What Am I doing wrong????!!!??!!
Constant_Nova
Posts: 108 Member
Good day All!
MFP has given me a calorie goal of 1200. I weigh 250, down from 263. Its been about a month and 10 days....at first I was given a goal of 1260... ever since my calories dropped, I've hit a plateau. I work out daily, burning anywhere from 300-500 calories in 30 min to about an hour. Its been the same since I started. The only thing that's different now is that I try not to eat any of my calories back. When I first started MFP, I was eating about 1250-1450 cal per day. now its about 1163-1197 per day. I struggle with my sodium and protein macros some days though. Could it be that I am not eating enough? I have my loss goal at a rate of 2 lbs per week.... Should I change it to 1.5 lb? Or should I work out more? as of this week, I've walked 2 miles on Sunday and Monday, and did turbo jam and yoga- yesterday! please help! I'm so confused! thank you!
Grammar Police- please not today.....needing help, not judgement
MFP has given me a calorie goal of 1200. I weigh 250, down from 263. Its been about a month and 10 days....at first I was given a goal of 1260... ever since my calories dropped, I've hit a plateau. I work out daily, burning anywhere from 300-500 calories in 30 min to about an hour. Its been the same since I started. The only thing that's different now is that I try not to eat any of my calories back. When I first started MFP, I was eating about 1250-1450 cal per day. now its about 1163-1197 per day. I struggle with my sodium and protein macros some days though. Could it be that I am not eating enough? I have my loss goal at a rate of 2 lbs per week.... Should I change it to 1.5 lb? Or should I work out more? as of this week, I've walked 2 miles on Sunday and Monday, and did turbo jam and yoga- yesterday! please help! I'm so confused! thank you!
Grammar Police- please not today.....needing help, not judgement
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Replies
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1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
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Eat some or all of your exercise calories. AND reduce your loss rate from 2 lbs/wk to 1 or 1.5 lbs/wk.7
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You're definitely not eating enough. Think of your body as a car with food being the gas. In order to drive for a longer period of time, you have to fuel up. What you eat and what you burn is netting you about 663-897 calories for the day. Your body needs a minimum 1200 calories for nutritional purposes. Eat back maybe half of your calories and watch the processed foods to reduce your sodium intake. Drinking plenty of water will help flush out the sodium.3
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my first question would be how long since you lost any weight at all.
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Thank you! I have a scale and I rely on medical websites to track calories burned as best that I can. I cross reference with the machines and the site and choose the lower number. A week ago, I did notice that some of the seasonings that I cook with have calories that I wasn't calculating, like cinnamon!!!! I started tracking those and the scale still hasn't moved!... granted its only been about a week and a half though. But I will take your Advice and drop my loss rate and start eating some of my calories back. when I was doing so, the weight just seemed to fall off, regardless of the cinnamon, lol!0
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ryahluvspink wrote: »Thank you! I have a scale and I rely on medical websites to track calories burned as best that I can. I cross reference with the machines and the site and choose the lower number. A week ago, I did notice that some of the seasonings that I cook with have calories that I wasn't calculating, like cinnamon!!!! I started tracking those and the scale still hasn't moved!... granted its only been about a week and a half though. But I will take your Advice and drop my loss rate and start eating some of my calories back. when I was doing so, the weight just seemed to fall off, regardless of the cinnamon, lol!
after a week and a half no worries.
Possibly water retention from various things like Stress...stress raises cortisol levels which causes water retention.
my scale normally takes almost a month to move down...1 -
I only skimmed the previous posts so I may have missed it, but do you use a food scale to weigh out your portions to track calorie intake?1
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You've lost 13 pounds in ~40 days? You are doing well. You won't see a scale drop each time you step on. The body is too inefficient. Trust that the effort you're putting in will show, but understand it may take time to see results.
