Am I doing this right?
Leoturi
Posts: 49 Member
So I've been working with this whole diet thing for a few weeks now, and I'm very happy to say that I have lost already 12 pounds in the last month since I got a fitbit and Gym membership. But, I'm kind of confused by something. I use this app to track my food intake. I measure and all that, and so far it has been good. The problem is, I'm wondering if I am not eating enough, or if I am just worried about it. According to the app, to lose 1.5 pounds a week, it says my intake should be 2040 and under. Today for instance, 2040 was my target, and I only ate 1460 calories. I worked out today, and got a bonus 2344 calories that I could use, but didn't use any. So the net total for today was 2924 calories still left on the table so to speak, for the day. Is that ok? Should I be eating a little more, or am I doing it alright?
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To be doing it better, you should eat at least 1500 calories each day.
As for the rest of the ~2900 calories left, you're the only one who can answer that. I expect that if I were in your shoes I'd be dizzy-headed and ravenously hungry. I'd eat more just for fear that if I didn't, I'd binge.3 -
Ideally your net calorie intake should be 2040. Your net calories today are -884 calories. This is not good. You need to fuel your body. Rapid weight loss can lead to muscle loss, as well as a host of other health issues.
That said, I would take that calorie adjustment with a grain of salt, especially at first. Eat the amount MFP gives you plus 50% of your Fitbit calories to start off with and at least hit a net intake of 1500. If you're still losing quicker than expected, eat more of those back.4 -
Well to be honest, I don't really feel hungry. Like tonight for dinner, I had steak, rice and broccoli. It was very filling. Lunch was a huge salad with apples and some leftover chicken, and breakfast was some leftovers that needed to be eaten up before they spoiled. Should I be adding something in between all that, to up that, or just eat stuff that has a bit more calories in general? That -884 is what I was truly worried about.0
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Well to be honest, I don't really feel hungry. Like tonight for dinner, I had steak, rice and broccoli. It was very filling. Lunch was a huge salad with apples and some leftover chicken, and breakfast was some leftovers that needed to be eaten up before they spoiled. Should I be adding something in between all that, to up that, or just eat stuff that has a bit more calories in general? That -884 is what I was truly worried about.
If you can't eat more volume at each meal, eat more meals, and choose more calorie dense foods. Adding oil your broccoli/rice (or Pb to make a satay-ish dish), putting avo/nuts plus dressing in your salad. You could also drink calories - a smoothie with fruit, protein powder, something with fat (full fat milk, nut butter, avo, full fat yoghurt).0 -
Should I be too concerned with the fat content of said options? That is part of what confuses me by the app. Like my fat content for today is 52 of 146. Should I be trying to get up to 146? And what do you mean by "calorie dense". I see that word used a lot on here but I am kind of curious what that means in the sense of losing weight.0
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It means that food has a lot of Cals for not a lot of quantity. Like an oz of almonds is very calorie dense. Spinach is very not calorie dense.1
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I can't weigh in on what others have said, but I do think that its important to listen to your body. Do you feel good? Have enough energy? Eating nutritious foods? You mention that you have just started out a few weeks ago. In my experience, it's easy to drop weight quickly at the beginning of a big lifestyle change. Especially so if you have a lot to lose. I think that macros , and "eating enough" becomes more of an issue when you are farther along in your weight loss journey. Likely, the weight loss will slow down on its own. Don't sweat it. Just my opinion.0
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I have been feeling a little better lately since I got out all the crazy food I used to eat. My body is adjusting, but I'm still tired after working out which I assume is normal with my MG. If I'm at a 0 Balance instead of negative, is that good or should I be 1200-1500 in the positive on the total intake for the day?0
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I have been feeling a little better lately since I got out all the crazy food I used to eat. My body is adjusting, but I'm still tired after working out which I assume is normal with my MG. If I'm at a 0 Balance instead of negative, is that good or should I be 1200-1500 in the positive on the total intake for the day?
not for a man no...you should be eating 2000 calories....
Think of your body as a car and food as gas.
You can run your car hard and fast for a little while with the gas in it..but you need to fill it up consistently with high quality fuel or it starts to sputter and spit and it will eventually stop running...aka get tired and give out on workouts.
I eat about 1800 a day and lose weight...I am a woman and weigh less than you and probably older...perspective right...
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What kind of workout do you do that burns 2344. That seems like a crazy high number to me.6
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OP, you should be eating at least the amount of calories MFP gives you before exercise. There is nothing unusual about an adult male being able to eat 2000 calories to lose weight. If you undereat, you are going to lose more muscle than you want to, and while you may feel fine short term, the damage you will be doing will catch up to you. The bare minimum MFP will even give a man is 1500 cals, and that would only apply to a small or short man.
