Can I get some critique please?

AimiAutumn

Its been exactly 1 week since I start logging everything I eat and exercising almost every day.
I was eating about 1300 calories a day, but when I noticed the scale wasnt budging I lowered it to 1200 calories.
I know a lot of you say that I'm not eating enough, but I have to disagree, my life is a lot less active than the average person. I work from home as a digital artist, which means I have a desk job and most days I don't even leave my house.
I have been exercising almost every day, even if its not much, I do at least 45 minutes of walking, or 30 minutes on the elliptical, along with some weight training. Everyday is something and its never less than a half hour of working out, I do eat back my exercise calories, but maybe I shouldn't? Do you think if I'm building muscle, thats why I'm not losing weight?

My diary is open and up for critique, I think one of my main struggles is that I don't drink enough water (Only about 2 bottles of water a day on average) and I eat to many things high in carbs (rice, toast, cereal) Even though I'm in my calorie limit, could these things be effecting my weight loss, should I cut those things out?

OR do you think I'm being to hard on myself and not giving my body enough time to adjust. I just don't want to continue to do this for another week with no results and I'd like to make adjustments if it would better my results.

Thanks guys!

Also some stats:
Female
22 years old
5'8
189 pounds.

Nicklebee93

First off weight loss isn't linear, and only a week really isn't enough to tell if something is wrong in your diet. But if you continue not losing (and no inches are coming off) then you're not properly logging. Either you're not measuring out all your food (eating more than you think) or reading labels wrong.

kommodevaran

At your age and size, you should be eating around 1600-1800 calories to lose weight, but you need to weigh everything you eat and check entries with label/internet.

mgookin1

Are you weighing and measuring all your food properly? You are probably eating more calories then hat you are logging.

Also are you using MFP to track calories from exercise? MFP is very generous, so if you want to lose weight, I would lower the amount of exercise calories you eat to 30-50% of the number it gives you.

arditarose

It's been a week....Just be patient.

shadow2soul

New exercise = water retention masking any fat loss
1 week is not enough time. If you are near your TOM then you could easily be retaining water from that (it's normal).
If your eating exercise calories, it's suggested that you start with only eating 50% back. Then after 3-4 weeks adjust up or down based on your avg weekly loss.
You will have some weeks you lose, some you see a slight gain and some where nothing happens at all. It's just part of the process. Be patient.

RoxieDawn

First, it has only been 1 week. Also you will be building very very minimal muscle while eating at a deficit such as yours. I am assuming that you set up to loose 2 pounds per week. Actually you will loose muscle at your deficit along with fat loss.

I ran your stats here http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ and because I see you are eating 1200 calories now, you have set your goal way to aggressively.

For your information, scooby pulled up your Daily Calorie Requirements at your stats and I used Projected Weight Loss at 20% (around 1 lb per week) and sedentary)

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) 1668 per week
Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) 2001
Daily calories based on goal in step 1601 to loose 1 pound / week

USE this chart to help as a guide:

AimiAutumn

Thanks for all the input guys! I think I need a scale to weigh my foods, but I usually will use measuring cups to measure out things like rice, cereal, milk etc.
I think I may just need to give it more time, but I'd still like some critique on my diet if people see the need to point something out or any other helpful tips are greatly appreciated.
I'll try to be more patient and definitely will take the advice to eat back only about 50% of my exercise calories!

AimiAutumn

Oh my gosh thanks RoxieDawn that chart is super helpful and makes me feel a bit better!

Maxematics

AimiAutumn wrote: »

Thanks for all the input guys! I think I need a scale to weigh my foods, but I usually will use measuring cups to measure out things like rice, cereal, milk etc.
I think I may just need to give it more time, but I'd still like some critique on my diet if people see the need to point something out or any other helpful tips are greatly appreciated.
I'll try to be more patient and definitely will take the advice to eat back only about 50% of my exercise calories!

Everyone pretty much covered it, but yes use your food scale. The measuring cup for milk is fine, but for rice, cereal, pasta, etc you will see a serving in grams is usually much less than what you put in the measuring cup. The differences really add up!

Seffell

See this video:

https://youtu.be/vjKPIcI51lU

upoffthemat

shadow2soul wrote: »

New exercise = water retention masking any fat loss
1 week is not enough time. If you are near your TOM then you could easily be retaining water from that (it's normal).
If your eating exercise calories, it's suggested that you start with only eating 50% back. Then after 3-4 weeks adjust up or down based on your avg weekly loss.
You will have some weeks you lose, some you see a slight gain and some where nothing happens at all. It's just part of the process. Be patient.

If you are new to exercise you may be doing good not have gained anything in the first week. Give it time and trust in the numbers, definitely get a scale to make sure your measurements are right.

AimiAutumn

Thank you all so much for your support and help. It's made me feel much better and gave me some good advice I'll have to try out! This is such a wonderful and kind community

meaganseafit

Girl you need to eat more! Maybe try training a little more intensely with your weights rather than cardio. If 1200 calories is keeping you at the same weight your metabolism needs a little TLC. You could also be in starvation mode - what were your eating habits like previously? If you train with weights a little more you'll be able to build a little more lean body mass which will help increase your metabolism so you have something to cut calories from! Make sure you're getting in lots of water, and try eating a little more protein and see if that helps

AimiAutumn

Thanks Meagan! I'd like to do more weight training but at the moment I only have a couple 15 pound hand weights to work with and there's only so much you can do with that! My eating habits prior were honestly not to bad, I cook everything from scratch at home, it was just a matter of eating large portions, snacking between meals and not moving enough. I also feel like I may eat too many high carb foods (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc) and not enough protein.
These are habits I'm trying to change. Smaller portions, exercising, drinking more water and eating more protein.

