Should I really be eating this much???

RickyMartorana
RickyMartorana Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've struggled with weightloss all my life and I have this terrible pattern over the years of dropping 50-70 lbs and then putting it back on over the next couple years. Right now I'm 354 lbs. and I have a calorie goal on the app of 3200+ calories. That is to lose 2 lbs. per week. At this weight I have lost about 50 lbs in 3-4 months. At the time I was working out 1.5-2.5 hours a day 5-6 times a week. I cut most dairy out of my diet, most bread, most sugar, and most pasta. I had a similar calorie goal when I began that last push but always tried to maintain a deficit because if I felt if I ate nearly that much I was just gaining, even on days/weeks in which I was still in a 300-400 calorie deficit.

I am trying to lose it for good this time and I am wondering if maybe the key is to eat a lot while working out a lot. Maybe I wont yoyo like I have in the past? Eating 3200 calories a day just seems like a fast track to weight gain, especially when I have been able to see good results with larger daily deficits.

Replies

  • missteena88
    missteena88 Posts: 153 Member
    Unless you're burning 1000 calories a day through some kind of activity, it's way too high. Even when I started at 360, my calorie allowance was around 2600 to lose 1 pound a week.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    What did you put your activity level on the app as?
  • RickyMartorana
    RickyMartorana Posts: 7 Member
    edited January 2017
    missteena88 wrote: »
    Unless you're burning 1000 calories a day through some kind of activity, it's way too high. Even when I started at 360, my calorie allowance was around 2600 to lose 1 pound a week.

    Well according to the numbers they give for calories burned, I would be losing 1000+ calories a day.
    misskarne wrote: »
    What did you put your activity level on the app as?

    I listed it as active because for the past week I have been going to the gym 2.5 hours a day. I plan on keeping this schedule as well. I do a bunch lifts rotating between upper and lower body every other day or so and I follow up with an hour+ cardio keeping my heart rate at about 170 on interval training. At 350+ lbs. the app registeres a lot of calories burned.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited January 2017
    RickyMartorana wrote: »
    missteena88 wrote: »
    Unless you're burning 1000 calories a day through some kind of activity, it's way too high. Even when I started at 360, my calorie allowance was around 2600 to lose 1 pound a week.

    Well according to the numbers they give for calories burned, I would be losing 1000+ calories a day.
    misskarne wrote: »
    What did you put your activity level on the app as?

    I listed it as active because for the past week I have been going to the gym 2.5 hours a day. I plan on keeping this schedule as well. I do a bunch lifts rotating between upper and lower body every other day or so and I follow up with an hour+ cardio keeping my heart rate at about 170 on interval training. At 350+ lbs. the app registeres a lot of calories burned.

    Selective the active multiplier active does not include your exercise activity. You should set your activity to how active you are without exercise, then add your exercise in and eat half those calories back.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    RickyMartorana wrote: »
    I listed it as active because for the past week I have been going to the gym 2.5 hours a day. I plan on keeping this schedule as well. I do a bunch lifts rotating between upper and lower body every other day or so and I follow up with an hour+ cardio keeping my heart rate at about 170 on interval training. At 350+ lbs. the app registeres a lot of calories burned.

    MFP's activity level refers to all the activity in your day-to-day life excluding exercise. So if you have a desk job but work out five days per week, your activity level would be sedentary.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Have you plotted in your stats correctly? Have you chosen the right activity level? Remember that this segment is asking about your daily activities, not exercise.

    You don't have to work out a lot, in fact, you don't have to exercise at all to lose weight. You will lose weight as long as you have a consistent calorie deficit. So I think it's a good idea to focus on what you need to do to stick to the calorie deficit.
  • RickyMartorana
    RickyMartorana Posts: 7 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Have you plotted in your stats correctly? Have you chosen the right activity level? Remember that this segment is asking about your daily activities, not exercise.

    You don't have to work out a lot, in fact, you don't have to exercise at all to lose weight. You will lose weight as long as you have a consistent calorie deficit. So I think it's a good idea to focus on what you need to do to stick to the calorie deficit.

    Yeah I typically have no problem having a consistent calorie deficit its just when you add in the excersie my calories remaining for the day looks absurd. Not to mention it still doesnt seem right to eat that much even after the calories burned from exercising.

