What am I doing wrong?

lemonychild

Shiiii#%%%% lol 40 min for 1000 cals - yeah right


When is MFP going to fix these crazy #s

3dogsrunning

aggelikik wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

Your NET calories at the end of the day are well under 1200 if you're not eating back calories. And when the body senses NET calories being to low, it goes into homeostasis. It's NOT going to burn at rest (where you lose the most fat) in large amounts due to NET calories being so low. First goal of the body is to survive and too low of calories will ensure very slow weight loss (unless one is quite obese).

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

She is eating back her calories. And these calories are crazy high: 90 minutes cycling 1400 calories, 40 minutes run close to 1000 calories and so on.

I didn't even look at the diary.

Yeah. This is a problem.

ilex70

3dogsrunning wrote: »

aggelikik wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

Your NET calories at the end of the day are well under 1200 if you're not eating back calories. And when the body senses NET calories being to low, it goes into homeostasis. It's NOT going to burn at rest (where you lose the most fat) in large amounts due to NET calories being so low. First goal of the body is to survive and too low of calories will ensure very slow weight loss (unless one is quite obese).

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

She is eating back her calories. And these calories are crazy high: 90 minutes cycling 1400 calories, 40 minutes run close to 1000 calories and so on.

I didn't even look at the diary.

Yeah. This is a problem.

Agree. OP I have a vivofit synced to MFP and it just logs my movement as walking even though I do more intense exercise, partly because it is such a guessing game as to how many calories you have burned.

WholeFoods4Lyfe

I'm going to echo the others here.

Weigh all your foods when possible. Don't use generic entries. I'm all for eating back SOME calories, but you are eating yourself right out of a defecit. The average person will burn approximately 100calories per mile, whether walking or running, so your 3 mile run burns between 300-350 calories. I also highly doubt that you are burning 1,400 calories cycling. I would invest in a HRM, I have a Polar and I really like it.

Try these things and see if it makes a difference. It's a learning process, and it's great that you came here for advice, there are a lot of smart people on these boards who have been there done that and always willing to help others.

tdeaux

kimny72 wrote: »

OP, I peeked at your diary. A couple of things:

I see a lot of generic entries. Are these recipes you created, or did you just find these in the database? You should try logging individual ingredients or creating your own recipes, otherwise you have no idea whether they are correct or not.

I also see a lot of measurements in cups and "one serving" serving sizes. It would be most accurate to use a food scale as often as possible. Find database entries with grams listed, and the first time you log an ingredient, check it against USDA values found on line. Then it will be saved in your recent foods and you can just grab it off there whenever you need it.

Are you using an HRM to get those calorie burns?

My guess is you are eating more calories than you think, and eating back more exercise calories than you really burned. If you can tighten that up, I bet you will start to see more consistent results. Good luck!

Edited because on a second read I caught how much exercise you are doing and second-guessed my original comment about that...

^this exactly. I find most people underestimate how much they're really eating. I thought I knew what a cup looked like until I started to weight it or measure and I was like holy crap I don't know portion sizes at all.

silvilunazul

aggelikik wrote: »

You say you have a goal of 1200 calories. But your diary indicates you are eating more than double this number, because you are adding 1000-2000 calories per day from exercise and then eat these back. I have no idea how you are coming up with the burned calories, but I am guessing the final number comes up to having no deficit at all. realistically, for a middle aged woman who is not too tall either, it would take several hours of exercise per day to burn these calories. I would suggest you lower your sums by 500 or so average and see what happens in a few weeks. And do not allow yourself cheat days of doubling the calories you eat, this can easily make the whole week's deficit disappear. Look at the weekly averages.
Also, get a food scale. Your logging is basically estimations. They could be very very off.

This. I have never used MFP to estimate my calorie burn, but according to my HRM I burn about 400 kcals during a 5k (3.1 mile) run. My guess then is overestimation of exercise calories. I wouldn't recommend eating back the calories, as exercise already helps little to create a deficit, but if you really need to do it, keep it very moderate.

blues4miles

misskarne wrote: »

You've lost 6lbs, in a month, with not a huge amount to lose (and a detour into being sick in the middle).

I'm completely failing to understand the problem here.

I know, right? I am shorter and heavier than OP. I lost ~3 lbs in December, 4 lbs in January, 4 lbs in February, and 2 lbs in March. OP should be extremely pleased with their progress.

Jleigh225

Most people on MFP recommend eating back half of your exercise calories instead of all because MFP severly over estimates. Understand that exercise is good but it's really for fitness. The bulk of your weight loss will be in what you're eating so modify your exercise so that you can be the most successful with tracking, if that makes sense. If that doesn't fix it after a month of really focusing on your food and eating only half of your exercise calories back, then Id see a doctor.