constant weight fluctuating - eat more or less?

bfbooty

hey all,

starting to feel a bit down weight loss has slowed right down and the last 3-4 weeks i've just been fluctuating up and down by about 3lb so don't seem to have actually lost anything

i workout 5-6 days a week i try to do an hour if i can, i usually do tae bo, aerobics or zumba or a bit of all that in my living room, i am going to try get out to a gym once or twice a week to do some weights as i believe this might help kick start my loss again but with 3 young kids no support to help look after them it's going to be hard my husband works late is not here in evenings and sleeps all morning but i will try get out to gym on his days off if i can

other than adding some weights into my workouts or eating more or less (really not sure what to do there as I eat when I am hungry and I try to eat plenty of veg and fruit some days are better than others but I cook from scratch all my meals and try to use low cal ingredients e.g I will make a curry from pasata rather than coconut milk, or use low fat cream cheese rather than cream e.t.c I have a good appetite but am watching my portion sizes

anyone have any ideas of what I could do to try kick start my loss again

PS- I bought a HRM so input my exercise cals from what that tells me I have burned I've had it a week now

lillebanon

If you want to learn more about eating more, visit the Eat More to Weigh Less group. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

How much are you eating? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

bfbooty

If you want to learn more about eating more, visit the Eat More to Weigh Less group. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

How much are you eating? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

i eat if i'm hungry i never go hungry but i don't eat all my exercise cals some days i may eat some of them other days none of them at all i am also bf so add 250 cals a day for that so i'm prob averaging around 1600 cals a day - i'm terrified to add fats or high cal foods to my diet i've lost 29lb since jan and still have a lot to lose afraid to start gaining again

em9371

Eat more.
The calories remaining at the bottom of your diary should be 0, you have 800+ left some days so you are creating way too much of a deficit.
Also try and meet your other macros, fat is not bad just aim for healthier fats like nuts, avocado, olive oil etc. mfp protein goal is very low at 15%, it's a good idea to set this to at least 25% to help with muscle repair after exercise.

If you look on your goals page, under the calorie allowance it says 'net calories = total calories consumed minus exercise calories burned'.
This means that as the goal you are given is NET and already includes a deficit based on the loss goal you selected, you need to eat back any exercise calories to hit the net goal.
If you don't eat back your exercise you are in effect creating double the amount of deficit which is obviously too much for your body and this is why you are not losing.

bfbooty

Eat more.
The calories remaining at the bottom of your diary should be 0, you have 800+ left some days so you are creating way too much of a deficit.

If you look on your goals page, under the calorie allowance it says 'net calories = total calories consumed minus exercise calories burned'.
This means that as the goal you are given is NET and already includes a deficit based on the loss goal you selected, you need to eat back any exercise calories to hit the net goal.
If you don't eat back your exercise you are in effect creating double the amount of deficit which is obviously too much for your body and this is why you are not losing.

I feel in a way I am doing myself no good exercising then as I eat when I am hungry I eat fairly healthy very little processed foods e.t.c the only way I can see to eat all my cals is by adding a load of fat back into my diet to start cooking with creams butter coconut milk and eating cakes e.t.c again seriously this is what I was doing before and piled on the weight (although I wasn't exercisng then) oh very confused I so wish this whole weight loss thing could be made easy lol

theartichoke

What is your BMR? At the LEAST, especially breastfeeding, you need to eat BMR plus 300 calories. More than anything though, take it easy on yourself. You're doing a beautiful thing for your baby and his/her nutritional needs have to come first. During this time, while your body is not completely your own, cut yourself some slack sweetie.

em9371

Eat more.
The calories remaining at the bottom of your diary should be 0, you have 800+ left some days so you are creating way too much of a deficit.

If you look on your goals page, under the calorie allowance it says 'net calories = total calories consumed minus exercise calories burned'.
This means that as the goal you are given is NET and already includes a deficit based on the loss goal you selected, you need to eat back any exercise calories to hit the net goal.
If you don't eat back your exercise you are in effect creating double the amount of deficit which is obviously too much for your body and this is why you are not losing.

I feel in a way I am doing myself no good exercising then as I eat when I am hungry I eat fairly healthy very little processed foods e.t.c the only way I can see to eat all my cals is by adding a load of fat back into my diet to start cooking with creams butter coconut milk and eating cakes e.t.c again seriously this is what I was doing before and piled on the weight (although I wasn't exercisng then) oh very confused I so wish this whole weight loss thing could be made easy lol

Exercise has many health benefits other than weight loss so you should keep it up. If you are leaving so many calories spare its effectively the same as not exercising and eating way less - for example on Friday, you ate 1394, exercised 860 off so your net is only 534 when it should be 1330 which is ridiculous!!
You don't have to eat junk food to get your calories in, 50g of nuts is 400 calories and some protein/healthy fats, a teaspoon of olive oil adds over 100 cals.

