1200 or 1500??

riley_kinnett

I have been dieting again for a little over a month. I have not lost ANY weight. Last year I lost 21lb, but quit going to the gym and dieting and ended up gaining back 13 of the 21lb. Before when I was on this diet, I was going to the gym 5-6 days a week and was eating anywhere from 1400-1650 cal each day. Now I only go to the gym 2-3 days a week and eat about 1500 and try not to eat any of the calories back. I use a food scale for EVERYTHING. Should I stay at 1500 or go down to 1200 to lose weight??

mnmamin

Have you used the option on this app to tell you the recommended cal intake per day depending on your goals(lose .5, 1, 2lbs/week)?
There is also a macro calculator online that will break down how much carbs, proteins, and fats for you depending on your goals

SezxyStef

riley_kinnett wrote: »

I have been dieting again for a little over a month. I have not lost ANY weight. Last year I lost 21lb, but quit going to the gym and dieting and ended up gaining back 13 of the 21lb. Before when I was on this diet, I was going to the gym 5-6 days a week and was eating anywhere from 1400-1650 cal each day. Now I only go to the gym 2-3 days a week and eat about 1500 and try not to eat any of the calories back. I use a food scale for EVERYTHING. Should I stay at 1500 or go down to 1200 to lose weight??

It doesn't look like you use a food scale for everything...if you are your entries should reflect it as the entries not in the weight could be wrong.

esp when pasta is measure in fluid oz...????

AS for how much you should eat depends on your stats which you didn't give.

I lose easy on 1500...

janejellyroll

What does "trying" not to eat calories back look like? Does that mean you're eating some?

SezxyStef

janejellyroll wrote: »

What does "trying" not to eat calories back look like? Does that mean you're eating some?

that only matters if she is over estimating them and eats them all back.

janejellyroll

SezxyStef wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

What does "trying" not to eat calories back look like? Does that mean you're eating some?

that only matters if she is over estimating them and eats them all back.

And I've seen several posts where that's been an issue, that's why I'm asking. Usually when someone says they're "trying" to do something, that's where I will ask a follow-up question as to what exactly that looks like in practice.

riley_kinnett

When I say "trying" I mean that 99% of the time I do not eat them back, but occasionally I do if I am extra hungry from working out, etc.

janejellyroll

I would tighten up your logging.

You have some entries that are suspect -- like 6 ounces of grilled chicken for 150 calories (that should be at least 210), some packaged products that aren't spelled correctly (they could be right, but if the person who made the database entry didn't even get the name right, that's a sign the calories could be off too), and some strangely specific weight entries that are duplicated over multiple days (how are you always weighing out 31.88 grams of baby carrots?).

Are you weighing all your foods? Are you choosing the closest match in the database instead of entering your own recipes? Are some of these attempts to approximate what you're eating when you're eating out?

People can eat out and lose weight, but if you're trying to pick the closest match, you may be choosing entries that are way less than what you're actually eating.

kshama2001

riley_kinnett wrote: »

When I say "trying" I mean that 99% of the time I do not eat them back, but occasionally I do if I am extra hungry from working out, etc.

I always eat at least 50% of my exercise calories back and still lose weight but I am very very confident in my food logging. Jane pointed out a number of errors in your logging that could lead to you eating more calories than you think.

I get the syntax for whole foods from the USDA website and then plug that in to MFP to make it easier to find the system entry rather than an error-prone user-created entry.

courtneyfabulous

Why only 1500 or 1200? Maybe your ideal calorie goal is 1455 or 1376 or something. It's not automatically 1500 or 1200! Try an online TDEE calculator - I prefer the one from IIFYM.com - to find your maintenance calories, then subtract your deficit. Your deficit can be anything between 250 calories (0.5 pounds per week loss rate) up to 500 calories (1 pound per week loss rate) - I wouldn't go any higher than that with only 13 pounds to lose. And don't set your calories any lower than your BMR (the calculator gives you that too). With this method (the TDEE method) you do NOT eat back exercise calories because that is already included in the calculations.