Signifigant weight loss - feeling overwhelmed with info

TrinaJo4

JoeMacCready wrote: »

You're getting conflicting info from people but I'd say your total calories are low. Everyone above saying your calories are good/possibly high aren't calculating that you're probably burning 100 cals per hour just being alive plus 500-1000 cals through exercise! Being conservative I'd say you're probably burning at least 3,250 cals per day putting you in a 1000 calorie deficit. 30% is too much.

I'm 6', 185lbs, burn about 3500 cals in a day. At one point I was eating about 1750 cals and no weight loss. I had best results when wasn't in an extreme deficit, about 3000-3250 cals. Your body is getting enough nutrition that it's not "hoarding" fat for energy but you're still eating less than you're burning.

Ultimately, I'd say:
1. Figure out what your TDEE is (Total Daily Energy Expenditure, cals you burn in a 24 hour period. Use a FitBit app etc)
2. Up your calories to be about 500 below that. I think you need to add about 500 calories and I would add almost all those calories to your carb macro (bump carbs up to about 250g). Fat is good and protein is good, maybe a little on low side but I'd say your carbs are waaaay low. You need carbs to fuel your intense workouts and keep energy level high. Aim to hit your macro categories +/- 5 grams each day.
3. Stick with these macros for at least 4 weeks. Don't look for a quick response, give it time.
4. Weigh in once a week at the same time, before eating or drinking (I do every Saturday morning). You'll fluctuate during the week so this gives a better picture.
5. TAKE PICTURES!!!! Weight doesn't tell the whole story. Your weight might stay the same and you might not feel the incremental progress but when you look back at pictures you'll see a difference.

Hope this helps!

Thanks. This was really helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Tacklewasher

I'm curious on the calorie number. I'm 6', 285 and male. To lose weight MFP has me at either 2070 for light activity (and reducing that if I am not active enough) or ~1850 for sedentary. Both with a goal of losing 2 lbs per week. I'm playing with the activity level right now to see what it does, but had it set to the lowest and then eat back part of what MFP takes from Garmin for activity. Since Sept I'm down from ~ 330.

MFP is giving me about 100g for protein. I try to go over that, but no where near the level you are showing.

TeaBea

TrinaJo4 wrote: »

JoeMacCready wrote: »

You're getting conflicting info from people but I'd say your total calories are low. Everyone above saying your calories are good/possibly high aren't calculating that you're probably burning 100 cals per hour just being alive plus 500-1000 cals through exercise! Being conservative I'd say you're probably burning at least 3,250 cals per day putting you in a 1000 calorie deficit. 30% is too much.

I'm 6', 185lbs, burn about 3500 cals in a day. At one point I was eating about 1750 cals and no weight loss. I had best results when wasn't in an extreme deficit, about 3000-3250 cals. Your body is getting enough nutrition that it's not "hoarding" fat for energy but you're still eating less than you're burning.

Ultimately, I'd say:
1. Figure out what your TDEE is (Total Daily Energy Expenditure, cals you burn in a 24 hour period. Use a FitBit app etc)
2. Up your calories to be about 500 below that. I think you need to add about 500 calories and I would add almost all those calories to your carb macro (bump carbs up to about 250g). Fat is good and protein is good, maybe a little on low side but I'd say your carbs are waaaay low. You need carbs to fuel your intense workouts and keep energy level high. Aim to hit your macro categories +/- 5 grams each day.
3. Stick with these macros for at least 4 weeks. Don't look for a quick response, give it time.
4. Weigh in once a week at the same time, before eating or drinking (I do every Saturday morning). You'll fluctuate during the week so this gives a better picture.
5. TAKE PICTURES!!!! Weight doesn't tell the whole story. Your weight might stay the same and you might not feel the incremental progress but when you look back at pictures you'll see a difference.

Hope this helps!

Thanks. This was really helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

No - not so much.

I would guess that none of us neglected to considered TDEE. Afterall, TDEE is ultimately where calorie deficit comes from.Most of us also considered that 500 - 1,000 calories in exercise is likely "generous."

Consider this........@JoeMacCready is male.......your TDEE will be lower than his because you are female.

