If lots of calories & carbs equal weight gain? Why am I still losing weight?

13

Replies

  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    I don't think she's asking for help. I think she's telling us that she has a setpoint.
  • nikolausi88
    nikolausi88 Posts: 22 Member
    Not to derail this thread, but if the list of food consumed by OP is correct, how much potassium is she consuming?
    7-11 bananas and then maybe two more meals with potatoes....
    Isn't there a level where it gets unhealthy?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    This thread feels like a plug for...someone. Someone who will tell you you can eat an excess of calories which includes a 1200 calorie banana smoothie and still lose... I don't dare say out loud.

    Beetlegeuse







    Beetlegeuse









    B
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    This thread feels like a plug for...someone. Someone who will tell you you can eat an excess of calories which includes a 1200 calorie banana smoothie and still lose... I don't dare say out loud.

    Beetlegeuse







    Beetlegeuse









    B

    *slaps a zipper onto your pie hole*
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    LINIA wrote: »
    @jessica_sodenkamp

    How tall are you and approx what age? Are you here at MFP to reach specific goals? How much do you currently weigh?

    Are you happy or unhappy about your weight loss?
    LINIA wrote: »
    @jessica_sodenkamp

    How tall are you and approx what age? Are you here at MFP to reach specific goals? How much do you currently weigh?

    Are you happy or unhappy about your weight loss?

    I'm about 5'4", 23 y/o. Trying more than anything to just be healthy, so I'm eating a lot of nutrient rich foods. Currently weigh 111 pounds. My calorie intake is around 2500-3000/day.

    Example day:

    Breakfast- 800-1200 calorie fruit smoothie

    Lunch-
    800 calorie fruit meal or starchy cooked meal (potatoes, rice, etc.) with veggies

    Dinner- 800-1000 calorie cooked meal (rice, pasta, potatoes) that includes a salad or veggies

    I feel great but was just really surprised about the weight loss, because I'm a stay at home mom and spend most of my time at home. Sure I breastfeed, but does that really account for all those calories?

    I really think you're overestimating your calorie intake. Your dinner resembles what I'd describe as my dinner and mine is usually 500-600 calories, accurately weighed. That said, if you are losing weight while overestimating and you want to stop losing weight, eat more. A good answer to this discussion is "donuts".
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Not to derail this thread, but if the list of food consumed by OP is correct, how much potassium is she consuming?
    7-11 bananas and then maybe two more meals with potatoes....
    Isn't there a level where it gets unhealthy?

    If you have a medical issue that impairs your regulation of potassium levels (kidney issues, etc) then yes. Otherwise, the human body is more than capable of dumping the excess fast enough to keep up with eating normal potassium rich foods. Otherwise, the world record for banana eating would have resulted in a death.

    It is not capable of keeping up with injections of potassium chloride and similar.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    This thread feels like a plug for...someone. Someone who will tell you you can eat an excess of calories which includes a 1200 calorie banana smoothie and still lose... I don't dare say out loud.

    You mean Freegle the Plantain girl, right?

    More like Froyo the Space Cadet.
  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
    LINIA wrote: »
    @jessica_sodenkamp

    How tall are you and approx what age? Are you here at MFP to reach specific goals? How much do you currently weigh?

    Are you happy or unhappy about your weight loss?
    LINIA wrote: »
    @jessica_sodenkamp

    How tall are you and approx what age? Are you here at MFP to reach specific goals? How much do you currently weigh?

    Are you happy or unhappy about your weight loss?

    I'm about 5'4", 23 y/o. Trying more than anything to just be healthy, so I'm eating a lot of nutrient rich foods. Currently weigh 111 pounds. My calorie intake is around 2500-3000/day.

    Example day:

    Breakfast- 800-1200 calorie fruit smoothie

    Lunch-
    800 calorie fruit meal or starchy cooked meal (potatoes, rice, etc.) with veggies

    Dinner- 800-1000 calorie cooked meal (rice, pasta, potatoes) that includes a salad or veggies

    I feel great but was just really surprised about the weight loss, because I'm a stay at home mom and spend most of my time at home. Sure I breastfeed, but does that really account for all those calories?

    I really think you're overestimating your calorie intake. Your dinner resembles what I'd describe as my dinner and mine is usually 500-600 calories, accurately weighed. That said, if you are losing weight while overestimating and you want to stop losing weight, eat more. A good answer to this discussion is "donuts".

    I agree with this 100%. I am in maintenance, and am eating a very wide variety of foods including all the things the OP mentions for dinner. In looking at my last week, my dinner calories range from 512-988 with an average of 655. (The 988 "outlier" day was a day where I did two long workouts and REALLY needed the calories-so the added calories were very intentional.)

    Without careful measuring, I don't think the OP can conclude with confidence that she is eating 800-1000 for dinner.


  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've lost almost 20 pounds, but my diet is calorie heavy, with most of those calories coming from carbs. I'm 5'4" and do not exercise regularly at all.

    What do you consider to be "calorie heavy"? Calorie needs vary by individual as per their stats and overall activity..."calorie heavy" would be pretty relative to the individual. Also, carbs have jack *kitten* to do with your weight.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    How long ago did you have that baby? are you breast feeding, that burns a lot of calories.

