advice needed from those who've suceeded please!

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noz1982
noz1982 Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
so I started eating tdee -25%(1850) 6 weeks ago. before that I was eating bmr (1650)for 4 weeks.
I weight 195 pounds am female. height 5ft 1
for exercise I do 20 mins x trainer followed by 30 day shred 4 times a week (was 5 times a week)
so not lost any weight actually put on 10 pounds! kinda at my wits end
on tdee calc I put moderate exercise.
am needing help/advice on where to go from here, should I go back to bmr and sticking at that ?
i am majorly lost on how many calories to eat and why im not having any losses not even inches !

Replies

  • kaylalryan
    kaylalryan Posts: 136 Member
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    What type of job do you do? Are you sitting all day or active at work?
  • Catlady87
    Catlady87 Posts: 302 Member
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    As a female at 5' 2" that seems like quite a high BMR - mine is only about 1250-1300 ish.
  • laserturkey
    laserturkey Posts: 1,680 Member
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    What I've found works best for me is to set my activity level to sedentary and then eat back all my exercise calories. I also keep my deficit small for slow weight loss. I attend taekwondo classes a couple of times a week, do weightlifting 1-2 times a week, and try to walk or practice my taekwondo forms on days when I don't have a class or lift weights. I report about half what MFP says I have burned for taekwondo because that seems close to what my HRM was saying for the couple of classes I wore it. MFP seems pretty accurate for my walking if I use their 3.0-3.5 mph entries. I have health issues that sometimes interfere with exercise, so I occasionally go a week or so without any significant exercise.
  • noz1982
    noz1982 Posts: 12 Member
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    hi,
    i work sitting down (office based) only part time though 3 mornings a week ,
    rest of the time im on the go with my daughter who is one and a half years old
  • amcsouth
    amcsouth Posts: 283 Member
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    I am not an expert but I know that my maintenance calorie level is about 1600 cal/day. If you sure you aren't putting on muscle then maybe drop your calories by 100 and try that for a week or two and keep dropping it till you see you are losing weight. My daily total is 1400 cal. If you were losing weight at your previous bmr maybe go back to that?
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
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    I started this lifestyle change at 196 and I'm 5 feet tall. I workout at least 60 to 90 minutes a day. I never eat more than 1200 calories. It works for me but doesn't work for everybody. You have to play around with the numbers to figure out how your body responses
  • micheleld73
    micheleld73 Posts: 914 Member
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    If you haven't gone to in-place-of-a-roadmap...search the topic and go there first. If you have, maybe try changing your macros to a lower carb % and a higher protein %. I do 40% carb, 35% protein and 25% fat. Also, put sodium as one of the things you track. Too much sodium causes you to retain a lot of water (as does too many carbs).

    Make sure your calorie counts are accurate as well, both in regards to food and exercise...when you fudge the numbers you only cheat yourself!!

    I'm 5'4" and my BMR is about 1300. Try recalculating your BMR at www.fat2fit.com/tools
  • daniellemm1
    daniellemm1 Posts: 465 Member
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    As a female at 5' 2" that seems like quite a high BMR - mine is only about 1250-1300 ish.



    I'm 5'1" and my BMR is 1698 so that could be right depending on age and weight.

    I have been netting 1400 calories and losing weight. I work at a desk job but workout for an hour or so 6 days a week so I set my exercise to moderate. I will soon be increasing my calories but I want to do it slowly so that I don't get a shock (when I started this MFP had me set at 1200 cal)
  • noz1982
    noz1982 Posts: 12 Member
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    wow thanks for the quick responses!!
    think what am going to do is go back to eating bmr and not eat exercise calories back and try that for a month
    all the calculators for bmr work out around that figure 1650 so ill stick to that and see how it goes
    thanks again everyone, love how helpful the mfp community are xx
  • kazsjourney
    kazsjourney Posts: 263 Member
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    I would suggest having a look at this thread for working out calories and macros http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets :)
  • NewMnky1
    NewMnky1 Posts: 264
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    As many others have said I am no expert or Dr. I had a quick look at your diary and noticed that your fat intake for the day go over (not always, but frequenlty), perhaps trying to get that number under the daily amount may help. I struggle with getting my sugar numbers under the daily limit so I can't fault you for that LOL!. Also perhaps your calorie intake for the day is a little high, but again I am no expert on that. If you are weight training a lot keep in mind that you will gain a bit as muscle weighs more than fat.

