Need help... Confused about calories!

Devyn333
Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, sort of a lot of background info: I am female, 23 years old and roughly 300lbs. I was consuming about 2600-3000 calories per day for most of my life which is why I am so heavy now.

I entered my weight loss goal into this app as "lose 2lbs a week" and it gave me the goal of 1600 calories a day. I started 2 weeks ago and the only exercise I was doing was walking (2 miles a day) and eating healthy. I usually ended roughly around my calorie goal of 1600. Even if I burned 500 calories walking, I "ate them back" (1600 goal + 500 burned - 2100 eaten = 0 at the end of the day).

2 weeks later, I still haven't seen any weight loss..... I'm frustrated because I'm following all the goals and eating healthy and moving, so I decided to work even harder this week to try and lose weight. I worked out really hard today at the gym and swimming and it came to about 1,100 calories burned.

My overall calories look like this today: 1600 goal + 1,100 burned - 1,300 eaten = 1,400 left

My question is, I am at the end of the day, after dinner, it is now 7:45pm and I have 1,400 calories left that I'm supposed to eat?! I know that if you eat too little/burn too much, then your body will hold onto the fat/go into starvation mode, but I don't know how I'm supposed to eat 1,400 more calories by bedtime... or do I even need to? My mom's answer is "that's not how it works... when you exercise its different" but I really think she's wrong. I'm fairly certain I have to eat at minimum 1600 calories a day and if I burn more, I have to eat more. Is this right? Do I need to go find a way to eat 1,400 more calories today or do you think I'm ok? I don't understand why I wasn't losing in the past 2 weeks and I don't want to eat too much because I'm afraid of gaining or staying the same weight. Help! Sorry for the long explanation. I tried google but I couldn't find any real answers.

Replies

  • marelthu
    marelthu Posts: 184 Member
    There are other people on here more knowledgeable than me, but it's pretty hard to burn 1,100 calories walking 2 miles. Are you getting that number from Fitbit because their calorie counts are ridiculous. I walk 8,000 steps a day (just over 3 miles I think) and give myself credit for burning about 150 calories. i don't tend to eat back my calories unless I'm really hungry.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I wouldn't worry about eating the whole 1,400. That's an extremely high calorie burn. If you're using MFP numbers it is probably a bit exaggerated. Starvation mode doesn't work the way you're describing. How accurate is your logging? Are you using a food scale? The recipe builder? Accurate entries? I'd eat a portion of the exercise calories back but not all just to cover inaccuracies.
  • marelthu
    marelthu Posts: 184 Member
    This is a useful site: http://caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/get-moving-calculator/
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    Weigh all solid food with a digital food scale. Measure all liquids that have calories with measuring cups/spoons. Log every thing that goes in your mouth. Look around for other excercise calculators, mfp is notoriously high. Log everything accurately. Win.
  • Devyn333
    Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
    marelthu wrote: »
    There are other people on here more knowledgeable than me, but it's pretty hard to burn 1,100 calories walking 2 miles. Are you getting that number from Fitbit because their calorie counts are ridiculous. I walk 8,000 steps a day (just over 3 miles I think) and give myself credit for burning about 150 calories. i don't tend to eat back my calories unless I'm really hungry.

    I burned 1,100 from the gym today doing various exercises, mostly cardio, and swimming laps. The walking was from last week
  • Devyn333
    Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
    Ok for some reason it cut off my reply, but basically I do believe I am logging everything accurately. I don't have a food scale but I am very specific and I make sure I log it accurately. I am using MFP for my calorie counting but I have also checked other sites and they give me roughly the same information. I do agree that 1,100 calories burned does seem high, but I am 300lbs so I think I would burn more than someone who is 150lbs. Thanks for all of your input! I just want to make sure I'm not under eating for today.
  • Devyn333
    Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
    marelthu wrote: »
    This is a useful site: http://caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/get-moving-calculator/

    Thanks! This one says I burned about 700 calories instead of 1,100, which sounds more reasonable. However I have checked many sites and they all give me different answers.
  • ammo7
    ammo7 Posts: 188 Member
    Devyn333 wrote: »
    I know that if you eat too little/burn too much, then your body will hold onto the fat/go into starvation mode

    This is a myth.
  • saintor1
    saintor1 Posts: 376 Member
    I am a bit perplex myself about the idea of direct additional calories intake directly to exercise. I am very accurate in logging food (I always the kitchen scale in doubt), and my experience doesn't support such a direct link.

