Calorie counting

cytokein

I've got the app to count what I'm eating but I'm not sure it adds up. I've eaten well today and it still says that I've got 1400 calories left to eat. I'd be huge if I ate like this every day. It's set on weight loss, 1.5lbs per week. Is there a way to tweak it further?

Terytha

How many calories have you eaten today?

kimny72

More info is necessary. What is your height and weight? How much weight do you want to lose? What is your base calorie goal?Do you have an activity tracker linked? If not, did you log exercise and what did you log?

cytokein

Hi. I'm 192cm and 12st 11lbs. My base calories is 1500 and I have a workout logged and step and tracking active. It says I ate around 1500 cal but had 1446 left. My original weight loss goal was 1lb per week but I've moved that up to 2lbs just to try and bring the base calories down

PAV8888

What are your goals?

You're already at what would be considered by many an optimal weight for your height and a BMI of 22.

Is weight reduction (and fast weight reduction at that) the best way to accomplish them?

What workout did you do and how many steps did you have?

What tracker/phone are you using and which app is connected to what (there are currently some wacky results with apple and Samsung watches for example. Not so much with Fitbit or Garmin devices)

cytokein

Hi
I don't have much fat in me really and to look at (because of my height) I probably look too thin. The only place I have fat really is on my stomach and a little on the sides. Not enough to stick out but enough to completely cover any ab definition. I'm not really looking for the fast weight loss, I just changed my target to the faster weight loss schedule because I have 3 good meals a day and snacks and probably a couple too many cups of tea (with 2 sugars) but the app is telling me to eat twice as much as that even though I've got the setting on the lowest activity level. I'm using Google fit to count steps and activity. It registered my bike ride and only about 5000 steps (on furlough) and I have two alternating workout routines of about 1 hour 15 mins each and around 600-650 cals burn. A mix of weights for arms, chest, shoulders, back and legs and both routines have a number of ab and core workouts as this is the area I'm focusing on. I just feel like I'm getting my food diary entries wrong somehow

kimny72

cytokein wrote: »

Hi. I'm 192cm and 12st 11lbs. My base calories is 1500 and I have a workout logged and step and tracking active. It says I ate around 1500 cal but had 1446 left. My original weight loss goal was 1lb per week but I've moved that up to 2lbs just to try and bring the base calories down

Don't play with your goals to make your calories what you think they should be for some reason, that's backwards.

So are you saying you got @ 1400 exercise calories added? Those seem like super high exercise calories, especially for weight lifting.

1500 calories is simply not a lot of food. Are you weighing out your portions? Are you checking the database entries you're choosing to the package?

If you are willing to temporarily make your food log public, we might be able to help you with that

cytokein

That's done. There is only yesterday and today to go off tho

DancingMoosie

It says private...

cytokein

Oh. Ate the food log and the diary the same thing? Cos I've set the diary to public. Can't find a food log option

DancingMoosie

Your feed is private. 🤷

janejellyroll

I can see your diary. I would recommend logging your items individually. The thing about picking an entry like "toast with butter and Marmite" created by someone else is that you have no idea how much butter or Marmite they used -- you could potentially be off by a LOT. It looks like you're weighing some solid foods but not others -- that can also throw you off so you'll want to use the scale (the more accurate way to measure) for solid foods as much as you can.

cytokein

Cool thanks. When I make home made food, I do it in bulk and freeze it. I'll make sure to weigh all the ingredients the next time I make anything

cytokein

And the things like toast, sandwiches etc

kimny72

janejellyroll wrote: »

I can see your diary. I would recommend logging your items individually. The thing about picking an entry like "toast with butter and Marmite" created by someone else is that you have no idea how much butter or Marmite they used -- you could potentially be off by a LOT. It looks like you're weighing some solid foods but not others -- that can also throw you off so you'll want to use the scale (the more accurate way to measure) for solid foods as much as you can.

ITA. I would set yourself back to no more than 1 lb per week, and just give yourself a week to get logging your food down pat. Double check those entries to the package, log individual items separately as much as you can, and use the food scale.

As far as your exercise calories, they can be overly generous and I'd guess that yours are. Just aim to eat back some of them, and again don't sweat exactly how much until you get the hang of this.

Not related to losing weight, but as your logging gets better, make sure you are getting enough protein and fat. You should be aiming for at least 0.6-0.8g of protein per lb of your ideal weight, and 0.3g of fat per.

Good luck!

Strudders67

I also cook in bulk and freeze in portions. I often make salad for a few days at a time too, so that I don't have to faff about making lunch every day. I use the Recipe tab a lot.

You give it a name and select how many portions it's likely to make, enter a list of each individual item and the weight for each, click Search and check that it has actually picked up the correct item (it often doesn't so you may need to Replace). Once I've finished, I edit it and select how many portions I actually bag or box up if that differs.
Then, when I eat that item, I select the entry from my Recipe list.

You can go back and edit a recipe if/when you make it again as you'll probably use different weights for some ingredients. My bolognese never has exactly the same weight of mince or carrots and my salad doesn't even contain the same ingredients every time (I just change the weight of anything not being included to 0.01g so that it registers zero calories).

You can also copy a recipe (and re-name it) if you cook a second batch whilst there's still some of the first in the freezer or if you make, for example, a chicken curry that mostly has the same ingredients as your beef curry.

