Help!
hollyhoo
Posts: 9 Member
So my diary is a massive mess at the moment. I am struggling to get back into it.
To give you a bit of history I used MFP to lose a lot of weight! I am still a huge chunk down. I did it strictly on 1200 calories maybe 1400 if I was being naughty and would burn 1000 calories at the gym!
My partners Dad died and with being a supportive girlfriend I comfort ate with him and gained 28lb back that I cannot lose! I am not kidding myself where the weight gain come from or it was because I went back to eating normally I am talking a lot of unhealthy pizza/pasta/takeaways/sweets.
I have been gaining/losing the same 7lb for nearly two years an all or nothing approach that isn't working for me.
In the last year I have got an apple watch so I feel that the calories are more accurate than my polar as it does active calories when exercising rather than calories as a whole. I have also ran a marathon and been training for half marathons which I know a lot of people struggle with weight gain when training!
I am trying to eat a lot healthier than I did before. I didn't really count vegetables accurately I had protein shake for breakfast and lunch so that I could have a big (unhealthy) dinner. I ate a lot of crisps and bits like that. I am now being accurate and weighing everything adding everything not trying to kid myself but I am hungry all the time!
I burn at least 600 calories most days some days more. Should I down my weight loss from 2lbs a week and go for 1lb a week and have the 1600 calories it suggests so I have a bit more flexibility to stay on plan? I am scared to eat back my calories as I am worried I will just eat junk!
Do you think maybe when I had my polar I was actually burning less than 1000 calories so when I was eating an extra 200 calories some days it was actually a bigger percentage of calories?
Please help sort my life out haha! A few evenings are missing out of my diary last week because I had work commitments.
To give you a bit of history I used MFP to lose a lot of weight! I am still a huge chunk down. I did it strictly on 1200 calories maybe 1400 if I was being naughty and would burn 1000 calories at the gym!
My partners Dad died and with being a supportive girlfriend I comfort ate with him and gained 28lb back that I cannot lose! I am not kidding myself where the weight gain come from or it was because I went back to eating normally I am talking a lot of unhealthy pizza/pasta/takeaways/sweets.
I have been gaining/losing the same 7lb for nearly two years an all or nothing approach that isn't working for me.
In the last year I have got an apple watch so I feel that the calories are more accurate than my polar as it does active calories when exercising rather than calories as a whole. I have also ran a marathon and been training for half marathons which I know a lot of people struggle with weight gain when training!
I am trying to eat a lot healthier than I did before. I didn't really count vegetables accurately I had protein shake for breakfast and lunch so that I could have a big (unhealthy) dinner. I ate a lot of crisps and bits like that. I am now being accurate and weighing everything adding everything not trying to kid myself but I am hungry all the time!
I burn at least 600 calories most days some days more. Should I down my weight loss from 2lbs a week and go for 1lb a week and have the 1600 calories it suggests so I have a bit more flexibility to stay on plan? I am scared to eat back my calories as I am worried I will just eat junk!
Do you think maybe when I had my polar I was actually burning less than 1000 calories so when I was eating an extra 200 calories some days it was actually a bigger percentage of calories?
Please help sort my life out haha! A few evenings are missing out of my diary last week because I had work commitments.
3
Replies
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a lot going on here, but first - what exactly were you doing to burn (what you thought was) 1000 calories per workout????4
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I would suggest changing your rate of loss. With 28 lbs to lose, I would suggest 0.5 - 1 lb per week plus eating some of the calories you burn through exercise. This should give you a more sustainable calorie goal.
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Muscleflex79 wrote: »a lot going on here, but first - what exactly were you doing to burn (what you thought was) 1000 calories per workout????
I did at least an hour of cardio so 700 cals sometimes more I always made sure I was sweating and my BPM were over 140 so I didn't go lightly. I would then do a 45mins to an hour of kettlebell swings, jumps, weighted sit ups thing like that! Cardio based weights really!