The majority of posters here won't say you are eating too little....and that's why you are not losing weight. If you are not losing weight (over time) ......then you are eating too much. Perhaps this is a measuring issue, a logging issue, or an inflated calorie burn issue.

It's not macros for weight loss. It's CALORIES for weight loss. The macros are for health, fitness goals & keeping you on track.

deannalfisher

TeaBea wrote: »

TrinaJo4 wrote: »

JoeMacCready wrote: »

You're getting conflicting info from people but I'd say your total calories are low. Everyone above saying your calories are good/possibly high aren't calculating that you're probably burning 100 cals per hour just being alive plus 500-1000 cals through exercise! Being conservative I'd say you're probably burning at least 3,250 cals per day putting you in a 1000 calorie deficit. 30% is too much.

I'm 6', 185lbs, burn about 3500 cals in a day. At one point I was eating about 1750 cals and no weight loss. I had best results when wasn't in an extreme deficit, about 3000-3250 cals. Your body is getting enough nutrition that it's not "hoarding" fat for energy but you're still eating less than you're burning.

Ultimately, I'd say:
1. Figure out what your TDEE is (Total Daily Energy Expenditure, cals you burn in a 24 hour period. Use a FitBit app etc)
2. Up your calories to be about 500 below that. I think you need to add about 500 calories and I would add almost all those calories to your carb macro (bump carbs up to about 250g). Fat is good and protein is good, maybe a little on low side but I'd say your carbs are waaaay low. You need carbs to fuel your intense workouts and keep energy level high. Aim to hit your macro categories +/- 5 grams each day.
3. Stick with these macros for at least 4 weeks. Don't look for a quick response, give it time.
4. Weigh in once a week at the same time, before eating or drinking (I do every Saturday morning). You'll fluctuate during the week so this gives a better picture.
5. TAKE PICTURES!!!! Weight doesn't tell the whole story. Your weight might stay the same and you might not feel the incremental progress but when you look back at pictures you'll see a difference.

Hope this helps!

Thanks. This was really helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

No - not so much.

I would guess that none of us neglected to considered TDEE. Afterall, TDEE is ultimately where calorie deficit comes from.Most of us also considered that 500 - 1,000 calories in exercise is likely "generous."

Consider this........@JoeMacCready is male.......your TDEE will be lower than his because you are female.

The majority of posters here won't say you are eating too little....and that's why you are not losing weight. If you are not losing weight (over time) ......then you are eating too much. Perhaps this is a measuring issue, a logging issue, or an inflated calorie burn issue.

It's not macros for weight loss. It's CALORIES for weight loss. The macros are for health, fitness goals & keeping you on track.

I calculated the OP's TDEE in msg3 using the information that she provided and used sedentary as a basis

OhMsDiva

I dont know from TDEE or NEAT but I know for sure if you eat in a deficit, you will lose weight. I tried putting all my number in when I first started and I should have been able to eat over 2000 calories and lose weight. The plan that I was on was 1800 calories and it pretty much what I have been eating for the past 1and a half years. If what you are doing is not working then you need to reduce your intake. I have read many times on here that you cannot exercise away eating too much and I have found that to be true. I have found that everything needs to be weighed, especially when you are first starting out. Otherwise you have no idea how much you are consuming. If you are diligent and find what works for you, then you will lose the weight.

markweitz

YOU CAN DO IT.

There are a lot of ways to lose weight, but some are better than others ;-).

If you have the dough to spend, get yourself an RMR test 50 bux in the San Francisco Bay Area). You breath into a tube for 5 to 20 minutes and it calculates your daily caloric burn if you are sedentary all day. That is a great starting point.

So, per the test, my RMR is about 2270 per day. Now I exercise between 800 and 1200 calories per day. That puts my usable calories at about 3300 per day to stay even. If I want to drop a pound a week, then I simply cut 500 calories from that total per day, which adds up to 3500 calorie deficit per week. If I want to lose 2 pounds, then 1000 calorie a day deficit.

Track everything you eat. Don't worry too much about macros, just try to keep them sort of even around 40 / 40 / 20 (fat). Pluses to eating more protein is that it keeps you fuller longer and slows down the metabolism of carbs.

