Don't think I am eating enought to lose?

hyperkate

Hi. I am on 1270 cals a day and exercise around 5 times a week. I have worked out from my weight and height and activity, using the bmr calculation etc that I need just over 2200 cals a day to maintain my weight. From what I am eating and what I need to maintain I should be losing 2lbs a week but am not? Some days I am over my calories and some days under but they stay within all my fat, protein, sodium levels etc. I am building muscle tone so know that I am losing fat weight but gaining muscle weight but my scales ahven't shifted in weeks now. Do I up my calorie intake as I cannot lower it anymore. Am just looking for a bit of advice if anyone is in the know please? I use 3kg weights at home and do shred and 6 week 6 pack. I walk around 5/6 miles a week through exercise not including walking my kids to school and back (I dont count that) I use the gym 1/2 times a week doing 25 mins of cardio each time and 25 mins of strength training. Thanks in advance for any responses I get. Oh and I am only 10lbs from my goal weight. But sitting at 10lbs away for this long is really getting to me

cmiles23

if you are burning calories by exercise you need to eat back those calories, you should only be at 500 calories deficit.

hyperkate

but that's to lose only 1lb a week by calculations, I am not even losing that?

RaeannePemberton

do you log your workouts, eat calories back? how much do you want to lose? there are many factors..... how much have you lost? you can always play with the numbers... it's true that you have to eat to lose.... for sure. and if you eat too little you can actually hurt your metabolism. 1270 is crazy low if that's your intake, but if that's net then that's a different story..... if i were you i would shoot for a 500 to 700 calorie deficit overall.....

TavistockToad

eat your exercise cals!

yager8725

im having same problem. I have noticed some people say never eat back exercise and others say to eat back. i'll be watching your answers!

hyperkate

Some days I have only eaten 900ish cals and some days I have eaten 1800. So if i need 2200ish to maintain my weight including the exercise I do then I reckon I should be on around 1700 a day. I may need to up my calories a bit. I aim for 1270 a day if not exercising.

charmainecurrie

1/2 pounds per week
when you only have 10 pounds to loose..

elizamc

im having same problem. I have noticed some people say never eat back exercise and others say to eat back. i'll be watching your answers!

Ditto!

psuLemon

Just becaue you want to lose 2 lbs per week, doesn't mean your body will allow it. Looking at your picture, you truely don't look like you have much to lose. People that 50+ lbs to lose, can set their goal at 2 lbs, 20 lbs -50 lbs can do 1 lb per week and if you have less than 20, it should only be .5 lbs per week.


Also, this website already includes a deficit so if you exercise then you are creating a much larger one. Keep in mind, that if you only eat 1200 calories and burn 600 calories, its like only eating 600 calories. Also keep in mind that food is fuel, without your body will hold onto the fat to perserve energy for when it needs it.

Below is what you are burning each day based on lifestyle and a 1833 BMR

Sedentary - 2200 (assuming this is how you are calculating your maintenance calories)
Lightly Active - 2520
Moderately Active - 2841
Very Active - 3162


By working out 5 days a week, you will be moderately active (assuming you have a desk job) That means, you are burning about 2841 calories a day. That means, to lose weight (1 lb per day more than likely) you should be eating 2310 calories. This is one approach. The second approach is to gauge yoru basic lifestyle (so if you stil behind a desk) you should eat 1700 calories a day and then eat back your exercise calories.

To let you know, my BMR is about 2050. I eat 2800 calories and that is set up for weight loss (300 calorie deficit) as I am concentrating on building muscle. Hope this helps. If you want to know more let me know.

Lemon

Liz1978

I had the same problem with my weight. I try to switch up my eating habits every few weeks. For 14 days I eat back my calories and the other 14 days I do not eat them back. I have found that I have to keep it different and changing. I also started a circuit routine along with my walking, its made a big change. Dont let this get you down, your on your last 10 and it always gets harder at the end. Hope this helps.

hyperkate

thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

aj_rock

Hold up. If you know you're losing fat weight and gaining muscle, what's the problem? Pure weight loss shouldn't be your goal! Do what you're doing; lose the fat, gain the muscle!

karenxdixon

I was moaning about exactly this to my boyfriend this morning. He advised that I should be keeping my heart rate at a certain level for fat burning when I exersize, The calculation is 225 minus your age and then 65% of that figure will be the exersize heart rate you should maintain.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this...?

TavistockToad

thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!

sweetiebelle

The last 10 is not easy. I had to change up my workouts. That worked a little. I took a week off of exercising, that worked for me. If have to do something different, you body gets used to the same things. The last 10 is hard.

hyperkate

thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!

It doesn't mean I can't eat more?? I was asking for advice and just explaining a bit about my life, that's all. I don't get what you mean?

TavistockToad

thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!

It doesn't mean I can't eat more?? I was asking for advice and just explaining a bit about my life, that's all. I don't get what you mean?

i just mean that the general consensus from people is that you arent losing an more weight because you are eating too little for all the exercise that you do.

So carry on with all the workouts as you obviously really enjoy them, and eat your exercise cals!

stroutman81

Even if you were eating "too little," it wouldn't preclude you from eventually losing weight. Just look at anorexics. Sure, it might mess with short term water flux, thus masking tissue loss on the scale. But eventually thermodynamics will win out. If they don't, that means something's wrong medically or your calorie estimates in terms of intake and/or expenditure are off, which is very likely.

None of this really matters, since, as it's been pointed out, you shouldn't be shooting for such a lofty rate of weight loss at your size. But for the sake of information integrity... eating too little won't automatically make you store weight. I talked about plateaus, adaptive thermogenesis and quite a bit more that would help you with your questions in this article:

www.body-improvements.com/resources/eat

Rae6503

I was moaning about exactly this to my boyfriend this morning. He advised that I should be keeping my heart rate at a certain level for fat burning when I exersize, The calculation is 225 minus your age and then 65% of that figure will be the exersize heart rate you should maintain.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this...?

The "fat burning zone" is an out of date idea that is has pretty much been dis-proven. Yes, you burn more "fat" when you exercise at that level but what is more important is over calorie deficit, so over all calories burned, and high intensity exercise = more calories burned.

Rae6503

1/2 pounds per week
when you only have 10 pounds to loose..

This. It's what I've been doing (most of the time, except the last month) in addition to eating exercise calories.