am i eating too little?

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  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    kcmccormack wrote: »
    I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

    Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

    Some people do IIFYM. They track their macros instead.

    How did you find out what to aim for in macros?
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    I've always believed macros were as important, if not more so, than calories
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

    According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

    So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    kcmccormack wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    kcmccormack wrote: »
    I've heard so many people including trainers say if you eat healthy whole foods, you don't need to count calories.

    Does anyone here do that? Just eat super healthy, work out everyday and forget about the counting? I'm curious

    Some people do IIFYM. They track their macros instead.

    How did you find out what to aim for in macros?

    I don't do it that way. I get it, but it's not my thing.
  • grandslam2015
    grandslam2015 Posts: 5 Member
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    kcmccormack wrote: »
    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

    According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

    So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

    I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    kcmccormack wrote: »
    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

    According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

    So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

    I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week

    Gotcha. This is super helpful. Thank you guys. I would've never found IIFYM
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    kcmccormack wrote: »
    grandslam2015 wrote: »
    http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ shows calories as well

    According to this I must consume 1811 calories a day for 15% fat loss with my stats.

    So do you guys input your exercise calories or not to make it easier to track?

    I put 3 times a week even though I will workout 4 or 5 times a week

    Oh I actually meant if you guys input your exercise calories in MFP or just use it to track whAt you've consumed?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I've just about given up tracking my macros!! I'm either always over or under. Very rarely spot on with each of them :s
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    I've just about given up tracking my macros!! I'm either always over or under. Very rarely spot on with each of them :s

    Yea, I figured that would be the case. I'm not hard-core enough to do it that way only, but it gives me a better idea for my goal than MFPs defaults.

    Have you had better success another way?
  • ness4
    ness4 Posts: 1 Member
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    Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    ness4 wrote: »
    Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.

    All false. You could be losing inches though, but not because you gained muscle-not in a deficit.
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    ness4 wrote: »
    Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.

    All false. You could be losing inches though, but not because you gained muscle-not in a deficit.

    My waist went from 29.5 to 28.75 or so, and my hips went from 38.5 to 37.25. So yes, lost inches. Last time I checked my waist was 29, but didn't check anything else. I'll measure again nex t week. Still seems low for the work I've been doing in the last 8 weeks. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Idk what to think anymore lol

    How often do you guys take ur measurements? More often than weight? Not?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    kcmccormack wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    ness4 wrote: »
    Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.

    All false. You could be losing inches though, but not because you gained muscle-not in a deficit.

    My waist went from 29.5 to 28.75 or so, and my hips went from 38.5 to 37.25. So yes, lost inches. Last time I checked my waist was 29, but didn't check anything else. I'll measure again nex t week. Still seems low for the work I've been doing in the last 8 weeks. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Idk what to think anymore lol

    How often do you guys take ur measurements? More often than weight? Not?

    Once a month for me.
  • kcmccormack
    kcmccormack Posts: 71 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    kcmccormack wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    ness4 wrote: »
    Have you been taking your measurements? Like someone else said you could be gaining muscle. I've had weeks where I haven't lost any weight but I did loose inches. Also if you eat too little you body will go into starvation mode and keep calories.

    All false. You could be losing inches though, but not because you gained muscle-not in a deficit.

    My waist went from 29.5 to 28.75 or so, and my hips went from 38.5 to 37.25. So yes, lost inches. Last time I checked my waist was 29, but didn't check anything else. I'll measure again nex t week. Still seems low for the work I've been doing in the last 8 weeks. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Idk what to think anymore lol

    How often do you guys take ur measurements? More often than weight? Not?

    Once a month for me.

    You find it more reliable than weight. My weight fluctuates daily by like 2lbs. Monthly worse. It always stabilizes eventually, but, I'm gonna try and check measurements more reliably.
  • KLD1232
    KLD1232 Posts: 5
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    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=8_reasons_why_youre_not_losing_weight

    Hi a couple of interpretations of eating back calories.
    I do agree with the method of looking at what you want your deficit to be, for example the 20% then using a combination of diet and exercise to reach it.
    MFP already works out what carbs, protein and fat ratio should be. Are you sticking to this??? My trainer tells me we are all a bit different and may have to adjust this ratio slightly. But an example would be 50% carbs 30% protein and 20% fat. Some may want to increase protein and reduce carbs as this helps them with weight loss.

    But I do know we overestimate calorie intake and exercise done.
    It takes an hour of high intensity cardio to burn 400 - 500 calories I do think MFP is slightly out as the trainers claims are [turbofire] for example will enable you to burn around 350 calories in half an hour, but that would be if you are following exactly as the instructor throughout the whole session. So what I'm saying is we may log down we have done the 30 mins but have we followed intensly to burn those calories. A HRM is a good method but as you say not totally accurate. But will give an estimate of calories burned. When I do an hour I only log 30 mins in MFP so I don't over estimate my calorie burn. I did have a HRM (polar) which I found good but it died a death. I'm now using a Fitbit and it's surprising how much walking etc you need to do to get to 10000 steps.
    The next method is the tedious weighing of food. We incorrectly estimate what we put in our mouths. As you are not weighing, I would recommend trying and seeing if this helps with your weight loss. That's also using measuring spoons for dressings, sugar etc.
    a slight over estimate from not measuring Mayo for instance could give you an extra 400 calories a week ( if used over 4-5 days). Without you even realising.
    Some even show the calories and fat for the portion weighed.
    EatSmart Digital Nutrition Scale - Professional Food and Nutrient Calculator from Amazon.
    You may also have to reduce your calorie deficit. As long as it is not below 1200. Although I can't go below 1500 as I become irritable.
    Good luck.

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