Am I doing it wrong?

Okay, so I am seeing women eating 2,000 + calories a day and seeing results. I'm eating what my fitness pal tells me to which is 1,380. And not seeing any results. Am I doing it wrong?? How do you guys fill all those calories?? And girls that have open diaries and are taking I that much please message/friend me, I want to know your secrets!!!!
Would help too if you are around 5'4 and roughly 165 lbs, but if you're not that's fine too. New friend are always nice to have.(:
I just need help desperately because I am so frustrated with how this works!): :sad: I would like to weight around 130 if I can get there and my diary is open, too.
Thank you! (:

Replies

  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    How much/what kind of exercise are you doing?
    Are you eating exercise calories back?
    If so, how are you calculating exercise calorie burn?
    Are you weighing and measuring all your food and drink accurately? Digital food scale?
    When you say you're eating what MFP tells you, do you really mean that you're leaving a few hundred calories on the table each day? Or are you just not logging everything? :smile:


    Perhaps most importantly at this point: over what time period have you been doing what you're doing and "not seeing any results"? Have you had any weight loss at all, however slow? Have you taken tape measurements and if so have you seen any changes there?
  • needsalife3
    needsalife3 Posts: 56 Member
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    How much/what kind of exercise are you doing?
    Are you eating exercise calories back?
    If so, how are you calculating exercise calorie burn?
    Are you weighing and measuring all your food and drink accurately? Digital food scale?
    When you say you're eating what MFP tells you, do you really mean that you're leaving a few hundred calories on the table each day? Or are you just not logging everything? :smile:


    Perhaps most importantly at this point: over what time period have you been doing what you're doing and "not seeing any results"? Have you had any weight loss at all, however slow? Have you taken tape measurements and if so have you seen any changes there?
    As of this past week I cannot do cardio because my foot is broken!):
    I used to do 15 minutes of the elliptical( it's easier on my hips and knees than jogging) then the week before I broke my foot I bumped it to 30 thinking 15 was not enough.
    I also do resistance training, which I just figured out what and how much I should be doing so I'm going to try to follow that; I made a week schedule of what I do for each day and the duration of each exercise. When I get used to it I'll try to mix it up.
    I do calculate the calories burn which would range from 200-300 depending on how long I would do it.
    I try to eat the exercise calories back, but I don't know how to get the calories up other than eating carb junk food, which I would try to stay away from.
    I tried eating more calories before but that what made me 175 when I first started.
    I tried to measure my food, I try to make small proportions, my food diary is open if you want to look.
    I do try to get up to the calories, some days it's harder than others like today and some days I would forget to log my food.
    Thank you!
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!
    I tried eat more and that's how I gained! Now I'm just at a plateau and it's frustrating. I'm 19 you'd think my metabolism would be better....:grumble:
  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
    I looked at your diary. First thing is consistency, if you don't log daily and for an extended time...you do not have the data you need. It also looks like you are not weighing your foods or measuring liquids.....I may have missed them but do you only drink water? It also looked like things were missing, like salad but no dressing or oil. All of these little things add up. When your diary is not consistent, things omitted and not weighing...you honestly at that point have no idea of your intake.

    I am 5'4 & 159lbs right now, my BMR is 1450 and with working out 3 times a week lifting heavy my TDEE is 2100-2200. So if I only wanted to lose ½ lb per week I could eat 1850-1950 per day at my current exercise schedule. Feasibly you would do great at 1450 with no exercise and if you exercise eating ½ of the burn calories back. These numbers only apply though if you are accurate. Just having ranch dressing on your salad would have been another 140-170 and that is if you only used an actual serving, most don't.

    *Log EVERYTHING

    *Weigh Solids

    *Measure liquids

    *Look to find what you want to do for fitness

    *Measure yourself, take silly pictures and then enjoy your progress.

    *****MOST IMPORTANTLY******

    READ THIS

    ======================================================================================================
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+sexypants
    ======================================================================================================
    THEN READ IT AGAIN........ :drinker:
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    I looked at your diary. First thing is consistency, if you don't log daily and for an extended time...you do not have the data you need. It also looks like you are not weighing your foods or measuring liquids.....I may have missed them but do you only drink water? It also looked like things were missing, like salad but no dressing or oil. All of these little things add up. When your diary is not consistent, things omitted and not weighing...you honestly at that point have no idea of your intake.

