Calorie defecit not losing weight
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Muscleflex79 wrote: »I don't think that the jam or the mayo can add up to 500 cals per day, you have to eat a lot more of them... Maybe you have some hormonal issues? Your BMR might be lower due to medical anomaly
in what world would a "medical anomaly" be more likely than janejellyroll's advice above??
It's a very common issue, well at least in my country I see people everywhere with similar problems, they usually don't know it until they struggle with diets. It was just a guess, you never know...
It's actually not a very common issue. If you find it hard to see how routine logging errors could keep someone from success in their weight loss, I don't know if as many people around you have medical anomalies as you think. How do you know that they too aren't just routinely underestimating their intake (which is a very, very common issue among humans)?23 -
The advice from janejellyroll is helpful. See with things like the vodka cran night I was on a pubcrawl with my class and It literally consisted of me sharing that vodka cran with a friend as we ran to the next bar, that kind of night isnt common it was more of a one time thing. The vodka cran was mostly ice, 1.5 ounces of vodka and then some cranberry juice so when i only had the rest after my friend couldn't finish it I figured 104 calories should be a fair over estimation of my share to air on the safe side.
with things like easter pie and apple crisp made at a friends house I can't exactly get an ingredient list where I didn't make it so my weird decimal numbers are how I attempt to estimate the things I have no way to measure. Is there a better way to approach items like this that don't have restaurant calories available or anything? after over a year of tracking i figured my best guess at those Items would be within reason based on similar ones I've had before1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I see some things that may be no better than guesses like "Dessert - Lemon Meringue Pie, 0.1125 th of a pie." I agree with @stanmann571 that you want to be weighing your condiments, especially calorie-dense things like mayo. You have a fair amount of generic entries (like "Generic - Stuffing, 0.2 cup") and these are often no better than guesses. Things like "Homemade - Healthy Apple Crisp, 1 slice" were created by other people -- you have no idea what ingredients they used, how big their "slice" was, etc. Things like "Apple crisp - Apple crisp, 0.26666680000000004 slice" -- how are you possibly measuring that (even if the database entry matches the apple crisp you're eating)?
Don't know that this is the case with the OP, but just want to point out that entries like that are sometimes the result of weighing your portion but only having a "serving size" entry available. My homemade entries often say 1.2 servings, or something like that, but it's based on the designated gram weight per serving.9 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »I don't think that the jam or the mayo can add up to 500 cals per day, you have to eat a lot more of them... Maybe you have some hormonal issues? Your BMR might be lower due to medical anomaly
in what world would a "medical anomaly" be more likely than janejellyroll's advice above??
It's a very common issue, well at least in my country I see people everywhere with similar problems, they usually don't know it until they struggle with diets. It was just a guess, you never know...
It's actually not a very common issue. If you find it hard to see how routine logging errors could keep someone from success in their weight loss, I don't know if as many people around you have medical anomalies as you think. How do you know that they too aren't just routinely underestimating their intake (which is a very, very common issue among humans)?
Yeah well they go to an endocrinologist or a gastroenterologist... I never said that mismeasuring would be less common... I'm a biologist, I see how there are so many people who don't know anything about their medical condition until they see a doctor. I don't know why you should fight for your truth this way. You might be right, might not. What you say is the easiest solution, but that may not be the reality.24 -
stanmann571 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »well on the average day my active calories is about 550, but that includes about 400 cal at the gym and I have to walk a fair ways into school so I think a hundred other calories above my BMR is pretty reasonable for the watch to calculate
400 calories for 20 minutes of cardio seems pretty high.
I'm 230 lbs and male and I don't get to 400 calories until I get past 30 minutes of running.
50% or better overestimation of burn and 25% underestimation of calories and bingo! Maintenance.
Yup. I'm on the petite-er side, but I can't even hit 400 calories unless I'm getting close to a 5-mile run. It's definitely not happening in 20 minutes.
