Not a newbie but need some advice

Scottish_charlene_84

Ive been uing MFP for quite a while now and its been fab but I seemed to have hit a wall and I am going up and down within half a stone constantly. I hve seen on here in the past week that people are eating their exercise calories. This was something I never did until this week. Should I use all of the or a certain %? Hoping this is the wee boost I need Ty in advance x

Scottish_charlene_84

anyone?

Greenrun99

depending how much your eating now and what your net calories are for the day and how close you are to your cut number.. then yes you should be eating exercise calories.. Since you sound like you are at a plateau maybe you should eat them for a week and see if that breaks it.

Scottish_charlene_84

depending how much your eating now and what your net calories are for the day and how close you are to your cut number.. then yes you should be eating exercise calories.. Since you sound like you are at a plateau maybe you should eat them for a week and see if that breaks it.

Im on 1125 calories a day and last week i was actually -10 calories one of the days which clearly isnt good :-/ Would u recommend eating them all or maybe half?

Greenrun99

if your only eating 1125 calories I would say all of your exercise calories.. thats a pretty small amount

sicilysclover

depending how much your eating now and what your net calories are for the day and how close you are to your cut number.. then yes you should be eating exercise calories.. Since you sound like you are at a plateau maybe you should eat them for a week and see if that breaks it.

Im on 1125 calories a day and last week i was actually -10 calories one of the days which clearly isnt good :-/ Would u recommend eating them all or maybe half?

wow 1125 seems kind of low to me! I'd eat all your calories back for a week - see how that goes and then adjust.

mom2handh1975

I'd eat them all, especially since you're eating under 1200 calories daily. That alone could have caused your plateau.

deksgrl

Eat all of your exercise cals. Try that for a month. If you still aren't seeing any movement, then perhaps try eating 75% or 50% of them.

tnjackso1

try increasing your caloric intake by 200 and watch what happens.... you will be amazed!

escloflowneCHANGED

I say bump up to 1300-1400 calories and eat all of them back (as long as you use a HRM, not MFP calculations)

MtnKat

Wow. You need to eat more.

1200 calories is what you burn if you are in a coma. I eat 1900 cals (plus because I have some heavy workout days where I end up eating like 2300 cals) and have been losing 1lb a week steadily for months.

Eat all your exercise calories. Most importantly - educate yourself! Look up things like BMR and TDEE. Then you can make an educated decision on what works best for you.

I have eaten 1200 cals (PLUS exercise cals) and have lost weight....at the same time I was grumpy, tired and angry at the fact that I had so little to work with. I have lost the same amount of weight (and as steadily) eating 1900 cals. I will never go back to 1200 cals ever again unless I medically have to.

psuLemon

Probably need to eat more. Whats your height, weight, age, job and workout routine and we can estimate caloric requirements.

blb1230

Ive been uing MFP for quite a while now and its been fab but I seemed to have hit a wall and I am going up and down within half a stone constantly. I hve seen on here in the past week that people are eating their exercise calories. This was something I never did until this week. Should I use all of the or a certain %? Hoping this is the wee boost I need Ty in advance x

I have been told by 2 nutritionist that you need to at least eat your Basal (BMR). This website will help you figure out your BMR. Once I started doing this, I started losing again. It wont hurt to give it a try :flowerforyou:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

DenyseMarieL

I had the understanding that MFP factored all of that in, your current weight, what you want to lose, how fast you want to lose it, and said 'this is the amount of calories you SHOULD eat in a day'. So, when you exercise, and burn off those daily calories, you should eat them back to get your daily allotment. I am shocked at how many people eat 400-600 calories under their daily amount, even after they exercised for an hour. I would be STARVING. I have alot of trouble staying within what they tell me to eat.

supermodelchic

Hi, I exercise alot and I don't eat those extra calories ever.... I do try eat super clean though..

lynheff

I dont add back cause you can not know for sure how much you burned. Might try upping the protein and lowering the carbs. usually works for jump starting my weight loss. hope that helps. good luck.

kaygroth

There are many factors and opinions. Here is my two cents. First I would ensure you have your MFP settings correct, as in your weight updated and goal weight set. Ensure your only set to loose a pound (sorry not sure what that is in stone) a week. Eating what you burned is fine, I've never done it yet, but on days where you may burn a lot I would eat half to three quarters of that and ensure its mostly protein so your body can heal and burn the rest. Being on a plateau for a week or so is not bad, it happens. Try also changing exercises by increasing cardio or weights or alternate between the two to confuse body. But do not over do it and get your rest. The bottom line is if you burn more then you take in you should loose that is what MFP basically calculates, but again be careful the 1100 change caloric intake seems low for the average person. I hope this helps in some way or motivates...cheers Kay

Francesca3162

I am set on sedentary,
I am only at 1200-1300 for 1lb loss per week,
I will usually eat 80% of my exercise calories back. (just in case I over estimated exercise or underestimated food!)

