My problem with dinner......

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Replies

  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    LilleanC wrote: »
    stealthq wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I see two choices.

    You either set yourself up as sedentary because you don't know your TDEE and/or do not exercise regularly enough to predict your daily burn and then you eat back all of your net exercise calories (which in effect means a big part but NOT ALL of your total exercise calories)

    OR, you have enough data about how much you exercise and what your TDEE is, and so you set up as per the appropriate activity level (in your case probably active or highly active) and manually tweek your target calories to match TDEE -5%, or -10%, or -15%, or even up to -20% depending on how much excess fat you are starting up with (which cannot be that much in your particular case if you are teaching exercise classes, can it?)

    I just walk around town for Pete's sake (admittedly about 3 hours a day) and my TDEE is slightly higher than what MFP guesses for an active person of my stats.

    You talk about losing "again".

    How much % per week has your weigh changed in the past 15, 30, 60, 90 days?

    For the past two weeks I've been convinced i've reached a plateau/i am no longer losing, etc.

    I reviewed my numbers (thanks MFP for the logs), and "discovered" that I am EXACTLY on my weekly weight loss target (actually about 6% faster).

    YMMV but it sounds like you burn a heck of a lot more than 1400 cal a day!
    LilleanC wrote: »
    LilleanC wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    If your exercising twice a day then yes you need more than 1400 calories. Either change to active or eat back most of your exercise calories.

    No wonder you're starving.
    I do eat exercise calories back sometimes some sometimes all but I'm still gaining weight I went from 162 lbs-168 lbs in a month. I have lost 37 lbs so far and would love to be at 158...I was so close :\

    Answer for a month was a gain of 6 lbs.

    Guys, this isn't a case of she's not eating enough and therefore she's starving.

    Her original post was right - she's overeating but still hungry. She needs advice on what to do so she can curb that hunger at night.

    ETA: At least for that past month - she did say she's changed her exercise recently, but I'm not sure it will be enough to compensate for the gain even if most of it is from glycogen replenishment.

    Since she isn't weighing and measuring her food she actually doesn't know how much she's been eating.
    I measure breakfast (97% of the time) I measure Lunch (97% of the time) my point is I don't measure ALL the time but yes I do measure breakfast and lunch my problem is dinner. Ok here's the scenario:
    I would have a cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of dry oats for breakfast
    Total: 210 calories (8-9 am)
    Lunch: 1/2 sweet potato with either chicken or fish and probably some veggies
    Total: 300-450 calories depending on the choice of protein or amount of potato(12:15 pm)
    Afternoon snack: A medium pear/fruit or sometimes nothing; just my water (3 pm)
    Then I would go to gym at 5:30 pm and leave at 6:30pm
    When I get home and it's dinner time(normally not more than 30 minutes after arriving) I would eat white bread,whole milk,juice, anything in sight. I would sometimes have over 400 calories or more left for dinner I would still overeat that after gym. This is where I go wrong and this is where I need to know should I eat something more substantial before my workout so that I don't devour my kitchen when I get home. If so what do u recommend that I eat so I'm not so hungry after gym.

    I would eat something small before the gym so you aren't starving when you get home. You could leave out the milk and juice and save your calories for food.

    I don't weigh and measure everything I eat. Sometimes I just log half an avocado for example.
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
    BZAH10 wrote: »
    LilleanC wrote: »
    stealthq wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I see two choices.

    You either set yourself up as sedentary because you don't know your TDEE and/or do not exercise regularly enough to predict your daily burn and then you eat back all of your net exercise calories (which in effect means a big part but NOT ALL of your total exercise calories)

    OR, you have enough data about how much you exercise and what your TDEE is, and so you set up as per the appropriate activity level (in your case probably active or highly active) and manually tweek your target calories to match TDEE -5%, or -10%, or -15%, or even up to -20% depending on how much excess fat you are starting up with (which cannot be that much in your particular case if you are teaching exercise classes, can it?)

    I just walk around town for Pete's sake (admittedly about 3 hours a day) and my TDEE is slightly higher than what MFP guesses for an active person of my stats.

    You talk about losing "again".

    How much % per week has your weigh changed in the past 15, 30, 60, 90 days?

    For the past two weeks I've been convinced i've reached a plateau/i am no longer losing, etc.

    I reviewed my numbers (thanks MFP for the logs), and "discovered" that I am EXACTLY on my weekly weight loss target (actually about 6% faster).

    YMMV but it sounds like you burn a heck of a lot more than 1400 cal a day!
    LilleanC wrote: »
    LilleanC wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    If your exercising twice a day then yes you need more than 1400 calories. Either change to active or eat back most of your exercise calories.

    No wonder you're starving.
    I do eat exercise calories back sometimes some sometimes all but I'm still gaining weight I went from 162 lbs-168 lbs in a month. I have lost 37 lbs so far and would love to be at 158...I was so close :\

    Answer for a month was a gain of 6 lbs.

    Guys, this isn't a case of she's not eating enough and therefore she's starving.

