

Weight is currently 145 and has been for almost 5 weeks.

I am currently eating 1350 calories a day (though when I put in my stats MFP wanted me at 1250).

According to my calculations to maintain my weight I need to eat 2052 calories a day and my BMR is around 1492. I was thinking about increasing my intake to between 1500-1600 and continuing on with the same amount of exercise I have been doing.

IsaackGMOON

stephchadz wrote: »

Height is 5 feet 4 inches.

Weight is currently 145 and has been for almost 5 weeks.

I am currently eating 1350 calories a day (though when I put in my stats MFP wanted me at 1250).

According to my calculations to maintain my weight I need to eat 2052 calories a day and my BMR is around 1492. I was thinking about increasing my intake to between 1500-1600 and continuing on with the same amount of exercise I have been doing.

I think and increase to 1600 would be good. Perhaps eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks and then drop back into a caloric deficit (you might experience some water weight retention).

stephchadz

Alright, thank you for your input I really appreciate it.

cajuntank

OP, it does not matter what these websites calculate for you as these are general estimate numbers. You already have data on YOU which is the most important. If you are eating 1350 calories a day and are not losing weight for that long, then the only thing you can do is drop calories some (this is assuming you are logging acurately like you mentioned). So you might have to drop to 1300 calories a day or increase activity some to get things moving again (or combination of the two)...Nature of the beast. If you have been dieting for a long time at those numbers (several months) then maybe take a break for a week or two at maintenance calories, then go at it again and see where you fall.

jesikalovesyou

I'm genuinely confused why people think if they are not losing weight at a certain amount of calories, they should eat more.

kami3006

You may be logging everything but it doesn't look like the numbers logged are accurate. Use a food scale to weigh solids and you'll see a big difference. You're likely eating more than you think.

MKEgal

1 - Why do you think that "upping your calories" will make you lose weight? If you're not losing on what you're
eating now, you will gain by eating more. Sounds like you're buying into the popular misconception of "starvation mode".
Read this: http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
If eating less made people gain weight, nobody would die of starvation (anorexia, famine, concentration camps).


2 - Eating below your BMR isn't harmful. I did it for about a year, and my doctors are pleased with my overall
health, plus my great weight loss (80 lb since JAN14). MFP says my current BMR is 1602, but my current calorie
goal is 1400. When I started, it was 1969 & my calorie goal was 1700. Exercise calories are a bonus toward weight
loss. Don't eat them back unless you're really hungry at the end of the day, then have 1/3 - 1/2 for a snack... or
if you're doing extreme exercise (which it doesn't seem you are) such as marathons.


3 - This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you how many calories you need to maintain any
particular weight, and if you're unclear on what that is, play with the numbers until the BMI is between 18.5 - 24.9.
It also tells you how many servings of the food groups you'll need to eat.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html


4 - Just in the last week:
donuts, cake, coffee cake, coffee cake, cake, cake, cake, M&M's, ice cream, frozen yogurt
Don't make treats an everyday thing, unless you've already met your nutritional goals (see #3) & it won't put you
over your calories for the day. You'll be more satisfied eating more real food (vegetables, fruits, lean meats...
and BTW stop juicing; just eat the fruits & veggies. The fiber is good for you.)


5 - You're very young to have a goal of 1350 calories. Are you shorter than average, or bedbound?
From your picture, it doesn't look like you're overweight. Is your weight goal healthy? (See #3.)


Read these:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1


Goal setting, including weight, calories, and macros
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045

stephchadz

I just was rethinking my goals. I have barely adjusted them since I started 4 months ago and at that point I was not exercising at all. So now that I am I just figured I should be eating more so I looked into it a bit more. I have a friend who is studying health and nutrition at school and she mentioned that I could have stopped losing because with the exercise added to my deficit I could be getting WAY less calories than I need to which can slow metabolism.

This is why I was thinking I needed to add more calories.

stephchadz

MKEgal wrote: »

1 - Why do you think that "upping your calories" will make you lose weight? If you're not losing on what you're
eating now, you will gain by eating more. Sounds like you're buying into the popular misconception of "starvation mode".
Read this: http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
If eating less made people gain weight, nobody would die of starvation (anorexia, famine, concentration camps).