    Nursing only requires about ~500 calories or so a day from what I have heard.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    OP does not log, in another post thought she only needed 2-5% protein from calories, thinks she is over eating yet has no proof.... she's either very misinformed or she's trolling.
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    A person on my feed calculates about 500 calories for a couple of minutes of breastfeeding.
    So its plausible you can eat well over 2000 calories and lose....
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
    annaskiski wrote: »
    A person on my feed calculates about 500 calories for a couple of minutes of breastfeeding.
    So its plausible you can eat well over 2000 calories and lose....

    It's 500 calories per day when breastfeeding a baby younger than six months. Once solids are established, that number drops, 300 per day is a pretty good average in the second six months of baby's life. It's not that they burn 500 calories per couple of minutes, it's that adding 'one minute of breastfeeding' at 500 calories is simpler than trying to figure out how many minutes you spent nursing, and how many calories per minute that ends up being, IYKWIM. But, yeah, nursing mothers are often told not to go below 1800 cal per day. Someone who doesn't need to lose weight might need to go quite a bit higher than that.

    Problem is, the OP is not logging much at all, and when she does she only guesstimates her portions. She has no earthly clue what her CI is, much less her CO.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    tlflag1620 wrote: »
    Problem is, the OP is not logging much at all, and when she does she only guesstimates her portions. She has no earthly clue what her CI is, much less her CO.

    This.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    tlflag1620 wrote: »
    annaskiski wrote: »
    A person on my feed calculates about 500 calories for a couple of minutes of breastfeeding.
    So its plausible you can eat well over 2000 calories and lose....

    It's 500 calories per day when breastfeeding a baby younger than six months. Once solids are established, that number drops, 300 per day is a pretty good average in the second six months of baby's life. It's not that they burn 500 calories per couple of minutes, it's that adding 'one minute of breastfeeding' at 500 calories is simpler than trying to figure out how many minutes you spent nursing, and how many calories per minute that ends up being, IYKWIM. But, yeah, nursing mothers are often told not to go below 1800 cal per day. Someone who doesn't need to lose weight might need to go quite a bit higher than that.

    Problem is, the OP is not logging much at all, and when she does she only guesstimates her portions. She has no earthly clue what her CI is, much less her CO.

    Like I said above - I calculated how much my kid was eating, based on how much pumped milk she got at the sitter and how often she nursed -- and how much weight she gained.

    *she* was taking in at least 600-700 calories a day for awhile, 100% of which came from me. That fits with the number I just looked up on Livestrong. Another site says that at 500 calories a day you're still pulling 250 calories from maternal fat stores, too. It takes metabolic energy to turn food into breastmilk.

    Long story short? If she's even moderately active and not tiny? Maintaining on 2500-3000 calories a day is not just believable, but likely.
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    This thread feels like a plug for...someone. Someone who will tell you you can eat an excess of calories which includes a 1200 calorie banana smoothie and still lose... I don't dare say out loud.

    Beetlegeuse







    Beetlegeuse









    B

    *slaps a zipper onto your pie hole*

    Mmmmm....pie

    This is a post we can all get behind
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited August 2016
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Can I have the recipe for an 800-1200 calorie smoothie?

    I bet it's heaven.

    Edit. Nope, it's...sad.

    *goes back to daydreaming about ice cream based protein thickshake topped with whipped cream.*
  • alexandriaaymelek
    alexandriaaymelek Posts: 34 Member
    I wish I had this problem!
  • Wombat468
    Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
    7-11 bananas would be up to a kilo of banana, in one smoothie. I'm sorry - I don't believe you at all.
  • _dixiana_
    _dixiana_ Posts: 3,262 Member
    I can't even with posts like this.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    CiaraCatch wrote: »
    7-11 bananas would be up to a kilo of banana, in one smoothie. I'm sorry - I don't believe you at all.

    Like someone else mentioned, she would have to have a monster size blender. I have a nutribullet and there's no way i'd fit that many bananas in it, may 4 smaller ones max, plus you'd need water or milk.
  • BigBadVanna
    BigBadVanna Posts: 65 Member
    Breastmilk contains 20 calories per oz. If your baby has a 5oz bottle of pumped breastmilk, that's 100 calories right there. It can add up considering that a lot of babies eat every 2.5-3 hours. I have recently weaned, but when my baby was 4-5 months old and only consuming breastmilk, he ate 30oz a day. That's 600 calories a day, not a small amount by any means.
  • frankiesgirlie
    frankiesgirlie Posts: 669 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Can I have the recipe for an 800-1200 calorie smoothie?

    I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste 1000 or so calories on something I can't chew, as long as I have teeth. LOL! What a complete waste.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Can I have the recipe for an 800-1200 calorie smoothie?

    I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste 1000 or so calories on something I can't chew, as long as I have teeth. LOL! What a complete waste.

    I wouldn't say i have to 'chew' my smoothies, but they're too thick to drink. I need a spoon to eat it.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    At your age, with a young baby yet, you are probably eating less than you burn. Wait, in another decade you will be complaining that you eat nothing and gain weight! :)