GETTING UPSET AND DISCOURAGED :'-(

nicetymello
nicetymello Posts: 30
in Motivation and Support
Could someone please offer some advice in regards to what I'm doing wrong or may need to do to lose some more weight? Strangely enough I'm wondering if I'm not eating enough. I track my progress/eating on MyFitnessPal and they've allotted me 1650 calories to each each day which I typcially consume during the day prior to working out. During my workouts I'm burning at least 1200-1400 calories each time (4-5 days/week). However, I'm seeing very minimal results to no results on the scale at the end of each week. I generally workout after work and by the time I get home I usually don't eat because it's late and I know I'll be going to sleep soon. Please help as I'm getting very frustrated and discouraged. My eating has changed so drastically for the better to the point that I can barely stomach foods that I was eating prior to this journey. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)
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Replies

  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
    That's quite a burn. Are you using a fitbit or a HRM to get an accurate number on your burn?
    Have you kept track of measurements? I've lost one pound this month but have lost lots of inches. I've found that when I work out less I lose pounds. When I work out harder and lift weights I lose inches.
    How long have you been doing this?
  • jukyu
    jukyu Posts: 80 Member
    You're likely overestimating your calories burned through exercise (or underestimating calories consumed). You'd have to be doing a few hours of REALLY intense activity to be burning those figures, and that's assuming your LBM is high. Try adjusting your TDEE based on sedentary energy expenditure for a week, log only calories consumed (not calories assumed burned through exercise) and see what happens. Finding your true calorie needs is often about trial and error, not whatever MFP allots you.
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I NEVER OVERESTIMATE AND I DO SET IT TO LOW OR MODERATE. HOWEVER I AM ON THE HEAVIER SIDE SO THE MORE SOMEONE WEIGHS THE MORE THEY BURN. I'M JUST WONDERING IF MY DILEMMA IS THAT I DON'T EAT ENOUGH (WHICH SOUNDS CRAZY) OR THE FACT THAT I'M NOT EATING AFTER I WORKOUT :-/
  • MyNameisJill
    MyNameisJill Posts: 18 Member
    Perhaps you should be measuring inches lost? Sometimes the scales have it all wrong and you really are losing, but gaining muscle and drinking more water! Are your clothes fitting better? I find that sometimes the scales go up and down (and I have a hugely bad habit of checking every day - don't judge, I know it is a very bad habit).. but I am still feeling better because I have been going down a size slowly but surely. If it was supremely easy to get it off, we would all have a great weigh-in every week!
  • AlohaKeAkua
    AlohaKeAkua Posts: 92
    I would say that you're not eating enough. Your buring off just about everything you eat. When you only net so few calories for the day, your body thinks it won't get the nutrients it needs, and begins to store what you eat. I would eat some of those back. That was a hard pill for me to swallow, but I saw a difference once I began eating some of what I worked off. Good luck!!!
  • bearkisses
    bearkisses Posts: 1,252 Member
    i have a feeling you are not eating enough, if you burn it all off....
  • 5erious
    5erious Posts: 469
    Find ur TDEE. Decrease ur calories by 500 and ur set.
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    I NEVER OVERESTIMATE AND I DO SET IT TO LOW OR MODERATE. HOWEVER I AM ON THE HEAVIER SIDE SO THE MORE SOMEONE WEIGHS THE MORE THEY BURN. I'M JUST WONDERING IF MY DILEMMA IS THAT I DON'T EAT ENOUGH (WHICH SOUNDS CRAZY) OR THE FACT THAT I'M NOT EATING AFTER I WORKOUT :-/

    If you aren't using a HRM never say never. No reason to get defensive about estimating. People are only trying to help because you asked for it.
  • teamnevergoingback
    teamnevergoingback Posts: 368 Member
    I would say that you're not eating enough. Your buring off just about everything you eat. When you only net so few calories for the day, your body thinks it won't get the nutrients it needs, and begins to store what you eat. I would eat some of those back. That was a hard pill for me to swallow, but I saw a difference once I began eating some of what I worked off. Good luck!!!

