My Plateau Nutrition Story, Learn from my mistakes.

johnwhitent

I lost 50 lbs four years ago in short order by simply cycling four days a week and restricting total calories to 1,650 daily while paying no attention to carbs, protein, sodium etc. I didn't know about those things then. After losing the weight I bumped my calories to probably 2,200 per day and slowly gained some weight back. Then I joined MFP and went to around 1,600 gross calories daily and added running and strength training to the cycling.

I lost only about a pound a month but that was fine since I was no longer looking to lose a huge amount. After 10 months and losing 11 lbs I read all the posts about eating more to lose more so I bumped my calories to around 1,850 (knowing that I gain if I eat over 2,000.) Over six weeks I gained 4 lbs. While that is not a huge gain, it still represents four months work to lose it previously. I have been told to hang in there and it will drop but folks that is tough advice to follow.

I know that I can lose (slowly) doing what I did before. Losing more by eating more is appealing but highly suspect to me based on my experience. I’m thinking that if I were to continue eating more and continue to gain I can wipe out a years work in a few weeks. My body has demonstrated over time that I gain weight if I eat my exercise calories. I'm inclined to go back to what has worked for me - restrict calories to 1,650 gross, get lots of protein and enough carbs to fuel my activities, and exercise like crazy. Thoughts?

PS: I don't want to hijack the thread, it just seems like a lot of people here have had success doing what the op did and I could use some help along these lines!

wapan

I'm increasing my calories. 1200 just feels too low for the amount of working out I do. So hoping that this works for me too!

MaynardLD50

I don't think the original poster's following this anymore guys- he hasn't been back in a couple of weeks. So from what I've read and understand it sounds like the calculators and calculations he's posted are giving you what you should be netting (therefore, eat your calories back from exercise beacuse even if you take in say 2000 after exercise you're still having the deficit in your diet so you'd be netting say 1600 or whatever). I saw someone ask why not just shoot for 2000 a day (or whatever your higher maintenence level calories are) instead of exxtering exercise calories and eating them- well to me, that's not how MFP works. So, I suppose if you want to try it that way and not add exercise calories you could but I haven't seen anything explained that way. It doesn't seem like that'd be as exact of a way to do it. Seems like it'd be too easy to exercise too much and be netting too little. This way you're always netting what you should be using the MFP diary. Also from what I've read the closer you get to your goal weight the more your net calorie goal should get closer and closer to your maintenence level calories (for example you lose 10 lbs, maybe recalculate and only do a 25% deficit and so on until you're at maintenence level calories).

But I just posted a page ago on 14? I'm still here, just crazy busy with real life

Mynue_Jeens

Great Story. I wish more people realized that your body can't survive on 1200 calories and it definitely can't build muscle and strength.

Mynue_Jeens

I lost 50 lbs four years ago in short order by simply cycling four days a week and restricting total calories to 1,650 daily while paying no attention to carbs, protein, sodium etc. I didn't know about those things then. After losing the weight I bumped my calories to probably 2,200 per day and slowly gained some weight back. Then I joined MFP and went to around 1,600 gross calories daily and added running and strength training to the cycling.

I lost only about a pound a month but that was fine since I was no longer looking to lose a huge amount. After 10 months and losing 11 lbs I read all the posts about eating more to lose more so I bumped my calories to around 1,850 (knowing that I gain if I eat over 2,000.) Over six weeks I gained 4 lbs. While that is not a huge gain, it still represents four months work to lose it previously. I have been told to hang in there and it will drop but folks that is tough advice to follow.

I know that I can lose (slowly) doing what I did before. Losing more by eating more is appealing but highly suspect to me based on my experience. I’m thinking that if I were to continue eating more and continue to gain I can wipe out a years work in a few weeks. My body has demonstrated over time that I gain weight if I eat my exercise calories. I'm inclined to go back to what has worked for me - restrict calories to 1,650 gross, get lots of protein and enough carbs to fuel my activities, and exercise like crazy. Thoughts?

PS: I don't want to hijack the thread, it just seems like a lot of people here have had success doing what the op did and I could use some help along these lines!

