TDEE - 20% Help - Why has it stopped?

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  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
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    Thank you. I'm going to try 1200 cals for a couple of weeks. I do make and eat a lot of homemade stuff but try and be accurate with the calories. And I know how much a cup weighs etc. But if I go for 1200 and I am underestimating hopefully this will balance it out! Fingers crossed it will shift the last few pounds!
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    edited October 2014
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    I see a lot of entries labeled as "homemade". Are you entering the recipes yourself, or are you finding stuff in the database that is similar to what you ate? Also...1 chicken breast. What size was the chicken breast? What if the one you used was two times the size of the entry? I really think you may be eating a bit more than you realize. Enough to put you at maintenance.

    Thank you. I'm going to try 1200 cals for a couple of weeks. I do make and eat a lot of homemade stuff but try and be accurate with the calories. And I know how much a cup weighs etc. But if I go for 1200 and I am underestimating hopefully this will balance it out! Fingers crossed it will shift the last few pounds!

    Not a bad idea.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    She is pretty light--she's 132 and 5'1, so at 36 her TDEE is probably around what she's calculating.
    Based on her stats (estimating 3-5 hrs exercise) im getting 2200 for maintenance, 1700 for 20% deficit. Or 2000ish for 10%

    I used 4 times per week (since the exercise is typically about 45 mins) and M-SJ, and got about 1750 for maintenance, which seems more likely to me, but I know you and I tend to prefer different calculators/sites here. As she has a logging record, the best thing for her to do is calculate it herself based on her numbers. If she hasn't been meeting her goal consistently, that might be helpful. (I'm not suggesting this is true.)

    The point is she's currently doing 1400 (or believes she is) and not losing. Her issue is not eating too little.

    She's working out 5-6x a week, if it's all at 45mins then thajt's within the 3-5hr range. Although I much prefer recommending sites like exrx.net and health-calc.com for better accuracy, because these drop-downs don't account for NEAT very well if deviating from the average.

    I used scooby's, which is pretty well liked here. 3-5hr corresponds to 3-5 days according to the site owner.

    She's really not going to be doing herself any favours dropping her goal to 1200, even if she's eating more than she thinks. Sustainable goal + weighing food should start yielding some results, and if after a month OP hasn't lost a few lbs then she can easily just lower her intake goal for sure.

    But to OP specifically, you are not logging correctly. You go over some days, sometimes by a lot. Inconsistencies like this changes your weekly average, which is what matters for losses. You also do not weigh food. Buy a food scale, calculate your TDEE from a few calculators and average them out, and then subtract 10% from them and monitor for a month or two.

    I also just spotted a "homemade." and I'm guessing it's a generic MFP entry from the database. If you are eating something homemade, use the recipe builder (even though it might still suck unless they have made changes to it to fix it) and enter in your own ingredients.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
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    Thank you. I'm going to try 1200 cals for a couple of weeks. I do make and eat a lot of homemade stuff but try and be accurate with the calories. And I know how much a cup weighs etc.

    The question isn't whether you make food at home. The question is this: When you eat something homemade, do you enter the recipe yourself, or do you rely on someone else's "homemade" entry? Do the former, not the latter. And you can't "know how much a cup weighs." A cup of what? Weighing in grams is much more accurate than scooping out 1 cup or 1 tablespoon of something (which is why professional cooks and especially bakers always weigh ingredients in grams). Food labels have weight in grams and then may provide an imperial measurement (cup/tablespoon/teaspoon) as a guide, but it's the grams that are accurate.

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    scrittrice wrote: »
    Thank you. I'm going to try 1200 cals for a couple of weeks. I do make and eat a lot of homemade stuff but try and be accurate with the calories. And I know how much a cup weighs etc.

    The question isn't whether you make food at home. The question is this: When you eat something homemade, do you enter the recipe yourself, or do you rely on someone else's "homemade" entry? Do the former, not the latter. And you can't "know how much a cup weighs." A cup of what? Weighing in grams is much more accurate than scooping out 1 cup or 1 tablespoon of something (which is why professional cooks and especially bakers always weigh ingredients in grams). Food labels have weight in grams and then may provide an imperial measurement (cup/tablespoon/teaspoon) as a guide, but it's the grams that are accurate.

    All this. Plus, 1cup of say... oats, will not weigh the same as one cup of uh... cooked pasta. And 1 cup of cooked pasta won't weigh the same as 1 cup of dry pasta.

    Weigh everything and use your own recipes and only use trusted recipes.

