Lowering Calories - HELP Please =)

rchupka87

Here's my story. When I first started losing weight, I did what every other new dieter does, and went on a 1200 calorie diet, and worked my *kitten* off. I was successfull, and lost close to 70 pounds. In March of this year, I discovered the whole Eat More to Weigh Less theory on MFP. I was all over it. I gradually upped my calories, slowed down my cardio, and started lifting weights 3 times a week. I started drinking a TON of water ( I get in 120-160 oz a day), and eat clean 80% of the time. I eat my exercise calories back, so my count ranges from 1900 up to 2400 depending on my workout.

I have been doing this EMTWL bit since March. I think I can officially say that the number I had estimated is my maintenence number - since I weighed the EXACT same amount today as I did on March 22. And while I did not take my measurements this morning, I can safely say that those haven't changed either, as I am still wearing the same damn pair of pants. I have rode this plateau out long enough. I gave it time for my body to adjust. It's been 6 months with NO CHANGES. Me thinks its time to lower my calories. For those who do the EMTWL - how many calories do you think I should drop? I am at 1900 now... 1600 sound right? Plus exercise calories?

I am walking a fine line right now. I feel good, because I am doing things I have never done before. I even ran in my first 5K on Saturday. But the numbers, measurements, and my photos are not changing. I want to keep going. But it's very hard to stay focused when there has not been an ounce or an inch of reward in 6 months.

I am 5'10, and 29 years old. And I'm getting desperate. Someone, please help me.

jadegem_2002

i FELL YOU. I the past I never ever ate my workout cal. s back untill a few months ago and i always lost weight. I only do it now bc i guess thats what your suppose to do. so far have lost 10 pounds. but i feel like im eat way too many cal.s. Bc I nurse it is safer for me to lose one pound a week so i had to up my ca. intake to 1700 plus 300-500 for nursing so a total of 2000-2200.ANd if i work out 2800. Idont eat all my cal.s from working out and sometimes i only 1700. I say do what works for you. Im going to make an appointment to see my nutritionist. Bc i feel lost as times

Doberdawn

I think the folks, like my friend Darla, who are eating more and lifting are lifting heavy. She does MASSIVE workouts that exhaust me just to read about them. She looks totally cut. If you aren't working out like that, it doesn't work IMHO.

I have tried the calorie staggering thing after a month of plateau, that has moved the scale a little... so I'm continuing with that experiment for now. I still net for the week the same calorie deficit, but I have high days and really low days. We'll see. I've only done it for 2 weeks after being fed up with a month long plateau.

As for eating back calories... it is important that you have your calories set right for your base activity level. If your calories are set to include a moderately active life, do NOT eat back your exercise calories as those have already been factored in. If your calories are set for sedentary I do nothing and am a vegetable, then you can eat back exercise calories. That's my understanding. There's a guy on here called "FoodandFitness". He's a registered dietician and will answer questions. Maybe he can help you figure out what your right calorie level is. He espouses the don't eat back your calories theory, but that's because he sets his client's caloric levels to include their average weekly exercise levels.

Hope this helps.

AmyRhubarb

I peeked at your diary & went back for a couple of weeks - there's not much logged there! Have you been consistently logging ALL your foods in the past? If not, how do you know you're hitting your calorie/macro goals every day?

I know for myself, when I quit logging my foods in the past, or got as far as only logging breakfast, I'd not do as well with my food choices, and was likely going over on calories, under on protein, etc, etc. I definitely didn't make much progress during that time.

How did you arrive at the 1900 number for your calorie intake? Maybe you need to rework those numbers, see if they come out differently? A great companion to the EMTWL group is the Road Map thread and group - have you seen that one?

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

If not, check it out, and maybe run your stats through the tools linked in that thread and see how they come out. If the same, then use Dan's formula in the thread to subtract a percentage from your TDEE, and go with that number for a few weeks or a month, and see if that makes a difference.

Other than that, I would say get back to logging all your foods, make sure you're hitting the numbers for your carbs, fats & proteins. Do you take rest days? How many a week? I always take at least one, sometimes two, but recently took 4 in a row. I would have taken the entire week off, but had a Color Me Rad 5k on that Saturday, so couldn't skip it all. I still tracked my food & ate well, even going over my calories a few days, but the scale dropped a bit during that time. Maybe take a week off, refocus, and come back strong the following week?

Good luck! I know it's frustrating when you aren't seeing any progress, and six months is a long time. On the bright side, you said you feel good and are accomplishing things you've never done before, and your body is better for it even if you don't feel it shows! Hang in there. :flowerforyou:

rchupka87

Yep. HelloitsDan and his roadmap is how I discovered all of this. I used all the tools spelled out there. I have tried calculating it that way, and the NROLFW way, and some other spreadsheet - and they all gave me the same (close to) number. I do consistantly log - but I just changed my settings to where only my friends could see it - maybe that's why it's not showing? IDK.

I do take rest days, and it varies from week to week what day I rest, and how many days I take. I actually took more than normal last week because I was sick.

AmyRhubarb

Hmmm...dunno about the diary - I could see it, but many of the days were blank. Weird.

Maybe try sending Dan a message & asking or his advice on tweaking your numbers? He might have a good plan for adjusting your calories down a bit.

alpine1994

As much as I would LOVE to eat more to weigh less...it just didn't work for me. I have my settings to lose 1lb per week, which puts me at 1400 cals. I eat 1400-1500 per day and I exercise 5-6 times per week. I eat SOME exercise calories back once or twice per week (weekends usually). I have been losing an average of 1lb per week doing this (average meaning maybe one week I will have no loss and the next week I will have a 2lb loss).

It took me months to figure this out, but it's working and I'm content with my 1400 cals. Just gotta play around with it and accept that just because all the formulas tell you to eat XXXX calories to lose XXXX lbs doesn't mean it will actually be that number.