2 - Eating below your BMR isn't harmful. I did it for about a year, and my doctors are pleased with my overall
health, plus my great weight loss (80 lb since JAN14). MFP says my current BMR is 1602, but my current calorie
goal is 1400. When I started, it was 1969 & my calorie goal was 1700. Exercise calories are a bonus toward weight
loss. Don't eat them back unless you're really hungry at the end of the day, then have 1/3 - 1/2 for a snack... or
if you're doing extreme exercise (which it doesn't seem you are) such as marathons.


3 - This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you how many calories you need to maintain any
particular weight, and if you're unclear on what that is, play with the numbers until the BMI is between 18.5 - 24.9.
It also tells you how many servings of the food groups you'll need to eat.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html


4 - Just in the last week:
donuts, cake, coffee cake, coffee cake, cake, cake, cake, M&M's, ice cream, frozen yogurt
Don't make treats an everyday thing, unless you've already met your nutritional goals (see #3) & it won't put you
over your calories for the day. You'll be more satisfied eating more real food (vegetables, fruits, lean meats...
and BTW stop juicing; just eat the fruits & veggies. The fiber is good for you.)


5 - You're very young to have a goal of 1350 calories. Are you shorter than average, or bedbound?
From your picture, it doesn't look like you're overweight. Is your weight goal healthy? (See #3.)


Read these:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1


Goal setting, including weight, calories, and macros
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045

I'm not juicing? Thank you for the info though, and yes I know the coffee cake isn't "good food" It was a big week in the office (just changed buildings), my grammys birthday and my sisters graduation party,(both of which were at my house so we kept leftovers) but aside from those things I usually do well.

I just was trying to get advice and now I'm just feeling attacked because I don't know everything there is to know about nutrition and had a not so good week.

jesikalovesyou

stephchadz wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

1 - Why do you think that "upping your calories" will make you lose weight? If you're not losing on what you're
eating now, you will gain by eating more. Sounds like you're buying into the popular misconception of "starvation mode".
Read this: http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
If eating less made people gain weight, nobody would die of starvation (anorexia, famine, concentration camps).


2 - Eating below your BMR isn't harmful. I did it for about a year, and my doctors are pleased with my overall
health, plus my great weight loss (80 lb since JAN14). MFP says my current BMR is 1602, but my current calorie
goal is 1400. When I started, it was 1969 & my calorie goal was 1700. Exercise calories are a bonus toward weight
loss. Don't eat them back unless you're really hungry at the end of the day, then have 1/3 - 1/2 for a snack... or
if you're doing extreme exercise (which it doesn't seem you are) such as marathons.


3 - This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you how many calories you need to maintain any
particular weight, and if you're unclear on what that is, play with the numbers until the BMI is between 18.5 - 24.9.
It also tells you how many servings of the food groups you'll need to eat.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html


4 - Just in the last week:
donuts, cake, coffee cake, coffee cake, cake, cake, cake, M&M's, ice cream, frozen yogurt
Don't make treats an everyday thing, unless you've already met your nutritional goals (see #3) & it won't put you
over your calories for the day. You'll be more satisfied eating more real food (vegetables, fruits, lean meats...
and BTW stop juicing; just eat the fruits & veggies. The fiber is good for you.)


5 - You're very young to have a goal of 1350 calories. Are you shorter than average, or bedbound?
From your picture, it doesn't look like you're overweight. Is your weight goal healthy? (See #3.)


Read these:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1


Goal setting, including weight, calories, and macros
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045

I'm not juicing? Thank you for the info though, and yes I know the coffee cake isn't "good food" It was a big week in the office (just changed buildings), my grammys birthday and my sisters graduation party,(both of which were at my house so we kept leftovers) but aside from those things I usually do well.

I just was trying to get advice and now I'm just feeling attacked because I don't know everything there is to know about nutrition and had a not so good week.

