Can't seem to get this calorie thing right.

racingal88
racingal88 Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so....I am 25, 5 feet 6 inches and 256 pounds. I am currently goin to the gym between 3-4 times a week at an hour per time. I do mostly cardio but I also work with a PT and has me do some strength training as well. I was previously eating 1500 calories but I ended up gaining weight a few weeks in a row so I cut down to 1200 calories, while i had success at 1200 the first week (2.5 pounds) I just weighed in today and gained all bac and then some. I really just need to find a healthy medium to this whole weight loss thing so I can lose at a steady pace (id like to lose 1.5-2 per week) This whole yo-yo thing is frustrating and discouraging. ANd and all help would be appreciated :)

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Eating less and less isn't the answer. Put your numbers into MFP, make sure you make the right choices and stick with that for at least a month. You can't try something for a couple weeks and then change and change. You'll never know what works that way and weight doesn't always come off the way we want it to. Some weeks there's nothing, some weeks a small gain then it comes off again.

    Another thing is to be really sure about what you're eating. Weigh and measure everything. Guessing on portions is a great way to be eating a lot more than you think. The same with exercise. If you plan it eat exercise calories back it's a good idea to really under estimate your burn or only eat back a percentage.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    Read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • RLPearce92
    RLPearce92 Posts: 64
    it will take time to find the right balance so dont get discouraged yet. Initial weight loss can be due to water weight and fluctuations are totally expected, make sure you weigh yourself at the same time (i find its more consistent when i weigh in the morning as soon as i get up). Also remember muscle weighs more than fat so in the long term you may find your "weight loss" is not great based on the scales but you'll look fantastic!

    the person is right above me, make sure you're putting in the right numbers on mfp and stick to it, mfp puts you in a deficit which is essentially the route to losing weight. Take in less calories than your body needs.

    maybe try measuring inches to track your loss?
  • Touji
    Touji Posts: 32 Member
    If you're going to lose weight by counting calories, there should be no yo-yoing.

    The problem is likely that you aren't counting your calories eaten and expended properly.

    The calories you lost in exercise are probably over-estimated. Because you don't know how much calories you used up, you're probably putting a higher amount than what you actually burned. Be conservative with your estimates.

    Also possible is that you're under-estimating how much calories you're eating. Make sure to pay close attention to the nutritional information on the packaging, because if you measure something wrongly you could think (for example) that you're eating 100 calories but you're actually eating 200.
    The best way to count calories is to measure what you eat with a scale. Though canned and packaged products are easy to measure because they're self-contained, some things need to be measured. Buy yourself a kitchen scale and measure the things you eat to determine exactly how much you're eating.

    I also recommend that you over-count all your food calories by rounding them up. This way, if you do make a mistake, it won't be as devastating. As an example of over-counting, imagine that you're about to eat a can of tuna that is 130 calories. Count it as 150 instead. This way, you're eating less calories in a day because you've counted 20 extra.

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