Not losing weight? You're asking the wrong questions!

stephnsuarez

So true! Thank you for this! I get so frustrated when one week I lose 3 lbs while the next I lost half a lb! Definitely needs to be a Sticky topic!

Keri_girl

Love that you are so direct!

SarahLovesCheesecake

I wonder if I'm #2? I go by the MFP defaults for my workout cals burned and I hear they are not always accurate?

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo you dont say?

juliapurpletoes

Perfect info - thanks again!

lloydmel

bump for keeps :-)

mislove68

I agree with your post whole heartly. i think some people lie to themself with alot of stuff and wish for the lbs to just be gone. I think some people lie to themselfs and say they eat really well then they have 4000mg of sodium and 2 cups of water and then blame not losing weight on other stuff.

I did some measuring out of my foods and I found I was over estimating how much I was eat and not eating enough. Now I am soooo much better at knowing what a tbls is.

Now I didnt join this website because I was eating to much and not working out. Its because after I got pregnant I struggled to lose the weight. Now I lost all the weight just trying to lose more body fat. So glad I got my body fat checked. That is way more of an eye opener. I am 126lbs 5'4" and 23% body fat. So I slowed down on cardio and up'd my strength training.

Just have to seriously look at what you are doing and say to yourself....is it right?

dragonflydi

I wonder if I'm #2? I go by the MFP defaults for my workout cals burned and I hear they are not always accurate?

WHen I got my HRM, it showed calories burned WAY LOWER ( almost half sometimes) than MFP! That could be it

Guess I better be getting a HRM and food scale then! There is some kind of deal going on at the gym with Polar (I think) HRMs... never used one before. So it shows calories burned based on your heart beat?

It bases your calorie burn based on age, height, weight, gender, and uses HR to calculate intensity, put it all together and the HRM uses a calculation to give you a pretty accurate estimate of calories burned during activity.

I think you just answered a question I had earlier this week. I have a Polar F4 HRM and the elliptical machines (and treadmills)at my gym are designed to read the Polar brand chest strap. I still wear my watch though, b/c I want that info in my training files so I can enter the info when I get home. I kept wondering why, when the machine was using MY HRM to calculate, it had my actual HRM correct, but the calorie burn was so off from what my watch said when I was done. Now I know! The elliptical does ask for weight, which I always put in, but I'm guessing that b/c it does not also ask for my gender or my height, that the machine is off and my HRM is, while not perfect, much more accurate. Love it when people answer questions I've meant to ask

Barneystinson

If I can't afford a HRM what is the most accurate way to figure out how many calories I'm burning? Is there a more accurate calculator on the web than MFP's?

Below is what I do and it eliminates the need to track calories burned using a HRM. I just factor it into my TDEE. If I get to teh point where plateau, I generally increase my TDEE (i started on a side of conservative) which then leads to more weight loss and body fat recomposition.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.

Having tried to keep track of calories burned on and off and use them as "earned" calories, I find the approach you describe above to eating far superior.

It also helps me avoid doing crap forms of cardio simply to earn exercise calories.

LorinaLynn

I've gone by MFP calculations for calorie burns for the most part, but some are certainly more accurate than others.

I mean, walking at 3mph for 20 minutes is pretty easy to figure. But something like "elliptical trainer" can't possibly be accurate because MFP has no idea if you're puttering along slowly or busting *kitten* on high resistance. In that case, I plug my info into the machine and go by those calories.

Did you ever go to Johnny Rockets? Where they dance when certain songs come on the jukebox? Notice how some of the waiters and waitresses are really into it and giving it their all, and others are just going through the motions? Same applies when you log your aerobics or zumba. Are you wiggling it like you're on the final round of Dancing with the Stars, or are you just going through the motions half-assed like the waiter who can't believe he actually agreed to take the JR job? That's going to make a difference.

georgiajuly

Don't forget to re-set your HRM as your weight falls!
I forgot to do this all the way from 185 pounds down to 160. I had been showing abouit 400 calories burned per hour of cycling, but after re-setting, I was down to about 345.

MissMaryMac33

Thank you! This was much more helpful than the original rant. I had a feeling I might be in starvation mode using the MFP guidelines and I believe I was underestimating my calories burned as well. I entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated.

Caloric Need:
• Estimated Base BMR: 1264 Calories.
• Estimated TDEE: 2070 Calories.
• Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1570 Calories.

So maybe just changing my daily goal to 1570 and not tracking exercise will work.

Appreciate the link and advise -- that page was extremely helpful.

If I can't afford a HRM what is the most accurate way to figure out how many calories I'm burning? Is there a more accurate calculator on the web than MFP's?

Below is what I do and it eliminates the need to track calories burned using a HRM. I just factor it into my TDEE. If I get to teh point where plateau, I generally increase my TDEE (i started on a side of conservative) which then leads to more weight loss and body fat recomposition.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.

SHBoss1673

Thank you! This was much more helpful than the original rant. I had a feeling I might be in starvation mode using the MFP guidelines and I believe I was underestimating my calories burned as well. I entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated.

Caloric Need:
• Estimated Base BMR: 1264 Calories.
• Estimated TDEE: 2070 Calories.
• Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1570 Calories.

So maybe just changing my daily goal to 1570 and not tracking exercise will work.

