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james567mfp
Posts: 14 Member
I know it’s sound stupid but I’m so confused on how to lose weight there’s just so much information out there and I feel like it’s never straight forward as they make out. I currently weigh around 16 stone 10 pounds but whenever I try and lose weight I can never seem to I just want to know what I’m doing wrong. Whenever I use the TDEE calculator the calories they recommend seem like too much so I cut further down, does this effect it? Also do you need to consume more calories for the more exercise you do? I’m just so confused, any help would be much appreciated
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Replies
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*kitten* it2
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If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply0 -
james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
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How are you evaluating your weight loss progress? If you are expecting linear results on the bathroom scale you might want to read this article:
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/3 -
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janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
Yeah so the the 2700 calories are with the exercise built in for weight loss but it just seems like a lot of calories still, so if I’m exercising and burning let’s say 600-1000 calories for that day how am I meant to burn off another 1000-1500 plus without doing hours and hours of exercise if that makes any sense?0 -
MFP uses a different system than most calculators. A TDEE calculator is BMR+daily routine activity+exercise, meaning you set your TDEE value to your activity and your exercise level and eat to that number period without eating back exercise calories - though you have to make sure you hit the activity level that you set for the calculator.
MFP uses the NEAT system, which is BMR+daily routine activity but does NOT include exercise, so with MFP's number, you are expected to eat back your calories.
I personally prefer to use the NEAT system for now because I am normally sedentary and am not sure how consistent I can remain in my daily exercise routine, so I'd rather have a baseline calorie limit and then add back whatever exercise calories I can get.
so you currently weigh 234 lbs? (I'm in the US so stone measurements throw me off lol ) How tall are you? What deficit level are you striving for? What is your daily routine outside of direct exercise - your day to day activity levels while at home or at work? Do you routinely get those 3-5 exercise routines in daily? For how long? All that comes into play when setting up your deficit.
With the NEAT method, I at 40 years old, 240 lbs, and being 5'8" tall get a sedentary NEAT limit from MFP right around the 1300 calorie mark. lightly active I think is between 1400 and 1500 calories. I set my daily goal to 1400 and am eating back 75% of my exercise calories according to MFP's database as i don't have a fitbit. Right now I'm on a diet break, but when I get back to deficit, I'll return to this method, monitor my loss rate for 6 weeks, and adjust from there.1 -
How long do you typically give it before you think "I've not lost any weight, I'm giving up"?
One easy way of losing weight is to enter all your info into MFP, select a reasonable weight loss rate (not more than 1% of your body weight, per week) and see how many calories it gives you. Log everything you eat by its weight, measure and log everything you drink and make sure you select entries from the database that match what it says on the packet / seems accurate. Enter your exercise in to MFP as well and, depending on what you do, eat a reasonable percentage of those exercise calories as well. For walking and running, my experience is that MFP is pretty accurate as long as you're realistic about the speed you walk / run at. If you do anything else, a lot of people report that MFP over-estimates the calorie burn so the suggestion is to eat 50-75%. Stick to that for 4-6 weeks then take stock. If you're losing at the expected rate, you're doing fine, otherwise increase / decrease your exercise calories a bit.
And per the link that NovusDies posted, don't expect your weight loss to be linear. It'll go up and down, but the key thing is whether it is trending downwards after several weeks of tracking.1 -
james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
Yeah so the the 2700 calories are with the exercise built in for weight loss but it just seems like a lot of calories still, so if I’m exercising and burning let’s say 600-1000 calories for that day how am I meant to burn off another 1000-1500 plus without doing hours and hours of exercise if that makes any sense?
You burn calories all day, every day, by just living. The exercise calories are burnt in addition to your daily living calories.2 -
james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
Yeah so the the 2700 calories are with the exercise built in for weight loss but it just seems like a lot of calories still, so if I’m exercising and burning let’s say 600-1000 calories for that day how am I meant to burn off another 1000-1500 plus without doing hours and hours of exercise if that makes any sense?
You're burning hundreds and hundreds of calories a day just through existing. Then you burn additional calories just walking doing normal activities (non-exercise).
If the site is telling your TDEE is 2,700 including your exercise, you do NOT have to do additional exercise above what you already told the site you were doing. You can stick with the level of exercise you indicated that you would be doing. To lose a pound a week, you would just eat 500 calories a day below that.
