Weight loss advice needed - a lot of weight to lose...
Michelle_MyBelle
Posts: 56 Member
Hi! I'm getting a little frustrated. I've been working out and trying to eat better since late August-early September. In September I lost 5 lbs. Woohoo! In October, I wasn't losing any weight. That's when I found out about MFP and started logging my food. I've been logging my food for two weeks now, doing good on MOST days to stay under my calories. I've been tracking every single thing, even those sneaky fun-sized candies. I've lost 1 lb in 2 weeks, and while that is great, I feel like I'm not losing as much as I should be. I weigh 306 lbs, so if It stays like this, 2 lbs a month is going to take forever to lose at least 100 lbs. I'm not trying to lose 100 lbs in 2-3 months, I know it takes time, but shouldn't I be losing at least a little bit more than this, being that I weigh so much? MFP gave me a goal of 1640 calories a day. I meet the goal on most days, sometimes having a calorie deficiency of about 200 cals (sometimes a little more, sometimes less) when I work out. What am I doing wrong???
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Replies
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Are you using a food scale and measuring cups for liquids? I highly recommend it. You'd be amazed how many extra calories can be unaccounted for if you're just eyeballing food for portion. Also, what is staying under most days? Depends on how many days you go over and by how much, you could be negating your deficit. Good luck!0
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Open your diary...0
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Buy a food scale and weigh Everything you eat, workout 5-6 days a week. Don't eat back your exercise calories, and eat over 130g of protein. Days you are over your calorie limit should be logged as it can reduce your deficit. Try to start with home cooked meals where you are controlling your ingredients and portion sizes before going out to eat and fast food.0
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Open your diary...
BMR = 2150 (approx)
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2580
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2956
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 3333
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3709
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 4085
subtract -20% from which activity level you're on lightly active will give you 2364/day and exercise 5xs a week (dont eat these back) drink plenty of water. Hope this helps :flowerforyou:0 -
Open your diary...
BMR = 2150 (approx)
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2580
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2956
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 3333
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3709
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 4085
subtract -20% from which activity level you're on lightly active will give you 2364/day and exercise 5xs a week (dont eat these back) drink plenty of water. Hope this helps :flowerforyou:
BMR numbers don't really work well when you are morbidly obese. The charts use an equation that assumes a certain percentage of lean body mass which doesn't hold true when you outside the normal ranges.
OP if you are weighing and measuring all your food and accounting for every single thing that passes your lips then there's a problem. 1640 is a fine calorie goal for you and you should be losing weight. You haven't been doing this long enough for your weight loss to have slowed and I would have expected large numbers dropping the first few weeks just in water weight alone.0 -
Stick to it, drink lots of water, be honest with yourself about portion sizes and where you want to be. The most important thing is to find some activity you can do and do it. As much as you can. Walk an extra 1/2 hour every day this week, add more next week. Activity and "diet" work together. I have lost over 100#. It is possible. And, ya, it can take FOREVER. But if you stick to a plan you should be seeing 2# a week. Feel free to message or add me, and good luck.0
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Ok, don't be too hard on me. I've opened my diary. Like I said, I've logged in EVERYTHING I've been eating, including candy, condiments and yes, FAST FOOD (yes, I know fast food is bad, but believe me, I've cut down A LOT on fast food in the past few months, still working on it...) Started logging since 10/15 and missed about 3 days in between.0
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Ok, don't be too hard on me. I've opened my diary. Like I said, I've logged in EVERYTHING I've been eating, including candy, condiments and yes, FAST FOOD (yes, I know fast food is bad, but believe me, I've cut down A LOT on fast food in the past few months, still working on it...) Started logging since 10/15 and missed about 3 days in between.
Fast food isnt the end of the world as long as you stay within your limits
I'm in love with the grilled chicken Mcwraps, myself. 0 -
You might be overestimating calories burned while exercising. If you do that, and then eat back your exercise calories, you're not going to lose any weight.0
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Open your diary...
BMR = 2150 (approx)
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2580
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2956
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 3333
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3709
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 4085
subtract -20% from which activity level you're on lightly active will give you 2364/day and exercise 5xs a week (dont eat these back) drink plenty of water. Hope this helps :flowerforyou:
BMR numbers don't really work well when you are morbidly obese. The charts use an equation that assumes a certain percentage of lean body mass which doesn't hold true when you outside the normal ranges.
OP if you are weighing and measuring all your food and accounting for every single thing that passes your lips then there's a problem. 1640 is a fine calorie goal for you and you should be losing weight. You haven't been doing this long enough for your weight loss to have slowed and I would have expected large numbers dropping the first few weeks just in water weight alone.
I figured it was something to try I started at 293 so...0 -
Ok, don't be too hard on me. I've opened my diary. Like I said, I've logged in EVERYTHING I've been eating, including candy, condiments and yes, FAST FOOD (yes, I know fast food is bad, but believe me, I've cut down A LOT on fast food in the past few months, still working on it...) Started logging since 10/15 and missed about 3 days in between.
Girl, it looks fine...Try and get as accurate as possible. All these numbers are estimates anyway but it something to shoot for. Just make sure you get your 5 servings of fruits and veggies, 8+ water; 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-3 servings of lean protein and grains. you'll be fine.0 -
3 oz of chicken for lunch? Did you weigh this, that's a super duper tiny piece. Are you weighing these? Stick to your calorie goal, if you're using MFP for your calorie goal, only eat 50% of what it gives you in burns, especially with your goal, currently.0
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Nothing wrong with fast food if it fits your budget and keeps you from going nuts craving it. It's definitely not good for you but it won't stop weight loss. I'd suggest not eating back all your exercise calories. Your numbers may be fine though they look a bit high but only eating back 50% at most leaves some leeway for errors in logging foods.
