Should I up my calories to lose weight

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healthyandhappy120301
healthyandhappy120301 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been hovering around 1300 kcals for around 2-3 months and not seeing a move in the scale, and after much research, I found the 'eat more to lose weight' approach and am hesistant to up my calories. Can anyone advice me, or does anyone have similar experiences and success stories?

Height: 171cm
Weight: 60kg
Exercise: Around 70 mins a day for 6 days (sometimes 7)
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Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Would you mind opening your diary?

    There are some really inaccurate database entries. By opening your diary people can see if there are any inaccurate entries that you use on a regular basis.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    edited January 2018
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    Most likely you are eating more than you think and actually need to eat a little less.

    Do you weigh all solids you eat and measure all liquids (other than water)? If not you may be eating 10-50% more than you think you are.
    Are you eating exercise calories back? If so, there is a good chance you are overestimating calories burned, switch to eating 50-75% of them back instead.

    I would also point out that at your height and weight you may not need to lose any weight. You may want to look at body recomposition (eat maintenance while getting enough protein and lifting), or if you do want to lose, set your goal to 0.5lbs/week.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    edited January 2018
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    I'm pretty close to your stats, but I work a desk job and am pretty sedentary. I do little workouts and I try to walk as much as possible.

    MFP has me at 1360 calories to lose .5lbs

    5' 5" (168cm)
    125 (57kg)

    Some days/weeks I can do everything right and still see no loss or a little bit of a gain. Don't let this discourage you! Weigh yourself to track and see if your progress trends downwards and make sure you are actually eating the amount of calories you think you are eating. Weigh your food if it helps you starting out to get an idea of what portions look like on a plate/bowl, etc.

    Feel free to add me as a friend :)
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
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    I'd also consider your exercise calories in the equation. Working out 70 mins a day and only eating 1300 calories (assuming gross calories?) would be challenging for anyone to just get up in the morning from fatigue. If you're net 1300 calories, I would check that you're not over estimating exercise calories which then in turn cause you to eat more.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I wish!
  • dinadyna21
    dinadyna21 Posts: 403 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging
    This thread has helped me immensely, as the MFP database can be very inaccurate since all the entries are user generated.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,023 Member
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    OP, you have a BMI of 21 - how much weight are you trying to lose??

    Not much, I hope.

    Progress will be slow with so little to lose ( if any??) - you need to log accurately and expect a slow rate.

    But perhaps think about whether weight loss is right goal for you?
  • healthyandhappy120301
    healthyandhappy120301 Posts: 8 Member
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    I am not netting 1300 but eating around 1300 (measuring around 80%, not counting fruits and veggies that are usually low cals) and I just am wondering if I up my cals will I be able to find my TDEE and eat more without gaining...
    Thank you for all your replies though
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    healthyandhappy120301 wrote: »
    I am not netting 1300 but eating around 1300 (measuring around 80%, not counting fruits and veggies that are usually low cals) and I just am wondering if I up my cals will I be able to find my TDEE and eat more without gaining...
    Thank you for all your replies though

    You're measuring around 80%, which means you're guessing on the other 20%? You are probably eating more calories than you think. Also, I eat a few hundred calories in fruits and vegetables every day. A few hundred calories in an already small deficit could definitely keep you at maintenance.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,740 Member
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    Since we all agree the op at BMI 21 does not necessarily need to lose weight and might benefit from recomp is it such a bad idea for them to try and determine their actual TDEE limits as opposed to them continuing to eat at a low level deficit?
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    jenilla1 wrote: »
    healthyandhappy120301 wrote: »
    I am not netting 1300 but eating around 1300 (measuring around 80%, not counting fruits and veggies that are usually low cals) and I just am wondering if I up my cals will I be able to find my TDEE and eat more without gaining...
    Thank you for all your replies though

    You're measuring around 80%, which means you're guessing on the other 20%? You are probably eating more calories than you think. Also, I eat a few hundred calories in fruits and vegetables every day. A few hundred calories in an already small deficit could definitely keep you at maintenance.

    one banana can be easily 100 calories. same for an apple. depending on weight of curse. doesnt take much to add up and go over your calories.
  • 1houndgal
    1houndgal Posts: 558 Member
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    The_Ta wrote: »
    Some fruits and veggies have more calories than you think!!! Granted, they are great nutritionally, but they are still calories.

    I’ll bet you’ll find the culprit there if you log those before eating.
    The_Ta wrote: »
    Some fruits and veggies have more calories than you think!!! Granted, they are great nutritionally, but they are still calories.

    I’ll bet you’ll find the culprit there if you log those before eating.

    Count all food kcal, including fruits and vegetables. Your counts are lower than they seem if you don't.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    I eat lots of fruit and veg. Sometimes they make half of my calories or more.
    They have enough calories to be worth counting. An apple has 100cals.
  • healthyandhappy120301
    healthyandhappy120301 Posts: 8 Member
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    Well, granted I don't really count like lettuce, watermelon and other low calorie fruits and veggies, I can safely say I don't go over 1400-1500 a day with more than an hour of exercise.
    Just wondering if I would gain if I up my calories since eating at this amount doesn't do much for me...
    From many calculators, they say my TDEE is around 2100 so a little part of me is hoping to up my cals without gaining weight but am just a little hesitant, so am trying to see if anyone succeeded in upping to maintaince cals after a plateau wihout gaining...
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,740 Member
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    healthyandhappy120301 wrote: »
    Well, granted I don't really count like lettuce, watermelon and other low calorie fruits and veggies, I can safely say I don't go over 1400-1500 a day with more than an hour of exercise.
    Just wondering if I would gain if I up my calories since eating at this amount doesn't do much for me...
    From many calculators, they say my TDEE is around 2100 so a little part of me is hoping to up my cals without gaining weight but am just a little hesitant, so am trying to see if anyone succeeded in upping to maintaince cals after a plateau wihout gaining...

    You may want to look into the refeed and diet break thread. You may also want to look into the eat more to lose group, but that's another story.

    Chances are that you can eat substantially more than you're doing now, during your weight loss plateau, without getting into a long term weight trend gain.

    However upon the introduction of a higher volume of food, possible glycogen replenishment etc, you may see a scale increase which should stabilize and not continue to trend upwards for weeks at a time.

    Trending upwards for weeks at a time probably means that you're exceeding your TDEE.
  • healthyandhappy120301
    healthyandhappy120301 Posts: 8 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your replies

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