I'm 140lbs over weight.

danaberge

My BMR on two different calculator sites is 2000+ calories.

I have only lost 1.8 lbs in over a month. I started exercising, weighing my food and log everything I eat.

I refuse to give up.

Should I be eating more or less... i'm not really sure. Should I be eating at my BMR or under it. Like I said, I have over 140lbs to lose. I'm not being lazy. Should I just be upping my protein and staying within same calorie range (1500-1700).

Should I be eating more carbs? I just need help... obviously.

healthygreek

I just eat what MFP sets for me plus my exercise calories back.
The other method is tdee-20% I believe but others will tell you more.
I think eating your bmr is too low because your bmr is only the calories u need just to survive so its way too low for you to eat just that.

Kitship

I will say that you log well - so good job! That, in my opinion, is the one thing that matters the most. You need to be as accurate as possible when you log the food you eat. That being said, can honestly say that you weigh every solid and measure every liquid (aside from pre-packaged foods)? If not, I would start there. Also, when you exercise, how are you measuring the calories you burn? MFP usually overestimates exercise calories by a large amount.

I would say that if you have 140 lbs to lose, eating up to 2,000cal/day should cause you to lose (as long as you aren't completely sedentary).

Hang in there - just keep being as accurate as possible with your logging, and the weight will come off!

zz4k4f

cut down carbs

austinsneeze

What's your height?

danaberge

I'm 5'5" and 286lbs.

When I lost weight years ago.... I was a healthy size 10-12 at 185 lbs. I was happy and felt healthy at that weight. However, I could have like to gone down to 165.

Thanks.

RangedLunatic

I think MFP defaults to a 1000 calorie deficit each day... if you want to do more than that it should probably be under medical supervision.

Tabithas_Transformation

Have patience - weight loss isn't linear. If you're logging everything accurately and eating at a deficit you will get there eventually. Look how much you've lost already! Just keep going :-)

Nice2BFitAgain

Salt! Your salt intake is through the roof. Are you drinking enough water to flush this through your system? It doesn't look like you track your water intake so I couldn't tell. I'm not a dietician but I think you would see progress if you shied away from fast food - start making all you food fresh or look for lower sodium/fat alternatives.

Best of luck in reaching your goals!

ravenstar25

For heavier people, I honestly think the calculators are off, especially for women who are heavier. I ran into this problem with several different calculators that told me in order to lose weight I needed to eat more food than I had been eating in the first place! If the amount you're eating isn't helping you lose, try cutting back just by a small amount, or check to be sure you're really measuring your portion sizes correctly. That being said, you did lose about 2 pounds. So you're doing something right. You could also add in more exercise to see if that helps, or drink more water. Good luck.

danaberge

I'm considering going to a Dr. however would love to be able to get this weight off with good old fashioned work.

I'm going hard with the exercise this month and am allowing myself to eat an actual 2000 calories with exercise videos 30+ minutes a day. I'm hoping to see a drastic change with the effort i'm putting forth. I have been trying to drink more water.. but find myself drinking diet sodas during the day. (controversial) Then drinking water at night.

I'm hoping to see at least a 4lb weight loss with the next two weeks.

sillyvalentine

I was in the same boat as you last month.

Two separate calculators showed my BMR around 1800 and my TDEE around 2700. I was eating 2000 and gaining weight. So I went down to 1500 and I was still gaining weight!

I took the numbers to my doctor who said that there was no way my BMR was that high. So he sent me to the hospital to get it tested. Turns out, it's actually 801 - 911. And my TDEE was around 1100, according to a nutritionist and a recreational therapist.

That meant that I had to eat between 911 and 1100 in order to lose weight. I refused their advice because I didn't want to eat under 1200 (I had seen how much shame and judgement they are given on MFP and elsewhere). So I tried 1300. No luck.

At my last doctors appointment he made it very clear that it was serious and that I had to lose weight NOW. So I started for two weeks on 1000 calories a day. Lost 10 lbs! Great. This week and next week I am on 1100 calories. If I lose weight, I go up to 1200 a day, and so on.

To sum up, my advice would be to get your BMR checked professionally and talk to a recreational therapist about your TDEE. The numbers you are getting are probably not right and could be WAY off. I know mine were.

lindsayomalley

I think you should try to cleanse your body for a few days, or even a weekend. JUST eat fresh fruits and vegetables to give your body a fresh start. Pre-packaged meals contain SO much sodium (even the healthy ones like WW or Lean Cuisines) and having a lot of sodium in your body makes it so your body holds onto water. You shouldn't be having more that 1800mg of sodium. Exercise and healthy foods are going to be what will make you lose weight. Even if you only walk on a treadmill, try upping the incline to 5%, you'll burn more calories and it won't be THAT much of a challenge. With that said, make sure you stretch your calves because that is where you'll feel the muscle soreness the next day. I usually walk 30 minutes on the treadmill and do the first 2 minutes at 15%, next 2 at 14% and so on, all the way to 0 and then sprint the last two minutes. I do believe in calories in < calories out. You'll get there!! Feel free to add me

danaberge

YES! The sodium needs to be lowered by at least half. This is so hard!!!!!!!

scubasuenc

I'm 5'5" and was 310lb when I started MFP. I set up for sedentary and a 2lb loss. That had my calorie target at 1680. After talking with my doctor I chose not to eat back my exercise calories. I have lost consistently using that same approach although my calorie goal is down to 1230, and I'm starting to eat back some of my exercise calories so that I'm in the 1300-1500 range most days.

