Where am I going wrong?

Joined myfitnesspal a while back and did the introductory mistake of 1200 calories to lose weight and was reasonably successful. After reading lots of info decided that was the wrong way to do things and wanted to go for TDEE - 25% ish. To get an accurate measure of my TDEE I bought myself a body media armband. My bodymedia armband says that on average I use 2674 calories a day so I set a target of 2000 calories of food on here. My calorie consumption is normally between 1600-1800 a day on average but I am not losing weight.

So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?
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Replies

  • MrsH2132012
    MrsH2132012 Posts: 67 Member
    your diary is private...what are your Macros?
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    I've made it public now - sorry for that
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    Do you workout? What type of exercise do you do, and how hard do you push? What type of foods do you eat?

    I have my daily calories set about 1600 and workout 6 days a week and eat back atleast half of the calories. I'm losing at a steady pace right now.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Cursory glance I'd have to say you're not eating enough. You're averaging around 1400, less on some days. And burning 2600. Try eating (REALLY EATING) more.

    If it were me I'd also say don't do TDEE - 25%, but rather TDEE -15% or at most 20%.

    I'd also say try eating foods that fuel your workouts (especially your breakfasts).

    Best of luck!! You'll find your sweet spot.
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    I'm a secondary school PE teacher so constantly on my feet. I was doing the 30 day shred but have problems with my left knee so have had to stop that for a while. Only exercise at present is walking/slow jog.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    It looks like you just increased your calorie goals about two weeks ago. Is that accurate?

    If so, I'd wager that you're seeing some water retention as your body adjusts to the new routine. Give it a couple more weeks and the scale should start to move in the right direction.

    Also, this might be a beneficial read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993576-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut
  • knt674
    knt674 Posts: 2
    How long have you been using this method? Give your body a month or so to adjust.
  • MrsH2132012
    MrsH2132012 Posts: 67 Member
    This is my opinion so take it with a grain of salt

    At a glance your eating higher carbs (which isn't a bad thing for everyone! Do you lift?) but the majority look simple not complex
    your protein is low, I'd switch those 2 :) and give it 3-4 weeks
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    No I've been doing the TDEE - 25% for a while now but managed to reset everything hence it looking like it was only about 2 weeks ago that I changed it.

    I know some days my intake is a little low - mad busy with school inspection has really knocked my appetite.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,923 Member
    So, ok. On a normal day, you workout, you log the calories and MFP gives you a new calorie goal to meet (not go under, meet).

    I just looked at your last 7 days of logging and not once did you get within 50-100 calories of that goal. It's a goal for a reason. Under-eating is just as detrimental to this as over-eating.

    Second. Are you weighing your food? You may also be generalizing portions and amounts and you are actually eating MORE than you think.

    Third, the more water you drink the better you will be.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?

    Assuming your food logging is accurate, you are overestimating your TDEE.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    I never did the TDEE method or had a body media or anything like that. I would set MFP at 1lb loss per week, sedentary (since I have a desk job, I imagine you would use lightly active or active), and log all of my workouts according to my HRM. I ate back all of my exercise calories unless I really wasn't hungry at all (but would make up for it some other time during the same week). I kept a good eye on my weekly averages, not necessarily daily. It helped me feel like I could be more flexible and not so strict. I lost an average of 3.5lbs per month over 10 months and have maintained my goal weight for 7 months now. It takes a while, but slow and steady really is the way to go since you have time to break old habits and create new ones without shocking your system.

    So my advice to you is to 1. give it more time 2. experiment with different methods, such as using MFP's calorie calc for you instead of TDEE via body media 3. fitnessblender.com has a great new low impact workout program that shouldn't bother your knee 4. always (ALWAYS!!) use a food scale. It was the #1 best investment I made in my weight loss. My heart rate monitor is a close second.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    25% cut is too aggressive for the amount of weight you need to lose. Set it to 20%. As you get closer to goal, bump it down to 15%.
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?

    Assuming your food logging is accurate, you are overestimating your TDEE.

    But I'm getting my TDEE from my body media armband and that pretty much matches with online calculators.
  • SteveHunt113
    SteveHunt113 Posts: 648 Member
    My first thought is miscalculating serving size and over estimating TDEE. I don't like the TDEE method as that would assume exercise has already been included. I'd rather go with an estimated BMR, and add in exercise. Or, if you are active at work, use BMR and set your activity level to active. If you are not seeing results after 4-6 weeks, try lowering your daily caloric intake in your goals.

