Am I eating too little?

yirara
yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I'm 169cm and my weight is about 74kg, office worker, high brainpower job, 40ish. I've been on this weight for quite a while and would love to lose a bit. The main reason I started out here is to find out more about my eating habits. I have the feeling I'm eating too little, though I'm not hungry and don't feel like my brain needs more energy.

Over the last few days I've eaten about 1774 kcal per day, plus have been doing 2 Bodyrock workouts right after another per day on 5 days per week (plus warmup and stretching afterwards). Without 10s breaks between exercises that's about 5+35+8 minutes of sport. I did 30 Day Shred before (15 times), but all the jumping around wasn't the right thing for a previously injured foot, and it was too easy.

I started doing sport after a few month break in early May. So far I've lost about 1.8cm around the thinnest spot of my waist and half a cm here and there. Nothing has happened on my scale (though, lets be honest: it's an old mechanical one).

Questions: Am I eating too little for losing a bit of weight/more cm, especially in combination with the exercise? Or is the exercise so insignificant that it doesn't really matter?

Replies

  • InFitRealm
    InFitRealm Posts: 36 Member
    Eating to little should not cause a gain weight. Eating at your deficit will cause a weight loss. That's all.
    Maybe the exercises you're doing are too light. Your physical fitness is improving along with exercising. So after time you burn less calories doing the same.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    48 minutes of exercise being fueled by 1778 calories does not seem too little. But you may wish to set your diary to public for a more informed answer:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    I prefer to keep my diary private for now. 1770kcal on average per day minus sport: Lets just assume it's 100 kcal*, then that would be just 200 something kcal above my basal metabolic rate (1430-80 depending on method). Isn't that too little?

    *logging 35 minutes of circuit training here gives me over 300kcal, but it sounds a bit too much. If this was true then I'd be below my BMR
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    I prefer to keep my diary private for now. 1770kcal on average per day minus sport: Lets just assume it's 100 kcal*, then that would be just 200 something kcal above my basal metabolic rate (1430-80 depending on method). Isn't that too little?

    *logging 35 minutes of circuit training here gives me over 300kcal, but it sounds a bit too much. If this was true then I'd be below my BMR

    There's a topic here somewhere about eating below BMR not being the end of the world. Other than that, how do you feel? If you want a bit more food, add about 100 cal per day and adjust from there. Otherwise carry on as current. I dunno. Were the specifics of your exercise supposed to change my previous answer? :smile:
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    There is one of two things happening here....

    You are retaining water from the new exercise and you will lose it with a woosh.
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

    or

    You are eating more than you think....if you aren't logging accurately (weighing solids, choosing correct entries etc) you may not be at a deficit.

    as for eating under your BMR

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr
    I did for the first 3 months I was here...I am still alive.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Not sure about number 1, Stef. It never happened when I started exercising. Either I'm not retaining more water or it's just stuck. Or my scale is simply too imprecise, which is a very likely answer as well.

    I'm very precise about what I log. I do prefer simple meals with few fresh ingredients. Those are simple to log. The issue is the canteen food at work, but based on my own cooking I feel that the canteen posts somewhat high-ish calorie amounts.

    I have never logged by food intake before, but have not eaten differently since starting here. Thus I'm not surprised if my calorie intake is very similar to the past - and there my weight was stable or went slightly up until it turned stable again. I certainly should not eat less as I cannot concentrate anymore then. That's for certain.

    edit: before I'll continue babbling I'll read the linked posts. Tonight, not at the office.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    This person has only been doing this for a couple of days.
    It is way too early to be telling whether something is or isn't working.

    1773 calories for a female sounds about right.
    People tend to overestimate their exercise calories burned.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    This person has only been doing this for a couple of days.
    It is way too early to be telling whether something is or isn't working.

    1773 calories for a female sounds about right.
    People tend to overestimate their exercise calories burned.

    And under estimate their food. Or drink their calories. Or leave out oils and condiments. All things that can be spotted when an open diary is reviewed. *shrug*
  • InFitRealm
    InFitRealm Posts: 36 Member
    This person has only been doing this for a couple of days.
    It is way too early to be telling whether something is or isn't working.

    1773 calories for a female sounds about right.
    People tend to overestimate their exercise calories burned.

