help. Lost. gained. try to lose again. Not working

thejustink
thejustink Posts: 4 Member
edited February 2 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I lost like 80 pounds and kept it off for 6 years. then last year I bought a house, remodeled, etc. So I was thrown off my routine. And I gained 20 pounds back. I've been trying to lose it by working out, calorie counting, all the good stuff but mfp is confusing me. All my calculations of my tdee say I should eat roughly 2500 calories.....mfp has me at 1750? What's right?

If you want, you can look at my workout/food diary to see what I'm normally doing..... Thanks

And how can I jump start my body back into the losing mode?

Replies

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Those numbers are probably more similar than you think. MFP is set up so that you eat back your exercise calories, and TDEE includes your daily exercise. Also, TDEE is what you need to eat to maintain your weight, so TDEE-20% is 2000 calories. So that's only a difference of 250 calories a day, and that's likely the exercise calories averaged out. Pick whichever method works best for you. Some people like to eat more on days they work out. For some reason, I always feel hungrier the day after, so I just eat the same amount each day (TDEE-20% method).
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Set your weekly weight loss goal to half a pound a week. Eat back your exercise calories.

    Or choose TDEE -15%
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249 Member
    The MFP numbers are more on an 'autopilot' thing...like if you're working out and eating well and just need some numbers to dial in, there they are. The instant you start to plateau or otherwise go off track, you have to ditch the MFP numbers and go back to Harris-Benedict, recalculate your calories and work from there.

    This site gets thrown out around here a bit:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Work through that to get a better idea of what you need as far as calories. Once you can hit that number consistently, then you can start tweaking what kind of foods you eat to get there in order to achieve different types of gains.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    A properly set MFP + exercise goal, should be somewhere in the same ballpark as a properly set TDEE -%. There shouldn't be too much difference, it is just how you prefer to do it.
  • thejustink
    thejustink Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks. I set it to 1 pound a week. Got it to 2000. I just have a hard time eating back the exercise calories.....
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Thanks. I set it to 1 pound a week. Got it to 2000. I just have a hard time eating back the exercise calories.....

    It's not imperative that you eat back exercise calories if you don't feel like it, when you're eating 2000/day to start with, and you're looking at an ultimate weight of 155 (meaning hopefully you aren't particularly tall).
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
    You and I are alike! I lost 50 pounds about 10 years ago. Then I bought a house a few years ago that needed A LOT of work! Gained back 10. With all of the labor I've been doing, it's not like I've been lazy, but my priorities shifted, stopped weighing every day, etc. Now I'm back with a vengeance!
  • thejustink
    thejustink Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks. I set it to 1 pound a week. Got it to 2000. I just have a hard time eating back the exercise calories.....

    It's not imperative that you eat back exercise calories if you don't feel like it, when you're eating 2000/day to start with, and you're looking at an ultimate weight of 155 (meaning hopefully you aren't particularly tall).

    Well I'm 5'10".... my goal is 165. So you're saying if Id be alright just sticking with eating 2000 /day...I should be fine?
  • thejustink
    thejustink Posts: 4 Member
    You and I are alike! I lost 50 pounds about 10 years ago. Then I bought a house a few years ago that needed A LOT of work! Gained back 10. With all of the labor I've been doing, it's not like I've been lazy, but my priorities shifted, stopped weighing every day, etc. Now I'm back with a vengeance!

    Yeah same here... I haven't been lazy but my eating went off the map... didn't really keep track of calories just grabbing food when I could.... but now I need to get to my goal
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