Do you strength train at all? And when I say strength train I don't mean using 5 lbs dumbbells lol. I mean really lift and build muscle? Sounds like you may be helped by building more muscle to increase metabolism and thus burn more fat.

johnwhitent

Do you strength train at all? And when I say strength train I don't mean using 5 lbs dumbbells lol. I mean really lift and build muscle? Sounds like you may be helped by building more muscle to increase metabolism and thus burn more fat.

I do P90X 2/3 times a week and use dumbbells from 20 to 35lbs depending on the exercise plus do all the pull ups, push ups, etc. Unfortunately I am an older male and have trouble building muscle due to low testosterone. Aging is lousy, but as they say it’s better than the alternative!

Starlage

But I just posted a page ago on 14? I'm still here, just crazy busy with real life

haha sorry, missed it! )

korygilliam

edited to add--I have a thyroid disorder (goiter), which MAY cause decreased resting metabolism. I do zig zag (method I do is 1430 is the average daily net calories, but reviewed as a week. 2 days, I am 300 calories below 1430 and 1 day amd 500 calories over. I don't stress the '2 days low/1 day high/repeat', I just focus on the week being below 1430 and I have highs and lows for the week. I preset my 'high days' when I know that it will be a high calorie day or a day I can't exercise.)

How do you preset your calories for the "high days"? I'm usually 500 over the day after my big exercise day (strength training followed by Zumba) but that's because I'm usually down the 500 on the workout day. I finish too late at night to even think about eating back 700 calories.

What I mean by 'preset' is that I have place holders for my exercise and food diary to help make the zig zag easier. I have 300 calorie zigzag placeholders for the food diary (for my low days) and I have a 500 calorie ZZ placeholder for my exercise diary (for my high days). (They aren't in the MFP lists, so you will have to make a new entry for yourself...my diary is open, so you can look at it for future days to see what I mean by this)

At the beginning of the month, I look at anything that I know is going to be a bad day or a non-exercise day and I plug in the 500 calorie placeholder on those days (to have them reserved as my high calorie days). Then I plug in the rest of the days with the food or the exercise diary placeholders to try to get 5 low days and 2 high days on each week. (typically I have the high day 500 exercise holder on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the low day 300 food holder on the other days...but if there are holidays/camping/birthdays/etc, then it may change for that week).

In case you aren't catching on...putting the 500 exercise placeholder makes the calculator think that you have burned 500 calories, therefore your goal calorie intake is upped by 500 calories to make your net zero, which, in turn, causes this to be your high calorie day. Same for the food...the 300 food placeholder makes the calculator think that you have eaten 300 more calories, therefore you goal calorie intake is decreased by 300 calories to make your net zero.

You don't want your set goal net for the day to be 1200 calories, because this will make your low days be 900. I changed my 'loss per week goal' to 1 pound, instead of 2...this changed my net goal from 1200 to 1430. Because you have 5 low days and 2 high days, this makes my average daily net 1350...so, even though my setup loss goal is set to 1 pound/week, it ends up coming out at 1.5 pound/week. (but I did this to get over my plateau, so I wasn't losing anyways...)

Hope this helps

Fergie2154

Not to take anything from your story - but get real people...

I stopped reading responses at the first page....

Thanks - no wonder I have stayed the same for the last 5 days; and wow - thats why I plateau'd this week....

You are likely to stay the same for 5 days and a plaueau is not a week.....

But whatever,.....

This was great info, but yes, a lot of the responses had me a bit puzzled. 5 days at the same weight is not a plateau.....

...... So true. ....many will come back and say "I started eating more calories after doing the calculations for my body weight/height/gender and after eating the correct amount of calories for 1 week, the scale still didn't move. So, they go right back to starving themselves. Thinking that this "couldn't" be right.... My body MUST be different from everyone else when it comes to what our body needs to function correctly.

nancilu

bump

Mynue_Jeens

Do you strength train at all? And when I say strength train I don't mean using 5 lbs dumbbells lol. I mean really lift and build muscle? Sounds like you may be helped by building more muscle to increase metabolism and thus burn more fat.

I do P90X 2/3 times a week and use dumbbells from 20 to 35lbs depending on the exercise plus do all the pull ups, push ups, etc. Unfortunately I am an older male and have trouble building muscle due to low testosterone. Aging is lousy, but as they say it’s better than the alternative!