You really need to weigh and measure food too. A 1/4 of carrots? Point 1 of corn? If that's true try for 1 cup of carrots and 1/4 of macaroni and cheese.0 -
Your caloric overages according to your diary, not taking exercise into account because MFP overestimates like crazy.
Wednesday- over by 300 cals
Thursday- over by 217 cals
Friday- over by 165 cals
Saturday- over by 610 cals (900+ calories of exercise??)
Sunday- over by 176 cals
Monday- over by 94 cals
Tuesday- over by 80 cals
= for a week, over by 1642 cals. Enough to slow down weight loss significantly. And this is assuming that you are weighing/portioning everything correctly.
(Btw-- this # leaves you losing about a half a pound a week, which is what you said you were losing.)0 -
Make sure you're using a kitchen scale to weigh your food. It's amazing how quickly 3 oz can become 6 oz. when eyeballed. I'm 5'6" 270-ish lbs atm, but I started at 383 lbs. The kitchen scale is your best friend, seriously. I'd also suggest that you work with the MFP exercise calories as well. When I still had a gym membership I found that the treadmill burns were fairly accurate at my weight, but other people eat the full amount and gain. It's trial and error sometimes. Best of luck to you.0
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Hey buddy, Im in the same boat with havind alot of weight to lose... i started out at 347lbs. And I am now about 333.4. I am not seeing a significant amount of weight falling anymore so I have decided to not eat back my exercise calories. REMEMBER THAT SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE 0
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I think you should not count your exercise calories until you start seeing results!0
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I looked at your diary and it seems like you do okay. It looks like you are exercising and drinking enough. The only thing I can suggest is to have a bigger more filling breakfast and do not overeat for dinner or spend most of your calories there. I would manage the calories a bit better and distribute them so that you feel fuller longer and less likely to eat the naughty stuff. Also, fast food seems to be killing you. If you look at your fat and sodium intake, you are going over when you do eat fast food. Cook at home if possible. Good luck.0
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The only thing I can suggest is to have a bigger more filling breakfast...
I thought the same thing
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Thanks everyone for the tips! I'm definitely getting a food scale, lowering my carb intake and will add some healthy snacks to curb my cravings in between. I'm sure I've also been overestimating my exercise calories. Maybe to help me with this I'll start putting in only 1/2 the time worked out in MFP to get a more accurate reading of the total amount burned?0
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Find healthy foods you like though and not just something for the sake of dieting. That'll help you stay on track and not feel like you're torturing yourself. When I started dieting I tried so hard to like celery. .. ugh. Then, it went too far back in my fridge and got partially frozen. It was a train wreck! Good luck! Take a before picture just for you to look back on and keep moving forward. Stay committed and any time you feel like giving up, remind yourself hoe far you've come! 0
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Please explain why you said to not eat your workout calories back.0
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I, personally, hate the MFP method and use www.iifym.com to calculate my TDEE. I set up how many times a week I plan to work out and it calculates my calorie intake, protein, fat and carb macros. That version you don't have to eat back exercise because it's calculated. MFP overestimates burns from exercise and I really didn't want to buy a HRM.0
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Please explain why you said to not eat your workout calories back.
Because unless you are using a HRM and know for sure what you burn it can be counter productive to eat back calories estimated by gym machines or online calculators. Even MFP wildly over estimates burns for a lot of things for me compared to my HRM. Since the OP is at a stall she can tweak her budget by not eating back all her exercise to see if that may be the issue.0 -
Low carb is not necessary really. But yes definitely use a food scale and don't rely on MFP numbers for exercise. Personally I like http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ much better, it's a fixed number to eat, not having to worry about logging exercise calories or eating too many back etc. And you'll be able to eat a bit more, which you might need once you start weighing your food and realize that you've been underestimating what you eat (or you could switch your goal to 1.5 lb a week I guess).0
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what everyone else said about weighing food and not eating back exercise calories.
i can only comment from my own experience on being faced with a great, big, scary number on the scale: it took a very long time to get this fat, and it'll take a very long time to get not this fat. i put my focus on making good food choices and teaching myself how to eat at normal levels (no binge eating, no boredom eating, blahblahblah) and not on losing weight. i figure as long as i stay under my cals for the day and don't feel bad about anything that i ate, i'm golden. the weight is coming off as a result of those choices.0 -
Please explain why you said to not eat your workout calories back.
Hey Chris,
when I used the MFP way I used to only eat 50% of my exercise calories thats why I switched to TDEE so I would have to worry about over estimating them. Just eat my TDEE-20% and committ to fitness.0 -
I forgot about exercise calories at the start and then started to eat some of them when I started to exercise more vigorously, I weigh everything I eat accurately, and calculate cardio burns with my VO2max and avg HR before converting them to nett. I have lost 90lbs since 31 January and since I started logging on MFP average about 2-3lb per week.
Accuracy is the key both in and out, its very easy to underestimate intake and overestimate exercise calories.0 -
The difficulty when eating back exercise calories is determining how many calories you actually burned. The MFP number for exercises seems to be consistently higher than the number that comes off my treadmill and other sites. If you are eating back all of those exercises you may actually be exceeding the target number set for you.
In addition, your diet seems to be very carb heavy. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, protein is useful for building muscle and is recommended for those losing weight. A 25% - 35% ratio would be a better number for you but I don't see you getting there. Change some carbs to proteins and make sure that the calories you think you have burned are actually the calories you have burned and things will work out well.0
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