how do you know how many calories you were eating "before"?

kiela64

My dietician suggested 1600cal as a small deficit for me, but eating it doesn't seem like a deficit. I guessed I was eating ~2000cal/day, but I really just pulled a number from thin air, and now I'm second guessing it.

I remember high school where I never ate junk food, or even very much food, walked 40min/weekday, and I was gaining a size every year. I'm very short, so I'm wondering if I have a very low metabolic burn or something. I'm just really afraid I won't lose.

It's been a bad week, and I know these bad habits need to change, but I'm afraid changing them won't help my size. I've never lost weight before, ever, in my entire life. I can't imagine it and it doesn't seem possible.

Machka9

I tracked a day or two before I started eating a deficit ... and I was eating about 2100 cal. That's how I know what I was eating "before".

If you really want to know, for the next 3 days, eat like you did "before", and track it. What was a typical day like "before"?

Then resume eating at a deficit.

BTW - I presume you've done the following ...

- Entered your stats into MFP.
- Set yourself as sedentary.
- Selected how much you want to lose each week (eg. 1 lb/week).
- Looked to see the max calories MFP gives you.

If you eat just that amount, and stick with it, you should lose weight. But you have to make sure you are indeed eating just that amount which means weighing and measuring your food carefully and meticulously. And logging every single bite.

MysticRealm

I just entered a typical day of food into Mfp the way I would have eaten before. (Didn't eat it)
I think I was around 3500 cals.

Lounmoun

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?
If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

SimoneBee12

Knowing how much I was eating before doesn't really affect me now, but I know it was roughly 2700-2800. My TDEE is about 2200, and I gained 65lbs between April of 2014 and April of 2015, 65/52 weeks is like 1.2lbs per week, so 4200 extra calories a week, or 600 extra a day. So taking into account a lower TDEE when I started, it works out to 2700 or so a day, which I definitely believe considering how much I was dining out.

juliet3455

Like other people I Logged for a while before I made any dietary changes. It helped me see where the nasties were. Now it's something I actually suggest to newbies so they can create a baseline of data to start with. The most important thing is to be brutally honest in your dairy entries.

erimethia_fekre

I binge ate and was staying at the same weight for a long time. I started this program eating 1750 and was averaging a pretty good weight loss with the help of exercise. Now I'm at 1500 and am still going strong.

Eat the deficit. Don't pay attention to the scale, and exercise. It'll pay off in the long run regardless of anything else

Machka9

Lounmoun wrote: »

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?
If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

+1

When I started MFP gave me 1250, so I netted that for a while, and after losing some, MFP dropped me to 1200. That was just too low for me, so I manually upped it to 1250 again.

I hit my first weight goal mid-June, and then upped it to 1350. I'm heading toward my second goal a little more gradually.


But yes ... if you @kae612 stay on 1600/day for a few weeks and lose nothing, drop the max calories to 1550 and try that. Still nothing over the next 3 weeks, drop it to 1500. And so on until you find an amount where you are losing. But don't go lower than 1200.

sugarpeas

I've used MFP a few times before this time (which seems to have stuck now). This time to make it a habit I focused on just tracking before I paid attention to what and how much I was eating.

Before I was eating well over 2000 cals, now I eat anywhere between 1200-1400cals on average.

Sued0nim

Well rough back of envelope way is to

After 8 weeks or so, work out your real TDEE
- add up gross calories eaten per day
- Add up weight lost per day
- Add the two together
- Divide by number of days

Then get your previous lowest weight within a reasonable time frame and the weight at which you started this diet and work out how much weight you put on over that time frame
Multiply by 3500
Divide by the number of the days

Add that number to your current TDEE and that's a guesstimate of what you were previously eating

(You should of course adapt it to account for change in activity level or exercise otherwise it will be underestimating but it's a good enough rule of thumb)

Orphia

kae612 wrote: »

My dietician suggested 1600cal as a small deficit for me, but eating it doesn't seem like a deficit. I guessed I was eating ~2000cal/day, but I really just pulled a number from thin air, and now I'm second guessing it.

I remember high school where I never ate junk food, or even very much food, walked 40min/weekday, and I was gaining a size every year. I'm very short, so I'm wondering if I have a very low metabolic burn or something. I'm just really afraid I won't lose.

It's been a bad week, and I know these bad habits need to change, but I'm afraid changing them won't help my size. I've never lost weight before, ever, in my entire life. I can't imagine it and it doesn't seem possible.

