I feel defeated.
tj91116
Posts: 15 Member
Almost the same weight since February. 
I'm thinking I dont get enough calories a day.
I'm thinking I dont get enough calories a day. 0
Replies
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How many calories a day are you eating now? Are you tracking everything?0
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Are you weighing your food? If not, you're probably eating more than you may realize.0
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thats probably not the issue unless u have thyroid problems or other health problems. if u think that might be the case see your dr. if u feel fine maybe open your diary and someone can give u input and help u out.0
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If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.
I'm going to give you my standard MFP advice:
Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.
Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories. Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.
Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).
Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.
Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »Are you weighing your food? If not, you're probably eating more than you may realize.
Agree. If you just use measuring cups/spoons, you're probably overeating and underlogging. Start weighing everything and see how it works out.0 -
If you are staying the same, you are eating at maintenance level. Weigh your food, you most likely are eating more than you think.0
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What they said . You arent doing the basics correctly otherwise you would have lost. the good news is it will be easy to rectify.0
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Can you open your diary?0
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blankiefinder wrote: »If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.
I'm going to give you my standard MFP advice:
Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.
Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories. Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.
Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).
Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.
Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants
+1 (good job on the post)0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.
I'm going to give you my standard MFP advice:
Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.
Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories. Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.
Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).
Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.
Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants
co sign0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.
I'm going to give you my standard MFP advice:
Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.
Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories. Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.
Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).
Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.
Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants
+1 (good job on the post)
co sign
Thanks. I cheat now and use cut and paste so I don't have to re-do the links every time, tried to keep it fairly concise.0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.
I'm going to give you my standard MFP advice:
Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.
Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories. Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.
Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).
Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.
Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants
Yes. Great post, great advice.
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I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.0
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I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
there is your problem you measure with cups instead of weighing ALL your food
See this short video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
By using cups you eat more calories than you think
so instead of wayyyy under your calorie goal you probably go wayyyy over.0 -
Wait, you just started last week? That's a different story than February! A week can barely show any difference on the scale (due to water weight). Give it another week or two and stick with it. I've had plateaus when I was sure the weight should have dropped and I stuck through. Sure enough the scale moved the next week.
Also , don't beat yourself up over maintaining the same weight since feb. You don't gain any weight and sometimes that in itself is an accomplishment.0 -
I actually go below what MFP says to do per day. I stay at 1500 and I don't feel hungry all the time. I think this is pretty healthy. Some may say otherwise. Either way, I don't weigh my food but it's at such a deficit for my weight that It makes me lose weight. I would recommend you do that. I don't know how many calories you're consuming now but I think going below the calories that you're supposed to eat (suggested by MFP, don't go below what's healthy like 1200) can really help with miscalculations. Some people say to get a food scale. I'm not able to purchase one, I'm always on the go, I've got finals and I'm moving and I have no money at the moment so, I just buy a lot of pre-packaged food. It's just my husband and I so I like to say that I eat half of whatever I fix. Most of the time, I give him more of it. Some of these things keep me on track without a food scale, I hope they'll work for you too. I did hear that nutrition labels can be 20% off.
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Start weighing your foods you have at home - you're eating more calories than you think.0
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Noooo I've been eat healthy since February I started mfp last week
. I'll have to get a scale. I really gotta figure out this calorie thing. Before I was always the one that said "I don't have time to count calories" Thank you guys I'll hopefully figure it out soon. 
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Noooo I've been eat healthy since February I started mfp last week. I'll have to get a scale. I really gotta figure out this calorie thing. Before I was always the one that said "I don't have time to count calories" Thank you guys I'll hopefully figure it out soon.
My food scale is the best $10 I ever spent! (got it on clearance at Walmart)
It really is easy to do once you get the hang of it. Take advantage of the zero function. So you can put your bowl on the scale, zero it, pour in your cereal, and record it. Weigh and log in grams when possible for the most accurate results. When serving something out of a jar like peanut butter spread onto bread, you can weigh the jar, zero it, then spread on your peanut butter and whatever the - grams are on the scale is what you used.0 -
TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
there is your problem you measure with cups instead of weighing ALL your food
See this short videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
By using cups you eat more calories than you think
so instead of wayyyy under your calorie goal you probably go wayyyy over.
It's ok to use cups just don't over do it?0 -
I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week.
Your diary is not open, so the comments will have to be generic.
re: your concern, note that
You are not likely to lose much fat-free mass if:
--your deficit is such that you are losing 1% or less of your body-weight a week.
--you are neither in the underweight nor the normal bmi range.
--you consume a good amount of protein
--you lift progressively heavier weights
If you don't weigh your food you are almost certain to have under-estimates/over-estimates when it comes to your logging.
You absolutely should log your cheat meal to the extent that you can. Allowing yourself to have what you want is one thing. Not knowing what you eat reduces the value of your data set and robs you of the ability to make decisions based on the information you (don't) have.
I would not quit the gym, but I would certainly quit any "special" diets unless medically indicated.
