"How am I gaining weight in a deficit?" or: You're not losing fat because you're eating too much.
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I like this article. There was cursing and general sassiness. I give it 5 stars.12
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Well, when I had a pedometer, I discovered that moving around for 6 hours or so, I could tot up several thousand steps. (It was an apartment with a tiny kitchen; I did most of my chopping and mixing in the dining room, but appliances large and small were in the kitchen. So... take carrots out of fridge into dining room to peel and cut into chunks. Take carrot chunks back to kitchen and put in food processor. Empty processor bowl into mixing bowl and take into dining room to add seasonings because measuring cups and spoons are already on dining room table...) it can really add up. Not sure if that's how other people are doing it: counting steps and looking at what the pedometer says the burn is?1
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jessiferrrb wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »annacole94 wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
|You're welcome to come clean my place then.
I'm talking about people who count vaccuming as exercise and the like.
If it doesn't work for you, don't do it. What other people do impacts you not one iota. I do tend to log things like cleaning - because it's what I spend Saturday doing, rather than sitting on my butt in front of a computer, which is my normal state 5 days a week. Cleaning is more active than my baseline. I also tend to wear pants that don't have pockets, so my steps don't get counted by my phone, and I want to count those minutes I spent off the couch.
That's why I do it, and I never complain about how I'm eating 1200 calories!!! and gaining!!! We need to be aware of how our own lives work, and go with that.
Yeah except these are the same folks complaining how they can't lose weight. To me, that stuff shouldn't be counted as exercise because it's apart of every day living. You don't log taking a shower as exercise, or cooking as exercise. Now if it's something like deep cleaning or something that really is physical like moving boxes or furniture, that's a different story.
on the flip side i use my fitbit hr with negative adjustments allowed. mfp may give me 1600 calories to start the day, but if i literally just sit on my *kitten* all day and do nothing fitbit is going to take some of those away. if i was out running for an hour or if i was cleaning house for 4 hours that's still extra CO regardless of whether i would categorize it as "intentional exercise"
My Fitbit was a big eye-opener for me. Made me appreciate my sedentary days were *truly* sedentary and I didn't deserve extra calories and made me respect certain activities more
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Well, when I had a pedometer, I discovered that moving around for 6 hours or so, I could tot up several thousand steps. (It was an apartment with a tiny kitchen; I did most of my chopping and mixing in the dining room, but appliances large and small were in the kitchen. So... take carrots out of fridge into dining room to peel and cut into chunks. Take carrot chunks back to kitchen and put in food processor. Empty processor bowl into mixing bowl and take into dining room to add seasonings because measuring cups and spoons are already on dining room table...) it can really add up. Not sure if that's how other people are doing it: counting steps and looking at what the pedometer says the burn is?
Nope, they're saying "I cooked for 30 minutes" and use the exercise option for cooking plugging in 30 minutes and taking 127 calories (that's the # that comes up from the cardio entry "Cooking or food preparation). No pedometer, no fitness band calculation (for the ones that I've seen on my feed).3 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »Well, when I had a pedometer, I discovered that moving around for 6 hours or so, I could tot up several thousand steps. (It was an apartment with a tiny kitchen; I did most of my chopping and mixing in the dining room, but appliances large and small were in the kitchen. So... take carrots out of fridge into dining room to peel and cut into chunks. Take carrot chunks back to kitchen and put in food processor. Empty processor bowl into mixing bowl and take into dining room to add seasonings because measuring cups and spoons are already on dining room table...) it can really add up. Not sure if that's how other people are doing it: counting steps and looking at what the pedometer says the burn is?
Nope, they're saying "I cooked for 30 minutes" and use the exercise option for cooking plugging in 30 minutes and taking 127 calories (that's the # that comes up from the cardio entry "Cooking or food preparation). No pedometer, no fitness band calculation (for the ones that I've seen on my feed).
Yeah, that is an example of what I'm talking about.2 -
Colorscheme wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
|You're welcome to come clean my place then.
I'm talking about people who count vaccuming as exercise and the like.
I count vacuuming. And cleaning my toilet and shower/bath. Invitation stands.0 -
Colorscheme wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
|You're welcome to come clean my place then.
I'm talking about people who count vaccuming as exercise and the like.
I count vacuuming. And cleaning my toilet and shower/bath. Invitation stands.
Yeah but do you also complain about not losing weight? probably not. And I have heart problems so I can't even clean, let alone help someone else.1 -
Colorscheme wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
|You're welcome to come clean my place then.