If eating that low is not keeping you full and energetic then certainly a) eat back some of your exercise calories and/or b) readjust to aim for 1.5 pounds per week. Personally I could not do 1200ish long term.3 -
So you have lost 13 lbs in 6 weeks? That's 2 lbs per week. 1200 is hard to do. If you truly are on a plateau, tighten up. Weigh and measure your food. Try not to have extra tastes, nibbles, or bites without tracking. But it sounds like you may be on a good path. Don't get discouraged. You can do this! A bunch of us are walking it with you.4
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Same here... Lost 18lbs in 6 weeks and then went on a plateau. 3 weeks nothing. But kept my diet all the same. I was advised to do a cheat day (which I did) and a PT says increase your intensity. (Which I did) I even started HIIT with in a week..: see there... All kick started... I was back at losing 3lbs a week.
Also, don't rely on the calorie burner on the machines.
You have Active Burning calories and Total Burning calories. MFP records the Active Burning calories, where as the Treadmill & cycling machine show total calories. E.g in two hours walking I lost 700cal Active but the treadmill showed 1000 cal. Using Apple IWatch the Total match up (1000)
What I'm trying to say, if you think you lost 500 you actually only lost 350cal.
Long story short - you have to kick start the loss by increasing the intensity. Also, I advise... Get active here with adding friends. They help - trust me!!!
So, please add me3 -
Your body needs energy to burn calories. Not having enough could send your body into starvation mode. Plateaus are very common. I hit mine at 30lbs. I introduced a small amount of carbs like brown rice and that gave me the boost I needed. It's also important to combine nutrients. For breakfast I make a chocolate peanut butter banana protein smoothie. It curbs cravings, fills me up, is delicious,and combines healthy fats, healthy carbs, and very little sugar! Get it girl! We're rooting for you!!!2
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I gained 4lbs in 12 hours from a burger and chips. The whole plate of food weighed less than 2lbs.
Salt plays havoc with weight as it make your body hold onto water. Add in monthly cycles and you could be 10lbs up through no fault of your diet or exercise.1 -
lilsailorx wrote: »Your body needs energy to burn calories. Not having enough could send your body into starvation mode. Plateaus are very common. I hit mine at 30lbs. I introduced a small amount of carbs like brown rice and that gave me the boost I needed. It's also important to combine nutrients. For breakfast I make a chocolate peanut butter banana protein smoothie. It curbs cravings, fills me up, is delicious,and combines healthy fats, healthy carbs, and very little sugar! Get it girl! We're rooting for you!!!
starvation mode in this context does not exist. she should still be losing weight(but still is eating too little) true starvation mode does not store fat or weight,it will use muscle,fat and whatever else it can to stay alive.8 -
Eating wayyyyyyy too little ! Your body is probably keeping all the energy as its not getting enough nutrition. If you are already only eating 1200 plus exercise it's going into 'starvation mode' which puts stress on the body which further stops weight loss. Also being a woman there's hormones, water weight that effects us more. I know my weight is effected for about a week n a half around time I get my period. Some women only a few days or some 2 weeks of a month! Also if water consumption is not consistent that can also effect. I know some days I only get through 3/4 of a lite some days 2?0
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no starvation mode
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No, starvation mode in this context is a myth. If it weren't people would never die of starvation they'd just conserve more and more energy until they went into some form of stasis. Weight loss can be masked by water retention around our menstrual cycles, it's true. I always gain a few pounds with mine that goes away a few days later.Neanbean13 wrote: »Eating wayyyyyyy too little ! Your body is probably keeping all the energy as its not getting enough nutrition. If you are already only eating 1200 plus exercise it's going into 'starvation mode' which puts stress on the body which further stops weight loss. Also being a woman there's hormones, water weight that effects us more. I know my weight is effected for about a week n a half around time I get my period. Some women only a few days or some 2 weeks of a month! Also if water consumption is not consistent that can also effect. I know some days I only get through 3/4 of a lite some days 2?
Yes, the OP thinks she's eating very few calories. The reality is she's either eating more than she thinks she is or she's overestimating her workouts.
OP, if MFP is only giving you 1200 calories your weight loss goal is too aggressive. 1200 is the lowest it will go. Losing weight too quickly is a bad idea anyway because you start losing muscle along with the fat which lowers your metabolism even further and makes it even harder to lose the weight the next time around. And there will probably be a next time if you're being so restrictive with your diet....
