asking for guidance - opened diaries.

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fausonk
fausonk Posts: 41
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I'm new to MFP and did really well the first week, lost 3.9 lbs. But the next two weeks have lost nothing (no weight, no inches). I usually eat between 1600-1700 calories a day, and exercise generally about 600-800 calories a day (some days only 400, some days 1100). Though it's hard to estimate calories expended - I use MFP numbers. I used my HRM today and found the MFP numbers to actually be low for some of them, but I have to just go with something. Usually, I work out for 1.5 to 2.0 hours/day- weights a couple days a week, treadmill walking, tabada sprints, spinning, swimming. Always something different.

I know I need to give it all time, but it seems strange that everything worked great week 1, but not weeks 2 or 3. If there is any tweaking anyone can recommend, I'd appreciate it. Oh, and in case it's not anywhere you can see, I'm 43 year old female, 5'3", and 187 lbs. Thanks!
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Replies

  • denisepinion
    denisepinion Posts: 1
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    I would lower your calories to no more than 1200 and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So you should be drinking about 90 ounces of water a day. Try that for a week and see what happens. Working for me!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I would lower your calories to no more than 1200 and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So you should be drinking about 90 ounces of water a day. Try that for a week and see what happens. Working for me!


    NO. NOT THIS.

    Brb. I will peek at your diary and be back. Just had to urgently say how bad this first advice is.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I would lower your calories to no more than 1200 and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So you should be drinking about 90 ounces of water a day. Try that for a week and see what happens. Working for me!

    1200 calories is nowhere near enough for someone as active as the OP.
  • lewcompton
    lewcompton Posts: 881 Member
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    Anyone is welcome to add me... 129 pounds since the first of July. Don't have answers, just what has worked for me and an open diary for my friends.
  • efirkey
    efirkey Posts: 298 Member
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    You might want to make sure you are accurate on the number of calories you are consuming when you have Nachos. That is the first place I would check
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    In theory, you are doing everything right and you should probably give it a couple more weeks before making any changes to the numbers. At that time, you may need to consider either cutting calories by 100 or trying a different eating style, such as lower carb.

    A few tweaks to consider in the meantime:
    Are you weighing and measuring your food?
    Could you be adding more veggies to your diet?
    Could you be cutting added sugars?

    I am about your age and my diary is wide open, please ignore yesterday, I was sick. Normally, I eat a high protein diet with limited fruits and grains, but I have occasional treats.
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
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    Thanks. I'm pretty accurate in calories. I made the nachos myself (not from a restaurant or something). So I was able to calculate exactly what went into them. And the few days I ate only 1200-1400 calories I needed a nap in the middle of the day, so I know that wasn't enough! Just not sure where else to go.....
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    OK-

    You're exercising too much for your intake, IMO. While 1600-1700 sounds reasonable at first, you're exercising your way down to less than 1000cals with regularity. I would also suggest recalculating your macros based on the following links. My best guess is you're probably eating ~500 too few calories and not enough protein.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    Hope that helps.

    ETA: By the way, I started at same height/weight, just a little younger, lost all my weight at 1650 NET calories.
  • refinedredbird
    refinedredbird Posts: 209 Member
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    I would lower your calories to no more than 1200 and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So you should be drinking about 90 ounces of water a day. Try that for a week and see what happens. Working for me!

    NO!...

    You are not always going to see the scale move every week. It might be that you are losing weight, but you have water retention and it isn't showing yet. Body measurements are much more accurate. Your calorie intake really depends on your size and how active you are. You should never eat below 1200 calories and if you are eating 1200 calories, you should be eating your exercise calories back as well.
  • Chrissiecurit
    Chrissiecurit Posts: 74 Member
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    I would lower your calories to no more than 1200 and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So you should be drinking about 90 ounces of water a day. Try that for a week and see what happens. Working for me!

    Please DO NOT do this! It looks like you aren't eating enough as it is.... dropping to 1200 would just make matters worse!

    I calculated your BMR and you need to eat AT LEAST 1562 calories a day. Sounds like you are Moderately active which would put you at 2421 calories to maintain your current weight. Looks like you have a good amount to lose (not sure what your goal weight is), I would go with a 20% deficit, therefore I would recommend eating 1936 calories a day. You would not eat any exercise calories back as they are included in the calculation.

    For a better understanding of how I came up with these numbers, definitely check out the following link. Dan is the man when it comes to this stuff! :)

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


    Hope that helps!
    Chrissie
  • efirkey
    efirkey Posts: 298 Member
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    In a Jillian Michaels pod cast I listened to yesterday, Jillian said that if you are exercising more than an hour a day and you can't lose weight than you are probably over training. She said to keep it under an hour and increase the intensity. She said that if your workout is intense enough you shouldn't be able to train for more than an hour.

    You might want to ease back a little on your exercising until you start losing again....my advice.
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
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    OK-

    You're exercising too much for your intake, IMO. While 1600-1700 sounds reasonable at first, you're exercising your way down to less than 1000cals with regularity. I would also suggest recalculating your macros based on the following links. My best guess is you're probably eating ~500 too few calories and not enough protein.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

    Hope that helps.

    ETA: By the way, I started at same height/weight, just a little younger, lost all my weight at 1650 NET calories.

    This is excellent information. Let me add in that I am not seeing ANY water intake being recorded. If you are drinking it, make sure you are drinking at least 8-10 cups a day.....if you're not.......DRINK WATER!
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
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    In a Jillian Michaels pod cast I listened to yesterday, Jillian said that if you are exercising more than an hour a day and you can't lose weight than you are probably over training. She said to keep it under an hour and increase the intensity. She said that if your workout is intense enough you shouldn't be able to train for more than an hour.

    You might want to ease back a little on your exercising until you start losing again....my advice.

    Jillian Michaels is headed the way of Dr. Quack, I mean Oz. You can exercise for more than an hour....if you dont believe me, try going to Boot Camp in the armed services.
  • sagsy
    sagsy Posts: 11 Member
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    Hi,

    I would say lower the Kcal and also cut out the sugars because ppl like to limit calories but dont bother with Fat/Carb count which is key.
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
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    I do drink water. Probably not enough, but am trying to up it. I just find it impossible to record water! And thanks for the links... I'll take a look at them, but after a while they make my head start to swim!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I do drink water. Probably not enough, but am trying to up it. I just find it impossible to record water! And thanks for the links... I'll take a look at them, but after a while they make my head start to swim!

    Cliff's notes: You're not eating enough.
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
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    Thanks, everyone. I will try upping the calories a bit. Does 1900 net sound like a good goal?
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Thanks, everyone. I will try upping the calories a bit. Does 1900 net sound like a good goal?

    Do you mean 1900 total? Net means your total minus your exercise calories, so at 1900 net, if you did an 800 cal workout, you would be eating 2700 cals total. I actually think that's a bit of an overshoot, and without working out your numbers personally, I suspect around 1600 net is where you want to be.
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
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    Thanks. 1600 net is what I will shoot for. No way could I consume 2700 calories in a day, unless I sat down with a jar of peanut butter!

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