And weight training certainly wouldn't burn *that* many to make up the difference between the cardio and the total. Especially not just with hand weights and machines.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »I don't think that the jam or the mayo can add up to 500 cals per day, you have to eat a lot more of them... Maybe you have some hormonal issues? Your BMR might be lower due to medical anomaly
in what world would a "medical anomaly" be more likely than janejellyroll's advice above??
It's a very common issue, well at least in my country I see people everywhere with similar problems, they usually don't know it until they struggle with diets. It was just a guess, you never know...
It's actually not a very common issue. If you find it hard to see how routine logging errors could keep someone from success in their weight loss, I don't know if as many people around you have medical anomalies as you think. How do you know that they too aren't just routinely underestimating their intake (which is a very, very common issue among humans)?
Logging is the key.
I'm a super lax logger. I'm also settling on a relatively high maintenance weight. When I start to gain/stall, I tighten my logging back up and easy peasy I'm losing again. Just by tightening my logging up and weighing everything I can lose 2 lbs per week. If I estimate and loosen up, I can go into maintenance or slow my loss to 1 lb per week.
As a 230 lb active to very active, above average strength, fitness, and conditioning man, I can accept those compromises.
If you're less active, less strong or less fit you won't be able to. For that matter if you're 30-50 lbs smaller than me you won't be able to. I run 2-3 miles 2-3 days a week, in conjunction with strength training and another 3-4 miles 3 days a week of walking. Some weeks as much as 8 or 10 total miles in a session with 3-5 of that being intermittent running. 5.5 miles last night netted me about 700 calories.8 -
The advice from janejellyroll is helpful. See with things like the vodka cran night I was on a pubcrawl with my class and It literally consisted of me sharing that vodka cran with a friend as we ran to the next bar, that kind of night isnt common it was more of a one time thing. The vodka cran was mostly ice, 1.5 ounces of vodka and then some cranberry juice so when i only had the rest after my friend couldn't finish it I figured 104 calories should be a fair over estimation of my share to air on the safe side.
with things like easter pie and apple crisp made at a friends house I can't exactly get an ingredient list where I didn't make it so my weird decimal numbers are how I attempt to estimate the things I have no way to measure. Is there a better way to approach items like this that don't have restaurant calories available or anything? after over a year of tracking i figured my best guess at those Items would be within reason based on similar ones I've had before
We're all going to sometimes finish someone's drink or eat something out that we have to estimate. But it looks like you're doing that fairly frequently (at least over the past couple of weeks). When you're estimating a lot, you may see the results in your weight loss.
You don't have to stop doing these things *forever*, but while you're trying to figure things out it may be worth committing to a brief period where you get your logging under control, dedicate yourself to weighing everything, and avoid/minimize generic/database entries created by other people.11 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I see some things that may be no better than guesses like "Dessert - Lemon Meringue Pie, 0.1125 th of a pie." I agree with @stanmann571 that you want to be weighing your condiments, especially calorie-dense things like mayo. You have a fair amount of generic entries (like "Generic - Stuffing, 0.2 cup") and these are often no better than guesses. Things like "Homemade - Healthy Apple Crisp, 1 slice" were created by other people -- you have no idea what ingredients they used, how big their "slice" was, etc. Things like "Apple crisp - Apple crisp, 0.26666680000000004 slice" -- how are you possibly measuring that (even if the database entry matches the apple crisp you're eating)?
Don't know that this is the case with the OP, but just want to point out that entries like that are sometimes the result of weighing your portion but only having a "serving size" entry available. My homemade entries often say 1.2 servings, or something like that, but it's based on the designated gram weight per serving.
These are homemade/generic entries created by other users, not by OP.
