-4lbs in a month?! Not good enough

Graelwyn75

Thanks all!
Yes, I eat lots of veggies, I just dont log them like I should because it takes forever to add every little thing. The Rotini pasta you see in there is actually mixed with carrots. peppers, celery, cucumber, onion ..I make a big batch for the family and we eat it until its gone.

I dont exercise excessively. 6k every other day takes about 45 minutes and the 10k is an hour on weekends as I am entering my first 8k race coming up, Im a new runner. Hot yoga, I do because the stretching feels good, less about the weight loss

Im eating 1280 based on MFP of my having a sit down job and put in my info of 5 - 45 minutes of exercise a week and that what they gave me to work with. Perhaps the Nike watch is over estimating my calories, but I think its pretty accurate.

So if 1280 calories is too low, which is what MFP gave me, how would I find out what my daily intake should be?
I have my weight loss set to 1.5lbs a week.

Thanks

Just because you put in you do that exercise 5 days a week on mfp, does not mean mfp adds the calories for you to eat back.
You actually need to choose either to change your activity level to suit what you are doing, you are clearly active, which will lift your calorie goal, or you log your exercise manually by clicking exercise, searching for running, or whatever it is you did, and inputting the time you ran for and it will add those calories to your goal, or best yet, get a heart rate monitor to wear when you run, and do it that way. But your calorie intake is actually what you need if you are just sitting at your desk job, without exercising, basically. You have to log exercise manually.

heybales

Thanks all!
Yes, I eat lots of veggies, I just dont log them like I should because it takes forever to add every little thing. The Rotini pasta you see in there is actually mixed with carrots. peppers, celery, cucumber, onion ..I make a big batch for the family and we eat it until its gone.

I dont exercise excessively. 6k every other day takes about 45 minutes and the 10k is an hour on weekends as I am entering my first 8k race coming up, Im a new runner. Hot yoga, I do because the stretching feels good, less about the weight loss

Im eating 1280 based on MFP of my having a sit down job and put in my info of 5 - 45 minutes of exercise a week and that what they gave me to work with. Perhaps the Nike watch is over estimating my calories, but I think its pretty accurate.

So if 1280 calories is too low, which is what MFP gave me, how would I find out what my daily intake should be?
I have my weight loss set to 1.5lbs a week.

Thanks

I really wish MFP would change that setup routine.

Your entered goal exercise time, frequency, and calories has NO bearing on the math for daily goal.

Your daily goal has NO exercise planned in it at all.

That is why when you log exercise, you receive credit and your daily goal goes up - so you eat it back, and keep what may have been a decent deficit still there.

Otherwise you create an even bigger deficit from the exercise. The same exercise you are probably hoping helps your body improve.

But it can't do that if you don't eat enough.

heybales

Im eating 1280 based on MFP of my having a sit down job and put in my info of 5 - 45 minutes of exercise a week and that what they gave me to work with. Perhaps the Nike watch is over estimating my calories, but I think its pretty accurate.

So if 1280 calories is too low, which is what MFP gave me, how would I find out what my daily intake should be?
I have my weight loss set to 1.5lbs a week.

If you want max benefit from your workouts, and an idea if that Nike watch (not a HRM, just pedometer perchance?) is accurate (probably better chance being accurate as pedometer while walking, but not running), then use the spreadsheet linked in this topic.

HRM tab has a calorie burn table customized for you, once you enter details on that tab. And the BMR/TDEE tab will help figure out how much you likely burn on avg each day, and what a good deficit would be to improve your body with those workouts.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/677905-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-calc-macro-calc-hrm

sonny368

Two things you have to change workout for a while in ordet to stimulate your muscles with othe rexercise, running is fine you keep it because it speeds up your metabolism but have a circuit with small weights or cross fitting like swimming and... I see that you don't understand this equation training= gaining muscles....the running is high cardio but it bulks your legs up and...helps you tho shed fat, many times my scale doesn't move for 20 days and I run and I stay under calories...on the other side of this slooooow process we can be sure that you drop pure fat....mesaure your hips or thigh or calves or waist and see the inches dropped...

warsenic

I think that four pounds in a month is an amazing weight loss. I mean, that's about a pound of week.

I know you don't feel that way, but congrats!

sa11yjane

I've been stuck for months now and 4 pounds a month sounds fab to me- that's 48 pounds a year!!! Don't be so hard on yourself, 4 pounds really is great x

Ann1964x

I would be so happy to lose 4 pounds in one month!

krisiepoo

losing 1 pound a week is good enough. Much more than that is not considered healthy. Why can't people be happy with the progress they've made?

I would also suggest you take pictures and/or measurements. That's wehre the true differences will be shown.

Gentyl

Could more knowledgable people take a sec to look at my food diary and exercising. -4lbs in a month sucks. I have gone over calories a bit some days (but at 1280 calories a day, its not hard.)

Ideas welcome.
I run 6k twice a week and 10k once a week on weekends.
I do Bikram/hot yoga a minimum of 3 times a week.

-4lbs in a month sucks and I am 170, so I have alot more to lose.
I drink 4litres of water a day.

too many carbs?
Thinking of doing the 1 or 2 days a week of alternating fasting (500 calories a day).