    I am 5'4 & 159lbs right now, my BMR is 1450 and with working out 3 times a week lifting heavy my TDEE is 2100-2200. So if I only wanted to lose ½ lb per week I could eat 1850-1950 per day at my current exercise schedule. Feasibly you would do great at 1450 with no exercise and if you exercise eating ½ of the burn calories back. These numbers only apply though if you are accurate. Just having ranch dressing on your salad would have been another 140-170 and that is if you only used an actual serving, most don't.

    *Log EVERYTHING

    *Weigh Solids

    *Measure liquids

    *Look to find what you want to do for fitness

    *Measure yourself, take silly pictures and then enjoy your progress.

    *****MOST IMPORTANTLY******

    READ THIS

    ======================================================================================================
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+sexypants
    ======================================================================================================
    THEN READ IT AGAIN........ :drinker:

    Yes I mostly drink water, not juice soda nothing except for milk when I sometimes make smoothies or on occasion cereal, water is like my best friend lol.
    And yes I know it's inconsistent... ):
    I just skip meals without realizing what the time is, which causes me to eat really late times.
    What things do you think I need to add more of?
    Thank you for the information though, it helped a lot!
  • misstweedy
    misstweedy Posts: 45 Member
    OK, I'm one of those women who eat 2.000 calories and still manage to loose weight so I thought I'd weigh in.

    I'm 44, 177cm and currently 179 lbs, down 19lbs since January; that's a weight loss rate I am more than happy with because the way I eat now feels very sustainable to me.

    My base intake according to MFP is just under 1500 calories although I suspect that's a bit on the low side as MFP tends to be. I strength train three times a week but don't log or eat back any calories from that. Strength training is important to me beause I want to preserve or possibly even build a bit of muscle while losing body fat and I can definitely see the results from that.

    I also cycle, a lot, I do 20 to 30 km most days and more on the weekend, and I eat back most of the calories from that. I use a HRM to measure my calories burn from cycling and have had to adjust that downward as I've gotten fitter but I still manage to burn an extra 500 to 800 calories most days.

    I also log everything I eat, and everything goes on the food scales so I have a pretty exact idea of my intake. However, I eat pretty much what I like within my calorie limit but I do most of my own cooking so there's not a lot of junk food in there, but I do like to leave room for some sweet treats.

    So far, this strategy seems to be working for me; maybe it's helpful to you as well.
  • Hi, I am also 5'4" and weigh 164. I got a fitbit flex and am walking about 20000 steps a day (started out 8000) I have lost 25lbs so far. The best thing about the fitbit is it tells you how many calories you have burned. You can connect the fitbit to this site and info from both sites are shared. It keeps track of your steps and as long as your calories in are less than the calories out(it tells you this) the weight will change. I also make sure I don't eat less than 1200 calories or more than 1500. The fitbit site is free- fitbit.com go in and try (you can enter your exercise yourself-flex does the steps for you) Good luck!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!
    I tried eat more and that's how I gained! Now I'm just at a plateau and it's frustrating. I'm 19 you'd think my metabolism would be better....:grumble:

    Metabolism slows from eating 1200 calories gross...it is called adaptive thermogenics...you need a new nutritionist...your metabolism was not slow to start with...that is a very rare thing...

    Netting under 1200 is very dangerous.

    To the OP I eat 1900 and lose weight...I am a bit taller than you but weigh less. When I started I was at 1380+exercise calories and grossed 1600 calories a day which is where about you would be too...

    Why can I eat 1900 now and still lose...I lift heavy weights and have maitained a lot of my muscle mass which is what keeps your metabolism humming.

    Changing up your exercise actually causes water retention which can mask weight loss.

    Eat at a reasonable deficit...

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    and start lifting if you want to be able to eat like others...
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!
    I tried eat more and that's how I gained! Now I'm just at a plateau and it's frustrating. I'm 19 you'd think my metabolism would be better....:grumble:

    Metabolism slows from eating 1200 calories gross...it is called adaptive thermogenics...you need a new nutritionist...your metabolism was not slow to start with...that is a very rare thing...

    Netting under 1200 is very dangerous.

    To the OP I eat 1900 and lose weight...I am a bit taller than you but weigh less. When I started I was at 1380+exercise calories and grossed 1600 calories a day which is where about you would be too...

    Why can I eat 1900 now and still lose...I lift heavy weights and have maitained a lot of my muscle mass which is what keeps your metabolism humming.

    Changing up your exercise actually causes water retention which can mask weight loss.

    Eat at a reasonable deficit...

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    and start lifting if you want to be able to eat like others...

    This...

    And I'm just gonna leave this right here...

    Read these:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    TL:DR the link right above this one then ->http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    Want to lift heavy things?
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Stronglifts Summary
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    Stronglifts Womens Group
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!

