Need advice on calorie adjustment please

biggyk87
biggyk87 Posts: 24 Member
edited September 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Need a bit of advice. I all of a sudden seem to be confused on what is the right way to go.

So last few weeks iv been kind in a plateau and it has been a bit discouraging so I have been doing some research. I read somewhere that on mfp the calorie goal should be adjusted as you loose weight. I never had to adjusted for me so I manually adjusted it and it only brought the goal down about 100cals. Im 5'8 and 226lbs now (started at 255) and it has it at 1800. Is that accurate? Im working in a kitchen but I have my activity as marked lightly active. If I put it to active, it jumps the goal up to 2200cals.

Im just starting to do some body weight training. Before is was all calorie watching and cardio. I do plan to buy some dumb bells and continue with strength training. Just wanted to get some input on how I can continue to loose on a consistent basis. I have 30lbs to loose to my first goal. Thanks

Replies

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited September 2016
    You should adjust calories every ten pounds in MFP, it notifies you but it does not do it automatically.

    I cannot tell you if the 1800 is right, if you plug the numbers in MFP with your new weight adjusted, is this what it gives you? Your activity level sounds about right.. that is based on the below. So you can start with lightly or active, but trend your rate of loss over a period of time (3 - 4 weeks or so) and adjust.

    What is the rate of loss you setup in MFP to lose each week?

    I would not worry about the weight lifting calories, this burns some, but not enough to worry over, and you could probably work all of this through as far as eating enough to lose weight through your activity level and trending rate of weight loss as I stated above.

    How would you describe your normal daily activities?

    Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
    Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
    Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
    Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)


  • biggyk87
    biggyk87 Posts: 24 Member
    edited September 2016
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    You should adjust calories every ten pounds in MFP, it notifies you but it does not do it automatically.

    I cannot tell you if the 1800 is right, if you plug the numbers in MFP with your new weight adjusted, is this what it gives you? Your activity level sounds about right.. that is based on the below. So you can start with lightly or active, but trend your rate of loss over a period of time (3 - 4 weeks or so) and adjust.

    What is the rate of loss you setup in MFP to lose each week?

    I would not worry about the weight lifting calories, this burns some, but not enough to worry over, and you could probably work all of this through as far as eating enough to lose weight through your activity level and trending rate of weight loss as I stated above.

    How would you describe your normal daily activities?

    Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
    Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
    Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
    Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

    It never would tell me either and just came across that 10lbs rule. I think I may need to switch it to active. I have it at 2lbs a week. Iv lost 27lbs so far no problem and then it just seemed to hang for a few weeks. The 1800 is after I readjusted my current weight.vitnwas 1900 before.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    If you are at 2lb/wk and have totally stalled, it is not because of your new BMR at your lower rate. So recalculating is a good idea but is not going to fix the problem. Were you losing 2lb/wk previously?

    Either you are eating too much or your weight measurement is wrong or a combination of things are causing you issues.

    Do you weigh your food? Like, all of it?
  • biggyk87
    biggyk87 Posts: 24 Member
    edited September 2016
    GauchoMark wrote: »
    If you are at 2lb/wk and have totally stalled, it is not because of your new BMR at your lower rate. So recalculating is a good idea but is not going to fix the problem. Were you losing 2lb/wk previously?

    Either you are eating too much or your weight measurement is wrong or a combination of things are causing you issues.

    Do you weigh your food? Like, all of it?

    It was pretty steady for 1 to 2 pounds a week. Yes I do with right my food. I try to stay pretty strict with it. I only adjusted it today so at guess il have to see where things go next few days. Today I actually ate more than 1800, around 2000. I have been gone over before. I drink water like crazy too.
  • JulieSHelms
    JulieSHelms Posts: 821 Member
    I am 5'8", 215 lbs, lightly active, and set to lose 2 lbs/week. MFP has me at 1330 cal/day. My actual weight loss is 2-3.5 lb/week. I tend to drop a few pounds, then plateau for 4 or 5 days etc, but overall it is very accurate for me. However I never eat my exercise calories so maybe why I'm a little over the 2 lbs. Our stats are very similar, 'cept your a man so I'm not sure how much difference that makes. When I was exactly the same weight as you it had me at 1400 cal. Does the M/F difference really equal 400 cal--does anyone know?
  • biggyk87
    biggyk87 Posts: 24 Member
    Well im going to stick with it for now as see how it goes, if I'm still stalled Il have to test out adjustments.

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