Correct calories

jessicasmum2008
jessicasmum2008 Posts: 68 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
Iv set myself a calorie goal of 1350 and im wanting to lose 2lbs a week for a while to get my weight down a bit and me more motivated. Im 175lbs 5ft 5 age 31.
Iv been earning between 400 and 900 exercise calories from my daily steps. Iv been eating a few of these back, between 100 and 400. Iv had a look on scales and they're saying iv only lost 1lbs so far, my weigh in day is Saturday so cant see it changing much between now and Saturday. Does anyone know why this could be? Surely I should lose more? I will b about 3000 net calories under goal by end of Friday
Thanx
Anna

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Everything is estimates. My Fitness Pal bases your calories on "averages" for your stats. The activity level you chose in MFP is really a range but MFP has to use 1 number. The food you log is a estimate. Using a digital food scale is going to be more accurate. Your step calories are an estimate. Your body can hold water for various reasons (sodium, time of month, sore muscle, waste).

    If you are looking for exacting results you are going to disappointed (often).
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    The odds of you averaging two pounds per week with your stats are slim to none. Your calorie output simply is not high enough. You say that your calorie goal is 1350 and you're eating between 100 and 400 calories from exercise. That means you're eating 1450-1750, which means that in order to lose two pounds per week you'd have to be burning 2450-2750+ calories per day.

    What is your activity level like outside of your steps?
  • jessicasmum2008
    jessicasmum2008 Posts: 68 Member
    Im burning between 2650 to 2850. Iv been going on my exercise bike for 20 to 40mins each day but my fitbit just logs it as steps. To get my steps I do the school run, walk to the shops, exercise bike and just general walking around and moving.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    How many steps (even including the ones counted from your bike) are you getting?
  • jessicasmum2008
    jessicasmum2008 Posts: 68 Member
    Between 13,700 and 16,100
  • jessicasmum2008
    jessicasmum2008 Posts: 68 Member
    On Monday I did 15,872 steps and burnt 2846 calories. On Tuesday I did 16,100 steps but only burnt 2645 calories
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    jessicasmum2008 wrote: »
    On Monday I did 15,872 steps and burnt 2846 calories. On Tuesday I did 16,100 steps but only burnt 2645 calories

    It still seems high to me. Regardless, I think you need to just stick this out.

    I just realized that your OP looks like you've only been doing this a week or less. Is that right?
  • jessicasmum2008
    jessicasmum2008 Posts: 68 Member
    Before I started using my exercise bike a normal day just walking on school run, to shops and around house i would burn at least 2150 to 2250 calories. So i dont think my calorie burn could be false
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    jessicasmum2008 wrote: »
    On Monday I did 15,872 steps and burnt 2846 calories. On Tuesday I did 16,100 steps but only burnt 2645 calories

    Stop worrying about the calories that FitBit says you burned. From walking, most people will average about 100 calories per mile. 2000 steps is about 1 mile, so...
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    I have a Garmin Vivofit2 and I get about 165 calories for 10,000 steps. MFP gives me about 100 for that assuming some movement is normal so it lowers the number. I am 5'5" and weigh 152. I could be wrong but it seems as though your Fitbit is estimating awfully high. Also remember you have to have a deficit of 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    I don't think your burn seems that farfetched. I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and my TDEE is around 2400. When I first started losing weight, I was 139 and dropping 2 pounds per week until I hit 120. Then I realized I should be eating back some exercise calories. Now I know better and eat all of them back, especially now that I'm lean and don't have as much bodyfat to sustain a deficit of any kind.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    edited May 2017
    Where to even start.

    No it is not impossible for the OPs numbers to be what she says they are.

    For someone for whom the Mifflin St-Jeor equation is an accurate predictor of their BMR 15500 steps or so is the limit of an activity factor of 1.8x. Scooby uses 1.725x as an activity factor for 5-6 hrs/wk of strenuous exercise and yields a TDEE of 2609 for her numbers.

    MFP has the OP's BMR at 1510, which means that 2700 calories make perfect sense for 15K+ step days. Note that the OP's Fitbit takes into account any activity it detects and averages it out over 5 minutes yielding its burn estimate. Depending on the type of activity Fitbit may guess a bit high or a bit low; but in general it won't be off the wall. Note that the "exercise calories" are NOT calories from exercise but they are the difference between the Fitbit TDEE and the TDEE MFP expects you to have based on the activity setting you chose. One is an activity level that was measured by a device, the other is an activity level that you picked based on your own decision making. The difference between the two is expressed as "exercise calories" in order for the accounting portion of the program to work.

    So the numbers are fine... assuming that food tracking is correct and that her BMR is correctly predicted etc. (i.e. subject to the same possibilities of errors any such prediction is subject to) which is why the suggestion, at least from me, is to trust the numbers and adjust as per real life results after 4-6 weeks.

    @fitmom4lifemfp you keep using a formula that does not account for age, height, or weight. Not only that but you then proceed to tell the OP that using the formula you gave her she would get the SAME result as what she already posted she was getting. Your formula yields 800 Cal for her walking. She claims she only ate 400-500 of that.

    Walking is a very well researched activity. You can approximate it much better than by using 100 Cal per mile regardless of who you are by using MET values which at least base your caloric expenditure on your own stats. You can use https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/walking or https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/atus-met/met.php to get MET values.

    Or you can let your Fitbit or other tracker do the work since it is probably much more consistent at evaluating your walks than you would be.

    OP you have two problems with your plan. One is a measurement problem and the other is the plan itself.

    Measurement problem is that your weight level cannot be determined in a single week. Connect your fitbit.com account to trendweight.com and consider your long term weight trend when trying to make decisions.

    Your weight week to week and within the month changes much faster than your rate of fat loss.

    Things that can change your weight are sodium, exercise, bathroom visits, time of the month, time of weighting yourself, and a host of other reasons including loss or gain of fat.

    The plan itself is that you're trying to support a very high rate of loss based on a TDEE and fat level that cannot support it.

    If you were morbidly obese a 25% deficit might have been acceptable; but being overweight, as you happen to be, a deficit of up to 20% of your TDEE is the limit of what is less likely to cause adverse side effects.

    As such, the preferred target deficit for you would be -500 a day, not the -1000 a day you have chosen.

    This assumes that you correctly measure your food intake and that you are not an outlier when it comes to your BMR and caloric expenditure.
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