Help! Weight loss.

daniel_fleetwood

Good morning all.

Been on a diet for the last 3 weeks (4 weeks this coming Monday). Started at 17st 10lb and currently weigh 16st 12lb. I was eating 1500 calories per day based on what MFP told me. I haven’t lost anything in the last week and a half so appreciate that it was water weight to begin with. I’ve been including a fair bit of protein in my diet as I use protein world products. I’ve just purchased an Apple Watch to help track exercise etc. So as it seems I’ve hit a brick wall in terms of loss - I’m looking for some advice. I feel I’m not eating enough for my statistics hence the stop on weight loss.

My stats are -

Height - 5ft 10in
Weight - 236lb
Age - 33
Obviously being furloughed I’m just sitting around the house etc but try and do a 30 minute walk per day. My total steps yesterday tracked on Apple Watch was 5161 so I’ve left the activity level set to NOT VERY ACTIVE to account for the fact I have no job.

So for any experts out there, is this figure of 1500 calories per day to lose 2lb per week accurate? I would imagine my BMR would be higher than that (around the lower 2000 mark) due to my weight at present.

Thanks in advance for any advice 👍

KrissFlavored

If that's the number mfp gave you, then yes

sijomial

Same results, two different perspectives.

• I haven't lost anything in the last week and a half - oh no, how awful!
• I've lost an amazing 12lbs in under four weeks - what a brilliant start!

Your calorie goal on here is xxxx + exercise calories.
Why someone your size and age feels the need or desire to eat as little as 1500 as a base calorie goal is I'm afraid a mystery to me! Don't you like food?
You can and should probably lose on far more than that which will make the process far less difficult and therefore more sustainable.

Yes your initial loss is boosted by water weight but you will also have lost a decent amount of bodyfat too, that's what happens in a calorie deficit.

You can check your BMR if you want to (look under APPS / Tools) but it's a pretty useless number on its own outside of a medical setting and this site estimates it for you when you do your goal set up (BMR x activity multiplier to estimate your calorie level for a day with no exercise) and you then select a rate of loss. You don't have to pick the quickest rate of loss and there's many reasons not to.
Remember your deficit is calculated from your total calorie burn and not just your BMR which probably is around 2,000.

Will 1500 result in 2lbs a week loss? Maybe - if your non-exercise burn is actually 2,500 and your food logging is accurate.


PS - beware if you sync your Apple Watch directly then it doesn't send MyFitnessPal the correct adjustments unless you link via an intermediary app.

daniel_fleetwood

Is it healthy eating below my BMR every day? A lot of calculators put my BMR at around 2000-2100.
For example when I put the same data into the MyNetDiary app, it suggests my food calorie budget is 2005, my BMR is 2020 and my maintenance is 3005. This is with sedentary activity.

daniel_fleetwood

sijomial wrote: »

Your calorie goal on here is xxxx + exercise calories.
Why someone your size and age feels the need or desire to eat as little as 1500 as a base calorie goal is I'm afraid a mystery to me! Don't you like food?

Yes I love food haha that’s why I’m the weight I currently am. I agree that 1500 is too low, I have no desire to eat that little. It’s what MFP has told me. Hence me questioning it.

sijomial

daniel_fleetwood wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Your calorie goal on here is xxxx + exercise calories.
Why someone your size and age feels the need or desire to eat as little as 1500 as a base calorie goal is I'm afraid a mystery to me! Don't you like food?

Yes I love food haha that’s why I’m the weight I currently am. I agree that 1500 is too low, I have no desire to eat that little. It’s what MFP has told me. Hence me questioning it.

But it doesn't tell you to eat that - you got that number by either entering your details incorrectly but most likely because you picked the fastest rate of loss. If you pick 2lbs a week loss it takes 1000cals off your daily goal - that's a massive amount.

I do wish MyFitnessPal would put a little explanatory note in the goal set up to explain the consequences of choices made. It sets many people off on the wrong path believing they have to suffer horrible hunger and lack of energy to lose weight.

sijomial

daniel_fleetwood wrote: »

Is it healthy eating below my BMR every day? A lot of calculators put my BMR at around 2000-2100.
For example when I put the same data into the MyNetDiary app, it suggests my food calorie budget is 2005, my BMR is 2020 and my maintenance is 3005. This is with sedentary activity.

With a lot to lose it isn't necessarily unhealthy (at least at first) - but you don't have to.

Beware comparisons with other sites, most include your exercise up front (TDEE method) and credit you an average daily maintenance amount.
MyFitnessPal only estimates your maintenance for days with no purposeful exercise intending you to add them afterwards.

For comparison......
TDEE of 3000 = eat that same number daily.
MyFitnessPal = variable daily allowance in line with exercise, but probably close to on average 3000.

sijomial

Wish the person who disagrees with every post I made would speak up.

If you have something to add then lets hear it. Would love to hear your objection - it might even be helpful to the OP to have some debate.

daniel_fleetwood

Many thanks for your help today. It’s cleared it up for me. I’ve upped it to lose 1.5lb per week. This is now giving me 1750 calories per day (even though my BMR is 2020). I will log everything correctly as I have been doing. I will also leave activity set to not very active but log any exercise and eat those calories back so I’m still hitting my daily target.

sijomial

You are very welcome Daniel - best of luck.

Strudders67

Hopefully someone will jump in with the correct figures but Sedentary implies you typically walk about 3000-5000 steps a day whilst I believe Not Very Active is 5,000-10,000 steps. Make sure you're not double counting your steps if you're going to log exercise and eat those calories back.

I don't have a fitness tracker so don't know how they synch / what prevents double counting, but my activity level is set to Sedentary and I then manually log my exercise walks in to MFP as deliberate exercise. In my experience, as long as I'm accurate with my speed and the amount of time I walked for, MFP is fairly accurate with regards to how many calories extra it should give me.

daniel_fleetwood

Strudders67 wrote: »

Hopefully someone will jump in with the correct figures but Sedentary implies you typically walk about 3000-5000 steps a day whilst I believe Not Very Active is 5,000-10,000 steps. Make sure you're not double counting your steps if you're going to log exercise and eat those calories back.

I don't have a fitness tracker so don't know how they synch / what prevents double counting, but my activity level is set to Sedentary and I then manually log my exercise walks in to MFP as deliberate exercise. In my experience, as long as I'm accurate with my speed and the amount of time I walked for, MFP is fairly accurate with regards to how many calories extra it should give me.

I haven’t sent MFP to link to Apple Watch for steps just pure exercise which is triggered by me selecting type of exercise on my Apple Watch. Once I end the exercise it will add the calories to MFP. I’m only aiming to eat 50% of those calories back just in case of any discrepancies.

Lietchi

Strudders67 wrote: »

Hopefully someone will jump in with the correct figures but Sedentary implies you typically walk about 3000-5000 steps a day whilst I believe Not Very Active is 5,000-10,000 steps.

Sedentary and not very active are the same setting, I think the name just varies between different versions of the app.
One level above sedentary/not very active is lightly active.