Eating the right amount of calories/day?

lisaelanna
lisaelanna Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone, I'm pretty new to myfitnesspal (just switched from using the LoseIt app because I was finding it hard to log food using weights with that app and I'm finding weighing everything out to be much more helpful, especially for managing my carb/insulin levels for stuff like fruit (I'm a Type 1 diabetic), also this community is pretty awesome!)

...anyways, I'm sure that this question has been answered before, but all of the posts I'm finding are from folks who are not abiding by the MFP calorie suggestions and are going way low in daily calorie intake. If you can answer my question or direct me to another thread that will, I'd really appreciate it!

I have for years been on very low calorie diets, ranging from 1000-1500 calories per day and not eating back for exercise. I've always hovered right around 5'5" and 165lbs and always trying (and never succeeding) in losing the last 15lbs (except once when I was training hard for a half marathon and running ~50 mi/week). I recently gained another 175lbs (doing the Paleo - too much fat maybe?) and so have been trying extra hard to lose it as I'm starting to grow out of all my pants. :( I read a bunch about eating more to lose weight and have been attempting to 'reset my metabolism' by eating more (my target for was 1800 calories/day, but I honestly wasn't keeping super strict track of it) for several weeks. After 3 weeks of that, I have put my MFP goal at losing 1lb/week - which puts my daily calorie goal at ~1500 calories per day and eating/recording/weighing out everything pretty strictly to keep to that. I have also been doing bootcamp style workouts 5 days a week in the morning and eating back my calories burned from that (the workouts are not new to my routine). However, I have yet to drop any weight and actually went up from 174lbs to 175lbs (whereas I seemed stable at eating ~1800/day).

So my question is - how long should I stay at the calorie amount recommended by MFP to actually start losing, and how do I know whether I need to add calories or subtract? I don't want to put myself on way too low of a calorie plan again, but at the same time I can't bear the thought of gaining any more weight.

Thanks for the advice!

Lisa

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    How tall are you? Also, can you open your diary? Do you eat lower carbs or a low carb diet since you are diabetic type 1? BTW, you don't gain weight by eating too much fat, you gain weight by eating too many calories.
  • lisaelanna
    lisaelanna Posts: 4 Member
    Ok, I switched my diary from private to public, not sure if there's anything else I need to do to allow you to look at it.

    I have been trying to eat more carbs (the reason for so much fruit in the mornings). I had a genetic profile done that said I am a "fat trimmer" body type as I have the genes that suggest I am predisposed to lose weight on a higher carb - lower fat diet (which was news to me! I have always avoided carbs as much as I could!): here's a link to that test if you want to check it out, they have an explanation of the science behind it all: http://www.inherenthealth.com/our-tests/weight-management.aspx My trainer suggested doing the test might help me, but idk... What I do know though, is that I have been seeing my carb to insulin ratio drop quite substantially since upping the amount of carbs I'm eating and am also in much better control of my blood sugars so I am loathe to return to a low carb diet. You're supposed to be able to lose weight independent of WHAT you eat as long as you're in a calorie deficit, right?
  • lisaelanna
    lisaelanna Posts: 4 Member
    Oh, sorry I forgot to answer your question about height: I am 5' 5" tall.
  • gpasterak
    gpasterak Posts: 1
    Hi Lisa,

    I am discovering that the MFP overestimates my calories burned for many activities. When I enter the real true numbers for minutes playing golf for example, it gives me too many calories. If i then eat them all, I will not lose weight. I find that I am successful by doing the following: 1) enter a goal of losing 2lbs/week with a sedentary lifestyle. That way even if I miss a little, I am still losing 1 lb/week. 2) Take 2/3 of the calories in credit for exercise. MFP overestimates like I said. and 3) Add 1000 calories to a meal one day a week and go crazy... ish Seems to work well and keep my body guessing. Hope that helps.

    George
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Ok, I switched my diary from private to public, not sure if there's anything else I need to do to allow you to look at it.

    I have been trying to eat more carbs (the reason for so much fruit in the mornings). I had a genetic profile done that said I am a "fat trimmer" body type as I have the genes that suggest I am predisposed to lose weight on a higher carb - lower fat diet (which was news to me! I have always avoided carbs as much as I could!): here's a link to that test if you want to check it out, they have an explanation of the science behind it all: http://www.inherenthealth.com/our-tests/weight-management.aspx My trainer suggested doing the test might help me, but idk... What I do know though, is that I have been seeing my carb to insulin ratio drop quite substantially since upping the amount of carbs I'm eating and am also in much better control of my blood sugars so I am loathe to return to a low carb diet. You're supposed to be able to lose weight independent of WHAT you eat as long as you're in a calorie deficit, right?

    I would suggest you need to find a balance between adequate carbs to protein. When you really up your carbs, you lower your protein. If you follow the standard formulas, then I would suggest eating 1800 calories a day total. And then aim for macros around 40% carbs, 30% fats and protein. The issue we face is when you had it set at 1800, you weren't tracking accurately. So it may be beneficial, to start at 1600 for 4 weeks to see if you lose any weight, but more importantly, be very accurate with your tracking. You can still keep macro's at 40/30/30 as you should still hit your macro needs. If you feel tired or lethargic, then you can add another 200 calories.
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
    This is all that i have learnt from my friends here in MFP:
    1. Do you log every morsel you intake?
    2. Do you weigh every food item you intake?
    3. Same as #2, but do you own a food scale?
    4. Do you guesstimate?
    5. Do you use HRM to log your calories burnt?
  • lisaelanna
    lisaelanna Posts: 4 Member
    @suziepoo1984 - not sure if those are rhetorical questions or not, but
    1 - yes; 2 - yes, everything at home, eating out I generally use the restaurant's nutrition info; 3 - yes; 4 - not usually, unless i just can't find the exact info; 5 - no - I will have to read more about that, I haven't heard of that before...
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
    I have usually seen and most people here have experienced that MFP or the gym equipments usually exaggerate the number of calories burnt by a huge margin. This would only be applicable if you are eating back exercise calories.
    Personally for me, i did realize after getting an HRM that i was burning much lesser calories than MFP suggested. I read on here and heard people burnt like 700-800 calories from an hour of zumba. But later
    Looks like you are already doing great calorie counting. I would suggest you get a HRM(Heart Rate Monitor) - with chest strap to find out the calories burnt during exercise and eat back maybe 75% of it?

    Hope this helps:) and good luck!
  • tuckervc
    tuckervc Posts: 30
    I have lost over 25 pounds using MFP. I agree on using HRM to get a better idea of calorie burns. I only eat back about 3/4 of exercise calories.

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