Scale and diary conflict

Sima_Ulrich

Same old problem here: working out for over a month with no weight loss, nor inch loss. Frustrated, discouraged and etc....
I joined MFP just very recently as last resort for motivation to keep going. My main confusion is... according to my food and exercise diary, I end up every day with around 1000 calories to spare! I am not starving myself. I love my food! Even thou my MFP record is short, but I been doing the same exercise and pretty much the same eating routine for while.
So now I need some ideas, can I trust food-exercise diary? Am I using it incorrectly? And million dollar question: why scale and inches is not moving?

auddii

Looking through your diary, you have very high burns each day. If these are being accurately logged (using a HRM for example), then you should be eating those calories back (MFP already has a deficit, you workout more to improve fitness and to eat more, not to lose more weight). If you're going by a machine or MFP guestimates, I'd use 66-75% of what it tells you as a burn.

Also, you may be working out too much. Exercise can cause stress on the body (as can dieting), which can lead to a lot of different issues. If you don't want to eat that much more, you might want to think about scaling back some of your workouts.

jsuaccounting

Overtraining stress? - try dropping the exercise for a week.

Kanlassak

I don't think the exercise calories are as large as it says, unless you're doing some very intense gardening. The problem with MFP calorie calculations, is that they include your base metabolic activity in the exercise amount (because that's what's easier to calculate). So for high intensity things like running, where that's a tiny amount of the total burn, they turn out alright. But for things like slower walking or golf they tend to overestimate.

Unless the walking is far above what you'd normally do for your daily activity, you should probably set your activity level to moderately active, rather than logging a bunch of walking.

rahlpn

I agree you may be overestimating your calorie burn. I always underestimate my calorie burn instead so that I know I'm not overeating. If I ate 1800+ calories a day with the amount of exercise I do, I wouldn't be losing weight either, but that's just me. I can't tell really exactly what you are doing day to day just by looking at your diary.

GeoJenna223

I second the eating the exercise calories back. Maybe incorporate a few protein shakes? That will take care of 400-500 calories. I would also consider scaling back the amount of exercise you are doing. Make sure you are taking rest days. Incorporate strength training with free weights, its a lower calorie burn and it is very good for weight loss For cardio, I personally do 3 sets of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) a week for less than 30 minutes each time and focus on strength training. Eating ~1700-2000 cals per day I have lost 45lbs in the last year.

marathonmom72

How long have you been dieting and working out prior to joining MFP? You may have hit a plateau. I did not look at your diary, but if you are burning a lot of calories and you aren't eating those exercise calories back you may not be getting enough. Look at your net calories at the end of the day. Also, check out the group Eat More to Weigh Less to read up on figuring out how many calories you should be consuming each day. On another note, if you don't use a heart rate monitor, your daily calorie burns may not be as high as you think. I have found that MFP estimates my calorie burns higher than they really are. Your heart rate and how many calories you burn is directly affected by how fit you are, so two people the same height and weight could do the very same exercise and not burn the same amount of calories...

Sima_Ulrich

I have been exercising for 5 week now. 6 days a week with Sunday off. Before that very passive daily routine.
My daily exercise is usually done on treadmill with cross walk feature. Actually treadmill estimates even higher calorie burn then MFP. Almost double what MFP gives me. But generally what I do is walk 4-5 miles daily at 3 mph pace.
And my other "exercise" is basically my hobby. I love gardening - that is my therapy. It just seems that it burns a lots of calories. And I actually figured that MFP estimates it’s a bit too high. So I logged in my dairy less time then I actually do. In reply about how active gardening I do… well pretty active… I help local nursery to set up for upcoming spring season. Lots for walking around, lifting and few knee hours

cricket_77

Make sure you are using a food scale to weigh ALL of your food. Don't try to guess as you might be underestimating how much you are actually eating.

Sima_Ulrich

jsuaccounting: Love the idea! You know I honestly hate exercise...

