Am I eating too few calories?
purplebuttersunflower
Posts: 12 Member
I've spent the last hour reading a few posts and searching a few places for advice but thought it a good idea to ask here. MFP put me at 1870 calories a day (CW 143.5kg/316 pounds) and I rechecked that once I lost a bit of weight so it's now at 1850. I've been doing it for 19 days using MFP & the only time I actually lost weight was over the weekend when I actually ate more than usual! I weigh everything and often overestimate slightly. I'm fairly active & spend most of my day on my feet. I go walking everyday except Saturdays & Sundays (Fitbit average on 7000 steps a day, 3000 calorie burn) and go on the exercise bike twice a week for 10 mins. I try to make sure I don't eat back what i burn. Think I've only done that once or twice. I put myself as lightly active on MFP but am wondering if that's perhaps wrong? I thought I'd be losing faster considering my weight but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
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Replies
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Fitbit estimates your total daily energy then adds your steps on top. So the 7000 steps aren't burning 3000 on top that's your total for the day. If they are synced the adjustment to mfp are what you should eat back.0
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3,000 calorie burn from 7,000 steps? Seems a little off OP0
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It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?0 -
IsaackGMOON wrote: »3,000 calorie burn from 7,000 steps? Seems a little off OP
I think she means her FitBit says her TDEE was 3,000 calories on a 7,000 step day.
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Sorry new to all this. I used to do all this in notebooks so am not up with all the jargon. Right I was just telling you what my fitbit tells me at the end of the day before bed. I didn't mean 7000 steps = 3000 calories.
My fitbit calorie goal is set to 2000 a day by the way.
The reason I think I'm not eating enough is because I'm not losing. Even with added exercise & increased daily activity. I spend most of my day going up & down stairs. I just don't get it to be honest. Even at 1500 (before I started using MFP) I wasn't losing. I weigh everything. Drinks, sauces, spreads....everything.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
If you think you are eating too few calories, rather than readjust again maybe include eating the adjustments from the fitbit to see if that helps you lose?0
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Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
Not even a little bit.
You asked why she thought she might be eating too little, not how much I thought she should be eating.0 -
PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Thank you for that link. Just checked it out & according to that I have been eating about 300 calories below. More than 25% calorie reduction. I've adjusted MFP & also ticked to include negative adjustments from fitbit? Guessing that will also help me to know not to eat more than what I've burned.
I'll try it out for 2 weeks and see if it makes a difference.0 -
What did you see that indicated she was concerned about her BMR, then? It seemed like you were answering with your answer, not hers.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
Not even a little bit.
You asked why she thought she might be eating too little, not how much I thought she should be eating.
OP seems concerned that she isn't losing enough weight, more than anything else.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
I didn't think I was eating too few at all until I overate for 3 days (Easter) and found I'd actually lost weight for the first time in almost 2 months. I'm not 100% happy about eating more but I'd rather give it a go than not lose for another week.0 -
You didn't lose weight from eating more, though.purplebuttersunflower wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
I didn't think I was eating too few at all until I overate for 3 days (Easter) and found I'd actually lost weight for the first time in almost 2 months. I'm not 100% happy about eating more but I'd rather give it a go than not lose for another week.
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I think if you don't lose it's just the opposite and you are rather eating too many not too few calories (or exercising too little). Quite frankly for me 10 min. on a bike is more recreational then exercise and also 7000 steps doesn't sound that much to me. If you lost weight on a particular day you ate more doesn't mean there's a direct correlation, it's just the effect of a calorie deficit of previous days. So if you are stable after 19 days I would do the following:
- re-*kitten* your log is correct
- if no, try another week with the caloric intake you set and see if you lose
- if yes increase deficit by either reducing food or increasing exercise or (better) a combination of the two.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
You didn't lose weight from eating more, though.purplebuttersunflower wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Even presuming a Fitbit is 100% accurate on TDEE and calorie burns, 1870 is only 130 calories away from a 1000 calorie deficit.PeachyPlum wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »It doesn't seem like you are eating too few calories (it sounds like you've set your goal for two pounds a week).
Why do you think you might be?
Because if average TDEE is 3,000 then 1,870 is a 38% deficit and possibly less than BMR?
OP, have you calculated what your BMR is? This is a popular calculator that a lot of people here use: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Are you suggesting that someone who weighs 316 pounds (and who isn't, presumably, 8 feet tall) can't safely lose two pounds a week?