    For me, I always try to over estimate food I eat, and under estimate calories burned. I weigh all my food, so I know I'm pretty accurate there. But if I eat an apple, I don't always subtract the weight of the core. Same goes for fruits with a seed in the middle.

    I used the Bodie Media Fit for a while and compared it to my current BMR and caloric burn form a HRM and found that the Bodie Media Fit had some variations that it was not accounting for, but was otherwise pretty accurate. But I didn't like the fact that the motion detector may not be accurately reading exercise.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    How long have you not been losing weight? It's normal to stall a little bit if you increase your calories by quite a bit after a while, and stalls are normal throughout weight loss as well anyway. If it's been less than 4-5 weeks, it's totally normal, stick to it and you will lose weight eventually (I stall for 3 weeks at a time every month, personally).

    Also make sure you weigh your food and log properly, it's very easy to underestimate how much you are eating.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Joined myfitnesspal a while back and did the introductory mistake of 1200 calories to lose weight and was reasonably successful. After reading lots of info decided that was the wrong way to do things and wanted to go for TDEE - 25% ish. To get an accurate measure of my TDEE I bought myself a body media armband. My bodymedia armband says that on average I use 2674 calories a day so I set a target of 2000 calories of food on here. My calorie consumption is normally between 1600-1800 a day on average but I am not losing weight.

    So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?


    I think your problem is sodium - adding quick calories does not say how much sodium is in the food. Also you had 4 slices of Domino's pizzas showing only 4 mg of sodium, whilst Domino's cookies had in more sodium. One of the reasons I really do quick calories is that it is very misleading and this could be throwing your numbers off.
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    Joined myfitnesspal a while back and did the introductory mistake of 1200 calories to lose weight and was reasonably successful. After reading lots of info decided that was the wrong way to do things and wanted to go for TDEE - 25% ish. To get an accurate measure of my TDEE I bought myself a body media armband. My bodymedia armband says that on average I use 2674 calories a day so I set a target of 2000 calories of food on here. My calorie consumption is normally between 1600-1800 a day on average but I am not losing weight.

    So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?


    I think your problem is sodium - adding quick calories does not say how much sodium is in the food. Also you had 4 slices of Domino's pizzas showing only 4 mg of sodium, whilst Domino's cookies had in more sodium. One of the reasons I really do quick calories is that it is very misleading and this could be throwing your numbers off.

    The quick add was some boiled sweets today.
    As for the Domino's sodium values that's obviously down to what has been input into the food bank on here. As for whether it's right or wrong I don't know?
  • Get your heart rate up!! I'm at 1200 calories a day, but I try to eat as little carbs as possibly can. And NO salt.

    I have arthritis in my right knee from dancing. However, as I slowly turned up the intensity on my treadmill, I noticed my knee didn't hurt as much as it used to. I also do a lot of stretching. The walking and slow jog did pretty much nothing for me, so now I speed walk for 5 minutes, then run for 5 more.. etc, etc. I just try to keep my heart rate up, and then the weight melted right off :)
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Joined myfitnesspal a while back and did the introductory mistake of 1200 calories to lose weight and was reasonably successful. After reading lots of info decided that was the wrong way to do things and wanted to go for TDEE - 25% ish. To get an accurate measure of my TDEE I bought myself a body media armband. My bodymedia armband says that on average I use 2674 calories a day so I set a target of 2000 calories of food on here. My calorie consumption is normally between 1600-1800 a day on average but I am not losing weight.

    So my question to you all - Where am I going wrong?


    I think your problem is sodium - adding quick calories does not say how much sodium is in the food. Also you had 4 slices of Domino's pizzas showing only 4 mg of sodium, whilst Domino's cookies had in more sodium. One of the reasons I really do quick calories is that it is very misleading and this could be throwing your numbers off.

    The quick add was some boiled sweets today.
    As for the Domino's sodium values that's obviously down to what has been input into the food bank on here. As for whether it's right or wrong I don't know?

    Guess what I love Chipotle, but I never take what is ended into the food database as gospel. I go onto their site and found out exactly how many calories were in the food I was interested in buying, the sodium content etc. I was surprised that the sodium content was a lot higher (couple hundreds) than what was entered into the database.