Are you using MFP's numbers for the exercise calories and eating them back? I have found for many exercises the MFP calorie burns are too high. For example I ride my exercise bike every morning for 45 minutes and MFP has the burn at about 600 calories. According to my HRM the burn is somewhere between 320 and 380 depending on how hard I push myself. On days I don't wear my HRM I use 320 for my exercise calorie burn. I have found similar differences with swimming and water related activities. For walking, I have found the MFP numbers to be closer to my real burns.

TDEE is more difficult to work with until you have some data. You can use calculators to estimate your TDEE, but those are still best guess formulas. If you accurately log your food and then keep track of your loss, you can figure out your actual TDEE. Then take a percentage off that number for the TDEE method.

You should also make sure you are as accurate as possible in logging your food. Weigh rather than measure whenever possible. Log everything you eat. The data from that will be invaluable for understanding what you might need to tweek.

Personally, I have to focus on getting lots of protein and reducing my carbs. I am by no means 'low carb' because I don't believe in eliminating a food group I love. However I do focus on high protein. I find that I naturally reduce my carbs to make sure I meet my protein goals. I have only ever been successful with weight loss when I've focused on getting lots of protein. At a minimum make sure you get the MFP recommended protein per day. That is one macro you should exceed if at all possible.

tavenne323

I would definitely say salt intake for sure needs to decrease. And although the diet cola doesn't have calories, there are a lot of other things in it that may be harmful. Try replacing it with water. And the fast food...that will help with the sodium. McD's has other options that would be better than chicken nuggets.

tootchute

I'm 5'3 106 pounds from my goal weight. I started at 230 pounds from my goal, lost 124.

sillyvalentine

YES! The sodium needs to be lowered by at least half. This is so hard!!!!!!!

My sodium levels are extremely high, in the 4700's daily but as long as you drink enough water and don't have any medical problems restricting it, it doesn't really matter.

dunnodunno

Are you accurately measuring everything on your food scale? An example: Let's say a chip manufacturer says you can have 20-30 chips for 140 calories; however, it could be closer to 10-15 chips.

I would definitely not eat below your BMR since it's the calories you would need if you were in a coma. What you should do is find what works for you either by using myfitnesspal the way it's designed & eating back your calories or figuring out your TDEE by entering truthfully how active you're & then picking the deficit that works for you.

I started using myfitnesspal around 250 pounds & have lost 89 pounds in a little over a year. I started with a two pound deficit & found that I was always hungry all the time. I then upped it to one pound & still found that I was hungry & then decided to follow the TDEE approach. Personally I'd rather eat as much food as I can & still lose weight than feel like I'm hardly eating anything & feel miserable.

1.8 pounds lost in a month is still awesome & shows that you're making progress. The weight won't always come off as quickly as we want to, but we didn't gain all of the weight we have to lose overnight either. Most people that lose weight quickly (barring medical conditions) or do crash diet/fads will mostly gain it back from not learning how to keep weight off long term.

The biggest thing I want to say is to not drastically change your diet too much. Most people that change their diet too much by eliminating almost all of their favorite treats will more than likely either binge or eat a little & feel like a failure & give up. If you have certain trigger foods that you can't eat in moderation then I would eliminate them for a little until you can learn to eat them in moderation.

tweetybird960

Hi! I have about 150 pounds to lose! I had a stroke back in 1999 & so I have mobility issues. I have lost around 16 pounds so far, inches more than weight! I can now sit in my walker seat, which I couldn't when I first started.
The whole family is doing this! We are watching our portions, counting the calories & sodium/potassium levels. There is not alot of foods that list the potassium, but it is very important! There needs to be a good balance of sodium & potassium.
Here are some links:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002413.htm
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/potassium-and-your-heart
http://hkpp.org/patients/potassium-healthhttp://nutrition.about.com/od/foodfun/p/potassium_foods.htmhttp://healthyeating.sfgate.com/purpose-potassium-human-body-4890.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=Importance+of+potassium+in+our+diets&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls={moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}
I don't want to overwhelm you with all these links, so I will stop here!
Are you exercising? I use a chi machine (Aerobic Exercisor) & walk with my walker when I can. My kids bought a Xbox 360 Kinect unit. Some of the Kinect games really gets the body moving! I can do a lot of the upper body movements.
Here's the link with info on the Chi machine:
http://www.chimachine4u.com/exercise.htmlhttp://www.energywellnessproducts.com/chimachine.htm:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

ShannonMpls

I ran into this problem with several different calculators that told me in order to lose weight I needed to eat more food than I had been eating in the first place!

Not possible. You are underestimating how much you ate.

It's shocking how many calories are needed to support morbidly obese bodies. You might think you don't eat much, but if you don't log it, you're drastically underestimating. To support my 300 pound body, I was eating well over 3,000 calories a day. I very easily lost weight on 1700-2200 calories a day. A LOT of weight, as you can see from my ticker (which, by the way, I've not been maintaining for longer than it took me to lose it in the first place). People think 2,000 calories a day can't possibly result in weight loss for some reason, but it can. Enjoyable, consistent weight loss.