down zero lbs zero inches!
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I looked more closely at your exercise diary, and I'd say your burns are roughly double what I'd expect to see for the exercise time logged. That is definitely where your issue is stemming from.0
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You don't need to worry about your TDEE if you follow the MFP method as I described above
But only if you want to
..good luck0 -
It's a wrist band. Tracks my HR and steps. Shows when I am active and when I am not. I'm just asking for advice and guidance to go forward. I'm not looking to be attacked because I calculated wrong. I love fitness and being healthy. I have been this way for yrs. Just putting on unwanted inches and confused. Maybe I am eating way too much. I thought I was tracking correctly. Maybe counting calories is harder than I thought
You asked for advice, you are being given exactly what you asked for. Just because it might be hard to hear that we aren't doing something correctly, does not mean anyone is attacking you for helping you correct this error.
Counting calories isn't difficult, but just like anything it takes some learning to find how to be as accurate as possible.0 -
It's a wrist band. Tracks my HR and steps. Shows when I am active and when I am not. I'm just asking for advice and guidance to go forward. I'm not looking to be attacked because I calculated wrong. I love fitness and being healthy. I have been this way for yrs. Just putting on unwanted inches and confused. Maybe I am eating way too much. I thought I was tracking correctly. Maybe counting calories is harder than I thought
You're not being attacked. You posted here presumably because you wanted to figure out what you are doing wrong, and we told you. It's up to you what you now do with that information.0 -
I work out on average 30 minutes a day, I'm a student, my activity level is moderate on calculators (this is what matches up with my self-calculated TDEE based on logging weight and food intake over time). So it's more than just the exercise, if being a medical assistant means being on her feet all day and lifting things then she could be classified as active. Her intake goal is still too low and she is still not logging properly, so likely eating more than she realizes. Doesn't mean that her TDEE isn't around 2200 just because she only exercises 1hr a day.herrspoons wrote: »0 -
OK I set my activity to sedentary... Lets see what happens! Thanks everyone for the help!0
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Hey girl, good job on exercise and seeking accountability, you go girl. I personally see too much processed food. The cereal, the flat breads...Have you read Wheat Belly? I am seeing a nutritionist and she had me cut out dairy and gluten...including wheat. Try consulting with a nutritionist. But calories aren't everything, quality of food is!0
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Hey girl, good job on exercise and seeking accountability, you go girl. I personally see too much processed food. The cereal, the flat breads...Have you read Wheat Belly? I am seeing a nutritionist and she had me cut out dairy and gluten...including wheat. Try consulting with a nutritionist. But calories aren't everything, quality of food is!
No! Calories are everything for weight loss.0 -
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Hey girl, good job on exercise and seeking accountability, you go girl. I personally see too much processed food. The cereal, the flat breads...Have you read Wheat Belly? I am seeing a nutritionist and she had me cut out dairy and gluten...including wheat. Try consulting with a nutritionist. But calories aren't everything, quality of food is!
A qualified nutritionist following a doctors diagnosis of celiac /gluten reactive issues and dairy allergies I assume ...tough break
Not relevant advice for those without the medical conditions0 -
stumblinthrulife wrote: »I looked more closely at your exercise diary, and I'd say your burns are roughly double what I'd expect to see for the exercise time logged. That is definitely where your issue is stemming from.
The problem however is that from the logged diary entries I've seen... she's not even eating those calories back. Her net goal is set at 1300. On e.g. Jan 18 she logged 686 exercise cals, and had 763 calories remaining for the day. So she didn't even net her goal (at least according to the log, or course). same thing on the 19th, and on the 21st her log doesn't even reach to her net goal.
So in reality her problem has nothing to do with exercise calories because she isn't consuming them. Her problem lies in logging poorly since she isn't logging daily, isn't eating to her gross goal every day allowing her to properly monitor her results (net + at least 50% of exercise calories), and isn't using correct entries.
