Am I doing this right?

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ashmarie25
ashmarie25 Posts: 26
in Health and Weight Loss
I have had my goal for weight loss set at 2 pounds per week which gives me 1200 calories. I usually work out 5 times per week for an hour burning 700-800 calories. I will eat back some of those exercise calories. I have not seen a loss in about a month (I will gain a few pounds and lose those but never get lower than 200lbs). I feel like I have hit a wall but I want to start losing again. Just thought I would see if anyone has any advice for me.

Replies

  • bethanytowell
    bethanytowell Posts: 256 Member
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    Seach the forums for "eat more to weight less". It works for a lot of people, especially those who have been eating low for an extended period of time. Try upping your intake to your TDEE - 15%-20%. That should put you on a higher cal diet but still well below mainenance. Also, verify that you are actually burning 700-800 cals per session, machines and myfitnesspal calculations are notoriously inaccurate. Hope this helps, good luck to you and great progress!!!!
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Seach the forums for "eat more to weight less". It works for a lot of people, especially those who have been eating low for an extended period of time. Try upping your intake to your TDEE - 15%-20%. That should put you on a higher cal diet but still well below mainenance. Also, verify that you are actually burning 700-800 cals per session, machines and myfitnesspal calculations are notoriously inaccurate. Hope this helps, good luck to you and great progress!!!!
    This!

    1200 calories is not enough. CHeck out TDEE (search for the In Place of a Roadmap thread here) and follow that.

    Eating so little will cause you to lose more muscle mass than you normally would.
  • fausonk
    fausonk Posts: 41
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    Without knowing everything, I'd say you probably need to eat more. 1200 calories with an hour of exercise a day isn't probably enough. Also, I'd check that you're really burning 700-800 calories in an hour. That's a really high number of calories for an hour. How are you getting that number?
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
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    Can you provide your height, weight and age? I'd like to run some calculations on what you're burning each day. I'm fairly sure you're not eating enough and that's your wall, but we should find out specifically where you ought to be.
  • ashmarie25
    ashmarie25 Posts: 26
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    I am 200 lbs, 5'3" and 26 years old. I get the 700-800 calories from entering my weight into the machines I use at the gym. I usually mix it up and do some elliptical, then treadmill (walking at 3.0 mph at a 12 or 13 incline and then some running at 5.0 mph)
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    I would agree that you likely aren't eating enough. Here's the link to one of the topics mentioned - great info here, and the tools to calculate your numbers. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    I've had the best success in the last year by following the advice in that topic. :smile:
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
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    I am 200 lbs, 5'3" and 26 years old. I get the 700-800 calories from entering my weight into the machines I use at the gym. I usually mix it up and do some elliptical, then treadmill (walking at 3.0 mph at a 12 or 13 incline and then some running at 5.0 mph)

    Awesome, thank you! At your age, weight, and height I see that you have a BMR of around 1700 calories per day[1]. This value is the energy that your body uses on life-sustaining functions. So, this is what they would feed you in a hospital if you were in a coma to make sure your heart keeps beating, your lungs keep breathing, your body temperature self-regulates, you process toxins, etc.

    Please do not eat less than 1700 calories a day for right now so as not to impair these critical functions!

    When I calculate your TDEE I see approximately 2330 calories per day [2]. Total Daily Energy Expenditure is just what it sounds like - BMR plus all what you use to work out, to walk up stairs, to brush your teeth, etc.

    So within a reasonable margin of error, if you ate 2330 calories per day, you would neither gain nor lose weight.

    For fat loss, you should eat above your BMR and below your TDEE. This means you're receiving adequate nutrition but burning more energy than you consume. TDEE minus 15 or 20% seems to work very well [3]. For you this would be a target daily intake on the order of 1860 calories.

    Try this, get plenty of protein, don't get preoccupied with carbs and fats and sodium and protein and sugar and all that silliness . . . just eat food that you know is pretty healthy, indulge once in awhile, and hit your 1860.