Scottish_charlene_84

Probably need to eat more. Whats your height, weight, age, job and workout routine and we can estimate caloric requirements.

I am following a scottish slimmers diet plan and i have lost 39lbs on this but defo need to change it up. i dont get hungry i wouldnt say but you guys r all fab and id appreciate ur help to get this last 15lbs off

Height is 5 foot 7 inches, im 28, my weight is 155.5lbs. I work with children aged 0-5 5 days a week so i am on my feet most of the day and moving around. I run about 15-20km a week plus a zumba class.

Scottish_charlene_84

Ive been uing MFP for quite a while now and its been fab but I seemed to have hit a wall and I am going up and down within half a stone constantly. I hve seen on here in the past week that people are eating their exercise calories. This was something I never did until this week. Should I use all of the or a certain %? Hoping this is the wee boost I need Ty in advance x

I have been told by 2 nutritionist that you need to at least eat your Basal (BMR). This website will help you figure out your BMR. Once I started doing this, I started losing again. It wont hurt to give it a try :flowerforyou:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Ive never even heard of BMR lol. Thank you. Its saying 1508. This seems like sooo much!

senyosmom

different people will tell you different things. Typically I eat some of them back - but not all. I usually eat back about half. I dont aim to do so but it happens regulaly.

Scottish_charlene_84

I had the understanding that MFP factored all of that in, your current weight, what you want to lose, how fast you want to lose it, and said 'this is the amount of calories you SHOULD eat in a day'. So, when you exercise, and burn off those daily calories, you should eat them back to get your daily allotment. I am shocked at how many people eat 400-600 calories under their daily amount, even after they exercised for an hour. I would be STARVING. I have alot of trouble staying within what they tell me to eat.

I was using MFP just to count my calories as i was following a scottish slimmer diet plan so i put in the 1125 and it was working so i ignored the need to eat more thing :-/ I dont get hungry often, think my body is just used to eating little amounts!

Scottish_charlene_84

There are many factors and opinions. Here is my two cents. First I would ensure you have your MFP settings correct, as in your weight updated and goal weight set. Ensure your only set to loose a pound (sorry not sure what that is in stone) a week. Eating what you burned is fine, I've never done it yet, but on days where you may burn a lot I would eat half to three quarters of that and ensure its mostly protein so your body can heal and burn the rest. Being on a plateau for a week or so is not bad, it happens. Try also changing exercises by increasing cardio or weights or alternate between the two to confuse body. But do not over do it and get your rest. The bottom line is if you burn more then you take in you should loose that is what MFP basically calculates, but again be careful the 1100 change caloric intake seems low for the average person. I hope this helps in some way or motivates...cheers Kay

thank you, thats great. Ive changed my MFP profile and it recommends 1480 a day so i think ill start there and see how it goes. Bcoz i am a runner, I generally burn about 800 calories per training session so i know for a fact i am not eating over my calories but just dont seem to be able to shift it Maybe i can start eating a brekfast now :-/ Thanx again x

Scottish_charlene_84

Thank you all s much for all your help. Ive taken little snippets from everyone here and im going to redo my plan and start 2moro. You guys rock!!!

jesz124

Hi, I exercise alot and I don't eat those extra calories ever.... I do try eat super clean though..

lol I think we can tell that from the ribs in your picture ;-)

Scottish_charlene_84

Omg i jut made my diary up for 2moro. Feel like im gonna be stuffing my face Oh if this works ill be as happy as a pig in *kitten*

auroranflash

Omg i jut made my diary up for 2moro. Feel like im gonna be stuffing my face Oh if this works ill be as happy as a pig in *kitten*

When you are at a large calorie deficit, it puts your body under stress. Factor in the physical and aerobic activity and you are probably stressing your body out to the point that your hormones are out of whack and your body is fighting against you, holding on to the fat. Give it a few weeks at the increased calorie setting - don't freak out if you gain a few in this time period. Your body needs time to adjust. Keep track of everything and after about 4-6 weeks you should see positive progression again and have more energy.