    This. You should eat back at least some of what you burn, that's why you're allowed more calories when you work out. Don't get discouraged, every hits a wall once in a while! Just don't stop your good habits girl! Are you changing up your work out at all?
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    HAHAHA! I CHECK EVERYDAY TOO WHICH IS TORTURE BUT IT CAN BE BENEFICIAL IN LETTING YOU KNOW WHERE YOU WENT WRONG THE DAY BEFORE TOO
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    WHAT IS TDEE?
  • Lili0817
    Lili0817 Posts: 109 Member
    Perhaps you're not eating enough. You need to Eat BIG and Eat Clean! You should TOTALLY eat something after your workout. They say you have one hour to eat something or your workout is pretty much wasted. I usually have a protein shake after my workout. Sometimes I just mix the powder w/ water and drink it like that. You HAVE to eat after your workout, no matter how late it is. Eat frequent meals throughout the day. If you're not eating enough, you're just losing your muscle. And it's much harder to build muscle then lose fat. Make sure you incorporate weights to your workouts. I don't know what time of cardio you're doing, but make sure you're raising your heart rate and going HARD. SHORT and HARD (sprints/jump rope) is much better then going LONG and SOFT (Jogging/ ellpiticals). Just passing along some info that was giving to me from a trainer. It's woking good for me thus far. :)
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I'M THINKING THAT MAY BE IT TOO BUT THAT IS SO HARD FOR ME TO WRAP MY MIND AROUND BUT I'M GOING TO TRY IT THIS WEEK. IT'S SUCH AS OXYMORON TO EAT MORE WHEN I'M TRYING TO LOSE. WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT THAT? LOL
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
    you are not burning anything close to 1200-1400. Sorry but those numbers are way off. You are likely burning closer to 500.
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I'M NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE (I HAVE CAPS ON BECAUSE I'M AT WORK...JUST A HABIT). I APPRECIATE THE INPUT! HOWEVER I DON'T OVERESTIMATE CALORIES BURNED AND I GENERALLY DO GO WITH THE LESSER AMOUNT AND STILL COME UP WITH HIGH NUMBERS.
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
    where are you getting this 1200-1400 calorie burn estimate?
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I AM STARTING TOO NOW. I JUST GOT A TRAINER. I'VE BEEN DOING NOTHING BUT CARDIO AND NO WEIGHTS AT ALL. SO I'LL SEE WHAT TYPE OF RESULTS I GET NOW THAT WEIGHTS WILL BE INVOLVED BUT THAT'S GOING TO ADD WEIGHT TOO SINCE MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT :-/
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I DOUBT THAT! TRUST ME MY WORKOUTS ARE INTENSE AND I'M HEAVIER...500 CALORIES IS EXTREMELY LOW BALLING IT!
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    It could be a lot of things. First make sure you're "being real" with your food logging - and I mean "down to the condiments" (if you have chicken nuggets with honey mustard dipping sauce, you have to count the dipping sauce too).

    Be careful how you log your activity and try to refrain from "eating back your calories" unless you're training for a marathon or triathalon or something.

    Double check the stats on your numbers for proteins, carbs, fats, fiber, etc. Make sure MFP is calculating them the most appropriate way for you.

    I've also discovered that on Weight Watchers, they allow me a little more food than MFP does - so I shoot for a happy medium between what MFP tells me and what WW allows me.

    Make sure you check your salt intake - it could be making you hold onto water.

    Make sure you check your fiber intake - more fiber the better.

    A nutritionist once told me to focus on lean/healthy proteins and the fats/carbs will take care of themselves, and I've found that to be pretty much on target. I've also found that the better qualify of food you have (as others have said "eating clean"), the more of it you can have. There are weeks I've gone over on that, and still lost because what I ate was of high enough quality.

    Just some thoughts - for what it's worth.
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    I'M NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE (I HAVE CAPS ON BECAUSE I'M AT WORK...JUST A HABIT). I APPRECIATE THE INPUT! HOWEVER I DON'T OVERESTIMATE CALORIES BURNED AND I GENERALLY DO GO WITH THE LESSER AMOUNT AND STILL COME UP WITH HIGH NUMBERS.

    So you don't use a Heart Rate Monitor? BodyBugg? BodyMeadia?
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I TYPCIALLY DO CYCLING CLASSES, TREADMILL, ELLIPTICAL, STAIRS MASTER, HIKING, STEP CLASSES, ETC (NOT ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT THOUGH) USUALLY AT LEAST 3 OF THESE IN 1 DAY WORKOUT BUT NO WEIGHTS AS OF YET...ALL CARDIO. I JUST GOT A TRAINER SO I'M GOING TO SEE HOW THINGS WORK OUT WITH HIM. I'M GOING TO TRY EATING MORE AFTER MY WORKOUT AND SEE HOW THAT WORKS FOR ME THIS WEEK. THANK YOU FOR THE INPUT :-)
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    I DO USE A MONTIOR...THAT'S HOW I GET MY CALCULATIONS WHICH ARE PRETTY IN LINE (OR NOT TOO FAR OFF) FROM WHAT THE MACHINE SAYS AS WELL. THE MACHINE IS GENERALLY A LITTLE HIGHER.
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    I DO USE A MONTIOR...THAT'S HOW I GET MY CALCULATIONS WHICH ARE PRETTY IN LINE (OR NOT TOO FAR OFF) FROM WHAT THE MACHINE SAYS AS WELL. THE MACHINE IS GENERALLY A LITTLE HIGHER.