You keep saying it "seems" like a lot of calories, but have you considered that we're often told that we must consume very low calories in order to lose weight? The amount of calories we can consume and have a reasonable deficit often seems surprising to people, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is really too much.
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Strudders67 wrote: »How long do you typically give it before you think "I've not lost any weight, I'm giving up"?
One easy way of losing weight is to enter all your info into MFP, select a reasonable weight loss rate (not more than 1% of your body weight, per week) and see how many calories it gives you. Log everything you eat by its weight, measure and log everything you drink and make sure you select entries from the database that match what it says on the packet / seems accurate. Enter your exercise in to MFP as well and, depending on what you do, eat a reasonable percentage of those exercise calories as well. For walking and running, my experience is that MFP is pretty accurate as long as you're realistic about the speed you walk / run at. If you do anything else, a lot of people report that MFP over-estimates the calorie burn so the suggestion is to eat 50-75%. Stick to that for 4-6 weeks then take stock. If you're losing at the expected rate, you're doing fine, otherwise increase / decrease your exercise calories a bit.
And per the link that NovusDies posted, don't expect your weight loss to be linear. It'll go up and down, but the key thing is whether it is trending downwards after several weeks of tracking.
So after about 5-6 weeks I’ve not lost anything it feels like the scale will be down one week then up the next and I just feel like I’m making no progress and I have no idea what I’m doing0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
Yeah so the the 2700 calories are with the exercise built in for weight loss but it just seems like a lot of calories still, so if I’m exercising and burning let’s say 600-1000 calories for that day how am I meant to burn off another 1000-1500 plus without doing hours and hours of exercise if that makes any sense?
You burn calories all day, every day, by just living. The exercise calories are burnt in addition to your daily living calories.
Oh ok this actually helps a lot maybe I’m reading the wrong things but I don’t think I’ve actually seen that before0 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »MFP uses a different system than most calculators. A TDEE calculator is BMR+daily routine activity+exercise, meaning you set your TDEE value to your activity and your exercise level and eat to that number period without eating back exercise calories - though you have to make sure you hit the activity level that you set for the calculator.
MFP uses the NEAT system, which is BMR+daily routine activity but does NOT include exercise, so with MFP's number, you are expected to eat back your calories.
I personally prefer to use the NEAT system for now because I am normally sedentary and am not sure how consistent I can remain in my daily exercise routine, so I'd rather have a baseline calorie limit and then add back whatever exercise calories I can get.
so you currently weigh 234 lbs? (I'm in the US so stone measurements throw me off lol ) How tall are you? What deficit level are you striving for? What is your daily routine outside of direct exercise - your day to day activity levels while at home or at work? Do you routinely get those 3-5 exercise routines in daily? For how long? All that comes into play when setting up your deficit.
With the NEAT method, I at 40 years old, 240 lbs, and being 5'8" tall get a sedentary NEAT limit from MFP right around the 1300 calorie mark. lightly active I think is between 1400 and 1500 calories. I set my daily goal to 1400 and am eating back 75% of my exercise calories according to MFP's database as i don't have a fitbit. Right now I'm on a diet break, but when I get back to deficit, I'll return to this method, monitor my loss rate for 6 weeks, and adjust from there.
So I’m 5”11 looking to lose 2 pounds a week but I didn’t realise about the mfp system meaning you need to eat back calories maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong not eating enough?0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »james567mfp wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »If you're using a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise. If you're using MFP's calorie goal, that doesn't include your intentional exercise. That's why you will get the advice to add back calories for additional exercise.
What do you mean when you say calories "seem" like too much? Many times we think we need a really low calorie goal in order to lose weight, but all you need is a deficit. Your deficit doesn't have to be punishing in order to work.
So the TDEE calculator will recommend 2700 calories that’s including 3-5 times of exercise a week just seems like a lot for weight loss, so would that mean I have to burn 3200 calories in order to have a 500 calorie deficit? This I what confuses me the most and makes me give up easily and thanks for the quick reply
I'm not sure what TDEE calculator you're referring to, but if that is set for weight loss then the deficit is built in. If it's simply telling you what your TDEE is, then yes, you would deduct from that. If you want to lose a pound a week, then 500 calories a day deducted from that would be your goal (because the TDEE calculator should already be including your exercise).
If you use 2,700 calories a day and consume 2,200, you would be on track to lose one pound per week.
