I think I've confused myself..... Halp? I'm Stuck
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shezzzzz
Posts: 119 Member
I am female, 41, and 5'10" and have been trying to lose weight for a while. I thought I finally had it figured out, but I think I've confused myself, and hit a plateau at the same time.
I was too eager to start EM2LW, so I didn't read everything, or maybe I did, but didn't remember it all.
At the time, I was 238 lbs. I work a desk job, but was swimming for 30 minutes 3 times a week.
I looked at both scooby, and fat2fit, and figured I should eat around 1700 cals per day, and eat back my exercise cals. That s what I did, and it seemed before no time had passed, I was down to 219 lbs (not making any changes to cal consumption or exercise amount other than substituting JM 30DS when I didn't feel like swimming).
I figured after 20 lbs, I had better re-calculate, then I realized I should not have been eating back my exercise calories.
I've ended up eating less some days (and more on others, had a few birthdays to celebrate in the last 2 weeks, so eating has not been stellar, but I stayed under my weekly calorie limit).
I am also doing the 30DS everyday (challenge with a friend), and am on day 10. I have not lost an ounce in the last 2 weeks, and in my history, I always seem to get stuck at 220 lbs, and give up, and I don't want to give up this time, but am losing motivation.
My food diary is open, I am careful about weighing EVERYTHING on my digital kitchen scale. I don't log water, but usually drink 1-2 liters per day. The 1 cup of milk I log is for my tea and coffee (which I don't log) I only have milk in my tea or coffee, so no sugar count required there either. I usually have 1 cup of coffee, 4 cups of regular tea, and 3 cups of decaf tea per day.
Oh, and my schedule tends to get crazy sometimes, so some weeks I can expect to be able to work out 4 or 5 times, while other weeks I'm lucky if I can get 2 in.
Any advice is appreciated. Thank You
I was too eager to start EM2LW, so I didn't read everything, or maybe I did, but didn't remember it all.
At the time, I was 238 lbs. I work a desk job, but was swimming for 30 minutes 3 times a week.
I looked at both scooby, and fat2fit, and figured I should eat around 1700 cals per day, and eat back my exercise cals. That s what I did, and it seemed before no time had passed, I was down to 219 lbs (not making any changes to cal consumption or exercise amount other than substituting JM 30DS when I didn't feel like swimming).
I figured after 20 lbs, I had better re-calculate, then I realized I should not have been eating back my exercise calories.
I've ended up eating less some days (and more on others, had a few birthdays to celebrate in the last 2 weeks, so eating has not been stellar, but I stayed under my weekly calorie limit).
I am also doing the 30DS everyday (challenge with a friend), and am on day 10. I have not lost an ounce in the last 2 weeks, and in my history, I always seem to get stuck at 220 lbs, and give up, and I don't want to give up this time, but am losing motivation.
My food diary is open, I am careful about weighing EVERYTHING on my digital kitchen scale. I don't log water, but usually drink 1-2 liters per day. The 1 cup of milk I log is for my tea and coffee (which I don't log) I only have milk in my tea or coffee, so no sugar count required there either. I usually have 1 cup of coffee, 4 cups of regular tea, and 3 cups of decaf tea per day.
Oh, and my schedule tends to get crazy sometimes, so some weeks I can expect to be able to work out 4 or 5 times, while other weeks I'm lucky if I can get 2 in.
Any advice is appreciated. Thank You
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Replies
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Hello my fellow Canadian!
I had a sneak peek at your diary over the past week. My first reaction was, "Holy, are you eating enough???" Your diary entries look so short compared to mine. And you say you log *everything* but there are times you haven't even logged dinner...Your calories seem too low for someone at your height and weight.
I am 41 as well, and finding my metabolism is slowing to a crawl. I tried intermittant fasting but it just wasn't working for me -- I need to eat *often* or I am miserable. LOL
Also, you mentioned you have a sedentary job but that you swim 3x/week. Have you considered getting a fitbit to monitor your activity levels? I got one last fall and it absolutely motivates me to go for walks now rather than just be sedentary.
Do you lift weights at all? That seemed to make a big difference in my body shape. Also HIIT is very effective at fat burning (supposedly)
Good luck in your efforts. And perhaps others will have more insights...(I'm no expert!!!)
Do you listen to the fat2fit podcasts? Such a wealth of information.0 -
Indeed do the eatback method if you have a decent method of estimating calorie burn.
Use this for best estimates of bodyfat, which will give better BMR, use a better activity calc for just the daily job related activity, and then go to the MFP Tweak tab and follow those instructions, using the Katch BMR and multiplier shown.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker0 -
After I lost the first 20, I kinda got scared of continuing to eat so many calories.
In the past, I have played with IF, did an eating window of 4 hours per day for about a month. I did not see a big weight loss, but I did learn how to control my hunger (and not be scared of it any more).
I've also tried eating frequent mini-meals, but I found I didn't feel good doing that. I was always hungry as I never ate enough to feel full. I don't feel a need to snack, and find I do better with 2 or 3 larger meals per day.
Being the size I am, I used to eat A LOT (obviously), and am still learning how much I need to eat to be a healthy weight.
I think after I realized I wasn't supposed to be eating back my exercise cals, I dropped the amount I was eating to compensate for any potential "over" days, rather than just making sure I burned off any extra that I ate.
As for lifting, I feel like I am still getting my body used to the idea of moving. I can now do the entire first level of the 30 day shred, and I use 5lb hand weights for all but the final exercise.
Some days I work crazy long hours, and by the time I get home, do the DVD workout, it is 8:30 at night and I haven't started making dinner yet, on those days, if I'm not really feeling hungry, I will skip dinner.
LOL, I never thought I'd be accused of eating to little, but I guess if I look at it the way others are, I can see it.
Thank You0 -
I'm confused. If eating at 1700 + plus exercise worked, why did you stop doing that?0
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are you sure your numbers are right? You and I are the same height and I weigh 210 and I am eating 3200 cals a day, I am very active but, still even sedentary you should be over 1700 by far more like 2300.0
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Yeah I just ran the numbers again and your BMR is 1794, you need to eat more that is why you stopped losing weight.0