Don't feel attacked! People are trying to help. Once your health gets in line, everything else starts to as well.

Honestly, if you're not losing weight, you're eating too much. You might be logging calories wrong. If you feel like you're hungry, eat better foods that are lower calories.

Hope your week gets better!

Mr_Knight

You can't eat under BMR and not lose weight.

Your logging is broken.

ashleyweatherholtzmathis

I'm there with you, but I'm eating much less in a day and weighing all food, some of which I don't even finish but never go back to correct. I try to stay under 800 net calories a day. I also exercise for at least 15 minutes every day, sometimes more when I'm up to it. I've stayed the same weight all this week with a very low caloric average for the week. I'm stuck until finally something pushes me over the plateau and I finally start losing again. I didn't believe in the starvation mode either, but my weight isn't budging and I'm meticulous at weighing out all my food and making sure not to eat after 3pm.

Mr_Knight

I try to stay under 800 net calories a day. I also exercise for at least 15 minutes every day, sometimes more when I'm up to it. I've stayed the same weight all this week with a very low caloric average for the week. I'm stuck until finally something pushes me over the plateau and I finally start losing again.

You cannot plateau at 800 calories/day. Your diary shows significantly over-estimated exercise burns, and lots of dubious entries. You're eating more than you think...

lemonsnowdrop

Eating more food will not make you lose weight. Are you weighing what you eat with a food scale? Are you eating back exercise calories?

Faithful_Chosen

ashleyweatherholtzmathis wrote: »

I'm there with you, but I'm eating much less in a day and weighing all food, some of which I don't even finish but never go back to correct. I try to stay under 800 net calories a day. I also exercise for at least 15 minutes every day, sometimes more when I'm up to it. I've stayed the same weight all this week with a very low caloric average for the week. I'm stuck until finally something pushes me over the plateau and I finally start losing again. I didn't believe in the starvation mode either, but my weight isn't budging and I'm meticulous at weighing out all my food and making sure not to eat after 3pm.

Uhhh why are you eating under 800 calories...? Are you exceptionally tiny or inactive? Because else bump up that number, girl! That is not sustainable at all and you will hurt your body by starving it! (unless you are under doctor's orders and monitored, then more power to you!) That said, if you are not loosing weight, you might be eating more than you think... *shrugs* Just something to consider. Oh, and another question: why would you stop eating after 3 pm? Intermittent fasting can be a great tool but with the deficient you say you are eating, doing it every day is far too much! There is absolutely no truth to the myth that you should stop eating after a certain time in the day (like your body knows!): a calorie in is a calorie in. Period. You loose weight if you eat less than you burn. That's the super simple math. The time of day you eat, how many times you eat--all of that has nothing to do with wight loss.

ashleyweatherholtzmathis

over estimated how, i base them off my polar heart rate monitor and shave about 10% from my actual burn and I go out and walk or do sprints and walk. Dubious entries how? I'm not seeing that, unless it's based off today's entries... which infact are just guesses, as i won't be able to go and weigh everything I eat at my inlaws house for their bbq. Sure I will leave things at 1 cup or 1/2 a cup on my log because I read the actual nutrition label on what I'm eating and weigh it at it's serving suggestion or double if that's what I'm eating that day.

stephchadz

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

Eating more food will not make you lose weight. Are you weighing what you eat with a food scale? Are you eating back exercise calories?

I weight my food when I am at home and have access to the scale (my parents take us out a lot which is a problem in and of itself. If I say I don't want to go out they get angry at me for not "spending time as a family") and I don't usually eat back exercise calories.

ashleyweatherholtzmathis

I ate more last week and exercised less, but managed to lose 4lbs weighing things and accounting for 90% of my heart rate monitor's calorie burn, the same way I'm doing now. The only difference now, is I'm purposefully trying to eat less to speed up the process.

BayouSquaw

Hello, Im Chris form Louisiana, I got 2 heart Stents back in February... Im Getting back into the gym, but cant find a good work out that wont kill my other achy parts.

lemonsnowdrop

stephchadz wrote: »

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

Eating more food will not make you lose weight. Are you weighing what you eat with a food scale? Are you eating back exercise calories?

