Lost 25 lbs in 3 weeks now nothing on 4th week

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Replies

  • VictorSmashes
    VictorSmashes Posts: 173 Member
    In no way am I diagnosing you, nor am I encouraging this, but what you are doing sounds a lot like anorexia. You will lose weight fast, but you could be damaging your organs, including your liver, kidneys, and heart by doing this. Whether or not it is anorexia (by which again, I am not suggesting, rather I think you should look into resources so you do not go down that path), you are toying with your muscles, bone density, organs etc. Losing weight this fast could put you on a fast-track to a cardiac event. Take it easy, count your calories, and gosh darn it, you have to account for calories lost during exercise.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    dirtycory wrote: »
    Even at 1500 I always feel full and satisfied. That's with 3 meals and 3 snacks through the day. Just tried to add another 250 to it and I don t even know how I'm going to eat all that. Either you guys are messing with me or I just got a slow metabolism right now

    There can be a honeymoon period. I felt supergood when I first started MFP. In fact, I felt like I did when I was on phen/fen in the 90s, but without the benefit of an amphetamine-like drug and a happy pill.

    Fat goes down easily - use more butter or oil, or have some peanut butter or nuts.

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  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    edited January 2020
    According to what "Google" and many articles says a safe and healthy weight for me is about 160. That would be 90 pounds I needed to lose. I was shooting for 200 and go from there. 175 would be about right for me . So that's 75 lbs from where I started. So by that chart above I should be shooting for 2lbs a week with 1000 calories deficit.
    I don't any of this is a one size fits all recipe. Everyone is different
  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Mfp sedentary is an activity factor of 1.25. lightly active 1.4. active 1.6; very active 1.8 for 24 hours.

    Sleeping is actually a less than 1 MET activity. Off the top of my head I think it is .95 because it approaches BMR as opposed to rmr.

    Heavy equipment operator sits on his *kitten*, but he is wearing boots, dressed with hard hat on, alert, functioning, dealing with vibration, twisting and turning.

    MET value is 2.0 for heavy equipment operator. More than driving for example. And more then standing in line quietly.

    I don't know if I would go all the way to very active; but sedentary you're not.

    A lb is worth about 3500 Cal. Add your lost lbs to what you've eaten and divide by days.

    You get TDEE.

    I will assume that will be too high a number due to logging errors and initial water weight loss.

    So instead of cutting 15% from that number, cut 20%

    Eat it. Move/exercise more. Figure out the balance between healthy food and fun food that you can keep to for the next five years.

    You don't drop weight and forget about it and magically maintain.

    Figure out the long term.

    (What did you do when the guys wanted to go for pizza and beers or to watch a game? Is that going to be your answer during the next five years?)

    No way. Every equipment operator I know that's been doing it for more than 10 years if over weight. No way im considered active.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited January 2020
    dirtycory wrote: »
    According to what "Google" and many articles says a safe and healthy weight for me is about 160. That would be 90 pounds I needed to lose. I was shooting for 200 and go from there. 175 would be about right for me . So that's 75 lbs from where I started. So by that chart above I should be shooting for 2lbs a week with 1000 calories deficit.
    I don't any of this is a one size fits all recipe. Everyone is different

    But you were far overshooting 2 lbs/week, so clearly your deficit has been much larger, and now it's time to dial it down to 1 lb/week.

    How many calories does MFP give you for 1 lb/week set at lightly active?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    If you set for 2lbs per week, you should def be eating back cals burned from exercise
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    erickirb wrote: »
    If you set for 2lbs per week, you should def be eating back cals burned from exercise

    He should be doing that no matter what (at least half, until he has real data to verify his burns).
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    erickirb wrote: »
    If you set for 2lbs per week, you should def be eating back cals burned from exercise

    He should be doing that no matter what (at least half, until he has real data to verify his burns).

    true, but if he chose 0.5lbs/week, there is more wiggle room to lose more by creating a larger deficit than 250 cals
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Sometimes you lose a lot and then your body decides to hold onto water a while. As long as you are logging accurately you will get back to losing before long.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,222 Member
    edited January 2020
    dirtycory wrote: »
    According to what "Google" and many articles says a safe and healthy weight for me is about 160. That would be 90 pounds I needed to lose. I was shooting for 200 and go from there. 175 would be about right for me . So that's 75 lbs from where I started. So by that chart above I should be shooting for 2lbs a week with 1000 calories deficit.
    I don't any of this is a one size fits all recipe. Everyone is different

    No, it's not one size fits all. For example, you're not large enough to safely lose as fast as you've been losing. You are of course free to take whatever course (with related risks) you wish, but my recommendation would be to look at how much weight you have left to lose, to be at a healthy weight, and lose at the rate recommended for that.

