I feel like an idiot
beatyfamily1
Posts: 257 Member
MFP tells me I need 1286 calories to lose 2 pounds a week. I've been doing great with weight loss and then I got stuck. My weight fluctuates a little bit, but no more loss along with a non-existent libido that I'm pretty sure is related to my diet. Not fun for my husband. So I found a great explanation on the Harris-Benedict equation to find out my BMR. My BMR is 1,786 calories. Then I have to multiply my BMR to the coordinating number according to my activity level, which makes my total calories 2,143 and 1,643 calories with a 500 deficit. Then it mentioned to split your calorie deficit between eating and exercise. So for a 500 calorie deficit you can do 250 calorie deficit with food and burn off 250 calories with exercise. This whole time I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit with MFP's 1,286 calorie suggestion plus burning 300 or more calories almost everyday with exercise. No, honestly, it did not occur to me to count exercise calories burned as part of the deficit. So 500 calorie deficit from MFP's 1,286 calorie suggestion plus 300 or more calories burned from exercise plus the missing 357 calories I should have been eating according to the Harris-Benedict equation equals a whopping 1,157 calorie deficit. I'm thinking I should have been eating more calories which probably is the reason I stopped losing weight along with the other side effect and likely more side effect to come if I had not caught this. So there's my vent and I hope my mistake helps others in the same boat.
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Replies
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Don't feel like an idiot, I think you just needed to read the mfp info a couple times and read the stickies.
Firstly you chose in mfp a loss of 2 pounds a week so that's a deficit of 1000 cals a day. Secondly how mfp is designed to work is that you eat the amount of cals it calculates for your chosen weight loss, then if you do any purposeful exercise you eat back an estimate of how many calories you burnt. Not everyone eats back all their exercise cals because of inaccuracies in estimating what you burnt. I am guessing that you were probably under eating for your activity level before. The way you have recently calculated cals is a slightly different method of achieving the same thing mfp does.
Although you should read the stickies about accurate weighing and logging food because if you were eating 1200 or so cals you should have still been losing weight. How long we're you stuck for?1 -
@charlieandcarol Yes you're right about the 1000 calories for the 2 pounds a week. I forgot about that. I haven't lost weight for over a month. It fluctuated, but won't budge. There were times when I noticed I ate more than usual and I lost weight, but then going back to the 1286 calories my weight went back up by a pound or two. Even MFP's calculations can be wrong so I'm going to try upping my calories for a little bit a see what happens.1
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@charlieandcarol I have 48 pounds to go to get to the healthy weight range for my height. Do you think it's time to lose at 1 pound per week rather than 2?0
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I told mfp that my weight loss goal was 0.5 lb per week. I told tdeecalculator.net my gender, height, activity level, and age. tdeecalculator.net told me what my maintenance calories were. scoobysworkshop agrees. Subtracting 500 calories from that gives me my mfp calorie recommendation of 2130. Three different sites using the same equation get the same result. I do cardio exercise and log the time. Then mfp adjusts my macros and tells me that I've earned all those calories as food for today. That's cute. That's easy. I got lost trying to follow your logical sequence. I got no libido either, but I don't think my calorie deficit is to blame.0
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@JeromeBarry1 Yeah I think I lost myself a little bit there lol. I'm just trying to figure this out. Nothing is making sense to me right now. I recently started paying more attention to my macros. Maybe that will help. Every time I try a different place to get calories needed for the day it comes up with a different number. I haven't gone to the places you mentioned though.0
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I can't seem to control my fat grams. I stay with 1500 calories a day. My dr says less will put my body in starvation if I eat too little.
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cruisin4losin wrote: »I can't seem to control my fat grams. I stay with 1500 calories a day. My dr says less will put my body in starvation if I eat too little.
@cruisin4losin ask your doctor how anorexics and prisoners of war manage to keep losing weight when eating very, very low calories. How are they not in starvation mode? I would love to hear his explanation
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Christine_72 wrote: »cruisin4losin wrote: »I can't seem to control my fat grams. I stay with 1500 calories a day. My dr says less will put my body in starvation if I eat too little.
