Eat more Calories to lose weight?

sorka
sorka Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wondering if others have ideas on what I might be doing wrong with regard to calorie intake and weight loss. I am 165cm and weigh 65kg. I have recently had a body composition assessment at the gym I go to and found I have a fat mass of 30% and active tissue mass of 34.1%.

Have been trying to loose around 4-5kg (or a few cm around my hips) for 6 months now with no luck. I have my calories set to 1400 day and track my calories with a vivosmart for daily steps (I have myfitness pal set to sedentary and then it adds usually around 12,000 steps/ 700 calories a day).
I also use a heart rate monitor for my gym work outs (spin bikes and weights 4-5 times a week) which usually burn an additional 5-600 calories.

I try to stick to eating approximately 2,300 calories when I have exercised but am wondering if i am doing it wrong as I am not losing weight.

Any ideas if I should be eating more/less calories or what I might need to change to get some weight loss/ body shaping underway?

Any help appreciated as I've been trying to figure this out for months now and not getting anywhere!

Cheers,
«13

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    edited July 2015
    sorka wrote: »
    Just wondering if others have ideas on what I might be doing wrong with regard to calorie intake and weight loss. I am 165cm and weigh 65kg. I have recently had a body composition assessment at the gym I go to and found I have a fat mass of 30% and active tissue mass of 34.1%.

    Have been trying to loose around 4-5kg (or a few cm around my hips) for 6 months now with no luck. I have my calories set to 1400 day and track my calories with a vivosmart for daily steps (I have myfitness pal set to sedentary and then it adds usually around 12,000 steps/ 700 calories a day).
    I also use a heart rate monitor for my gym work outs (spin bikes and weights 4-5 times a week) which usually burn an additional 5-600 calories.

    I try to stick to eating approximately 2,300 calories when I have exercised but am wondering if i am doing it wrong as I am not losing weight.

    Any ideas if I should be eating more/less calories or what I might need to change to get some weight loss/ body shaping underway?

    Any help appreciated as I've been trying to figure this out for months now and not getting anywhere!

    Cheers,

    Where are you getting your calorie burn for exercise?

    ETA: Sorry I see you are using some gadget for calorie burns. You're 5'4", 145 ish pounds? I can tell you I'm 5'4" and when I was 145 there was no day/amount of exercise I did that would allow me to eat 2300 calories and lose. 30 minutes on a bike? 200-250 calories to eat back, max.
  • sorka
    sorka Posts: 7 Member
    The calories for exercise are from using a polar heart rate monitor doing a 45 min RPM spin bike class. I also use the heart rate monitor to measure calories for the strength/HIT sessions I do. I thought Polar were good - and not sure how it could give me the wrong info? Are they not accurate measurements?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    edited July 2015
    sorka wrote: »
    The calories for exercise are from using a polar heart rate monitor doing a 45 min RPM spin bike class. I also use the heart rate monitor to measure calories for the strength/HIT sessions I do. I thought Polar were good - and not sure how it could give me the wrong info? Are they not accurate measurements?

    Someone who knows more about them will come in and help you there. I do know they should not be used for HIIT/Weight training. They are not accurate for those workouts.
  • sorka
    sorka Posts: 7 Member
    Yeah I wasn't sure how accurate they were with weight/strength training but i figured better than nothing and if that's what my heart rate is at than its got to count for something. Thanks for your help :)
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Yeah I wasn't sure how accurate they were with weight/strength training but i figured better than nothing and if that's what my heart rate is at than its got to count for something. Thanks for your help :)

    No, it does not measure your heart rate accurately, especially during weight training. I think you are eating too much if you're not losing. Are you measuring your food on a food scale as well? If not you could easily be eating even more than 2300 calories. Let's say your maintenance is 2200 calories, and you really only burned 400 calories, and you're accidentally eating 2500 calories...You're not really in a deficit for the day.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    Are your really eating 2,300 calories? Seems way to high to me. And usually, people underestimate the amount of calories they eat, so you could easily be taking in 3,000 calories or more.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    Eating more is *never* the answer to sustained weight loss.

    Where do folks get these shenanigans?
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    The calories for exercise are from using a polar heart rate monitor doing a 45 min RPM spin bike class. I also use the heart rate monitor to measure calories for the strength/HIT sessions I do. I thought Polar were good - and not sure how it could give me the wrong info? Are they not accurate measurements?

    HRMs don't work for weight training. I log 1 calorie for weight training. I just take the minimal calorie burn from that as a cushion for other logging errors.

    I also always recommend to only eat back 50% of cardio calories, and then adjust according to your rate of loss over time. So if you are losing more than expected, eat back more. Losing less, eat back less.