Haha, very true! Maybe try upping to to 3-4 days a week and see if that works for you? I haven't tried P90x but I have heard good things. My brother is doing it now so I'll probably try it after he finishes.

danielleneumann

bump

samntha14

My fitness pal calculates your calories lower so you DO eat back your calories. If you use myfitnesspal's recommendations, which I discourage using (Sorry MFP admins) you will eat back those calories you burned. I suggest you use the Katch McCardle method, factor in your HONEST exercise patterns and just stick to the "Fat Loss" recommendation. If you do the math long handed way you stick to the 10% 20% 30% deficit you chose.

I keep asking about this and get conflicting responses. I'm hitting close to my 1430 calorie goal everyday. The only days I really go over are on days after really hard workouts, Mondays make me eat more on Tuesday and Wed makes me eat more on Thursday. Both of those work out days I'm burning over 500 calories. I don't end up eating it all back, but about half. I'm seeing slow and steady loss of 1-2 a week though I'm just starting out really (just over 7 pounds lost toward a 30 pound goal). Also, I'm still hitting my weekly goals dead on. I'm always so unsure of myself.

ekim724

Thanks for posting this, big help to me.

rebeccaboise

Bump

schmorla

I'm going to try this and see how it works.

Very nervous though.

sparetirebegone

bump

TinaVanHoecke

I have had the book burn the fat feed the muscle for many years. I love it. It is great for building lean body mass and loosing the fat.
I have the transformation pictures to prove it. I was eating a lot of food and I build fabulous muscle and could fit into a size 4. Definately don't starve yourself.

Brynne_Kathryn

I've read all million and a half pages in this thread, and I'm still confused.

If you do the long-hand math or the calculator at FreeDieting.com, is the recommended daily calorie intake you end up with your NET or your GROSS caloric intake?

Do I eat back my exercise calories or do I eat only my calculated amount?

Bear with me.
I used the website, I hate math :P.

My maintenance amount is 2458. Fat loss is 1966. Extreme fat loss is 1475. Let's say I go with Maintenance - 30%. This gives me 1720 cals.

I'm currently on week 5 of TurboFire, and I love it. According to MFP 30 minutes burns 408 cals.

So on days I do my workouts, do I eat 1720 cals or do I eat 2128+?

Please help! My boyfriend and I are both trying to exercise and eat better. We both work in construction and that means long hours and erratic mealtimes. After 2 months of next to zero scale movement, we're both getting frustrated. Coming across this thread was a godsend. On days I didn't exercise, my 1200 calorie goal was terrible, I always felt deprived and hungry or I would over eat and then feel guilty. Even on days I did exercise for those extra calories, I didn't feel great. I've been tired all the time and always on the edge of feeling a cold coming on and this might explain why.

And again in case all my rambling obscured the core question, is the number we get after the calculation NET or GROSS calories?

epurucker82

AGREE...I bought a HRM and when I'm doing P90X I'm lucky to burn 300 calories...even using Insanity it's maybe 400. I see people saying they burned 1000 calories doing these programs and I don't get it. At my weight of 236 lbs I'm sure I'm burning more then a fit person just because of the weight. I learned that using MFP calorie estimates are a bad idea in general....

Eva_H

bump

MaynardLD50

I've read all million and a half pages in this thread, and I'm still confused.

If you do the long-hand math or the calculator at FreeDieting.com, is the recommended daily calorie intake you end up with your NET or your GROSS caloric intake?

Do I eat back my exercise calories or do I eat only my calculated amount?

Bear with me.
I used the website, I hate math :P.

My maintenance amount is 2458. Fat loss is 1966. Extreme fat loss is 1475. Let's say I go with Maintenance - 30%. This gives me 1720 cals.

I'm currently on week 5 of TurboFire, and I love it. According to MFP 30 minutes burns 408 cals.

So on days I do my workouts, do I eat 1720 cals or do I eat 2128+?

