Anyone similar to me in terms of daily calorie goal and exercise

Xkmaf2018X
Xkmaf2018X Posts: 97 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi Everyone

So the truth is I am really struggling to lose any weight with MFP, I am fritting between 11st 9lb and 11st 13lb and have been since after Xmas.

My eating is not bad but its also not 100%, I log my foods daily and am pretty good Mon to Friday....What I mean by pretty good is that come Saturday/Sunday I'm not "bad" but I will allow myself to go over my daily calorie goal. I think what confuses me is when I used to do WW's all them years ago I would allow myself a bit of freeway at the weekend and I still lost, however, I didn't exercise back then. I also like wine, I can easily drink a bottle Friday and Saturday and I still log it - could this be the culprit as to why I'm not really losing. I also don't eat breakfast, I try to incorporate the intermittent fasting 16-8 through the week.

I was currently set as sedentary, as I have a desk job, which gave me 1200 daily calories, I have a fitbit and take around 9,000 - 11,000 steps per day. Since rejoining the gym in January I do a gym class everyday lunch time and most days I do two classes back to back. My classes are 30 minutes each and range from bodypump, step, tone, fatburn, kettlebells so at least 3x days I do two classes which would equal 60mins.

Then someone mentioned I should be set as lightly active as my step count is quite high so I changed it Lightly Active to lose 1lb a week which then gave me a daily goal of 1500 per day.

Again I'm super good Mon to Friday, I weigh everything, I track everything, I'm not perfect at the weekend but also not enough to make fritter between pounds EVERY single week. I drink lots of water, between 3,200 - 5 litres every day.

Where am I really going wrong? I know people will say its all about calories in calories out which I totally understand but theres no way I am eating beyond "maintenance" every single day. My TDEE is currently (according to IIYFM) 2050 which I'm assuming is the intake you have if you want to maintain.

Please can anyone help or advise me or where I could be going totally wrong.

Kel

Replies

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited April 2018
    I'm not similar in stats but I can relate. Once upon a time my weekend eating undid all my good calorie counting during the week.
    You need to track at the weekend and you need to stick to your calorie allowance then too if you want to lose weight.
    For me the solution was to bank/save calories from during the week (i.e eat at more of a calorie deficit Mon-Fri) so on Saturday and Sundays I could eat 2000-2400 calories.

    Even at maintenance I still do the same. While losing I would eat 1500 cals Mon-Fri and 2100-2200 Sat and Sun. Now I still eat 1700 cals Mon-Fri so I can still eat 2200 cals Sat's and Suns. I'm 5ft 2 and started off at 154lbs/11 stone and am now 125lbs/8stone 13.

    The point is, if you are not losing then you are eating at maintenance calories.

    You have to find a way to make this work for yourself so you can lose.

    What height are you?
  • Xkmaf2018X
    Xkmaf2018X Posts: 97 Member
    I'm currently 11st 13lb and 5ft 3inches.

    Thanks for responding, shall I set my activity level to sedentary again or lightly active? Did you also eat back your workout calories.

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    If you have a desk job then yes, set to sedentary and log your purposeful exercise. And yes, eat back most of those exercise cals. I say most because sometimes the entries in the database for calorie burns are inflated. Aim to eat back 50-75%.
    My allowance when I was losing (I aimed for 0.5lb a week) was 1450 + exercise cals so I usually averaged a total of 1700 cals a day. You'll likely want to aim for 1lb a week? that's 500 calorie deficit a day.
  • Xkmaf2018X
    Xkmaf2018X Posts: 97 Member
    Thank you, I have a fitbit which I use to log workout calories so I will aim to only eat back 50-75% of them. Yes 1lb a week is what I aim for.

    Thank you
  • nikkichenlife
    nikkichenlife Posts: 13 Member
    I am also a sedentary and 1,200 calorie goal a day.
    I do all the household chores in the house though. Perhaps I should qualify for lightly active, but I still keep it sedentary just in case. I’m quite satisfied with 1,200 calorie a day anyway. I never eat back workout calories as I consider them as saving, in fact I never log my exercise at all.

    Also, I don’t really use weekend as my cheat day. My cheat day came once every 7-10 days when I book a cleaner and rest from chores, and even so I would still watch what I eat.

    So far it works for me. I’m 160 cm and 57 kg now. Still aiming to shed 5 kg more.

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