Gaining weight despite being under allotment?

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Replies

  • JeSuisPrest
    JeSuisPrest Posts: 2,005 Member
    A food scale will become your best friend. As far as not knowing BMR and TDEE that is why I directed you to the group EAt More To Weigh Less. And Google is your friend. ;)
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Ok, so more calories? I love fruits and veggies, so I wouldn't mind eating more of them I guess. And I shouldn't exercise more to accommodate for them?

    I'm really sorry if I sound like a complete idiot with this whole thing...it's much more complicated than "burning more calories than you eat=weight loss" like everyone in my life told me!
    Eat what calories you are given plus any exercise calories. Try to eat fresh foods and limit processed food.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I do not eat back exercise calories, because I thought that would defeat the purpose of burning all the calories. I thought MFP's goal for me was overall? Maybe not...I don't know, I'm so confused now lol!

    Happens a lot - people figure not eating what they've burned will be beneficial, but it's really not. MFP gives you a daily goal with your deficit already built in - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. When you exercise and burn off more cals, you're creating a HUGE deficit, and that causes the problems. A small deficit is best for fat loss and to keep your body happily fueled rather than desperately wondering if there's a famine, and wanting to store fat rather than burn it. :tongue: So that's why your exercise cals are added back into your daily goal - you are supposed to eat them to bring your NET cals up to goal.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    Maybe a first step should be to read the MFP Faq's so you understand better what you're doing and why..especially the issue of eating back calories, ot bmr/tdee method. You can do this, especially if you use this awesome tool correctly.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member

    I'm really sorry if I sound like a complete idiot with this whole thing...it's much more complicated than "burning more calories than you eat=weight loss" like everyone in my life told me!

    No, it actually is that simple and correct.

    But vast majority make a whole bunch of changes at once.

    If you were to merely back off eating a little bit of what you used to eat daily, and exercise 30 extra min daily with something easy - you'd be in fine shape.
    That could be as easy as stopping the sugar pop drinking and 1 snack, and walking 30 min every night. Simple as that.

    But you had no idea what you used to be eating, so you had nothing to compare to.

    So you totally changed up the diet probably, and are eating to a number that is an estimate, and threw in a bunch of exercise too.

    So now you need to try to figure out both sides of that equation.

    The problem came in assuming you knew more than what MFP was trying to do, or didn't seek to understand what it was doing and assuming you had it correct.

    Always learn to use a tool properly, smart life lesson.
  • tapdancr2192
    tapdancr2192 Posts: 54
    I do not eat back exercise calories, because I thought that would defeat the purpose of burning all the calories. I thought MFP's goal for me was overall? Maybe not...I don't know, I'm so confused now lol!

    Happens a lot - people figure not eating what they've burned will be beneficial, but it's really not. MFP gives you a daily goal with your deficit already built in - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. When you exercise and burn off more cals, you're creating a HUGE deficit, and that causes the problems. A small deficit is best for fat loss and to keep your body happily fueled rather than desperately wondering if there's a famine, and wanting to store fat rather than burn it. :tongue: So that's why your exercise cals are added back into your daily goal - you are supposed to eat them to bring your NET cals up to goal.

    Yes, it does seem to be the opposite of what we usually think! And what's crazy is that even though everyone is telling me that more calories are better, I'm scared to eat more calories! Is that ridiculous or what!? I have lost 11 pounds since getting out of school for the summer, and I really want that to continue...I guess that's why more calories is so terrifying lol.
  • sam45890
    sam45890 Posts: 43 Member
    If you don't want to read all the stuff about tdee etc just put your goal into your profile I would recommend 1lb a week loss and then do a month of making sure you're within 50 calories of your goal for the day. If mfp gives you extra for exercise then eat the extra. Weigh yourself in a month and see what's happened, then you'll know whether you need to adjust calories. Definitely get a scale, especially for things like cereal, rice, pasta and potatoes and also things like cheese. I wouldn't bother about weighing green veg or salad leaves though. If you're eating lots of processed foods then make sure you drink loads of water.
  • elleryjones
    elleryjones Posts: 88 Member
    Just reiterating the need for a food scale. I was amazed at how much I was underestimating my calories by just relying on whichever random calorie count came up when I entered a food into the MFP database. For example, bananas. A large banana can have up to 250 calories in it. I see that you've recorded bananas in your log for around 100. If you have two bananas a day and you're off 150 calories each time, that's 300 extra calories that aren't being accounted for. I was also quite sad to find out that measuring cups are not incredibly accurate, versus the scale. It's amazing how much you can fit into a measuring cup. ;)

    I would recommend the first step you take is to get a scale and figure out precisely how much you are eating, before you increase calories. Count out everything. Weigh everything. Eat foods that are nutrient dense and give you the most bang for the buck. When I was first starting out I would stalk people's diaries to get an idea of what they ate and what kind of workouts they were doing.

    Once you figure out that your numbers are accurate, then you will know whether you need to increase/decrease or whether you're on the right track. And yes, eat your 1850. :)
  • sio6
    sio6 Posts: 4
    so far I have not had a problem with the wii fit calories, they seem to be pretty close to what the mfp info is for minutes sometimes the wii says I have burned more, but that is usually when I have been doing nothing but the jogging and high intensity exercises......also there is a game on the wii shop channel called step up...........much more intense than the step for wii fit, but you will have to keep track of the calories and manually input the info on mfp. Hope this was helpful
  • tapdancr2192
    tapdancr2192 Posts: 54
    Thanks so much for the info everyone! I am looking into implementing some of these changes slowly (I was told not to just change it up all at once).

    You all have been so helpful!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

    P.S.- sio6, LOVE your picture...penguins are my favorite animal! (my students at school might say I'm obsessed with them) :happy:

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