    Her original post was right - she's overeating but still hungry. She needs advice on what to do so she can curb that hunger at night.

    ETA: At least for that past month - she did say she's changed her exercise recently, but I'm not sure it will be enough to compensate for the gain even if most of it is from glycogen replenishment.

    Since she isn't weighing and measuring her food she actually doesn't know how much she's been eating.
    I measure breakfast (97% of the time) I measure Lunch (97% of the time) my point is I don't measure ALL the time but yes I do measure breakfast and lunch my problem is dinner. Ok here's the scenario:
    I would have a cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of dry oats for breakfast
    Total: 210 calories (8-9 am)
    Lunch: 1/2 sweet potato with either chicken or fish and probably some veggies
    Total: 300-450 calories depending on the choice of protein or amount of potato(12:15 pm)
    Afternoon snack: A medium pear/fruit or sometimes nothing; just my water (3 pm)
    Then I would go to gym at 5:30 pm and leave at 6:30pm
    When I get home and it's dinner time(normally not more than 30 minutes after arriving) I would eat white bread,whole milk,juice, anything in sight. I would sometimes have over 400 calories or more left for dinner I would still overeat that after gym. This is where I go wrong and this is where I need to know should I eat something more substantial before my workout so that I don't devour my kitchen when I get home. If so what do u recommend that I eat so I'm not so hungry after gym.

    I would try this first. Also, not minimizing your actual hunger because from your workout schedule I can see why you would be feeling hungry, but how much of it is either a habit or a reward? I'd drink a big glass of water first when you get home. Then eat your planned meal. Then leave the kitchen and go do something else. Honestly assess your actual hunger level after 20 - 30 min. See how you feel then.

    Ok The big glass of water sounds pretty good to me. Maybe it could be thirst and not hunger. I'll try this today and report to u guys tomorrow as to how it goes. Thanks so much guys for all the feedback. I will make sure to do some of what was recommended here to see how it works. Once again thanks much. <3

  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited March 2015
    I'm confused about your schedule:
    Breakfast = 210
    Lunch = 450
    Snack = 100
    Total = 760
    You should have 640 calories for dinner + your exercise calories. You should have at least 1k calories to eat after the gym. Why did you mention going over 400?

    It sounds like you are doing a lot of exercise. The more you exercise the more food you need to eat. You also need to pay more attention to sleep and hydration. You need to keep your body fueled to stay that active. I have an active schedule too, if I don't eat all my exercise calories back or miss a few hours of sleep, I want to eat an entire cow....

    Try eating more throughout the day so you aren't starving by the time you get home. Because yes, it is super hard to measure stuff and control yourself when you are starving. Also, try having a bar to eat on your way home, that way you have more control measuring out stuff. Also try logging your dinner during the day so you know what to eat when you get home. Making a plate the night before would help even more.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    A glass of water + high protein yogurt (the >16g per 175g (about 3/4 cup) variety and an apple right after your workout (about 200 cal total). x1.5 or x2 if hungrier/intense workout.

    Then drive home/shower dress what have you.... and eat (the rest of your) dinner 30+ minutes post snack.

    When hungry the apple trick still works for me :smiley:

    1 tbsp of PB is about 100 cal. 3/4 cups high protein yogurt is the same and seems like a comparative bargain to my tummy!

    Consider removing juices etc from the house for a while as to me they seemed expensive when trying to fit them in a 1400 cal budget.

    Eat the cals and drink water for a while.

    How much protein are you totalling per lb or kg of lean body mass?

    Last but not least you don't actually seem to know whether you are gaining muscle/fat/water.

    I realize that it is not always easy but consider body composition tests (DXA, body pod, skinfold calipers) so that you KNOW what is happening to you! Is there a chance you've gained muscle?

    And BTW, based on your profile pics, wow what an amazing transformation!
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
    esjones12 wrote: »
    I'm confused about your schedule:
    Breakfast = 210
    Lunch = 450
    Snack = 100
    Total = 760
    You should have 640 calories for dinner + your exercise calories. You should have at least 1k calories to eat after the gym. Why did you mention going over 400?

    It sounds like you are doing a lot of exercise. The more you exercise the more food you need to eat. You also need to pay more attention to sleep and hydration. You need to keep your body fueled to stay that active. I have an active schedule too, if I don't eat all my exercise calories back or miss a few hours of sleep, I want to eat an entire cow....

    Try eating more throughout the day so you aren't starving by the time you get home. Because yes, it is super hard to measure stuff and control yourself when you are starving. Also, try having a bar to eat on your way home, that way you have more control measuring out stuff. Also try logging your dinner during the day so you know what to eat when you get home. Making a plate the night before would help even more.

    Ok I think I know where I'm going wrong. Someone who has been using MFP before me (I'm kinda new to this) said that I shouldn't eat my exercise calories back if I'm trying to create a deficit. Do I have this right because when I mean I overeat I mean I eat whats left from my recommended intake plus exercise calories burnt so the figures would sometimes be -100 to -200 in red. Is this ok?
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
    esjones12 wrote: »
    I'm confused about your schedule:
    Breakfast = 210
    Lunch = 450
    Snack = 100
    Total = 760
    You should have 640 calories for dinner + your exercise calories. You should have at least 1k calories to eat after the gym. Why did you mention going over 400?

