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Is it possible that I need to eat more to lose? or?

mikegl1

I've read it over and over again that you need to eat more to lose but those topics are usually for those who eat too little. For me I have not filled out my food in weeks (months?). But today I will. I have been injured so I haven't been crazy working out but I still hit the weights every other day and do cardio every other day too. I have been stuck at 195 for 2 months. My calories are always right at or under the MFP goal calories but I don't lose. The belly fat is the last to go but damn it wont go!

Replies

yarwell

so what is your calorie intake and exercise burn that has been maintaining your weight ?

mazekah

Do NOT lower your calories! Change your eating to leaner protein (make sure you get 6 oz at lunch and dinner), 2 cups of raw veggies lunch and dinner and 1 T. of olive or good quality oil at each meal. Also keep your sodium intake lower than 1,200.

DrMAvDPhD

Not enough info here. What is MFP suggesting? Do you eat your exercise calories back? Are you getting adequate protein to support all this exercise?

mikegl1

so what is your calorie intake and exercise burn that has been maintaining your weight ?

Calorie intake is right around the 1740 MFP says I need to lose about a pound a week and I never eat back the exercise calories.

kellehbeans

MFP is set up that you need to eat back your exercise calories - it already accounts for your calorie deficit. Eat back those exercise calories! :flowerforyou:

RoseTears143

MFP is set up that you need to eat back your exercise calories - it already accounts for your calorie deficit. Eat back those exercise calories! :flowerforyou:

^ this. Some people don't eat back all of their exercise cals but you need to eat at least some of them so you are getting enough fuel for your body.

mikegl1

Do NOT lower your calories! Change your eating to leaner protein (make sure you get 6 oz at lunch and dinner), 2 cups of raw veggies lunch and dinner and 1 T. of olive or good quality oil at each meal. Also keep your sodium intake lower than 1,200.

Veggies? Yuk. :-)
Honestly that is the only part of eating I don't do well so I do take supplements to try and ensure I get the nutrients I miss.

As for the protein, when I don't eat processed meals (like the frozen weight watchers smart ones' breakfast) I eat pretty lean. i.e. Chicken breast with spice rubs or fish.

BeantownSooner

Not sure of your height and I've got 20 lbs on you but I would probably up them to 2000 - 2400 for 2-3 weeks and see how it goes. I recently was stalled out for a couple months eating around 1800. Eating pretty clean and exercising consistently but couldn't figure it out. I bit the bullet and got a BodyMedia device a couple of weeks ago and it's amazing how much you actually burn outside of your exercise. For example, this past week including my workouts (1hr-6 days) my calorie burn is ~3,200 a day. Today alone, since 12am this morning I've burned 871 calories (~600 over night sleeping) but haven't worked out and the day has just started. I have a desk job BTW.

So if you do the math, 3,200 - 1,800 = 1,400 deficit. Doing that consistently for a couple of months and I was getting nowhere. Now I simply watch where I am throughout the day and consume around the 2,200 mark. Whola, I've lost 4.4 lbs in 2 weeks.

This doesn't mean you need a BodyMedia device just my experience. You are leaner than I am as well so I suspect you're at least burning the ~3,200 a day without even knowing it. Active job, probably quite a bit more.

Maybe jack up to 2,000 for 2-3 weeks and see if that gets things moving. If not, add another 200 for another 2-3 weeks, etc.

Hope that helps.

jacksonpt

Macros? Macros become more important the leaner you get.

You also mention processed/packaged foods - that could be a big part of your problem.

Though, ultimately, I think you probably aren't eating what you think you are eating.

.

CristinaL1983

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

SideSteel

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

^ All of this.

You need to do this with accuracy, specifically the bold part. Then you need to wait a few weeks and monitor results, and THEN, when you have accurate data, you make adjustments based on results.

CrankMeUp

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

^ All of this.

You need to do this with accuracy, specifically the bold part. Then you need to wait a few weeks and monitor results, and THEN, when you have accurate data, you make adjustments based on results.

yep.

Do you own a food scale?

mikegl1

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

Just because I am not logging the food intake doesn't mean I am not hitting the caloric goals, etc. I used to log the food intake to guage what I was eating and learn. I eat about the same things all the time and can tell without inputting the foods into MFP that I am at or below my calorie goal.
In fact I logged my food yesterday and I was basically right on. I copied the bottom section just below. The alignment is off but you can see what it is easy enough. 58 calories over and 8 over on fat, etc.

