I am not textbook

Voncreepy2 · December 2010

Ok, here is and forever has been my frustration. I do not fit into the natural mold set before me by what science says I should weigh or should consume. Let me explain. I am 5'2" and 175 lbs. I have lost about 15 lbs here on MFP after having my 3rd child. I carry my weight well as I have a lot of muscle. Muscle burns more ....yadyayda. I ate 2,195 yesterday and didn't work out and still lost .5 lbs. I am very active with 3 little kids under 6. I am supposed to be eating 1240 per day. I actually stopped losing weight for awhile and platued. I was hungry all of the time so I started eating more. (healthy snacks and sometimes whatever I wanted). How do I know where I should be calorie wise if there is no standard and does anyone else have this problem? I am happy to be losing again but would like somesort of guideline to go by otherwise, why and how should I count my calories? If I follow MFP's computer then it doesn't work but how do I figure out how many calories I need to be consuming? Any help would be much appreciated

kelsully · December 2010

few guesses/questions...first I have my activity set to sedentary. I a far from sedentary. I have 4 kids 10 and under. I worked part time and work out like a fiend. I eat back almost 100% of my workout calories so I leave my setting at sedentary to account for my sit and wait time and to cover me for my eyeball measuring...I do measure with actually measuring tools for a while then stop and eye ball....so with that said check you settings. With 3 little ones perhaps you should go to a higer activity level. That will give you a more appropriate calorie range. Eat back you exercise cals...that will give you a more accurate range...and those occassional "over" days sometimes are the days you see a lose on the scale...odd I know.."rest days" also might be low scle days as they seem to be the days when things are just setting...problem is if you do the "over" and "rest" thing too often the scale will go back up.

As every body is dfferent you really need to find the formula that works for you. Keep at it but my advice is to give each change a few weeks to see if that is really what is going to work. If you dd in some more calories give it a few weeks...if that is the right formula you will continue to see success...if it is not you will know it by the end of a few weeks...you may have a few good measurements but after some time you will see a trend of either improvement of lack of improvement. Sometimes having an "over" rest day success can make you feel like that is what you should do all the time but in reality it was just the result of all the other days being measured on that "over" rest day.

jessimacar · December 2010

There's no way for any of us to know what will work for you, but if you want to figure it out yourself, I have a suggestion on how you might do that..

I'd start a little higher than your regular cals, and eat that for a few days, and see how your body responds. If you don't lose the weight or gain some, then adjust the calories accordingly. That way you will eventually find a comfortable place that your body responds to well.

There's no "rule" that we can give you, you just have to listen to what your body needs, and feed it healthy foods.

Good Luck!!

JoyousRen · December 2010

I recommend having your BMR calculated professionally. It costs about $60. All you do is sit and breath into a tube for about 10-15 min but it will give you your actually metabolic rate rather than an average. It's definitely worth it if you know the averages are very wrong for you.

erickirb · December 2010

You did not lose 0.5 pounds in one day, not from fat anyway. Weighing your self everyday is setting yourself up for disappointment. Try once a week first thing in the morning after you use the washroom. Try changing your settings to 0.5/week this will give you more calories to eat so you wont be as hungry.

nikkicarter13 · December 2010

I was very similar to you a few years back. I was weighing about 160-170 and I have a good amount of muscle. But as hard as I tried to eat my proper calories and exercised daily including cardio and weights, the weight never came off. I ended up meeting with a nutritionist and when we went over my food diary, she noticed that while I was eating the proper calories, my balance of calories was off (for my needs) and I was eating too many carbs and not enough protien. So I started making different choices and added more protein and less carbs and the weight started coming off.

cabocobo · December 2010

I'm actually having similar thoughts, just stopped doing my diary, counting calories burned etc. I just feel to stiff and controlled and don't thing it does me any good.
I'd rather listen more to what my body wants, in moderation of cause.

We'll see how I go..
I don't have too much weight to loose and fairly healthy eating habits to start with though.

Voncreepy2 · December 2010

You did not lose 0.5 pounds in one day, not from fat anyway. Weighing your self everyday is setting yourself up for disappointment. Try once a week first thing in the morning after you use the washroom. Try changing your settings to 0.5/week this will give you more calories to eat so you wont be as hungry.

It's not just one day. It has been consistent or I wouldn't have posed the question. Thanks for your suggestion though.:flowerforyou:

Voncreepy2 · December 2010

Thank you all for you help, I have some good suggestions now. It just gets so overwhelming at times as if my life weren't like a 3 ring circus everyday already. Thanks again!!!!

batty5 · December 2010

I have had a very similar situation. If you look at other methods & the one I find works best is the low GI diet , you should have about 1400 calories per day even on days you work out. I am a great fan of Rosemary Conley, here in UK & following her scheme has worked for me when others did not.Like you I feel I weigh heavy for my height but probably don't need to be within the range suggested on bmi charts which, here in UK are no longer in use by the medical profession, they now prefer the system based on frame size.If you are a large frame you can add a max of 10lbs to the weight on bmi charts, medium frame would be the same range I think. Personally I have set certain inch targets so 38 x 28x 38 here I come!!!! Good luck. Happy Xmas.

NoAdditives · December 2010

I found that I need more calories than "average". I experimented with my calorie consumption to see what worked best for me. When I first started here I was set to lose 1 pound per week. I saw some success and decided to switch to losing 1.5 pounds per week and my loss slowed. I went back to 1 pound per week and also started giving myself "off days" and I started losing again. I've also found that exercise is more important for my weight loss than my calorie deficit.

So I suggest you experiment a little. Change your settings and find out what works best for you.

Lyadeia · December 2010

I've also found that exercise is more important for my weight loss than my calorie deficit.

This is soooo me.

Doesn't matter if I eat 1200 calories or 2200 calories...I will NOT lose weight unless I exercise. I've tried it before...but for my body, it takes exercise. I try to stay around 1500 calories because that's the 1200 MFP tells me to eat plus 300 exercise calories back...and that amount leaves me satisfied with no hunger pains all day. But, if I eat this everyday with no exercise, I maintain. If I eat less than that like around 1200 everyday with no exercise, I maintain. I have to exercise, plain and simple.

I'm just glad that I am not the only one. :flowerforyou:

TrainingWithTonya · December 2010

This is precisely why I use a different formula for determining calorie needs then MFP. Don't get me wrong, MFP is great for the masses. But the general formula they use is just that, general. It won't work for everyone because it doesn't take body composition into account. Muscle burns more calories at rest then fat. There's no getting around that. So two people who each weigh 200 pounds, for example, won't necessarily burn the same amount of calories because one may have more muscle mass then the other. If you use a general formula like MFP, they would both be given the same amount of calories per day. For the person with a high amount of body fat, it may be too many calories and for the person with a high amount of lean body mass it may be too few calories. The formula I use goes by lean body mass, so you have to know your body fat percentage (or an estimate of it as all of these things are just estimates without an actual test from a lab), but if you want I'll be glad to give you the range I'd get for you with my formula. That way you can compare it to MFP and get some ideas of where to tweak things.

I am not textbook

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