1900 cals a day and only losing very little weight! help!!

thatch1234
thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
hi guys, been eating this amount for about 1.5 months now. overall ive lost about 5lbs since i started it. i lift weights 4 days a week and probably do about 2 hours of cardio a week split amongst 3 days. Im not sure which method to use, im currently unemployed so not sure what to put my activity level at as i dont do much other than my workouts. also not sure wether to use tdee, or the mfp calculator. i havent lose weight for about 2 weeks now maybe, i know i dont help myself as when i get down to lowest i always treat myself! i know its bad but its like i think all day well done now have a treat, then im back up there again. but still the loss seems slow. any help would be greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • bethannien
    bethannien Posts: 556 Member
    Open your diary
  • thatch1234
    thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
    done :). btw i know im not the most CLEAN eater but i always assume as long as your under calorie goal you will lose, calories in/out etc.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    How tall are you?

    It sounds like you ARE losing, just very slowly (which I think is a good way to lose). Maybe drop to 1700 calories for a month or so and see how that goes. Or just keep doing what you're doing and give it a bit more time.
  • thatch1234
    thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
    im 5ft 7, its hard to tell if i losing bf% also tbh, i imagine i am as i can see more definition in my arms etc but the belly area and hips are annoying lol, alot of people tell me to ignore the cardio and focus weights. but im not sure really, i shouldnt lose slowly though as ive done diets and lost alot of weight reasonable pace so meh not sure
  • moonshine_betty
    moonshine_betty Posts: 169 Member
    5 lbs in 6 weeks is actually pretty reasonable. Unless you have a significant amount of weight to lose (like, more than 50 lbs) you're not going to see huge losses each week and honestly, it's not healthy to be losing more than 2 lbs a week. I also would like to know your height; guys can usually eat more than women can because of their greater muscle mass so perhaps the amount you're eating is a bit low.
  • excitedaboutfitness
    excitedaboutfitness Posts: 53 Member
    It looks like there is a pretty big handful of days that you went well over the 1900. I know that when I started trying to lose weight, I set a calorie goal around 1700, but I had a really hard time sticking to that. I found that a part of the problem was that I was eating all the same foods I used to - really calorie-dense, not-great-for-you foods. Feeling satisfied at 1900 calories eating some of those unhealthy foods is really difficult.

    Since then, I've transitioned to eating a LOT cleaner, and I eat 1500 calories per day. A huge part of the reason that I am able to sustain 1500 calories per day comfortably is because of the food selections I made. I know it would be a lot harder eating 3 500 calorie cupcakes per day than my usual menu :-)

    I suggest playing around with cooking - use more veggies, fruits, eggs, chicken, etc.

    If you'd like any ideas, my diary is open :-)

    Good luck!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Do you wear your scale on your back with your last weight still showing on it?

    Or do people see you in your clothes and how you look?

    Are you doing the lifting to look better?

    Then the real question is - how many inches measured in many spots have you lost which will be seen?

    Because that is decent amount weekly loss, and loss is not linear, and if you started a new workout you are asking for body improvements which rarely cause weight loss.

    But for all those, fat can still be lost, even if it doesn't show up on the scale .... yet.

    So you obviously are trying to take this reasonable, good decision, now stick to it. But confirm some things too.

    TDEE was based on BMR then from your method.

    Did you use the best Katch BMR based on bodyfat %, or the Harris or Mifflin BMR based on age, weight, height which can be inflated when overweight?

    Is deficit % reasonable for amount to be lost?

    And was TDEE level correct for your activity. 1 hr of walking is not the same as running is not the same as lifting.

    Use the spreadsheet on my profile page to get best estimates of everything and log the progress where it counts, inches, well, and weight.
  • thatch1234
    thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
    hi guys, thanks for the replies, ive just done the katch calculations and i seem to be on about -25% tdee so maybe ill go to 20%? which puts me at about 2100 calories a day which seems rather high? thats a deficit of 500 a day including my 4 workouts a week
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    hi guys, thanks for the replies, ive just done the katch calculations and i seem to be on about -25% tdee so maybe ill go to 20%? which puts me at about 2100 calories a day which seems rather high? thats a deficit of 500 a day including my 4 workouts a week

    Unless you literally logged your previous eating amounts correctly and accurately for many days to see how much you used to eat without any exercise, you probably have no way of knowing what seems high or low for you, except compared to amounts you are dealing with right now.

    I'll bet your current TDEE estimate is probably what you used to eat without exercise. So it really isn't that high.

