Complete Noob and Struggling

danie_canuck

Hi all, so I am new to MFP. and have a few questions. I am sorry they may appear rather long.

OK to my questions. I have a Samsung Galaxy GEAR Live Smart watch. I was syncing with google fit then stopped. I had tried Pacer and it was great but for some reason wasn't working with my watch and I normally don't keep my cell on my person and as such not syncing. I am now trying Under Armor Record and the calorie syncing and steps seem crazy off. My question is can I manually enter my steps I do during the day (I run a large bookstore and chase after a toddler boy during the days) as leisure walking. For example today when I took 14808 steps burned 1521 calories and had a continue active time of 1 hr 39 mins. So I manually entered 99 mins of leisure walking in MFP Exercise to give me an extra 321 calories. I don't want to cheat myself and say I earned those extra calories if that isn't the case.

My second question is I have been following my calorie consumption and week 1 I lost a whopping 6.8 lbs. But week 2 and this week I have been gaining weight! I don't get it. Anyone have any suggestion to kick start things again. I am not about to starve myself or just eat lettuce all day. But I am also not eating fast food, portion sizing. (I use my food scale all the time and measure everything.)

Any help if both questions would be so greatly appreciated. I could also use both support and motivation and help so feel free to add me to your friends.

CrabNebula

Everyone loses lots of water weight to start. It is normal. It is also normal to put on water weight for 309285302 reasons under the sun. Weight loss is not linear. It requires a certain amount of discipline and keeping the faith that if you are honest with yourself and keeping a calorie deficit, the weight will come off. I have no idea what is up with your fitness tracker. I've never used one, but still managed to lose 140ish lbs from my high weight.

illykins87

I am of no help in the tech deparment sorry but I can help with question 2! Try to remeber it's not just about losing weight, its being healthy. Make sure you are measuring arms, waist, legs, etc and see the difference yourself that yes you are losing mass just not pounds. Muscle weights more than fat so in the begining you will most likely gain, then start to lose pounds. As for food it really is just about moderation you can still go out and eat, just be mindful. Don't get the XL get the small and try snacking instead of big meals! I love having a treat planned for after dinner so a bit of extra motivation if I am good, I get it if I am bad I don't. Hope this is of some help feel free to add me as a friend ☺

Alesia007

So the extra calories sounds about right really. Do you have your MFP app set to a semi-active lifestyle? Sounds like you are on your feet a lot. The nice thing about MFP is that it calculates your average calorie burn based off your lifestyle/age/weight etc. So I'm guessing that maybe your monitor is calculating your rate of burn for the entire day, not just the workouts? I have a Fitbit Charge HR which automatically links to MFP and adds in my extra calories only when my workout actually causes me to go over my daily calorie estimate. I also trust my fitbit a lot because it follows my heart rate 24/7.

So my fitbit estimates about 100-200 calories for every 30 min walk I do and about 2500 steps per mile I walk. So I would say the steps for you are probably pretty accurate, but the calorie burn estimate is very high. I also REALLY don't trust the MFP workout calorie burn numbers. They're waaaaaaaay off base and aren't accurate 90% of the time.

Another thing to keep in mind is this, for every 3500 calories you are in deficit, you will lose a pound. So if you are eating 1500 calories per day and burning an extra 500 calories on top of your daily calorie burn (about 2000) you'll be losing 2lbs a week.

The math:
2500 burned - 1500 cal eaten = 1000 cal x 7 days = 7000 cal deficit or two lbs lost.

It's normal to plateau a bit after the initial water weight drop, but if you are gaining then it's probably to do with some calorie number issues.

I hope this makes sense and helps. I've been spending all my time lately trying to learn and grasp all there is to learn about weight loss and most of this is just based off what I've learned.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

Alesia007 wrote: »

So the extra calories sounds about right really. Do you have your MFP app set to a semi-active lifestyle? Sounds like you are on your feet a lot. The nice thing about MFP is that it calculates your average calorie burn based off your lifestyle/age/weight etc. So I'm guessing that maybe your monitor is calculating your rate of burn for the entire day, not just the workouts? I have a Fitbit Charge HR which automatically links to MFP and adds in my extra calories only when my workout actually causes me to go over my daily calorie estimate. I also trust my fitbit a lot because it follows my heart rate 24/7.

So my fitbit estimates about 100-200 calories for every 30 min walk I do and about 2500 steps per mile I walk. So I would say the steps for you are probably pretty accurate, but the calorie burn estimate is very high. I also REALLY don't trust the MFP workout calorie burn numbers. They're waaaaaaaay off base and aren't accurate 90% of the time.