    I'm in my 50's, my measured BMR is 1157, and I ate 2300 calories yesterday and had a deficit by my BodyMedia Fit.. How? I move all. day. long. I gardened for 4 hours--930 calories. Did some housework, took the dog for a mile and a half walk, generally on my feet all day.

    If I worked a desk job, my calorie burn would be much lower and I'd have to adjust my eating accordingly.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    2000+ calories here. Mainly because I like food and exercise. And also not everyday (2000+). Some days are less

    My deficit is also set to .5 lbs per week. It gave me 250 more calories per day compared to 1 lb per week and was a huge relief at the time
  • Azurite27
    Azurite27 Posts: 554 Member
    I eat 1600-1800 most days with a net of 1580. I'm a little taller and leaner but I've lost a lot already. I weigh and measure most things. My diary is always open if you want to take a look.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    I looked at your diary. First thing is consistency, if you don't log daily and for an extended time...you do not have the data you need. It also looks like you are not weighing your foods or measuring liquids.....I may have missed them but do you only drink water? It also looked like things were missing, like salad but no dressing or oil. All of these little things add up. When your diary is not consistent, things omitted and not weighing...you honestly at that point have no idea of your intake.

    I am 5'4 & 159lbs right now, my BMR is 1450 and with working out 3 times a week lifting heavy my TDEE is 2100-2200. So if I only wanted to lose ½ lb per week I could eat 1850-1950 per day at my current exercise schedule. Feasibly you would do great at 1450 with no exercise and if you exercise eating ½ of the burn calories back. These numbers only apply though if you are accurate. Just having ranch dressing on your salad would have been another 140-170 and that is if you only used an actual serving, most don't.

    *Log EVERYTHING

    *Weigh Solids

    *Measure liquids

    *Look to find what you want to do for fitness

    *Measure yourself, take silly pictures and then enjoy your progress.

    *****MOST IMPORTANTLY******

    READ THIS

    ======================================================================================================
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+sexypants
    ======================================================================================================
    THEN READ IT AGAIN........ :drinker:

    Yes I mostly drink water, not juice soda nothing except for milk when I sometimes make smoothies or on occasion cereal, water is like my best friend lol.
    And yes I know it's inconsistent... ):
    I just skip meals without realizing what the time is, which causes me to eat really late times.
    What things do you think I need to add more of?
    Thank you for the information though, it helped a lot!

    Until you weight, measure and log EVERYTHING most other questions can't be answered. - actually I've looked at your diary, eat more protein - especially if you're lifting to help retain your LBM.

    Honestly you're probably eating more than you think.

    log everything for 6 weeks and then reassess.

    Oh and read the sexypants link.

    Edit: I'm 5'1, 35 and losing on 1600-1800 a day :drinker:
  • srslybritt
    srslybritt Posts: 1,618 Member
    Your height is going to influence how much you can eat and still lose weight. It's also going to depend on how much you're looking to lose.

    Speaking for myself, (and I just started this) I don't eat my exercise calories back or add to my macros. I log them as "1" calorie burned to show that I did X minutes of exercise on a given day.

    I suggest using this: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and finding out what your TDEE/BMR is. You should be eating more than your BMR. If the IIFYM theory is correct (again, just started, can't boast a testimony yet), TDEE-20% or thereabouts is a good place to start. I've noticed that this first week, I'm actually retaining some weight, so I'm going to up my water intake, watch sodium, and try to more closely match my macros (carbs, fat, protein).

    Good luck, OP!
  • Soundbodysoundmind
    Soundbodysoundmind Posts: 45 Member
    For those of you that consume a lot of calories, how long do you exercise each day and what do you do? Also, what do you eat to gain those calories back, I would think for it to be a lot of food especially if it's not like a hamburger from McDonalds that's 800 calories.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    For those of you that consume a lot of calories, how long do you exercise each day and what do you do? Also, what do you eat to gain those calories back, I would think for it to be a lot of food especially if it's not like a hamburger from McDonalds that's 800 calories.

    I have a totally sedentary job. I don't even get to lap around the building to the bathroom anymore since they moved me next to it.

    I lift for 60 mins 3x's a week. I was running a lot as well, but am currently biking due to an injury. I eat 1800, losing at about 1 lb/week.

    What do I eat? Whatever the heck I want, but in the portion sizes that fit my macros. This morning I had toaster strudels for breakfast. Pineapple for a snack. Chipotle burrito with double chicken for lunch to get my protein up. Tuna and ice cream will be dinner. Hello, 1800 calories.
  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
    No. Just No.
    SO MUCH NO!!!

