Should I be eating more calories?
vegankid1990
Posts: 18 Member
Hi all!
I’ve been doing Mfp since jan 1st, stuck to it for the first week and dropped 5lbs, second week I stuck to it and started exercising (gained 2lbs!!!!), 3rd week didn’t stick to it but walked a lot (gained another 1lb) and this week I have stuck to it and exercised and weight isn’t budging.
I’m aiming to eat around 1400-1500 a day which is what mfp calculates for me. All other online calculators say I should be eating around 1700 to lose a pound a week. Could I be eating too little?
I am 5ft 8”, 180 lbs and aiming to lose 35lb. I exercise for around 45 mins 6 days a week with a mix of weights and cardio. Although admittedly, I hate cardio so the intensity is probably lacking a little.
I am weighing and measuring all my food including little snacks and drink etc. My muscle and fat measurements improved in the first 2 weeks but haven’t changed since.
Any help would be most welcome! I’m starting to worry that I’m putting all this hard work in and not getting anywhere
I’ve been doing Mfp since jan 1st, stuck to it for the first week and dropped 5lbs, second week I stuck to it and started exercising (gained 2lbs!!!!), 3rd week didn’t stick to it but walked a lot (gained another 1lb) and this week I have stuck to it and exercised and weight isn’t budging.
I’m aiming to eat around 1400-1500 a day which is what mfp calculates for me. All other online calculators say I should be eating around 1700 to lose a pound a week. Could I be eating too little?
I am 5ft 8”, 180 lbs and aiming to lose 35lb. I exercise for around 45 mins 6 days a week with a mix of weights and cardio. Although admittedly, I hate cardio so the intensity is probably lacking a little.
I am weighing and measuring all my food including little snacks and drink etc. My muscle and fat measurements improved in the first 2 weeks but haven’t changed since.
Any help would be most welcome! I’m starting to worry that I’m putting all this hard work in and not getting anywhere
3
Replies
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So you've lost 2lbs realistically to date, that's a positive. You need to eat what MFP calculates for you, because if you ate more then you would lose even less.
Be consistent with logging your food intake, use a food scale for accuracy. Then in another 4 weeks you can reassess if then you can eat more if you are losing what you feel is too much weight, then you can bump up your calories.
It takes time to see progress, so many things affect our weight so it fluctuates a lot in any given week.
5 -
Thanks
so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated 4 -
you just need to be more patient. you have lost 2lbs overall so far, and are experiencing normal water weight fluctuations. weight loss isn't linear.
MFP gives you less calories because that goal is based on no exercise, which is why you should then eat exercise cals back (or a portion at least).5 -
vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
Yes eat back your exercise calories. They are sometimes overestimated so alot of people eat 50-75% back to be on the safe side. Again you'll know after a few weeks with how your loss is going, you may be able to eat all of them back.1 -
So you lost 5lbs, then gained 3lbs back? After about 3 weeks, that doesn't sound too bad. You've lost 2lbs! To be honest if you are weighing everything, and eating 1500, you just need to be patient. Eating more will only slow down your weight loss (but is still an okay thing to do, for lots of reasons, including sustainability).
What's your activity set to, and what % of your exercise calories do you eat back currently? Overestimating your NEAT and exercise calories burned could lead you to eating closer to maintenance than intended...but you're start off at a 500-1000 deficit (I assume?), so it would have to be a big overestimation for that to be the culprit.3 -
vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
how are you measuring them?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
how are you measuring them?
I have a fit bit so it’s all automatically logged to mfp from there1 -
vegankid1990 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
how are you measuring them?
I have a fit bit so it’s all automatically logged to mfp from there
fitbit generally should be fairly accurate, from what i hear - i don't use one myself - once it gets used to you.
try eating them back, tweak after 4-6 weeks if you're not losing at the expected rate.2 -
Fitbit was always fairly accurate for me, so I would have ate pretty much all mine back.1
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speedingticket wrote: »So you lost 5lbs, then gained 3lbs back? After about 3 weeks, that doesn't sound too bad. You've lost 2lbs! To be honest if you are weighing everything, and eating 1500, you just need to be patient. Eating more will only slow down your weight loss (but is still an okay thing to do, for lots of reasons, including sustainability).
What's your activity set to, and what % of your exercise calories do you eat back currently? Overestimating your NEAT and exercise calories burned could lead you to eating closer to maintenance than intended...but you're start off at a 500-1000 deficit (I assume?), so it would have to be a big overestimation for that to be the culprit.
Thanks, I feel a little more optimistic now. I guess I’m just impatient! I think it’s because last time I lost weight it was very steady and constant each week with a few weeks where I maintained so thought it might be the same this time round.
My activity is set to lightly active I think? I try not to eat any back but if I do it’s maybe about half or less?1 -
Sorry, just checked and it’s set to not very active. Again I think that was me trying not to get overestimated. My job is at a desk half the week and out and about driving and walking around the other half so I doubt that equates to much activity.0
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The initial 5 lbs was mostly water weight. If you’ve kept off 2lbs this month that might be fat loss. Have you measured yourself? Sometimes I’ll lose inches but not weight esp if you are doing weights.4
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vegankid1990 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
how are you measuring them?
I have a fit bit so it’s all automatically logged to mfp from there
The fitbit "incidental calorie" estimate was often high for me. (Mowing the lawn was an example-- shook the thing all around and sent the calorie estimate off the charts.) I ended up un-linking it from MFP and going with the fixed MFP estimates plus exercise calories (sometimes taking estimates from the fitbit for specific workouts).