Try to eat carbs that are slower to digest, apples good, donuts bad. Look up your carbs on the glycemic index. You want a slow steady flow of sugar to your bloodstream, not a big bang.

In the end, if you aren't losing weight, you simply are eating too many calories. Don't worry about what your fitbit tells you, just keep cutting until you lose 1# per week. If something seems out of wack, then I would go see a Dr.

Best luck!

Mark

RGv2

TrinaJo4 wrote: »

I have started the long journey of losing 100 lbs. I went on to IIFYM and get the following numbers

Protein Grams: 224
Fat Grams: 98
Carbs Grams: 117
Fiber Grams: 42-42
When all of these macros are added up, you get a total of 2247 calories.

I'm 6ft tall and I weigh 280 lbs. I have been doing pretty intense working out with Beachbody Core De Force. 500-1000 calories per workout. I have been doing the workouts for about a month and the Macros I've only just started. I was doing the beachbody meal plan previous to this. My weight is at a total standstill. I feel that there are changes but I'm worried that if I don't start seeing my weight come down I'm going to get frustrated and quit. Any advice for losing this much weight? Where should I start? Should I even worry about macros? Should I be doing such intense workouts that build muscle or should I just focus on cardio until my weight is down further???

Please help.

Trina

Anyone else thinking there is some water weight from the new exercise at work here also?

TrinaJo4

Ok so I seem to have gotten a lot of different opinions and here is what I'm going to do.

MFP has me at 1976 calories per day a sedimentary (I work in an office) to lose 2 pounds per week. I use a CHARGE 2 fit bit (which uses my heart rate) so I'm going to add about 50% of my calories to MFP. The TDEE from fit bit is 2400 calories roughly. For the last three weeks my daily calories used has been over 3200 everyday.

I will do that for a few weeks and se how it goes.

Thanks everyone for your help. I appreciate the time it takes to answer!

nowine4me

Hi, Trina - as other have stated, get your calories dialed in now with accurate tracking, measuring and logging and worry about macros down the road.

I would also suggest doing enough exercise to build cardio fitness and retain muscle, but not so much that it drastically impacts your hunger. Which can backfire. For me, that's about 500 cals a day -- or 60 mins -- of cardio (running/walking/calesthenics) plus weight training every other day.

leooftheyear

TrinaJo4 wrote: »

Ok so I seem to have gotten a lot of different opinions and here is what I'm going to do.

MFP has me at 1976 calories per day a sedimentary (I work in an office) to lose 2 pounds per week. I use a CHARGE 2 fit bit (which uses my heart rate) so I'm going to add about 50% of my calories to MFP. The TDEE from fit bit is 2400 calories roughly. For the last three weeks my daily calories used has been over 3200 everyday.

I will do that for a few weeks and se how it goes.

Thanks everyone for your help. I appreciate the time it takes to answer!

Hi Trina,

Please don't add calories from FitBit, link your accounts and allow negative calories. that way you don't even have to worry about logging exercise.

Make sure both your fitbit and MFP goals are the same (e.g. lose 2lbs per week).

SusanMFindlay

leooftheyear wrote: »

TrinaJo4 wrote: »

Ok so I seem to have gotten a lot of different opinions and here is what I'm going to do.

MFP has me at 1976 calories per day a sedimentary (I work in an office) to lose 2 pounds per week. I use a CHARGE 2 fit bit (which uses my heart rate) so I'm going to add about 50% of my calories to MFP. The TDEE from fit bit is 2400 calories roughly. For the last three weeks my daily calories used has been over 3200 everyday.

I will do that for a few weeks and se how it goes.

Thanks everyone for your help. I appreciate the time it takes to answer!

Hi Trina,

Please don't add calories from FitBit, link your accounts and allow negative calories. that way you don't even have to worry about logging exercise.

Make sure both your fitbit and MFP goals are the same (e.g. lose 2lbs per week).

This. While I don't find FitBit to overestimate my calorie burn, you need to realize that it includes your base calorie burn in the numbers it reports for a workout. So, when it says you burn 500 calories in a 1 hour workout, 100 of those calories might be ones you were going to burn anyway (just by existing) and only 400 of them are "extra" calories from the workout.