    If you have 75 pounds to lose, and are still over 200, it's probably reasonably low risk to set your goal at 2 pounds a week, then monitor to stay very close to that, while also eating back exercise calories. You've been losing much, much faster than that so far, even if we discount the first week's big drop from water weight and average digestive system contents. Then, as your weight drops, it would be sensible (IMO) to decrease your loss rate, according to how close you are to a healthy weight goal.

    If you set MFP for 2 pounds a week, what calorie goal does it give you?
    dirtycory wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Mfp sedentary is an activity factor of 1.25. lightly active 1.4. active 1.6; very active 1.8 for 24 hours.

    Sleeping is actually a less than 1 MET activity. Off the top of my head I think it is .95 because it approaches BMR as opposed to rmr.

    Heavy equipment operator sits on his *kitten*, but he is wearing boots, dressed with hard hat on, alert, functioning, dealing with vibration, twisting and turning.

    MET value is 2.0 for heavy equipment operator. More than driving for example. And more then standing in line quietly.

    I don't know if I would go all the way to very active; but sedentary you're not.

    A lb is worth about 3500 Cal. Add your lost lbs to what you've eaten and divide by days.

    You get TDEE.

    I will assume that will be too high a number due to logging errors and initial water weight loss.

    So instead of cutting 15% from that number, cut 20%

    Eat it. Move/exercise more. Figure out the balance between healthy food and fun food that you can keep to for the next five years.

    You don't drop weight and forget about it and magically maintain.

    Figure out the long term.

    (What did you do when the guys wanted to go for pizza and beers or to watch a game? Is that going to be your answer during the next five years?)

    No way. Every equipment operator I know that's been doing it for more than 10 years if over weight. No way im considered active.

    Activity, sadly, is a pretty small contributor to weight management regardless, for people with normal lives (i.e., not the rare person doing hours of athletic training daily). Your colleagues are overweight because they eat more calories than they expend.

    I was obese for a dozen years while training routinely and quite intensely most days, and competing as an athlete (not an elite athlete, but a masters athlete "in the pack" in terms of results). My training was worth maybe 500 calories a day, which is a Big Mac or a couple of Snickers bars. It's totally easy to eat that much extra, and then some. I stayed obese for well over a decade that way.

    I don't know about your workplace, but it's kind of common in workplace culture these days for guys to hit the fast food places for lunch (and supersize), sometimes be drinking soda or sugar-y coffee during the work day, go out for a beer and wings after work, and that sort of thing. That's fun, but those are all ways to drive calories pretty high, without feeling satiated.

    I guarantee that an "active" lifestyle (in MFP terms) is compatible with getting and staying overweight and even obese. (Of course, many people who are overweight or obese are not active, in part because it gets easier to avoid moving as much as we get fatter, then more out of shape, so still fatter, in a negative down-spiral of health.)

    So, if you think "active" is the wrong MFP setting for your job, what does MFP give you for a calorie goal for "lightly active"? (It varies with body size, but the differences between settings tend to be in that Snickers bar kind of territory, for many people - not huge.)
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    dirtycory wrote: »
    According to what "Google" and many articles says a safe and healthy weight for me is about 160. That would be 90 pounds I needed to lose. I was shooting for 200 and go from there. 175 would be about right for me . So that's 75 lbs from where I started. So by that chart above I should be shooting for 2lbs a week with 1000 calories deficit.
    I don't any of this is a one size fits all recipe. Everyone is different


    If you set MFP for 2 pounds a week, what calorie goal does it give you?

    Several have asked what MFP gives him for various scenarios, but he seems very reluctant to share. :/
  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    dirtycory wrote: »
    According to what "Google" and many articles says a safe and healthy weight for me is about 160. That would be 90 pounds I needed to lose. I was shooting for 200 and go from there. 175 would be about right for me . So that's 75 lbs from where I started. So by that chart above I should be shooting for 2lbs a week with 1000 calories deficit.
    I don't any of this is a one size fits all recipe. Everyone is different


    If you set MFP for 2 pounds a week, what calorie goal does it give you?

    Several have asked what MFP gives him for various scenarios, but he seems very reluctant to share. :/

    Ok so here is what MFP tells me at 3 different activity levels and 1, 1.5, and 2 lbs a week.

    Not very active
    1lbs per week-1940
    1.5lbs per week-1690
    2lbs per week-1500

    Lightly active
    1lbs per week-2240
    1.5lbs per week-1990
    2lbs per week-1740

    Active
    1lbs per week-2630
    1.5lbs per week-2380
    2lbs per week-2130
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    edited January 2020
    And aiming for a 1.5lb per week loss (appropriate for you, for another 10 or so lbs), add another 250 cal to that 2150, which equals 2400.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,252 Member
    Based on the numbers you present and on the rate of loss you've described so far.

