How are my calories being calculated?

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mrssberman
mrssberman Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there,

I'm Stephanie, and I'm pretty much brand new to myfitnesspal. I'm in my early 30's, and I've put on about 30ish lbs in the last 8 years or so. It's time to take them off. :)

I'm confused about how my calories are getting calculated. Because I'm a stay-at-home-spouse (no kids), and I teach piano (sitting, mostly), I chose "Sedentary", however, I do try to get out and walk 20 minutes a day, so I don't know if that is enough that I should actually pick "Lightly Active" (and not log my walking), or if I should stick with Sedentary and log my walking? Anyone know?

Also... I'm really confused by the number of calories I'm supposed to be eating. My goal is 1,370 calories for today, and I've eaten 520 (breakfast & lunch). Dinner will probably be somewhere around 600 calories, which leaves me with ~350 calories still to eat. But I'm not a snack eater. Never have been. How in the world am I supposed to eat all my calories? Or am I supposed to? I've always eaten about 1,000 calories a day, even while I put on 30lbs, so I'm not sure how eating more is actually going to help me lose weight?

Help!
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Replies

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited August 2015
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    I've always eaten about 1,000 calories a day, even while I put on 30lbs, so I'm not sure how eating more is actually going to help me lose weight?

    No you weren't.

    I'm not trying to be mean or snarky, but no one puts on 30 lbs eating 1,000 calories per day. Like the vast majority of the population, you're underestimating your caloric intake.

    Get a food scale, and weigh all solid foods. Use measuring cups to measure out all liquids. I can guarantee you you're eating a lot more calories than you think.
  • shrinkingletters
    shrinkingletters Posts: 1,008 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Get a food scale, and weigh all solid foods. Use measuring cups to measure out all liquids. I can guarantee you you're eating a lot more calories than you think.

    OP you're gonna see about 70 bajillion variations of exactly this, and it's absolutely solid advice.
  • acheben
    acheben Posts: 476 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    I'm confused about how my calories are getting calculated. Because I'm a stay-at-home-spouse (no kids), and I teach piano (sitting, mostly), I chose "Sedentary", however, I do try to get out and walk 20 minutes a day, so I don't know if that is enough that I should actually pick "Lightly Active" (and not log my walking), or if I should stick with Sedentary and log my walking? Anyone know?
    I would suggest that you set your activity level at sedentary and then log any additional exercise. You can reassess your activity level after about 6-8 weeks of logging.

    Also, you might only want to eat a portion (25%-75%) of your exercise calories since MFP and workout machines can overestimate them.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Get a food scale. There's a video somewhere on here where it shows how people wildly underestimate how much they're really eating. If I find it I will post it.

    edited to add video:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o
  • mrssberman
    mrssberman Posts: 9 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    mrssberman wrote: »
    I've always eaten about 1,000 calories a day, even while I put on 30lbs, so I'm not sure how eating more is actually going to help me lose weight?

    No you weren't.

    I'm not trying to be mean or snarky, but no one puts on 30 lbs eating 1,000 calories per day. Like the vast majority of the population, you're underestimating your caloric intake.
    I do not understand how you can say that. I put EXACTLY what I ate into myfitnesspal, and that is what it said. (I eat basically the same thing, every day.)
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    mrssberman wrote: »
    I've always eaten about 1,000 calories a day, even while I put on 30lbs, so I'm not sure how eating more is actually going to help me lose weight?

    No you weren't.

    I'm not trying to be mean or snarky, but no one puts on 30 lbs eating 1,000 calories per day. Like the vast majority of the population, you're underestimating your caloric intake.
    I do not understand how you can say that. I put EXACTLY what I ate into myfitnesspal, and that is what it said. (I eat basically the same thing, every day.)

    If you aren't using a food scale to weigh every single thing you eat/drink you could be eating more than you realize.

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Because you said you put on 30 pounds. Unless you started out at around 50 lbs and are 5 years old, you're eating more than 1,000 calories per day (and if by some chance you are only eating 1,000 calories per day, there's an entire population of scientists who would like to study your body to determine how it's creating energy/mass out of virtually nothing).

    That said, if you open your diary, we might be able to help you point out errors or ways to make your logging more accurate.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    MFP gives you a deficit before exercise. So it's 1370 + any logged workouts (if you haven't logged anything already).

    MFP uses estimates for calorie burns....pretty generous ones. Most people knock off 25-50%.

    Re: 1,000 calories. MFPs minimum is 1200 (based upon nutritional needs). So if you are gaining at 1,000....you are eating more than you think, or you have some underlying medical condition.

    Do you weigh or measure your portions? Also, you have to be careful of which items you use in the database...a good portion are incorrect.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1
  • shrinkingletters
    shrinkingletters Posts: 1,008 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    mrssberman wrote: »
    I've always eaten about 1,000 calories a day, even while I put on 30lbs, so I'm not sure how eating more is actually going to help me lose weight?

    No you weren't.

    I'm not trying to be mean or snarky, but no one puts on 30 lbs eating 1,000 calories per day. Like the vast majority of the population, you're underestimating your caloric intake.
    I do not understand how you can say that. I put EXACTLY what I ate into myfitnesspal, and that is what it said. (I eat basically the same thing, every day.)

    Everyone who's been in your shoes can understand how he could say that. User Error is simply the first hurdle to surpass.
  • mrssberman
    mrssberman Posts: 9 Member
    edited August 2015
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    strong_curves wrote: »
    If you aren't using a food scale to weigh every single thing you eat/drink you could be eating more than you realize.
    How am I supposed to weigh a recipe, say, of like a skillet dish, or something like that? I put the recipe into MFP as a recipe, said it serves 4, and that I ate one serving of it. How is that wrong?
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    strong_curves wrote: »
    If you aren't using a food scale to weigh every single thing you eat/drink you could be eating more than you realize.
    How am I supposed to weigh a recipe, say, of like a skillet dish, or something like that? I put the recipe into MFP as a recipe, said it serves 4, and that I ate one serving of it. How is that wrong?