I get what you're saying you're doing and that's a perfectly accurate way to log.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »The advice from janejellyroll is helpful. See with things like the vodka cran night I was on a pubcrawl with my class and It literally consisted of me sharing that vodka cran with a friend as we ran to the next bar, that kind of night isnt common it was more of a one time thing. The vodka cran was mostly ice, 1.5 ounces of vodka and then some cranberry juice so when i only had the rest after my friend couldn't finish it I figured 104 calories should be a fair over estimation of my share to air on the safe side.
with things like easter pie and apple crisp made at a friends house I can't exactly get an ingredient list where I didn't make it so my weird decimal numbers are how I attempt to estimate the things I have no way to measure. Is there a better way to approach items like this that don't have restaurant calories available or anything? after over a year of tracking i figured my best guess at those Items would be within reason based on similar ones I've had before
We're all going to sometimes finish someone's drink or eat something out that we have to estimate. But it looks like you're doing that fairly frequently (at least over the past couple of weeks). When you're estimating a lot, you may see the results in your weight loss.
You don't have to stop doing these things *forever*, but while you're trying to figure things out it may be worth committing to a brief period where you get your logging under control, dedicate yourself to weighing everything, and avoid/minimize generic/database entries created by other people.
And, to add to this, if you're going to eat out, and you can't get the recipe, use something like the Aramark or Sodexo entries for the particular item. Those two companies are the largest catering/food service providers in the United States, and even if it's not 100 percent accurate, the odds are really good that it's going to be the closest thing to the real thing that you can get. And it is far better than some generic entry from some other user when you have absolutely no idea of what went in it, or how it was prepared.13 -
Friendly reminder-
Make sure you are staying on track and helping the OP.
If you want to debate a specific comment by another poster please take it over to debate.
Thanks,
4legs
MFP moderator9 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »I don't think that the jam or the mayo can add up to 500 cals per day, you have to eat a lot more of them... Maybe you have some hormonal issues? Your BMR might be lower due to medical anomaly
in what world would a "medical anomaly" be more likely than janejellyroll's advice above??
It's a very common issue, well at least in my country I see people everywhere with similar problems, they usually don't know it until they struggle with diets. It was just a guess, you never know...
It's actually not a very common issue. If you find it hard to see how routine logging errors could keep someone from success in their weight loss, I don't know if as many people around you have medical anomalies as you think. How do you know that they too aren't just routinely underestimating their intake (which is a very, very common issue among humans)?
Yeah well they go to an endocrinologist or a gastroenterologist... I never said that mismeasuring would be less common... I'm a biologist, I see how there are so many people who don't know anything about their medical condition until they see a doctor. I don't know why you should fight for your truth this way. You might be right, might not. What you say is the easiest solution, but that may not be the reality.
I'm sorry you live in a country where everywhere there are people with medical problems that are lowering their BMR. This isn't the case in other countries, so it probably doesn't make sense to recommend this to people outside of your specific region.
I'm not "fighting" for my truth, I'm trying to help the OP. I don't think it makes sense for someone who hasn't yet tried accurate logging to go to the doctor to eliminate a medical issue for which there is no evidence. Even if you are right and her BMR has been lowered by the condition that is endemic in your country (or maybe another condition), she'll still need -- at some point -- to be able to accurately log in order to lose weight.
If you're a biologist, maybe you've encountered the idea that when troubleshooting, it's better to focus first on the most likely solution to a problem. That's the approach I am advocating for here. That it is also the easiest is a bonus.26 -
collectingblues wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »The advice from janejellyroll is helpful. See with things like the vodka cran night I was on a pubcrawl with my class and It literally consisted of me sharing that vodka cran with a friend as we ran to the next bar, that kind of night isnt common it was more of a one time thing. The vodka cran was mostly ice, 1.5 ounces of vodka and then some cranberry juice so when i only had the rest after my friend couldn't finish it I figured 104 calories should be a fair over estimation of my share to air on the safe side.
with things like easter pie and apple crisp made at a friends house I can't exactly get an ingredient list where I didn't make it so my weird decimal numbers are how I attempt to estimate the things I have no way to measure. Is there a better way to approach items like this that don't have restaurant calories available or anything? after over a year of tracking i figured my best guess at those Items would be within reason based on similar ones I've had before
We're all going to sometimes finish someone's drink or eat something out that we have to estimate. But it looks like you're doing that fairly frequently (at least over the past couple of weeks). When you're estimating a lot, you may see the results in your weight loss.