    What's happening is, at 1860 calories eaten and 2330 burned, you are in a reasonable deficit of about 500 calories per day. This means each week, you're eating 3,500 calories (7*500) less than you're burning. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. Since energy can't come from nowhere, your body depletes stored energy in the form of fat.

    All of this is based on you getting accurate measurements of your food and stuff so don't cheat yourself by sneaking in calories you don't record.

    Otherwise, this is all you need to do!


    [1] http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
    [2] http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
    [3] http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/860592-success-with-tdee-20
  • htimsm87
    htimsm87 Posts: 104 Member
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    I am 200 lbs, 5'3" and 26 years old. I get the 700-800 calories from entering my weight into the machines I use at the gym. I usually mix it up and do some elliptical, then treadmill (walking at 3.0 mph at a 12 or 13 incline and then some running at 5.0 mph)

    Awesome, thank you! At your age, weight, and height I see that you have a BMR of around 1700 calories per day[1]. This value is the energy that your body uses on life-sustaining functions. So, this is what they would feed you in a hospital if you were in a coma to make sure your heart keeps beating, your lungs keep breathing, your body temperature self-regulates, you process toxins, etc.

    Please do not eat less than 1700 calories a day for right now so as not to impair these critical functions!

    When I calculate your TDEE I see approximately 2330 calories per day [2]. Total Daily Energy Expenditure is just what it sounds like - BMR plus all what you use to work out, to walk up stairs, to brush your teeth, etc.

    So within a reasonable margin of error, if you ate 2330 calories per day, you would neither gain nor lose weight.

    For fat loss, you should eat above your BMR and below your TDEE. This means you're receiving adequate nutrition but burning more energy than you consume. TDEE minus 15 or 20% seems to work very well [3]. For you this would be a target daily intake on the order of 1860 calories.

    Try this, get plenty of protein, don't get preoccupied with carbs and fats and sodium and protein and sugar and all that silliness . . . just eat food that you know is pretty healthy, indulge once in awhile, and hit your 1860.

    What's happening is, at 1860 calories eaten and 2330 burned, you are in a reasonable deficit of about 500 calories per day. This means each week, you're eating 3,500 calories (7*500) less than you're burning. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. Since energy can't come from nowhere, your body depletes stored energy in the form of fat.

    All of this is based on you getting accurate measurements of your food and stuff so don't cheat yourself by sneaking in calories you don't record.

    Otherwise, this is all you need to do!


    [1] http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
    [2] http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
    [3] http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/860592-success-with-tdee-20

    Wow.. One of the best replies I have seen in a while. Great job, this could help a lot of people..
  • ngyoung
    ngyoung Posts: 311 Member
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    Eating more doesn't mean go grab a bag of chips. I would pay attention to where those calories come from and stick to protein and fat and limit any additional carbs when adding more food. I am biased toward a low carb diet but it has just been such an easily measurable effect for me and anyone else that I know.
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
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    Wow.. One of the best replies I have seen in a while. Great job, this could help a lot of people..

    Thank you so much; this is information I learned here and verified through my own personal success and from my observations of successful people here vs unsuccessful people here. It really, really works; you're not starving all the time, you see pretty consistent losses, and it puts the power in your hands.

    To the extent that the info is useful, thank the MFP community, not me!! :-) :-)
  • _Witsy_
    _Witsy_ Posts: 609 Member
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    I am 200 lbs, 5'3" and 26 years old. I get the 700-800 calories from entering my weight into the machines I use at the gym. I usually mix it up and do some elliptical, then treadmill (walking at 3.0 mph at a 12 or 13 incline and then some running at 5.0 mph)

    How long are you working out? I find that sometimes the machines can over estimate. So maybe a HRM would be beneficial.

    If the calorie burn is correct, I would suggest eating more back. Many times people aren't eating enough. Follow the links provided by emanyalpsid. :)
  • ashmarie25
    ashmarie25 Posts: 26
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    Thanks for all of the helpful information!! I had been eating only 1200 calories and felt bad to eat back my exercise calories. I can see now that it important to eat more when I work out.

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