    I am 5'8, started at 278 and am now 146, I eat 1200 calories a day (it works for me, so don't judge), not saying that is what you should do, just giving my stats. I don't typically eat my exercise calories back, I tried that and found that it didn't work for me. I do a one hour persoanl training session one day a week, I do a one hour bootcamp twice a week, one day a week I do about a 12km walk and then the rest of the days I have started doing a couch to 5k (3 days a week). My ultimate goal is to get to 139lbs. I work at a desk job as well 5 days a week, so that is why I exercise so much after work. I also drink a ton of water which I think really does help on so many levels.
  • noz1982
    noz1982 Posts: 12 Member
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    As a female at 5' 2" that seems like quite a high BMR - mine is only about 1250-1300 ish.



    I'm 5'1" and my BMR is 1698 so that could be right depending on age and weight.

    I have been netting 1400 calories and losing weight. I work at a desk job but workout for an hour or so 6 days a week so I set my exercise to moderate. I will soon be increasing my calories but I want to do it slowly so that I don't get a shock (when I started this MFP had me set at 1200 cal)

    can I ask why you will be increasing your calories ? is it for maintenance?
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
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    wow thanks for the quick responses!!
    think what am going to do is go back to eating bmr and not eat exercise calories back and try that for a month
    all the calculators for bmr work out around that figure 1650 so ill stick to that and see how it goes
    thanks again everyone, love how helpful the mfp community are xx

    No! Don't do that, you'll be netting under BMR which is not good. Your BMR (according to scoobysworkshop) is 1638, to lose at TDEE-20% at lightly active you should be eating 1802 and ignoring exercise cals (they are already calculated in.) I had lost 98lbs before I got pregnant using this method so it does work, you have to give it time and patience :flowerforyou:

    ETA: Set your macros to 40 carbs/30 protein/30 fat. I found this helped greatly and it doesn't affect if you go slightly over fat (fat does not make you fat)
  • vlove40
    vlove40 Posts: 10
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    Before I went on this website, I googled what my current weight and height was, to find out how much I needed to eat to lose weight. I googled: What should I be eating to lose weight. Then I wrote down what I should be eating for calories, fat, protein, fiber and carbs per day. I follow that instead of my fitness pal conversions. So on my fitness pal, I always come under in carbs and calories. Although calorie intake is important, fat and carbs really make the difference, so watch both. I exercise minimally, and am just focusing on the weight loss. I have lost 18 pounds to date, 11 since I joined my fitness pal. When I get closer to my goal, I will put exercise back in. I still do the occasional bike ride, gardening, and swimming, maybe once or twice a week. Good luck!
  • noz1982
    noz1982 Posts: 12 Member
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    wow your loss is inspirational
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    give it 4 to 6 weeks for your body to adjust to any dietary changes.
    make sure you eat enough.
    get a good, accurate food scale.
    get an HRM with a chest strap.
    get enough sleep, drink enough water.
    don't expect overnight changes in your body, it takes times.
    don't listen to the folks that tell you to cut things out of your intake completely.
    ETA: Find your own numbers for intake/calorie requirements. MFP is a pretty poor calculator. Scoobys takes more into play when giving numbers, I'd recommend that.
  • Bssh
    Bssh Posts: 123
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    No! Don't do that, you'll be netting under BMR which is not good. Your BMR (according to scoobysworkshop) is 1638, to lose at TDEE-20% at lightly active you should be eating 1802 and ignoring exercise cals (they are already calculated in.) I had lost 98lbs before I got pregnant using this method so it does work, you have to give it time and patience :flowerforyou:

    ETA: Set your macros to 40 carbs/30 protein/30 fat. I found this helped greatly and it doesn't affect if you go slightly over fat (fat does not make you fat)

    I agree with this. The majority of weight lost in my ticker has been due to eating 10-15% below my TDEE and not eating back my exercise cals. But it's taken over a year. You need to be patient. If eating that much (20% below TDEE is fine too!) scares you then increase the calories slowly until you get to your desired % below TDEE.
  • Bssh
    Bssh Posts: 123
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    MFP is a pretty poor calculator. Scoobys takes more into play when giving numbers, I'd recommend that.

    I love Scooby too and always use it when calculating and recalculating TDEE (I recalculate every 5lbs lost).
  • Catlady87
    Catlady87 Posts: 302 Member
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    As a female at 5' 2" that seems like quite a high BMR - mine is only about 1250-1300 ish.



    I'm 5'1" and my BMR is 1698 so that could be right depending on age and weight.

    I have been netting 1400 calories and losing weight. I work at a desk job but workout for an hour or so 6 days a week so I set my exercise to moderate. I will soon be increasing my calories but I want to do it slowly so that I don't get a shock (when I started this MFP had me set at 1200 cal)

    I must just have a low BMR

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