Frustrated......

karenpriest
karenpriest Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I am new at this so please bear with me. I am currently 191 pounds at 5ft nothing, I joined my fitness pal 20 some pound lighter ago but to be honest I wasn't all committed to logging calories etc. So sitting at my weight now I'm frustrated and hugely disappointed in myself. Since New Years I've been doing an hour and a half workout (mostly cardio) treadmill and elliptical plus at work I walk briskly for about 30-40 min.
I've been trying to read everything I can about calories and intake and eating calories back and I'm lost. Can anyone offer help? My hubby and I are doing this as a bit of a challenge as we both want to lose 60-65 pounds and frankly I want to win lol.

This is what I know
Age 41 current weight. 191.6. Height 5ft 0" body fat I don't know how to calculate but judging from my reflection about 50% lol
Was a couch potato now working out by elliptical min 30 moderate pace and walking treadmill @ incline of 2 at a pace of 3.5 I do some free weights but only bench press of 55 lbs 2 reps of 10 and I punch a heavy bag on the ground bigger loser style for about 10 min. Plus my walking at lunch mon-fri
Using online calculator my RMR is 1733 and my BMR is 1569.9. I've logged in my fit pal that I'm eating a 1200 calorie diet I use a scale to weigh food looking at my diet the last few days I'm seeing I'm heavily eating mostly carbs so I'm thinking that has to change but that will be a major step for me like cutting out diet soda as my only liquid intake was. Now I'm 4 days into zero soda.

So after all that I'm feeling exhausted but a good exhausted and I stepped in scale today thinking - no hoping to see some sort of loss. Anything .2. .5 1 lb anything. .... But alas I've gained. HELP other than cutting carbs (I'm a carb junkie) what am I doing wrong?!?!? Or is it just unrealistic to seecanythingbthis fast?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    Read these, anything you need to know is there:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/804485-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? If not, 1200 a day is WAY too low. It will cause your body to slow down its metabolism to hang onto every ounce of fat you have because it thinks you're starving.

    I highly recommend getting a calorie monitoring device like a BodyMedia Fit (I have one). It shows you in real time how many calories you've burned, allowing you to adjust your eating so you can have a reliable calorie deficit every day. It's well worth the money; I think they might be on sale right now.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    I put your numbers ionto fat2fitradio.com's bmr calculator to see your TDEE and this is what I got:

    Harris-Benedict Formula


    There are a few different methods to calculating yourbasal metabolic rate (BMR). One of the most popular, developed in the early 1900's is called the Harris-Benedict formula. Based on this formula, your current BMR is 1575 calories.


    How Many Calories Should I Eat?


    Based on your goal weight, the following chart was generated. The chart shows the number of calories that you should eat on a daily basis to reach your goal weight. At Fat 2 Fit Radio we advocate eating like the thin, healthy person that you want to become. The calorie levels you see in the chart are not extreme, but they do create that all important caloric deficit that is required to get you to your goal weight in a safe manner. Once you reach your goal weight, you will continue eating the same number of calories for the rest of your life to maintain that weight. You'll never be on a diet again.

    Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.



    Activity Level

    Daily Calories



    Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job)

    1676



    Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)

    1921



    Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)

    2165



    Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

    2410



    Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

    2654


    NOTE: Please remember that this calculation is just a guideline. Your metabolism may be higher or lower based on the amount of lean muscle you have. Use these numbers a a starting point and tweak them up or down based on your weight loss or gain. It may take a couple weeks to get your exact calorie level.


    Based on those numbers (which are estimates, of course) you should be eating between 1575 - 2000 calories a day based on your activity modifier. You should never eat below your BMR (1575) for long because that is what your body needs to support healthy organ function. When we eat less, we impair our body's ability to funtion properly, therefore stalling weight loss and encouraging water weight gain (which is likely what you see on the scale).

    I suggest you adjust your calories up for 30 days and checkin at that time. (oh - i estimated a goal weight of 150 - when you get closer to that you can calcualte again if you want to weigh less)
  • squishy2981
    squishy2981 Posts: 34
    I looked at your information and I calculated your BMR to also be really close to what MFP gave you, I got 1574. To actually lose pounds of fat you need to understand their make-up. One pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. When you hear that losing one pound per week is healthy weight loss, which is true, it means that you are cutting 3500 calories a week. Divide that by 7 days in a week, and you need to create an overall calorie deficit of 500 calories per day to achieve that goal. So, when you log all your food and exercise for the day, your goal should be to have a green 500 calories remaining for the day. I don't use my TDEE at all b/c I have mostly a desk job, so there is not a lot of exercising going on at work, so I use my BMR as my daily total to hit. I'm 5'10" and 171 right now, and fairly athletic, so I almost always eat at or more than my daily caloric intake (BMR) otherwise I will feel tired and lethargic. But, I exercise twice a day to try and create a calorie deficit of 500 calories to help me continue to lose the fat. Here's the issue I have with the food logging page. There are 3 rows for calories: "totals" which tracks all the calories you ate each day, "your daily goal" which goes up from your BMR every time you log exercise telling you you can eat up to that many calories and still not lose weight, and "remaining" which if green tells you you have created a deficit for the day. I don't like paying attention to "your daily goal" because that number goes up every time you log an exercise, which makes you think it's okay to eat up to that many calories b/c you won't put on weight. This is true, you can eat those calories back and not gain weight, HOWEVER, in order to lose weight you have to create that calorie deficit. So, I only look at the total calories I've put in my body, and how many calories I burned exercising, and shoot for the difference to be near 500 calories a day.

    As far as what to put in your body, your are doing the right thing by cutting out soda, sugary stuff, etc. Initially, losing fat is aided by a diet higher in protein, so cutting out carbs is a good way to go to start. Plus, foods high in protein make you feel fuller which is helpful to me b/c I like to eat! When you really start dropping pounds, you may find that you plateau eventually from keeping cards from your diet. The energy that keeps you going all day long comes from carbs being broken down in your body into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), or energy. So carbs are not your enemy, you need them to keep you going when you exercise, work, etc. I think getting your caloric intake in line first will be really helpful to your weight loss. Good luck!
  • karenpriest
    karenpriest Posts: 11 Member
    Ok I'm not sure if I'm eating my exercise calories back or not. Using the info at the top of my diary in my fitness pal I was told by a co-worker that at the end of the day my net calories should match my goal . For example yesterday's says
    Goal: 1200 Food:1791 Exercise 648. Net 1143. Remaining 57

    So I think I'm eating my calories back.......
  • karenpriest
    karenpriest Posts: 11 Member
    Ok doing more reading. I'm thinking now my daily calorie intake should be my BMR x 1.375 cuz I'm working out 3x plus a week. Then when I log my calories I should have a green 500 ( or more) in my remaining?

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