Thoughts on calories and metabolism function?

sarahju13

Hi everyone! New to tracking... Only 7 days in. I am 5'5" and weigh 171. I am lightly active. Trying to work on that. I eat gluten free due to possible celiac... So lower carbs than most although I don't really look at that. My question is regarding calories. MFP put me at 1200 calories to lose. I am already afraid I have messed up my metabolism in the past because I lose so slow. Is 1200 too low? How can I get my body firing on all cylinders? Any advice would be helpful! I want to see success to get me motivated!

DeguelloTex

If you think 1200 is too low, set your goal to something other than two pounds per week.

Your metabolism almost certainly isn't messed up.

scolaris

Yeah, I set things at low rates of loss & then find that I lose more quickly on the easier weeks when I can move more & eat a little less without getting stressed out about goals. I do find it suspicious that women of all heights, weights and ages seem fixated on 1200 calories which seems stupid low for all but the shortest, thinnest, oldest & most sedentary among us.

nvmomketo

A TDEE calculator can help you figure out your rough caloris needs. http://tdeecalculator.net/ Most people go with sedentary numbers and then add the exercise into MFP seperately as they do it.

A pound of weight lost requires a caloric deficit of about 3500 calories. If you want to lose 1 lb per week, that works out to a deficit of about 500 calories per day.

You are not small, so I am guessing you could raise your calories. I am 5'8" and was eating about 1500 calories per day (give or take 500 calories) and losing 2 lbs per week for a few months. I am now at a normal BMI and my TDEE is about 1600, but I am stll losing close to a pound per week, without exercise.

BTW, I'm a celiac too. Have you been tested yet? It's often a good idea to get tested before going GF because the tests require that you are eating gluten in the 2-3 months prior to testing. Going back to gluten for an entire season often isn't a pleasant experience.

Best wishes.

sarahju13

I have been gluten free for years now. Yes I tried to go back on gluten for my dr to test me but it hurt too bad. At that point my doc said no worries... You obviously at least have an intolerance just eat gluten free. I bloat very easy... So hard to weigh myself and feel it is accurate. When I lose it oddly is when I weigh myself around 4 or 5pm. I gain overnight, weird I have never had that in the past.

Sued0nim

I'm 5'8 at sedentary my TDEE allowance from MFP is 1740, how can yours be so much lower?

My actual TDEE because I'm not sedentary is more like 2300 but that's immaterial to the calculators

Sued0nim

sarahju13 wrote: »

I have been gluten free for years now. Yes I tried to go back on gluten for my dr to test me but it hurt too bad. At that point my doc said no worries... You obviously at least have an intolerance just eat gluten free. I bloat very easy... So hard to weigh myself and feel it is accurate. When I lose it oddly is when I weigh myself around 4 or 5pm. I gain overnight, weird I have never had that in the past.

Weigh first thing in the morning after the bathroom, before eating and nekkid

Don't worry about fluctuations, take average loss over 6-8 weeks

Liftng4Lis

1200 is your base and you will earning more through exercise.

Liftng4Lis

Additionally, if you lower the aggressiveness of your goal, you will have a higher base.

AnnPT77

When you say "I lose so slow", what do you mean? (I ask because sometimes the silly weight-loss TV shows and magazine articles have skewed people's ideas of what normal weight loss is or should be.)

At 171, I'd infer that you don't have a huge amount to lose - your BMI would be in the overweight range, not the obese range. So probably a pound a week, or even half a pound a week, would be a reasonable, sustainable & healthy goal. You could go for 2 pounds a week for a while (first 20 pounds or so), but I wouldn't suggest that if you start to feel fatigued or otherwise poorly, and it would be healthful to drop the rate of loss as you get closer to goal.

Background for my saying this: I'm 5'5, SW 183 (just a bit more than you) in April 2015, CW 136, heading for 125-130. I started out losing 2 pounds/week when I was heavier, but have gradually upped my calories to try to coast into maintenance. I'm now losing 0.5-1 pound a week (trying for 0.5) with a 1500 net calorie goal, and I eat back most of my (conservatively estimated) exercise calories (usually 300-some additional calories daily). I do weigh my food very carefully & log conscientiously. Oh, and I'm also 59 years old, and hypothyroid.

If you weigh and log carefully for a few weeks at a sustainable calorie goal, you can get a clear understanding of how much you lose (or gain) at that level, and can adjust accordingly.