To log properly entails logging daily (periodic absences are fine) and to at least measure food. No measuring is being done from what I can see, and entries that require weighted servings are entered despite not actually being weighed. Not logging daily also means having no idea of your consumption.0 -
GiveMeCoffee wrote: »Hey girl, good job on exercise and seeking accountability, you go girl. I personally see too much processed food. The cereal, the flat breads...Have you read Wheat Belly? I am seeing a nutritionist and she had me cut out dairy and gluten...including wheat. Try consulting with a nutritionist. But calories aren't everything, quality of food is!
No! Calories are everything for weight loss.herrspoons wrote: »
I work out on average 30 minutes a day, I'm a student, my activity level is moderate on calculators (this is what matches up with my self-calculated TDEE based on logging weight and food intake over time). So it's more than just the exercise, if being a medical assistant means being on her feet all day and lifting things then she could be classified as active. Her intake goal is still too low and she is still not logging properly, so likely eating more than she realizes. Doesn't mean that her TDEE isn't around 2200 just because she only exercises 1hr a day.herrspoons wrote: »
No, sorry. That's not how it works. Activity levels are merely multipliers of BMR, which are based on additional effort. The vast majority of people who work behind a desk are sedentary. Those on their feet all day are moderate. A fireman or a builder may be active.
Most people will overestimate their activity level which, frankly is why TDEE sucks as a method of calculating calorie allowance, and why base levels (BMR * 1.2) with extra activity added in are far better for most people who work indoors.
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I'd definitely think that 2800 is very high. Also, FOOD SCALE! It helps tremendously to know exactly what and how much you're putting in your body. I've never heard of anyone using a HRM to figure total burns for a 24 hr period. Maybe both of these issues are part of the problem? I am barely 5 ft and over 200 lbs and my TDEE is not even 2000. I'm at like 1788, if I remember right.0
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As a medical assistant I don't sit at a desk. I'm lucky to get my lunch. We see 20-25 people on a daily basis. Im always on my feet up and down a long hallway for 9 hrs. I know when I am active and when I am not. That is why I chose lightly active0
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Looked at your diary ... you are not eating enough and it doesn't appear you are eating back your exercise calories. There is this thing that new people fall into a lot. The more you workout and the bigger the deficit the more you lose. I think often that the opposite is true. You need a reasonable deficit .. TDEE-20%. And buy a food scale and use about 60% of the numbers on your device as they are often just plain wrong. Give it 3 weeks and re-evaluate things.0
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As a medical assistant I don't sit at a desk. I'm lucky to get my lunch. We see 20-25 people on a daily basis. Im always on my feet up and down a long hallway for 9 hrs. I know when I am active and when I am not. That is why I chose lightly active
Sounds reasonable
However it isn't working for you
I think you should spent the next week focusing on weighing and logging accurately on MFP ..choose database entries with care, build your own recipes, scan barcodes, double check calorie counts and get a feel for how it works when you do it all through MFP
Log specific workouts like your P90 but only 50-75% of calories burned
Eat to your net defecit and weigh in a couple of weeks and see how it goes
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You are not eating enough for the amount you are doing. Try to incorporate some snacks of almonds, or if you can't physically eat that much food get in an extra couple of protein shakes every day. They are easy and when I work out a lot I don't feel like eating either but always supplement with a shake, it's important.0
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And try to keep things as simple as possible for now or else you'll go into information overload and become even more confuddled0
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I've always left my activity level at sedentary, only because I don't exercise regularly. I'd rather add it in myself. I agree 2800 calories is very high for a "diet".
Try going down to about 1800 and see if it improves.
Also measuring and weighing food is a must for this to work. I was surprised to learn that a cup or half cup looked so small.0 -
Why aren't you losing? You're eating too much. Probably MUCH more than you think you're eating.
The calorie goal of 1,340 seems reasonable to me though. Just need to make sure that's what you're actually consuming.0 -
herrspoons wrote: »
I work out on average 30 minutes a day, I'm a student, my activity level is moderate on calculators (this is what matches up with my self-calculated TDEE based on logging weight and food intake over time). So it's more than just the exercise, if being a medical assistant means being on her feet all day and lifting things then she could be classified as active. Her intake goal is still too low and she is still not logging properly, so likely eating more than she realizes. Doesn't mean that her TDEE isn't around 2200 just because she only exercises 1hr a day.herrspoons wrote: »
No, sorry. That's not how it works. Activity levels are merely multipliers of BMR, which are based on additional effort. The vast majority of people who work behind a desk are sedentary. Those on their feet all day are moderate. A fireman or a builder may be active.
