I was discouraged until I did the math.
bananabeannn
Posts: 110 Member
(I copied this from a post I made in another forum. Sorry for the double read 
)
Hi everyone!
I have been frustrated that I'm seemingly not losing *any* weight. So, I decided to wear my HR charge to see how many calories I burn and carefully weigh and measure my food. It was been about 2-3 weeks and I barely see any movement on the scale. I was feeling discouraged until I crunched some numbers.
I'm averaging 1648 calories intake.
I burn aveerage of 1800 calories a day.
1800-1648 = 152 cal/day deficit.
152 x 30 days in a month = 4650 deficit Cals a month.
4650/3500 (calories in a pound of fat) = 1.3lbs. A MONTH.
That is slow as molasses but I have little to lose. So...if the math is right...and this is how I want to continue eating, just have to be patient.
Restricting more makes me miserable, but I can definitely increase the exercise. An hour of cardio 3x a week could help burn 400 calories a session, which is about 3600 calories a month.
So, adding exercise could help me lose 2.3LBS per month instead of 1.3.
There you have it. That's the math. How do YOU add up? Are your expectations realistic? What are you willing to cut/add...for now, I will add a serving of patience!
BB
)Hi everyone!
I have been frustrated that I'm seemingly not losing *any* weight. So, I decided to wear my HR charge to see how many calories I burn and carefully weigh and measure my food. It was been about 2-3 weeks and I barely see any movement on the scale. I was feeling discouraged until I crunched some numbers.
I'm averaging 1648 calories intake.
I burn aveerage of 1800 calories a day.
1800-1648 = 152 cal/day deficit.
152 x 30 days in a month = 4650 deficit Cals a month.
4650/3500 (calories in a pound of fat) = 1.3lbs. A MONTH.
That is slow as molasses but I have little to lose. So...if the math is right...and this is how I want to continue eating, just have to be patient.
Restricting more makes me miserable, but I can definitely increase the exercise. An hour of cardio 3x a week could help burn 400 calories a session, which is about 3600 calories a month.
So, adding exercise could help me lose 2.3LBS per month instead of 1.3.
There you have it. That's the math. How do YOU add up? Are your expectations realistic? What are you willing to cut/add...for now, I will add a serving of patience!
BB
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Replies
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Well - I work out a lot (run 3-4 miles 2x a week, 10 miles Saturdays, then a fit class 3x/week) -- so you'd think, no PROBLEM, right? Those last 10 pounds thought my waist was "no place like home". So I've really had to deal with diet. Tracking it I found that my love of milk is a big calorie hog, and 12 almonds here and there - well, NO, can't do that - just all kinds of really stupid but seemingly healthy habits.
Older bodies just hang on to fat like nobody's business - or at least, those 10 extra pounds - so lose it NOW while you're young! That's my advice to everybody!! And exercise used to work for me... you can do it. You just have to find something you like to do, or friends in a class that make you want to show up. Tonight I need to burn calories so I will be running the dog. Good for both of us, right!? But - I'm just sayin'.... all bodies respond in their own ways, and once you start losing, your body figures it out and you have to change it up. Ha - if only I were as smart as my body...
Patience!!!!!!!3 -
the math part is realy hard for me, so is the calorie trackign and logging, I didnt do too bad at first when I was jsut cutting portions, but my wieghtloss staled and though I cut back more to even under 1000 calories ,no more wieght loss. I realy cant cut back any farther without it being unhealthy for me. that interesting though to think about what items might be calorie 'hogs' and mabee I can find soem to switch out for others. ive been trying to switch to a lot of veg over carbs
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What a great post! Thanks for sharing.0
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Well - I work out a lot (run 3-4 miles 2x a week, 10 miles Saturdays, then a fit class 3x/week) -- so you'd think, no PROBLEM, right? Those last 10 pounds thought my waist was "no place like home". So I've really had to deal with diet. Tracking it I found that my love of milk is a big calorie hog, and 12 almonds here and there - well, NO, can't do that - just all kinds of really stupid but seemingly healthy habits.
Older bodies just hang on to fat like nobody's business - or at least, those 10 extra pounds - so lose it NOW while you're young! That's my advice to everybody!! And exercise used to work for me... you can do it. You just have to find something you like to do, or friends in a class that make you want to show up. Tonight I need to burn calories so I will be running the dog. Good for both of us, right!? But - I'm just sayin'.... all bodies respond in their own ways, and once you start losing, your body figures it out and you have to change it up. Ha - if only I were as smart as my body...
