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

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  • jessica_sodenkamp
    jessica_sodenkamp Posts: 34 Member
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    Sued0nim wrote: »
    You heard wrong

    How's your milk supply coping?

    It's great!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Sued0nim wrote: »
    You heard wrong

    How's your milk supply coping?

    It's great!

    That's good then :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Can I have the recipe for an 800-1200 calorie smoothie?

    7-11 bananas with water + 1 T PB powder is my go-to.

    That's so disappointing! :laugh:

    The fact of the matter is, if you're losing weight you're eating in a deficit. If you open your diary people could offer suggestions where to add more in.

    The first one being proper peanut butter not powder

    Disappointing? And I don't mind the weight loss, I just found it interesting since all my life I'be heard you need to eat no more than 1200 or 1500 calories if you want to lose weight.

    you want to drop down below a healthy weight? that's worrying.
  • scoii
    scoii Posts: 160 Member
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    It seems you are overestimating your meals, which is very rare. An 800 calorie lunch with fruit and salad would be pretty massive. Granted producing milk may increase the appetite but I would check your meal sizes and calories just so you are aware. 11 bananas in one sitting, that pretty huge as well.

    Once you start weaning baby then you may need some better control on the calories in.

    Carbs arent evil, I eat loads of them a day and I'm doing just fine, 4lbs above target, same spot I've been in for 3 years.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    scoii wrote: »
    It seems you are overestimating your meals, which is very rare. An 800 calorie lunch with fruit and salad would be pretty massive. Granted producing milk may increase the appetite but I would check your meal sizes and calories just so you are aware. 11 bananas in one sitting, that pretty huge as well.

    Once you start weaning baby then you may need some better control on the calories in.

    Carbs arent evil, I eat loads of them a day and I'm doing just fine, 4lbs above target, same spot I've been in for 3 years.

    OP eats 11 bananas in one sitting, i don't think carbs bother her!
  • KorvapuustiPossu
    KorvapuustiPossu Posts: 434 Member
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    If you are really eating that much and losing a lot of weight while being quite close to bottom healthy BMI I would suggest you see a doctor. There are a number of quite serious and less serious conditions that can cause it. And the 'quite serious' ones are nothing to joke about. See a doctor.
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
    edited August 2016
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    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?

    There's no mystery here. You're not violating any laws of physics. One way or other, you're creating a calorie deficit if you're losing. According to http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html based on your stats, your energy expenditure assuming sedentary with little to no exercise is about 1500. I'm guessing you don't sit on the couch all day so all those activities as a stay at home mom add several extra hundreds of calories. And then add the not-so-regular exercise as well. So it's not shocking that you can eat over 2000 calories and still lose.

    A more likely scenario is that just like people who claim to not lose on 800 calories (due to underestimating calories), people are also capable of overestimating and believing that they're eating more calories when in reality they're not. It happens. Alternatively, if it's not a case of overestimating intake and underestimating activity, then that means you have a very high metabolism and your BMR is way above average.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    If you aren't willing to open the diary, can you post a sample lunch or dinner? I have a hard time thinking of any meal based mostly on whole food carbs in those calorie ranges that I could manage to eat (it's just a massive amount of food). Especially after 10 bananas, which I think would fill me for the whole day.

    Tapeworm? (Not actually serious.)

    I kind of suspect this is an attempt to promote a McDougall or Freelee or some such eating plan, but you have to be more realistic or we get worried that there's a medical issue.

    (And no, of course you don't have to eat 1200 or 1500 to lose, especially when breastfeeding, but at your weight losing is probably not desirable, especially if you are eating as much as you can and not intending to.)
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Did the OP say if she weighs her food?

  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    edited August 2016
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    @lemurcat12 Her diary is public. I can see the diary. 4 days that show an entry...July 4-yesterday.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    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.

    Doesn't matter where the calories come from.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    It does seem like a lot of calories but breastfeeding really burns calories. I ate exactly what I wanted while breastfeeding (which probably amounted to 2,500+ calories a day) and still lost weight, allbeit slowly. It only worked up to a certain point though - I had to put more effort into losing the last 15 pounds or so.

    I grew my second kid from 10 pounds to 28 pounds on nothing but nursing, in a year and a bit. I ate *so* much, and I dropped weight like crazy. I got down to my high school weight/size, and still felt like I was eating *all* the time.

    As a side note, it really gave me a lot of insight into hormones and appetite and setpoints, because I have never actually felt them all working so strongly before or since. Every time my weight dropped below a certain point I would just about sleepwalk to the fridge and start eating meat and cheese and eggs. Those hormones had a very, very, clear plan for my diet!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
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    kpk54 wrote: »
    @lemurcat12 Her diary is public. I can see the diary. 4 days that show an entry...July 4-yesterday.

    Oh, thanks! (I'm obviously lazy and just assumed, since no one else seemed to know what she was eating specifically.)

    OP, if you aren't logging, how are you sure about calories. Those calorie counts for whole food "carbs"--I'm assuming you are vegan based on menu, obviously could be wrong--seems unlikely.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I don't think you've disclosed if you are weighing your food yet or not, or tracking your calorie burns with a tracker? I ask, because even though you are eating mainly whole foods, as am I and many people here, there is a fair chance you are overestimating what you're eating, and underestimating your calorie burns each day. If you're still losing weight, logically, you are burning more calories than you are eating. (Whether your food comes from carbs or not has little bearing on weight loss or gain, in the end, it still comes down to CICO)
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
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    LokiGrrl wrote: »
    I thought she meant bananas from 7-11. Heh. I'm not sure what the purpose of the post is, though. Coming on a forum for general diet and weight loss help to post how you eat so much and still lose weight seems... off.

    Not really off, just not what YOU would expect. Everyone is different, our concerns vary..
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    Meh.... You're not logging, pretty much at all (which is fine, I don't log either, but then again I don't pretend to be eating more than maintenance while losing weight, so there's that). What you have logged, as far as I could see, are things like "medium" pieces of fruit and "cups" of rice. So you aren't weighing the food on the few days you have bothered logging. You are over estimating your consumption. Period. Start weighing and measuring your food. Do so for a week or two. If you truly are eating calories above and beyond maintenance (adding in an extra 500 for breastfeeding) and still losing, then you need to get to the doctor STAT because there is quite possibly something seriously wrong.
  • bellaa_x0
    bellaa_x0 Posts: 1,062 Member
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    carbs do not equal weight gain... excess calories do.