why am I still gaining?
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Good luck meomai!! Thanks to all who responded to my post I am much clearer about exercise calories now. I guess the beer v belly battle will rage on but I guess I am not alone in this. I will look at the recomp thread thanks nony!2
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Ok here is the thing. If you are gaining weight you are eating too much, period. Don't listen to people when they say that you need to ''eat more'' to lose weight. As you can see that isn't how it works. Unfortunately you need to be in a caloric deficit every day in order to lose weight. And yes 1 - 2 days off a week can certainly stop this. It depends on how much you are eating. Your weekends are your biggest issue. Get them on track, stay in a calorie deficit and you will lose weight.
As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories.
Since I don't think anyone addressed this part, I'd just like to note that you do not actually need to be in a calorie deficit every day in order to lose weight. You certainly can have days that you eat at or above maintenance, so long as your overall average is in a deficit. Weight loss isn't linear, so you really want to be watching the larger trend and not the day-to-day. Going over maintenance one or two days a week will certainly slow your weight loss, but you will still lose so long as the extra calories don't wipe out your deficit on the other days, which I suspect is happening here.8 -
Thanks Moose. If I look at the reports for total calories it's fair to say the "gains" at the weekend probably counter the good work during the week. I guess the problem is which one wins!! What you said makes lots of sense and I am planning to have a strict month in October and see where it takes me.1
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A shot of whiskey around 150 calories in a beer, 350 in a slice of pizza.... you can shoot a weeks deficit easy with two days of eating without thinking. My favorite chimichanga from robertos is 1100 calories not to mention the beans and rice it comes with.6
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It isn't just about the scale. Muscle does weigh more than fat, so your measurements are the best way to track progress. Use measurements like L and R upper thigh, waist, hip (around the butt if you want) and L and R arms. The last time I was serious about the gym, my measurements went down 1 1/2 inches all around, and that took roughly two months. The scale however showed a 4 pound increase. Keep up with logging and the gym and don't let yourself get discouraged! You aren't alone on this path.3
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nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!0 -
nickgolledge wrote: »Thanks Moose. If I look at the reports for total calories it's fair to say the "gains" at the weekend probably counter the good work during the week. I guess the problem is which one wins!! What you said makes lots of sense and I am planning to have a strict month in October and see where it takes me.
@nickgolledge I suggest you use a tracking app (Trendweight, Happy Scale, Libra...) and look at your weight loss over a number of weeks, rather than one week. It's really easy to take two numbers, one higher than the previous, and go 'oh, I've gained weight
', but weight loss is not linear, even when you are sticking to your deficit religiously (yes, extra 1/2 kg of water weight, I am looking at you!). A trend app will allow you to look at things long term, instead of day to day. Of course you need to be able to handle seeing the fluctuations in scale weight that come with daily weighing, but just remember it's the trend line that's important 
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Just wanted to ask the question!, I asked the same question a few months back and got a lot of answers- one extreme to another!, presently I go spinning 2x weekly, Yoga 1 day and the gym, I have increased my calorie intake (as advised by some on here) so only to loose 1lb weekly with MFP... well it's not coming off....in fact its going on! I've worked out calories in and calories out, but just seem to keeping piling the weight on?
I'm honest and don't follow MFP 7/7 I do have at least 1-2 days a week off, but do not over indulge on these days, surely 5/7 and exercise should help me loose-or just maintain, but not put weight on??
Anyone who can please guide and advise me where I might be going wrong :-)
Firstly how are you tracking calories? if you are using the database at MFP that could be the problem. This database is so far off you could easily be consuming 500 plus calories a day and not even realize it.
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »nickgolledge wrote: »Thanks Moose. If I look at the reports for total calories it's fair to say the "gains" at the weekend probably counter the good work during the week. I guess the problem is which one wins!! What you said makes lots of sense and I am planning to have a strict month in October and see where it takes me.
@nickgolledge I suggest you use a tracking app (Trendweight, Happy Scale, Libra...) and look at your weight loss over a number of weeks, rather than one week. It's really easy to take two numbers, one higher than the previous, and go 'oh, I've gained weight', but weight loss is not linear, even when you are sticking to your deficit religiously (yes, extra 1/2 kg of water weight, I am looking at you!). A trend app will allow you to look at things long term, instead of day to day. Of course you need to be able to handle seeing the fluctuations in scale weight that come with daily weighing, but just remember it's the trend line that's important
What you say sounds good on paper but if he doesnt have a clue what the total calorie intake is it's useless. Using MFP's database is a bad idea. It isn't close and too many bad entries have been made with bogus calories and macros.
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nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.14 -
nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.
Wrong. If you are using the MFP method you should be eating at least a portion of your calories as the # mfp gives you is your net calorie goal. Malnutrition and underfueling isn't fun.7 -
nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.
That is exactly the way it works with MFP. MFP calorie goals are based on NEAT, not TDEE. They only take your non-exercise activity into account, so you need to add your exercise calories on top of that or you will be under-fuelling your body.
As to your reply on my post about using a trend app, it's pretty damn easy to get an idea of your calorie intake, or at least your deficit, doing that. If you're aiming to lose 1 lb per week, and you're averaging that as per the trend app, then you're obviously eating at a 500 calorie deficit.
And the MFP food database is fine if you know how to spot bad entries. It's not difficult.
I suggest you learn about more about how MFP works.4 -
That is not how myfitnesspal works. Myfitnesspal calculates a deficit before exercise, so if you're accurate with your exercise cals (or eat 1/3-1/2 back), it will bring you back to your deficit. Not eating exercise cals back can increase the deficit greatly... not good if it means losing more than 1% of your body weight per week.nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.
Edit: just saw @Nony_Mouse and @singingflutelady's response. What they said!
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You are supposed to eat back you exercise calories, but the exercise database is so rubbish that I would only eat back half of it.0
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nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.
Works for me 2 -
nickgolledge wrote: »I didn't quite understand the comment from Carl "As far as MFP goes don't put your exercise in either as it will adjust calories". I enter my exercise each day and it allows me more calories which I thought was okay until I read that comment.
As others have pointed out, eating exercise calories is fine if you accurately estimate exercise calories. A lot of databases, including MFP's, exaggerate the calorie burn of an activity. To burn 500 calories in an hour, for instance, I have to bicycle at 17-18 mph (on flat terrain; slower in the hills), or run 5 miles.
HRMs aren't necessarily much better. My old HRM/cycle computer from Sigma overestimated exercise calories by 50%!
Eating back exercise cals will NEVER work! It should never be done.....period.
@jaza48
Wrong!
Completely and utterly wrong and shows a basic misunderstanding of both how this tool works and also the more mainstream TDEE minus a deficit approach works. That also includes exercise calories.
I'm a long distance cyclist with often very high (and very variable) calorie burns from my exercise and the MFP method works perfectly for me both for weight loss and maintenance.
The cycling estimates in the MFP database are awful but that doesn't negate the eating back exercise calories concept - it just means you use better sources for your estimates.0 -
Lots of good stuff on here thanks all. MFP is calculating my daily calories at 1900 to lose 0.25 kgs a week so not a massive ambition! So I will allow myself 2,000 on the basis that I am doing some exercise every day and lots on some days and see how it goes for a month. I like the point about not just relying on weight but also using tape measurements will take some tomorrow morning as a start point.1
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