@cruisin4losin ask your doctor how anorexics and prisoners of war manage to keep losing weight when eating very, very low calories. How are they not in starvation mode? I would love to hear his explanation
I'd also be very curious to hear this explanation.0 -
Op read this thread
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10403462/this-guys-perfect-answer-to-is-starvation-mode-real-or-a-myth#latest
Even though the info is copied and pasted, it is still a good read0 -
I suspect mismeasurement is the culprit. Upping your calories will NOT help you lose more weight.10
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@eveandqsmom At first glance I would have said the same thing. I'm not convinced I am over eating. I just had dinner so I'm done eating for the day. I'm still left with 220 calories and I actually ate more today than usual. I weighed everything by the gram. I don't drink anything but water. I'll have one protein shake mixed with water. I don't snack or eat any junk food. I eat a lot of vegetables. I haven't exercised yet so I'm not even counting those earned calories yet. The only thing that recently changed was I started weight lifting. I run for 2 miles and then lift weights. I know that's water weight which is why my weight fluctuates. Unless I'm building muscle that's the only other thing I can think of as to why I'm not losing weight. Maybe it's temporary. I really don't know.0
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I'm saying this to be as helpful as possible and in no way to upset you or hurt your feelings.
Raising your calories can not possibly ever result in more weight loss. Ever.
You cannot build muscle while eating at a deficit, that requires a caloric surplus.
If you are absolutely certain you are measuring correctly (and as much as I hate to recommend it) that means weighing your food if you must.
If you are absolutely certain after measuring and weighing your food that you are consuming less than you are burning, see a doctor.9 -
@eveandqsmom Oh no offense taken. I understand it's no possible to lose weight while in a surplus. That's why I can't wrap my head around this. The one thing I am disagreeing with you on is you can build muscle while in a deficit. To gain weight you must be in a surplus, but muscle does not require a surplus. Muscle requires sufficient calories, not excess calories. Sufficient meaning within 300 calories. So if I were in a 500 calorie deficit I would need at least some calories for muscle regrowth and repair. I would simply add up to 300 calories for muscle growth, but I would still have the 200 calorie deficit. I just thought of something that might be related to this regarding my problem. I'm going to do some research.2
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Then you got this. Good luck!2
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'm thinking I should have been eating more calories which probably is the reason I stopped losing weight ...
No.
Just simply enter your stats into MFP.
Select sedentary as your activity level.
Select that you want to lose 1 lb/week.
Eat the number of calories MFP gives you.
If you exercise, record your exercise low. In other words, choose slow speeds and light workouts so that you get a low exercise calorie count.
And don't record stuff like getting up and walking back and forth to the photocopier, house cleaning, etc. ... if you do a bit more of that sort of thing one day, just think of it as a bonus to compensate for underestimating the calories in that chocolate chip cookie you had the other day.
Then eat about 50% of those calories back in addition to the number of calories MFP gives you.
Weigh your food.
Log accurately and honestly.
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »@charlieandcarol I have 48 pounds to go to get to the healthy weight range for my height. Do you think it's time to lose at 1 pound per week rather than 2?
I am not really sure, I'm no expert. I tend to feel that you if you can be satisfied hunger wise on your current cals then stick with that I guess it is a personal thing. Some people who are very successful on here run with the philosophy of "she/he who eats the most calories and still loses weight wins" so they tend to avoid the 1200 ish thing and eat more and I guess trade off it taking a little longer to lose the weight and get to maintain more of their lean muscle mass.
I would say give it a couple more weeks doing what Machka9 says (she has done amazing things in terms of weight loss and fitness) without changing things and being really diligent with your logging and see what happens.0 -
beatyfamily1 wrote: »@eveandqsmom At first glance I would have said the same thing. I'm not convinced I am over eating. I just had dinner so I'm done eating for the day. I'm still left with 220 calories and I actually ate more today than usual. I weighed everything by the gram. I don't drink anything but water. I'll have one protein shake mixed with water. I don't snack or eat any junk food. I eat a lot of vegetables. I haven't exercised yet so I'm not even counting those earned calories yet. The only thing that recently changed was I started weight lifting. I run for 2 miles and then lift weights. I know that's water weight which is why my weight fluctuates. Unless I'm building muscle that's the only other thing I can think of as to why I'm not losing weight. Maybe it's temporary. I really don't know.
