Am I eating too MUCH?

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graysmom2005
graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I upped my calories to try and keep up with my crazy workout schedule (fitness instructor), but after weeks and weeks it's still not going anywhere. Friday night we had take-out for the first time in weeks...so ignore that. LOL! But other than that am I just eating too much now, instead of too little? I just can't keep going on much longer without ANY and I mean ANY progress. With the amount of physical activity I do, there should be SOME progress...even if it's slow! I'd take it! But no progress, and sometimes the scale going up is just making me want to cry. How can I be teaching 11 classes a week, logging everything, and STILL not seeing progress. My diary is open. Thanks friends.
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Replies

  • TinaS88
    TinaS88 Posts: 817 Member
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    It's enough to drive you crazy right!?! My scale budged a little in the very beginning but now it just seems stuck :/ Almost 30 days in and I am getting very disappointed. Are you checking your inches? You may just be losing inches and not the "pounds"... and I am sure with all the work you do, you HAVE to be gaining muscle?
  • TammyLanham
    TammyLanham Posts: 109 Member
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    Just my opinion - I don't eat back my workout calories. I'm 5'4" and weigh 164 (lost 40 pounds to date) and my calorie goal right now is 1200. No matter how much I work out, I try to keep it between 1200 and 1500. If I ate back all my workout calories, I wouldn't lose an ounce. I know... I was there.
  • jbucci1186
    jbucci1186 Posts: 440 Member
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    hey, i recently upped my calories as well and also thought i was eating too much, but i learned i was actually UNDER eating.

    i'm also experiencing no results (in fact, i may have gained a couple pounds). so hopefully in two weeks, the scale will be lower now that i'm eating more (but still not as many as i burn). i was eating almost 1500-2000 below on some days
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    How is your fat? You could be going way over and staying under your calories? And I'm assuming you use a HRM? You look amazing btw!!!
    If I were you, I would try dropping my cal average by 200ish and seeing if a change occurred. It one didn't, I would try adding some to see if a change occurred..
  • Nikstergirl
    Nikstergirl Posts: 1,549 Member
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    My only thought is this... if you've changed your goal to reflect your busy lifestyle, maybe you shouldn't count your exercise calories? That's the only thing I can think of. I'm no expert, but my lifestyle is set to "lightly active" because I work at an office but am on my feet much of the day. Therefore when I work out, I count those calories and eat most if not all back. If you have your lifestyle set to "highly active" already, it's accounting for the fact that you are burning some heavy calories already... so eating more of those exercise calories is giving you too many. This is just my theory, but maybe either reset to a lower activity level or just don't log those exercise calories. Good luck... you look amazing, by the way!!!
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    It's enough to drive you crazy right!?! My scale budged a little in the very beginning but now it just seems stuck :/ Almost 30 days in and I am getting very disappointed. Are you checking your inches? You may just be losing inches and not the "pounds"... and I am sure with all the work you do, you HAVE to be gaining muscle?

    As a spinner her gains wouldn't be huge in the muscle department. If she were actively trying to gain muscle she probably wouldn't have herself in any kind of deficit.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    My only thought is this... if you've changed your goal to reflect your busy lifestyle, maybe you shouldn't count your exercise calories? That's the only thing I can think of. I'm no expert, but my lifestyle is set to "lightly active" because I work at an office but am on my feet much of the day. Therefore when I work out, I count those calories and eat most if not all back. If you have your lifestyle set to "highly active" already, it's accounting for the fact that you are burning some heavy calories already... so eating more of those exercise calories is giving you too many. This is just my theory, but maybe either reset to a lower activity level or just don't log those exercise calories. Good luck... you look amazing, by the way!!!

    When you change the activity level, it only adds or subtracts 100 calories (for mine at least) Which doesn't compensate for her extreme burning.
  • sitstaygimmeeakiss
    sitstaygimmeeakiss Posts: 130 Member
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    Well, from my perspective - you look AMAZING!!!

    But of course - you need the progress you're striving for. I'm not anywhere near where you are right now, so I don't think I can give real advice. However - if I were you - I'd try to cut out the sugar & boost the veggies. Eat lots & lots of veggies for your carb replacements - whole foods, IMO, are so much better for us.