Another thing to keep in mind is this, for every 3500 calories you are in deficit, you will lose a pound. So if you are eating 1500 calories per day and burning an extra 500 calories on top of your daily calorie burn (about 2000) you'll be losing 2lbs a week.

The math:
2500 burned - 1500 cal eaten = 1000 cal x 7 days = 7000 cal deficit or two lbs lost.

It's normal to plateau a bit after the initial water weight drop, but if you are gaining then it's probably to do with some calorie number issues.

I hope this makes sense and helps. I've been spending all my time lately trying to learn and grasp all there is to learn about weight loss and most of this is just based off what I've learned.

ok but if she eats 1500 and burns 500 she needs to eat at least half those exercise calories back. you dont want to net too low or eat less than your BMR either. burn estimates will also differ person to person. the more you weigh the more calories you burn.she shouldnt net below 1200 but then again you arent supposed to net below your caloric allowance because your deficit is built in when you state your activity levels. any other exercise will give you even more of a deficit which is why you are supposed to eat at least half your calories back.(half because its easy to overestimate burned calories).anything more than 20% less than your TDEE(unless its very high) is most likely not going to be sustainable and healthy at that.

vegasleo79

OP, download Happy Scale. It will start monitoring your weight loss trend so the ups/downs won't be as concerning. Just input your weight daily (or as much as you can, but the more, the better) and it will show you "moving average" weight, as well as projected weight loss. It helps me so much not to take the water losses/gains so seriously. Good luck!

Alesia007

ok but if she eats 1500 and burns 500 she needs to eat at least half those exercise calories back. you dont want to net too low or eat less than your BMR either. burn estimates will also differ person to person. the more you weigh the more calories you burn.she shouldnt net below 1200 but then again you arent supposed to net below your caloric allowance because your deficit is built in when you state your activity levels. any other exercise will give you even more of a deficit which is why you are supposed to eat at least half your calories back.(half because its easy to overestimate burned calories).anything more than 20% less than your TDEE(unless its very high) is most likely not going to be sustainable and healthy at that.

Yeah I was just throwing an example out there. The basic idea behind how the math works. It's very weird and differs for everyone, it's just a matter finding out what your personal BMR is as well as how much you plan on burning etc. Like for me, my BMR is really low since I have a pretty sedentary lifestyle and so my calorie intake is very low but it's extremely healthy so it works for me (TONS of veggies, tea and water) but for most people, especially people who move around all day, it would be way too low. I struggled a lot until I really looked into all the numbers and figured out what works for me.

Psychgrrl

OP, are you saying you burn 1521 calories for the day in total or just for the 14,000-ish steps?

danie_canuck

Alesia007 wrote: »

Yeah I was just throwing an example out there. The basic idea behind how the math works. It's very weird and differs for everyone, it's just a matter finding out what your personal BMR is as well as how much you plan on burning etc. Like for me, my BMR is really low since I have a pretty sedentary lifestyle and so my calorie intake is very low but it's extremely healthy so it works for me (TONS of veggies, tea and water) but for most people, especially people who move around all day, it would be way too low. I struggled a lot until I really looked into all the numbers and figured out what works for me. [/quote

How did you figure out what your perfect balance was? I have only done weight watchers in the past, but it is so generic. your height weight gender. ok here is how many points you can have and just focus on that. This calorie thing seems very specific to the individual.

Psychgrrl wrote: »

OP, are you saying you burn 1521 calories for the day in total or just for the 14,000-ish steps?

The numbers were final numbers I got from google fit for the day however google fit calculates it. I assumed it was based on my steps and active steps.

vegasleo79 wrote: »

OP, download Happy Scale. It will start monitoring your weight loss trend so the ups/downs won't be as concerning. Just input your weight daily (or as much as you can, but the more, the better) and it will show you "moving average" weight, as well as projected weight loss. It helps me so much not to take the water losses/gains so seriously. Good luck!

I will totally check out that app. Thanks! do you log your weight at around the same time daily?

cathyheinle

All of this is so confusing to me. If I am supposed to eat between 1200-1500 calories and I work pt time not really active except at the gym how do I figure out how much exercise I need to lose 2 lbs a week?