    I was thinking about the overestimating the calories burnt too. One cardio does not equal another. I measure my burn with HRM. And when i did some cardio acording to one program I burnt about 290 kcal during 50 minutes. Then I switched to another trainer. The exercises differed, not a lot but considerably. And my calories burnt jumped up to 400-490 kcal (depending on day etc.). And I also saw the results with my weight/measurments. So it's hard to estimate by yourself how much you burn only by training time as the way you exercise and your phisical condition matters a lot.
  • trinatrina1984
    trinatrina1984 Posts: 1,018 Member
    Agree with both of the above posts, its probably a little soon to see much of a difference so give it a little longer - a week or 2 maybe. Also if you want constructive advice you probably need to give all the details - which would be visable in your diary. What are your reasons for not wanting it open? In my experience having it open for all to see and being 100% honest with myself has made me think more about what I'm putting in my mouth.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Not opening up the diary: my food is regionally very telling. Internet privacy and such. I'll keep it at that.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    you are losing inches. that's something...
  • HerbertNenenger
    HerbertNenenger Posts: 453 Member
    you're getting smaller, what difference does the scale make?
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    Can we drop that "you are eating more than you think" for a moment? Not everyone knows how to log their food, true, but not everyone loses weight at the same speed either. Assuming everyone is lying seems the big trend on this forum these days...:huh:

    OP is losing inches, already better progress than some who accuse everyone else is lying about their food while they themself lose nothing. She's just confused by the scale number that's all.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Can we drop that "you are eating more than you think" for a moment? Not everyone knows how to log their food, true, but not everyone loses weight at the same speed either. Assuming everyone is lying seems the big trend on this forum these days...:huh:

    OP is losing inches, already better progress than some who accuse everyone else is lying about their food while they themself lose nothing. She's just confused by the scale number that's all.

    I can only go by what she's written. She's been at this for "quite a while" and hasn't lost any weight. If quite a while is more than around six to eight weeks, she's eating at maintenance or at a surplus. Which one of us that gives this advice isn't losing any weight???

    Would you like to see me suck my tummy in and lose 2 inches off my waist? While I agree that the scale shouldn't rule your life, at some point if you keep ignoring the scale it will ignore you right back. Or worse yet, go up. Doing exercise is in and of itself an excellent accomplishment, but weight loss happens in a caloric deficit
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
    Can we drop that "you are eating more than you think" for a moment? Not everyone knows how to log their food, true, but not everyone loses weight at the same speed either. Assuming everyone is lying seems the big trend on this forum these days...:huh:

    OP is losing inches, already better progress than some who accuse everyone else is lying about their food while they themself lose nothing. She's just confused by the scale number that's all.

    To be fair, in this instance, she asked a straight forward question but since we don't know each other and we don't have all her information that relates to the question (ie most important being calorie intake) no one can truly make a judgement.
  • Sparxx42
    Sparxx42 Posts: 1 Member
    The tape measure is more indicative of progress than the scales. If you've been doing the Shred workout, then you've been doing strength training as well as cardio. ST builds muscle, muscle weighs more than fat.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    We're missing some standard links here. Read them for ideas on where your logging may be inaccurate. You may have already identified your canteen. In my case, it's just silly. In my work cafeteria, Great vegetables like broccoli are drenched in oil, rendering them useless to my weight loss goals. Unless you have some clear information - steamed veg with no added ingredients, for example, I would not assume. Another place where I found calories I hadn't thought about was dipping sauces. I had heard certain sauces were low in calories. Turns out I was missing the greater part of 200 calories whenever I used them, or drenched them all over my salads. Things like that

    And OP, reading the thread, nobody called you a liar. Many of us have been here before and I wish you the best. :flowerforyou: Another resource since you're currently not in a position to open your diary is to just keep searching the forums and hopefully you see some more hints that point you to your answers

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Yes, you're right. The tape measure is telling, and indeed, measuring the tummy is difficult. To be honest, some reduction there might just be from building more muscles, which in return hold the tummy contents better in place ;) Who knows...

    Yes, I think I need more time. I think I've been working out since April or so this time around. First doing a boot camp outside the office once a week (now cancelled due to too hot weather) and a Mark Lauren refresher (did that program until about January), then boot camp and 30 day shred, which I dropped due to a hurting foot and boredom, now bodyrock with slowly getting into using heavier weights wherever possible instead of just doing bodyweight.
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