    Your body needs fuel.
    NEVER do this.
    Sorry, but if you would eat your exercise calories back your metabolism would burn more and you would lose more.

    Tried and true.
    I eat 1200 calories a day and do not eat by my exercise calories - per my nutritionist. My metabolism is just slow. Unless they are exercising like the biggest loser or have lightening fast metabolisms, I don't know how they eat 2000 cal a day and lose. Perhaps they're not in their 50s either.

    To get the scale moving make a change. Change up your exercise routine. Don't eat more calories. Been there, done that. It all just prolonged an 8 month agonizing plateau. Good luck!
  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
    For those of you that consume a lot of calories, how long do you exercise each day and what do you do? Also, what do you eat to gain those calories back, I would think for it to be a lot of food especially if it's not like a hamburger from McDonalds that's 800 calories.

    I don't quite get 2000 per day but I do eat most of my exercise calories back, making sure to never net under 1200.
    IF I need to make up calories I go for froyo or peanut butter, since I usually exercise after dinner so I've already finished my meal plan for the day.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    I typically eat 1400-1600 total per day, some days a little higher. (Either because I choose every now and then to eat at maintenance, and have a day where I do not aim for a 500-600 calorie deficit OR it will be a super-active day where I burn more and still meet my deficit.)

    I'm 5'5.5", 145 pounds or so, age 39, female. My BMR is approximately 1400 and with exercise, regular activity, and BMR I burn about 2100 per day. That's with 30-60 minutes of cardio, usually running and/or walking on the treadmill or outside, jogging in place on the treadmill. At 145 pounds I do not have 'great' calorie burns. I use a Fitbit to measure my overall activity/calorie burn and MFP calculates my calorie deficit from that.

    My diary is open. My 'secret' is I weigh much of the food I eat - food scale at home, postage scale at work. That way I can accurately track what I'm eating. I do eat fast food, restaurant food. Typically from chains and I assume their published info is correct. Or when necessary I approximate to the best of my ability. For that reason - 100% accuracy is not really possible - I actually like to have a deficit of 600-700 per day, instead of my goal of 500. I figure that extra 100-200 will make up for burn overestimations and consumption underestimations.

    From May 11-June 7 I lost 3.8 while my goal for the 4 weeks was 4.0. So it came out pretty close.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    For those of you that consume a lot of calories, how long do you exercise each day and what do you do? Also, what do you eat to gain those calories back, I would think for it to be a lot of food especially if it's not like a hamburger from McDonalds that's 800 calories.

    Just in case the asker isn't long gone :laugh:

    Unfortunately I'm the stereotypical person being referred to when people say, "I learned I could lose weight without doing hours and hours of cardio". I do ten hours per week total unless my schedule doesn't permit it. I do not eat the calories back on the same day necessarily. Instead I generally watch a weekly deficit and might even eat less on exercise days than non exercise days, as I find that being occupied keeps me away from the food. I do take sliced apples for my longer workouts and eat some during the workout whenever I feel like I could use the sugar pick me up, or afterwards if I'm hungry and need a snack

    In the MFP app, when you go to Nutrition -> weekly there's a bar graph showing how many calories you have left for the week, average, etc. I hear this can be done via Reports link on the website but I haven't tried it

    My diet isn't restricted to chicken and broccoli by any definition of the word so yeah, I do regular consume both higher and lower calorie foods. Eating enough calories is just not a problem at all for me. In fact the opposite has always been the problem, hence my MFP membership

    My exercise: pretty much everything Les Mills. BodyPump is the most popular class and offered everyday I'm at the gym so I do this class the most with the highest amount of weight I can tolerate. BodyAttack BodyCombat and BodyStep are the other ones I take throughout the week. These are all typically one hour classes
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    Hi, I am also 5'4" and weigh 164. I got a fitbit flex and am walking about 20000 steps a day (started out 8000) I have lost 25lbs so far. The best thing about the fitbit is it tells you how many calories you have burned. You can connect the fitbit to this site and info from both sites are shared. It keeps track of your steps and as long as your calories in are less than the calories out(it tells you this) the weight will change. I also make sure I don't eat less than 1200 calories or more than 1500. The fitbit site is free- fitbit.com go in and try (you can enter your exercise yourself-flex does the steps for you) Good luck!

    Wow that's great! I just got a fitbit flex but I have yet to get in 10,000 steps. Hopefully this weekend the rain will stop and I can get some walking in.