AnnPT77

cytokein wrote: »

Hi
I don't have much fat in me really and to look at (because of my height) I probably look too thin. The only place I have fat really is on my stomach and a little on the sides. Not enough to stick out but enough to completely cover any ab definition. I'm not really looking for the fast weight loss, I just changed my target to the faster weight loss schedule because I have 3 good meals a day and snacks and probably a couple too many cups of tea (with 2 sugars) but the app is telling me to eat twice as much as that even though I've got the setting on the lowest activity level. I'm using Google fit to count steps and activity. It registered my bike ride and only about 5000 steps (on furlough) and I have two alternating workout routines of about 1 hour 15 mins each and around 600-650 cals burn. A mix of weights for arms, chest, shoulders, back and legs and both routines have a number of ab and core workouts as this is the area I'm focusing on. I just feel like I'm getting my food diary entries wrong somehow

If you were using Google Fit to estimate calories, with a heart rate monitor as input, there's a very good chance that "mix of weights for arms, chest, shoulders, back and legs and both routines'' will be over-estimated. Heart rate increases with weight workouts for reasons that do not correlate with calorie burn. Same may be true for abs/core workouts.

A normal strength workout of an hour and 15 minutes, for someone of your size, would be about half those calories, using METS-based estimating (one of the better ways to estimate strength workouts, though anything is a bit of a cr*pshoot for strength). And that would be 300-ish gross calories (includes BMR), not net calories just from the exercise. If you're doing something more like circuit training, with cardio interspersed, your estimates could be closer. But, speaking as someone who used to be of your bodyweight (and competing as an athlete in a short-endurance sport at the time, so not unfit), 600-650 calories for 75 minutes is a fairly high number . . . not impossible, but high.

These are old, but still true and good info to consider:

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training-17698
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

It'd be good to fine-tune estimates, if you can . . . but then not dramatically undereat what may be valid estimates, until you have personal results to evaluate the accuracy (like 4-6 weeks of logging data). Losing weight too fast is a health risk. And I can 100% attest that you can undereat, and feel fine for quite a while . . . until suddenly, you don't feel good at all. (I know this from experience, because I accidentally underate for a while when I first started logging, because MFP underestimates my calorie needs. This kind of underestimate is rare, but it happens.)

BTW: I'd still lose rapidly if I ate 1500 calories plus all (carefully estimated) exercise calories . . . and I'm much shorter (165cm), lighter (around 9st 3), older (64), sedentary for real outside of exercise, and 100% more female.

Like Kimny said, 1500 isn't very many calories. Maybe eat some nuts, avocados, fatty fish with the good Omega-3s? Or heck, have a treat. You need the glycogen for that workout schedule.

Best wishes!

Strudders67

Also, weigh things like your soup rather than just selecting 1 can - contents can vary by quite a bit. I usually take the lid off, weigh it full, empty the contents into my saucepan then deduct the weight of the empty tin.

And don't assume that every slice of bread or ham or anything else in a pack weighs the same either - they won't.

I weigh pretty much everything. If it's under the stated weight I have mixed feelings that it means I'm using fewer calories from my allowance but I've paid for something I'm not getting. Conversely, it's more calories but a bonus, cost-wise, if there's more in the packet / tin / whatever.

On the subject of calories, be aware that 1500 is the minimum calories suggested for a male, so don't be tempted to go below that.

AnnPT77

Strudders67 wrote: »

Also, weigh things like your soup rather than just selecting 1 can - contents can vary by quite a bit. I usually take the lid off, weigh it full, empty the contents into my saucepan then deduct the weight of the empty tin.

And don't assume that every slice of bread or ham or anything else in a pack weighs the same either - they won't.

I weigh pretty much everything. If it's under the stated weight I have mixed feelings that it means I'm using fewer calories from my allowance but I've paid for something I'm not getting. Conversely, it's more calories but a bonus, cost-wise, if there's more in the packet / tin / whatever.

On the subject of calories, be aware that 1500 is the minimum calories suggested for a male, so don't be tempted to go below that.

If your scale has a proper tare function, there's a quicker way.

Take off the lid, put the full can on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, dump out the soup, put the empty can back on the scale. The negative number is the weight of the soup.

Also the best way to weigh peanut butter, a hunk of cheese you cut off the block (block on the scale), liquids poured from a bottle, etc. Quick, easy.

PAV8888

All the above advice is of course relevant and good.

Need to touch on something, though.

We don't get to choose where we will lose fat from! If your overall look is too thin (you said it, not I) then your ab definition is unlikely to come from losing weight without becoming even more thin looking!

In the mechanics of how to calculate your exercise and deficit I urge consideration of a different goal than straight weight loss--namely recomp and possibly better programming?

cytokein

Thanks all. Amazing feedback.

I will start weighing everything. I've noticed since I've started this, how the same products can be a completely different size and weight. I think I'll use the app as encouragement to eat better rather than eating less.
I don't really use a proper tracker for workout, I just selected them from the menu and built up my routine so likely there's script errors there, but again it can be more just encouragement to get them WOs done.
PAV8888 (I don't know if there's a way to tag someone) Thanks, I have wondered that myself. Workout advice sites always say to lose weight to show ab definition but I guess people with my kind of build probably have to bulk up before it's worth losing too much body fat. I have no interest in bulking up so I think I might just focus on keeping a healthy weight and getting any definition that I can get without being to slim