Eating too much or too little?

ckehiv
ckehiv Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I've been using MFP for 3 months now, and it was working great until I started working out. Before I started working out, I told MFP I was "lightly active" and I've lost weight with this setting. So now I do 100 push-ups a day and 150 sit-ups ( 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups/hr) and I saw that I wasn't losing weight, even gaining sometimes. I heard that if you eat too little, your body will hold on to your fat. I'm 6'4'' and currently 260 lbs. My current calorie intake is 2,740 (set at lightly active).

Should I change my setting to "Active" and eat more, or should I be eating less.

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    1. Are you weighing all your food on a digital food scale? If not, studies indicate that you are most likely eating more than you think.
    2. Are you logging your exercise and eating 100% of the calories you earned back? Many suggest you just eat back 50% of your exercise calories as the burns tend to be inflated.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    The eat too little and hold onto fat part is a myth, don't worry about that. Other than that, kshama2001 has it covered in the post above.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    Eating too little makes people hold onto fat is a myth.

    Are you using a food scale for all your solids? Measuring all your liquids ?
    How long has it been since you stopped losing?
  • ckehiv
    ckehiv Posts: 2 Member
    It's been 5 days since I've stopped losing and I don't have a food scale. I just try to eat foods that are easy to measure without a scale, like foods that have servings in cups.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    edited December 2015
    ckehiv wrote: »
    It's been 5 days since I've stopped losing and I don't have a food scale. I just try to eat foods that are easy to measure without a scale, like foods that have servings in cups.

    A food scale will vastly increase your accuracy. That said, 5 days is way too short a time frame to infer anything about your weight.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    ckehiv wrote: »
    Hi, I've been using MFP for 3 months now, and it was working great until I started working out. Before I started working out, I told MFP I was "lightly active" and I've lost weight with this setting. So now I do 100 push-ups a day and 150 sit-ups ( 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups/hr) and I saw that I wasn't losing weight, even gaining sometimes. I heard that if you eat too little, your body will hold on to your fat. I'm 6'4'' and currently 260 lbs. My current calorie intake is 2,740 (set at lightly active).

    Should I change my setting to "Active" and eat more, or should I be eating less.

    Nope. You are either retaining water from your new exercise, or you are eating too much.

    Don't change your activity level or add those exercise calories. Count only cardio.

    Do you use a food scale and log your food? Do you log every single thing you eat? Do you ensure you are using correct entries?

    By the way, and I could very well be wrong, but even at your height and weigh it seems to me that 2,740 calories is a lot of calories to lose weight. How much are you trying to lose per week? Is this the number that MFP gave you?
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    ckehiv wrote: »
    Hi, I've been using MFP for 3 months now, and it was working great until I started working out. Before I started working out, I told MFP I was "lightly active" and I've lost weight with this setting. So now I do 100 push-ups a day and 150 sit-ups ( 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups/hr) and I saw that I wasn't losing weight, even gaining sometimes. I heard that if you eat too little, your body will hold on to your fat. I'm 6'4'' and currently 260 lbs. My current calorie intake is 2,740 (set at lightly active).

    Should I change my setting to "Active" and eat more, or should I be eating less.

    Nope. You are either retaining water from your new exercise, or you are eating too much.

    Don't change your activity level or add those exercise calories. Count only cardio.

    Do you use a food scale and log your food? Do you log every single thing you eat? Do you ensure you are using correct entries?

    By the way, and I could very well be wrong, but even at your height and weigh it seems to me that 2,740 calories is a lot of calories to lose weight. How much are you trying to lose per week? Is this the number that MFP gave you?

    The figure might not be too far off. I am 6 foot and 188 lbs currently, and losing on 2600. I do have a more significant exercise regiment than the OP though.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    ckehiv wrote: »
    It's been 5 days since I've stopped losing and I don't have a food scale. I just try to eat foods that are easy to measure without a scale, like foods that have servings in cups.

    Oh gosh, five days? Not enough time to tell anything. That could be natural fluctuation.
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