Thanks!

You are eating way too many carbs. Drop your carbs to under 100 grams and eat more protein and fat. Some people's bodies react badly to carbs.

tryinghard71

1/2 pound a week is great. 1 pound a week is fantastic. Don't be discouraged. There were some weeks that I did not lose anything at all then suddenly went down 3 pounds over night. Also, I say this all the time but I am going to say it again. Do you measure? I measured weekly and when the scale was not moving I was still losing 1/2 inch to an inch a week from my waist. Losing inches is more important than losing weight and what the scale says.

srhargraves

I took a look at your diary and the first thing I noticed is that your calorie count for the day changes from day to day. You cant do that and expect to lose weight.

Here is the formula that helped me lose 107 pounds in 2009. I got off of it at Thanksgiving and gained it all back, so for me, it has to be a way of life, but I can tell you this works if you follow it to the T.

First determine how many calories it takes for you to maintain your weight right now every week.. Then if you want to lose 2 pounds a week, subtract 7,000 from that weekly calorie count. Devide that number by 7 and that gives you your daily calorie count. Don't go over it if at all possible. You can eat anything you want, just don't go over you calorie count. When you factor in your exercise, you can either eat more calories that day or stay the same and lose that much more weight.

Here is an example for someone that weighs 200 lbs and wants to lose 2 pounds a week with no exercise factored in.

to maintain 200 pounds a person must eat aprox 15,400 calories a week.

if you want to lose 2 pounds a week, subtract 7,000 from the 15,400. (there is 3500 calories in a pound)

that gives you 8,400 calories.

devide that number by 7 and that gives you the number of calories you need to eat each day to lose 2 pounds a week without exercise. that would be 1,200 calories a day.

Don't ever go below 1,200 calories a day. It's not healthy. When you get to the point that your calorie count goes under 1,200 then you must exercise more.

If a person needs to lose a lot of weight, like I do, then they can get by without exercising until their number goes below 1200.

hope this helps. If you do this, I promise you will lose weight. In 2009 I had a weight loss club. I had about 15 members. We all followed this formula and all of us lost weight. We ate anything we wanted, just didn't go over our calories. Trust me, it works!!

Good Luck!

warsenic

[snip] You can eat anything you want, just don't go over you calorie count. When you factor in your exercise, you can either eat more calories that day or stay the same and lose that much more weight.[snip}

If you're looking at strictly calories, then eating less calories will most likely give you the weight loss you want, but if you miss out on important vitamins and minerals, then that's not going to be good for your body.

I mean, I could eat about 5 candy bars a day and still be under 1200 calories and lose weight, but that's not really helping your body out. I mean if you're losing weight to be healthier, it doesn't really make sense to put in a lot of junk...

Iron_Feline

I took a look at your diary and the first thing I noticed is that your calorie count for the day changes from day to day. You cant do that and expect to lose weight.

I'm sorry but that is total nonsense. Mine goes up and down though I aim for 1500 a day - if I do a lot of exercise I will eat more on that day and I am losing a steady 1lb a week.

If you follow MFP guidelines and log your exercise then you calorie count will vary from day to. IE if your base calories is 1200 and you don't exercise that day you eat 1200 but if the next day you do a 6k run you burn 200 cals (guess) the you eat 1400cals that day. So they naturally fluctuate.

That said 4lbs a month is PERFECT weight loss, healthy and controlled.

You're doing great - remember that :drinker:

Iron_Feline

So if 1280 calories is too low, which is what MFP gave me, how would I find out what my daily intake should be?
I have my weight loss set to 1.5lbs a week.

Thanks

Read this post - it explains a great way to calculate the calories you need a day - it's what I'm doing and it's working :bigsmile:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

trud72

4lb is great think of what it adds up to by xmas! not so shabby ehh

sarahmoo12

Id be very happy if i go down 4lbs this month :-/

Jkmumma

Four pounds a month is good. That's one pound a week. That's healthy. Enjoy it. Some people struggle for that. Loosing more than that leaves you at risk of more loose skin anyway!

GeenaMarie89

I know it can be a put down only loosing 1 lb a week especially seeing how far youve come but as you get closer to your goal you may need to change up your diet a little bit. I looked at a couple days of your diary...maybe instead of eating 3 bigger meals a day, break it up into 5 smaller meals and cut out some carbs- I aim for only 1 carb/meal and I try not to have any for dinner. (1 carb= 1 serving of carb). Stay away from white breads and stick to whole grains. Also stop eating at a certain time at night. Maybe aim for 7 or 8 pm. ) Good luck!

wareagle8706

Some days recently you went over your calorie goal by over 1,000 calories... you say you only went over a couple of days but those couple of days were VERY far over...

But like everyone else said 4lbs a month is good. Chill out. Not to mention, if you want to lose more, try actually sticking to your calorie goal by finding better, lower calories, whole foods to eat and not going over on your calories by 1300.

I don't think you should be complaining about actual weight loss if you're not even going to stick to the calorie goal you set for yourself.

leojsivad

Is your diary set for you to lose one pound per week? If so, you are doing good.

One pound per week is healthy. Don't give in to the misinformation of trying to lose a lot of weight at once. Keep on truckin'!