plateau

earthboundmisfit
earthboundmisfit Posts: 192 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm following my recommended calorie intake but not losing weight. I do over an hour of cardio (walking and jogging) every day. Do you think that's too much? Should I cut down on cardio and increase my strength training? I don't want to reduce my calories too much, to avoid slowing my metabolism.

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • fatcity66
    fatcity66 Posts: 1,544 Member
    How long is this supposed "plateau?"
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    How long? Are you weighing and measuring your food accurately? Are you using accurate entries on the database? If you open your diary people will be able to see if there any obvious discrepancies and give more constructive help.
  • earthboundmisfit
    earthboundmisfit Posts: 192 Member
    I've been on a plateau for about a month. I'm careful about measuring all my foods. I made my food diary public so anyone can check it out.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    I went back a month in your diary. You only have 4 days logged and three of them were sub-1200 calories. Set and meet reasonable goals. Be more consistent.
  • earthboundmisfit
    earthboundmisfit Posts: 192 Member
    Do you think I should be eating more? I might have slowed my metabolism going under 1200 calories.
  • perseverance14
    perseverance14 Posts: 1,364 Member
    Depends on how much you have left to lose, 1200 is probably not enough, do you know your TDEE?
  • knt6742
    knt6742 Posts: 36
    Do you think I should be eating more? I might have slowed my metabolism going under 1200 calories.

    You really didn't log consistently so it's hard to tell. I doubt you lowered you're metabolism by going under 1200 calories on a couple of days that you logged.

    From this point forward log everything, every single day. You're probably eating more than you think. If you are following the MFP plan then eat back some of your exercise calories. If you don't want to do that then use the TDEE - 20% method. Pick a method and stick with it for a couple of months.
  • chani8
    chani8 Posts: 946 Member
    You are eating too much.
  • earthboundmisfit
    earthboundmisfit Posts: 192 Member
    What does TDEE mean?
    I might be eating too much but I lost 2 lbs. Added some strength training, maybe that boosted my metabolism.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    What does TDEE mean?
    I might be eating too much but I lost 2 lbs. Added some strength training, maybe that boosted my metabolism.

    TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's the number of calories your body uses in a day. It's also the number of calories you would eat to maintain your current weight. Eating below this number is what allows us to lose weight.

    The TDEE - 20% method of figuring your calorie goal takes an estimate of this number (there are a lot of calculators to get an estimate of yours, like here: iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) and subtracts a percentage off of those calories to get your calorie goal (usually about 20%).

    With this method you should be including any activity into your TDEE calculation so you don't earn extra calories through exercise. The two methods should come out to about the same number of calories if you're setting them up with equal parameters, so you can pick whichever works best for you.

    If you'd like to know more, I really like this post for walking you through the two basic ways to set up your calorie goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

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