Lower your pound per week goal until your calories are at least 1300. Get a food scale for your kitchen and use it for everything you eat and then be brutally honest with what you are logging. If you don't have a heart rate monitor for your workouts, get one or be very conservative with what you're entering. MFP's calories counts for exercise can be really far off.
Be extra diligent with your logging because we, as humans, are really, really bad at logging everything even when we really try. Overestimate food calories when you aren't sure and underestimate exercise calories. Eat back 50% of the calories you earn in exercise to be just a little more cautious. Try this for a few weeks and see if it doesn't start producing results.3 -
You should calculate your BMR- basal metabolic rate; it will calculate the number of calories your body would burn if you stayed in bed all day. This is a good starting point in figuring out how many calories you should consume in a day.
Remember to re-calculate as you lose weight because you will burn less when you weigh less. A good calculator that i use is https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/basal-metabolic-rate .
To set your daily calorie limit to lose weight, you need to reduce your caloric intake below your total daily calorie requirement indicated by your BMR. Putting yourself in a 500-calorie deficit every day should result in the loss of one pound every week.
So if your BMR says "you need 2903.12 calories to keep your typical activity level going without any weight change" than you should eat no more than 2400 if you want to lose 1lb a week, or no more than 1900 calories to lose 2lb a week. I think you are not eating enough to sustain your daily activities and your body has started storing what you eat.
Make sure you re-calculate as you lose weight.
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I use healthstatus.com to cross reference my calories burned, always choosing the lower amount. I am also extremely meticulous when it comes to logging in my food as well as measuring and weighing. I don't pack my measuring cups, I always level them. I have a digi scale, that I will weigh my meats on, at least 3x to make sure its correct. I never trust any of the calories listed for food in the data base. I always use my own, or go to the usda website. As I stated before, I wasn't logging my calories for seasonings but I've had that fixed for about a week now with still no change. I've recently opened my diary, please, have a look if you'd like... I think Im doing the absolute best that I can.....please understand that its only been about a week and a half at 250... with weighing in everyday at the same weight.... as if I'm maintaining.
I know its easy to assume that I'm lying, but I wouldn't be asking for help, if I knew that I was messing up(being very sincere in this.... yes I got defensive with someones response but then I remember that this person does not know me, so I felt I should explain)0 -
No one is saying you're lying - what people are saying is you think you're logging accurately but maybe you're not. You say in your post you're using measuring cups. Use your food scale for all solids. Use the cups for only liquids. Also you're losing 2 lbs a week which is fantastic. Don't fret over normal stalls and fluctuations.3
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You should be using measuring cups for liquids only. Use the food scale for every solid food you eat and cook with.log fruit and veg. Log bites tastes and licks. Log cooking oil and seasonings that have calories. Weigh every damn food that passes your lips. Cups cannot measure solid food accurately.ryahluvspink wrote: »I use healthstatus.com to cross reference my calories burned, always choosing the lower amount. I am also extremely meticulous when it comes to logging in my food as well as measuring and weighing. I don't pack my measuring cups, I always level them. I have a digi scale, that I will weigh my meats on, at least 3x to make sure its correct. I never trust any of the calories listed for food in the data base. I always use my own, or go to the usda website. As I stated before, I wasn't logging my calories for seasonings but I've had that fixed for about a week now with still no change. I've recently opened my diary, please, have a look if you'd like... I think Im doing the absolute best that I can.....please understand that its only been about a week and a half at 250... with weighing in everyday at the same weight.... as if I'm maintaining.
I know its easy to assume that I'm lying, but I wouldn't be asking for help, if I knew that I was messing up(being very sincere in this.... yes I got defensive with someones response but then I remember that this person does not know me, so I felt I should explain)
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ryahluvspink wrote: »I use healthstatus.com to cross reference my calories burned, always choosing the lower amount. I am also extremely meticulous when it comes to logging in my food as well as measuring and weighing. I don't pack my measuring cups, I always level them. I have a digi scale, that I will weigh my meats on, at least 3x to make sure its correct. I never trust any of the calories listed for food in the data base. I always use my own, or go to the usda website. As I stated before, I wasn't logging my calories for seasonings but I've had that fixed for about a week now with still no change. I've recently opened my diary, please, have a look if you'd like... I think Im doing the absolute best that I can.....please understand that its only been about a week and a half at 250... with weighing in everyday at the same weight.... as if I'm maintaining.
