I have been eating healthy and Gained 6 pounds Please help

24

Replies

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
    So i have been eating 1440 Calories That's what MFP tells me to eat to lose 2 pounds a week I went and weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 223 and i was 217 2 weeks ago I measure my Food with Measuring cups And i walk and burn off 300 calories a day I need help figuring out should i be exercising more or eating less? Because i am doing something wrong And my Stats are I am a Female 5'3 223 And my BMR is 1,736 - 1800 different websites say different numbers any help or suggestions will be appreciated thanks

    Hi Michelle,

    If you are gaining weight you are eating more than you realize. However, if you've started a new exercise, some of the weight increase could be water.

    If you open your diary you will get more concrete advice.

    Weigh all your food as eyeballs and measuring devices are deceiving.

    Also, what do you do to burn 300 calories? If you use MFP or internet estimates those are way overestimated. Eat only about 60-75 % of those back.

    What do you have your activity level set at?
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    So i have been eating 1440 Calories That's what MFP tells me to eat to lose 2 pounds a week I went and weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 223 and i was 217 2 weeks ago I measure my Food with Measuring cups And i walk and burn off 300 calories a day I need help figuring out should i be exercising more or eating less? Because i am doing something wrong And my Stats are I am a Female 5'3 223 And my BMR is 1,736 - 1800 different websites say different numbers any help or suggestions will be appreciated thanks

    Hi Michelle,

    If you are gaining weight you are eating more than you realize. However, if you've started a new exercise, some of the weight increase could be water.

    If you open your diary you will get more concrete advice.

    Weigh all your food as eyeballs and measuring devices are deceiving.

    Also, what do you do to burn 300 calories? If you use MFP or internet estimates those are way overestimated. Eat only about 60-75 % of those back.

    What do you have your activity level set at?

    I am Doing Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home 3 Mile walk And i put my Activity level at Sedentary But I do move around alot being a mom to 2 boys :) Do you think eating 1440 calories a day is too low for a BMR of 1700-1800? I feel Like i am doing everything wrong And thanks again for all your help :)
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You cannot compare across scales. That is a recipe for disaster.
    You cannot compare dressed vs not dressed. And at different times of the day. That is a recipe for disaster too!

    While you are shopping for a within budget kitchen scale... try and get a person scale too.

    Honestly it doesn't even matter if it is accurate (it would matter to me; but in reality it doesn't) as long as it can record your weight change over time.

    Picking a scale is a long discussion (Because people freak when the scale shows them three different numbers within three minutes, scales just lie these days and show you the same number until they detect a large enough, as defined by the manufacturer, change of weight. They do that in order to convince you that they are very consistent... while in actual fact they aren't).

    I have no insight on how to pick one that doesn't do this all the time. When I did find one eventually that doesn't do it all the time, I just called it a day in desperation and shelled the ca$h. The Fitbit Aria's first 2-3 weight ins are real and only after the 3rd time you weight yourself does it go into fake consistency mode; but it is solidly overpriced for what it is, and the wi-fi setup could not suck worse if a committee of imbeciles had deliberately tried to make it as sucky as possible -- unless you luck out and the sub-par POS cheap wi-fi chipset they used happens to be compatible with your router and other devices, which is far from a universal happening!)

    Anyway. Pick a scale. Make sure it has fresh batteries. Place it on an un-yielding piece of floor. Avoid moving it around without recalibrating. By preference weight yourself on that same spot day in and day out!

    Weight yourself in the morning after you used the bathroom, nakid, or as close to it as you can get, and before eating or drinking anything. A small glass of water weighs half a lb.

    After you've done all that, enter your weight into an web site/application such as www.weightgrapher.com or www.trendweight.com (can integrate to MFP through a free fitbit account even if you don't have one of the supported scales), or LIBRA on Android, or Happy Scale on iPhone.

    All of them produce a trendline of your weight, a trendline that allows you to focus on your longer term progress without freaking out about daily variabilities in water weight which can be substantial and are caused by things such as sodium, exercise, excess food in the gi tract, monthly hormonal shifts, and other random events in this universe. Such variabilities have been known to reach 5+lbs for some individuals (as compared to a daily weigh change that could be as little as 0.2lbs)

    Of course the advice you received re: weighting your food is absolutely solid and will make a big difference too.... but a 6lb gain while watching what you've been eating smacks of measurement error, not just of gaining weight because of cup measuring errors... well, not unless you eat a lot of peanut butter ;-)