I know the feeling...just when I think I've got it, I realize how little I know or how wrong I was. I'm still fumbling my way through the learning process so I may be way off BUT experience has taught me that starting any weight lifting program after not having lifted (either in a long time or ever) makes weight loss for me to appear to slow compared to losses I see when I don't exercise or only do cardio and at times, almost stall then I drop 2-4 lbs. I'm hoping that it's partly because the lifting helps preserve more of my existing muscle mass therefore the losses shown on the scale are less than if I didn't lift. A higher proportion of the weight I do shed is fat? Here's to wishful hoping. All I know is that even if I don't see it on the scale, my clothes slowly feel bigger and I slowly feel smaller in them.
As far as actual fact, I've read in numerous places that weight loss slows or stalls after beginning strength training generally is due to water retention that occurs as your muscles work to repair from the exercise. It usually only lasts a few weeks to a month. If it were me (when it was me), I would give it a full month using the calorie allowance that MFP gives you while continuing to lift and then tweak it. Again, I'm still learning and likely could be way off, so you can take this advice with a grain of salt.
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I figured it out. I was not over eating by calories. I was consuming too much protein. I said I recently started watching my macros and by recently I mean yesterday was the first day. Before I started drinking 2-3 cups of this protein powder shake because I had thought if I increase my protein it would help with muscle building and repair. It's probably true for people who are very active, but I'm not. Yesterday I only had 1 cup of protein shake and I only went over by 9 grams on the protein. I found out earlier yesterday that too much protein the body will turn in to fat. I remembered this when I was talking to eveandqsmom about weight lifting. I had to go back and check my notes I wrote from yesterday. I checked my weight this morning and almost 2 pounds fell off like it was melted butter. So I think what was happening was my body was battling itself. I was exercising and staying within my calories, but because I was like over dosing on the protein my body was battling with itself to lose the fat. Thank you everyone for your help. Sometimes it helps just to bounce ideas off of people until something clicks.1
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Too much of any foods (with an overall calorie surplus) will be stored as fat. A 2lb loss overnight is a water weight shift. Sodium, TOM, etc, will do that. Protein doesn't do that. I know you're looking for answers, but I think you're overcomplicating it.4
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »I figured it out. I was not over eating by calories. I was consuming too much protein. I said I recently started watching my macros and by recently I mean yesterday was the first day. Before I started drinking 2-3 cups of this protein powder shake because I had thought if I increase my protein it would help with muscle building and repair. It's probably true for people who are very active, but I'm not. Yesterday I only had 1 cup of protein shake and I only went over by 9 grams on the protein. I found out earlier yesterday that too much protein the body will turn in to fat. I remembered this when I was talking to eveandqsmom about weight lifting. I had to go back and check my notes I wrote from yesterday. I checked my weight this morning and almost 2 pounds fell off like it was melted butter. So I think what was happening was my body was battling itself. I was exercising and staying within my calories, but because I was like over dosing on the protein my body was battling with itself to lose the fat. Thank you everyone for your help. Sometimes it helps just to bounce ideas off of people until something clicks.
I'm glad two pounds came off and I'm not trying to be rude but what you cite as the reasoning for it is absolutely not the case. As stated above, you are overcomplicating things and you also keep investing in different weight loss myths. Weight fluctuates. Water weight happens. Yes several pounds worth. End of story.3 -
[quote="I'm glad two pounds came off and I'm not trying to be rude but what you cite as the reasoning for it is absolutely not the case. As stated above, you are overcomplicating things and you also keep investing in different weight loss myths. Weight fluctuates. Water weight happens. Yes several pounds worth. End of story.
