Working out, FitBit and eating calories back

HDCANDYZ
HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I regularly do exercise, I actually do CrossFit about 5-6 times a week and I have a FitBit. I used to weigh about 300 pounds in 2010 and dropped down to about 165 pounds in 10 months from a 900-1200 cal/day diet with 1 hour of cardio. I was dropping about 2-3 pounds a week. I was introduced to CrossFit at the end of 2010 when I was super skinny (and unhealthy) and have done it ever since. However I struggle with knowing how much I should eat and have had this struggle since 2010. I now eat clean, drink water since then, but I'm no purist, I like to cheat like anyone else. I'm now around 170 pounds or so. I'm 5'11" and I am a Male, 29 years old. My BMR was calculated to be about 1900 cal/day.

I keep my FitBit and MFP set to lose 1 pound a week as FitBit is synced to MFP. It's tough to figure out using FitBit to see how much calories I have burned so I keep everything at a 500 calorie/1 pound week loss deficit and eat back or try to eat back what MFP and FitBit report. I should be aiming to get stronger, but I feel I'm getting weaker or not making progress, all of this for 3 1/2 years!

I have excess skin/fat around my mid-section and love-handles and have experimented with cutting carbs and just doing lean meats, veggies, some fruit and healthy fats and I noticed I got leaner and lost weight, but so did my strength at the expesnse of trying to rid of this extra skin/fat. If I eat clean carbs, my body puts fat on.

I'm following something like Paleo, but not 100%, pretty darn close though and I eat clean and track all that I can. I'm wondering if having this constant deficit is making things worse again? I have it set so I still eat back what I burn but I still loose weight. I'm trying to loose fat is being more honest.

What should I do to get back to my leaner self? I should say I don't need to lose 10 pounds since muscle displaces fat, but I keep struggling trying to get results in the gym.

I mainly sit or stand during my day to day activities and then do CrossFit which makes me quite active, so I'm not sure if I should be sedentary in the MFP settings.

Should I stick to Maintenance calories of 2200 NET for Sedentary and then just do an extra 300 calories on CrossFit days?

I do eat clean, so I get full fast and don't meet my calorie goals, is meeting calorie goals a MUST??? I'm just not hungry.

I'm not sure what I should be doing, or if I should be 2200 daily and then eat more on those CF days.

Replies

  • HDCANDYZ
    HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
    BUMP
  • jkoenig1980
    jkoenig1980 Posts: 31 Member
    Whats your carb % at?
  • sticky130
    sticky130 Posts: 101 Member
    I use Fitbit alongside MFP also, I have it set also towards negative calories to they are really in sync & have it set at sedentary. I record all activity on Fitbit and that in turn feeds back to MFP.

    This means calories allowed changes dynamically through the week dependant on activity for each particular day, as long as my average for each day is ok I don't worry too much whether I eat more or less on activity day. I'm losing about 2lb on average each week this way.

    Please feel free to look at my diary, it's always open, I use IIFYM and try to hit about 120 a day for protein minimum, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't!! The rest of the calories then come from fat & carbs, but carbs I do try to keep lower.

    Good luck!
  • HDCANDYZ
    HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
    I have my carbs set at 40%, so around 230 carbs, but most of the time, I eat vegetables or kidney beans, so I'm netting around 100 to 150 carbs for the day after fiber is subtracted. I do 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. I focus more on protein being about 170 grams, so 1 gram per pound of body weight and then fit in fats and carbs as it were.
  • HDCANDYZ
    HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
    I struggle a lot with weight issues or body issues. My goal is to be lean and healthy and having strength. I just don't know how many calories I should eat per day, whether it's dynamic or static or even eat back exercise calories. I have binge eating issues too, as I just had a pretty bad one last night. I'm not sure what to do after a bad binge. Being 30 years of age, and thinking I should know what to do, but don't feels wrong. I know to eat right, but I keep re-focusing all my efforts of trying to rid this subcutaneous excess fat or stubborn fat from when I lost a ton of weight in a 10 month time span.

    Maybe a 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat split is wrong? I do CrossFit, I classify myself as "Lightly Active". I get very worried everything is wrong and it's a day to day affair of worrying about calories and weight, and well, just about everything as well.

    I should note that I'm not fat, but I would like to be leaner, I just don't know what is a realistic goal and what is not. I have very skewed goals and I haven't really been treated by a health nutritionist.
  • keengkong
    keengkong Posts: 83 Member
    Do you follow the calorie allowances of MFP or Fitbit? As to what you should weigh, check out this calculator from the National Institutes of Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm.

    It sounds like you might have an eating disorder. Or you might just be another person without a disorder who has trouble sorting out issues regarding weight. You might want to consider going to a registered dietitian who regularly deals with both weight loss and eating disorder issues. The dietitian will best be able to tell you how to eat in order to achieve your goals.
  • bstender82
    bstender82 Posts: 14 Member
    Do you follow the calorie allowances of MFP or Fitbit? As to what you should weigh, check out this calculator from the National Institutes of Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm.

    It sounds like you might have an eating disorder. Or you might just be another person without a disorder who has trouble sorting out issues regarding weight. You might want to consider going to a registered dietitian who regularly deals with both weight loss and eating disorder issues. The dietitian will best be able to tell you how to eat in order to achieve your goals.

    ++++++
    This is great advice
  • HDCANDYZ
    HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
    Do you follow the calorie allowances of MFP or Fitbit? As to what you should weigh, check out this calculator from the National Institutes of Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm.

    It sounds like you might have an eating disorder. Or you might just be another person without a disorder who has trouble sorting out issues regarding weight. You might want to consider going to a registered dietitian who regularly deals with both weight loss and eating disorder issues. The dietitian will best be able to tell you how to eat in order to achieve your goals.

    I have had FitBit synced up to MFP, but I wanted an approach to a set amount of calories a day, so I have removed FitBit from MFP. Should I keep it on all the time? To answer the question, I stick to MFP and just eat up to the amount given. I'm mixed between sedentary and lightly active, but it really can vary. There can be a couple days I get really active. Today, not so much as I had a terrible binge last night, absolutely terrible. Are the numbers MFP give accurate enough for calorie consumption? I just feel that when I eat more, even by a little, it packs on fast.

    I can say I've been dealing with an eating disorder, although not officially diagnosed, online quizzes/tests I've done indicate I have one. I never know if I should eat back my exercise calories as I don't really have a way to track it all. My thinking is just eat 2400 calories a day and then exercise will create a deficit. I'm not sure how to approach it. Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal than it really is, but I'm super OCD, and everything gets to me.

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