2000 calories loss then gain problems

ItsRJTV

I weighed 370 pounds before my fitness pal. I got down to my all time low of 267 pounds about a year ago. I still log everything every day but over the past year I've been gaining. I'm back to within 2-3 pounds of 300 again and I swore to myself I'd never cross 300 again.
Before mfp I'd easily take in 4000 calories or more. I'm still at 2000 calories.
I don't exercise much but why did I gain 30 pounds when I didn't exercise to get down to under 270?
I just feel I should be maintaining at around 270 if I got there without exercise.

I'm desperate. I am so proud of my weight loss but very concerned about my gains. Please help.

janejellyroll

I took a quick peek at your diary and it looks like you are using many homemade and generic entries from the database. These are often inaccurate -- you may be consuming many more calories than you think you are.

quiksylver296

Not enough information to provide specific feedback...

allyphoe

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Not enough information to provide specific feedback...

We have an *enormous* amount of information. There's not a single day unlogged over the last two year's in OP's open diary. What information are you hoping for?

janejellyroll

allyphoe wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Not enough information to provide specific feedback...

We have an *enormous* amount of information. There's not a single day unlogged over the last two year's in OP's open diary. What information are you hoping for?

Unfortunately, the database entries OP is using lead me to conclude we don't have a meaningful idea of how many calories he's actually consuming.

allyphoe

janejellyroll wrote: »

Unfortunately, the database entries OP is using lead me to conclude we don't have a meaningful idea of how many calories he's actually consuming.

I totally agree with you. That would be an example of specific feedback based on the enormous amount of information available to us.

ItsRJTV

I appreciate all your comments.

allyphoe

I dumped all of your diary data to Excel. You've got nearly 3 years of daily entries there, and for convenience I'm going to call them 2016 / 2015 / 2014, but it's really "the 365 days before today" / "the 365 days before that" / "the 341 days before that."

In 2014, 91-94% of your calories could be accounted for by your logged macros. (If I multiply carb grams x 4 and fat grams x 9 and protein grams x 4, and I get a number that's 94% of your total calories logged. If I back out fiber calories, it's 91% of your total calories logged) In 2015, it was still 94/91%. In 2016, when you stopped losing weight and started gaining weight, that number dropped to 87/84%. So your logging has gotten much less accurate in the last year, compared to the two prior years.

I personally am an eyeballer, and it works for me, so I'm not going to tell you that you have to stop eyeballing. You eyeballed for 2 years and lost weight; you are capable of eyeballing successfully. But if you're going to eyeball, you have to be looking at your feedback, not just your input. The scale has given you 30 pounds of feedback across a year of time. Gaining weight over a period of time proves that you aren't eating in a deficit; if your logging leads you to believe that you are, your logging is in error.

I personally do a month-by-month calculation of my TDEE, using calories logged and weight change as the input. It bounces around a lot - I really need 90 days to smooth out noise - but if I have two or three months in a row where my calculated TDEE is 10% less than what I expect it to be, I've either reduced my activity level, estimated my calories lower than usual, or both. And I either need to eat less, move more, or both.

TimothyFish

The short answer is that you are eating at least 2,800 calories rather than the 2,000 that you are logging. It's going to be up to you to figure out what you aren't logging.

ItsRJTV

allyphoe wrote: »

I dumped all of your diary data to Excel. You've got nearly 3 years of daily entries there, and for convenience I'm going to call them 2016 / 2015 / 2014, but it's really "the 365 days before today" / "the 365 days before that" / "the 341 days before that."

In 2014, 91-94% of your calories could be accounted for by your logged macros. (If I multiply carb grams x 4 and fat grams x 9 and protein grams x 4, and I get a number that's 94% of your total calories logged. If I back out fiber calories, it's 91% of your total calories logged) In 2015, it was still 94/91%. In 2016, when you stopped losing weight and started gaining weight, that number dropped to 87/84%. So your logging has gotten much less accurate in the last year, compared to the two prior years.

I personally am an eyeballer, and it works for me, so I'm not going to tell you that you have to stop eyeballing. You eyeballed for 2 years and lost weight; you are capable of eyeballing successfully. But if you're going to eyeball, you have to be looking at your feedback, not just your input. The scale has given you 30 pounds of feedback across a year of time. Gaining weight over a period of time proves that you aren't eating in a deficit; if your logging leads you to believe that you are, your logging is in error.

I personally do a month-by-month calculation of my TDEE, using calories logged and weight change as the input. It bounces around a lot - I really need 90 days to smooth out noise - but if I have two or three months in a row where my calculated TDEE is 10% less than what I expect it to be, I've either reduced my activity level, estimated my calories lower than usual, or both. And I either need to eat less, move more, or both.

I'm in awe of the effort you put in for a stranger.
Thank you so much

allyphoe

ItsRJTV wrote: »

I'm in awe of the effort you put in for a stranger.
Thank you so much

You're welcome! Excel is my friend, and MFP lets you dump a year of data out very easily. It was about 15 minutes of effort, then writing up the conclusion, so not a big deal.

When I'm succeeding at losing weight, I always overestimate my intake, erring on the side of logging a bigger portion. When I'm gaining, I tend to justify putting a little more on my plate as being "more accurate." But when you eyeball, the important thing isn't accuracy - it's consistency. That's why I keep a close eye on the weight change side of things; it keeps me honest.