And what exactly do you think happens with protein if you do consume too much? It doesn't just flush out of the body. It is an energy source and must be used. If it's not burned for energy it will store as fat. I can tell the difference between water weight fluctuations and actual weight loss.
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Christine_72 wrote: »cruisin4losin wrote: »I can't seem to control my fat grams. I stay with 1500 calories a day. My dr says less will put my body in starvation if I eat too little.
@cruisin4losin ask your doctor how anorexics and prisoners of war manage to keep losing weight when eating very, very low calories. How are they not in starvation mode? I would love to hear his explanation
Maybe the doctor meant what he's quoted as staying: "in starvation," not "in starvation mode." As in, "you'll be headed on a path to become dangerously underweight, your body will have to cannibalize muscles and organs for energy, and eventually you will die."0 -
beatyfamily1 wrote: »[quote="I'm glad two pounds came off and I'm not trying to be rude but what you cite as the reasoning for it is absolutely not the case. As stated above, you are overcomplicating things and you also keep investing in different weight loss myths. Weight fluctuates. Water weight happens. Yes several pounds worth. End of story.
And what exactly do you think happens with protein if you do consume too much? It doesn't just flush out of the body. It is an energy source and must be used. If it's not burned for energy it will store as fat. I can tell the difference between water weight fluctuations and actual weight loss.
If you are in an overall calorie deficit, it doesn't matter if you "consume too much" protein, because it will be used to provide your energy needs. Your body needs X amount of energy; you consume food with <X amount of energy, from whatever macros you choose; you lose weight. You will not be storing fat just because a lot of the energy you were consuming was in the form of protein.
Where A = fat calories, B = protein calories, C = carb calories, D = alcohol calories, and X = your TDEE, if
A + B + C + D < X
you will not store fat.
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »[quote="I'm glad two pounds came off and I'm not trying to be rude but what you cite as the reasoning for it is absolutely not the case. As stated above, you are overcomplicating things and you also keep investing in different weight loss myths. Weight fluctuates. Water weight happens. Yes several pounds worth. End of story.
And what exactly do you think happens with protein if you do consume too much? It doesn't just flush out of the body. It is an energy source and must be used. If it's not burned for energy it will store as fat. I can tell the difference between water weight fluctuations and actual weight loss.
Nothing much happens when you consume too much protein unless it's so much to the point where it becomes taxing on your kidneys. It may even cause a bit of constipation depending on the individual. If you are eating at a calorie deficit, none of your calories/macros are stored as fat. That's the point of a calorie deficit in the first place; your body is using every single calorie and has to look to your excess body fat for more fuel.
Now that I have answered your question, would you mind answering a few that I have?- How can you tell the difference between two pounds of water weight loss and two pounds of fat loss?
- How much protein were you consuming per day?
- If one pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories, how do you think you were able to lose two pounds of fat, 7000 calories worth, within a bit over 12 hours? If your notion on protein were to actually have some merit, are you trying to imply that excess protein was causing your body to hold onto two pounds of fat that were released within 12 hours by being closer to your macros one time?
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[quote="I'm glad
- How can you tell the difference between two pounds of water weight loss and two pounds of fat loss?
- How much protein were you consuming per day?
- If one pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories, how do you think you were able to lose two pounds of fat, 7000 calories worth, within a bit over 12 hours? If your notion on protein were to actually have some merit, are you trying to imply that excess protein was causing your body to hold onto two pounds of fat that were released within 12 hours by being closer to your macros one time?
1. When I have weight loss the more fatty parts of my body have a cottage cheese look and I'll lose inches. When it's just water weight there is no cottage cheese look and won't lose inches. Sometimes I look more bloated than usual with water weight an will increase inches. That's not the case this time. I was fluctuating between 215 to 218. I couldn't get passed the 215 mark. This morning I'm at 213 and lost about an inch.
