How much must I lie to myself?

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WolverhamptonFitness
WolverhamptonFitness Posts: 233 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It is a genuine question. IIFYM, BMR, MFP - all these calculators say I need to eat around 2200 cals to lose weight. I have dropped my MFP To 1700 and I excercise daily - I do eat my excercise Cals back. But Yet my weight loss has taken a long time. I have lost 70 pounds before MFP and I am not the best at logging, But I must be kidding myself if I want to eat 1700 cals and I am able to eat 2200 to lose weight.

Is this common? Is this a "spinning wheels in the dirt" situation?

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    If the calorie counting method has any merit you will lose weight faster at 1700 than 2200. Is that more rewarding than an extra 500 cals of food a day ?
  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
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    If you are using the IIFYM site you do not eat back your calories. It already takes it into account.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Whats your point? that you intend to eat 1700 instead of the 2200 the calculator says to lose weight?

    Its only a question of degree as to what level of deficit you are willing to impose upon your BMR. If you think you can do 1700 and sustain it, then do it. Do check what the 2200 represents as you dont explain it. 2200 could be correct as could 1700.

    The only guidelines if it were me would be dont aim to lose more than 2lbs a week, so you do ti safely and make sure you are above 1200 and pref to ensure you get enough nutrition.

    Not getting the lie bit. Dont think you can manage and sustain it then dont do it. Lifesyle change indicates its soemthing you intend to sustain. I would be more concerned at your weakness in logging, which is the cornerstone of using MFP and ensuring you are a deficit, which is equally or more imporant than a number.
  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
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    Also, weight loss will take longer depending on how much you have to lose m if you were losing weight before MFP why not sick with that?
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Dont really get it. Why do you 'want' to eat 1,700? How much does this lose you a week?
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
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    If the calculators say you can eat 2,200 calories to lose weight - Why only eat 1700 calories.

    Eat the full 2,200 calories - I don't get it??

    Am I being thick here???
  • WolverhamptonFitness
    WolverhamptonFitness Posts: 233 Member
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    I think my point must of gone over everyones head. This post wasnt so much about "why" or "What" im doing.

    Its more to do with the "I think im hitting the goals I set, But i cant be, Hence IM Lieing to myself"
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited October 2014
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    areas you can be lying to yourself

    - you are not accurately logging food you eat, because you don't digitally weigh everything or select the right on entry on MFP database - or you sometimes eat stuff and don't log it
    - you are not accurately logging exercise calories burned either because you believe the machines or MFP database and aren't cutting them in half before logging, or you mistake the intensity and duration

    or you are not understanding that it's all estimates and it can only be a guideline and you need to tweak it until it works for you - calories given can be out by up to 20% even if you're logging accurately with measurements

    track how much weight you're losing over time, average it out and roughly if it's a lb a week you're eating 3500 under what you're using - that'll tell you your actual TDEE
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    WolverhamptonFitness wrote: »
    Its more to do with the "I think im hitting the goals I set, But i cant be, Hence IM Lieing to myself"

    an open diary might help.

    I think you're saying "I am hitting my MFP target with my logging but the weight loss is slower than it should be" ??
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    pander101 wrote: »
    If you are using the IIFYM site you do not eat back your calories. It already takes it into account.

    Not necessarily...

    OP if you aren't "that great at logging" that pretty much asnwers your question...

    Logging accurately is important regardless of the amount of calories.

  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,179 Member
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    WolverhamptonFitness wrote: »
    It is a genuine question. IIFYM, BMR, MFP - all these calculators say I need to eat around 2200 cals to lose weight. I have dropped my MFP To 1700 and I excercise daily - I do eat my excercise Cals back. But Yet my weight loss has taken a long time. I have lost 70 pounds before MFP and I am not the best at logging, But I must be kidding myself if I want to eat 1700 cals and I am able to eat 2200 to lose weight.

    Is this common? Is this a "spinning wheels in the dirt" situation?


    I think the bold part may be the issue
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    stillconfused.com
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I'm not understanding the actual question, but if you're not logging accurately, you're probably eating more than you think. Additionally, MFP calculates exercise calories high, so if you're eating those ALL back, you are eating more than you think.
  • Palamedes
    Palamedes Posts: 174 Member
    edited October 2014
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    Areas of self-doubt and questions about effectiveness of various fitness activities (goal weight, speed of weight loss, exercise calories, etc...) are very common. I spent weeks deciding to add an additional 15 pound weight loss to my 36 pound weight loss goal. You need to explore these issues and the MFP forums generally provide a good out-let for discussing these issues.

    Let's talk speed of weight loss. Right now, I have MFP helping me lose 1lb per week. However, my actual weight loss over the last two weeks was 3.2 pounds. That means I lost approximately 1.5 pounds per week. I'm a very good cook and baker. That means that my logging into MFP is close to accurate. As long as I keep withing 10% of my goal calories, I feel I'm doing okay. Since I'm not really struggling and I can keep this pace for a long time, I'm not trying to go faster.

    As nice as 3 lbs over 2 weeks is, the real achievement was actually fat loss. I lost 8 pounds of fat over the last two weeks. I gained some hydration and put on some muscle. In terms of lifetime fitness, this was way more important than the 3lbs of weight loss. I'm finally starting to get my body into some sort of shape. However, in order to cut fat and put on muscle, I have to actually eat. Otherwise, I would start losing muscle.

    I think the first thing you need to do is fix your accuracy problem. Get a food scale, get some cup measures, and an accurate tablespoon measure. Weight or measure your food and make sure you have a good level of accuracy in your logging food into MFP. Once you improve your accuracy in logging, you might find some additional weight loss.

    At the same time, start measuring your exercise by looking at other estimates of calories used during exercise and go with the lowest measure. For example, Strava consistenly logs me for about 2/3rds the calories that MFP does when I ride my bike. Therefore, I use Strava all the time.

    Finally, I will leave you with one other bit of advice. Make haste a bit slower. Tone down your expectations of weight loss and try to achieve steady weight loss. You have time. In some ways, this whole venture is about finding some balance. Finding balance in a diet that works towards your over-all level of fitness. Finding exercise that works in you schedule and works towards your goals of over-all fitness. Slow and steady will win the race in the long run.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    dinosnopro wrote: »
    WolverhamptonFitness wrote: »
    It is a genuine question. IIFYM, BMR, MFP - all these calculators say I need to eat around 2200 cals to lose weight. I have dropped my MFP To 1700 and I excercise daily - I do eat my excercise Cals back. But Yet my weight loss has taken a long time. I have lost 70 pounds before MFP and I am not the best at logging, But I must be kidding myself if I want to eat 1700 cals and I am able to eat 2200 to lose weight.

    Is this common? Is this a "spinning wheels in the dirt" situation?


    I think the bold part may be the issue

    Beat me to it
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    edited October 2014
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I'm not understanding the actual question, but if you're not logging accurately, you're probably eating more than you think. Additionally, MFP calculates exercise calories high, so if you're eating those ALL back, you are eating more than you think.

    You got it Lis, for the sake of others let me translate:

    Hi, OP here. The calculators say I should be eating 2200 but I only eat 1700 and am losing slow despite eating back all my exercise calories which in my head equate to 2200. I admit I'm not the best at logging my intake, so what's going on here?



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