Am I doing this right? So confused!

lschaal1
lschaal1 Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
I need nutrition advice. I'm at a 2.5 month stand-still with my weight loss. I go down a couple lbs, up a couple, and over again. I'm a stay at home mom & listed my activity level as sedentary, because I go through phases where I just can't find the time to workout how I'd like. This allows me up to 1540 calories per day.
The last couple of months though, I've discovered some short 15 min workouts here & there, have also taken up yoga, and have been doing them fairly regularly (3-5 times per week).
I want to do some sort of workout at least 5 times per week (with the opportunity to rest the other 2 days, but maybe still do yoga or simply light stretching). Right now I'm eating around 1300 calories per day, and burning anywhere from 100-250 calories per day with exercise. I rarely if ever go over my allotted 1540 cals.
I am feeling pretty confused about if I'm doing things right? I lose weight steadily when I eat low calorie levels, and do not work out. I stop losing when I workout more often.
My questions are: Maybe my listed activity level needs to change so I can "eat back" some of the burned exercise calories...? But I have no idea how I could add on another 200, or even more, calories to my diet without eating less healthy than I am now. I'm very conscious of my calorie intake, eating fruits, veggies, chicken, fish, salad, nuts, berries, etc every single day. And some days I am stuffed to the brim & do not want to eat anything else.
Just not sure if I'm still on the right track, and this long plateau is discouraging.

Replies

  • KrishDaNa
    KrishDaNa Posts: 31 Member
    How much weight are you looking to lose? The right amount of calories partly depends on the amount of weight you want to lose.

    Also, how long have you been eating 1300 calories?

    Are you using a heart rate monitor to track the number of calories you are burning through exercise?
  • lschaal1
    lschaal1 Posts: 8
    KrisDa24 wrote: »
    How much weight are you looking to lose? The right amount of calories partly depends on the amount of weight you want to lose.

    Also, how long have you been eating 1300 calories?

    Are you using a heart rate monitor to track the number of calories you are burning through exercise?

    I'm down 25 & wanting to lose about another 25lbs. I'm not terribly concerned about how many lbs per week, as long as I'm losing regularly.

    I've been eating 1300 (give or take) for a month now with no binges or real deviation from diet (minus one night of drinks & dinner out).

    I do not have a heart rate monitor unfortunately. Is this something I truly need? I'm new to most of this. I go mostly off of what the MFP app suggests I've burned. I usually overestimate my intake calories & then underestimate my exercise calories just in case.
  • jennifurballs
    jennifurballs Posts: 247 Member
    Try exercising for fitness versus to be able to eat more. I don't eat back my exercise calories. Like you, I couldn't eat that much without eating calorie dense foods that aren't good for me.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited October 2014
    How accurately do you track your calories in? Use a food scale for all solid food, use accurate entries? Such as weighing chicken raw and entering into your food log using a raw entry. Logging all drinks, condiments, cooking oils, etc.? Not using other people's 'homemade' entries.

    If you do not use a food scale, and/or do not account 100% accurately for everything you consume: your diary is incomplete/inaccurate. Using cups for solid food, or estimating portion sizes ANd not losing weight? Then you're eating more than you think. The key is to improve accuracy of your diary and/or move more so as to burn more calories. Its not just about 'exercise' but increasing general activity.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    edited October 2014
    How many pounds per week did you say you want to lose?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    When you say that you stop losing when you workout more often, how long do you let yourself "workout more often" before going back to working out less? The reason I ask is that your muscles will retain water to repair muscle tissue. If you increase your workout intensity, you are going to see a bit of a gain in weight and may have a level weight for a bit. By "a bit", I mean that it could be several weeks, not just several days. At a certain point your body adjusts though.
  • AdamRNY
    AdamRNY Posts: 6 Member
    To me I think you are not eating enough. Everyone is different but you have a month's worth of results showing that 1300 is not working. While you are not a workout junkie I am sure you are burning more calories than the sedentary setting is estimating. Try eating at least the 1540 and I would suggest eating at least half of your workout calories back for a bit to see how that works. If you don't eat enough you don't have enough energy to workout well plus your body can actually hold onto fat thinking it's going into starvation mode. Eating a few extra hundred calories is not hard when you think about eating some extra fruit, a glass of milk or just increasing some of your portions.

    Good luck
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    lschaal1 wrote: »
    I do not have a heart rate monitor unfortunately. Is this something I truly need? I'm new to most of this. I go mostly off of what the MFP app suggests I've burned. I usually overestimate my intake calories & then underestimate my exercise calories just in case.

    The MFP app greatly exaggerates calorie burns for many exercises. For example, if I bicycle for an hour at 15 mph on flat terrain, I burn about 500 calories according to both my HRM and a bike effort calculator (using speed, distance, and weight to estimate). MFP claims that I burn 800. That's a 60% inflation, enough to wipe out my current 250-calorie deficit for the day.

    You don't necessarily need a HRM. They are more accurate than MFP but still only provide an estimate. They are best for steady-state, moderate to intense cardio: think running, cycling, speedwalking, fast swimming (though most don't work in the water), cross-country skiing, stair climbing, etc. They are generally not very accurate for stop-and-go kinds of exercise, where your heart rate changes frequently.

    Many people start with MFP's estimates and then log only 50% or 75% of those calories.
  • jennifurballs
    jennifurballs Posts: 247 Member
    adamroman374 wrote: »
    If you don't eat enough you don't have enough energy to workout well plus your body can actually hold onto fat thinking it's going into starvation mode.

    Absolutely not correct.

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    edited October 2014
    adamroman374 wrote: »
    If you don't eat enough you don't have enough energy to workout well plus your body can actually hold onto fat thinking it's going into starvation mode.
    NO!

    OP can you open your diary. Additionally, HOW are you calculating your burns and what are your stats?

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