I'm just worried if I increase my calories like everyone suggests that I'll gain weight, since eating these few calories isn't even causing me to lose weight at the moment. I know there is a science behind it and that your body could go into starvation mode, however, I dont feel like I move as much as a normal person would. Because I'm self employed and work out of my house, the most activity I get (if I don't exercise, which I do daily now, in that case I do eat back my exercise calories) is moving from one room to another.

I think I may start a whole new discussion on this in particular.

Maxematics

meaganseafit wrote: »

Girl you need to eat more! Maybe try training a little more intensely with your weights rather than cardio. If 1200 calories is keeping you at the same weight your metabolism needs a little TLC. You could also be in starvation mode - what were your eating habits like previously? If you train with weights a little more you'll be able to build a little more lean body mass which will help increase your metabolism so you have something to cut calories from! Make sure you're getting in lots of water, and try eating a little more protein and see if that helps

@aimiautumn Please do not take this advice! Starvation mode does not exist; it is one of the most perpetuated weight loss myths out there. The only thing you should do right now is give yourself more time. Use the food scale and continue to eat at the MFP calorie allowance. If after two weeks you haven't seen any weight loss, which I highly doubt will occur, then maybe a visit to your doctor is in order. If after two weeks you lose weight, you know the issue was your logging. If you lose more weight than intended after a while and you feel hunger, feel free to increase your intake by 250 calories or so. I promise you though, and many people here will back me up on this, starvation mode is not true.

glassyo

I'm fairly certain you can't go into "starvation mode" if you're 189 lbs.

Otherwise, you've gotten good advice. But mostly it's only been a week and you need more patience.

And to use a food scale. If I worship anything, it's my food scale!

AimiAutumn

Ahh I'm so confused. I posted a thread about this in particular to get some more thoughts and opinions on the matter. I really don't know cause I hear so many conflicting opinions.
I'm eating too much, I'm eating too little.
No clue.
Definitely going to get a scale though so I can be more accurate with my logging.

shadow2soul

AimiAutumn wrote: »

Thanks Meagan! I'd like to do more weight training but at the moment I only have a couple 15 pound hand weights to work with and there's only so much you can do with that! My eating habits prior were honestly not to bad, I cook everything from scratch at home, it was just a matter of eating large portions, snacking between meals and not moving enough. I also feel like I may eat too many high carb foods (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc) and not enough protein.
These are habits I'm trying to change. Smaller portions, exercising, drinking more water and eating more protein.

I'm just worried if I increase my calories like everyone suggests that I'll gain weight, since eating these few calories isn't even causing me to lose weight at the moment. I know there is a science behind it and that your body could go into starvation mode, however, I dont feel like I move as much as a normal person would. Because I'm self employed and work out of my house, the most activity I get (if I don't exercise, which I do daily now, in that case I do eat back my exercise calories) is moving from one room to another.

I think I may start a whole new discussion on this in particular.

Myth. The only starvation mode that I am 100% sure exists is where you are so malnourished your organs start shutting down.

Typically when a person thinks they are in starvation mode it's because they are eating more than they think. This can be from inaccurate logging, binges that were caused by the low intake, ect. When they up their calories they start logging more accurately or the binges stop since their intake isn't so low, ect, So while there wasn't a deficit before there is now.

You have only been at this for a week. That's not enough time to make any determinations on what is going on exactly. I can say though if you weren't working out before and just started that at the same time, there is probably some water retention going on. Maybe step on the scale the day after a rest day.

nutmegoreo

Starvation mode isn't really a thing. Not the way it's being used here. You're not losing because: new exercise routine may add some water retention for muscle repair (this is temporary and will drop off in a week or two, be patient); you aren't weighing your food, you are probably eating more than you realize (this is very common, don't feel bad if you buy a scale and find it to be true, serving sizes of things like cheese and peanut butter are sadly small); if you are close to TOM or had a high sodium day, water retention masks the weight loss (be patient); and/or its only been a week (be patient). Are you noticing a trend? Buy a scale to improve accuracy and be patient! Best of luck.

AimiAutumn

Thanks guys! I appreciate the input, maybe my other thread isn't as necessary anymore. I probably am consuming more calories than I think I am, I'm excited to go out and buy a scale so I can log more accurately. My muscles have been sore so the thought of my body holding water to repair them makes sense.

robertw486

Another thing to consider is how you calculate your workout calories, since you are eating them back. It's easy to overestimate the workout calorie burn, and if you eat them back that in turn means your daily intake is actually higher than you think.

Walking is a fairly small calorie burn, apps will show it high. Reality is somewhere around your weight x .3 x miles walked, for net calorie burn. You can find MET calculators for other stuff, but just understand that a lot of apps will show crazy high calorie burns.