Help with calories and exercise

von_valentine

I’m going to start exercising. I haven’t been able to lose weight in months. MFP tells me to eat 1200 a day. I’m 28, 228lbs, F. I’m eating 1200/1400 a day and nothing. Body wants to store now that I’ve lost 15lbs total. So I’m joining a gym tomorrow. I’m wondering if I eat 1200 a day and burn 200-300, should I eat more calories or stay at 1200?

spiriteagle99

If you are truly eating 1200 calories a day, at 228 lbs you should be losing weight at a good rate. Are you weighing everything you eat? Inaccurate logging is the most likely problem, either by not logging every bite or by not weighing what you log or by using inaccurate entries in the data base. If you are weighing all your food, try double checking the entries you are using.

To answer your question, if you actually burn 200-300 calories, then you should eat them back. That is the way MFP is designed to work. However, because some machines are not very accurate in measuring calorie burn, you might start by eating back 1/2 or 3/4 rather than 100%. Or just log the time you walked or ran or biked and let MFP give you the calories burned. For me that works better than trusting the numbers my TM gives me.

von_valentine

I meant to put 218, but not a big difference. I’m weighing and entering calories very carefully. One thing is I have very slow digestion, so I don’t go to the bathroom much. I have to add oil to my diet. I have 1 day a week I over eat(like 2000 calories). But I try to make up for it by eating like 1000 calories the next day. I feel overall I’m eating way less and I’ve started walking a couple weeks ago, 30-60 minutes a day for at least 4 days a week. I even do IF 20 hours some days.

apullum

Do you weigh ALL of your food? Including the extra oil that you add? Oil is very calorie dense and those calories will add up fast.

Exactly how long has it been since the scale has gone down *at all*?

You've also stated several different calorie intakes: 1000, 1200, 1400, even 2000 (or perhaps more than 2000 sometimes; it's not clear). If you are frequently exceeding your calorie goal, then you could be reducing or wiping out your deficit.

Additionally, since you have some days where you eat far more than others, you're going to see more water/waste fluctuations. While that isn't fat gain, it can mask fat gain on the scale, and your medical condition could also come into play.

Since you just started a new exercise routine, you may be seeing water retention due to the normal muscle repair process. That should go away soon. However, it sounds as though you hadn't seen weight loss for a while before starting that exercise.

IF is irrelevant to fat loss. Fat loss is 100% caused by consistently being in a calorie deficit, not by what time you eat. IF is simply a personal preference for how some people like to eat.

Your body does not "want to store" fat because you lost 15 pounds. This is a common myth.

If you're willing to open your food diary, folks can help you look for errors in logging.