Appreciate the link and advise -- that page was extremely helpful.

that was rather rude.

brit49

bump!

erickirb

Thank you! This was much more helpful than the original rant. I had a feeling I might be in starvation mode using the MFP guidelines and I believe I was underestimating my calories burned as well. I entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated.

Caloric Need:
• Estimated Base BMR: 1264 Calories.
• Estimated TDEE: 2070 Calories.
• Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1570 Calories.

So maybe just changing my daily goal to 1570 and not tracking exercise will work.

The original post was not a rant, it was proving information, that being said if you entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated, then you probably over estimtated your burn, not under estimated, as your HRM is probably the closer to actual, and you still, depending on your HRM, have to back out the calories you would have burned had you not worked out (maintenance calories for that period of time). If you don't back those out you are double counting those calories and therefore over estimating, not under estimating your actual burn.

GalaxyDuck

Great topic! Posting to mark for later

TamTastic

I have said this myself. Not in the scientific terms you do! LOL! BUT, I never went by what MFP told me to eat. I use it as a guideline but did a trial and error basis to figure out what worked for me. I think the lowest I ever went was about 1350/1400. But I was exercising a lot and eating more on those days...

I just know I ate healthy and sensible most of the time...ate more on days I worked out...and splurged here and there..didn't stress about it..educated myself...ate foods to fuel me.....and the weight just came off. I had very few plateaus and when I did...I just changed my workout a bit or adjusted my calories..(even by 50!)...and off I went. Any plateau I hit didn't last more than a week or two and I just let my body rest a bit...and allow it to adjust to the changes it's been going through.

For what it's worth!

rydn4h2o

good info!

psuLemon

Thank you! This was much more helpful than the original rant. I had a feeling I might be in starvation mode using the MFP guidelines and I believe I was underestimating my calories burned as well. I entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated.

Caloric Need:
• Estimated Base BMR: 1264 Calories.
• Estimated TDEE: 2070 Calories.
• Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1570 Calories.

So maybe just changing my daily goal to 1570 and not tracking exercise will work.

Appreciate the link and advise -- that page was extremely helpful.

If I can't afford a HRM what is the most accurate way to figure out how many calories I'm burning? Is there a more accurate calculator on the web than MFP's?

Below is what I do and it eliminates the need to track calories burned using a HRM. I just factor it into my TDEE. If I get to teh point where plateau, I generally increase my TDEE (i started on a side of conservative) which then leads to more weight loss and body fat recomposition.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.

See i actually believe in the original comment. I think it was dead on, I just added to it to say how to overcome some of that. Other stuff like measuring your food is crucial to the success. In fact, most of the time, I measure my food to be precise.

SHBoss1673

Thank you! This was much more helpful than the original rant. I had a feeling I might be in starvation mode using the MFP guidelines and I believe I was underestimating my calories burned as well. I entered a number between what MFP stated and what my HRM stated.

Caloric Need:
• Estimated Base BMR: 1264 Calories.
• Estimated TDEE: 2070 Calories.
• Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1570 Calories.

So maybe just changing my daily goal to 1570 and not tracking exercise will work.

Appreciate the link and advise -- that page was extremely helpful.

If I can't afford a HRM what is the most accurate way to figure out how many calories I'm burning? Is there a more accurate calculator on the web than MFP's?

Below is what I do and it eliminates the need to track calories burned using a HRM. I just factor it into my TDEE. If I get to teh point where plateau, I generally increase my TDEE (i started on a side of conservative) which then leads to more weight loss and body fat recomposition.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.

See i actually believe in the original comment. I think it was dead on, I just added to it to say how to overcome some of that. Other stuff like measuring your food is crucial to the success. In fact, most of the time, I measure my food to be precise.

It's a pretty good way to do it for most people, only when you are becoming super serious about fat loss and are really in tune with your body would you need to go deeper than this.

Another popular way is to take your body fat %, multiply your maintenance calories by that and subtract that from maintenance for your amount of MAXIMUM deficit NET (it's fine to go smaller, but going bigger long term risks starvation mode). That last NET is important, it means if you're going to be exercising regularly, you need to take that into account for your maintenance. But of course, you're completely off the MFP model at this point, which is fine, it's just an alternate way to do things, your results will probably still be about the same. It still comes down to whether you measured your initial numbers correctly.

for instance, my maximum deficit would be 313 calories, with a maintenance of 2725 I would be at 2410 or so. But I exercise 7 days a week, raising my average to about 3100 per day, so with exercise my deficit would be (3100 X 11.5% body fat or 3100 X .115 = 356 ) then subtract 356 from 3100 making my lowest net calories 2744. So as long as I continue to exercise regularly, I should be eating 2744 if I want to lose weight.

NOW, since I'm not trying to lose weight, just fat loss only, I'm basically staying at about 3000 and very slowly removing body fat without losing much in the way of weight, as I'm adding muscle mass (it's painfully slow this way, but that's how it works if you're trying to both lose fat and gain muscle, you'll do neither very fast).

SHBoss1673

look at that, I killed my own thread. :sad:

runningneo122

Bump

SMarie10

too much info for one read time... will have to come back later when I'm more awake and can comprehend. Bump.

wolf23

bumpity-bump

ladyhawk00

Bump

ladyhawk00

Bump