Question regarding body fat Question about sugar in my food.

dagrees

Hello helpful folks,
More questions pop up as I continue on this journey.
I am losing weight- slowly- but my body fat is still high. 🙁 34.4%( I am using the formula that’s in the sticky in this discussion group: my neck, waist, and hip measurements, current weight, age, sex, and height).
I am female
63
CW 152.9
Height 65.5”
I have lost inches all over, but not yet at healthy BMI or in a low body fat range.
I walk daily and strength train 2-3 times a week. All is moderate exercise. I don’t do high intensity.
Am I not eating enough? Calories average out through the week, but maybe I am too low.
Some days I am below other days way over.
My other question is about sugar. I seem to go way over daily. Even on the days I don’t eat sweets( within my calorie range). But fruit, veggies, dairy all have it. Should I worry about that or my calorie goal?
(I know I can’t eat 12-1400 calories of twinkies, lol). I still hear and read about how you should cut sugar to lose weight and get rid of fat stomach.

I can open my diary
Thanks for any input!

apullum

Do you use a food scale to weigh all solid food?

You don’t need to worry about sugar unless your doctor has specifically told you to do so. It has no bearing on weight loss.

dagrees

Yes, I weigh everything.
And i have been losing weight 26 lbs since January 8.
Just disappointed that body fat % is high.

LegendaryOrange

What are your typical daily macros?

Just based on your original post it sounds like there is inconsistency in your nutrition. Keep in mind you ARE losing weight. You may need to tighten up the routine a bit, is all.

WholeFoods4Lyfe

How are you measuring your body fat %?

AnnPT77

You don't say how many calories you're eating, so it's hard to answer whether you should eat more or not. Is it the 1200-1400 you refer to? Are you losing weight? How fast (pounds/week on average)?

At about your size (5'5", 150-something pounds) when I joined MFP at age 59, MFP gave me 1200 to lose at a reasonably moderate rate. I ate 1200 plus all exercise calories. Unfortunately, that was too few calories for me: I turned out to be a better than average li'l ol' calorie burner, but I recognized that because I was losing too fast, faster than MFP expected, and got fatigued/weak. I lost most of the rest of my weight at 1400-1600 plus exercise calories, and have maintained a healthy weight since (I'm your age, 63).

If you're losing at a sensibly moderate rate (1 pound a week would be good at your current weight, possibly a tiny bit more, for a while at least), then your intake level is reasonable. (Our own results are a much better guide than any so-called "calorie calculator's" estimate).

It's fine to be under calorie goal some days, and over others, as long as things are averaging out to a reasonable point for gradual weight loss, with good nutrition.

Inherent sugar is nothing to worry about, unless you have a medical condition that requires you to limit it (like diabetes or insulin resistance). I went over the MFP default sugar goal every day while losing, when the only added sugar I ate most days was a tiny bit of concentrated fruit juice well down the ingredient list in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. All the rest was from fruits, veggies, and no-sugar-added dairy. Even the mainstream nutritional sources (USDA, WHO, etc.) don't suggest we need to limit inherent sugars, and - if you read their rationales - recommend limiting added sugar because too much of it tends to either drive out needed nutrition within a sensible calorie level, or put us above a sensible calorie level while getting adequate nutrition, either of which would be suboptimal.

My solution to the "sugar problem" was to remove sugar from tracking on my MFP diary, and track fiber instead, because that was more helpful for me.

As long as you're losing weight, getting some muscle-challenging exercise, and getting adequate nutrition (especially adequate protein), most of the weight you lose will be fat. You'll do fine.

dagrees

@WholeFoods4Lyfe I used the method which is in the must read section of this discussion group

dagrees

@AnnPT77 I am set to lose 1 per week, at lightly active.
1250 calories. I eat about 1/2 my calories back if at all.
I do eat added sugar at times, too(ice cream).
I still toy with the idea of not logging exercise and just doing the tdee/bmr formula.
My bmr is 1330, tdee is 1831.
If I reduce at 20% I’d get 1465per day, which is much more than I am currently eating.

dagrees

@LegendaryOrange my macros are what ever mfp has given me. I am usually over on fiber fat and protein by a hair, as well.
Some days my sugar is fine.

LegendaryOrange

I think you're fine. Don't overengineer. Just be consistent and patient. The results will come with time. If anything, just work to control the number of "way over" days you have. Also be sure you're measuring consistently, meaning the same time of day and with the same set of conditions each time. I weigh daily right when I wake up after going to the bathroom, naked, empty stomach. And I "officially" weigh in weekly on Sunday morning. I make sure my Saturday consumption is consistent week-over-week, so that the results aren't skewed by the prior day's food, still being digested.

dagrees

@LegendaryOrange Thank you!

quiksylver296

Your diary doesn't look like you "weigh everything." Just today - One pita, one scoop of protein powder, one inch cube of cheese, etc. My protein powder says a scoop is 28 grams, but if I weigh what is really in one scoop, it's more like 38-40 grams.

Check out these threads:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

AnnPT77

dagrees wrote: »

@AnnPT77 I am set to lose 1 per week, at lightly active.
1250 calories. I eat about 1/2 my calories back if at all.
I do eat added sugar at times, too(ice cream).
I still toy with the idea of not logging exercise and just doing the tdee/bmr formula.
My bmr is 1330, tdee is 1831.
If I reduce at 20% I’d get 1465per day, which is much more than I am currently eating.

If you've been at this for a month or more, how fast are you actually losing?

