dont know what i am doing wrong.

I'm going to plagiarize myself. I just wrote this on another thread about a similar situation...

Plateaus are just evil. I was on one for 6 weeks. I've only lost 2 lbs in the last 2 months. It's incredibly frustrating and hard to stay motivated and not just throw in the towel. I just kept researching and finding ways to tweak my diet. Then I'd try them out for a week or two and monitor my results. I don't want to jinx it by saying I've broken through it, but I'm currently trying something else that I hope will work. At least I was down to a new number this morning after a few days of it.

You just have to keep researching, learning about your own body, and figuring out what works for you. Problem is, what works for one person may not work for another.

My opinion is, if you're stalling, whatever you're doing is no longer working. Your body has adapted. Your body is getting along just fine thankyouverymuch with what you're doing. You have to change it up. But figuring out how to change it is not always easy.

Here is my perception on the matter. I actually use this site just to track my calories. I use a different method to determine how many calories I should be eating and suggest it to many. According to this website, if you use their calculations, if you workout and burn 300 calories, than you should eat an extra 300 calories that day because the site has already built in a deficit for you. The more you have to lose the bigger an acceptable deficit is but the closer your goal is, the smaller your deficit should be. This is because the more muscle you have, the lower the body fat, the more fuel you body needs to sustains it's functions. Also, a deficit is should never been more than 1000 calories a day (which would allow for 2 lbs per week loss) but it more acceptable to do 1 lb a week or 500 calorie deficit. Additionally, a woman should eat not less than 1200 net calories. This is the amount of calories after you workout. So if you burn 500 calories, you need at least 1700 calories; men should be no less than 1500-1700 after workout calories from my research. Also, a large part of these calories should be driven by protein based sources. The ammino acids in the protein is what stimulates muscle growth. The more muscle your body has, the more calories you burn at rest.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.

i have upped my calories, to 1490. that is was mfp gave me when i changed my goal from 2pounds a week(which wasnt happpning anyway) to 1 pound, and my activity from sedentary to to lightly active which is more acurate with my job.

I am still a little doubtful as i lost the first 50 eating much less, but, even though my work hasnt changed i went from a 1 hour belly dance class , to joining a gym the begining of year, and going several days a week, now doing classes (spinning,zumba) and this past month Insanity daily, and still doing gym stuff several days on top of that, or running.

so maybe i do need to increase to match activity? its still very nerous.

as far as some of the foods, well i don t do the cooking or the main shopping, i will often go buy things I want and make them but have been a little short the extra funds, would love to be able to add more veggies, fruits well afraid to eat to many fruits, though been eating a few more. and I used to love fruits.

and on the insanity i only tend to burn about 300 cals, hoping for a bigger burn in month two

just going by what my heart rate monitor says. and its not like i got at it half assed either, as gross as it sounds i have pushed myself to the point of vomitting (justa little). so you would think more. i don't kmw
but the the hrm is all i have to go by