    Also your logging in general is not tight, and making your deficit even larger when your goal should be to increase your food intake to ~10-15% deficit max from maintenance is probably not a good idea. Log accurately and meet your realistic, sustainable goals, and you should see results.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    Lucky you Ruth. I'm eating less than 1400 a day and only maintaining


    you are logging this, but likely not eating this. But either way, the goal is still probably not where it should be, especially with so litlte to lose. The less you have to lose, the more you should eat. I have probably 20lbs or more to lose and I'm likely going to switch to 15% deficit instead of 20%, which is another 100 cals added, give or take, to my NEAT. Slower loss but I really want to limit muscle loss.
  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    Someone is telling me to eat 1200 cals a day, another eat 1700.. ha ha. Nobody knows really do they? So frustrating! (not your fault, I just wish there was an answer or something tried and tested)

    If you don't see the irony in your own post there's an issue. You say people are saying eat 1200 other say 1700 and they don't really know what to tell you, but yet you are the one looking for answers for yourself, from other people. Then you wish there was something tried and test, well, there is, you recently lost weight, have been at it several months, you tried and tested it, unfortunately you failed to analyze the data and results properly. You should have your own answers by now but you're lost. Makes no sense.

    Christ. The MFP community likes to berate people. Why so harsh? I was only asking for a bit of advice - not a character assassination. What doesn't make sense is why you can't just give some constructive advice rather than imply I am in the wrong for asking for it, when this is exactly what this forum is for. Chill out. If you think I'm stupid so be it. You're clearly suffering from some kind of inferior complex to feel so compelled to tell me this. It can only be to make yourself feel superior. Bravo. Well done you. Hope you feel magnificent now. With your small penis.
  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your advice. Much appreciated. Lots to take away, think about and learn from. Kind regards.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Kelly- Ignore him. He's here to belittle people.

    I don't see your post now but you said something about eating more on Sundays and going very low on Mondays? I was curious if you logged those Sunday 'up' days so I checked 4 in October and only one had any food logged. It's very easy to ruin a whole week of deficit-earning in one day, when your intake level is low like ours is. Those last pounds take serious logging and attention. It's hard.

    Good luck!

  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
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    Kelly- Ignore him. He's here to belittle people.

    I don't see your post now but you said something about eating more on Sundays and going very low on Mondays? I was curious if you logged those Sunday 'up' days so I checked 4 in October and only one had any food logged. It's very easy to ruin a whole week of deficit-earning in one day, when your intake level is low like ours is. Those last pounds take serious logging and attention. It's hard.

    Good luck!

    Good advice. Thanks love x
  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Someone is telling me to eat 1200 cals a day, another eat 1700.. ha ha. Nobody knows really do they? So frustrating! (not your fault, I just wish there was an answer or something tried and tested)

    If you don't see the irony in your own post there's an issue. You say people are saying eat 1200 other say 1700 and they don't really know what to tell you, but yet you are the one looking for answers for yourself, from other people. Then you wish there was something tried and test, well, there is, you recently lost weight, have been at it several months, you tried and tested it, unfortunately you failed to analyze the data and results properly. You should have your own answers by now but you're lost. Makes no sense.

    Christ. The MFP community likes to berate people. Why so harsh? I was only asking for a bit of advice - not a character assassination. What doesn't make sense is why you can't just give some constructive advice rather than imply I am in the wrong for asking for it, when this is exactly what this forum is for. Chill out. If you think I'm stupid so be it. You're clearly suffering from some kind of inferior complex to feel so compelled to tell me this. It can only be to make yourself feel superior. Bravo. Well done you. Hope you feel magnificent now. With your small penis.

    Lol. Nice try.

    A little defensive aren't we. The truth is you should have been able to analyze your own data. Reevaluate your logging.

    It wouldn't have occurred to me as I was being successful for so long. So I thought I was doing it right. Plus I wouldn't know what exactly I was evaluating and how to analyse it and make changes accordingly. So tips on how to do this is more useful than implying I am stupid for not doing it.
    Keep twiddling your little worm though, make yourself feel better. Go on.


    Kelly- Ignore him. He's here to belittle people.

    I don't see your post now but you said something about eating more on Sundays and going very low on Mondays? I was curious if you logged those Sunday 'up' days so I checked 4 in October and only one had any food logged. It's very easy to ruin a whole week of deficit-earning in one day, when your intake level is low like ours is. Those last pounds take serious logging and attention. It's hard.

    Good luck!

    Oh boo hooo. Hi WK. Maybe suggest she drop her calories to 800 or 600. VLCD for everyone. The truth is not belittling people. People just want things sugar coated.