I admit I'm still losing on more calories than MFP thinks it would take at my age. I used to think I had a slow metabolism. Now I'm pretty sure I was just eating to (substantial) excess.

sarahju13

Weigh first thing in the morning after the bathroom, before eating and nekkid

Don't worry about fluctuations, take average loss over 6-8 weeks [/quote]

I do weigh first thing in the AM before eating... That's why it is weird. Maybe sodium intake?

Sued0nim

sarahju13 wrote: »

I have been gluten free for years now. Yes I tried to go back on gluten for my dr to test me but it hurt too bad. At that point my doc said no worries... You obviously at least have an intolerance just eat gluten free. I bloat very easy... So hard to weigh myself and feel it is accurate. When I lose it oddly is when I weigh myself around 4 or 5pm. I gain overnight, weird I have never had that in the past.

sarahju13 wrote: »

I do weigh first thing in the AM before eating... That's why it is weird. Maybe sodium intake?

I am not following sorry

nvmomketo

rabbitjb wrote: »

I'm 5'8 at sedentary my TDEE allowance from MFP is 1740, how can yours be so much lower?

My actual TDEE because I'm not sedentary is more like 2300 but that's immaterial to the calculators

Oops!! Geez, you are right. Thank you. I typed it wrong. It was 1699 and I typed 1600 instead of 1700.

Oops. Too late to edit my post now.

My TDEE is 1700 and not 1600.

sarahju13 wrote: »

I have been gluten free for years now. Yes I tried to go back on gluten for my dr to test me but it hurt too bad. At that point my doc said no worries... You obviously at least have an intolerance just eat gluten free. I bloat very easy... So hard to weigh myself and feel it is accurate. When I lose it oddly is when I weigh myself around 4 or 5pm. I gain overnight, weird I have never had that in the past.

I have heard many stories of people who can't test. I'm glad your doctor hasn't pushed the issue with you.

I bloat when exposd to gluten very easily too. Milk or lactose will do it too but I can handle small amounts of cheese and cream. Raw veggies too. They get me. Oh, and raw pears and apples are considered to be evil by my body... no idea why.

If you are bloating, it could still be a food intolerance of some sort. I would compare symptoms to your food diary. Foods you ate minutes to 3 days prior to bloating could be the problem.

Gaining overnight? LOL That is unusual.

sarahju13

Thank you all so much! I guess I am impatient and want to be back where I was. I lost with WW in the past and just remember it being constant. I have been at 125 and felt great. I have been measuring but not weighing. I did adjust my goals and it bumped me up to 1310. I'll just be patient... Hard for me but I know I just need to be realistic! I am 36 now.

sarahju13

So when I weigh right when I get home from work at 4 or 5pm I lose. Then I eat dinner, sleep, wake up and weigh again and I gain.

Sued0nim

sarahju13 wrote: »

So when I weigh right when I get home from work at 4 or 5pm I lose. Then I eat dinner, sleep, wake up and weigh again and I gain.

You're measuring fluctuations and there's no point in doing that at all

But yes it is unusual that you weigh less in the afternoon than in the morning

nvmomketo

sarahju13 wrote: »

So when I weigh right when I get home from work at 4 or 5pm I lose. Then I eat dinner, sleep, wake up and weigh again and I gain.

Are you maybe a bit dehydrated then?

sarahju13

nvmomketo wrote: »

sarahju13 wrote: »

So when I weigh right when I get home from work at 4 or 5pm I lose. Then I eat dinner, sleep, wake up and weigh again and I gain.

Are you maybe a bit dehydrated then?

Perhaps, I try to drink at least 60 oz while working. It is possible though.

AnnPT77

I've weighed myself daily for *years*, even when not losing (I'm a data geek, not weight obsessed, I swear), and recorded it on graph paper. So I've had a lot of experience with how my body behaves. Even weighing daily in the morning, I've seen as much as *5 pounds* difference from one day to the next, and I'll guarantee you I didn't eat 17,500 calories. A day-to-day difference of 2 to 3 pounds is not at all unusual.

Why? Water weight from something like extra salt, extra carbs, new workout routine; time of month; weight of food or beverages still somewhere in one's digestive system; more.

Trust the process. Maintain a sustainable deficit. Look at the longer-term (several week) trend of your weight. If you are stressed by frequent weighing, don't weigh frequently. Or, do weigh frequently, but learn from that about what *your* body does, so you don't over-react to normal fluctuation.

Consider using an app like Trendweight, Libra, Happy Scale (etc.) that will calculate and show you your longer-term weight trend (once you have some weeks of data in it).

I'm sorry to say it, but seven days' data just isn't enough to interpret (particularly when you just started logging). Log meticulously for 3-4 weeks, then re-assess. I know it's hard, but work toward patience!