I know its easy to assume that I'm lying, but I wouldn't be asking for help, if I knew that I was messing up(being very sincere in this.... yes I got defensive with someones response but then I remember that this person does not know me, so I felt I should explain)
OP, no one is saying your lying, no worries there! :drinker:
MFP is full of people (including myself!) who honestly believed they were eating the right amount of calories while using measuring cups and spoons. When I started weighing everything, I was shocked to find I was actually eating 200-300 calories more than I thought, every day.
Having said that, one week is not a stall or a plateau - it's life. Even if you do everything 100% perfect, you will NOT lose weight every week, that's just not how it works. You have been losing weight pretty fast, you were due to have an off week. Take a deep breath, keep doing the best you can, and don't worry unless you go at least 4-6 weeks with no loss. Good luck!2 -
That calorie target seems really, really low. if you're undereating, your body goes into preservation mode and you will have a much harder time losing weight.0
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I second the suggestion for a food scale because "eyeing" your food is not accurate at all. You could very well be eating way more than you think you are eating. Measure and calculate everything while you are making it because some people tend to eat it first then calculate it later and not properly account for everything that was in the meal. Also if you dont know how many calories you are burning exactly during a workout via a heart rate monitor, I wouldnt bother adding it to MFP because as another user said, the calorie count could be way off and its usually higher than actual calories burned. Invest in a monitor. Garmin has a good one and Polar has a good one.
Also, if you are accurately measuring everything, you may be under eating if your calorie goal is set at 1200 and you exercise for 30-60 minutes a day as you said. I weigh less than you and I exercise for 30-60 minutes a day and I eat nearly 1600+ cals a day. I have lost steadily for 7 months over 36+ pounds.0 -
I definitely appreciate you all posting and sharing insight. Its very easy to get defensive and I'm sorry about that! I just want to get these pounds off!!!! But yes! that this is something new- with the cups! I will begin to weigh vs, measure my food asap! Lesson learned, and thanks again!2
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holliann99 wrote: »That calorie target seems really, really low. if you're undereating, your body goes into preservation mode and you will have a much harder time losing weight.
No...if OP were truly under eating she would be losing weight. If MFP gives her 1200 calories per day, that is an attainable, but perhaps too aggressive a weight loss. Using a food scale will help to determine how much she is actually eating. If she is at 1200, then she definitely needs to eat back some of her exercise calories and perhaps re-evaluate her goals. Faster is usually never better for weight loss.2 -
holliann99 wrote: »That calorie target seems really, really low. if you're undereating, your body goes into preservation mode and you will have a much harder time losing weight.
Yeah, no. Back in the late 90's i spent 2 years of my life under eating, like maybe a tin of ricecream every couple days under eating.. I think i ended up weighing less than i did when i was a 12 year old lanky teenager. Point is, i never stopped losing weight nor did my body hold onto the calories that i did eat.
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Adding more calories will not help. Set myfitnesspal up correctly, eat your calorie goal, magically lose weight.1
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trigden1991 wrote: »Adding more calories will not help. Set myfitnesspal up correctly, eat your calorie goal, magically lose weight.
I think I set it up right yesterday finally... I set up to lose 1.5 lb per week, and left my macros at the preset MFP setting. I was given a calorie goal of 1450. I weighed and measured as best I could( I'm starting to weigh all solids today, instead of using the cups! I used cups last night though) I tracked that I ate 1498, though last night was the first time I actually measured my sea salt instead of just shaking it on. I walked my usual 2 miles with a burn of 450( also carefully tracked by cross referencing healthstatus.com and the app that I use- always taking the lower number) and I...... Magically Lost weight!!!!!
my guess is it could be a combination of everything that everyone has mentioned.... I was probably not eating enough, and was getting way too much sodium, no idea but I do truly thank all of you for your help!1 -
A 2 mile walk with a burn of 450 does not sound correct. It is close to double the number of calories I log, but I don't know how much you weigh.2
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