Desperately lost in calorie consumption

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dancingshadow85
dancingshadow85 Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm absolutely lost in what I should/shouldn't be eating/doing to lose weight and tone up, so I'm hoping someone can help set me back on the right track!!

A few years ago I was up at around 190lbs (I'm 5'5"), and miserable. I started losing weight by cutting down on portion sizes, and then eating healthier - more fruit/veg and less take-aways/fatty foods. I did the odd zumba class every week, but other than that, did no exercise at all (and had a desk job).
Over about 2yrs I got down to around 155lbs, and simply couldn't lose any more. I've cut out carbs like pasta/potatoes/bread (although I do still have the odd bit of toast occasionally), and I'm checking how many calories are in food.

3 months ago I joined my local gym - starting off going about 3 times a week and doing an hour of cross trainer/stepper/rower/free weights for lunges/squats/etc. I'm now up to about 5 times a week doing anything from an hour to 3hrs (on a weekend), and doing classes like Bodypump and Bodycombat (I tried a spin class once and almost died). I always put 110% effort into everything I do, and always come out sweating like a pig and knackered, although after some classes I do feel I have more energy.

Anyway - the BMR calculator says I should be eating around 1440 calories, which I know doesn't allow for what I burn at the gym. I reckon I'm eating around 1200 calories a day though, and my weight is still staying around 158. It's actually gone up slightly since I started at the gym...
Everything I read tells me I should be eating more than my daily allowance to allow for the exercise I'm doing, but also to eat around 500 calories less if I want to lose weight... I'm obviously doing something wrong as I can't shift any weight at all, and I know I have it to lose - especially around my tummy. I'm desperate to lose weight and tone up before I go on holiday, but my 5 month goal is now down to just 2 months, and I'm panicking that I've made no noticeable improvements since I started at the gym, and I don't know what to do/change to start making those improvements...

Please help!! :(

Replies

  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Great job on your weight loss so far! Do you use a food scale and Are you logging all your food accurately?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101
  • JaneyB311
    JaneyB311 Posts: 80 Member
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    I have been losing now for around 7 months and have lost 46lb in that time. I have tried several dfferent methods of calorie counting but the one I find the best is following TDEE and making sure I eat pretty much all of my calories every day.

    I started out on 1200 and although that worked at first, my loss soon came to a complete standstill and I was so frustrated. I then put my calories up to 1500 and dropped 8lb in 10 days, I guess my body had just been holding onto it. I was always confused though by whether or not I should eat back exercise calories and to what level.

    I was then recommended the TDEE method by a PT and now, with 5 weekly workouts, I eat 1700 calories per day. I love the fact that I don't have to think about eating back exercise calories and to what level, and that even though I feel like I'm eating quite a lot, the weight has been coming off at a steady average of 1.5lb per week since I started this method around 2 months ago.

    I use a website called The Fit Girl and it has both a basic TDEE calculator and a weight loss calculator based on TDEE, where you put in all the usual info plus how many lbs you want to lose and over what time frame. It then works out what your deficit needs to be to achieve that. I just check back every few weeks as my weight decreases to adjust my calories.

    Good luck!
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    I would definitely say with the amount of exercising your doing, that the calories your eating are not enough. I did a quick check on a calculator and your tdee is around 2350. That means to lose around a pound a week your calories would be around 1800, which is a lot more than what your eating. Hope this helps.
  • dancingshadow85
    dancingshadow85 Posts: 5
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    Thank you so much for your replies - that's really helpful!

    I did log all my food for a while, but with a busy day job and not much time in the evening it became a real challenge to find the time to log things, and I eventually gave up. Now I just check the calories of what I'm eating, and kind of sum it all up in my head through the day of what I have left to 'spare'). I know it's not very accurate, but I just don't have the time to log stuff properly :( Plus as I make a lot of homemade veggie soups and smoothies, I don't really weigh things out - just make a huge batch and have a cup/bowl when I need.

    I'll definitely be looking at TDEE - never even heard of that before!

    Thanks again!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Without logging your food, I would guess that you're eating more than you think you are. Weighing 155 lbs now you just can't get away with eyeballing and guesstimating your entire days. I exercise quite a bit too and you can still wipe out a deficit if you're eating too much

    Do you have and use the phone app, or the recipe feature? You can add up your ingredients in a recipe and divide up the portions as loosely or strictly as you want. Some people weigh the batch , some people measure in cups, others just make sure the total they log over X days adds up to the entire batch.

    I mention the phone since for me it's easy to log using it since I have it all the time. Scan label for easy logging, or start typing an item in your recent tab and the list automatically shrinks to your recently logged item. For fruit and veg, I just add "raw usda" to the search and can usually tell from the most popular results what is the correct entry. Example , onion raw usda will give six results in the first page of 100g being 40 calories

    Good luck!
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,074 Member
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    Definitely accurate logging is key. If it's too time consuming, do meal prep ahead of time (like on a Sunday), and weigh/log everything for the week ahead of time. Today for instance, I prelogged everything I planned on eating this morning today, so I didn't have to worry about it later (and could see how my macros panned out for the day).