    Just curious but how many hours does it take you to burn the 1200-1400 calories?
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    HONESTLY I'M DOING WW TOO WHICH MAKES ME HAVE TO LOG EVERY LITTLE THING THAT I PUT IN MY MOUTH. THAT'S TYPICALLY WHY I DON'T EAT AFTER MY WORKOUT BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO EAT BACK MY CALORIES BUT MY WORKOUTS ARE SO INTENSE THAT I THINK I SHOULD EAT SOME BACK BECAUSE I'M USUALLY STARVING AFTER I LEFT THE GYM AS IF I HAVEN'T EATEN ANYTHING ALL DAY EVEN THOUGH I HAD EATEN ALL MY POINTS GIVEN FOR THE DAY PRIOR TO WORKING OUT. I'LL DEFINITELY INCORPORATE MORE PROTEINS AND GOOD FIBER. THANK YOU FOR THE INPUT :-)
  • nellyk711
    nellyk711 Posts: 2
    I would say to eat more calories. Clean Calories.
    I Use a HRM as well, and there are times that after a good 45 minutes jogging session on my incline treadmill, I've burnt up to 700 calories. I know when I do P90X I can easily burn 500-600 calories per cardio workout. IT's really NOT hard to do, as long as you are putting work into your workout!!!
    Even if you eat back just 500 of them, but you have to remember to eat clean...this is something I've been trying to do more of...it's hard, but it's worth it as I see the pounds slowly coming off!
    Good Luck!!
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
    BUT THAT'S GOING TO ADD WEIGHT TOO SINCE MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT :-/

    Sorry - muscle does NOT weigh more than fat!! 1 pound of muscle equals one pound of fat. That's it. Muscle takes up less VOLUME in your bod, but it doesn't add weight, especially for a woman (one exception - if you are a body builder). You might see a slow in weight loss because you are building muscle, but you certainly shouldn't see a gain, except for temporary water retention while your muscles repair themselves. You should, however, see inches lost if you are taking measurements. But, again, muscle does NOT weigh more than fat!!!
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
    I DOUBT THAT! TRUST ME MY WORKOUTS ARE INTENSE AND I'M HEAVIER...500 CALORIES IS EXTREMELY LOW BALLING IT!

    Also, MFP overestimates exercise calories - by quite a bit. Unless you are using an HRM (heart rate monitor) for a truly accurate calorie count, take the MFP numbers with a serious grain of salt. It is *really* hard to burn 1200-1400 calories in a work out (and I'm a big girl as well). That could maybe be part of your problem. MFP told me I burned over 900 calories on a 5.5-mile (2-hour) hike on Sunday. There is no way I burned that many - I burned maybe 1/2 that (I don't have an HRM, so I have to guesstimate based on my exertion level, but my exertion level was nowhere near 900 calories burned!).
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    THANK YOU! I'M GLAD SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS WHERE I'M COMING FROM. IT'S NOT HARD TO BURN A BUNCH OF CALORIES DURING A WORKOUT AND ESPECIALLY IN MY CASE BECAUSE I WEIGH MORE AND LORD KNOW I PUT IN WORK. I'M GOING TO EAT CLEAN AFTER MY WORKOUTS THIS WEEK AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT AND UNDERSTANDING...GREATLY APPRECIATED :-)
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    THANK YOU FOR THE CLARIFICATION. THAT'S SOMETHING I'VE ALWAYS HEARD :-/
  • nicetymello
    nicetymello Posts: 30
    PLEASE DON'T PATRONIZE ME BECAUSE I AM STARTING TO GET DEFENSIVE NOW. I AM ASKING FOR HELP AND BEING HONEST ABOUT WHAT I'M DOING BUT APPARENTLY IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU'RE PRESENT DOING MY ROUTINES SINCE YOU SEEM TO KNOW SO MUCH AND BELIEVE THE CONTRARY TO EVERYTHING I'M STATING. SO BY ALL MEANS PLEASE TELL ME HOW LONG IT'S TAKING ME TO BURN THE AMOUNT OF CALORIES I STATED.

    THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT BUT NO THANKS. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

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