Would eating more help?

BlueFlameLotus · August 2018

I’m 45 5’8” 167lbs. Trying to lose 10lbs which was easy to maintain for years when I was free form dancing a couple times a week. Then 2 years ago after getting married I started eating refined carbs like my husband and I gained almost 15lbs!! I’ve quit all of that now. I work out with yoga, barre, and high rep low weights 4-5x week burning 300-500 a session. I regularly burn 2500 day even on my no work out days. I eat around 1300-1800 day. Sometimes I splurge on refined carbs but mostly veggies, berries, healthy fats, big salad, almond butter, and fish with some rice here and there. Been doing this for months I haven’t seen much progress. Anyone have insight?

DmaMfz · August 2018

What you eat doesn’t matter when it comes to weight loss, it’s how many calories you eat, and if you’re in a deficit or surplus.

That being said, it’s probably best to eat things that satiate you so you can be consistent about eating your goal calories.

If you’ve gained, it’s because you ate more calories than you use. That’s the only reason. Get a good scale and start weighing everything. And also eat a diet of foods you love and can eat for the rest of your life.

malibu927 · August 2018

If you aren't losing weight, eating more is not the solution

AnvilHead · August 2018

I suspect one of the first things you could look at are your exercise calorie estimates. It’s very doubtful that you’re burning 300-500 calories per workout doing the things you described.

Duck_Puddle · August 2018

AnvilHead wrote: »

I suspect one of the first things you could look at are your exercise calorie estimates. It’s very doubtful that you’re burning 300-500 calories per workout doing the things you described.

This for real. I weigh 160 lbs and burn about 150 calories/hour at best for yoga and weights. And that 150 is for a particularly animated session (so its usually a bit less).

Courtscan2 · August 2018

Agree, you should check your calorie burn, I can't burn 500 calories an hour unless I am balls to the wall running the whole time. Also check your calories consumed - unless you are weighing and measuring everything you eat, you are likely eating more than you think.

JesseDP00 · August 2018

lemongirlbc wrote: »

Agree, you should check your calorie burn, I can't burn 500 calories an hour unless I am balls to the wall running the whole time. Also check your calories consumed - unless you are weighing and measuring everything you eat, you are likely eating more than you think.

I agree, and plus when you go ALL OUT on a huge cardio session, you tend to overeat afterwards to a degree. I'm able to curb that using a good IF schedule, I eat no earlier than 9:30am and NLT 7:00pm, helps tremendously!

BlueFlameLotus · August 2018

Thank you all. I use measuring cups but not scales. Tracking ‘mostly’ diligently on MFP. I also use a polar chest strap and wrist band to track my day and burn rate.
I’ve heard tweaking macros can help and I wonder if my carb protein ration needs refining. I hear increasing carbs and also increasing protein decreasing carbs. Every body is different. I think it’s time to seek out a nutritionist.

BlueFlameLotus · August 2018

IF schedule is something I mostly follow as well. I don’t sleep more than 5 or 6 hrs a night, and it’s often interrupted. So perhaps sleep has something to do with this conundrum??

BlueFlameLotus · August 2018

The type of yoga I do is a rigorous ashtanga flow. It feels balls to the wall. As does my barre class. My instructor was a drill sergeant.

malibu927 · August 2018

Get a food scale and log everything. While sleep can effect weight loss, inaccurate logging is the largest culprit.

collectingblues · August 2018

BlueFlameLotus wrote: »

The type of yoga I do is a rigorous ashtanga flow. It feels balls to the wall. As does my barre class. My instructor was a drill sergeant.

How much do you think you're burning during barre? Because I know my class *feels* hard, but the reality is that it's only 200 calories or so for the 50-minute session.

Remember: Just because something *feels* hard doesn't mean that it's actually a good calorie burn.

Panini911 · August 2018

agree with using scale for many foods VS just cups. especially meat. Be careful about what entries you are picking, I found myself using some incorrect ones.

personally i prefer keeping my protein higher than the rest but that' s just what works for me.

I would also look at reducing how many of the exercise calories you eat back if you are eating them all.

Even on days I run 10k I don't think I hit that many calories...

