What am I doing wrong?

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peasgood3
peasgood3 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I've been using myfitnesspal iPhone app for a few weeks now, in conjunction with my fitbit surge device.

So far I've been on a goal of 1400 calories and using my fitbit enough so that it adds.

So if I don't do enough steps in the day then I have a negative adjustment (i've enabled this) so that it takes away calories from my goal (supposedly to ensure that I don't over eat).

So far I've always been in the green at the end of the day varying from 5 cals to 301 cals on one day. Thinking that not eating all the calories remaining was a good thing and the more calories I had remaining the quicker I would loose weight, however I must be interpreting the whole thing wrong because I've actually put on 4lbs!!

I weigh all foods, and the barcode scanner is so perfect at picking up exactly what I'm eating, so what am I doing wrong.

Should my remaining calories for each day be zero, instead of positive or negative?

I'm so confused that my efforts have only served to gain weight when I want to loose it - depression is not good when you want to diet.

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    Water retention, TOM? Can you open your diary?
  • KariFreeman2
    KariFreeman2 Posts: 28 Member
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    Weigh everything. When I started I had the same issue. But then I started weighing my food I was shocked to realize that what I thought was 1 serving of cereal was actually 2. I was choosing well balanced food but eating way too much of it. Now I weigh everything and am losing at a nice rate of about a pound a week. I still have 100 lbs to go but I am proud that I have gone from 315 to 255. Good luck on this interesting journey to find a healthier you
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
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    Without looking at your diary, I'd have to assume the calorie adjustment is overestimating your daily requirement. I'd start by hitting the 1400 cal/day only. Unless you have a high cardio burn, (like running) might eat half of the calories back.

    Otherwise I'd stick to 14-1500/day for a few weeks to see how that works.

    Forget the adjustments for a few weeks. I had an HRM that overestimated my burn and I couldnt move the scale to save my life.

    Keep weighing everything. Ive found a few products that say "about 2 servings" but was actually 1.6 when you check the ounces per package. So double check that you are not way under or over due to labeling. By law they only have to be within 20%.
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
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    try eating back just 1/2 of your exercise calories
  • peasgood3
    peasgood3 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks to all who responded. I do weigh everything, as I did tend to overestimate portions at first.

    So it's OK that I have calories left at the end of the day?

    I was thinking if I could get the calories left every day to equal 500 then I should, theoretically loose a lb a week (as supposedly 1 lb = 3500 calories). That's the theory anyway.

    I'll keep trying and see how it goes. I've been stuck at my current weight for over 6 months and it's driving me insane!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    When you look back at previous days are you still netting your goal calories? Fitbit extrapolates daily burn to the end of the day, if you move a lot first thing and then not much it can be wrong until you re-synch

    Also have you set your stride length and goals on fitbit. Is it a flex? Is it on your dominant hand?
  • peasgood3
    peasgood3 Posts: 3 Member
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    So I think I've finally got a grasp of what I've been doing wrong!

    I didn't get that, in order to loose 1lb a week I would have to ensure that however many calories I consumed, I would still have to burn 500 more to hit my goal every day.

    So maybe my daily calories consumption goal is too high.

    'Cause were I am going wrong is, not only consuming my calories for the day, but also consuming the calorie adjustment from my fitbit steps, without taking into account that I still needed to burn 500 calories more than I consumed to achieve my goal.

    So I was giving myself false information, thinking that I because I did exercise I could eat those calories, not realising that I was possibly over consuming calories in the first place.

    So my plan is to take 2 days and find out what my resting calorie burn is then making my calories consumption daily 500 less.

    That way, even if I don't exercise, I should be able to guarantee to loose the weight!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    meritage4 wrote: »
    try eating back just 1/2 of your exercise calories

    How would eating more, make someone lose weight?

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