Doing everything right and gaining weight

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    At minimum, you should be eating (net) to your BMR. Eating significantly below your BMR for a significant amount of time will eventually stall your metabolism amongst other things. BMR is the bare bones calories your body needs to get out of bed, take a deuce, and simply get through the day as sedentary.

    Also, when I first started out, I was just sort of estimating everything...eyeballing everything, etc. Even if a recipe that I had called for exactly 3 Oz of chicken, I'd just plop in a whole 6 oz breast and call it good and not update the calories. Since then I've started weighing and measuring everything...and I mean everything. No more eyeballing a Tbsp of canola oil or tsp of mustard...everything gets weighed and measured and I took to creating a lot of my own recipes on MFP because I found that the default generic ones in the database were often way off. I still have to use them occasionally, but for the most part I use my recipes or recipes that I've gotten on-line with nutritional nformation and I adjust them if I change anything.

    Really, you do have to be that diligent...and eat at an appropriate deficit. I personally don't think you're eating enough.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I'm having a similar issue to the OP, and all I have to say is, this thread is SO confusing! Half the people are saying eat more, half are saying stay around 1200. IDK what to do! I have looked at the road map thing before and it's confusing in and of itself.

    One thing I can say though is, I really really don't get it how eating near 2k cals a day would help me lose weight. And I'm too scared to try it. I'm 5'2" and stuck around 195, with a very sedentary day (desk job, 3 hours commute, school). I am wiped out after a 12m Dance Central workout! I have lost weight before with a 1200-1300/day diet and 4-5 20m walks a week, (plus an active sex life!!). I didn't stick with the logging and 1200 cals/day and stopped the walking, and after a year or so the weight came back (no surprise). This time I know it's just something I will have to make a routine for the rest of my life if I want to keep the weight off for good.

    Anyway, it's not coming off as quickly this time, even though I'm doing the same thing basically. I think I am a bit less active due to my BF being away in school (no sex, and no walking partner!). But I'm trying to do something. I am so out of shape and 15m is about the max I can endure right now.

    Sorry, not trying to hijack thread, just was hoping to get some answers too and instead thoroughly confused! I think I have learned a few things, I want to get a scale and start weighing, it's possible some of my logging is inaccurate due to the suggestions a few of the people here have mentioned. Otherwise afaik I think I am being honest with it as best I can.

    I'll try to make this simple. Net calories consumed to BMR at minimum. If you net between BMR and TDEE you will lose weight. If you eat below BMR (net) for a significant amount of time your metabolism will shut itself down. You're doing internal damage to your organs as well. You also have to be setup properly...if you're sedentary you need to put sedentary. If you're moderately active you need to put moderately active. If exercise that you do falls out of the basic parameters you've established, you need to log that activity and eat back those calories. If they are included in your parameters, you wouldn't eat them back.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Are you weighing and measuring all your food and drinks or eyeballing the measurements?

    Are you including sauces, ketchups, mayos, butters, oils, etc?

    Are you logging the milk/cream/sugar etc in coffee and tea?

    Stop using the generic entries in the database..use the one for the food you are eating or input your own.

    This. Do not use generic entries from the database. It takes time to enter your own recipes but it's worth it to get an accurate calorie count. The only things I ever log that are generic are whole foods.

    Sodium can mask weight loss but over time if your calorie count is right you'll still lose weight.
  • geekpryncess
    geekpryncess Posts: 118 Member
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    I'll try to make this simple. Net calories consumed to BMR at minimum. If you net between BMR and TDEE you will lose weight. If you eat below BMR (net) for a significant amount of time your metabolism will shut itself down. You're doing internal damage to your organs as well. You also have to be setup properly...if you're sedentary you need to put sedentary. If you're moderately active you need to put moderately active. If exercise that you do falls out of the basic parameters you've established, you need to log that activity and eat back those calories. If they are included in your parameters, you wouldn't eat them back.

    Thanks, Cwolfman. I am going to give it a shot. I ran all the calculations and it says my BMR is 1630. That doesn't sound too scary. It said my body fat percentage is 50%! That is scary...it puts me squarely in the obese range, which is so icky. I want to get to a 25% body fat. I'll give this method a shot and see what happens! Obviously what I've been doing isn't working, so time for a change.
  • victoriavoodoo
    victoriavoodoo Posts: 343 Member
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    Not only generic entries, check brand name things and restaurant dishes too! I have found that my brand of veggie burger patties has several entries in the database, and two of them shave off calories from what the label says.


    Also, I ate at Olive Garden this week so I'll use that as another example.

    The dish I ate is listed by Olive Garden's website as 1200 cal for the dinner portion(I didn't eat all of it thank goodness) and the dish was in this database as 670 cal for the dinner portion. I don't know if someone only ate some of it and made that listing for what they ate, or is they were just guessing but I wouldn't trust anything in the database without double checking.
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
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    Not only generic entries, check brand name things and restaurant dishes too! I have found that my brand of veggie burger patties has several entries in the database, and two of them shave off calories from what the label says.


    Also, I ate at Olive Garden this week so I'll use that as another example.

    The dish I ate is listed by Olive Garden's website as 1200 cal for the dinner portion(I didn't eat all of it thank goodness) and the dish was in this database as 670 cal for the dinner portion. I don't know if someone only ate some of it and made that listing for what they ate, or is they were just guessing but I wouldn't trust anything in the database without double checking.

    this^^ it gets aggravating having to always double check (I also admit I lapse sometimes) but sometimes the added calculations are half as much as they should be, as well as exercise calories dramatically over estimated
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Walking is not a great form of exercise at all for weight management, you might burn 100 calories a mile with no afterburn.

    Walking is awesome.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Thanks everyone I've upped my calorie goals.

    :drinker:

    Best of luck to you! Dan's road map is great!

    Funny-Awesome-Dog.jpg
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I'm having a similar issue to the OP, and all I have to say is, this thread is SO confusing! Half the people are saying eat more, half are saying stay around 1200. IDK what to do! I have looked at the road map thing before and it's confusing in and of itself.

    Send Dan a PM! :flowerforyou:

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