Please help! My boyfriend and I are both trying to exercise and eat better. We both work in construction and that means long hours and erratic mealtimes. After 2 months of next to zero scale movement, we're both getting frustrated. Coming across this thread was a godsend. On days I didn't exercise, my 1200 calorie goal was terrible, I always felt deprived and hungry or I would over eat and then feel guilty. Even on days I did exercise for those extra calories, I didn't feel great. I've been tired all the time and always on the edge of feeling a cold coming on and this might explain why.

And again in case all my rambling obscured the core question, is the number we get after the calculation NET or GROSS calories?

You're daily calories should be 10,000. Kidding. Take that website for the easy no math to it approach. If the website says that fat loss should be 1966 stick with 1950. Don't over think it. 1950 is your goal and DO NOT EAT YOUR EXERCISE calories back! You figured out your calories on that website because you put in how often you work out, therefore it has factored in your nutritional needs based on your workouts.

Make sense?

I cannot stress how much I recommend getting a Heart Rate Monitor guys and gals. I should probably be collecting royalties from how many people I refer to the Polar FT7. Works fantastic and has been proven to be almost 98% accurate. MyFitnessPal once told me that I burned 820 calories doing a cardio movement and my Heart Rate Monitor said I burned 621, 75% swing there.

Another thing you will notice as you get healthier is that you will have to push harder to get the results. One of my favorite memories was when I first started going to the gym last August. I got on a treadmill, I had bought the HRM, and I started jogging with the C25K app on the iPhone. I did that plus some small weight training and I finished at 1 Hour and 2 Minutes. I looked at my calories burned and it was 1257. I thought "well every workout should be that right?" I can jog for 10 minutes without breaking a sweat at 6.0 speed now. When I warmup before lifting I'll jog at 5.8 at a 4 - 5 incline to get my heart to 150. Fat me would have been dying. It just gets harder the more fit you get, but the results get better and better

samntha14

I did that plus some small weight training and I finished at 1 Hour and 2 Minutes. I looked at my calories burned and it was 1257. I thought "well every workout should be that right?" I can jog for 10 minutes without breaking a sweat at 6.0 speed now. When I warmup before lifting I'll jog at 5.8 at a 4 - 5 incline to get my heart to 150. Fat me would have been dying. It just gets harder the more fit you get, but the results get better and better

You are so right. It hasn't even been a full month for me yet and it's already getting harder to get my heart rate up to the fat burn zone, haven't tried to push up to cardio level yet because I don't think my asthma can take it yet.

samntha14

I have to learn how to quote properly LOL

Starlage

Ok folks another week's checkin for me.

I've been taking in daily about 1800-1900 cals after exercise and on non exercise days around 1500. I've lost another 1.3 pounds this week and another 1.25 inches overall so that means in the last month of increased calories and exercising only about 3-4 times a week an hour at a time (my kick-boxing/aerobicsy dvds) I've lost about 5 pounds and 3 inches over all. YAAY!!! I should mention; the first two weeks of eating more calories I didn't really notice any changes; acutally gained a pound or so and most of my inches loss has been over the last 2 weeks... so be patient! Your body'll catch onto the new game soon enough.

funkycamper

Starlage, I really appreciate your regular updates. Keep 'em coming. They're inspiring as I work to up my own calories.

Brynne_Kathryn

Thank you so much! I'll keep updating!

tmfpartyof4

This should be the introduction from MFP for new starters and starvers.

i totally agree!!!

i am very new and I have a question.

MFP gave me a BMR of 1950.
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

that^^ link gave me a BMR of 1966, a maintenance calorie of 2327 and a fat loss calculation of 2064.

i have either eaten my BMR or stayed under it. Isnt that a bad thing? how much should I eat?i have 3 #s here.

oh and a 7 day zig zag calorie cycle.

bekisimpkins

Bump - tomorrow is time to re-adjust my calorie goal! Barely any movement on the scale and suffering headaches at times means I'm almost definitely not eating enough! Thanks for the easy explanation, apart from the maths ;-)

Terasome

Ok so let me get this straight.

I weigh 82 kg, on the free diet site it says

if I am exercising 5 days a week burning 500 calories on average

my maintenance is 2417
fat loss 1718
extreme loss is 1443

so I should eat close to 1718 and not eat those exercise calories back? leaving me at around 1200 net?

is that right.