Could the fact that I regularly consume 1800-2200 calories a day during the weekend be stalling my w

Options
NakeshiaBeard
NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
in Health and Weight Loss
Could the fact that I regularly consume 1800-2200 calories a day during the weekend be stalling my weight loss? Normally I eat around 1400 calories a day and usually burn 150 - 500 of those without eating back what I've burned, but during the weekends I can consume quite a lot more calories due to drinking a couple of beers or ciders. I haven't lost weight for a good 3 months. Could this be due to eating more over 1 or 2 days a week? I'm 26, 165cm tall and at the moment weight 67kg.

Replies

  • charlieandcarol
    charlieandcarol Posts: 302 Member
    Options
    Have you tried adding up your total calories per week and dividing by 7 and seeing if that number equals your maintenance cals per day? You could be cancelling out your weekday deficit with your weekend consumption.
  • NakeshiaBeard
    NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
    Options
    I never thought about that, thanks!
  • mfp2014mfp
    mfp2014mfp Posts: 689 Member
    Options
    charlieandcarol wrote: »
    Have you tried adding up your total calories per week and dividing by 7 and seeing if that number equals your maintenance cals per day? You could be cancelling out your weekday deficit with your weekend consumption.

    There's also a function on the phone app which will show you your weekly net intake and if youre over :smile:

  • myrtille87
    myrtille87 Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    Look at your average calories (on the app, click the pie chart symbol on the left, then click "weekly" at the bottom - this should bring up a bar chart).

    If your average calories (in grey at the right-hand side of the chart) are below the orange line, then you're doing fine. If it's a bit over then you will probably be losing weight still, but slightly slower than you'd like. If it's significantly over every week then that will stall your weight loss.
  • NakeshiaBeard
    NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
    Options
    Like this?

    afuaxbtfip7a.png
  • myrtille87
    myrtille87 Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    Hi,

    Yes but mine (I use the iPad app) also shows a grey bar on the right which is the average.

    Obviously you can calculate your average yourself if the phone app doesn't do that. For the 6 days in your screenshot, your average is 1308 calories per day, so eating more at the weekend isn't a problem.

    But you have a couple of very low days (Tuesday and Thursday) - did you really eat that little? Or eat normally and do a lot of exercise? If you're doing more exercise remember you can eat a bit extra on those days.

    I'm guessing MFP has calculated your maintenance calories as just under 2,000 and you're aiming to lose 1lb per week (therefore a daily goal of just under 1,500 per day).

    Basically, if your average calorie intake is just under 1,500, you should typically lose 1lb per week.
    If your average calorie intake is just under 1,750, you should typically lose 0.5 lbs per week.
    If your average calorie intake is just under 2,000, your weight will stay the same.

    Basically, if you're eating at a significant deficit 5 days per week, overeating a bit at the weekend shouldn't be a problem (it will slow your weightloss compared with if you stuck to your calorie goal 7 days per week, but that would be boring!). Averages are more important than what you eat on an individual day.

    I regularly eat more than my calorie goal, particularly if I have a night out including lots of alcohol, or the other week when I went on holiday to Spain and ate icecream most days. But I have still lost 20lbs in the past 12 weeks (obviously a fair bit at the start was just water weight) because on average I'm in a calorie deficit.
  • NakeshiaBeard
    NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
    Options
    Thanks for your reply. I've used IIFYM to calculate my maintenance and weight loss calories. Maintenance is 2023, loss is 1618, so I figure 1500 is a good target and if I go over this a little it won't matter too much. The days you see with the big drop are days that I cycle solidly for at least 2 hours, MFP calculates this as a 1000 calorie burn. Typically I'll try to eat 500 of these calories back. For a smaller burn I don't like to eat too many calories back. I've been using this method for a month now and still haven't lost weight, must be doing something wrong!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    Options
    You're eating more than you think. Couple of things looking at your diary: Are you weighing and measuring? For example you have a medium banana 105 a couple of times there. That's a guess. Usually a medium banana is say 5.1-5.7 ounces total banana, equaling 128+ calories for a difference of 23+calories. You have a lot of homemade items here; items you made? You have a plate of nachos =331?? Usually 9 chips are around 140 calories so a plate would have about 25-30 chips??? Just in chips that would be 420 calories then you add those beans, cheese and guacomole - You would be close to 750-1000 for that plate that you claimed 331 for.
    Additionally, your calorie burns are very high, where are you getting these totals?
  • NakeshiaBeard
    NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
    Options
    The homemade items are all measured and recipes from a program I completed when I lost a good amount of weight the first time around, most of which I have kept off by continuing to use the recipes. The program is Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation if you want to look further into it. All recipes use whole foods, balanced nutrition and most meals equate to 300-350 calories. For example, the nachos I made use chips I made myself from a tortilla, and a bean and vegetable mix, no cheese and very little sour cream. Sure not all my entries are 100% accurate, but they are close!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    Options
    The majority of the time that we get "stuck" or aren't losing, its logging. How long has it been since you've lost anything?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    Rather than mentally halving the calories from exercise, you can click on the calories when you log them and actually halve them

    Accuracy of logging foods at a defecit over the week is key to losing weight, doesn't matter on a daily basisza
  • daynerz
    daynerz Posts: 227 Member
    Options
    Always underestimate your daily calories... people incorporate cheat days which is fine and is good for sanity however it could easily ruin a week of strict counting....count calories still on your cheat days even when your binging out, always maintain some control and accountability
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Options
    So first of all I don't mean this reply as anything disrespectful to OP or anyone else in this thread.

    Having said that, it doesn't matter how you do the math in your scenario, the bottom line is this: You haven't lost weight in three months. You are either retaining fluids for a full 3 months which is masking fat loss or you are eating at maintenance. The latter is significantly more likely than the former due to the long duration of this.

    Consequently you either need to increase caloric output, decrease caloric intake, or a combination of both.

    Finally, one reason you could be at maintenance despite the numbers that you log, is that people routinely eat more than they log for a variety of reasons. So an alternative to modifying your intake would be to examine the consistency and accuracy with which you track intake.

  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited November 2014
    Options
    You really can't say how much you are averaging per week. One peek at your diary shows that you don't log anything on weekends. Add that to what has been mentioned about not logging accurately on the days that you do log and there goes your calorie deficit. Tighten up on your logging and make sure to log on the weekends and you should start losing.

    ETA: The reports and doing the math are not going to do you any good if you are missing data.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Options
    I agree with the others, do the math, if you're still at a deficit yet haven't lost weight, you're either underestimating your calorie intake, or overestimating your exercise calories.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Options
    Technically you're at 'normal' BMI (though the top end) so it's going to take serious logging and dedication, for most people.

    I'm at that point too and I'm finding that using trendweight helps me notice I'm losing when it seems like I'm not. Looking at the MFP chart, I look like I'm where I was six weeks ago. Trendweight says I'm losing .9 lbs a week, though.

Categories