Best of luck. Don't forget to stay well hydrated as well.

psuLemon

Ive been uing MFP for quite a while now and its been fab but I seemed to have hit a wall and I am going up and down within half a stone constantly. I hve seen on here in the past week that people are eating their exercise calories. This was something I never did until this week. Should I use all of the or a certain %? Hoping this is the wee boost I need Ty in advance x

I have been told by 2 nutritionist that you need to at least eat your Basal (BMR). This website will help you figure out your BMR. Once I started doing this, I started losing again. It wont hurt to give it a try :flowerforyou:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Ive never even heard of BMR lol. Thank you. Its saying 1508. This seems like sooo much!

Bmr is only part of the equation. Add on top of that your exercise and the fact you have an active job. This gives you tdee or total daily energy expended. This is the number required to create a deficit.

I would say you are at least moderately active if not very active so tdee is

1508 * 1.55 = 2337 <--- on average the amount of calories you burn in a day....

So caloric needs would be 2337* .8 = 1869<--- about how many calories you should eat daily.

This way is a bit different too, i include exercise in tdee so you would not eat back exercise calories. The advantage to this way is you can aim for one goal and not chase extra calories. It also allows for your body to receive more calories on rest says for repairing your muscles. Now where you can benefit the most is cutting cardio and introducing heavy weight training (failing around 6-10 reps). WT is much more effective at cutting fat. Also i suggest changing macros to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. High protein diets help sustain muscle which maintains your metabolic rate.

Fit2Skinnyme33

You have to eat enough calories for your body to burning them properly instead of storing them thinking you are starving yourself with working out and being constantly active. If you don't eat enough then you store not allowing you to get loss. Also if you are still losing 1lb a week, that is still really good. Most people plateau and don't lose anything. 1lb is great! When we get close to your final goal it is going to be a lot harder to lose weight and you may drop down to .5lb a week. But a loss is a loss. Keep that in mind. You could, now don't yell at me because this is a scary thought, you could increase your "good" crabs during the day and post workout to help your body recover after working out. Keep in mind I don't mean bread or pasta, but say for example and Apple (which has 20g of carbs) or blackberries or blue berries. My trainer tells me a post workout needs to be 0-5g of fat and about 50-70g of crabs. PLUS those carbs will keep you emotionally happy and more energy.

blb1230

Ive been uing MFP for quite a while now and its been fab but I seemed to have hit a wall and I am going up and down within half a stone constantly. I hve seen on here in the past week that people are eating their exercise calories. This was something I never did until this week. Should I use all of the or a certain %? Hoping this is the wee boost I need Ty in advance x

I have been told by 2 nutritionist that you need to at least eat your Basal (BMR). This website will help you figure out your BMR. Once I started doing this, I started losing again. It wont hurt to give it a try :flowerforyou:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Ive never even heard of BMR lol. Thank you. Its saying 1508. This seems like sooo much!

Yes, but I bet if you follow that, you will see a difference :-) Good luck

kaygroth

Awesome some other folks had some good suggestions as well. Like I said since we are using MFP let the site do the calc work. I did notice in your comment just now about now starting to have breakfast. Based on that statement I will assume ans sorry if I got it wrong your not eating regularly because of that caloric low number you had before. Well that is a bad thing and could be one of the main contributors to your plateau. You said your a runner so I assume again you do this a couple to few times a week. So my two cents again.. Now that you have adjusted your profile, adjust your eating. Not eating in the morning and lets say eating at lunch and then in the evening is not good. This puts your body into starvation mode and can cause the plateau effect. You need breakfast especially. Try to have three meals with two snacks in between. Basically you try to eat something small every lets say 3hrs. This will keep your body in a burning mode and not storing mode. On days you run you may add a meal or snack for the extra energy (which of course you gonna burn). The other suggestion is incorporate some muscle (weight training) into your exercise days if you can. Weight training will increase muscle which promoted further burning of fast, etc. And weight training does not mean working out like Arnold pumping heavy weights. Use light to moderate weights, don't worry you will not bulk up. Doesn't work that way for women, but it will help you tighten and lean out. you will also gain more energy as you do this and eat regularly.

Cheers and you doing great, way to go your awesome.

Kay

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