I weight my food when I am at home and have access to the scale (my parents take us out a lot which is a problem in and of itself. If I say I don't want to go out they get angry at me for not "spending time as a family") and I don't usually eat back exercise calories.

It's really difficult, if not impossible, to accurately measure how many calories are eaten from meals you don't prepare yourself. Most likely you are still eating too many calories.

arditarose

OP, I'm 5'4" and have been 145 at one point in my weight loss. I found at those stats, logging had to be extremely precise. I had to stop using the salad bar at lunch and start weighing out all lunches and pre-log for the day/week. I had to shave off 100 calories every day from my deficit, so I could enjoy socializing on Saturday and not wipe out my deficit. If you're truly eating 1500 calories or below, you should be losing. Even eating 1700, you should be losing .5 lbs per week.

stephchadz

It's really difficult, if not impossible, to accurately measure how many calories are eaten from meals you don't prepare yourself. Most likely you are still eating too many calories.
[/quote]

Alright I will definitely try to log more accurately with the food scale and see how that works.

ashleyweatherholtzmathis

I'm not tiny, I'm obese and pretty much sedentary unless I'm out walking or doing short sprints to boost heart rate. I'm under dr. supervision for the low calorie intake, so that's why I make it a point to measure accurately. Today is the exception because I'm going to inlaws and don't want to be lugging my scale and glass scale bowls with me to measure everything properly. Last week I was starting to inch into the dip in calories so I wasn't so hungry when I started to stay under 800 net calories a day. I chose to not eat after 3pm each day so that my exercises are always fasted... I either do them in the morning before I eat or in the evening 6 hours after i've eaten.

stephchadz

arditarose wrote: »

OP, I'm 5'4" and have been 145 at one point in my weight loss. I found at those stats, logging had to be extremely precise. I had to stop using the salad bar at lunch and start weighing out all lunches and pre-log for the day/week. I had to shave off 100 calories every day from my deficit, so I could enjoy socializing on Saturday and not wipe out my deficit. If you're truly eating 1500 calories or below, you should be losing. Even eating 1700, you should be losing .5 lbs per week.

Thank you for sharing. It's nice to hear from someone with the same height who has been through it. I will definitely try to be more diligent with my logging and see how that goes.

Faithful_Chosen

ashleyweatherholtzmathis wrote: »

I'm not tiny, I'm obese and pretty much sedentary unless I'm out walking or doing short sprints to boost heart rate. I'm under dr. supervision for the low calorie intake, so that's why I make it a point to measure accurately. Today is the exception because I'm going to inlaws and don't want to be lugging my scale and glass scale bowls with me to measure everything properly. Last week I was starting to inch into the dip in calories so I wasn't so hungry when I started to stay under 800 net calories a day. I chose to not eat after 3pm each day so that my exercises are always fasted... I either do them in the morning before I eat or in the evening 6 hours after i've eaten.

Alright, as long as your doctor is aware of all of that and he/she is okay with it, more power to you! This sort of stuff is important to note, though, because an 800 cal diet without doctor supervision could actually be quite dangerous to attempt. So anyone reading that: be warned, please

arditarose

stephchadz wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

OP, I'm 5'4" and have been 145 at one point in my weight loss. I found at those stats, logging had to be extremely precise. I had to stop using the salad bar at lunch and start weighing out all lunches and pre-log for the day/week. I had to shave off 100 calories every day from my deficit, so I could enjoy socializing on Saturday and not wipe out my deficit. If you're truly eating 1500 calories or below, you should be losing. Even eating 1700, you should be losing .5 lbs per week.

Thank you for sharing. It's nice to hear from someone with the same height who has been through it. I will definitely try to be more diligent with my logging and see how that goes.

Yeah, we are on the edge of being short. I found that 145 was still not too hard, but once I hit 140 and changed my goal to .5 lbs per week, there is no room for error. TDEE in the 130s lowered quite a bit for me too and it became even tougher. Just tighten everything up as much as you can. Don't forget your condiments, oil, drinks, etc. I even started weighing my ketchup. If you're not losing, you're eating a bit too much.