I'm talking about people who count vaccuming as exercise and the like.
In general, I agree with you. In general, no one needs to log things that are a routine part of daily non-exercise life. It's one of many good ways to over-state exercise calories.
But there's still context. It depends on what's really in a daily activity level that is working for a specific person.
Example: I have a disabled woman in my friend feed. She rarely does housework. If she's having a really good day, she may do some, and she logs it, because it's unusual and especially effortful for her.
Even I might log housework if a did a deep-clean with furniture rearranging for several hours, because I'm normally slovenly and lackadaisical, so that would be unusual for me. Run the vacuum around the living room once in a while for a few minutes . . . nah, I don't log that.
Lol... it shocks me to think you might be slovenly & lackadaisical, @AnnPT77 !
It seems like it would be common sense... if *you* do it all the time, it's factored into your daily activity; if not, it makes sense to log it. I don't log when I vacuum at home, but when I volunteer to vacuum the large auditorium of our congregation, I log that. The alternative would be to count yourself as being completely sedentary (and even that has a built in level of assumed activity) and log every single thing, but the problem there would be that the burns for most activities are highly inflated, so the more you log, the more skewed your CO becomes.
With respect to housework, s'truth. Housework is boring; no one living here cares.
Picture a li'l ol' lady cackling away in a down-at-the-heels 1950s ranch house, happily surrounded by imminent avalanches of books, magazines, craft supplies (paints, rubber stamps, beads, yarn, fabric, more), houseplants, musical instruments (banjo, pennywhistle), a life-sized plaster cast of her 19-year-old self (!?), exercise equipment (rowing machine, dumbbells, kettlebells, exercise bands, more), self-soothing stuff (foam roller, yoga ball, more), nature specimens (bear skull, seed pods, random rocks & minerals & fossils), paintings & photographs . . . . etc. Oh, and in the barn/garage, gardening tools, power tools for projects, bike and boats (6, plus two more at the boathouse). That'd be me. I'm retired. I like to play. I thrive on chaos.
There's always something more interesting to do than housework.
I don't count the calorie burn from cackling, either. 19 -
Colorscheme wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
|You're welcome to come clean my place then.
I'm talking about people who count vaccuming as exercise and the like.
In general, I agree with you. In general, no one needs to log things that are a routine part of daily non-exercise life. It's one of many good ways to over-state exercise calories.
But there's still context. It depends on what's really in a daily activity level that is working for a specific person.
Example: I have a disabled woman in my friend feed. She rarely does housework. If she's having a really good day, she may do some, and she logs it, because it's unusual and especially effortful for her.
Even I might log housework if a did a deep-clean with furniture rearranging for several hours, because I'm normally slovenly and lackadaisical, so that would be unusual for me. Run the vacuum around the living room once in a while for a few minutes . . . nah, I don't log that.
Lol... it shocks me to think you might be slovenly & lackadaisical, @AnnPT77 !
It seems like it would be common sense... if *you* do it all the time, it's factored into your daily activity; if not, it makes sense to log it. I don't log when I vacuum at home, but when I volunteer to vacuum the large auditorium of our congregation, I log that. The alternative would be to count yourself as being completely sedentary (and even that has a built in level of assumed activity) and log every single thing, but the problem there would be that the burns for most activities are highly inflated, so the more you log, the more skewed your CO becomes.
With respect to housework, s'truth. Housework is boring; no one living here cares.
Picture a li'l ol' lady cackling away in a down-at-the-heels 1950s ranch house, happily surrounded by imminent avalanches of books, magazines, craft supplies (paints, rubber stamps, beads, yarn, fabric, more), houseplants, musical instruments (banjo, pennywhistle), a life-sized plaster cast of her 19-year-old self (!?), exercise equipment (rowing machine, dumbbells, kettlebells, exercise bands, more), self-soothing stuff (foam roller, yoga ball, more), nature specimens (bear skull, seed pods, random rocks & minerals & fossils), paintings & photographs . . . . etc. Oh, and in the barn/garage, gardening tools, power tools for projects, bike and boats (6, plus two more at the boathouse). That'd be me. I'm retired. I like to play. I thrive on chaos. There's always something more interesting to do than housework.
I don't count the calorie burn from cackling, either.
I think you might be my 5th grade teacher... you just described her classroom! 1 -
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estherdragonbat wrote: »
Does a belly laugh burn more calories than a cackle?