I am only really counting my cardio at the moment with running/stairmaster/vario/cross trainer. But I am doing weights also! I know my calories will also be burning less the fitter I get! I am very fit for a chunky girl!shadow2soul wrote: »I would suggest changing your rate of loss. With 28 lbs to lose, I would suggest 0.5 - 1 lb per week plus eating some of the calories you burn through exercise. This should give you a more sustainable calorie goal.
I actually have about 56lbs to lose to get to more of a healthy weight! according to BMI I should lose 63lbs to be healthy but I think thats crazy for the way I am built!
I used to weigh 308lbs and currently at 209lbs. So would you recommend 1lb a week would be better for me?
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If you think 2 lbs/week is too aggressive, but don't quite want to go to 1 lb/week, there is an option of 1.5 lb/week. The most important thing is that you create a plan that you can stick to. I do think you may be overestimating your calories burned, but the only way to find that out for sure is to accurately track all your food and see what your results are after a few months.2
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Cassandraw3 wrote: »If you think 2 lbs/week is too aggressive, but don't quite want to go to 1 lb/week, there is an option of 1.5 lb/week. The most important thing is that you create a plan that you can stick to. I do think you may be overestimating your calories burned, but the only way to find that out for sure is to accurately track all your food and see what your results are after a few months.
Thanks. I will try it! I just don't want to go to eating junk food which I know I can lose weight on but I don't want to be unhealthy! Its a catch 22 really be overweight or be skinny fat haha!
My calories I use my apple watch that uses my heart rate to work out burning rates I know it may overestimate but I have used alongside a garmin, when I used that its at least 500 calories more than the apple watch, A fitbit was a few hundred out the same as the polar. And MFP is not accurate haha! So the apple watch being 300 less than most I thought would be more accurate? What is the best way to record this do you think? I have tried using calculators online also and they seem to be more than my watch!0 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »If you think 2 lbs/week is too aggressive, but don't quite want to go to 1 lb/week, there is an option of 1.5 lb/week. The most important thing is that you create a plan that you can stick to. I do think you may be overestimating your calories burned, but the only way to find that out for sure is to accurately track all your food and see what your results are after a few months.
Thanks. I will try it! I just don't want to go to eating junk food which I know I can lose weight on but I don't want to be unhealthy! Its a catch 22 really be overweight or be skinny fat haha!
My calories I use my apple watch that uses my heart rate to work out burning rates I know it may overestimate but I have used alongside a garmin, when I used that its at least 500 calories more than the apple watch, A fitbit was a few hundred out the same as the polar. And MFP is not accurate haha! So the apple watch being 300 less than most I thought would be more accurate? What is the best way to record this do you think? I have tried using calculators online also and they seem to be more than my watch!
It could be your apple watch is reliable. Unfortunately, the only way to find out for sure is trial and error. Different devices and calculations will work for some and not for others. I have a samsung smart watch and I have been using that to track my calorie expenditure. I take my calories burned from there and my calories consumed from MFP and enter into an excel sheet. From there, I have compared my expected weight loss due to deficit to my actual weight loss. I have found my watch to be a little low (maybe 100 cal/day), but I still like to use that data as there may be logged errors in what I eat. I am a big math/data nerd so I like seeing it all out in numbers.2 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »If you think 2 lbs/week is too aggressive, but don't quite want to go to 1 lb/week, there is an option of 1.5 lb/week. The most important thing is that you create a plan that you can stick to. I do think you may be overestimating your calories burned, but the only way to find that out for sure is to accurately track all your food and see what your results are after a few months.
Thanks. I will try it! I just don't want to go to eating junk food which I know I can lose weight on but I don't want to be unhealthy! Its a catch 22 really be overweight or be skinny fat haha!
My calories I use my apple watch that uses my heart rate to work out burning rates I know it may overestimate but I have used alongside a garmin, when I used that its at least 500 calories more than the apple watch, A fitbit was a few hundred out the same as the polar. And MFP is not accurate haha! So the apple watch being 300 less than most I thought would be more accurate? What is the best way to record this do you think? I have tried using calculators online also and they seem to be more than my watch!