You don't have to stop doing these things *forever*, but while you're trying to figure things out it may be worth committing to a brief period where you get your logging under control, dedicate yourself to weighing everything, and avoid/minimize generic/database entries created by other people.
And, to add to this, if you're going to eat out, and you can't get the recipe, use something like the Aramark or Sodexo entries for the particular item. Those two companies are the largest catering/food service providers in the United States, and even if it's not 100 percent accurate, the odds are really good that it's going to be the closest thing to the real thing that you can get. And it is far better than some generic entry from some other user when you have absolutely no idea of what went in it, or how it was prepared.
Also, If you're eating out, Go ahead and be comfortable overestimating. If you're getting a pub burger, and the restaurant doesn't have a menu or calories online, Find a big pub burger like Fudd's or Red Robin, vs picking a McDonald's hamburger.9 -
As a general rule, if you're estimating a lot and not losing weight, you're estimating too low.
11 -
The time frame is not long enough to make any sort of accurate assessment, but I agree with the other veteran posters that you need to tighten up on logging. Simply put if you aren't losing you have yet to establish a caloric deficit.
You need to be patient with this though. 2 weeks is not long enough and why experts give 6 weeks before declaring a "plateau" (which is nonsense, but provides something else to cast aspersions onto).
Also you need to be realistic about the rate of loss as this will decay as you trend towards your "optimal" weight. Your body naturally wants to keep its energy reserves (fat) and will slow down fat burning as your deficit continues. Expect a .5-1 lb/week loss for those last 10-20 lbs.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Weight lifting does burn calories, but it doesn't burn as much as you think.
Based on my observed TDEE (i.e. at what calorie intake level I maintain weight) estimations of calorie burn for weight lifting overshoots by 2-3x depending on method (I've tried the old UA39 hear rate monitor, apple watch, Polar H7 heart rate monitor, UA record's estimation database). I'd get credit for 500-700 calories per hour lifting where my TDEE only goes up ~200 cals.2 -
well on the average day my active calories is about 550, but that includes about 400 cal at the gym and I have to walk a fair ways into school so I think a hundred other calories above my BMR is pretty reasonable for the watch to calculate
How are you calculating that? Are you using a high-quality and properly calibrated heart rate monitor? If not, you're almost guaranteed to be overestimating your burns.5 -
Yeah, start with tightening things up in regards to your logging. It's not unusual to be able to get away with inaccuracies early on...but you don't get away with them forever.
I'd say your diary is the most glaring issue followed by calorie expenditure estimates.3 -
AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »well on the average day my active calories is about 550, but that includes about 400 cal at the gym and I have to walk a fair ways into school so I think a hundred other calories above my BMR is pretty reasonable for the watch to calculate
How are you calculating that? Are you using a high-quality and properly calibrated heart rate monitor? If not, you're almost guaranteed to be overestimating your burns.
HRM is going to overestimate for most things as well, especially light weight training and calisthenics intervals.7 -
AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »well on the average day my active calories is about 550, but that includes about 400 cal at the gym and I have to walk a fair ways into school so I think a hundred other calories above my BMR is pretty reasonable for the watch to calculate
How are you calculating that? Are you using a high-quality and properly calibrated heart rate monitor? If not, you're almost guaranteed to be overestimating your burns.
Even the best HRMs when you adjust V02Max and Max HR, are still only good estimatores in certain circumstances/parameters, namely steady state cardio. Once you add interval or anaerobic exercises to the equation, they are not even close to accurate, may as well make up a number that seems right in those cases.3
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