CharlieBeansmomTracey

cathyheinle wrote: »

All of this is so confusing to me. If I am supposed to eat between 1200-1500 calories and I work pt time not really active except at the gym how do I figure out how much exercise I need to lose 2 lbs a week?

you put in how much you want to lose into mfp,how much per week you want to lose,if you arent active except for at the gym set your activity to sedentary and eat the calories mfp gives you. why do you think you need to eat between 1200-1500 calories? eat what MFP gives you and you should be fine.

danie_canuck

Oh my gosh I am an idiot. I know better than this. So long story short, once upon a time I did WW and had success. Here not so much. Why? that was driving me bonkers. I wasn't over eating calories. But I am gaining because the calories I am eating are bad bad bad. Based on the WW points plus system since I started my fitness pal I have been over my points target by 152 points!!! I am eating the WRONG foods. Looking at my food diary reports I am over eating in my fats and proteins. But mostly fats. I found a couple free weight watchers points calculators online for free. (http://www.calculatorcat.com/free_calculators/weight_watchers_calculator.phtml) if anyone wants to use them. I will be doing this and using those calculators (a combination of both systems) to keep on track with the RIGHT foods.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

danie_canuck wrote: »

Oh my gosh I am an idiot. I know better than this. So long story short, once upon a time I did WW and had success. Here not so much. Why? that was driving me bonkers. I wasn't over eating calories. But I am gaining because the calories I am eating are bad bad bad. Based on the WW points plus system since I started my fitness pal I have been over my points target by 152 points!!! I am eating the WRONG foods. Looking at my food diary reports I am over eating in my fats and proteins. But mostly fats. I found a couple free weight watchers points calculators online for free. (http://www.calculatorcat.com/free_calculators/weight_watchers_calculator.phtml) if anyone wants to use them. I will be doing this and using those calculators (a combination of both systems) to keep on track with the RIGHT foods.

overeating fats and proteins wont cause weight gain unless it put you into a surplus of calories. you dont gain weight because of what you eat its how much you eat and if you eat in a caloric surplus you gain weight no matter what you eat even if its healthy food. if you eat in a deficit you lose weight. so forget the weight watchers method and input your info into mfp and eat what you want as long as you can fit it into your caloric goals. 500 calories of fat or protein is still 500 calories, 500 calories of cookies or cakes again is still 500 calories. it may not be as healthy as say 500 calories worth of veggies or fruit but its still a calorie.There are NO wrong foods. I eat what I want and have lost weight,so have many others on this site.

k80flec

A couple of things to think about (although I can't comment on the tech issues . . . my Fitbit links to MFP and I therefore ignore logging any exercise - I regularly swim, run, do weights! And trust Fitbit and MFP to sort it out for me. I've lost 50 lbs and have maintained for 3 years)

*1 - a pound is a pound regardless - feather/lead, fat/muscle. The difference lies in their volume or how much space they take up.

*2 - scales are your best friend

*3 - there are NO wrong foods - you may wish to decide whether or not the calories are worth it, but the main issue is whether or not they fit your plan for the day/week

*4 - weight loss is driven by burning more calories than you consume (CICO - calories in v colorise out)

*5 - NSV (non scale victories) are important too - does the tape measure say your shrinking, are your clothes getting baggy?? Can you jog for a minute now?? Lift more weight?? Walk for longer??

*6 - there are excellent stickies at the beginning of each topic and they're full of SOLID advice and information. I'd advise any nooby to devour them.

Keep on and trust yourself and the process.

Edited for typo

sugargrammy45

You can buy an old fashioned pedometer that goes on your leg or ankle and it will tell you how many steps you've taken all day. Now, about calories. I have a simple, simple approach. I know the amount I need daily, which for me is 1200 calories. And, I don't care if I burn 250 calories a day or 1250 calories a day in exercise, I do NOT eat back those calories. That defeats the purpose. There have been MFP members try to tell me that I have to eat back a portion of those calories burned but NO I DON'T. And, it works for me.

Two simple answers. Hope they help. Because really, it all comes down to what you want to do and why. Everyone on here is an individual with individual ideas. You'll eventually find what works for you!

CharlieBeansmomTracey

sugargrammy45 wrote: »

You can buy an old fashioned pedometer that goes on your leg or ankle and it will tell you how many steps you've taken all day. Now, about calories. I have a simple, simple approach. I know the amount I need daily, which for me is 1200 calories. And, I don't care if I burn 250 calories a day or 1250 calories a day in exercise, I do NOT eat back those calories. That defeats the purpose. There have been MFP members try to tell me that I have to eat back a portion of those calories burned but NO I DON'T. And, it works for me.

Two simple answers. Hope they help. Because really, it all comes down to what you want to do and why. Everyone on here is an individual with individual ideas. You'll eventually find what works for you!

How does it defeat the purpose? because mfp has your deficit built in(to lose weight) anything else you do to burn additional calories is an additional deficit,which is why MFP is set up to give you more calories if you burn them apart from your regular deficit. netting below 1200 calories is not healthy.your body burns calories just by being alive,functioning,etc. all that is taken into consideration on MFP. sure you are losing weight because you are in reality eating less than 1000 calories if you are burning 250 calories.also you are probably netting below your bmr which is another unhealthy thing to do.your BMR is what your body needs,calorie wise to function properly.