Confused? please help

tamerica07
tamerica07 Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK i've been an on and off person with mfp and dieting but im trying to figure out my cals and how to lose 15 to 20 pounds. ive done bmr and rmr cals for my rates and they range from 1200 to 1300 cals, mfp calculator is 1200, but do i just eat 1200 and leave the exercise deficit or do i eat 1200 cals plus my exercise deficit leaving my goal net 0?

i've stay the same weight for 3 to 4 months and i dont know what im doing wrong, i do take 1 meal a week and eat about 1000 cals over my limit my cheat meal but would that cause me to just maintain with one meal a week?

Replies

  • mbcaldwell123
    mbcaldwell123 Posts: 79 Member
    Eat your 1200 plus the exercise calories - assuming you have told mfp that you are trying to lose weight.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Okay what is your weekly weight loss rate set at? more than 1lb....??? If so change it to 1 or less.

    If you are staying the same weight you are logging 1200 but probably eating a lot more...do you use a food scale? log everything? accurately and consistently?

    If you answered no to any of the above...that is why.

    I peeked at your diary and no you don't weight your food and you aren't consistent with logging...
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    Okay what is your weekly weight loss rate set at? more than 1lb....??? If so change it to 1 or less.

    If you are staying the same weight you are logging 1200 but probably eating a lot more...do you use a food scale? log everything? accurately and consistently?

    If you answered no to any of the above...that is why.

    I peeked at your diary and no you don't weight your food and you aren't consistent with logging...

    This OP not what the post said above the above.
  • tamerica07
    tamerica07 Posts: 22 Member
    Yea i set my goal to lose 1 pound a week, and i try to log when i can my phone doesnt work at home so i cant log everything and forget it when i can log it, but i do try to measure and weigh most stuff and serving sizes.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Yea i set my goal to lose 1 pound a week, and i try to log when i can my phone doesnt work at home so i cant log everything and forget it when i can log it, but i do try to measure and weigh most stuff and serving sizes.

    do you log it anywhere? have something that displays calories...calculate them in your head etc.

    Without logging of some sort it is very easy to forget where you are for the day and that will cause people to under estimate intake.

    at 1200 calories most people will lose weight..that is not a lot of food...barring a medical condition I suspect you are doing jsut that...

    As for the other question yes you are suppose to eat back exercise calories but again be careful with that too as the burns here and on any other site or even HRM are just estimates as well..

    Typically suggestion is 50-75%
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Okay what is your weekly weight loss rate set at? more than 1lb....??? If so change it to 1 or less.

    If you are staying the same weight you are logging 1200 but probably eating a lot more...do you use a food scale? log everything? accurately and consistently?

    If you answered no to any of the above...that is why.

    I peeked at your diary and no you don't weight your food and you aren't consistent with logging...

    This OP not what the post said above the above.

    What? The op did ask why she wasn't losing on 1200...
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    Okay what is your weekly weight loss rate set at? more than 1lb....??? If so change it to 1 or less.

    If you are staying the same weight you are logging 1200 but probably eating a lot more...do you use a food scale? log everything? accurately and consistently?

    If you answered no to any of the above...that is why.

    I peeked at your diary and no you don't weight your food and you aren't consistent with logging...

    This OP not what the post said above the above.

    What? The op did ask why she wasn't losing on 1200...

    I was agreeing with you stef and not the person who answer above you. LOL
  • tamerica07
    tamerica07 Posts: 22 Member
    so on a normal day i would eat 1200 calories and then exercise and burn 400 to 500 cal, i could eat another 200 cals then?

    and what about having one cheat meal a week, would that affect me in anyway?
  • cherrilovee
    cherrilovee Posts: 194 Member
    Eat back your calories! But don't overeat. For example you ate 1200 calories and worked out and burned 200. You can eat up to 1400, but don't do more than that or else you won't be losing much weight
  • healthyfoxx
    healthyfoxx Posts: 104 Member
    I say just play around with it and see what works for you. I eat about 1300 a day, and exercise 3 times a week. I don't make it a point to eat those calories back. If I end up feeling hungrier than usual the next day or something, I add on a 100 or 200 extra cals. Occasionally more, if I feel like I need it. If I feel fine and not hungrier than usual, I don't.

    One cheat meal a week won't hurt you unless it is a serious monster of a meal. This isn't a race, so you have time to fiddle with your intake/routine until it feels right and you're still getting results.
  • doctorregenerated
    doctorregenerated Posts: 188 Member
    The app has a feature when you are looking at reports, weekly view - you can see how many calories over or under your goal you were for the week. So my past week where I was surprised I maintained showed me at 450 calories over my weekly goal after accounting for two indulgent days. My goal was also recently set higher. So this tells me that my goal is probably a set a little too high and also that going over it puts me into maintenance territory.
    Of course, make sure you are logging accurately as well. I recently got a food scale and have been pretty surprised at my eyeballing. I've easily been doubling everything I've been logging in actual food. Whoops!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    To lose 1 lb per week, MFP will have you at a deficit of 500 calories per day.
    If once a week you have a cheat day where you eat 1,000 calories over, you are basically negating 2 days where you ate at a deficit. And if your logging is spotty, you probably have another day or two per week where you are not quite at the deficit you need.

    So yeah, that cheat day will slow down your weight loss.

    You don't have to give up whatever it is you "cheat" with, but you might want to find a way to tone it down a little so it doesn't take so large a chunk out of your weekly deficit.

    If you don't always have access to MFP, you might want to try "pre-logging" your meals. Log everything you plan to eat for the day, make sure the calories fit, then write it down, keep it with you, and stick to it.
  • tamerica07
    tamerica07 Posts: 22 Member
    Ok thanks everyone, ill just play with it

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