Please help, need advice.

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KnudtsonS
KnudtsonS Posts: 2 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi everyone,
My name is Sarah and I am a 6 foot 1, 185 lb 29 year old. I have been on this program for 43 days, with a goal of getting down to 160, but i have only lost 5 lbs! I have maybe gone over my calorie allowance 3 days. I have a regimen of going to the gym 3-4 days a week, burning 600 cal on the elliptical and doing 20 minutes of weights. I also use the pedometer. What am i doing wrong? I am eating healthy food - cutting out sugar and processed, preservative foods and trying to eat more natural foods. Am i allowed to use the calories that i earn by exercising, or is that just a joke? Someone please tell me what to do as i havent given up yet, but who knows how much longer i can keep this up with no reward.

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  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,712 Member
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    If you are relying on the elliptical machine to tell you you've burned 600 calories then that is a huge obstacle to your current progress. Those machines (all, including treadmills, rowers, etc.) are all wildly inaccurate. Either use a heart rate monitor or grossly underestimate the calorie burn, which is what I do.

    For example: I can do 60 min. on the treadmill and it will say I've burned 240 calories and 60 min. on the elliptical will say 430 cals.
  • dannicaburson
    dannicaburson Posts: 7 Member
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    I don't eat the extra calories. You are "allowed" but I am much happier with the results without! Also, if you have your level set at something other than a sedentary lifestyle, than your allotted calories are already taking some activity into account.
  • maggiejr4
    maggiejr4 Posts: 7 Member
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    At 6'1, 185 lbs is within the normal BMI range (24.4?)
    It's probably much harder to shed pounds when you don't have a lot of lbs to shed.
    Maybe concentrate on the specific areas you are trying to target and do more zone-specific workouts?

    I don't eat my exercise calories.
  • Crogirl_22
    Crogirl_22 Posts: 40 Member
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    What are you doing exactly? are you counting cals, you shouldnt do much cardio, what you need are muscles, they burn fat.. no muscles= no burned fat ... you should start with a good weightlifting program and stick to it , if you want to loose fat you have to eat at a deficit, so less cals than you need troughout the day . Its logical isnt it? I need more exact info about you ;)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Eating back exercise calories is how MFP is designed. That way people who can't/won't exercise still lose weight. HOWEVER calorie burns are estimates. The idea is to get back to your original deficit....not increase it.

    With less weight to lose, you won't lose as quickly. Really large calorie deficits don't support existing lean muscle. What CroGirl said....add some strength training to the mix. A moderate deficit, plus lots of protein, plus resistance training helps you lose more fat.....instead of fat+muscle.

    Pound per week goals
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range
  • glutenfreechic
    glutenfreechic Posts: 57 Member
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    BZAH10 wrote: »
    If you are relying on the elliptical machine to tell you you've burned 600 calories then that is a huge obstacle to your current progress. Those machines (all, including treadmills, rowers, etc.) are all wildly inaccurate. Either use a heart rate monitor or grossly underestimate the calorie burn, which is what I do.

    For example: I can do 60 min. on the treadmill and it will say I've burned 240 calories and 60 min. on the elliptical will say 430 cals.

    I think this. I've used my polar ft7 on the elliptical machine and what the machine says is wildly inflated to what i actually burn (100-200cal different!) So i never go by what the machines say because they overestimate
  • LoveMyBabes3
    LoveMyBabes3 Posts: 53 Member
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    Take pictures. Maybe your body is changing...gaining muscle and losing fat. The scale won't show that.
  • Smallc10
    Smallc10 Posts: 554 Member
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    I think you're doing really well - losing 5 pounds in less than 7 weeks is really good progress. Don't be discouraged yet! Also ellipticals always overestimate how many calories you are burning so don't trust them. I would say you may be burning half of 600. Eating back your exercise calories is difficult because calculating burns is difficult. I always eat back less than half my exercise calories just to be on the safe side as I probably underestimate food consumption and overestimate exercise.
  • Crogirl_22
    Crogirl_22 Posts: 40 Member
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    The first time after you start a diet your body loses water maybe a bit fat but your body will always use muscles first, cause they use energy 24h and if you are dieting your body is in lack of energy, so as smart as it is its using muscles over fat, obviously reason, to reduce its own energy needs. That's why its hard to burn fat, but here comes good strength training in, if your muscles are worked, so you show that they are needed, your body is forced to burn the fat, cause now muscles have to be kept. So focus on good muscle work;) the human body is such amazing you just have to get to know yours, regarding a special program and diet, as we are all different, accept the general processes,and you can achieve anything. ;)
  • Dustinsteven22
    Dustinsteven22 Posts: 280 Member
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    It sounds like a nutrition problem. I suggest checking your calories. Typically people do not eat enough to lose weight which sounds totally crazy. Yes, you need to burn more calories than you eat, but if your calories are too low your body will conserve the fat stores.
  • KnudtsonS
    KnudtsonS Posts: 2 Member
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    Wow thanks everyone for your advice. I think I will cut my cardio/weights calories in half and see how that goes for a few weeks. I usually try to leave a buffer of 100-200 cal at the end of the day in case I didn't calculate something correctly. Hopefully things will melt off faster this way. I am trying to look at myself rather than just weighing being that the muscle I'm building will be heavier than the fat I'm losing, but so far it just didn't seem to be making progress on the scale or the mirror . Again, thanks for the encouragement.
  • FreedomMK2131
    FreedomMK2131 Posts: 17 Member
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    It sounds like you are doing all the right things, it helped me to add more strength training, eat lots of fruits and veges, and throw out the scale for a few weeks. Taking pictures every couple of weeks also helps as we tend to not notice the changes in our own appearance. Good luck to you!

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