Most people will overestimate their activity level which, frankly is why TDEE sucks as a method of calculating calorie allowance, and why base levels (BMR * 1.2) with extra activity added in are far better for most people who work indoors.
In addition, these factors were worked out in 1919 as an adjunct to the now defunct Harris Benedict formula when people were more active and their 'light' would be today's 'active'.
I work indoors. I did net method and it was horrible - I didn't have the right energy for workouts and I lost weight too quickly, and this is with using the lightly active setting while eating back 75-100% of my exercise calories. TDEE works much better for me, and from looking at my own logs I was able to calculate that my TDEE based on how much weight I have lost on average adds up to when I use generic calculators at moderate activity. I only walk around/stand for like.. 2 hours outside of my exercise routine, which again is ~30 minutes a day (~1 hour 4x a week + one 30 min cardio session). I have no idea what OP's activity levels are like outside of exercise, since I don't know what a medical assistant does. For all we know she stands and runs around all day, so maybe her TDEE does match up to an active multiplier. And if it doesn't then she simply needs to try a lower TDEE multiplier. She would need to test out the TDEE number along with proper logging to determine her proper rough approximation, and based on her log it can be easily established that logging is her biggest problem, not having inflated and uneaten exercise calories. Doesn't matter if she chooses net or TDEE method since she's not eating her exercise cals back either way, she simply needs to learn to log properly right now so she can then figure out if her calorie goals are actually appropriate to her needs.0 -
It's a wrist band. Tracks my HR and steps. Shows when I am active and when I am not. I'm just asking for advice and guidance to go forward. I'm not looking to be attacked because I calculated wrong. I love fitness and being healthy. I have been this way for yrs. Just putting on unwanted inches and confused. Maybe I am eating way too much. I thought I was tracking correctly. Maybe counting calories is harder than I thought
I do not think anybody is attacking you, Internet forums , kinda like texting just makes for easily misunderstood intentions and bad bedside manors so to speak. I see many good post in this thread and willing to bet you can get your MFP sorted out by following them.
As far as eating "way" to much. If you haven't gained any fat then I would rephrase that to you are eating just enough to maintain. The problem for us is all we see is your diary and not what you are actually eating. So all we have to go by is the diary. If you can't do calorie counting on MFP then Take what you are actually eating and reduce it by the amount you want to lose per week using 3500 calorie to a pound of fat. If that fails give MFP another try. It works if accurately employed.0 -
StaceyJ2008 wrote: »You are not eating enough for the amount you are doing. Try to incorporate some snacks of almonds, or if you can't physically eat that much food get in an extra couple of protein shakes every day. They are easy and when I work out a lot I don't feel like eating either but always supplement with a shake, it's important.
Wtf ? Why would you suggest to a person who is already not losing fat to eat more calories ?
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StaceyJ2008 wrote: »You are not eating enough for the amount you are doing. Try to incorporate some snacks of almonds, or if you can't physically eat that much food get in an extra couple of protein shakes every day. They are easy and when I work out a lot I don't feel like eating either but always supplement with a shake, it's important.
Wtf ? Why would you suggest to a person who is already not losing fat to eat more calories ?
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »StaceyJ2008 wrote: »You are not eating enough for the amount you are doing. Try to incorporate some snacks of almonds, or if you can't physically eat that much food get in an extra couple of protein shakes every day. They are easy and when I work out a lot I don't feel like eating either but always supplement with a shake, it's important.
Wtf ? Why would you suggest to a person who is already not losing fat to eat more calories ?
