Calories vs workouts

Trishell27 · April 2016

So ive been working out,cycling,and hiking judt abput everyday for 6 months now and have just maintained my weight. I would go up 4 lbs then down by about 4lbs but not loose weight and stay there. I am 5' 6" and 146. I eat around 1300 to 1500 calories,clean and healthy. Is there something im doing wrong here??? I want to loose another 20 to my goal weight or even 10 would be great!! Im frustrated and not sure of whats happening here.

veganbaum · April 2016

Your diary isn't open, but it's likely a logging issue since you are maintaining your weight.

You need to log consistently and accurately. Enter your stats and goal - should be no more than 1 lb/wk loss with so little to lose, really closer to .5 lb/wk - and start with that as your calorie goal. Log your exercise and eat those calories, too (you may want to start with 50-75%). Do all of that consistently for 4-6 weeks, then adjust your calories up or down if you are not losing at the expected rate.

Also, I'd suggest reading the links contained here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest

Trishell27 · April 2016

Thank you ill try that and read tje articles youve posted!!

duddysdad · April 2016

Do you use a food scale for all solids, and cups/spoons for all liquids? If not, you need to. What's your activity level and are you eating your calories back? Exercise calories burned can and usually are very inaccurate and if you are eating them back and not measuring properly, then it seems you are eating at maintenance. If you are in a deficit, you will lose weight. It's not possible to maintain weight in a deficit if you have weight to lose, especially after 6 months.

elliej · April 2016

Congratulations - you've found your maintenance food/exercise balance!

If you are that active I can't imagine you're really only taking in 1300-1500 cals. Unless you are weighing and measuring all your food, and logging every celery stick and bite of candy you are not getting an accurate picture of your cals in. If you really are it may be worth a trip to the doctors

Maxematics · April 2016

I have to admit that I took a look at your diary and I'm very confused by it. I'm just going to outline some questions/statements I have.

What do you have your activity level set to on MFP? I ask because you seem to get a very low calorie allowance, a bit over 1200, which leads me to believe you're aiming for a two pound per week loss or you are set as sedentary.
If you are set as sedentary, your exercise diary does not reflecting much working out, cycling, or hiking for the past six months. The way you've listed it seems as if you're doing hours of strenuous exercise daily, but your exercise diary has sparse calorie burns. I see you've started using a Fitbit recently and the amount of extra calories you earn from that aren't that high for someone who exercises that much. Which Fitbit model are you using? If you're set to something higher than sedentary on MFP, disregard this point.
Invest in a food scale. With your stats, you have a smaller margin of error to work with. Whatever you're doing now, you're eating at maintenance. Your food diary doesn't seem too accurate since you have partial/missing days and everything is in pieces, cups, tablespoons, etc. If you really don't want to use a food scale, cut your calories by 250 for a few weeks and reassess.

Francl27 · April 2016

You're eating more than you think, guaranteed. Get a food scale.

And you're probably overestimating your burn too. I'm a bit lighter than you but I'd have to workout for 2 hours at good intensity to burn 800 calories, and there's no way I can do that every day because my legs just can't take it.

Trishell27 · April 2016

Francl27 wrote: »

You're eating more than you think, guaranteed. Get a food scale.

And you're probably overestimating your burn too. I'm a bit lighter than you but I'd have to workout for 2 hours at good intensity to burn 800 calories, and there's no way I can do that every day because my legs just can't take it.

synacious wrote: »

I have to admit that I took a look at your diary and I'm very confused by it. I'm just going to outline some questions/statements I have.
What do you have your activity level set to on MFP? I ask because you seem to get a very low calorie allowance, a bit over 1200, which leads me to believe you're aiming for a two pound per week loss or you are set as sedentary.

If you are set as sedentary, your exercise diary does not reflecting much working out, cycling, or hiking for the past six months. The way you've listed it seems as if you're doing hours of strenuous exercise daily, but your exercise diary has sparse calorie burns. I see you've started using a Fitbit recently and the amount of extra calories you earn from that aren't that high for someone who exercises that much. Which Fitbit model are you using? If you're set to something higher than sedentary on MFP, disregard this point.

Invest in a food scale. With your stats, you have a smaller margin of error to work with. Whatever you're doing now, you're eating at maintenance. Your food diary doesn't seem too accurate since you have partial/missing days and everything is in pieces, cups, tablespoons, etc. If you really don't want to use a food scale, cut your calories by 250 for a few weeks and reassess.

I havent been logging any workouts due to using a fit bit hr and not too sure how all that works out. I hike on average 3 hours for 4 days out of the week and thats normally carring my son at 33 lbs. I workout about 45 muintes a day. And cycle three days a week. Not adding any of it in MFP due to the HR. Its all confussing to me. No im not using a scale good idea though ill look for one. I have been off MFP for some time now 6 + months. Thank you for your advice.

Calories vs workouts

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