Using heartrate to try and estimate calories can be very inaccurate - depending both on the exercise performed and the person doing the exercise. I'm sure you realise that there isn't a direct correlation between a certain number of heart beats and calories.
Depending what your exercise is HR may give you a reasonable guideline (without being necessarily accurate) or it could be a really poor choice.
For your long distance running it could be OK if your exercise HR tends to be somewhat average. If that isn't the case then it's not a good choice for you. A weight/distance formula might be better.
Maybe you need to think if using a tracker is what you want or need to do? Is it helping you or just providing poor quality data? Is it a long term solution including maintaining once at goal weight?
Maybe changing the way you estimate exercise could be improved - that may well be different methods for different exercise, there really isn't one tool that is best for all types of exercise.
I would be rather cautious about estimates of 700 cals an hour unless it could be verified using a more accurate method - that would be a pretty remarkable amount for net calories (many devices estimate gross cals...)
That's about 195 watts power output sustained for an hour cycling, very few females are capable of that.
Whatever your actual calorie burns - doing a lot of exercise, selecting a massive daily deficit and being hungry all the time really isn't a good combination or sustainable.
PS - Don't really understand this part "I am scared to eat back my calories as I am worried I will just eat junk!"
Exercise is a perfectly valid calorie demand on your body - it just gives you a higher daily allowance to maintain the calorie deficit selected. You don't have to eat different types of food just because you are eating more, just increase your portion sizes or have what you consider a healthy snack.3 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »If you think 2 lbs/week is too aggressive, but don't quite want to go to 1 lb/week, there is an option of 1.5 lb/week. The most important thing is that you create a plan that you can stick to. I do think you may be overestimating your calories burned, but the only way to find that out for sure is to accurately track all your food and see what your results are after a few months.
Thanks. I will try it! I just don't want to go to eating junk food which I know I can lose weight on but I don't want to be unhealthy! Its a catch 22 really be overweight or be skinny fat haha!
My calories I use my apple watch that uses my heart rate to work out burning rates I know it may overestimate but I have used alongside a garmin, when I used that its at least 500 calories more than the apple watch, A fitbit was a few hundred out the same as the polar. And MFP is not accurate haha! So the apple watch being 300 less than most I thought would be more accurate? What is the best way to record this do you think? I have tried using calculators online also and they seem to be more than my watch!
Using heartrate to try and estimate calories can be very inaccurate - depending both on the exercise performed and the person doing the exercise. I'm sure you realise that there isn't a direct correlation between a certain number of heart beats and calories.
Depending what your exercise is HR may give you a reasonable guideline (without being necessarily accurate) or it could be a really poor choice.
For your long distance running it could be OK if your exercise HR tends to be somewhat average. If that isn't the case then it's not a good choice for you. A weight/distance formula might be better.
Maybe you need to think if using a tracker is what you want or need to do? Is it helping you or just providing poor quality data? Is it a long term solution including maintaining once at goal weight?
Maybe changing the way you estimate exercise could be improved - that may well be different methods for different exercise, there really isn't one tool that is best for all types of exercise.
I would be rather cautious about estimates of 700 cals an hour unless it could be verified using a more accurate method - that would be a pretty remarkable amount for net calories (many devices estimate gross cals...)
That's about 195 watts power output sustained for an hour cycling, very few females are capable of that.
Whatever your actual calorie burns - doing a lot of exercise, selecting a massive daily deficit and being hungry all the time really isn't a good combination or sustainable.
PS - Don't really understand this part "I am scared to eat back my calories as I am worried I will just eat junk!"
Exercise is a perfectly valid calorie demand on your body - it just gives you a higher daily allowance to maintain the calorie deficit selected. You don't have to eat different types of food just because you are eating more, just increase your portion sizes or have what you consider a healthy snack.