The exercise calories you are talking about seem super high, so I wouldn't worry too much about them. But if MFP gave you a goal of 2040 calories to lose 1.5 lbs per week, you should be eating 2040 calories.
The most important number is the calories, end of story. If nothing else, focus on that number. I also try hard to hit my protein and fiber goals, though I don't always make it! I let fat and carbs fall where they may. That's all just personal preference. I would focus on getting your calories in line first, then if you want you can start playing with your macros.0 -
I do 30 minutes on the elliptical a day and then about an hour or so on the machine mainly working my arms a day. Every now and again I do my legs, but those are my super weak muscles so I do them gradually since they are being worked on from the elliptical. I average about 5k step according to my fitbit just at the gym. I usually go to Walmart and walk around for a bit before grabbing what I need and that adds another 2k steps. Then the usual at home cooking and such gets me around 1500 to 3k more. On average most days I'm doing 9k to 10k steps. Been trying to be more active in general as I used to only do maybe 1500 a day prior. I push myself cause my body doesn't really want to, but I do rest a lot and am sure to take care of my energy level first before all else. I just want to do it right, and not hurt myself. My first time really pushing myself like this since I was diagnosed. I'm just tired of living the way I do and realize if I do nothing, a lot of medical problems will be at my doorstep in a few years.0
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So are the calorie burn you are stating from the fitbit? Do you have it linked with FP? If not you should. That will help to figure out how many calories you are really burning and how much you should eat. What type of fitbit is it?0
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More than likely you are not burning as much in exercise as you think. Machines tend to overestimate. And if you are not weighing your food, you could easily be eating more than you think.
If you are losing weight (and so far you are it seems) then its ok to keep going as you are. BUT if you suffer ill effects: feeling lethargic, lack of energy, lightheadedness, dizziness, etc. - then don't ignore those symptons.
And if your weight stalls, as in you stop losing for a period of 4-6 weeks, then you may need to evaluate to improve your logging accuracy.0 -
I do weigh everything I eat. Zealot like at this point. And I do have fitbit linked with mfp already and that is how it is getting those calories burned. I get the feeling you are right on the how much I'm burning is inaccurate. It does seem a bit high. But I do know I'm pushing myself a lot harder and it is dropping slow and steady. But if I do need to get up to 2040 calories a day, then it shouldn't be too hard I don't think. I've just been eating healthier food that isn't very calorie dense I'm assume.0
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So if you have fitbit linked and it telling you that you need to eat 2040 + 2344?0
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Correct. My goal is 2040. Then whatever I eat is negative like I've eaten 1528 calories today so far. I exercised today and played outside with my nephews for an hour and fitbit says I've burned 2243 calories today. So I have a huge amount I could still eat if I wanted to. Not that I want to but yea, fitbit is sending the data over and that is what I see everyday.1
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not sure if fitbit is like my tracker but that 2243 is total burn on my tracker...not on top of whatever...0
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What's your height and current weight? Fitbit's estimates tend to be a bit high for those who are on the heavier side - I would eat back 50% of the adjustment it gives you and see how things go.
~Lyssa0 -
Height is 5'11 and 279 pounds as of this morning. So basically at the rate of exercise I am doing, I could eat horribly and still lose weight? My screen here is got the math saying I have over 2500 calories left. If I consumed even half that. That is still 1200 to go. No way I'm eating that unless it is junk food. I guess this why it is confusing to me. Think I may need to find some kind of shake or something for when I work out to give me some of the calories back in a healthy way or something.0
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Height is 5'11 and 279 pounds as of this morning. So basically at the rate of exercise I am doing, I could eat horribly and still lose weight? My screen here is got the math saying I have over 2500 calories left. If I consumed even half that. That is still 1200 to go. No way I'm eating that unless it is junk food. I guess this why it is confusing to me. Think I may need to find some kind of shake or something for when I work out to give me some of the calories back in a healthy way or something.
You don't have to consume every single calorie in "healthy" food. Healthy is relative.
Here's what I (along with others) recommend:
-Aim to hit your protein goal
-Aim to hit your fat goal
Everything else falls wherever. If you've met those goals, have some ice cream, cake or cookies. Have a big bowl of sugary cereal.
If you're cutting back on sweets, adding nuts and butter/oils to meals is a great way to up the calories without adding a lot of food.