It comes down to developing good portion control (logging) and careful estimates of exercise, staying a bit conservative on eating back the calories. You just need to set MFP up with a reasonable base calorie estimate (adjusting the activity level in a reasonable manner and setting to 1lb per week loss).
It really worked for me and has now helped in many months of maintenance.2 -
No, if you're not losing the answer is never to eat more.5
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I would stick to what MFP has set for you. Remember if your like me and it took 25+ years to put the weight on, I cannot expect it to just melt off in short time.
Yes it is hard work cause well if it was easy everyone would be doing it. Just give your body and you a chance and stick with the program.2 -
MFP is very bad for overestimating exercise. It is advisable to thus only eat back 25-50% of your exercise calories. So you tread on side of caution.
Most food comes with an excellent guide on food calories (and i dont necessarily mean pre packaged - a box of eggs tells you how many calories per egg on the box etc) so make sure what you select there matches true calories of the item/ingredients.
once you get this right you should see a difference. and as someone else said after a month of this if you loose too quick eat more exercise calories back and if not enough don't eat the calories back or a lower percentage.
Also be aware that ppl can fluctuate easily by 4-5lb (2Kg) on water weight so never beat yourself up over being up by a small bit. look at your overall trend.4 -
SportyKirsty wrote: »MFP is very bad for overestimating exercise. It is advisable to thus only eat back 25-50% of your exercise calories. So you tread on side of caution.
it was actually spot on for me, i ate all mine back and always lost as expected.3 -
I notice you're not being consistent week to week. This is important because weight loss, and even maintenance for that matter, is all about consistency over time. Try to take your head out of the day-by-day or week-by-week and focus on where you want to go over the long run. This should help you from getting crazy by whatever might happen in the short term.
You might enjoy reading through the responses on this thread for some perspective on short term fluctuations.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636670/i-do-between-2-to-3-hours-of-cardio-a-day-and-im-still-gaining-weight-please-help#latest
On another topic, no one is good at logging their food at first. It takes a little time and practice to get the hang of it and also to find a balance between tracking nothing and obsessively weighing everything to the point of making yourself unhappy. Keep at it and you'll get better.
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ladyhusker39 wrote: »I notice you're not being consistent week to week. This is important because weight loss, and even maintenance for that matter, is all about consistency over time. Try to take your head out of the day-by-day or week-by-week and focus on where you want to go over the long run. This should help you from getting crazy by whatever might happen in the short term.
You might enjoy reading through the responses on this thread for some perspective on short term fluctuations.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636670/i-do-between-2-to-3-hours-of-cardio-a-day-and-im-still-gaining-weight-please-help#latest
On another topic, no one is good at logging their food at first. It takes a little time and practice to get the hang of it and also to find a balance between tracking nothing and obsessively weighing everything to the point of making yourself unhappy. Keep at it and you'll get better.
Haha yes I did mess up in the 3rd week as I was away! But I have been good all the other weeks.
The first week I wanted to just focus on diet so I didn’t get overwhelmed. Now I’m in a good exercise routine that I seem to be sticking too quite well so hopefully if I just keep at it I should see some results eventually!2 -
Thanks everyone for the advice and reassurance! Weightloss was a lot easier and ticker when I was 22 haha!
I just keep going! 0 -
vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks everyone for the advice and reassurance! Weightloss was a lot easier and ticker when I was 22 haha!
I just keep going!
Yes just keep going.
Another thing that I don't think was mentioned is that your muscles tend to hold on to water for repair when starting a new exercise routine, which is seem you have done.
Also as a women hormones also affect our weight, and you can retain water during certain times of your cycle (this varies by women, some retain more then others)
Just keep at it and things should trend down over time. Don't worry too much about the day to day fluctuations. I swing wildly in weight which is why I prefer to use a program that shows me trend over time (I use trendweight but there are also apps like happy scale).)1 -
vegankid1990 wrote: »Thanks so should I be eating back my exercise calories? I’m always worried they are overestimated
Maybe try eating around half or even all of your excercise kcals and see what happens over a month, then go from there.1 -
Muscle weighs more than fat! Since you are doing some lower intensity exercise you are likely gaining muscle while losing fat which could account for some of why the scale isn’t moving. That doesn’t mean you should ramp up cardio, stop doing weight training, or make any other adjustments!! Muscle is good! It’s just something to bear in mind 10
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Keep going. Keep sticking to the calorie goal MFP gives you. Don't cheat yourself by giving false data, so make sure you're as accurate as possible. And no more giving up even if the scale doesn't move. Give yourself a chance to commit to the routine and it will become way easier.
Even a slip-up here and there doesn't mean you can't start over the next day. And even a gain here and there doesn't mean you're not losing in the long run.1 -
Don't forget its a lifestyle. Be patient and have faith in the process as long as you're doing the right things you should get the results. It just takes time
BTW I personally dont eat exercise calories but if you do a weekly weigh in you can do some fuzzy math to determine how much you burnt over the week and can kind of figure it out from there if you wanted to.1 -
I second the advice to use a weight tracker app. I use Libra and how ever frequently you weigh yourself, the app will show a trend. My weight fluctuates; I choose to weigh myself daily just to make minor adjustments in that day's CICO if the trend is going up.1
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