A confused Newbie

tawnylioness

hi there, i have been trying to lose weight actively since the start of the year, i started out doing 30 - 60 mins exercise every morning and eating no more than 1200 cals.... i quickly became tired and rundown and after a month of seeing no progress i gave up... i then tried intermittent fasting, i would eat 1200 cals or less and twice a week i would eat only 500 calories... again i saw zero progress.

I am now exercising 3+ days a week and making sure i always net 1200 and eat back my exercise calories as much as i can... i still have a small stomach and struggle to eat large amounts of food.

i still am not losing weight however

following the link http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

i worked out my stats at

Body fat % = 39.3
BMR = 1245
TDEE = 1931
Goal ( the scooby goal based on 15%) = 1641

my question is i am still eating too little? on days i dont exercise too much i only eat 1200... is that what my net should be? should i eat the bmr or the goal? its all a bit confusing

Thankyou

yarwell

What you are eating may be more relevant, your diary is closed.

Overexercising and undereating isn't a great combination, but you should eat the 1640 scooby goal (15% deficit) every day if your TDEE is 1930 (fairly active).

Trying to mix methods just messes up your head. Follow either a cut from TDEE or MFP's hamster wheel "eating back" method, not both.

tawnylioness

ill open my diary in a min, i have been staying away from the chocolates and buiscuits but i do need more fruit and veg... the majority of my meals are meat and pasta.

i usually exercise at least 3 days for an hour at gym classes, plus another day or two on top of whatever exercise i feel like at the time.

at the moment i am following mfp recommendation with fitbit sync, adding in exercise and eating back the cals... what method would be better? i am pretty demorilised at my lack of progress at the moment

yarwell

at the moment i am following mfp recommendation with fitbit sync, adding in exercise and eating back the cals... what method would be better? i am pretty demorilised at my lack of progress at the moment

Personally I would eat the same calories each day, taking the extra deficit of exercise as a bonus when it happens and accepting that on a lazy day I might put a few calories away for later. It isn't accurate to better than 10% so don't stress over 100 or 150 calories.

A constant intake makes it a lot simpler and easier to manage. No double accounting of calorie burn between MFP and Fitbit or need to log exercise with times to avoid duplication. If you eat back the calories accurately you cancel out the exercise precisely in terms of the calorie deficit, which is why I don't favour that approach personally.

You should try to get more protein in, at the expense of carbs. Personally I think cereal and milk is the worst breakfast, have an omelette instead. In general your diary is light on protein and we know that higher protein is better for fat loss.

Fix a calorie intake, run with it for 3-4 weeks, adjust it up or down by results.