    Are you using a food scale?
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Yeah I wasn't sure how accurate they were with weight/strength training but i figured better than nothing and if that's what my heart rate is at than its got to count for something. Thanks for your help :)

    Your heart rate does not directly correlate to calories burned. Your heart rate also goes up when you are excited or under stress, but you don't burn any significant calories from these, either. You burn calories by working your muscles.
  • sorka
    sorka Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks for all the replies. Yes I am using a food scale and measure absolutely everything - my husband thinks I'm mad!

    How many calories should i be eating to loose 4-5 kg over the next 6 months? keep exercising the way I am and eat 1800? I had been told that I would need to eat at least 2000 calories a day as a minimum and would loose weight/maintain muscle. I think I prefer to loose cm rather than kg.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    If you are not losing weight, then you are not in a deficit.

    Let me ask this: Are you still wearing the Vivosmart while you are exercising with the Polar? Could both devices be counting the same activity? Have you checked to see if any testing has been done on the accuracy of the Vivosmart? Have you verified that all the settings in the Vivosmart are correct...for example, is there a way to set your stride? Have you looked on a forum for the Vivosmart to see if other people are having issues with incorrect calorie burns?
  • rushfive
    rushfive Posts: 603 Member
    i would recommend eating the 1400 and only half of the exercise calories back. (so around 300) 1700
    Are you wearing the vivo while doing your workouts? ie. double counting burn(steps).
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Thanks for all the replies. Yes I am using a food scale and measure absolutely everything - my husband thinks I'm mad!

    How many calories should i be eating to loose 4-5 kg over the next 6 months? keep exercising the way I am and eat 1800? I had been told that I would need to eat at least 2000 calories a day as a minimum and would loose weight/maintain muscle. I think I prefer to loose cm rather than kg.

    Can you just put your stats into MFP and set it to lose .5 or 1 lb per week..what does it tell you? This will be your calories to eat before exercise. I'm sorry but I think with your stats you're not going to be losing at 2000 calories.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    If you believe the right way to gain weight is to eat less, then yes, you should eat more to lose weight.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I don't trust your diary entries. How - exactly - are you weighing out 8.33 grams of something?
  • heatherlewisis
    heatherlewisis Posts: 118 Member
    2300 calories is way too much if you're trying to lose weight... Even with exercise. The goal is to be at a deficit, so it's better to be lower than higher. I never eat back my exercise calories... And I've been losing a steady 2 lbs a week.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Just wondering if others have ideas on what I might be doing wrong with regard to calorie intake and weight loss. I am 165cm and weigh 65kg. I have recently had a body composition assessment at the gym I go to and found I have a fat mass of 30% and active tissue mass of 34.1%.

    Have been trying to loose around 4-5kg (or a few cm around my hips) for 6 months now with no luck. I have my calories set to 1400 day and track my calories with a vivosmart for daily steps (I have myfitness pal set to sedentary and then it adds usually around 12,000 steps/ 700 calories a day).
    I also use a heart rate monitor for my gym work outs (spin bikes and weights 4-5 times a week) which usually burn an additional 5-600 calories.

    I try to stick to eating approximately 2,300 calories when I have exercised but am wondering if i am doing it wrong as I am not losing weight.

    Any ideas if I should be eating more/less calories or what I might need to change to get some weight loss/ body shaping underway?

    Any help appreciated as I've been trying to figure this out for months now and not getting anywhere!

    Cheers,

    Bottom line: if you are not losing weight, you are eating too much.

    Please correct me if I'm mistaken. :) You say spinning and weights burn 5-600 calories. If you mean per session, that is greatly overestimated. Weight lifting is not cardio, therefore those calories would be included in your activity level. Spinning might qualify as cardio but it does not burn a whole lot of calories either. Finally 12,000 steps a day does not burn up to 700 calories to add on top of your sedentary level. If you counted all those calories as extra each day, that would be 1200-1300 exercise calories. I would be surprised if that is even close to accurate.

    It sounds like 2300 even with exercise might be too much to lose weight on, and you are eating either at maintenance or a surplus.

    What to do?

    Weigh your food and log every single morsel you put in your mouth. Do your own research to ensure that you are choosing correct food entries.

    Log only your cardio exercise. If you use MFP, Iphone, or other internet sources for these calorie burns, make sure you log only about 60-70 percent of them. When you log anything else, just put in 1 calorie so you have a record of your exercise.

    The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you burn. You never increase your calories just to lose weight, and you only up your calorie goals to lose weight at a slower rate if you are certain your current calorie intake is at a deficit. Still, you must stay within a calorie deficit.


  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    Eating more is *never* the answer to sustained weight loss.

    Where do folks get these shenanigans?

    It's alllll ovvverrrr the internet.

