I need help!

Chobita

Hello! I posted a few weeks back about how I am at a stand still for weight loss. I am currently 172lbs and would like to be around 155lbs. I am not new to MFP, but I am new to the community, and the longer I lurk here, the more questions I have. So I do apologize for the loaded post here, but I have a few things Im missing info on, and I think my weight loss problem is one of the answers.....

First off, the pie graph. Mine always says I am anywhere from 50%-65% carbs. My protein is low and my fat percentage is up there also. I THOUGHT I was eating healthy. I was eating 1200 calories a day, but increased it to 1350 because I thought I may be starving myself (sure did not feel like it, but no weight loss made me think that was why.) How do I use the pie graph?

My problem must be what I am eating. I see many people here are on low carb, high protein diets. But I dont even know how to eat like that and stay above my 1200 calorie range. EVERYTHING I see in my fridge/cubbards is carbs. Any ideas?

Also, what is the whole net calorie thing? I dont quite understand it. Do I need that number to be negative??? Is that even possible? And if its not a negative number, what should it be?

And lastly, is it true about burning more calories than you eat? Is that even possible? If I eat 1350 calories/day, I am supposed to burn more than that? When I exercise (and I exercise hard, cardio and weight training) I burn anywhere from 400-600 calories. Perhaps all of my info on weight loss is wrong. I certainly hope so, that way I can figure this out and move on!

becjerami

I'm going to start with the last part first if you don't mind!

You should never be eating less than you burn. By that I mean your Net calories (what you're left with after you deduct your exercise from your total) should be a positive number. When you log exercise MFP will automatically change your calorie goal for the day to include what you've burnt through exercise, and that is the total amount of calories you are supposed to eat for the day. From your post it sounds as though MFP has started you off with 1200 calories per day. If you burn 400 cals from exercise MFP will add 400 cals to the total calories you should eat. Keep in mind that a lot of people find MFP overestimates exercise calories so unless you have a heart rate monitor to confirm your burn you might want to eat back slighly less of the 400 cals, say 300 or so.

It is possible that you are undereating and that's why you're not losing weight. sounds counterintuitive, but your body will have a base rate (BMR) that it needs just for daily functioning, and if you are netting less than that amount your body will lower your metabolism to compensate, therefore you won't lose weight, or perhaps a bit at first and then little to nothing.

I would suggest you find out what your BMR (base metabolic rate) is and try to net around this amount daily.

Remember, when you set up your MFP account you had to choose how many lbs you want to lose per week. MFP works out the calorie deficit required to achieve this and give you your calorie goal for the day. 1lb a week is a sustainable level of weight loss in my opinion and many people attest that slower weight loss ends up being easier to keep off long term. no need to go under your calorie goal as MFP has already incorporated your deficit for weight loss in the calorie goal it gives you. And you are right to increase your calories from 1200 in my opinion, that's far too low for your activity level and I think it would be hard to get a good level of nutrition on such a low amount (and lets face it, not much fun either!)

I hope this helps! I can't really help with the whole carb/fat/protein thing. I don't believe in low carb etc but I guess it works for some people.

Melanie12081

Also, what is the whole net calorie thing? I dont quite understand it. Do I need that number to be negative??? Is that even possible? And if its not a negative number, what should it be?

And lastly, is it true about burning more calories than you eat? Is that even possible? If I eat 1350 calories/day, I am supposed to burn more than that? When I exercise (and I exercise hard, cardio and weight training) I burn anywhere from 400-600 calories. Perhaps all of my info on weight loss is wrong. I certainly hope so, that way I can figure this out and move on!

I don't know enough about all of your questions to answer them comfortably...but I can answer a couple. The net calories are the calories you have left after your food and exercise for the day. Yout want that number to be as close to zero as possible. MFP already takes into account your weight loss goals, so by netting as close to zero as possible, you're meeting the goals you set for yourself.

It's very easy to burn more calories than you eat, if you aren't eating. Even when you aren't exercising, your body is buring calories. You can find your BMR using a number of calculators. A decent estimate is to take your weight and multiply it by 10. If your activity levels are more than sendentary, there are multipliers to use. For example, if you're lightly active, multiply your weight by 10, and then that number by 1.3. This should give you a good estimate of what your body burns during the day. (You can find calculators all over online if you google BMR...all of the ones I've tried have come up somewhat near what this formula did.) Back to the subject - if you're only eating 1000 calories a day, but your BMR is 1300 - you're short supplying your body calories. If you exercise on top of that, you're expending even MORE than you're giving.

Food is fuel. People with more weight to lose can push the deficit more that people with less...you have to experiment with yourself to find what works best - but you need to give ANYTHING at least a month to show results.

Good luck!