+1
+10,000,000
Sounds like FL to me. "I'm not losing weight, I must need to eat more to fuel myself!".0 -
StaceyJ2008 wrote: »You are not eating enough for the amount you are doing. Try to incorporate some snacks of almonds, or if you can't physically eat that much food get in an extra couple of protein shakes every day. They are easy and when I work out a lot I don't feel like eating either but always supplement with a shake, it's important.
OP is not losing weight and your answer is 'eat more'? Please explain how this is helpful?
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NerdieMcChub wrote: »I'd definitely think that 2800 is very high. Also, FOOD SCALE! It helps tremendously to know exactly what and how much you're putting in your body. I've never heard of anyone using a HRM to figure total burns for a 24 hr period. Maybe both of these issues are part of the problem? I am barely 5 ft and over 200 lbs and my TDEE is not even 2000. I'm at like 1788, if I remember right.
I doubt you maintain your weight on 1800 calories. Even when not active I could likely maintain my weight on more than 2000 calories and I'm 160lbs. Height doesn't play that much of a role in caloric intake as does sex and weight, and possibly body fat %.herrspoons wrote: »As a medical assistant I don't sit at a desk. I'm lucky to get my lunch. We see 20-25 people on a daily basis. Im always on my feet up and down a long hallway for 9 hrs. I know when I am active and when I am not. That is why I chose lightly active
And yet you are not losing any weight.
I've explained why I think the TDEE method is a really bad choice for most people who work indoors and what the alternatives are. I don't really have anything more to add.
She isn't logging to her net goal. So she clearly isn't following TDEE method right now, especially since her net goal is set to 1300 despite her thinking she may be burning 2800 calories a day. 2200 calories I can easily see happening for her, so if she wanted to try 2200 minus 20% and log to that amount every single day, then that'd be fine and it'd be a great way for her to determine if her gross intake is too much or too little for a ~1b/week goal. If she wants to do net method then that's fine, she can stay on lightly active and set her goal to 1lb/week and log/eat back 50-100% of her exercise calories and see if she loses ~1lb/week. It's about picking a method that you think will be easiest to work with (TDEE is much easier for me because my exercise is fairly consistent and I prefer eating the same amount of food every day) and then log properly.
So OP, you need to pick a method, estimate your activity level accordingly for the chosen method (if doing TDEE then you need to use a separate calculator or choose the activity level on MFP that corresponds to your life + exercise activity), set up a goal of 1lb/week or 20% below maintenance, and learn to log properly. This entails weighing food, although if you don't own a scale and don't want to purchase one yet then you can at least measure everything to get a very rough ballpark idea of your intake. Log daily, if your weight does not move down all that much then adjust your calories down or buy a food scale. If you lose too quick then adjust the intake up a bit. Activity levels on calculators are all just a way to get you a starting idea, the way you figure out your intake needs are by eating a certain amount and logging properly and consistently so you can monitor results and then adjust.
Oh and as mentioned, make sure the entries you use are correct. Double check entries with other databases, create your own private entries, use only USDA entries and scan barcodes, etc. I personally created my own private database for all foods, using the macros to calculate calories and setting the serving sizes up in grams/ml. I do this for produce/fresh and for boxed items.0 -
According to her diary she ate under 1000 calories today. I don't know if that is the norm or not because I didn't look. Your metabolism and your body's ability to burn fat decreases when you aren't eating enough to sustain it. She needs to increase her protein period. Google it if you want to, ask a trainer if you want to. However, I could be wrong. Just do what feels right to you. I don't know why she isn't losing any inches. That is something she should check out with a trainer or doctor.0
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She isn't losing because her logged intake is likely not matching up with how much she is actually eating, which I assume is the reason due to her very inconsistent logging habits and using inaccurate entries at times and not measuring/weighing her food.StaceyJ2008 wrote: »According to her diary she ate under 1000 calories today. I don't know if that is the norm or not because I didn't look. Your metabolism and your body's ability to burn fat decreases when you aren't eating enough to sustain it. She needs to increase her protein period. Google it if you want to, ask a trainer if you want to. However, I could be wrong. Just do what feels right to you. I don't know why she isn't losing any inches. That is something she should check out with a trainer or doctor.
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