    At the end of the day, the buck stops with you, especially if you are going to eat food that you have not cooked. I always double check food from the database before entering into my diary - maybe I am paranoid - but this is my journey and I have to account for what I put in my mouth.
  • lilacinfinity
    lilacinfinity Posts: 283 Member
    Avoid the generic entries like "homemade ham sandwich" and "chicken dinner"
    log the bread, butter, other condiments & ham individually

    log the chicken, vegetables, any oil or fat used in cooking, work out the calories in the gravy (eg if you make it yourself, weigh the flour), log it all.

    So many of these entries are way understated (and you can tell they're just a guess in calories) especially when there's no serving size.
    I love roast chicken and veges and gravy, but I'm telling you, it's a pretty depressing portion size for only 500 calories!
    Same with the sandwich - if you're using a thicker slice of bread, there's probably 180 calories right there alone.

    Chip shop hot chips - 100g is a small handful of chips - If this was dinner I'm guessing you had more than that
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    Get your heart rate up!! I'm at 1200 calories a day, but I try to eat as little carbs as possibly can. And NO salt.

    I have arthritis in my right knee from dancing. However, as I slowly turned up the intensity on my treadmill, I noticed my knee didn't hurt as much as it used to. I also do a lot of stretching. The walking and slow jog did pretty much nothing for me, so now I speed walk for 5 minutes, then run for 5 more.. etc, etc. I just try to keep my heart rate up, and then the weight melted right off :)

    I would love to but waiting on surgery for torn meniscus so running is definitely out for the time being.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Get your heart rate up!! I'm at 1200 calories a day, but I try to eat as little carbs as possibly can. And NO salt.

    I have arthritis in my right knee from dancing. However, as I slowly turned up the intensity on my treadmill, I noticed my knee didn't hurt as much as it used to. I also do a lot of stretching. The walking and slow jog did pretty much nothing for me, so now I speed walk for 5 minutes, then run for 5 more.. etc, etc. I just try to keep my heart rate up, and then the weight melted right off :)

    Bah. I messed up my knee 3 weeks ago and my activity has been walks. Not exactly gets my heart rate up. I've lost 4.5 lbs in the last month . It's just calories in < calories out. OP is either eating more than she thinks, or just hit a normal stall and the weight will start coming off soon.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    Avoid the generic entries like "homemade ham sandwich" and "chicken dinner"
    log the bread, butter, other condiments & ham individually

    log the chicken, vegetables, any oil or fat used in cooking, work out the calories in the gravy (eg if you make it yourself, weigh the flour), log it all.

    So many of these entries are way understated (and you can tell they're just a guess in calories) especially when there's no serving size.
    I love roast chicken and veges and gravy, but I'm telling you, it's a pretty depressing portion size for only 500 calories!
    Same with the sandwich - if you're using a thicker slice of bread, there's probably 180 calories right there alone.

    Chip shop hot chips - 100g is a small handful of chips - If this was dinner I'm guessing you had more than that

    This. I'm betting even money you're underestimating your calories by quite a bit just looking at your diary. ETA: I didn't look Dominos up, but I know the Pizza Hut equivalent of the Dominos pizza slices you entered would be closer to twice those calories because I had it for dinner last night. :)

    If you cook it, log it under "my recipes" one ingredient at a time. If you make something like a sandwich or salad, put down each ingredient separately and if you eat it often, you can use the "my foods" tool to save it as a ham sandwich or salad with ranch, etc so it's in your dayabase from then on but still easy to correct something if you swap put an ingredient. If it's fast food or store bought, compare the labels or website to the database entry you're using. Look for entries with things like "from website" in the title and avoid entries where the macros and micros aren't included or are obviously wrong (like the sodium in the pizza).
  • Chickyjd
    Chickyjd Posts: 136 Member
    Well... we are already buddies and for awhile now I have thought you just aren't eating enough, I know you've been mad busy with a very stressful schedule, but you have not been eating enough for quite some time now. We know that if using TDEE method its important to eat the calories allowed. And some days you have eaten only 1300 cals and burned 900 cals!! Its fine to burn that amount but you must eat your full calorie allowance for it to work... Lots of love hun xx
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
    Avoid the generic entries like "homemade ham sandwich" and "chicken dinner"
    log the bread, butter, other condiments & ham individually

    log the chicken, vegetables, any oil or fat used in cooking, work out the calories in the gravy (eg if you make it yourself, weigh the flour), log it all.

    Same with the sandwich - if you're using a thicker slice of bread, there's probably 180 calories right there alone.