    Unfortunately.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Yeah I wasn't sure how accurate they were with weight/strength training but i figured better than nothing and if that's what my heart rate is at than its got to count for something. Thanks for your help :)

    Never use a HRM for anything but steady state cardio.
  • sorka
    sorka Posts: 7 Member
    Have had a look at myfitnesspal and it says 1200 calories a day as a sedentary person (another forum said to set to sedentary and then the true calories burned from steps each day is added through the vivosmart).

    Which I thought this would work but went to a nutritionist and they said that was way to low for my muscle percentage and a minimum of 1800 is what I need to eat before any walking or anything is taken into account. I have checked and the exercise doesn't double up with calories. I have configured the viviosmart and most days (when not working at my desk) I hit 1200 steps.

    oh - and I didn't weigh out 8.33g - it was a third of 25g
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Have had a look at myfitnesspal and it says 1200 calories a day as a sedentary person (another forum said to set to sedentary and then the true calories burned from steps each day is added through the vivosmart).

    Which I thought this would work but went to a nutritionist and they said that was way to low for my muscle percentage and a minimum of 1800 is what I need to eat before any walking or anything is taken into account. I have checked and the exercise doesn't double up with calories. I have configured the viviosmart and most days (when not working at my desk) I hit 1200 steps.

    oh - and I didn't weigh out 8.33g - it was a third of 25g

    No matter what your nutritionist said, you are now eating too much, otherwise you would be losing weight.

    If you want to lose weight, you must eat less food.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    sorka wrote: »
    Have had a look at myfitnesspal and it says 1200 calories a day as a sedentary person (another forum said to set to sedentary and then the true calories burned from steps each day is added through the vivosmart).

    Which I thought this would work but went to a nutritionist and they said that was way to low for my muscle percentage and a minimum of 1800 is what I need to eat before any walking or anything is taken into account. I have checked and the exercise doesn't double up with calories. I have configured the viviosmart and most days (when not working at my desk) I hit 1200 steps.

    oh - and I didn't weigh out 8.33g - it was a third of 25g

    If you're not losing, you're not in a deficit.

    And 1800 to lose BEFORE eating back exercise sounds crazy to me. I maintain at 1650 + exercise calories, and I'm 5'7.
  • salstg
    salstg Posts: 504 Member
    edited July 2015
    I'm not as savvy as these other folks but if you are concerned with losing cm then you should probably be more concerned with that than weight. It could be possible that you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time especially with the weight training and HIIT. Monitoring your cm's would be a good indicator if what you believe is correct or not. You saw a nutritionist so I assume they probably know what they are talking about but the myfitnesspal site works for me as it probably did for everyone that posted already.

    I personally don;t eat back all the calories from exercise. I have it set at 2lbs per week and sedentary. I don't weigh my food (I just estimate... i know... I'm lazy) but I've lost about 4 lbs a week. Just try something different and see what happens. My calories are at 1460.... just for reference.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    Here a link with an excellent explanation why you are not losing.

    http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
    Yep like the others have said it looks like your exercise cals are pretty off. For comparison, I'm your height and around 61kg, and I log around 200 calories per 10000 steps (I estimate on the conservative side to account for error) and I often only log steps if I go over 3000 anyway as I figure even a sedentary life would include some walking to and fro. I do stationary bike too, and usually log around 350-400 cals per hour of biking (heart rate around 140 bmp).
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    salstg wrote: »
    I'm not as savvy as these other folks but if you are concerned with losing cm then you should probably be more concerned with that than weight. It could be possible that you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time especially with the weight training and HIIT. Monitoring your cm's would be a good indicator if what you believe is correct or not. You saw a nutritionist so I assume they probably know what they are talking about but the myfitnesspal site works for me as it probably did for everyone that posted already.

    I personally don;t eat back all the calories from exercise. I have it set at 2lbs per week and sedentary. I don't weigh my food (I just estimate... i know... I'm lazy) but I've lost about 4 lbs a week. Just try something different and see what happens. My calories are at 1460.... just for reference.

    You're losing 4 lbs a week stv1460? How much weight are you trying to lose?

    There are quack nutrtionists.

    You don't gain muscle on a deficit, except for newbie gains. Building muscle is very difficult and intentional.
  • sorka
    sorka Posts: 7 Member
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    salstg wrote: »

    You don't gain muscle on a deficit, except for newbie gains. Building muscle is very difficult and intentional.

    Ok - so I'm all good with reducing my calories to around 1200, but obviously doing strength training also I do want to gain muscle. So where does that leave me? Or do I focus on getting my weight down to the 60kg I want and then add muscle from there?
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  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    For the people questioning op's step calorie burn. We are similar in weight, except I'm 7cm (2 3/4 inches) taller.

    Thus far today I've earned 504 calories for 12,000 steps. Trusting my fitbit has so far worked for me.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I just want to know how someone weighs out 8.33 grams of anything, on a kitchen scale.

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