I like my egg mcmuffins myself and sometimes order a sausage McMuffin, no egg, add tomato (about $2.09); plus 2 round eggs (about $1.89). Note that the combination comes to just about the same price as a sausage mcmuffin with egg; but, you end up with a second egg, and a slice of tomato, which makes it into a very satisfying sandwich! With a coffee w/1 milk, this whole combination comes to less than 600Cal. When I want something extra on top, I dig into a protein bar (some are only 150-180Cal, i.e. very close to a 160Cal hashbrown).
Regardless of anything else, if you are at a weight loss standstill for 2 months, in spite of logging deficits... you should have a doctor check you out for medical issues that may make it harder for you to lose weight.
Absent a medical condition, the question becomes WHY is the deficit you think you have virtual as opposed to real?
the answer could be that you are not-typical, and MFP has over-estimated the CO part of your CICO (either because of lower BMR or because of exercise calorie inflation), or that there is a logging issue that affect your CI.0 -
TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
there is your problem you measure with cups instead of weighing ALL your food
See this short videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
By using cups you eat more calories than you think
so instead of wayyyy under your calorie goal you probably go wayyyy over.
It's ok to use cups just don't over do it?
Use measuring cups for liquids and the scale for solids. And your diet can consist strictly of "healthy" food and you can still gain/maintain weight. It's not about what you eat. It's about how much you eat.
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TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
there is your problem you measure with cups instead of weighing ALL your food
See this short videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
By using cups you eat more calories than you think
so instead of wayyyy under your calorie goal you probably go wayyyy over.
It's ok to use cups just don't over do it?
Only if you did something extreme like the following:
Label says serving is 1 cup. You measure out 1/2 cup, but log it using the calories for the full serving. Repeat for everything - taking at MOST 1/2 of the serving, but logging it as a full serving. I do this sort of thing on those occasions when I can't use a scale.
That would be the only way you MIGHT be closer with your calories.
You will be WORLD'S better off just getting a scale and weighing it out. No more guessing
~Lyssa0 -
TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
there is your problem you measure with cups instead of weighing ALL your food
See this short videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
By using cups you eat more calories than you think
so instead of wayyyy under your calorie goal you probably go wayyyy over.
It's ok to use cups just don't over do it?
Its a bit personal is my opinion.
I want to know as accurate as possible how many calories i eat. So my answer is no.
I only use cups for liquids. And even those i weigh sometimes. I dont use tsp/tbsp at all. I weigh really everything!
For now you are not happy with your weight loss progress so maybe start weighing your food also?
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That video just ruined the meal i'm eating right now. I've been using MFP for about a month now and been using measuring cups for my portions. Good thing is that I have a scale that I ordered last week. It's suppose to reach Wal-mart tomorrow so I can pick it up. I'm just praying to the Lord that my body have been ina calorie defict for the past two weeks since May 1st is my weigh in date0
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That video just ruined the meal i'm eating right now. I've been using MFP for about a month now and been using measuring cups for my portions. Good thing is that I have a scale that I ordered last week. It's suppose to reach Wal-mart tomorrow so I can pick it up. I'm just praying to the Lord that my body have been ina calorie defict for the past two weeks since May 1st is my weigh in date
How much was yoir scale?0 -
I only say I'm not getting enough calories because I'm always under my calorie goal. I just use what mfp gave me. It had me enter my weight age and gave me my calories minus the 20% for the deficit, right?. I read some where that if you don't meet your deficit goal that you start to burn muscle instead of fat. I just started on mfp last week. I logged almost everything so far. I didn't log my cheat meal Saturday ( I only do a cheat meal not a day). I don't weight my food I do scan the bar codes and what ever it brings up like 1 apple or one cup I'll log that or measure with a measuring cup. I only eat chicken, fruits veggies, eggs, oatmeal, protein shake after workouts, (I know I'm forgetting something.) I might splurge like Friday morning I had a egg sausage muffin and hush brown but I was still under my goal and I try not to do that too often. I'm in the gym 4 times a week. I lift and do cardio all 4 days. I'm doing the gm diet this week. Which I'm think I'm going to quit because it makes me WAY under my calories.
Into MFP - enter your start weight and how much you'd like to lose each week (i.e. 1 pound). MFP will give you the maximum limit of calories you should be eating to accomplish that.
Log everything ... including cheat meals. And actually, if you're not losing weight, drop the cheat meals. If you want something extra, exercise for it.
(As an aside, I got here by eating cheat meals ... I was really good during the week, I would lose weight during the week, then I'd kind of go crazy on the weekends and gain it all back)
Weigh your foods. Eyeballing sizes and doing estimates can be very misleading. We just picked up a new scale at Woolworths (grocery store chain here in Australia) and it cost all of $20. So they're pretty cheap.
If you exercise, under-estimate how much you did and enter that into MFP. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned. For example, if you walked 60 min, chances are you only burned 200 calories. MFP will add that amount to your calorie total, and you can eat all of that back ... or a portion of it. I usually go for about half.
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That video just ruined the meal i'm eating right now. I've been using MFP for about a month now and been using measuring cups for my portions. Good thing is that I have a scale that I ordered last week. It's suppose to reach Wal-mart tomorrow so I can pick it up. I'm just praying to the Lord that my body have been ina calorie defict for the past two weeks since May 1st is my weigh in date
How much was yoir scale?
my scale was on amazon for 9.99
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