Yeah so the the 2700 calories are with the exercise built in for weight loss but it just seems like a lot of calories still, so if I’m exercising and burning let’s say 600-1000 calories for that day how am I meant to burn off another 1000-1500 plus without doing hours and hours of exercise if that makes any sense?
You're burning hundreds and hundreds of calories a day just through existing. Then you burn additional calories just walking doing normal activities (non-exercise).
If the site is telling your TDEE is 2,700 including your exercise, you do NOT have to do additional exercise above what you already told the site you were doing. You can stick with the level of exercise you indicated that you would be doing. To lose a pound a week, you would just eat 500 calories a day below that.
You keep saying it "seems" like a lot of calories, but have you considered that we're often told that we must consume very low calories in order to lose weight? The amount of calories we can consume and have a reasonable deficit often seems surprising to people, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is really too much.
Ok that makes a lot more sense than what I’ve read elsewhere online thanks for the help1 -
If, after 5-6 weeks weeks, you haven't lost anything, you're essentially eating at maintenance. If you're expecting to have lost weight, you're either eating more than you think you are or you are over-estimating your exercise burn.
Like bmeadows380, I prefer the MFP NEAT method for losing weight as I don't do the same amount / type of exercise every day. My job in an office makes me sedentary. I then log my exercise when I do any (walk to/from the station on workdays plus anything else) and eat those calories on top of the base amount that MFP gives me.
You need to eat enough to fuel your body.0 -
Strudders67 wrote: »If, after 5-6 weeks weeks, you haven't lost anything, you're essentially eating at maintenance. If you're expecting to have lost weight, you're either eating more than you think you are or you are over-estimating your exercise burn.
Like bmeadows380, I prefer the MFP NEAT method for losing weight as I don't do the same amount / type of exercise every day. My job in an office makes me sedentary. I then log my exercise when I do any (walk to/from the station on workdays plus anything else) and eat those calories on top of the base amount that MFP gives me.
You need to eat enough to fuel your body.
So can not eating enough (not even enough for maintenance) stunt weight loss?0 -
james567mfp wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »If, after 5-6 weeks weeks, you haven't lost anything, you're essentially eating at maintenance. If you're expecting to have lost weight, you're either eating more than you think you are or you are over-estimating your exercise burn.
Like bmeadows380, I prefer the MFP NEAT method for losing weight as I don't do the same amount / type of exercise every day. My job in an office makes me sedentary. I then log my exercise when I do any (walk to/from the station on workdays plus anything else) and eat those calories on top of the base amount that MFP gives me.
You need to eat enough to fuel your body.
So can not eating enough (not even enough for maintenance) stunt weight loss?
If you eat fewer calories than you burn, cumulatively, over a period of time you will lose fat.
If you eat too little, you create health risk.
If you eat so little that it causes weakness and fatigue (and for many that need not be dramatically little), you will do less in your daily life, and your exercise intensity will suffer. There are even invisible kinds of slowing that can happen (slower hair growth is one; that's why people who undereat get thinning hair, often weeks after the undereating starts.) It may be a fairly subtle effect, almost unnoticable, but still amount to hundreds of calories daily - there's decent research suggesting that fidgety people on average burn low hundreds of calories daily more than non-fidgety ones.
So, if fatigued, maybe you sit more, put off a home improvement project, don't go window shopping at the mall, fix a simple meal with easy clean-up instead of something more elaborate. Perhaps you go to bed early, even. You burn fewer calories, because of the fatigue or weakness.
So: If you eat little enough that it causes subtle fatigue/weakness, your calorie output decreases. That may mean you lose weight more slowly than you would expect, at that calorie level.
If you're still eating less than you're burning, even when burning a lower amount, you'll still lose weight . . . just more slowly. If eating too little could totally stop weight loss, no one would ever starve to death. Sadly, thousands of people starve to death in the world every year, and they aren't fat when they die, either.
For many people, there's going to be kind of a sweet spot: A point where your strength, energy and even fidgetiness stay as high or nearly as high as at maintenance calories, but you're still losing weight at a satisfying rate. Exactly where that is is going to vary somewhat by individual.
And that's without even considering the potentially very severe health risks that come with undereating in a major way.0 -
Is this happening - you cut your calories because the allowance "seems" high and after a couple of days you feel like you've been trying really hard and are just really hungry and it's not working and man so hungry so you just say ah feck it and for a day or half a day you overeat a bunch of stuff - but you've been dieting for days and days so it's probably ok. Is that something you might recognise?1
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