What the hell is going on?! Help Please1

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  • mom23nuts
    mom23nuts Posts: 636 Member
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    I am no expert but unless you absolutely have to for health reasons....there is really no need to eat 6 times a day I could be wrong but you never give your body the chance to let you know if you are truly hungry and need food to run optimally you just give it something becasue it says it is lunchtime or snack time or dinner time.

    It's ok to be unconventional and just go with your body's indicators of hunger. What is the harm in trying that for a week.

    I say don't eat your exercise calories back unless you burn over 400 and even then eat half back as part of a meal if you feel you need them and not just because it is the norm.

    I think we are so interested in a magic answer to get us to the ultimate goal we forget how far we have come and how incredible we have been in doing it.

    Maybe it's ok to just be comfortable and not stress out about where you are and the last 5-7 lbs and just be ok with it for a while.
  • maemiller
    maemiller Posts: 439 Member
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    i was stuck also for the longest time also. I found out that I wasnt eating back the calories that I burned during workouts and my body went into starvation mode and thus the weight gain.

    Have you been working out more and not eating your calories back?
  • shelly650
    shelly650 Posts: 319
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    Well from my experience, i wouldnt eat back ALL of your exercise calories, unless you have a HRM! Because you are not entirely sure if you are burning as much as the treadmill etc is saying! Also, it may not be you calories, but your carbs! Try reducing them and i guarantee you will shift this weight!! Feel free to check out my diary if you want!!

    Message me if you have any questions!! :)
  • sd892310
    sd892310 Posts: 151
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    Thank you all for your replies, it helps to see everyone elses views and try and give me some ideas.

    My body fat is 24.9% currently, and ideally would like to get it to 20%.

    I am going to try and up my calories to 1550, and try not to eat back all my exercise calories and see if this makes a difference. The exercise i do is circuit training but i hadnt thought about upping that as i do it everyday so i am also going to up my exercise each day, try and do maybe 45 minutes a day and see if this helps!

    I keep my food diary closed only because i have suffered from bulimia and anorexia in the past and still battle with people seeing me eat/watching me eat/knowing what i eat etc and i just cant quite bring myself to opening my diary up to everyone...sounds lame i know!

    Really do appreciate everyone's advice though and going to take some on board and try and bust through this last hurdle!
  • welloiledmachine
    welloiledmachine Posts: 1,147 Member
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    One other thing about your food diary. I respect your wishes as I dealt with bulimia a long time ago. I would recommend that you try and eat 5 small meals a day with each meal containing carbs, protein and fat. Each meal will be about 300 calories which will bring you to 1500 by the end of the day. You'd be surprised out how much you can eat and still lose weight. Doing this keeps your energy levels high, boosts your metabolism and keeps you feeling full all day long. Adding in your exercise will help speed up the process.
  • sd892310
    sd892310 Posts: 151
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    One other thing about your food diary. I respect your wishes as I dealt with bulimia a long time ago. I would recommend that you try and eat 5 small meals a day with each meal containing carbs, protein and fat. Each meal will be about 300 calories which will bring you to 1500 by the end of the day. You'd be surprised out how much you can eat and still lose weight. Doing this keeps your energy levels high, boosts your metabolism and keeps you feeling full all day long. Adding in your exercise will help speed up the process.

    Thank you, this does help, as i have been having:

    breakfast: 160cal
    lunch: 185-285cal
    dinner: 450-650cal

    2/3 snacks: 80 - 200cal each

    so maybe evening out the calorie intake for each meal/snack would make a difference? will try and do this, my only question is, i struggle adding in the snacks now, and making my cals net 1420 after exercise, how do i up my calories by an extra 100, and find things to eat to use up this allowance? do you have any suggestions for low cal meals snacks?
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    I agree with SHBoss...it doesn't sound like you are eating enough. remember MFP builds in the calorie deficit for you. I am 5'7" and started MFP at 175 and was eating 1200 calories. I got stuck for 2 months when I hit 160 pounds, then was bouncing around the same 3 pounds (158-161) because I wasn't eating enough. I am in the "normal" BMI range when under 160.