    Chip shop hot chips - 100g is a small handful of chips - If this was dinner I'm guessing you had more than that

    I agree with this, add in the individual components. 200 calories for a ham sandwich is very little. Even if I go to a restaurant, I estimate a sandwich assuming 1/2 pound of lunch meat and 2 pieces of bread and add it in separately. If there was mayonnaise on the sandwich, that's 100 calories right there.

    Not to pick apart your food diary, I'm just using this sandwich as an example where the calorie count could be MUCH higher than 200 calories.

    This is one reason why I either stick to chain restaurants where there's lots of calorie information online or in the database, or make food myself.

    I try to plan out my meals and log ahead as much as possible. You seem to eat the same thing for breakfast every day. You can copy this for the next week or so to save time. Makes logging accurately and consistently easier.

    Good luck!
  • madasanatter
    madasanatter Posts: 39 Member
    Avoid the generic entries like "homemade ham sandwich" and "chicken dinner"
    log the bread, butter, other condiments & ham individually

    log the chicken, vegetables, any oil or fat used in cooking, work out the calories in the gravy (eg if you make it yourself, weigh the flour), log it all.

    Same with the sandwich - if you're using a thicker slice of bread, there's probably 180 calories right there alone.

    Chip shop hot chips - 100g is a small handful of chips - If this was dinner I'm guessing you had more than that

    I agree with this, add in the individual components. 200 calories for a ham sandwich is very little. Even if I go to a restaurant, I estimate a sandwich assuming 1/2 pound of lunch meat and 2 pieces of bread and add it in separately. If there was mayonnaise on the sandwich, that's 100 calories right there.

    Not to pick apart your food diary, I'm just using this sandwich as an example where the calorie count could be MUCH higher than 200 calories.

    This is one reason why I either stick to chain restaurants where there's lots of calorie information online or in the database, or make food myself.

    I try to plan out my meals and log ahead as much as possible. You seem to eat the same thing for breakfast every day. You can copy this for the next week or so to save time. Makes logging accurately and consistently easier.

    Good luck!

    I've actually just done the recipe thing for my lunch - Tesco bread roll and Tesco crumbed ham (1 slice) and it works out at 207 calories so the 200 on the database is not far out. I had done the calculation in the past. I don't like dairy products other than milk in my cup of tea.

    As for the other stuff I'll try to log them individually and see how well they match. Thanks for the advice.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    Avoid the generic entries like "homemade ham sandwich" and "chicken dinner"
    log the bread, butter, other condiments & ham individually

    log the chicken, vegetables, any oil or fat used in cooking, work out the calories in the gravy (eg if you make it yourself, weigh the flour), log it all.

    Same with the sandwich - if you're using a thicker slice of bread, there's probably 180 calories right there alone.

    Chip shop hot chips - 100g is a small handful of chips - If this was dinner I'm guessing you had more than that

    I agree with this, add in the individual components. 200 calories for a ham sandwich is very little. Even if I go to a restaurant, I estimate a sandwich assuming 1/2 pound of lunch meat and 2 pieces of bread and add it in separately. If there was mayonnaise on the sandwich, that's 100 calories right there.

    Not to pick apart your food diary, I'm just using this sandwich as an example where the calorie count could be MUCH higher than 200 calories.

    This is one reason why I either stick to chain restaurants where there's lots of calorie information online or in the database, or make food myself.

    I try to plan out my meals and log ahead as much as possible. You seem to eat the same thing for breakfast every day. You can copy this for the next week or so to save time. Makes logging accurately and consistently easier.

    Good luck!

    I've actually just done the recipe thing for my lunch - Tesco bread roll and Tesco crumbed ham (1 slice) and it works out at 207 calories so the 200 on the database is not far out. I had done the calculation in the past. I don't like dairy products other than milk in my cup of tea.

    As for the other stuff I'll try to log them individually and see how well they match. Thanks for the advice.

    I'm not saying everything in the database is wrong, I'm just saying you have to check and make sure the one you are using isn't wrong. There are usually multiple options for any given food and they are entered by members just like you and me. There are plenty of good entries but there are also plenty of bad ones.
  • anlu37
    anlu37 Posts: 100 Member
    does your screen name includes your partner's name, your kid's name, or any mention of being a parent? because if it does, this thread says THAT is your problem! Something to think about.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1117529-my-unscientific-rant-about-why-you-can-t-lose-weight
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I am assuming you are eating much more than you think you are.
    You should weight all solid food and measure liquids if you want to know how much you are really eating.