    I'll definitely knock it down to sedentary and see if they makes more sense, thanks for that guys. I spend any time im not in the gym studying for law school so pretty much no exercise outaide of the gym.
  • R_is_for_Rachel
    R_is_for_Rachel Posts: 381 Member
    Maybr you yo-yo because you restrict your diet too much? I assume when you put the weight back on its because you started to eat the dairy/bread/ pasta/etc and don't go to the gym so much?
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    RickyMartorana wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Have you plotted in your stats correctly? Have you chosen the right activity level? Remember that this segment is asking about your daily activities, not exercise.

    You don't have to work out a lot, in fact, you don't have to exercise at all to lose weight. You will lose weight as long as you have a consistent calorie deficit. So I think it's a good idea to focus on what you need to do to stick to the calorie deficit.

    Yeah I typically have no problem having a consistent calorie deficit its just when you add in the excersie my calories remaining for the day looks absurd. Not to mention it still doesnt seem right to eat that much even after the calories burned from exercising.

    I'll definitely knock it down to sedentary and see if they makes more sense, thanks for that guys. I spend any time im not in the gym studying for law school so pretty much no exercise outaide of the gym.
    You are right to be suspicious! I don't know why, but calories for exercise in the database are notoriously inflated. Don't eat back more than 50-75% of them.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
    If you are spending a portion of your gym time lifting, you are likely burning less calories than estimated. Lifting doesn't burn a whole lot of calories while you are actively engaged.

    I'v read that "eat more, move more" is a better tactic than the old adage of "eat less, move more." Not that the T-Nation site is scholarly, but you might want to look at some of the articles on there.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,138 Member
    You are stating that you are in a cycle of loss and regain.

    This is an indication that you are going into weight loss mode and then things happen, you leave weight loss mode, you regain. THAT is where your problem is.

    Don't do it the same way you have been.

    Calculate your calories as a person at a normal weight (take a stab at a bmi around 24-25) at the activity you project yourself to be at (by the sounds of it lightly active).

    Eat at maintenance for that person. Heck, take it a step further and eat the exercise calories you would as that person (eat a bit more if your deficit exceeds 25% of your TDEE consistently).

    The point of this is to get you out of the mindset of a diet. Because the next step is to start eating like you intend to eat in perpetuity.... as that thinner person would have to in order to maintain.

    in the meanwhile the lbs will drop. You can re-assess changes down the road. Generally 25% deficits while obese are OK. Down the road you might want to switch to 20%. You may also want to get a trending weight application. While obese the lbs should fly off and it is fun that you can see the changes week to week.

    However, in the future weight loss in the 1lb range starts being hard to see as water weight often fluctuates that amount or even more. Trending weight apps help you see your progress more clearly.
  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    That really doesn't sound all that high to me. I typically lift weights and spend about 50 minutes on the treadmill 3-4 days a week. I am 5'9" and currently 211 pounds and my TDEE is around 3500 calories. When I started at 320 pounds, it was closer to 4500 calories. Just track your calories vs your weight loss and you will be able to see where you need to be. The numbers on the app are really just an educated guess to get you started.
  • Bearbo27
    Bearbo27 Posts: 339 Member
    R_is_for_Rachel wrote: »
    Maybr you yo-yo because you restrict your diet too much? I assume when you put the weight back on its because you started to eat the dairy/bread/ pasta/etc and don't go to the gym so much?

    ^^^ this was my first thought. You don't need to cut out any of these foods to lose weight. Just learn to eat smaller portions of all the foods you normally eat.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Yo-yo dieting is a mental problem. You decide to lose weight. You go on a "diet" in which you performs feats of exertion and self-denial until you've lost enough weight to notice it in your clothes.

    Then you are satisfied with your demonstration of feat-performing and resume your prior habits of the normal eating patterns of 350 lb you.

    To lose weight and keep the weight off, stop dieting. Start living.
    Live as a person who is at an ideal healthy weight.

    Does a healthy person eat all that 350 lb you eats? No. What does a healthy person actually eat?
    Learn that, do that, and be that.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    What you've essentially done is double dipping exercise calories. you've included them in your activity level, then you are also adding them separately. So you've been given more calories than you have earned.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    What you've essentially done is double dipping exercise calories. you've included them in your activity level, then you are also adding them separately. So you've been given more calories than you have earned.

    This.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Let us know what numbers it gives after you change the activity level. It will probably still seem high to you, but at your weight you do need a lot of food and undereating is more likely to feed back into the yo-yo cycle.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Set your activity level lower would be my advice.
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
    What calorie goal did it give you after you changed it changed it to sedentary?

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