Sima_Ulrich

Make sure you are using a food scale to weigh ALL of your food. Don't try to guess as you might be underestimating how much you are actually eating.

Thanks, I might have to do so... Maybe that will solve my mystery.

marathonmom72

If you don't like exercising much, but want to get a better idea of how many calories you are burning in a day, invest in a BodyFit Media. It will track how many calories you are burning in a 24 hour period. Once you have a better idea of how many calories you are burning with your daily activities of gardening and walking the dog, in addition to your work on the treadmill, you can adjust your food calories to create a conservative or reasonable deficit and see if you start losing some weight.

Mokey41

I wouldn't even log the gardening as exercise unless you're digging new beds, lugging loads of dirt and fertilizer over your shoulder or using a manual push mower. FWIW, I run 5k in 30 minutes for a burn of a bit over 300 calories so that number may not be right either.

funhouse77

How long have you actually been logging your food? Because there are only, I think, 5 days diary? So if it's based on these five days you need to give longer, at least week, before seeing the scales move, and longer for inch loss.

rileysowner

Make sure you are using a food scale to weigh ALL of your food. Don't try to guess as you might be underestimating how much you are actually eating.

Thanks, I might have to do so... Maybe that will solve my mystery.

A food scale is a must. Estimating or measuring anything but liquids by volume leads to incorrect measurements that could very likely mean you are eating more calories than you think. I would also suggest ditching the MFP approach to calories, and use this approach including your intended exercise and activity calories so you don't eat back.those exercise calories, but have an amount you shoot for every day. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Sima_Ulrich

How long have you actually been logging your food? Because there are only, I think, 5 days diary? So if it's based on these five days you need to give longer, at least week, before seeing the scales move, and longer for inch loss.

I have been on very much the same food-exercise routine for 5 weeks now. I joined MFP just few days ago so my food diary is a bit shy.

Sima_Ulrich

I wouldn't even log the gardening as exercise unless you're digging new beds, lugging loads of dirt and fertilizer over your shoulder or using a manual push mower. FWIW, I run 5k in 30 minutes for a burn of a bit over 300 calories so that number may not be right either.

Well in my defense, I realized that gardening is very general definition, that might be anything from digging beds, till trimming shrubs. That is why since I am not digging I logged in MFP less time gardening then I actually did. And as well, I think that this activity should be worth some calories, since other way I would be sitting in office in front of pc.

Sima_Ulrich

Make sure you are using a food scale to weigh ALL of your food. Don't try to guess as you might be underestimating how much you are actually eating.

Thanks, I might have to do so... Maybe that will solve my mystery.

A food scale is a must. Estimating or measuring anything but liquids by volume leads to incorrect measurements that could very likely mean you are eating more calories than you think. I would also suggest ditching the MFP approach to calories, and use this approach including your intended exercise and activity calories so you don't eat back.those exercise calories, but have an amount you shoot for every day. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Thanks, will definitively check it out!

kbalut

I'm having the same problem. I work out like a freak, count all my calories and still no weight loss. The trainer @ the gym suggested rotate cardio one day w/ strength the next. When doing cardio, the best idea is to do interval training. If you have to do cardio on your strength day, warm up for 3 minutes, do your strength training and lastly, do your cardio. ....also...drink your WATER! best of luck :happy:

Craigamears

Gardening has a M.E.T.S. (Metabolic Equivalent) of 4-5 which means that this activity burns 4-5 times your Resting Metabolic Rate. So... if your resting rate (~BMR) is approximately 75 Cals/hr then an hour of gardening is about 300-375 ADDITIONAL calories to your resting rate. Gardening is also equivalent to walking 3.5-4 MPH.

We underestimate how much activity we burn in normal events. I once checked it over a 24 hr period figuring everything and it was about 1.4 of my BMR. That is why my metablolism shut down and my core body temp runs 96.9 in the morning instead of 98.6 or so. I thought I was sendenatary and went by the 1.2 of BMR. I was shortchanging myself before even doing the exercises.