    And under the assumption that your activity and exercise during the previous weeks was representative of the future. And that your current 1500 Calories were logged the same way as you will be logging your 2400 Calories... I would go for Active and 1.5lbs and aim to eat about 2400 Cal a day.

    You know what else is nice about a number in the 2200-2700 range? Most males of average height, normal weight, and average non sedentary activity probably end up eating somewhere in that range to maintain.

    Do you know of a better time to practice and perfect your long term eating other than during weight loss where the worse case scenario if you screw up is maybe losing a little bit less that week?

    Also plug your weight changes in a weight trend application. It helps and gives you a better gauge as to whether, on average, you're meeting your goals.

    As a guy, unless you start an intense exercise program or something, you should be able to make adjustment decisions with just a few weeks of data 2-4 instead of 4-6 which are sometimes needed for the ladies so that they can go through a complete hormonal cycle and its associated water retention.
  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Based on the numbers you present and on the rate of loss you've described so far.

    And under the assumption that your activity and exercise during the previous weeks was representative of the future. And that your current 1500 Calories were logged the same way as you will be logging your 2400 Calories... I would go for Active and 1.5lbs and aim to eat about 2400 Cal a day.
    .

    Yeah tha is that's what I'm going to shoot for. At least to give it a try. I hav nothing to loose by trying

  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    edited January 2020
    I've got another question on how MFP sets up your macros by their default ...
    50% carbs
    30% fat
    20% protein

    I was thinking a little higher on the protein and a little less on the carbs would be better. Is that wrong? I was eating 45% carbs and 25% fat and 30% protein since I started. Good or bad?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,252 Member
    No problem at all. How you get to feel more satiated and energetic and your own preferences trump any macro splits set in stone.

    I generally aim to eat about 0.8 to 1g of protein per lb of weight that I would be at BMI 24.9 (top of normal range) as I think it gives me adequate leeway between taking in sufficient protein to meet any performance and deficit needs and overdoing things.

    Whether I am +/- 10 or 30g one day matters less to me than the average day in and day out.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Absolutely fine to change up your macros :) Don't drop fat too much lower (RDA is 20-35%), as you need it for absorption of fat soluble vitamins and other functions. Fat and protein should be treated as minimums, then let carbs fall where they may.

    Re the feeling like you were eating all the time to get to the higher calorie intake, you've presumably gone pretty gung ho on eliminating higher calorie foods in order to hit the 1500. Time to reintroduce some - avocados, nuts and nut butters, oil for cooking and dressings, fattier cuts of meat, full fat dairy. And it's perfectly fine to fit some treat foods in too. Another thing you can do is look at your calorie allowance over the week, instead of daily. So eating a bit lower on week days, and higher on weekends when you're more likely to be socialising, pizza night with the kids, etc :)
  • dirtycory
    dirtycory Posts: 32 Member
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Absolutely fine to change up your macros :) Don't drop fat too much lower (RDA is 20-35%), as you need it for absorption of fat soluble vitamins and other functions. Fat and protein should be treated as minimums, then let carbs fall where they may.

    Re the feeling like you were eating all the time to get to the higher calorie intake, you've presumably gone pretty gung ho on eliminating higher calorie foods in order to hit the 1500. Time to reintroduce some - avocados, nuts and nut butters, oil for cooking and dressings, fattier cuts of meat, full fat dairy. And it's perfectly fine to fit some treat foods in too. Another thing you can do is look at your calorie allowance over the week, instead of daily. So eating a bit lower on week days, and higher on weekends when you're more likely to be socialising, pizza night with the kids, etc :)

    Is there a way to post photos in the forum? Or share my daily diary some how?
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    dirtycory wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Absolutely fine to change up your macros :) Don't drop fat too much lower (RDA is 20-35%), as you need it for absorption of fat soluble vitamins and other functions. Fat and protein should be treated as minimums, then let carbs fall where they may.

    Re the feeling like you were eating all the time to get to the higher calorie intake, you've presumably gone pretty gung ho on eliminating higher calorie foods in order to hit the 1500. Time to reintroduce some - avocados, nuts and nut butters, oil for cooking and dressings, fattier cuts of meat, full fat dairy. And it's perfectly fine to fit some treat foods in too. Another thing you can do is look at your calorie allowance over the week, instead of daily. So eating a bit lower on week days, and higher on weekends when you're more likely to be socialising, pizza night with the kids, etc :)

    Is there a way to post photos in the forum? Or share my daily diary some how?

    Yes to both :)

    For diary, from your Homepage go to Settings, then Diary Settings, and select 'public' under sharing.

    To add photos, there's a line of symbols above the reply box, the one that's I think supposed to be mountains and the sun is for photos.
  • Mov3mor3
    Mov3mor3 Posts: 96 Member
    edited January 2020
    Just fluctuations probably. I've only lost .4lb this week after losing 17 in the last 3 weeks.