Weight not coming off

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  • sojcherb
    sojcherb Posts: 23 Member
    @tomcustombuilder I do spend a lot of time sitting and working but I also run around my school building a lot on work days and I exercise 5-7 days a week, even if it's just a short walk. I classify myself as lightly active, is that right?
  • sojcherb
    sojcherb Posts: 23 Member
    @kwlamberton I definitely wouldn't feel guilty about overshooting by 91 calories for 1 day!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 30,372 Member
    sojcherb wrote: »
    @AnnPT77 Thank you for your very thoughtful response. I am playing around with timing as well as food choices. My functional medicine doctor told me to eat larger meals with enough protein and fat to sustain me so that I don't eat between meals. I'm finding that this, along with really keeping the sugar down makes me go for quite long periods of time where I'm not hungry. That's a really positive change.

    As far as the exercise/movement goes, I am recovered enough to pretty much move as well as I used to, except that I'm not comfortable jumping so most of my movement is very low impact. I am back to speed walking and am comfortable on a bike but I haven't been back to spin class in a while. It's mostly my job (HS teacher) that limits me time-wise but I do work out regularly.

    I guess I just need to be patient but it has been almost two years since I gained that weight and haven't been able to see it go.

    You're talking about exercise movement there. I'm talking about non-exercise movement - routine daily life movement.

    When we're ill or injured, we can get in the habit of moving less without even really noticing. (It happens automatically because it's uncomfortable to move, or we're fatigued, etc. But the habit can stick around afterward.) Researchers believe that a fidgety person can burn a couple more hundred calories daily than an otherwise similar non-fidgety person. I'm not suggesting that you fidget, but that research is an indication that our unconscious, spontaneous daily life movement can matter surprisingly much. There's other research showing that obese people exhibit less spontaneous movement - these small daily things - compared to non-obese but otherwise similar people.

    I'm happy to hear that your functional medicine doctor's advice about meal size and timing has been appropriate and helpful for you. That's not always the case. IMO, it's important to realize that advice like that is a "most people" kind of thing . . . if folks find out that the advice doesn't hold up for them, it doesn't mean they're a failure, it just means they're statistically unusual, and there's nothing wrong with that. We see people here eating anything from one meal a day only, to doing near-steady all-day grazing on small amounts of food, and everything in between . . . and finding that that strategy best meets their needs for satiation and energy at lower calories.

    You're not the only one I've seen say that eating 3 meals and no snacks works best. For me, it works best to have a small snack if a meal isn't coming up soon, and I feel signficantly peckish. If I do otherwise, I tend to overdo at that next meal. People vary - part of what makes life interesting, I think! ;)
  • sojcherb
    sojcherb Posts: 23 Member
    @AnnPT77 @westrich20940 @tomcustombuilder Just following up. Over the past two weeks I focused on not eating the full 1700 calories that I budgeted per day. Most days I have left over in the range of 100-150 calories but I did allow myself the full amount of calories this past weekend (Friday/Saturday). I'm happy to report that I'm finally seeing downward movement on the scale!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 30,372 Member
    sojcherb wrote: »
    @AnnPT77 @westrich20940 @tomcustombuilder Just following up. Over the past two weeks I focused on not eating the full 1700 calories that I budgeted per day. Most days I have left over in the range of 100-150 calories but I did allow myself the full amount of calories this past weekend (Friday/Saturday). I'm happy to report that I'm finally seeing downward movement on the scale!

    There ya go: Find the right calorie level, lose weight. Good show, @sojcherb!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,595 Member
    Jmatievich wrote: »
    I don’t know how large you are but that’s a lot of calories. I eat 1270 per day and don’t eat back exercise calories. I’m 68 and lose 1 lb per week. I need 1270 to feel satisfied so 1lb per week it is.

    You've probably since seen that the OP is 5'6", which is also my height. I started off on MFP at 1200 calories. At lunch time the first day I realized I needed to up that :lol:

    But if 1270 works for you, carry on. However, if you use MFP to set your calorie goal, exercise, but don't eat back any exercise calories, you are not using MFP the way it was designed.

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

    Unlike other sites which use TDEE calculators, MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated for them and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

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