    IMO, the solution is to decrease incrementally the food intake.
  • ajoseph5
    ajoseph5 Posts: 25 Member
    The best advice I can give you is the rule of thumb 3500 equals a pound. You need to burn that much to loose a pound. Whatever calories you burn off, try not to eat them back if at all possible. Your goal is to loose weight. Mine calorie intake is set at 1260, I burn between six to seven hundred calories just on the treadmill and a little over 20,000 steps. I can assure you. I went from 185 to 165 in almost a month. Whatever calories i burn, I don't eat them back. Hope this was helpful.
  • Devyn333
    Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
    ammo7 wrote: »
    Devyn333 wrote: »
    I do believe I am logging everything accurately. I don't have a food scale but I am very specific and I make sure I log it accurately.

    How can you be accurate or specific in your logging, if you don't know how much of it you consume..?
    For example, if you have a serving of chicken, or a serving of fruit, etc. A "serving" is meaningless. Cup measurements are not accurate for foods. Even if you are going by the nutrition labels on foods: one "slice" of bread will always have a gram measurement with it because each slice is a different size. My wholegrain wraps are always more than the serving size, some times by up to 20%, which means that if I just logged "1 wrap" my calories would not be accurate.

    Good point! I will have to invest in a food scale to have more accurate calorie counting. I usually use cup measurements or ½ of a chicken breast or similar measurements, but I totally understand how a food scale would be way more accurate.
    Po_210 wrote: »
    If you are not hungry you should not eat. That is how most of us got here, is it not? You will just reinforce overeating which is something ou DO NOT want to do.

    True! Thanks :) I just wanted reassurance that I wasn't eating too little!

  • Devyn333
    Devyn333 Posts: 6 Member
    ajoseph5 wrote: »
    The best advice I can give you is the rule of thumb 3500 equals a pound. You need to burn that much to loose a pound. Whatever calories you burn off, try not to eat them back if at all possible. Your goal is to loose weight. Mine calorie intake is set at 1260, I burn between six to seven hundred calories just on the treadmill and a little over 20,000 steps. I can assure you. I went from 185 to 165 in almost a month. Whatever calories i burn, I don't eat them back. Hope this was helpful.

    Thank you! Very helpful. I was nervous I was eating too little, but I feel like most of you are saying that I am fine with what I am doing (besides needing a food scale) and I should only eat if I get hungry. Thanks!
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    edited February 2017
    If you are genuinely burning quite a bit more calories than you told MFP you would - either because you told it your job is sedentary but it's not or you exercise daily - you really should eat back some calories.

    A lot of us who are here have screwed up hunger cues, so not eating unless you're "hungry" may not be the best guide. You may be able to retrain yourself, but you just started. If you continuously burn much more than you told MFP you would (not talking one or two hundred extra calories a day), and you don't ever eat any exercise calories back, you're likely to wear yourself down at some point. My job, technically, fits into the sedentary category, but most days my job alone is at least lightly active. Add in some more intentional movement, and my daily calories usually adjust from about 1550 to anywhere from 1800-2000 (I have a fitbit synched with MFP). Additionally, I do jiu jitsu 2-3 times a week, and don't log it and don't wear my fitbit during it (I doubt that I burn all that many extra calories given that at least half of class is instruction, I kind of consider it like weight training in regards to calories). If I consistently ignored those extra calories, I'd burn out sooo fast.

    I'd suggest watching the video about exercise calories that someone linked here (I don't know what thread sidesteel originally posted it in):
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/38941667#Comment_38941667

    ETA: get a food scale; choose accurate entries; be patient and consistent
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    Devyn333 wrote: »
    I know that if you eat too little/burn too much, then your body will hold onto the fat/go into starvation mode, but I don't know how I'm supposed to eat 1,400 more calories by bedtime... or do I even need to? My mom's answer is "that's not how it works... when you exercise its different" but I really think she's wrong. I'm fairly certain I have to eat at minimum 1600 calories a day and if I burn more, I have to eat more. Is this right? Do I need to go find a way to eat 1,400 more calories today or do you think I'm ok? I don't understand why I wasn't losing in the past 2 weeks and I don't want to eat too much because I'm afraid of gaining or staying the same weight. Help! Sorry for the long explanation. I tried google but I couldn't find any real answers.