    Sprinkles.

  • stuart160
    stuart160 Posts: 1,628 Member
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    I hate to preach to people or tell them how many calories to eat and think that people should set their own goals using good reliable information. Reading some of the forums and seeing people struggling to stick to calorie restrictions that are below their BMR and starving or stalled in their weight loss goals while people on forums berate and tell them that they are obviously not actually eating those low calories numbers disturbs me because they don't seem to get the difference between BMR and TDEE and the byproduct of eating below your BMR for long periods of time. Rather than tell anyone else what to do here is a site that we use at my Health and Wellness Center to help people stay on track. We have verified the results by having people use the site and then placing them in our BodBod and the results are not far off in comparison: http://www.fat2fittools.com. I hope it helps you restart your journey.
  • JustFindingMe
    JustFindingMe Posts: 390 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Am I reading this correctly that you have only 9-7 Lbs or so to go? If you have that little to go, it's going to be very slow...you don't have the fat stores you used to have for faster weight loss. Most people with very little to lose dial it back to about TDEE - 5-10%...20% is pretty aggressive if you don't have much fat to lose.

    This ^
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Am I reading this correctly that you have only 9-7 Lbs or so to go? If you have that little to go, it's going to be very slow...you don't have the fat stores you used to have for faster weight loss. Most people with very little to lose dial it back to about TDEE - 5-10%...20% is pretty aggressive if you don't have much fat to lose.

    This ^

    She'd rather go with 1200 calories... she doesn't believe in this advice. Several people including myself have said this good advice to her. Oh well...
    Thank you. I'm going to try 1200 cals for a couple of weeks. I do make and eat a lot of homemade stuff but try and be accurate with the calories. And I know how much a cup weighs etc. But if I go for 1200 and I am underestimating hopefully this will balance it out! Fingers crossed it will shift the last few pounds!

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    stuart160 wrote: »
    I hate to preach to people or tell them how many calories to eat and think that people should set their own goals using good reliable information. Reading some of the forums and seeing people struggling to stick to calorie restrictions that are below their BMR and starving or stalled in their weight loss goals while people on forums berate and tell them that they are obviously not actually eating those low calories numbers disturbs me because they don't seem to get the difference between BMR and TDEE and the byproduct of eating below your BMR for long periods of time. Rather than tell anyone else what to do here is a site that we use at my Health and Wellness Center to help people stay on track. We have verified the results by having people use the site and then placing them in our BodBod and the results are not far off in comparison: http://www.fat2fittools.com. I hope it helps you restart your journey.

    That site is a blog by some guy who offers no information about who he is or what his qualifications are.

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    stuart160 wrote: »
    I hate to preach to people or tell them how many calories to eat and think that people should set their own goals using good reliable information. Reading some of the forums and seeing people struggling to stick to calorie restrictions that are below their BMR and starving or stalled in their weight loss goals while people on forums berate and tell them that they are obviously not actually eating those low calories numbers disturbs me because they don't seem to get the difference between BMR and TDEE and the byproduct of eating below your BMR for long periods of time. Rather than tell anyone else what to do here is a site that we use at my Health and Wellness Center to help people stay on track. We have verified the results by having people use the site and then placing them in our BodBod and the results are not far off in comparison: http://www.fat2fittools.com. I hope it helps you restart your journey.

    That site is a blog by some guy who offers no information about who he is or what his qualifications are.
    Doesn't matter what his qualifications are, because the website uses established energy calculations, albeit should replace HB equation with MSJ formula. Either way, established calculations.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    stuart160 wrote: »
    I hate to preach to people or tell them how many calories to eat and think that people should set their own goals using good reliable information. Reading some of the forums and seeing people struggling to stick to calorie restrictions that are below their BMR and starving or stalled in their weight loss goals while people on forums berate and tell them that they are obviously not actually eating those low calories numbers disturbs me because they don't seem to get the difference between BMR and TDEE and the byproduct of eating below your BMR for long periods of time. Rather than tell anyone else what to do here is a site that we use at my Health and Wellness Center to help people stay on track. We have verified the results by having people use the site and then placing them in our BodBod and the results are not far off in comparison: http://www.fat2fittools.com. I hope it helps you restart your journey.

    That site is a blog by some guy who offers no information about who he is or what his qualifications are.
    Doesn't matter what his qualifications are, because the website uses established energy calculations, albeit should replace HB equation with MSJ formula. Either way, established calculations.
    I'm talking about his un-cited claim that "when eating below BMR you risk losing muscle mass". There is no study or authority anywhere who has ever said that.