Also...double check your settings on MFP and Fitbit. Make sure your height, weight and gender are correct for both, as well as your food plan (both should have a 1.5lb/week option). If something isn't set right, that could cause issues
~Lyssa0 -
Your instinct is correct. That's way too much to eat a day. There must be something wrong with your set-up. I started at 250lbs, and on my most vigorous of workout days (half-marathon races, etc), I never saw numbers like that. Not even close. Running as fast as I could for an hour gave me 700, and I think even that is an overestimate. I think its doubling up somewhere.0
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Correct. My goal is 2040. Then whatever I eat is negative like I've eaten 1528 calories today so far. I exercised today and played outside with my nephews for an hour and fitbit says I've burned 2243 calories today. So I have a huge amount I could still eat if I wanted to. Not that I want to but yea, fitbit is sending the data over and that is what I see everyday.
if fitbit says you burned that many calories today I would say that is your BMR and your exercise calories,go into your fitbit app on your phone(if you have it set up this way) and look at the little running man looking icon. click on that,it will show you what you burned through exercise alone. No you dont want to be at a zero balance. you want to net at least the 2040,which means if you eat 2040 calories and you burn say 500 you need to eat those calories back or at least half of them because calorie burns can be over estimated. since you have your fitbit synced with MFP what does it say you have calorie wise? like mine says
1700 GOAL, 1807 FOOD-210 EXERCISE = 1597 NET. which means I have 103 calories left to eat to get to my goal,or since it says I burned 210 I can decide not eat those 103 back because that would be a little less than half my exercise calories.. as for going over on fat,as long as you are at your calorie goal you will be fine.0 -
I think it is including my bmr with the totals which I guess would be the reason it is high. I don't know how to turn that off though. I clicked the icon you said and it just loads my exercise since I've had it. All told today, according to fitbit, from my manual calculations is about 1400. Got 624 for my cardio, 414 from my workout with the machines and 376 from playing kickball with my nephews. Which does seem more in line. Anyway to turn off the BMR calculation? Do I need to do it on the fitbit side or mfp?0
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I think it is including my bmr with the totals which I guess would be the reason it is high. I don't know how to turn that off though. I clicked the icon you said and it just loads my exercise since I've had it. All told today, according to fitbit, from my manual calculations is about 1400. Got 624 for my cardio, 414 from my workout with the machines and 376 from playing kickball with my nephews. Which does seem more in line. Anyway to turn off the BMR calculation? Do I need to do it on the fitbit side or mfp?
no way to turn it off (the BMR calculations). just eat back half of the exercise calories that MFP gives you back,if you lose too fast eat more calories back,if you lose more slowly eat at that rate or a little lower, or you can enable negative adjustments(its in mfp under account and diary settings,if you havent already), this means that if you are less active it will give you less calories to eat back,the more active the more calories you can eat back from exercise.Thats how a lot of people do it, you can always try it anyway and see if it makes a difference for you. you need to fuel your body before and after workouts too so you want to make sure you are getting enough calories,otherwise workouts will begin to suffer,you may see your energy levels go down, and so on.1 -
I haven't noticed any slowdowns as of yet, minus what I'm already used to when I do pretty much anything. I think it may be hard for me to tell what is the MG and what is lack of fuel so to speak, but I will try to eat back some of the calories I burn off. I think I may turn on the negative adjustments and see how that works out. Is there another app that tracks things that would separate burned calories vs the BMR, that also links to MFP? I'm assuming other watch companies do that, but I'm really attached to my Blaze. I love the screen and the way it works. 0
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I haven't noticed any slowdowns as of yet, minus what I'm already used to when I do pretty much anything. I think it may be hard for me to tell what is the MG and what is lack of fuel so to speak, but I will try to eat back some of the calories I burn off. I think I may turn on the negative adjustments and see how that works out. Is there another app that tracks things that would separate burned calories vs the BMR, that also links to MFP? I'm assuming other watch companies do that, but I'm really attached to my Blaze. I love the screen and the way it works.
I dont know if other apps do what you are asking or not. I have never come across one but there may be some out there.as for linking to MFP? no idea.as for other watches,fitness bands,etc I think a majority of them that dont track just steps would probably track BMR as well.(BMR if you didnt know is what your body burns calorie wise just by being alive).also for every 10lbs you lose go back into your MFP settings and put in your new weight and so on. as you lose weight you will be burning less calories so your calorie allowance will go down as well.may not be a lot at first.I would just keep the blaze if you like it and just go from there. adjust things as needed.good luck 0 -
I try not to overthink my weight loss as long as i pay attention to calories and stay below 2000 a day i am consistently losing weight. I had one day last week where i was 1200 calories but all my food was vegetables and eggs and fruit. I was so full i didn't even consider eating more and after logging it on another website to see macronutrients i was well over daily requirements. I wouldn't worry about being low in one day, just don't make it every day0
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If the Fitbit is giving you weird numbers, you may want detach it from MFP and add just the exercise calories in manually. I like to add just half of my earned calories to MFP (ex. The machine says I earn 600, so I add 300), and then I can feel confident that I'm not eating too much.1
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