    No, that's not true at all. You can throw that worry right out the window. If you really are not hungry, then don't eat. You'll be fine.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    Devyn333 wrote: »
    marelthu wrote: »
    There are other people on here more knowledgeable than me, but it's pretty hard to burn 1,100 calories walking 2 miles. Are you getting that number from Fitbit because their calorie counts are ridiculous. I walk 8,000 steps a day (just over 3 miles I think) and give myself credit for burning about 150 calories. i don't tend to eat back my calories unless I'm really hungry.

    I burned 1,100 from the gym today doing various exercises, mostly cardio, and swimming laps. The walking was from last week

    Can you tell us exactly what you did - how long and what exercise? I would bet that you are greatly overestimating your calories burned.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    If you haven't been losing weight then you don't need to be eating your exercise calories. Most likely, you are eating more than you think you are.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    Get the most accurate measuring tools you can. This program deals with calorie reduction and simply won't work unless your data is accurate.

    If you are not hungry, it is OK not to eat. With rare exceptions, your body really does to tend to know when it needs actual fuel and will tell you quite clearly at that time. Don't buy into the whole "starvation mode" hysteria. Really, what tends to happen is that a person gets miserable on too few calories and gives up because it's not very pleasant feeling cranky, tired, irritable and so on and it's unnecessary. A slower but more gradual weight loss is more likely to be sustainable and successful.

    Oh, and kudos to you on working out at the gym! :) We get so many posts on how people are afraid to step into a gym and it can be extra hard being a woman and 300 pounds. It's refreshing to hear from a woman who has done just that.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    First of all, don't worry about it too much. Undereating is bad, but at your weight it is not as harmful as at lower weights. So you have some time to figure this out.

    Your theoretical understanding is spot on (apart from the "starvation mode" thing, which a few people have already corrected you on). There are a few possibilities:

    1) you are underestimating your food. Getting a food scale will fix this.

    2) you are overestimating your exercise. You absolutely should eat back exercise calories, but you need to be very careful not to overestimate them. Conservative estimates all the way.

    3) you just need more time. 2 weeks is not much and water weight fluctuation could easily mask fat loss over that time frame, especially if you have started a new exercise regime. Tighten up your accuracy on food and exercise and then give it another two weeks and see what happens.
  • razzapool
    razzapool Posts: 89 Member
    tbh I think weighing your portions although brilliant is more helpful when u don't need lose loads I mean when I started I eat what I thought was healthy ( rice, chicken breast, vegs) and just piled my plate high so I was full and didn't snack and I lost weight quite fast with exercise as well, but then as I lost weight and got closer to I guess a better weight then it got harder and I couldn't lose any that's when the weighing portions really helped me
  • Miribrown03
    Miribrown03 Posts: 5 Member
    I'm trying to understand something here (I'm a newbie Feb 2017). Does it mean the calories you burned in exercise is also added as part of your calorie intake for the day? I thought it should rather be deducted ...just confused.
  • uninc57
    uninc57 Posts: 24 Member
    @Makx2017 if you're trying to lose 1lb per week you need to be in a caloric deficit of 3500 calories a week. So if you need to eat 2000 calories a day to achieve this, and you exercise 500 calories per day, you in theory need to eat 2500 calories per day to achieve 1lb a week of loss. 2250 and you'd lose slightly more. 2750, slightly less. Hope that helps.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    edited February 2017
    I think you're underestimating your cals since you don't have a kitchen scale and overestimating your burns. First things first I'd only eat half of those exercise burns back max they both sound like very high estimates. Also do you have your MFP set to sedentary because if you have it at lightly active I wouldn't eat back cals from walking.

    Also remember to log everything including condiments, splash of milk in a cuppa, stock cubes, cooking oil and drinks.

    Good luck and welcome to MFP you'll get the hang of it, it always takes a bit of tweaking at the start. x

    Edit: if you want more detailed advice you could open your diary to public and some of the MFP veterans might be able to identify specific problems with your logging.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Are you using a food scale? if not, get one and track your intake as accurately as possible.
    The rule of thumb is only eat back half your exercise calories as they are usually over estimated.

  • Miribrown03
    Miribrown03 Posts: 5 Member
    uninc57 wrote: »
    @Makx2017 if you're trying to lose 1lb per week you need to be in a caloric deficit of 3500 calories a week. So if you need to eat 2000 calories a day to achieve this, and you exercise 500 calories per day, you in theory need to eat 2500 calories per day to achieve 1lb a week of loss. 2250 and you'd lose slightly more. 2750, slightly less. Hope that helps.

    Awesome. Yes it does help. Was trying to really figure it out.

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