    I am just going to pick a food scale and a scale to weigh myself :) as long as i see the numbers change and go down i will be happy Do you think i should be eating more if my BMR is around 1700-1800 i am eating 1440 like MFP tells me to do I do think the scale i weighed myself at Walmart was wrong and i do think i have been eating more and not realizing it Thanks so much for your help and i Love peanut butter i need to throw it all away it's Tempting not too eat it all :)
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
    edited August 2015
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    So i have been eating 1440 Calories That's what MFP tells me to eat to lose 2 pounds a week I went and weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 223 and i was 217 2 weeks ago I measure my Food with Measuring cups And i walk and burn off 300 calories a day I need help figuring out should i be exercising more or eating less? Because i am doing something wrong And my Stats are I am a Female 5'3 223 And my BMR is 1,736 - 1800 different websites say different numbers any help or suggestions will be appreciated thanks

    Hi Michelle,

    If you are gaining weight you are eating more than you realize. However, if you've started a new exercise, some of the weight increase could be water.

    If you open your diary you will get more concrete advice.

    Weigh all your food as eyeballs and measuring devices are deceiving.

    Also, what do you do to burn 300 calories? If you use MFP or internet estimates those are way overestimated. Eat only about 60-75 % of those back.

    What do you have your activity level set at?

    I am Doing Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home 3 Mile walk And i put my Activity level at Sedentary But I do move around alot being a mom to 2 boys :) Do you think eating 1440 calories a day is too low for a BMR of 1700-1800? I feel Like i am doing everything wrong And thanks again for all your help :)

    Please consider that you are most likely eating more than you realize. Do you weigh your food?
  • UprightMan
    UprightMan Posts: 13 Member
    Having 2 kids doesn't count as exercise. What you consider moving a lot is probably just normal (if that) daily activity.
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    UprightMan wrote: »
    Having 2 kids doesn't count as exercise. What you consider moving a lot is probably just normal (if that) daily activity.

    I know having 2 kids doesn't count I run after them alot that's what i mean lol but i am starting out slow because i haven't worked out in along time what should i start out doing? if i want to lose 2 pounds a week?
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    So i have been eating 1440 Calories That's what MFP tells me to eat to lose 2 pounds a week I went and weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 223 and i was 217 2 weeks ago I measure my Food with Measuring cups And i walk and burn off 300 calories a day I need help figuring out should i be exercising more or eating less? Because i am doing something wrong And my Stats are I am a Female 5'3 223 And my BMR is 1,736 - 1800 different websites say different numbers any help or suggestions will be appreciated thanks

    Hi Michelle,

    If you are gaining weight you are eating more than you realize. However, if you've started a new exercise, some of the weight increase could be water.

    If you open your diary you will get more concrete advice.

    Weigh all your food as eyeballs and measuring devices are deceiving.

    Also, what do you do to burn 300 calories? If you use MFP or internet estimates those are way overestimated. Eat only about 60-75 % of those back.

    What do you have your activity level set at?

    I am Doing Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home 3 Mile walk And i put my Activity level at Sedentary But I do move around alot being a mom to 2 boys :) Do you think eating 1440 calories a day is too low for a BMR of 1700-1800? I feel Like i am doing everything wrong And thanks again for all your help :)

    Please consider that you are most likely eating more than you realize. Do you weigh your food?

    No and i think that is a big problem i was only using measuring cups I realize after talking to all of you that i am doing it all wrong And i do agree i think i am eating way more than i should be eating.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    You've got it

    Good luck with the next month..let us know how it goes:)
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    You've got it

    Good luck with the next month..let us know how it goes:)

    Thank you so very much i will let you know :)
  • NoIdea101NoIdea
    NoIdea101NoIdea Posts: 659 Member
    UprightMan wrote: »
    Having 2 kids doesn't count as exercise. What you consider moving a lot is probably just normal (if that) daily activity.

    I know having 2 kids doesn't count I run after them alot that's what i mean lol but i am starting out slow because i haven't worked out in along time what should i start out doing? if i want to lose 2 pounds a week?

    How much do you have to lose? If you only have a few pounds to lose, (lets say less than 20, i can't remember the exact numbers) but then 1lb-0.5lb a week is the recommended, safest loss.

    I mean, if you are gaining then you are eating too much (glad to hear you'll be going with the food scale, it really is an eye opener!), but if you find once you start weighing foods that you still overeat your calorie goal due to hunger, it may be worth dropping down to that 1lb-.5lb loss a week rather than 2lbs, as it will give you more calories to eat. Sure, you will lose slower, but at least you would lose and not accidentally overeat due to hunger! One of the lessons i had to learn the hard way :p
  • leahcollett1
    leahcollett1 Posts: 807 Member
    jkal1979 wrote: »
    I'm glad to hear that you are going to get a food scale. They can be a real eye opener.