Also, don't rule out the weight loss is not linear thing even though it's been a month. You might see a big drop soon, even if you're eating a bit more than you think-you may have still been in a deficit to lose .25 or .5 and it might come off over the next couple of weeks.

stephchadz

arditarose wrote: »

stephchadz wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

OP, I'm 5'4" and have been 145 at one point in my weight loss. I found at those stats, logging had to be extremely precise. I had to stop using the salad bar at lunch and start weighing out all lunches and pre-log for the day/week. I had to shave off 100 calories every day from my deficit, so I could enjoy socializing on Saturday and not wipe out my deficit. If you're truly eating 1500 calories or below, you should be losing. Even eating 1700, you should be losing .5 lbs per week.

Thank you for sharing. It's nice to hear from someone with the same height who has been through it. I will definitely try to be more diligent with my logging and see how that goes.

Yeah, we are on the edge of being short. I found that 145 was still not too hard, but once I hit 140 and changed my goal to .5 lbs per week, there is no room for error. TDEE in the 130s lowered quite a bit for me too and it became even tougher. Just tighten everything up as much as you can. Don't forget your condiments, oil, drinks, etc. I even started weighing my ketchup. If you're not losing, you're eating a bit too much.

Also, don't rule out the weight loss is not linear thing even though it's been a month. You might see a big drop soon, even if you're eating a bit more than you think-you may have still been in a deficit to lose .25 or .5 and it might come off over the next couple of weeks.

Alright. Thank your so much for the support. I really appreciate it.

Mr_Knight

ashleyweatherholtzmathis wrote: »

I'm not tiny, I'm obese and pretty much sedentary unless I'm out walking or doing short sprints to boost heart rate.

You're using your HRM incorrectly.

"Boosting heart rate" means nothing for calorie burns. HRMs will massively over-estimate burns under those conditions. By "massively" I mean 3-5x higher than it "should" be.

Divide your burn numbers by 4 (or more) if you want a more accurate number.

MKEgal

stephchadz wrote:

I'm not juicing?

Well, you've closed your diary now so I can't quote the actual entries, but there were a couple which said
something like "juicing, concord grapes, 8 grapes". Eat whole fruit in preference to juice (unless you're pureeing the
fruit yourself, in which case it's as healthy as the unpureed form). Frozen grapes are a great hot-day sweet snack.

.

It was a big week in the office (just changed buildings), my grammys birthday and my sisters graduation
party, (both of which were at my house so we kept leftovers) but aside from those things I usually do well.

So you know where you're getting off-track, but are lamenting that you're not losing weight?
Pick one.

If you want to have a bunch of snacks & not-so-healthy stuff, have at it. Just don't expect that your nutritional
profile (or weight) will be so great after it's done. Accept it & move on, get back on track with healthier choices
and regular exercise.
The idea is not to starve or punish yourself or deny the tasty things forever, but to make a more balanced life -
for good.
I've been keeping fudgesicles in the freezer at work. 40 calories, CHOCOLATE!!!, cold on a hot bothersome
annoying day, which (the annoying part) my closest co-worker seems to give me every time she's there.
And for those really awful days, I have chocolate chip cookie dough.
I also recognize that neither is all that good for me (other than mood).

.

now I'm just feeling attacked because I don't know everything there is to know about nutrition and had a not so good week.

Not trying to attack, trying to give advice (backed with links to solid info / sources) to help you learn why you're
stalled, or not doing as well as you seem to want.
It comes down to: you're eating more than your body needs.
The easiest way to change that is to eat fewer calories. The best way to do that & still feel full & satisfied is to
eat less of the high-calorie-low-nutrition stuff and more of the lower-calorie-higher-nutrition things.
It's a lot easier to have only 1 piece of cake (500 calories) than it is to exercise away the second (or more)
piece, esp. when you're small & exercise doesn't burn many calories.