asking for guidance - opened diaries.

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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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: 208 Member
    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
    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
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  • efirkey
    efirkey Posts: 298 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Thanks, everyone. I will try upping the calories a bit. Does 1900 net sound like a good goal?
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    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
    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!
  • marialydia
    marialydia Posts: 16 Member
    One thing I noticed is that you are eating one large meal, and using up a good half of your calories there.

    My own experience -- and I have a long way to go but have lost 10kg/ 22 pounds so far in 3 months at age 60 -- is to space out the calories much more evenly. Also, it has really helped me not to eat after 7 or 7:30 PM most days; hard to do if you are eating out, but it does seem to speed things up. Finally, more vegetables and fruit could help. The weeks when I eat the most veg are the weeks when I lose best.

    And, I agree with those who said you are eating too little; just suggest you need to jigger the timing and composition as well.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    One thing I noticed is that you are eating one large meal, and using up a good half of your calories there.

    My own experience -- and I have a long way to go but have lost 10kg/ 22 pounds so far in 3 months at age 60 -- is to space out the calories much more evenly. Also, it has really helped me not to eat after 7 or 7:30 PM most days; hard to do if you are eating out, but it does seem to speed things up. Finally, more vegetables and fruit could help. The weeks when I eat the most veg are the weeks when I lose best.

    And, I agree with those who said you are eating too little; just suggest you need to jigger the timing and composition as well.

    Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss. It doesn't matter when you eat your calories. As long as one big meal doesn't cause you to overeat at other times, keep it up.
  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
    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!

    There is nothing wrong with sitting down with some PB to add in some calories!
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    You have the right idea. I would limit your white starchy carbs like white bread, pizzas, pastas, shells & nachos for a treat day & try to get your protein up from eating fresh chicken, turkey, tuna, fish, beans & dairy. Make sure you eat a good breakfast to start your day & make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water or more. A good rule of thumb is to start at the 1200+ calories & eat back about 1/2 of your workout calories. If you were to burn say 500 calories a day, you will eat around 1450 while trying to stay within the allotted carbs, proteins, fats etc. You can always work with how much of the exercise calories you eat back. That's how I steadily lost 48 pounds in almost 26 weeks healthily losing 1-2 pounds a week. Healthy diet & cardio & strength training were my workout as well as aerobic activity. I started with 1200 & ate 1/2 back, then all back & now I am maintaining at around 2,000 calories a day. I also would suggest not using quick added calories as that may be your culprit. They only add calories, but never add a calculation for carbs, fats etc. therefore having it look like your under but you're probably over in all the other areas. I would also suggest adding sodium as a lot of what you are eating is processed and you will see those numbers are excessive & it will help you to control some of that. I know that helps me. Keep at it!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    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!

    There is nothing wrong with sitting down with some PB to add in some calories!

    I do it daily :smile:

    I'd be sure you are weighing everything you are eating. Anything that isn't a liquid should be weighed, not measured in spoons and cups. They are highly inaccurate (see link below).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    Also you seem to have some strange measurements, like a third of an ounce of goat cheese and a tablespoon of almonds (that's what, 3?!) Be honest with yourself.

    That said, I agree with what everyone is saying about eating more. MFP is giving you a total daily calorie goal, which is what you should be aiming to eat. And yes that number increases when you exercise. However, I think MFP tends to lie about calorie burns, so personally, I only counted 2/3 of the calories it told me. But I would eat those back. I've switched to the in place of a road map plan that someone else posted. This allows me to eat the same amount of calories every day, no matter what exercise I do. I started mid December, and as of today I've lost 12lbs switching to that plan. It's working for me, and I love eating a lot of calories. :smile:
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
    I do appreciate the help. I try to be accurate in what I record, and I do weigh most things (yes, it was a tablespoon of almonds, they were just sprinkled on a salad for some crunch, same with the goat cheese - just a little on the salad). I'm a little daunted at the idea of eating 1600 net calories a day... it's 3pm and I just looked and I'm only net 214 for the day! I can't imagine what I'd have to eat to get in another 1400 calories. Yikes!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    I eat a total of 1850ish calories a day, every day regardless of any exercise I do because I based my calories on TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Essentially it takes an average of all the calories you burn for a week and then you eat below that average. It's all explained in the road map post. I find it much easier than eating back calories.

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

    You might find this method easier. Although I also don't do much cardio, which is why my TDEE is lower than some other people who exercise all the time (I do weight train 3x a week though). An easy solution is less cardio :laugh: (No seriously, one of the reasons to do a ton of cardio is to eat more; if you don't want to eat more, do less cardio.)
  • tennesseeleigh
    tennesseeleigh Posts: 169
    I have no answers for you, just wanted to say that you can feel free to add me to view my diary. I am a soon to be 39 female, working out 4 x a week and eating about 1600 calories + exercise calories. Currently a size 14 trying to make it to a size 8.
  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
    I eat a total of 1850ish calories a day, every day regardless of any exercise I do because I based my calories on TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Essentially it takes an average of all the calories you burn for a week and then you eat below that average. It's all explained in the road map post. I find it much easier than eating back calories.

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

    You might find this method easier. Although I also don't do much cardio, which is why my TDEE is lower than some other people who exercise all the time (I do weight train 3x a week though). An easy solution is less cardio :laugh: (No seriously, one of the reasons to do a ton of cardio is to eat more; if you don't want to eat more, do less cardio.)

    I just started doing the same thing....eating the same each day based off a small deficit of my TDEE. Although...I'm thinking that I'm going to up mine 100 cals a day. I'm so tired and worn out each afternoon and I think that's a sign, i need more fuel.

    As for adding more cals...I just don't get where people have a problem with that. Eggs, Peanut Butter, Butter, Cheese, Nuts, Ice Cream, Pizza.......I could go on and on....
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
    In case anyone is still reading, I have another question... Looking at my BMR vs calorie expenditure, it was suggested I try to net 1600 calories a day. Other people suggested that the Road Map plan worked better for them because it was easier to follow. I logged in my information, and that suggested that I should eat 2400 calories a day for maintenance, take away 25% for weight loss, and I'm at 1800 calories gross for the day. On a day like today, though, that comes out to 1800 calories for one method, and over 2100 calories for the "eating back exercise" method. That's kind of a big difference. How do you reconcile?

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