    Did you weigh/measure each ingredient?
  • mrssberman
    mrssberman Posts: 9 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Did you weigh/measure each ingredient?
    Yes, of course, we followed the recipe exactly.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    strong_curves wrote: »
    If you aren't using a food scale to weigh every single thing you eat/drink you could be eating more than you realize.
    How am I supposed to weigh a recipe, say, of like a skillet dish, or something like that? I put the recipe into MFP as a recipe, said it serves 4, and that I ate one serving of it. How is that wrong?


    Weigh each ingredient before it goes into the pan / skillet / whatever. You're eating more than 1k calories, or you're the first exception to the 1st law of thermodynamics in 165 years.
  • acheben
    acheben Posts: 476 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    strong_curves wrote: »
    If you aren't using a food scale to weigh every single thing you eat/drink you could be eating more than you realize.
    How am I supposed to weigh a recipe, say, of like a skillet dish, or something like that? I put the recipe into MFP as a recipe, said it serves 4, and that I ate one serving of it. How is that wrong?
    Use the recipe builder, located here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box

    Enter each ingredient and the amount (weight) that you used. Cook the whole recipe and then weigh the finished product. Either enter 4 as the servings and divide the finished weight by 4, or enter the entire weight in grams as the serving size.

    Example (with completely made up numbers): You make mashed potatoes with 500g of baking potatoes, 1/4 cup of milk, and 2 tbsp of butter. The finished bowl of mashed potatoes weighs 600g. You eat 200g of mashed potatoes.

    Either enter 600 as the serving size and log your 200 servings or enter 3 as the serving size and log one serving. I always note the serving size in the title (ie per 1g or 100g or 200g per serving)
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Did you weigh/measure each ingredient?
    Yes, of course, we followed the recipe exactly.

    Following a recipe doesn't always mean you weighed everything.

    A very common example.

    Recipe calls for 1 lb of ground beef.

    I don't know about you, but when I go to the meat counter and ask for a pound of ground beef, somehow I always end up with about 1.1 lbs of meat.

    If you input "ground beef 1 lb" into MFP, but you actually added 1.1 lbs of beef to the recipe, now suddenly your accuracy is off.

    It may not seem like much, but multiply that by every ingredient in every recipe, and suddenly you're eating 300-400 more calories per day than you think.

    But honestly, at this point all we can do is guess. If you really want specific answers, you'll need to open your diary.
  • mrssberman
    mrssberman Posts: 9 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    It may not seem like much, but multiply that by every ingredient in every recipe, and suddenly you're eating 300-400 more calories per day than you think.
    You're right, that doesn't seem like much, but I can certainly see how it would add up after awhile. I know that we've run into that same ground beef example that you've given.

    Do you have a recommendation for a good, inexpensive food scale?

    I just feel so hopeless and upset right now. I need to lose 30lbs, and my husband needs to gain about 20, and I don't know how to make that happen without driving us both (but especially him) crazy.

    Am I really supposed weigh/measure spices like basil, garlic, etc? (sugar, salt, vinegar, etc I understand measuring, but the spices.... really?)

  • ki4eld
    ki4eld Posts: 1,215 Member
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    Look up the spices. Most of them have almost no calorie/carb profile. 10 calories in spices a day just won't matter. You can walk for 5 minutes and burn that.

    I really suggest you measure and track for 30 days, but not change a thing. That will give you a realistic profile of how you normally eat and you'll start seeing where you're going wrong. You can track every nutrient if you want, but make sure you're tracking carbs, protein, and fiber daily. Once you're altering your food, stick to the MFP numbers and you'll slowly start seeing some action.
  • acheben
    acheben Posts: 476 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    It may not seem like much, but multiply that by every ingredient in every recipe, and suddenly you're eating 300-400 more calories per day than you think.
    You're right, that doesn't seem like much, but I can certainly see how it would add up after awhile. I know that we've run into that same ground beef example that you've given.

    Do you have a recommendation for a good, inexpensive food scale?

    I just feel so hopeless and upset right now. I need to lose 30lbs, and my husband needs to gain about 20, and I don't know how to make that happen without driving us both (but especially him) crazy.

    Am I really supposed weigh/measure spices like basil, garlic, etc? (sugar, salt, vinegar, etc I understand measuring, but the spices.... really?)
    I just picked up a cheap OXO food scale from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and it has worked well for me.

    Everyone has to determine the accuracy that works for them, but I don't weigh my spices. I'll measure them if I usually do in the recipe, but I don't when I just season up some meat with salt/pepper/garlic.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    mrssberman wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    It may not seem like much, but multiply that by every ingredient in every recipe, and suddenly you're eating 300-400 more calories per day than you think.
    You're right, that doesn't seem like much, but I can certainly see how it would add up after awhile. I know that we've run into that same ground beef example that you've given.

    Do you have a recommendation for a good, inexpensive food scale?

    I just feel so hopeless and upset right now. I need to lose 30lbs, and my husband needs to gain about 20, and I don't know how to make that happen without driving us both (but especially him) crazy.

    Am I really supposed weigh/measure spices like basil, garlic, etc? (sugar, salt, vinegar, etc I understand measuring, but the spices.... really?)

    Personally I don't worry about spices...but certainly all meats, vegetables, sauces, etc.

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