    Plateau wise, you may not be consuming enough to accommodate your exercise burns. I would recommend slowly upping them by 100 or so a week, and see if you notice any progress through that. 1,400 a day sounds way too low, especially if you haven't been eating back exercise calories.
  • dancingshadow85
    dancingshadow85 Posts: 5
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    Thanks for the advice - I guess I need to start making more of an effort to find the time to log in food - pre-logging certainly sounds a good idea. I'll get the MFP app too - do you know if it will scan Aldi barcodes? That's one of the issues I've had before is that 90% of Aldi foods weren't in the database, so everything I put down I had to set-up myself, hence it taking a lot longer.

    Certainly willing to try anything right now - I really don't want to take this tummy on holiday with me!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Smoothies can be calorie bombs. Just because it's full of healthy stuff doesn't mean something can't be ruining your weight loss attempts.

    If you can't log in 5-10 minutes a day, ask us for tips. And if you don't have 5-10 minutes, take it off your workout. Even if you only do it for a week, it'd probably show you just what's going on.

    Good luck!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Thanks for the advice - I guess I need to start making more of an effort to find the time to log in food - pre-logging certainly sounds a good idea. I'll get the MFP app too - do you know if it will scan Aldi barcodes? That's one of the issues I've had before is that 90% of Aldi foods weren't in the database, so everything I put down I had to set-up myself, hence it taking a lot longer.

    Certainly willing to try anything right now - I really don't want to take this tummy on holiday with me!

    Don't know about Aldi. One way to find out though
  • dancingshadow85
    dancingshadow85 Posts: 5
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    Ok - so far, so good. The MFP app is working well (and I've not found an Aldi food yet that cannot be scanned!), and pre-logging certainly seems to be the way forwards, if I can just stick to it.

    I have a question though - my TDEE is 2333 (-500 = 1833 to lose weight), so I can have around 1800 calories a day. MFP however only gives me 1200 cals per day, but then allows me extra when I exercise. So yesterday I was allowed an extra 772 calories because I went to the gym, whereas today I'll only be allowed the standard 1200 as I'm having a rest day.

    My point is, if I follow TDEE, I have a constant 1800 daily calorie limit, and if I follow MFP, my calorie limit varies from day to day... so which is best/correct?
  • coaoalo
    coaoalo Posts: 104 Member
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    mfp will give pretty much everyone 1200 calories a day. It's better to work out for yourself what's the real best number. You can change your total calories on mfp in Goals (or maybe settings)
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Ok - so far, so good. The MFP app is working well (and I've not found an Aldi food yet that cannot be scanned!), and pre-logging certainly seems to be the way forwards, if I can just stick to it.

    I have a question though - my TDEE is 2333 (-500 = 1833 to lose weight), so I can have around 1800 calories a day. MFP however only gives me 1200 cals per day, but then allows me extra when I exercise. So yesterday I was allowed an extra 772 calories because I went to the gym, whereas today I'll only be allowed the standard 1200 as I'm having a rest day.

    My point is, if I follow TDEE, I have a constant 1800 daily calorie limit, and if I follow MFP, my calorie limit varies from day to day... so which is best/correct?

    Whichever you prefer. To lose weight , you just have to eat less calories than you burn over time

    Standard MFP: what you eat varies from day to day. Eat more on days you exercise

    TDEE: Eat exactly the same calories everyday. Takes away the fluctuating calorie amounts for those who use it. If you're not losing weight after a few weeks (I'd give four for a girl personally), reduce by around 100 cals per day and repeat. This method is also great considering it can be hard to properly estimate exercise calories. You're eating the same everyday regardless of exercise and do not risk eating too much because MFP WAY over estimated your calories burned

    What I do: I may eat more or less on any given day. In the app, I can go to Nutrition -> weekly and see how many calories I have left for the week. So long as I'm under that goal, I'm losing weight.

    MFP does give everyone 1200 calories. IF they don't have that much weight to lose and say they want to lose 2 lbs a week. I have had mine set to 1/2 lb per week for a while, as I feel that is more sustainable for me. MFP has me at 1510 calories per day
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    That is 1510 plus exercise of course

    Say, you mentioned something about wanting to get rid of your tummy. There's an excellent post here created by poster usmcmp:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
  • dancingshadow85
    dancingshadow85 Posts: 5
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    Thanks Janei - that's really helpful :)

    I've found where to set my own calories on MFP, so for now I've knocked it up to 1600. Not quite the 1800 TDEE thinks, but more than my 1200. I'll see what effect that has and go from there. I think I prefer eating around the same calories every day, rather than each day being different depending on what exercise I'm doing - I think I'll find it easier to stick to.

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