As above poster said, you should NET at least bmr in order to leave your body with enough fuel for essential processes and to keep your milk supply going.
Really, you could eat at maintance and the breast feeding alone would create enough of a deficit for you to lose 1lb a week.
Look up the post 'in place of a road map', this explains why you should eat enough cals, rather than just randomly saying 'eat xxx' cals.

bfbooty

What is your BMR? At the LEAST, especially breastfeeding, you need to eat BMR plus 300 calories. More than anything though, take it easy on yourself. You're doing a beautiful thing for your baby and his/her nutritional needs have to come first. During this time, while your body is not completely your own, cut yourself some slack sweetie.

thanks your very kind my daughter is getting what she needs though do not worry about her she's thriving :-) I did workout my BMR but it was so high I just can't comprehend how eating that much can help me lose weight I read it explained many times why and it makes sense logically but my mind tells me no way you were eating that much before and putting weight on!!! which is true BUT I wasn't exercising then so I have been trying to eat more cals but this is where I struggle cos I eat well I do not eat small meals and I eat if I am hungry I munch on fruit throughout the day e.t.c and rarely get really hungry unless a really busy day where just no time to eat which happens if appointments with kids e.t.c but I usually would well make up for that later on with my dinner

ok so maybe I just need to be brave and add some higher cal foods to my diet then :ohwell:

bfbooty

Eat more.
The calories remaining at the bottom of your diary should be 0, you have 800+ left some days so you are creating way too much of a deficit.

If you look on your goals page, under the calorie allowance it says 'net calories = total calories consumed minus exercise calories burned'.
This means that as the goal you are given is NET and already includes a deficit based on the loss goal you selected, you need to eat back any exercise calories to hit the net goal.
If you don't eat back your exercise you are in effect creating double the amount of deficit which is obviously too much for your body and this is why you are not losing.

I feel in a way I am doing myself no good exercising then as I eat when I am hungry I eat fairly healthy very little processed foods e.t.c the only way I can see to eat all my cals is by adding a load of fat back into my diet to start cooking with creams butter coconut milk and eating cakes e.t.c again seriously this is what I was doing before and piled on the weight (although I wasn't exercisng then) oh very confused I so wish this whole weight loss thing could be made easy lol

Exercise has many health benefits other than weight loss so you should keep it up. If you are leaving so many calories spare its effectively the same as not exercising and eating way less - for example on Friday, you ate 1394, exercised 860 off so your net is only 534 when it should be 1330 which is ridiculous!!
You don't have to eat junk food to get your calories in, 50g of nuts is 400 calories and some protein/healthy fats, a teaspoon of olive oil adds over 100 cals.

As above poster said, you should NET at least bmr in order to leave your body with enough fuel for essential processes and to keep your milk supply going.
Really, you could eat at maintance and the breast feeding alone would create enough of a deficit for you to lose 1lb a week.
Look up the post 'in place of a road map', this explains why you should eat enough cals, rather than just randomly saying 'eat xxx' cals.

thanks I will try adding some nuts I love cashew nuts would be easy to add them to my diet lol I eat a lot of veg which helps fill me up but low cal so that's why I think my cal intake is quite low like on the friday that you mentioned I did chicken caserole it was full o carrot turnip onion and a load of brocoli on the side my plate was actually quite full and it filled me nicely and was made pretty much from scratch sometimes I feel like I have over eaten when I see what's on my plate lol

lillebanon

Try protein shakes, nuts, avocados, olive oils, eggs, lean meats, etc. Aim for 30% protein, 40% carb, 30% fat. Eating more calories doesn't mean eating more junk. You still need to eat healthful foods, but you don't need to eat the "light" or "diet" or "fat free" chemically altered stuff.

em9371

What is your BMR? At the LEAST, especially breastfeeding, you need to eat BMR plus 300 calories. More than anything though, take it easy on yourself. You're doing a beautiful thing for your baby and his/her nutritional needs have to come first. During this time, while your body is not completely your own, cut yourself some slack sweetie.

thanks your very kind my daughter is getting what she needs though do not worry about her she's thriving :-) I did workout my BMR but it was so high I just can't comprehend how eating that much can help me lose weight I read it explained many times why and it makes sense logically but my mind tells me no way you were eating that much before and putting weight on!!! which is true BUT I wasn't exercising then so I have been trying to eat more cals but this is where I struggle cos I eat well I do not eat small meals and I eat if I am hungry I munch on fruit throughout the day e.t.c and rarely get really hungry unless a really busy day where just no time to eat which happens if appointments with kids e.t.c but I usually would well make up for that later on with my dinner

ok so maybe I just need to be brave and add some higher cal foods to my diet then :ohwell:

Be brave and give it a try!!
I have done low cal diets in the past and as a result have been up and down between 150 and 250 lbs for the last 15 years!!
You do initially lose weight but its not sustainable long terms as you just screw your metabolism up, all you are doing is training your body to survive on less food so you are 'on a diet' forever.

Back in December I was eating 1650 total, about 1200 net. I now eat 1950 total, 1600 net (just above my bmr of 1568) and am losing just as much. I don't feel like I'm 'on a diet', I just eat normally :-)