Totals 1,798 210 66 41 86
Your Daily Goal 1,740 239 58 35 65
Remaining -58 29 -8 -6 -21
Calories Carbs Fat Sugar Protein

SideSteel

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

Just because I am not logging the food intake doesn't mean I am not hitting the caloric goals, etc. I used to log the food intake to guage what I was eating and learn. I eat about the same things all the time and can tell without inputting the foods into MFP that I am at or below my calorie goal.
In fact I logged my food yesterday and I was basically right on. I copied the bottom section just below. The alignment is off but you can see what it is easy enough. 58 calories over and 8 over on fat, etc.

Totals 1,798 210 66 41 86
Your Daily Goal 1,740 239 58 35 65
Remaining -58 29 -8 -6 -21
Calories Carbs Fat Sugar Protein

I stand by the above recommendation by CristinaL1983 and I would suggest you try it before dismissing it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

ally_cole

I had this exact problem. So many differing views on this site and no one will give you the same information. I called out to my friends specifically because they have all been consistently losing and I trusted them the most. They lead me to the Eat, Train, Progress Group which I HIGHLY recommend. All the information needed is in one place, and you won't get 10 different answers to the same questions. Here's the link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress.

Goodluck!

SideSteel

I had this exact problem. So many differing views on this site and no one will give you the same information. I called out to my friends specifically because they have all been consistently losing and I trusted them the most. They lead me to the Eat, Train, Progress Group which I HIGHLY recommend. All the information needed is in one place, and you won't get 10 different answers to the same questions. Here's the link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress.

Goodluck!

Note that I run that group with Sara so while you're welcome to go there OP, you've already gotten advice from that group since I'm going to tell you exactly what's already been said above. But having said that, feel free to join the group if you'd like.

erickirb

Totals 1,798 210 66 41 86
Your Daily Goal 1,740 239 58 35 65
Remaining -58 29 -8 -6 -21
Calories Carbs Fat Sugar Protein

Wow, your protein intake is actually quite low. I suggest upping to a min of 120grams, preferably more. and weigh your solid foods and measure liquids, otherwise you are probably under estimating the amount you are eating, whether you log it or not.

IronPlayground

Pardon me, but you're saying that you haven't logged your food intake in weeks or months and have been maintaining your weight for about the same amount of time and asking if you should increase your caloric intake?

How about just logging your food very accurately for a while and seeing what happens. Weigh/measure everything, log everything, stay within your caloric goals, hit your macros, see if you lose weight.

If you aren't tracking your intake, there is almost no way to know what you are consuming and it's unlikely that you are weighing/measuring your food if you aren't even logging it. You are probably maintaining because you are eating too much. You don't maintain because you are eating too little. You lose muscle, get gaunt, have nutritional deficiencies, etc... if you aren't eating enough. The energy balance equation doesn't magically not apply below some calorie level.

Just because I am not logging the food intake doesn't mean I am not hitting the caloric goals, etc. I used to log the food intake to guage what I was eating and learn. I eat about the same things all the time and can tell without inputting the foods into MFP that I am at or below my calorie goal.
In fact I logged my food yesterday and I was basically right on. I copied the bottom section just below. The alignment is off but you can see what it is easy enough. 58 calories over and 8 over on fat, etc.

Totals 1,798 210 66 41 86
Your Daily Goal 1,740 239 58 35 65
Remaining -58 29 -8 -6 -21
Calories Carbs Fat Sugar Protein

I'm sure that by eating familiar foods you have a very good idea of what you are taking in. However, you didn't mention that you were weighing those foods. I think you've been given solid and simple advice to get started. Weighing and tracking a little more accurately for a few weeks should give you a better understanding of what needs to be adjusted.

CouleeRunner

so what is your calorie intake and exercise burn that has been maintaining your weight ?

Calorie intake is right around the 1740 MFP says I need to lose about a pound a week and I never eat back the exercise calories.

I can't say what you personally need, but I will say that as a 5'5", 130 pound female, I am losing weight at that amount of calories (sometimes more).