2. I was consuming over 100 grams of protein. I went back to my usual 61 grams.
3. I know what you're saying, but my calorie consumption doesn't explain the stop in weight loss either. After dropping the protein consumption yesterday I all the sudden broke the plateau -- not calories, the protein. It could be my body is adjusting to the adjusted diet. Like with any new diet or exercise regimen the body needs to adjust. I'm going to continue doing it this way and see how my progress goes, and if it does continue to progress then my mind is made up that is was the amount of protein I was consuming. I haven't found anything that shows consuming too much protein will cause weight gain is a myth. I would love to see that if you have a reference I can read about.
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I had 205g of protein yesterday and I had a big drop on the scale this morning. Calories are all that matters for weight loss 4
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »beatyfamily1 wrote: »[quote="I'm glad two pounds came off and I'm not trying to be rude but what you cite as the reasoning for it is absolutely not the case. As stated above, you are overcomplicating things and you also keep investing in different weight loss myths. Weight fluctuates. Water weight happens. Yes several pounds worth. End of story.
And what exactly do you think happens with protein if you do consume too much? It doesn't just flush out of the body. It is an energy source and must be used. If it's not burned for energy it will store as fat. I can tell the difference between water weight fluctuations and actual weight loss.
If you are in an overall calorie deficit, it doesn't matter if you "consume too much" protein, because it will be used to provide your energy needs. Your body needs X amount of energy; you consume food with <X amount of energy, from whatever macros you choose; you lose weight. You will not be storing fat just because a lot of the energy you were consuming was in the form of protein.
Where A = fat calories, B = protein calories, C = carb calories, D = alcohol calories, and X = your TDEE, if
A + B + C + D < X
you will not store fat.
This. Too much of any macro won't equal weight gain. It's all abut a surplus of calories. I sometimes consume too much protein (more than the .6xbodyweight) figure and I still lose fine.
I am pretty sure you've been retaining water due to the weight lifting and running. With lifting, the water will retain quite a bit of weight to cushion the muscles while they're repairing...sort of like a protective blister. And, since you have under 50lbs to lose, shoot for the 1lb per week loss. I'm currently going for that right now, and will move on to .5 when I have 30lbs to lose.3 -
I used to go over on protein all the time. still lost weight and there were days I was eating like 150g. as for building muscle in a deficit its very very hard to do and especially being a woman it wont be anything significant.we gain it a LOT more slowly. muscle building is built more in a surplus,you have to be above maintenance to gain muscle mass and you will gain fat too. now as for muscle requiring sufficient calories,that may be to retain lean body mass,but again if you are eating under maintenance you wont gain much if any muscle. you may see more definition due to losing the fat covering it making it look like you gained muscle. but it takes time to build muscle even for men.2
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higher protein does not make you gain weight (or fail to lose)...your thinking is totally off on this one!3
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »[quote="I'm glad
- How can you tell the difference between two pounds of water weight loss and two pounds of fat loss?
- How much protein were you consuming per day?
- If one pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories, how do you think you were able to lose two pounds of fat, 7000 calories worth, within a bit over 12 hours? If your notion on protein were to actually have some merit, are you trying to imply that excess protein was causing your body to hold onto two pounds of fat that were released within 12 hours by being closer to your macros one time?
1. When I have weight loss the more fatty parts of my body have a cottage cheese look and I'll lose inches. When it's just water weight there is no cottage cheese look and won't lose inches. Sometimes I look more bloated than usual with water weight an will increase inches. That's not the case this time. I was fluctuating between 215 to 218. I couldn't get passed the 215 mark. This morning I'm at 213 and lost about an inch.
2. I was consuming over 100 grams of protein. I went back to my usual 61 grams.
3. I know what you're saying, but my calorie consumption doesn't explain the stop in weight loss either. After dropping the protein consumption yesterday I all the sudden broke the plateau -- not calories, the protein. It could be my body is adjusting to the adjusted diet. Like with any new diet or exercise regimen the body needs to adjust. I'm going to continue doing it this way and see how my progress goes, and if it does continue to progress then my mind is made up that is was the amount of protein I was consuming. I haven't found anything that shows consuming too much protein will cause weight gain is a myth. I would love to see that if you have a reference I can read about.
My protein goal is at least double that per day.
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