    I give myself little treats here & there (I'm not the kind of person who can cut out *any* type of food & stick to a plan), since that makes me feel like I'm not even sacrificing anything. But since you've hit a plateau, maybe cutting out sugar (or cutting it down, at least), might help.

    Also - are you taking your measurements? Because it's obvious that you're building some muscle there, lol!!

    I'm sure others who've been there will have better thoughts - but whatever you do - DON'T give up. You are doing great!!
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I always eat at least 1200 calories and if I have a minimal burn day I try to be withing 200 calories.
  • basschick
    basschick Posts: 3,502 Member
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    I don't see where you've logged any water consumption. Make sure you're drinking at least 8 8-oz. glasses of water every day or you could be holding on to water weight. Also, I don't lose unless I keep my calorie consumption to right around 1200 calories NET. How are you measuring calories burned? If you're estimating or using MFPs estimates you could be overestimating. I use a heart rate monitor and subtract 1 calorie per minute from the total my HRM says and I log that number as calories burned. I know seeing no results can be frustrating -- we've all been there, but stay the course. You WILL lose that weight eventually.
  • eating4balance
    eating4balance Posts: 743 Member
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    Your food diary looks pretty good to me. The only thing I would suggest is lowering your sugar intake (try staying under 40 grams of added sugar, not fruit), and upping your fiber and protein intake.

    Good luck!
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
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    awesome fit body!!

    dont know about the losing weight stuff, sometimes thats just trial and error.
  • TripleJ3
    TripleJ3 Posts: 945 Member
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    I am not as active as you but I was pretty active plus workouts on top of it. Everyone kept telling me to eat more so I did and I zig zagged. After two months no change. I was so discouraged! So after seeing it countless times on here I changed my goal to lose half a pound and now only do two workouts a week. I don't weigh myself often but I put on a pair of jean shorts yesterday and after a week they are loose!
    I have also read repeatedly how some people had to set their MFP goal to maintanience to lose any pounds. It may not be possible for you to workout less but I would try. I know how it sounds, its been pounded in our heads to lose weight we have to starve ourselves and then kill it at the gym.

    I just wish I had listened to this earlier. Youmight have to tweak a little. Eat 100-200 over or maybe even less. I agree losing weight when theres not a lot left to lose is not as easy as "burn more than you consume".

    Edit to say I did a 7 day zig zag but I've also read some people had better luck with a 3 day plan. Eat low for two days then have a really high day. Although with your amount of exercise you would really have to plan out your day to get all those calories in!
  • suzicooper
    suzicooper Posts: 15
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    you should measure ur self instead ur waist arms legs etc because if ur working out and not losing then u might be losing inches and gaining muscle!
  • deadmittens
    deadmittens Posts: 536 Member
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    I've found the best way to lose weight is zig zagging your calories. I eat 1200 most days (I'm allowed 1650) but then I will treat myself twice a week with bad food that I don't count. Yet I lose weight. The weeks that I don't treat myself I don't lose weight. It's a delicate balance, because humans aren't supposed to eat the SAME thing every single day.
  • RaeannePemberton
    RaeannePemberton Posts: 382 Member
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    I would have to agree with those above who said you need to eat more.... our bodies are amazing at adapting... but keep in mind it takes over 2 weeks to see changes after making tweaks, etc.
  • MissConfidence
    MissConfidence Posts: 441
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    sorry no advice but daaaaaaamn i want your guns.
    enough to make me do some several many tons of push ups. Bye.
  • Katie3784
    Katie3784 Posts: 543
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    I'm not sure of how many calories you get a day, but I am very active(workout about 2 hours a day) and I get around 2000 calories a day. This is total calories consumed, not taking exercise into account. I am still losing around 1-1.5lbs a week, so maybe you need to get more calories.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Just experiment until you can break the plateau. Try cutting fat, try cutting carbs. Try adding 200 calories, try dropping 200 calories. Try the "zig-zag" thing. Weight loss is a science but it isn't an "exact" science.
  • FemininGuns
    FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
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    I would suggest seeing a nutritionist to get you off on the right foot. In my opinion (and experience), you might not be eating ENOUGH! I know it sounds crazy, but over exercising can put your body into a stagnant state as it may feel under distress because of all the activity. Plus, YOU LOOK AWESOME! Is it possible you have reached your "optimum" body state?

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