Under Eating?

sarahkw04

Hello! Coming out of lurking to ask for some advice/assistance. And hoping I'm using the right board.

Over the last 2-3 years, I've lost about 100lbs. I'd like to lose another 15-20lbs to get to my ideal weight. Naturally, the last pounds are the hardest to lose, and I'm stuck.

I'm extremely active. I teach at least 3 barre classes a week and take 4-5 a week. I also go to the gym for cardio 2-3 times a week. I'd been doing time on the elliptical, but have recently shifted my focus to tabata style workouts to break up the routine. Plus, I hate running with a passion.

I'm a diligent tracker. I measure everything, scan things, make sure any recipes I create are accurate, track even the little things (like coffee creamer!) etc. I've done well with MyFitnessPal over the last several months. You'll see from my diary that I tend to eat similar meals throughout the week. With my schedule, it works best for me to meal prep on a Sunday night and have food ready to go throughout the week.

My dilemma: I've been stuck on the scale for quite a while, gaining and losing the same 3 or so pounds. I'm struggling with what I should be eating, when, and how much. I wear a heart rate monitor to track my calories burned. "Pilates" is where I log barre and "Elliptical" or "Jogging" is where I log cardio/tabata. I don't always update the minutes accurately, but calories burned are accurate, per my Polar.

I feel like I'm under eating, based on how much activity I get. On the days I teach a lot and work out, I'm trying extra hard to add back in protein, be it shakes or a protein heavy snack. I feel like I'm missing something and would love input from the community. Thanks in advance!

Maxematics

How long have you been stuck on the same three pounds? You say quite a while but you haven't been specific. In any case, undereating wouldn't cause you to stall in weight loss, but overeating or eating at maintenance would. If you eat back all your exercise calories, the odds are that it's too many to lose weight.

sarahkw04

synacious wrote: »

How long have you been stuck on the same three pounds? You say quite a while but you haven't been specific. In any case, undereating wouldn't cause you to stall in weight loss, but overeating or eating at maintenance would. If you eat back all your exercise calories, the odds are that it's too many to lose weight.

Since October or so. I try not to eat back all my exercise calories, but admittedly sometimes do, often because I'm trying to make sure I'm eating enough.

cerise_noir

You say that you 'measure' your foods. Is this with a scale, or cups/spoons?

Edit. Checking out your diary, it seems that you're not weighing all you food. I see 1 TBS peanut butter.. it's much better to weigh calorie dense foods such as this. Definitely start weighing all your solid and semi solid food with a food scale. With so little to lose, your logging must be as accurate as possible, as there is much less room for error. If you keep losing/gaining the same few pounds, you're eating at maintenance for a small part, then going back into losing mode. Use measuring cups for liquids only, and be diligent with weighing your added recipe meal portions.

Do this for a month, then reassess. Good luck!

malibu927

Judging by your diary, I'd say it's more likely you're overeating. If you're using measuring spoons and cups, you should switch to a food scale, which will be much more accurate.

LeanButNotMean44

malibu927 wrote: »

Judging by your diary, I'd say it's more likely you're overeating. If you're using measuring spoons and cups, you should switch to a food scale, which will be much more accurate.

^^^This, especially with so little weight left to lose.^^^

erinc5

How tall are you and what is your "ideal weight". Perhaps your goal is a bit too ambitious? `100 lbs is great to have lost! Good job! Do you have excess skin that may be the cause of some extra lbs you aren't losing?

Otherwise, I agree with others. If you aren't losing, then you are overeating, not undereating.

sarahkw04

Thanks for all the feedback! I've ordered a digital scale and will dust off the old needle scale until it arrives.

I'm 5'2" and my ideal weight is 135-140lbs. Anything less than that would be too thin for me.

Just given the amount of activity I put in most days, I want to make sure I'm still eating enough. It's all so confusing! Today, for example, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and a 30 minute core class to burn exactly 400 calories. I'll teach tonight and typically burn another 400 or so calories.

Thanks again!

blues4miles

You might try eating back less of your calorie burn as well...I am experimenting with that now. The numbers MFP gives me for walking and the numbers my HRM give me would imply that all my weight loss from the last 3 weeks has come from working out and not from eating at a deficit. Which makes me think it's overestimating.

I've started taking 80% of the walking calories and 90% of the HRM/jogging calories and I'll see if that makes the math work for me again. The math was working when I was working out less so I feel that it's a good bet my exercise numbers were overinflated. Yours might be too, just an idea.