    Are you due for your period soon? That can also play a big role in water weight gain.

    I had just gotten off it when i Weighed myself and I was in shock that i had gained i used a scale at Walmart where you sit down I'm not even sure if that scale was Accurate it was in the pharmacy Thanks again for your help :)

    can i just mention that the digital ones in pharmacies can have blips - im speaking from experience i got weighed in tesco ( equivilant to wallmart) and it said i had dropped 10lbs... ha i wish.. got on the next day i had actually dropped 3lbs.. it was a massive blip in the machine..

    weigh again hun
  • KittensMaster
    KittensMaster Posts: 748 Member
    Using a good digital scale

    Counting all cooking oil

    Adding some exercise

    Those helped me get the ball rolling

    Good luck!
  • DR2501
    DR2501 Posts: 661 Member
    Also, I would ignore the scale and go by how you look/your clothes feel.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    DR2501 wrote: »
    Also, I would ignore the scale and go by how you look/your clothes feel.

    Ignoring the scale won't do it!
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    jkal1979 wrote: »
    I'm glad to hear that you are going to get a food scale. They can be a real eye opener.

    Are you due for your period soon? That can also play a big role in water weight gain.

    I had just gotten off it when i Weighed myself and I was in shock that i had gained i used a scale at Walmart where you sit down I'm not even sure if that scale was Accurate it was in the pharmacy Thanks again for your help :)

    It might be a good idea to buy a scale to use at home so that way you can use it more consistently. The best thing to do is to weigh in at the same time of day. I usually weigh myself in the morning after using the bathroom and not wearing anything. Your weight can fluctuate a lot during the course of the day.
  • dahhhhhling
    dahhhhhling Posts: 66 Member
    DR2501 wrote: »
    Also, I would ignore the scale and go by how you look/your clothes feel.

    Ignoring the scale won't do it!

    Why do you say that? I think a much better indicator of weight loss would be inches lost and how loose your clothes are getting. Some people go crazy with the scale, worrying about every ounce gained and ignoring the fact they've lost 2 dress sizes. I would much rather look good naked than worry about some number on a scale.

    I've put my scale away to a place where it would be inconvenient to get to, I've resolved to only weigh myself once per month. I'm much happier because I'm focusing on how I look and feel instead of the number.
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
    gemdiver00 wrote: »
    Log everything that goes into your mouth. I logged in half of a grilled cheese sandwich AND the 3 tater tots I ate

    tumblr_misddcKSwq1rp8gz7o1_500.gif#napolian%20tots%20gif%20500x331
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    Thank you all for you help i am deff going to get a scale and start weighing my food and one for the bathroom i won't be using a pharmacy scale again Lol :)
  • michelleselmon
    michelleselmon Posts: 90 Member
    UprightMan wrote: »
    Having 2 kids doesn't count as exercise. What you consider moving a lot is probably just normal (if that) daily activity.

    I know having 2 kids doesn't count I run after them alot that's what i mean lol but i am starting out slow because i haven't worked out in along time what should i start out doing? if i want to lose 2 pounds a week?

    How much do you have to lose? If you only have a few pounds to lose, (lets say less than 20, i can't remember the exact numbers) but then 1lb-0.5lb a week is the recommended, safest loss.

    I mean, if you are gaining then you are eating too much (glad to hear you'll be going with the food scale, it really is an eye opener!), but if you find once you start weighing foods that you still overeat your calorie goal due to hunger, it may be worth dropping down to that 1lb-.5lb loss a week rather than 2lbs, as it will give you more calories to eat. Sure, you will lose slower, but at least you would lose and not accidentally overeat due to hunger! One of the lessons i had to learn the hard way :p

    I'm wanting to lose a 100 pounds I have a ways to go :( i wish it was only 20 i needed to lose lol I have my goal set to 1.5 pound loss a week on MFP so i am going to try it all but it's only giving me 1420 calories to eat now and i was getting 1440 lol
  • freeza12
    freeza12 Posts: 33 Member
    Eating back calories after you've exercised is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

    Two part: Why in god's name do you bother exercising if you're going to put the calories back in? What a waste of time, effort and money!
    Secondly, it's highly likely you're eating much more than you exercised. For example, half an hour on the bike equals one slice of pizza.

    Weight loss ain't easy and you have a big hill to climb - you can't trick the weight off, so stop kidding yourself and get serious.