    So did the Katch BMR make the BMR higher or lower?
    And did you base bodyfat % or one of those single measurement calc's, or at least a few body parts?
  • moonshine_betty
    moonshine_betty Posts: 169 Member
    hi guys, thanks for the replies, ive just done the katch calculations and i seem to be on about -25% tdee so maybe ill go to 20%? which puts me at about 2100 calories a day which seems rather high? thats a deficit of 500 a day including my 4 workouts a week

    It could be high but we won't know that until you tell us your height. And how much weight are you trying to lose? TDEE-25% could work if you had 40+ pounds to lose but TDEE-20% is much more reasonable if you're trying to lose less than that.

    As a point of reference, I'm female, 32, 5'8" and currently 170-172 lbs. I workout doing either weights or cardio 6 times a week for a total of 7 hours. TDEE-20% for me is ~2300 and I lose 1 lb a week on that assuming I'm consistent. You work out less than that but you're a guy so if you're taller, your calorie requirement could be more or about the same.
  • markheusser
    markheusser Posts: 26 Member
    I would look into IIFYM (flexible dieting). Slow and steady wins the race...I have been doing it for a few months now and its been great I get my treats and even full meals and still lose a lb to 2lbs a week...check out iifym.com for some info...Dont worry about not being "clean" either...sounds like iifym is just what you need. That site has calculators on it for you to use as well to find your numbers but you really have to track and stick to them.
  • ac2496
    ac2496 Posts: 3 Member
    I don't lose weight unless I keep my carbs at a minimum (<90grams/day). Calories never seemed to matter for me.
  • joshdann
    joshdann Posts: 618 Member
    forget everything you think you know about how much you should be taking in. Do read real, scientific data about how adaptive thermogenesis affects people differently, and understand that you need to adjust your intake to your results, not to what some forum or some generic TDEE calculator tells you. If you *really* want to know what your metabolic rate is, go have it measured. There is *no* other way to know how much you should be taking in without guessing.
  • Djbenak
    Djbenak Posts: 2
    I looked at your diary just for this week and I have a few opinions that can help you. Even though my diary says I have only lost 6-8 pounds...that is since i started using MFP. Overall I lost 80 pounds and then started a bulking/cutting cycle.

    If you eat at the same caloric level for 1.5 months then your metabolism will adjust and you will no longer gain weight or lose it. You need to eat at the same caloric level for no more than 3 weeks before you adjust something. This could be your macros or caloric level. Adjusting your macros can have a dramatic effect on weight gain/loss.

    I also suggest that one change you try if you become comfortable with a caloric level then you increase your protein count and lower your carb count. Try to get 1g of protein for every pound of bodyweight that you are at. The only time you ever want carbs to have the highest count for your macros is if you are trying to build muscle/gain weight. Losing weight means you need the majority of your calories to come from protein and healthy fats.
  • thatch1234
    thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
    hi again, im 5ft 7, 15.10 stone trying to get down to around 13 stone, so somewhere in the 30lbs to lose zone. i did the brm using my bf% as i measured that about 2 weeks ago and it was at 29%. thats the main number i want to see drop so i lift 4 days a week. i want to gain muscle and lose fat/weight but understand thats not really possible.
  • moonshine_betty
    moonshine_betty Posts: 169 Member
    hi again, im 5ft 7, 15.10 stone trying to get down to around 13 stone, so somewhere in the 30lbs to lose zone. i did the brm using my bf% as i measured that about 2 weeks ago and it was at 29%. thats the main number i want to see drop so i lift 4 days a week. i want to gain muscle and lose fat/weight but understand thats not really possible.

    Plugged your stats into a calorie calculator and got 2154, which doesn't sound unreasonable given your activity level. The calculator I used is this one http://freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm and I selected the Katch-McArdle formula. I used the figures recommended by that calculator to lose 30 lbs years ago so I believe it's fairly accurate but everyone is different and you might find your calorie needs are more or less. Why don't you try eating 2100 calories for some time and see how it works for your weight loss goals? And give it an honest shot -- at least a couple of weeks -- before deciding whether it does or doesn't work. You can always make adjustments later depending on your results.

    As far as gaining muscle and losing fat, you're right that it's not possible to do so unless you're a total newbie to lifting. ...newbies tend to make significant muscular gains as they adapt to weight lifting. That said, don't expect any dramatic muscular changes as it is very, very hard to gain muscle while eating at a deficit. Keep lifting to maintain the muscle mass you have now and stick to moderate cardio. Then, if you're dissatisfied with your muscle mass when you reach your fat loss goal, consider going on a bulk cycle to gain more muscle.
  • thatch1234
    thatch1234 Posts: 276 Member
    thank you all very much for all the help! been such a great help! ill stick to 2100 and ill post results in a couple of weeks. saturday is guna b hard as i have a wedding to go to and there is a free bar and barbeque...... but other than that i will give it 100%. feel free to add me, always nice to have more friends :)

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