Where's the diary entry for that!?3 -
Traveler120 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »doittoitgirl wrote: »What ever happened to that flowchart infographic to post when people complain they don't know why they aren't losing weight?
Honestly I was happy that people stopped circulating that tiresome chart. Now here it comes again!
Ah, so I'm not the only one who hates that annoying chart.
Nope, you can include me in the "oh man stop posting that stupid chart" crowd. Okay, it's NOT a stupid chart, and yes it has good information. But for goodness sakes it is tiresome seeing the same thing posted over and over and over again, with no other response. Put it in a dang sticky, and refer people back to it in your comments.0 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »
Does a belly laugh burn more calories than a cackle?
Where's the diary entry for that!?
You'll have to create a custom exercise.
Data can be found here, via Vanderbilt U:
No joke: Study finds laughing can burn calories
You don't need me to add a smiley, right?2 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »doittoitgirl wrote: »What ever happened to that flowchart infographic to post when people complain they don't know why they aren't losing weight?
Honestly I was happy that people stopped circulating that tiresome chart. Now here it comes again!
Ah, so I'm not the only one who hates that annoying chart.
Nope, you can include me in the "oh man stop posting that stupid chart" crowd. Okay, it's NOT a stupid chart, and yes it has good information. But for goodness sakes it is tiresome seeing the same thing posted over and over and over again, with no other response. Put it in a dang sticky, and refer people back to it in your comments.
It's also tiresome seeing the same question a hundred times and the same responses a thousand more. If you have a specific question, that's great. But if you're going to neglect to read the announcements on the subject at the top of the forum, keep your diary private so no one can see what you're eating, and then ask the same thing: " I'm eating a deficit and not losing weight help me" the infographic is a good first step to figuring out what's going wrong. Because if they haven't addressed any of those things, those are going to be the only responses posted in the first place.9 -
I've seen people count cooking as exercise. Not sure why, since I don't cross-examine. I guess if one is canning/preserving or something like that . . . ?
I don't count my everyday cooking but when I spend an extra three hours in the kitchen making a St. Patrick's Day feast for my family and am as tired afterwards as if I'd walked two miles, I sure do log that.3 -
doittoitgirl wrote: »fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »doittoitgirl wrote: »What ever happened to that flowchart infographic to post when people complain they don't know why they aren't losing weight?
Honestly I was happy that people stopped circulating that tiresome chart. Now here it comes again!
Ah, so I'm not the only one who hates that annoying chart.
Nope, you can include me in the "oh man stop posting that stupid chart" crowd. Okay, it's NOT a stupid chart, and yes it has good information. But for goodness sakes it is tiresome seeing the same thing posted over and over and over again, with no other response. Put it in a dang sticky, and refer people back to it in your comments.
It's also tiresome seeing the same question a hundred times and the same responses a thousand more.
This is what I was thinking. I'd rather see one chart than 50 people dispensing the same advice 1 point at a time. Plus, the chart is colorful 7 -
It takes me half a second to scroll past the chart, no big deal. It's not as if we all have to read it every time it's posted 8
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Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
Calories don't know if they are being burned in the yard or in the gym.9 -
As a 4'11, 47 yo female, I am one of the outlyers. No matter what I put into MFP, it tells me to eat 1200. My weightloss sweetspot is at about 1100. I started at 1200 and slowly reduced intake until I saw results. It's not rocket science. Before anyone comments on how I'm not getting adequate nutrition, I run a little low on carbs and the other macros are on point for a 1200 intake. I just eat a little less starches.1
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Colorscheme wrote: »Just in relation to your alternate thread title:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much'
... it's fair to say that this should be extended to:
'You're not losing fat because you're eating too much in relation to your caloric burn'.
I have noticed a tendency for some users of this site to grill people about the input while ignoring the latter part of the equation completely.
Most people think they're burning a lot more calories than they actually are.
Probably. For some that's because they don't move as much (or burn as many calories from their activity) as they think. For others is may be that their calculated metabolic estimate doesn't match the formulaic general guess.
But whether someone is eating 'too much' relative to what their expenditure is.
That's the entire premise of the CICO equation.
One of the things I see a lot on my feed is people logging daily activities like house work, yard work, etc. That never makes sense to me. I only log actual exercise.
Well, if you sit behind a desk 40 hours a week and therefore have your activity level set to sedentary, if you're not sedentary on weekends then it's "exercise" as far as MFP is concerned.2
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