I know my heart rate won't equal calories but the more the heart rate is raised the more I sweat. Sorry if it wasn't clear I know how much I am pushing myself by heart rate. I could happily be on a stairmaster for an hour at a slow pace and not break a sweat or get a high heart rate. Not really good for me to get healthy.
I don't tend to count the calories on long distance running mainly because I struggle to eat after more forcing myself to get a healthy meal and get to 1200 calories on these day!
I have used the weight formula before and It is a lot higher than on my apple watch. This is where I am struggling to know what is right.
I don't estimate 700 calories an hour now sorry that was when I weighed 100lbs more than I do now someone asked me how I got to 1000 calories this was via my polar watch.
The problem with junk is I lost weight eating 1200 calories of junk and I don't want that to be my life. I plan all my meals the day before so that it doesn't matter if I mess up a workout and only do an hour instead of 1 hour 30 mins a day so it gets to the evening I am still hungry and then I eat snacks. I try have healthy snacks in the house but I don't eat fruit and I don't want to make a second dinner.
Thank you though! You have given me a lot to think about but I still not sure what to do going forward at the moment haha!
I know its trial and error with all this stuff but I am really struggling and getting more error and more confused.
Maybe I should just stick to 1200 calories a day and just exercise as normal and just make sure they are 100% accurate with my eating and maybe I will just have to put down to being a hungry person not actually hungry.
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If you're burning 500+ calories in exercise, you won't be able to sustain 1200 calories a day for long. It's better to have a healthy diet with more calories that will give you the energy you need to continue your exercise and that won't tempt you to eat a lot of junk. When I'm starving, I'll eat what's quick and easy. Unfortunately, junk food is all too easy to find. It's better to stock up on healthy foods so you can eat when you're hungry rather than letting yourself get to the point where you eat a lot of fat and sugar instead. Eat more protein, more whole grains, more fruit and vegetables. You can get the calories you need without eating a bag of chips.2
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Neither sweat nor heart rate tell you that you're burning lots of calories. It's all estimates. (I sweat like a madwoman with little or no reason, let alone when I'm working out. Even though my t-shirt was literally soaked, I'm figuring around 300 calories for this morning's spin class, for a 133-pound body weight.) Sweating may make a person lose water weight if they don't drink enough during exercise, so show up on the scale, but only the actual work done causes calorie burn and helps fat loss.
Heart rate is a way of estimating calorie burn; it's not a measurement of it. (This is a great read on the subject: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472 ). For many people, MFP's exercise database will provide a more reasonable calorie estimate for cardio/weight circuit/interval training or the like, because heart rate monitors aren't very good at estimating that sort of exercise, for reasons the link will help you understand.)
Eat in a way you find satisfying, at a sustainable level of calories (a level you can stick to the overwhelming majority of days) that still produces loss over a 4-6 week period of time, even if that's a slower rate of loss. A slow loss rate you can actually stick with results in more lost weight than a theoretically fast loss rate you can't sustain.
For many of us, 80% or so nutritious foods, and a few treats (to avoid cravings building up) is a good way to look at it.
For exercise calories, pick one method of estimating each type of exercise (a fitness device or MFP), and stick to it for those 4-6 weeks, eating back maybe 50% of the exercise calories given (to allow for possible overestimating), then see how your loss rate goes. Adjust based on your actual loss rate after the 4-6 weeks.
You can do this - best wishes!
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I know its trial and error with all this stuff but I am really struggling and getting more error and more confused.
Maybe I should just stick to 1200 calories a day and just exercise as normal and just make sure they are 100% accurate with my eating and maybe I will just have to put down to being a hungry person not actually hungry.
It's only as complicated as you choose to make it. You can choose to keep it simple if you wish.
You can simplify it right down to using a TDEE calculator which includes an estimate of your exercise and activity averages. Eat the suggested amount for a month and then make adjustments based on results.
You don't need a tracker, you don't need to estimate your exercise to the nth degree. Just log reasonably accurately but at least consistently and set a sensible calorie goal - 1200 is not a sensible calorie goal unless you are tiny and do virtually no exercise.4
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