Increase exercise, or continue to decrease calories?

gretchenwb

I am a 48 year old mother of 4, on MFP since Jan 9th, and have lost an inch and only 4 pounds. I am exercising 5 days a week, for 40 minutes, and pretty dilligent on calories, and I have even seen a doctor and added vitamins. I started at 1440 calories, and recently changed that to 1250, but I am getting a little discouraged about no weight loss. I plan to go to the Y and add some cardio classes. Does anyone have any suggestions?

TrishJimenez

Hi I am 36 years old and I have found that when I work out with dedication that the scale does seem to slow down even go to a crawl for a few weeks. BUT here is the good part. You do loose inches. Some places more then others, like the waist hips and thighs less in the arms etc but all over. When doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred I lost 6 inches in 1 week but not one lb. This is how I saw it. Maybe you will see it differently. But I didnt take offense to the scale. My biggest goal is not what the scale says but how I look and feel in my clothes and getting to a smaller size. And I work out to make my body look better and to feel better. The scale will catch up. After having no change in the scale for almost 3 weeks I lost 5 lbs in 5 short days with out any change on my part. YAY! The scale will catch up. Another example. This past 2 weeks I could be discouraged that the scale has not gone down for me. It even went up a bit to be honest. But I have gone down another notch on my belt and my work pants that I wear every day are looser. I could be discouraged and even try to limit my calories more but I tell myself to wait for it. It will come. Also another question. Are you eating back your exercise calories? It can really make a difference for some people.

chevy88grl

Honestly? I think I would go back to the 1440, make sure you NET 1440 and continue as you were. Give your body time to adjust to what's happening to it. Increasing exercise and decreasing your calories will honestly be counterproductive. You HAVE to fuel your body in order to lose weight. It is a must.

gretchenwb

Thank you for the encouragement! No, I don't eat back my exercise calories, and to be honest, they aren't huge amounts when I walk even though we have a lot of hills. I probably need to try something like Jillian Michael's, is that a DVD? I have lost an inch off my hips-which frankly as a pear shape is not a bad thing!:laugh:

lambertj

Take your BMR times your TDEE and minus about 15-20% off that total and eat that amount every single day, do not eat exercise calories back, they are already built into your TDEE

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

sammys1girly

Do you do any strength training? The number doesn't get lower as fast at first, but eventually it helps you burn more calories throughout the day, and also really helps decrease your body measurements.

TrishJimenez

Thank you for the encouragement! No, I don't eat back my exercise calories, and to be honest, they aren't huge amounts when I walk even though we have a lot of hills. I probably need to try something like Jillian Michael's, is that a DVD? I have lost an inch off my hips-which frankly as a pear shape is not a bad thing!:laugh:

yes it is a dvd with small hand weights. You can get it at walmart for like 8 dollars or off of amazon. I rented mine thru netflix since I use netflix for download movies but keep the option to take out one disk at a time. Decided it was time to take advantage of that. It was hard but fun. And short quick work outs too.

xarla16

How closely are you counting your calories? Are you using a scale to weigh out your food, or are you just eyeballing it?
The biggest thing that helps me counting calories is my scale and it's amazing how much we over estimate portion sizes.

gretchenwb

This is a great site, and thank you for all the great tips. No, besides strong calves from walking, I am really out of shape. I have a Y membership, so no excuse-right?! I will recalculate, and add some weights!

Schraudt814

Take your BMR times your TDEE and minus about 15-20% off that total and eat that amount every single day, do not eat exercise calories back, they are already built into your TDEE

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

So I guess I'm a little confused now...I went to this site and it said I should be eating 2210 calories? Or at least that's what the chart says...but that's almost 1000 calories more than MFP! :noway:

lambertj

Take your BMR times your TDEE and minus about 15-20% off that total and eat that amount every single day, do not eat exercise calories back, they are already built into your TDEE

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

So I guess I'm a little confused now...I went to this site and it said I should be eating 2210 calories? Or at least that's what the chart says...but that's almost 1000 calories more than MFP! :noway:

Is your TDEE 2210? If so, now minus 15-20% off that and eat at that. Don't trust MFP settings, they are too generic.

Schraudt814

Take your BMR times your TDEE and minus about 15-20% off that total and eat that amount every single day, do not eat exercise calories back, they are already built into your TDEE

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

So I guess I'm a little confused now...I went to this site and it said I should be eating 2210 calories? Or at least that's what the chart says...but that's almost 1000 calories more than MFP! :noway:

Thanks! Calculating that out makes MUCH more sense...According to this, for the amount of exercise I do, MFP has me eating WAY too few calories!
Is your TDEE 2210? If so, now minus 15-20% off that and eat at that. Don't trust MFP settings, they are too generic.

alesnie

I agree with the TDEE/BMR. It definitely seems like you are eating way too FEW calories.

ALH1981

this is my dilemma also. the more i work out the heavier i get - i cant figure out if its because i get hungrier and eat more or whether its water gain, muscle repair etc.

Whatever the case is to discouraging as i excerise for weight loss/mainteinance AND for the phycological benefit - If i cut calories and stop working out i lose, but don't get the phycological benefit - how to strike the balance....!!!

So discouraging..

erickirb

I would say neither. If you are exercising you need more than 1250 cals/day, so I would say increase calories, or decrease exercise. When you exercise you need to fuel your body by eating more caloires.

erickirb

Take your BMR times your TDEE and minus about 15-20% off that total and eat that amount every single day, do not eat exercise calories back, they are already built into your TDEE

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

So I guess I'm a little confused now...I went to this site and it said I should be eating 2210 calories? Or at least that's what the chart says...but that's almost 1000 calories more than MFP! :noway:

That site takes into account exercise MFP's intake does not so you are not comparing apples to apples. If you normally burn 650 cals/workout MFP would put you at 1850 (1250+650) to lose your goal amount of weight, this site has you at 2210 to maintain so if you eat 80% of those cals that would give you 1768 to lose weight.

So if you use MFP you would eat 1250 on days you don't workout and 1900 on days you do, whereas this site would have you eat 1768 everyday regardless if you workout. so say you workout and burn 650 cals 5 days/week MFP would have your weekly intake at 12,000 (1900*5+1250*2), whereas the other site would have you eat 12,376 (1768*7), a difference of only 376/week or 53 calories/day, if you burn less then 650 5 times/week the spread would be larger but the TDEE calc would be safer for weight loss as the loss would not be too fast.