    It sounds like you are doing a lot of exercise. The more you exercise the more food you need to eat. You also need to pay more attention to sleep and hydration. You need to keep your body fueled to stay that active. I have an active schedule too, if I don't eat all my exercise calories back or miss a few hours of sleep, I want to eat an entire cow....

    Try eating more throughout the day so you aren't starving by the time you get home. Because yes, it is super hard to measure stuff and control yourself when you are starving. Also, try having a bar to eat on your way home, that way you have more control measuring out stuff. Also try logging your dinner during the day so you know what to eat when you get home. Making a plate the night before would help even more.

    I know how important sleep and hydration is because when my husband traveled I made sure that I got at least my 8 hours and my body felt sooooo good. But since his being back that has changed and enrolling my daughter in kindergarten is another again. So I think that this is one that I definitely need to work on. The hydration part of it is getting there already I just need to work on my sleep quality.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited March 2015
    LilleanC wrote: »
    Ok I think I know where I'm going wrong. Someone who has been using MFP before me (I'm kinda new to this) said that I shouldn't eat my exercise calories back if I'm trying to create a deficit. Do I have this right because when I mean I overeat I mean I eat whats left from my recommended intake plus exercise calories burnt so the figures would sometimes be -100 to -200 in red. Is this ok?

    When you fill out MFP it asks for your weight, height, lifestyle, age, etc. It then calculates how many calories you need per day to stay exactly how you are (say 2000 in this example). It also asks for how many pounds you would like to lose per week. If you are close to your goal you should be at -.5lbs, -1lb is good for most others. You need to have a deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose 1 pound. So to lose 1 pound per week you need to have a deficit of 500 calories per day. This means MFP will suggest you eat:

    2000-500 = 1500 calories per day. Your recommended 1500 calories has the deficit built in.

    When you exercise, you increase that deficit. You need to log your exercise calories and that will automatically increase your allowed calories for the day. If your number goes from green to red it means you are decreasing the deficit built into MFP, which can slow down your expected weight loss. If you increase the red too much you will hit maintenance (no loss) and above maintenance (gain weight).

    You can (and should at your exercise levels) eat all your exercise calories back and still lose your 1 pound per week (assuming the burn is accurate) . If you create too large of a deficit you can start feeling exhausted, super hungry, get headaches, etc. Long term large deficits can do damage to your body.

    So please clarify: MFP recommends you eat 1400 calories per day? How many pounds per week are you trying to lose? You log your exercise calories? On average, how many calories per day do you eat?
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited March 2015
    stealthq wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I see two choices.

    You either set yourself up as sedentary because you don't know your TDEE and/or do not exercise regularly enough to predict your daily burn and then you eat back all of your net exercise calories (which in effect means a big part but NOT ALL of your total exercise calories)

    OR, you have enough data about how much you exercise and what your TDEE is, and so you set up as per the appropriate activity level (in your case probably active or highly active) and manually tweek your target calories to match TDEE -5%, or -10%, or -15%, or even up to -20% depending on how much excess fat you are starting up with (which cannot be that much in your particular case if you are teaching exercise classes, can it?)

    I just walk around town for Pete's sake (admittedly about 3 hours a day) and my TDEE is slightly higher than what MFP guesses for an active person of my stats.

    You talk about losing "again".

    How much % per week has your weigh changed in the past 15, 30, 60, 90 days?

    For the past two weeks I've been convinced i've reached a plateau/i am no longer losing, etc.

    I reviewed my numbers (thanks MFP for the logs), and "discovered" that I am EXACTLY on my weekly weight loss target (actually about 6% faster).

    YMMV but it sounds like you burn a heck of a lot more than 1400 cal a day!
    LilleanC wrote: »
    LilleanC wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    If your exercising twice a day then yes you need more than 1400 calories. Either change to active or eat back most of your exercise calories.

    No wonder you're starving.
    I do eat exercise calories back sometimes some sometimes all but I'm still gaining weight I went from 162 lbs-168 lbs in a month. I have lost 37 lbs so far and would love to be at 158...I was so close :\

    Answer for a month was a gain of 6 lbs.

    Guys, this isn't a case of she's not eating enough and therefore she's starving.

    Her original post was right - she's overeating but still hungry. She needs advice on what to do so she can curb that hunger at night.

    ETA: At least for that past month - she did say she's changed her exercise recently, but I'm not sure it will be enough to compensate for the gain even if most of it is from glycogen replenishment.

    Since she isn't weighing and measuring her food she actually doesn't know how much she's been eating.

    True enough.

    She doesn't have accurate grams and calorie numbers, but an increase of 6 lbs in a month means she's overeating unless it's a lot of water gain or some undiagnosed medical condition.

    So whatever she is eating now - however many calories that is in reality - she needs to figure out how to eat less.
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