I didn't think I was eating too few at all until I overate for 3 days (Easter) and found I'd actually lost weight for the first time in almost 2 months. I'm not 100% happy about eating more but I'd rather give it a go than not lose for another week.
Yeah, no, that's not what I was saying. I apologize, I seem to have confused everybody in this thread.
So, back on track...
I must have missed your reply where you said you felt you were undereating because you're not losing and weren't losing even at 1500. Have you discussed this with your doctor? Because at 1500 I feel like you definitely should have been losing if your logging was accurate.
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If I ate what my FitBit tells me to eat I'd weigh 500 lbs. I'm not convinced that FitBit is the way to go for determining how much to eat.
Usually when I'm not losing it is more to do with the accuracy of my diary - I haven't been using my food scale as much as I should, I'm not logging all those bites and nibbles, etc... The more accurate my diary the better results on the scale.0 -
purplebuttersunflower wrote: »
The reason I think I'm not eating enough is because I'm not losing. Even with added exercise & increased daily activity. I spend most of my day going up & down stairs. I just don't get it to be honest. Even at 1500 (before I started using MFP) I wasn't losing. I weigh everything. Drinks, sauces, spreads....everything.
IF you're not losing, then you're eating TOO MANY, not too few calories. You might have adjust downwards slowly.
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It's a myth that eating too few calories will slow your metabolism and cause you to gain wait, so no, you are not eating too few calories.0
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Hi, sorry to cause confusion but I don't eat what my fitbit tells me to eat. I follow MFP & always make sure I am under. I am definitely being accurate with my counting. I just figured that weighing what I way, walking for 20 mins at a moderate pace, doing 10mins of steps 5 days a week & exercise bike twice a week would result in me losing some weight! I'm fairly active but put myself as lightly active on MFP so instead of 2100, I was eating just under 1850. Before that it was 1500. No loss.
Thanks for all the replies. Am going to increase for 2 weeks anyway & see what happens. If nothing changes then I'll go the other way. Might try sticking to 1000 for a few days & see what happens. Otherwise I'll be making an appointment with the doctor.0 -
You need to be exercising more. Why are you doing so few steps?
I don't understand the argument for eating more calories--it seems like you should be consuming fewer calories given your current situation.0 -
Make sure you're not overcalculating calories for the non-step exercise like your bike.
You said you're logging accurately, but just make sure you're measuring all liquids and not using generic entries if you have exact nutrition info available.
The other thing to consider is that at 316lb you are very overweight and presumably have a very high bf%. Afaik, Fitbit doesn't take bf into account when working out your calories, so it may be overestimating your burns. I've adjusted me height in Fitbit to account for this (I'm currently 225lb, also very overweight with high bf%) using Heybale's spreadsheet - can't find the link right now but someone else might be able to help you. 3000 calories a day at your weight doesn't sound that unreasonable, but it may well be a couple of hundred calories lower.
I'd suggest sticking with your planned deficit for a couple of weeks, make sure any "cheat" days (hate that term!) are logged accurately, but don't stress out if you have them, and see if your loss matches what it should be. If not, drop the calories by about 100 at a time - don't drop too quickly because even if it's potentially still healthy to eat less than you are, it will be more difficult to stick to!
FWIW, on a day where I just hit 10,000 steps and don't do any other activity, I burn about 2,500 calories, and my losses seem to be on par with what Fitbit expects (now I've adjusted my height), so I really don't think 3,000 calories is going to be so far off that it accounts for you not losing anything.0 -
I'm averaging between 20,000-25,000 steps a day and have mfp set to sedentary. That way i can choose to eat back my exercise calories or not. Setting it to active or lightly active just makes things more difficult....0
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Are you logging your walking separately in your journal? If you said you're lightly active 7000 steps would already be included in that count and honestly is a bit of an overstatement.
Also, not sure how true is bc I have water /hormone problems, but I've heard that your body retains water weight when you're active so since you don't walk Saturday and Sunday your body may have just released water weight.
I would change to sedentary and eat accordingly.....and not base any changes off a single weigh in, but only long term trends (week plus)0 -
Happy to report that after 5 days of increasing my calories by about 300 more a day I am finally starting to lose! Very very happy! Am now 140.5! I should've been that weight after a month of eating 1800 calories but it just didn't happen. Still testing it out for now of course but so far so good
The reason my steps are low is because I'm a carer so don't leave the house very much apart from volunteering days or our daily walk. Most of those steps are from moving around the house & going up and down the stairs. I don't log my exercise though, just rely on steps. I'm happy to lose slowly though & don't feel the need to push more until I need to which will probably be in May.0
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