RAinWA · August 2018

BlueFlameLotus wrote: »

Thank you all. I use measuring cups but not scales. Tracking ‘mostly’ diligently on MFP. I also use a polar chest strap and wrist band to track my day and burn rate.
I’ve heard tweaking macros can help and I wonder if my carb protein ration needs refining. I hear increasing carbs and also increasing protein decreasing carbs. Every body is different. I think it’s time to seek out a nutritionist.

First I would make sure you are actually eating what you think you are. A food scale will help with that. This is a great thread on why you should use one:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

kabrina30 · August 2018

BlueFlameLotus wrote: »

Thank you all. I use measuring cups but not scales. Tracking ‘mostly’ diligently on MFP. I also use a polar chest strap and wrist band to track my day and burn rate.
I’ve heard tweaking macros can help and I wonder if my carb protein ration needs refining. I hear increasing carbs and also increasing protein decreasing carbs. Every body is different. I think it’s time to seek out a nutritionist.

You're making this way too hard. Much easier to just accurately weigh and log your food to guarantee you're in a defecit. All the replies you've gotten have been spot on. Stay in an actual defecit and the weight will start to come off.

callsitlikeiseeit · August 2018

if you are not weighing your food- all of it- on a scale... you are eating more than you think you are.

thats where your weight gain came from and why you aren't losing weight now.

elsie6hickman · August 2018

Are you watching your portion sizes? Even with healthy foods it is possible to overeat. I have to echo the advice about weighing your food - everything that goes in your mouth. It is possible that you have hit a weight loss plateau and your body is not dropping weight. It's so frustrating, but when you only have a small amount to lose, it seems like your body wants to hang onto it.

kshama2001 · August 2018

BlueFlameLotus wrote: »

The type of yoga I do is a rigorous ashtanga flow. It feels balls to the wall. As does my barre class. My instructor was a drill sergeant.

I do have experience with Ashtanga. It's not in the cardio database, but when I put in your stats and "Calisthenics (pushups, sit-ups), vigorous effort" I get 606 for an hour, so don't have an issue with your 300-500 per session. How long is the jumping around part, and how long is it total?

yirara · August 2018

kshama2001 wrote: »

BlueFlameLotus wrote: »

The type of yoga I do is a rigorous ashtanga flow. It feels balls to the wall. As does my barre class. My instructor was a drill sergeant.

I do have experience with Ashtanga. It's not in the cardio database, but when I put in your stats and "Calisthenics (pushups, sit-ups), vigorous effort" I get 606 for an hour, so don't have an issue with your 300-500 per session. How long is the jumping around part, and how long is it total?

At TO's weight if did interval bodyweight training I'd give myself about 6-7kcal/minute. However, this only accounts for the time actually working out. The problem with database entries for such workouts is that you're not working out continuously for a full hour. You take small breaks, add in exercises that are more gentle, stretching, etc. Even if you do interval workouts you'd be having a 10 second break after ever 30-50 seconds or so. Hence the calorie burn is much lower. Btw, this number is based on tracking calories for a long time and figuring out the difference between weight loss rate and food intake. Might be a bit different for other people.

jennifer_417 · August 2018

It's incredibly easy to eat way more than you think if you aren't meticulously measuring everything you put in your mouth. I suggest you start there before shelling out the cash for a nutritionist.

CharlieBeansmomTracey · August 2018

its really easy to eat more than you think. like today my protein bar which is supposed to be 60g a bar was actually 69g. I gained weight back after I lost it not weighing my food. Iwas using measuring cups and spoons. I did a google search and it brought me here where everyone told me to get a food scale and weight EVERYTHING. I started doing that and I was shocked at how much things can be off weight wise,that means extra calories in most cases. once I started weighing everything the weight started coming off again.

almond butter if not weighed can be more calories than you think. a teaspoon/tablespoon can actually be twice the amount if weighed compared to using a spoon. what you perceive to be a teaspoon/tablespoon is really a lot less than you think. a half cup of oatmeal is 40g, if you use a measuring cup even the half cup size it will be more than 40g its over 50 if memory serves me correctly. everything adds up over time. at first it worked for me but then the pounds came creeping back on.

Would eating more help?

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