    I upped my calories to 1400- no change. After reading the message boards I realized with only 15 pounds to go until my goal, I needed to lose weight less aggressively and should be targeting 0.5 pounds/week instead of 1-2. So I changed my MFP settings to lose 0.5 pounds/week which put me at 1700 calories a day and I started losing again. However, I am now losing very slowly, but losing! I am only losing about 1-2 pounds per MONTH now. I have accepted that no one loses 1-2 pounds per week once you get close to your goal. I knew if I didn't accept the slow and steady route I would get frustrated and give up, so here I am losing at a snail's pace!

    I know it is scary to up your calories but no one gains 5 pounds overnight from upping their calories a few hundred a day. After I upped my calories I kept a watchful eye on the scale to make sure I didn't start gaining again.
  • welloiledmachine
    welloiledmachine Posts: 1,147 Member
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    One other thing about your food diary. I respect your wishes as I dealt with bulimia a long time ago. I would recommend that you try and eat 5 small meals a day with each meal containing carbs, protein and fat. Each meal will be about 300 calories which will bring you to 1500 by the end of the day. You'd be surprised out how much you can eat and still lose weight. Doing this keeps your energy levels high, boosts your metabolism and keeps you feeling full all day long. Adding in your exercise will help speed up the process.

    Thank you, this does help, as i have been having:

    breakfast: 160cal
    lunch: 185-285cal
    dinner: 450-650cal

    2/3 snacks: 80 - 200cal each

    so maybe evening out the calorie intake for each meal/snack would make a difference? will try and do this, my only question is, i struggle adding in the snacks now, and making my cals net 1420 after exercise, how do i up my calories by an extra 100, and find things to eat to use up this allowance? do you have any suggestions for low cal meals snacks?

    To start with, you could just eat more of what it is your eating at the time. Always look for more protein. I try to set my macros at 40-30-30 or very close to that. Try to get out of the snack mentality. Just try to find the right combos of carbs, protein and fat. Not sure if you are aware of all the great options out there.

    Watch your sugars and sodium as well. They can hinder your progress.
  • Olivia1977
    Olivia1977 Posts: 84 Member
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    How tall are you and what is your current weight?
  • sd892310
    sd892310 Posts: 151
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    How tall are you and what is your current weight?

    I'm 5 ft 4 and 129.6lbs
  • tafoyagl
    tafoyagl Posts: 2
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    Are you keeping your protein count where it should be? Protein intake is very important.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Just keep at it. The remaining weight loss will be pretty slow and that's okay. Keep on the 30DS. You might be storing extra water weight since you've upped the intensity of your work outs. I bet 1550 would be good. I eat about 1800 net on average (eating all my exercise calories). I weigh 155lbs.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    Thank you all for your replies, it helps to see everyone elses views and try and give me some ideas.

    My body fat is 24.9% currently, and ideally would like to get it to 20%.

    I am going to try and up my calories to 1550, and try not to eat back all my exercise calories and see if this makes a difference. The exercise i do is circuit training but i hadnt thought about upping that as i do it everyday so i am also going to up my exercise each day, try and do maybe 45 minutes a day and see if this helps!

    I keep my food diary closed only because i have suffered from bulimia and anorexia in the past and still battle with people seeing me eat/watching me eat/knowing what i eat etc and i just cant quite bring myself to opening my diary up to everyone...sounds lame i know!

    Really do appreciate everyone's advice though and going to take some on board and try and bust through this last hurdle!

    That being said, do make sure you are eating all 1500+ of your calories per day...weigh everything if you have to. The 30-day Shred should give you about 150-200 extra calorie to eat, make sure you allot for those.

    Then, if I were you, I would ditch the scale for an entire month, then reevaluate progress at the end of that month.
  • tomomatic
    tomomatic Posts: 1,794 Member
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    Hello, Newb here.

    I would move around some of those calories. Add more to Breakfast and less for dinner. That way your body has the fuel it needs during the day and less leftover fuel at bed time to convert and store.

    Do you have a heart rate monitor? With your increased level of fitness, it could be that your exercise routine is no longer challenging your body as much. The best way to measure this is to use a heart rate monitor. If it drops below your "fat burn zone" then add resististance or increase your pace.

    btw, when you were setting your level of activity, I believe that MFP is trying to gauge how many calories you burn WITHOUT the exercise. So if you're at a desk job, then "sedentary" is about right. If you're a mailman running from dogs, then that should be a little higher. In other words, I think what you're doing is correct.

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