If you've just started, I'd suggest sticking to your preferred initial routine for 4-6 weeks, then assessing based on actual average weight loss rate. (Only exception: If you seem to be losing super fast, and at the same time start feeling fatigued or weak, eat more, because those are danger signs.) Or, it's fine to start with a slower weight loss target, if that would make the process more doable for you.

MFP NEAT method vs. TDEE is personal preference. Personally, I prefer NEAT because for me it reinforces the idea of how life really works: Eating and activity inter-relate; and my preferred exercise is weather dependent, so variable, somewhat unpredictably. But some people prefer having the same intake target every day, finding it simpler. The two methods should work out to be pretty close, on average over time.

Best wishes!

dagrees

@ quiksylver296 I do weigh everything. And my protein powder is usually under lol. Pita bread on point. Feta cheese weighed to the point of putting a crumble back if I go over the ounce.
And as I stated above, I am losing weight. Not the issue. Just wondering about body fat %. And sugar.
And I will continue to be vigilant with my weighing.
Thank you!

nutmegoreo

dagrees wrote: »

@ quiksylver296 I do weigh everything. And my protein powder is usually under lol. Pita bread on point. Feta cheese weighed to the point of putting a crumble back if I go over the ounce.
And as I stated above, I am losing weight. Not the issue. Just wondering about body fat %. And sugar.
And I will continue to be vigilant with my weighing.
Thank you!

Sounds like you're doing everything right. 26lbs since January is right on track. For body fat %, give it more time. For sugar, I wouldn't worry about it, most of the sugar you have is from fruits and veg. A bit of added sugar is fine. You just don't want to be eating so much sugar is crowds out nutrition.

apullum

AnnPT77 wrote: »

dagrees wrote: »

@AnnPT77 I am set to lose 1 per week, at lightly active.
1250 calories. I eat about 1/2 my calories back if at all.
I do eat added sugar at times, too(ice cream).
I still toy with the idea of not logging exercise and just doing the tdee/bmr formula.
My bmr is 1330, tdee is 1831.
If I reduce at 20% I’d get 1465per day, which is much more than I am currently eating.

If you've been at this for a month or more, how fast are you actually losing?

If you've just started, I'd suggest sticking to your preferred initial routine for 4-6 weeks, then assessing based on actual average weight loss rate. (Only exception: If you seem to be losing super fast, and at the same time start feeling fatigued or weak, eat more, because those are danger signs.) Or, it's fine to start with a slower weight loss target, if that would make the process more doable for you.

MFP NEAT method vs. TDEE is personal preference. Personally, I prefer NEAT because for me it reinforces the idea of how life really works: Eating and activity inter-relate; and my preferred exercise is weather dependent, so variable, somewhat unpredictably. But some people prefer having the same intake target every day, finding it simpler. The two methods should work out to be pretty close, on average over time.

Best wishes!

OP mentioned losing 26 pounds since early January, so a rate of about 1 lb/week.

At 5'5" and 153 lb., OP is three pounds above their optimal BMI range.

At this point, OP, your weight loss should be slowing down. 0.5 lb/week is a good pace to target, and keep in mind that the scale will not decrease every week. You may go 4-6 weeks before seeing downward movement on the scale.

Weigh ALL solid food. You have a small deficit and it is easy to wipe it out with a few logging errors. You should also be eating back all exercise calories if you're confident that they're calculated correctly. If you are using an exercise calorie database or other estimate, eat half of them to account for potential overestimation. If you do not want to track exercise separately, then you need to use TDEE rather than MFP's calorie calculation. Either way, though, you should be aiming for a slower pace of loss at this point.

As you approach your optimal BMI range, since you want to reduce body fat further, you should be thinking about transitioning into recomp.

Unknown

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kshama2001

I'm another one who has no medical reason to track Sugar and swapped it out for Fiber.

The key thing to stay under is Calories. It's perfectly fine to go over on Fiber - I look at that (and protein) as a minimum target. I go over Fat just about every day.

PAV8888

You're at the cusp of leaving the overweight range and entering the normal weight range by BMI.

You're at the cusp of leaving the overweight range and entering the healthy/acceptable range by body fat %.

For women healthy/acceptable fat % varies by source, but common definitions of healthy/acceptable include the 25% to 32% body fat range with overweight starting at about 33%

So both BMI and fat % appear to be moving along nicely and in tandem.

I also note that for older individuals a BMI of 23-27 (i.e. upper end of normal to lower end of overweight) has often been associated with longevity--previous health history may play a role in this.

You've also lost 26 lbs in the past 6 months... which sounds as close to 1lb a week as anyone has reason to expect.

As you're entering the normal weight range you may want to actually increase your calories slightly and proceed to losing at somewhere between your current rate of 1lb a week and a slower 0.5lbs a week while seeking to embed your new behaviours, routines, and eating habits as you transition towards maintenance. I.e. concentrate on developing your long term strategies...

As a person who dipped into Type 2 in the past while obese and who consumes relatively high amounts of sugars (on average about 40% of my carbs which in turn are about 52% of my total intake) from yogurt, ice cream, fruits, and twinkie equivalents, I've found that I can better 'handle' high amounts of sugar around my bouts of (mostly moderate) exercise activity. I track calories, protein and fiber, and I also pay attention to sodium. The rest I only look at once in a while in review.

As someone who doesn't always practice what they preach, I note that strength training is seriously associated with positive outcomes as we get older.

dagrees

@kshama2001 thank you. I will continue to track calories and not worry too much!

dagrees

@PAV8888 thank you, I am getting there slowly, and will keep tracking my calories.