Patience!!!!!!!
That's how I gained weight! I was doing a lot of cardio and getting really hungry. So I would eat a lot of "healthy" foods like NUTS and FRUIT and CHEESE. Oh my. LOL Pre-logging I had no idea how many calories I was actually consuming. I ate about 800 calories just in Pistachios a day.1 -
mom23mangos wrote: »Well - I work out a lot (run 3-4 miles 2x a week, 10 miles Saturdays, then a fit class 3x/week) -- so you'd think, no PROBLEM, right? Those last 10 pounds thought my waist was "no place like home". So I've really had to deal with diet. Tracking it I found that my love of milk is a big calorie hog, and 12 almonds here and there - well, NO, can't do that - just all kinds of really stupid but seemingly healthy habits.
Older bodies just hang on to fat like nobody's business - or at least, those 10 extra pounds - so lose it NOW while you're young! That's my advice to everybody!! And exercise used to work for me... you can do it. You just have to find something you like to do, or friends in a class that make you want to show up. Tonight I need to burn calories so I will be running the dog. Good for both of us, right!? But - I'm just sayin'.... all bodies respond in their own ways, and once you start losing, your body figures it out and you have to change it up. Ha - if only I were as smart as my body...
Patience!!!!!!!
That's how I gained weight! I was doing a lot of cardio and getting really hungry. So I would eat a lot of "healthy" foods like NUTS and FRUIT and CHEESE. Oh my. LOL Pre-logging I had no idea how many calories I was actually consuming. I ate about 800 calories just in Pistachios a day.
Lol SAME!! Cashews, raw trail mix and my beloved granola.. Like 1000 cals of snacking wtf0 -
tinywonder25 wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »Well - I work out a lot (run 3-4 miles 2x a week, 10 miles Saturdays, then a fit class 3x/week) -- so you'd think, no PROBLEM, right? Those last 10 pounds thought my waist was "no place like home". So I've really had to deal with diet. Tracking it I found that my love of milk is a big calorie hog, and 12 almonds here and there - well, NO, can't do that - just all kinds of really stupid but seemingly healthy habits.
Older bodies just hang on to fat like nobody's business - or at least, those 10 extra pounds - so lose it NOW while you're young! That's my advice to everybody!! And exercise used to work for me... you can do it. You just have to find something you like to do, or friends in a class that make you want to show up. Tonight I need to burn calories so I will be running the dog. Good for both of us, right!? But - I'm just sayin'.... all bodies respond in their own ways, and once you start losing, your body figures it out and you have to change it up. Ha - if only I were as smart as my body...
Patience!!!!!!!
That's how I gained weight! I was doing a lot of cardio and getting really hungry. So I would eat a lot of "healthy" foods like NUTS and FRUIT and CHEESE. Oh my. LOL Pre-logging I had no idea how many calories I was actually consuming. I ate about 800 calories just in Pistachios a day.
Lol SAME!! Cashews, raw trail mix and my beloved granola.. Like 1000 cals of snacking wtf
Oh yeah!! I'd start off the day with a big bowl of high calorie yogurt with a crap ton of granola. I can't eat yogurt without lots of stuff mixed in due to texture so I'd load it with granola. And I'd buy this trail mix from Target that was cashews, almonds and cranberries and I'd mix in chocolate chips. I was so clueless.0 -
Well, there's a little more to take into consideration here. It's slower when you weight less because your body needs less calories to maintain your mass. 3500 calories is described as how many calories in a pound of fat, but this is not true. For some people there's way more calories in a pound of fat, for others there's less. This is just a general guess.
You don't want to drop your calories too low or your metabolism will slow down. I don't eat back my exercise calories and I used to never count calories and that's when I was at my lowest weight. I'm down to the last 7lbs now, but I focus on building muscle. Muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat does, and if you cut too many calories you will mostly be losing muscle mass... not fat... which will in turn hurt how many calories you burn doing nothing.
Lots to think about, the math actually comes pretty close to accurate sometimes! Unless I eat lots of carbs and then my body holds water for a day or two! I find fitbit tracks my burned calories WAY better than MFP does. Also I've learned to use an elliptical/treadmill and go for a long walk at night. Walks don't seem like much but honestly I burn way more calories that way, sometimes 2500 a day total.
Good luck with your journey!0
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