What am I doing wrong?

karenpsal · May 2011

I have been using MyFitnessPal for about 4 months now. I started trying to lose weight last year and started at 145 and got down to 135 from Jan - Apr, 2010. However, I did gain back some weight and went back up to 141 and joined a health club in Sept, 2010 and got back down to 133 as of Jan of this year. I got all the way down to 128 but then I stopped losing weight and have been the same weight for about 4 weeks. I exercise every day doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (which is about 26 min long). I also do an additional 30-45 min of cardio (Zumba, Tae Bo or P90X) in addition to that. I log every single food I eat on MyFitnessPal and am sometimes right at my calorie goal or slightly over.

My question is, should I not be eating the calories that I am burning through exercise? For example, if I burn 500-700 calories exercising, can I eat the additional 500 - 700 calories or should I just stick to my normal 1200 calories a day? I am obviously eating too much because I'm not losing anymore weight.

Please give me suggestions on how I can start losing weight again!

Thanks, Karen

SW 145
GW 120
CW 128

chantel14 · May 2011

Try just eating half of your exercise calories back for a week and see if that helps... are you logging your calories via the website or a HRM? because this site estimates your calories burned a little high...

marianne_s · May 2011

If you're wearing a HRM, then eat all of your exercise calories back

How much do you still have to lose, if it's 20 lbs or less then set your weekly loss goal to 0.5 lb per week.

Jillk1023 · May 2011

good question.... sorry cant help but intrested in the answers! good luck!

karenpsal · May 2011

I have been using a heart rate monitor to count my calories burned. However, my HRM sometimes estimates workouts higher than MFP. Sometimes I'll try log calories in between. Thanks for the suggestion! I will try to eat half of the calories that I burn. It will definitely be an adjustment for me because I usually eat all of the calories that I burn. Probably why I'm not losing anymore.

Thanks, Karen

mariasheehan · May 2011

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Check out this members blog, you'll have to read back a few months to find his answers to eating exercise calories

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat

What am I doing wrong?

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