Memories can be very, very unreliable.

Watch this for some enlightenment on eating and metabolism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o

tomatoey

If you ate a typical american diet, you probably reached at least 2000 calories. For example, a Starbucks frilly coffee & breakfast sandwich, a full-dressed sub for lunch with sauce and cheese, for dinner maybe half a pizza, or a typical restaurant serving of a cheesy pasta with garlic bread to start - that would put anyone way over 2000. Try the suggestion above to enter a typical day. (I think mine from when I was overweight would easily reach 3000+ - lots of restaurants, often, wine, big breakfast, lots of higher cal preferenes.)


My view is that it's ideal to eat as much as you can while losing. You're less likely to have a bad day or week if the deficit is small, that's definitely been true for me. Also, if you exercise, that's energy you need. It's a fine balance, but you can get it so you're fueling your workouts AND losing.

You can try 1600 for 3 or so weeks, and if it doesn't work, cut back a little more, or add a bit of cardio. (If it doesn't work, that doesn't mean anything's wrong with you, it just means the rules need to be tweaked a little bit.) Trust the process. It will work - if you do it in a way that makes sense for you. (Which means: you're actually full on what you're eating; you like the food you're eating; you don't feel deprived because your target was set too low, or because you've completely denied yourself any chance of a treat.)

People differ on what works for them. I have a big appetite, so I focus my food choices on satiety - lots of meat and veg. Also, I personally found, and a few people here have also talked about this, that eating lower carb, higher protein for a period recalibrated things so that it was easier to approach previously "trigger" foods with moderation. Yet other people are completely miserable if they don't make room in their budget for beloved foods, even if they're high-calorie.

Try different approaches, if you want, to see which makes the most sense for your taste, activity, and life. If one doesn't work, that's no reflection on you, it just means you should try another strategy. It is going to be trial and error for a while, it is for everyone It still is for me, as my body and life change

But - if you stick with it, and don't get caught up in judging yourself, you'll find a way that works for you.

There are many people here who were always overweight - check out the Success Stories section for inspiration.

mcpostelle

I ate 3500-4000 kcal before starting my WOE. Now I try not to go past 2,500kcal.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

kshama2001

Orphia wrote: »

kae612 wrote: »

My dietician suggested 1600cal as a small deficit for me, but eating it doesn't seem like a deficit. I guessed I was eating ~2000cal/day, but I really just pulled a number from thin air, and now I'm second guessing it.

I remember high school where I never ate junk food, or even very much food, walked 40min/weekday, and I was gaining a size every year. I'm very short, so I'm wondering if I have a very low metabolic burn or something. I'm just really afraid I won't lose.

It's been a bad week, and I know these bad habits need to change, but I'm afraid changing them won't help my size. I've never lost weight before, ever, in my entire life. I can't imagine it and it doesn't seem possible.

Memories can be very, very unreliable.

Watch this for some enlightenment on eating and metabolism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o

Thanks, I was thinking of that video

kshama2001

Lounmoun wrote: »

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?

If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

Cosigning the bolded.

Kalikel

I have n excellent idea and during some periods, I should've gained more than I did. If you trust the math, anyway.

kiela64

Thanks everyone!

The 1600 is to lose 0.9lbs/week by the MFP calculation. But I figured her suggestion doesn't include exercise, and since I don't do a ton I figured I won't eat that back at this higher level.

You're right, I should wait and see, I just got anxious. What I think I was doing before now I think about more it is eating closer to 1800/day, with some days (2 or 3/week) closer to 2500 (if I look closer at the days where I've gone significantly over due to poor planning, etc). That makes more sense.

I did not eat a "standard American diet" because I dislike meat, but I was eating very few veggies and more starches than anyone needs. The "bad habits" are overeating, eating imbalanced, and eating junk food (those 2-3 days/week I wasn't counting before).

Sorry about the stupid question, I panicked late at night like a dumbo. Thanks again!

amusedmonkey

I actually tracked for two weeks before my diet just to get a feel for it. My days fluctuated between 800 and 4000... it's scary.

Francl27

Too much.

I'm confused though because after entering my info in Scooby it says my TDEE was lower than it is now to maintain my weight... which I maintained for 10 years eating way more than I do now.

Very confused. I'm guessing I only remember the bad days and some days I didn't eat that much? Hard to believe.