2,000 Calories per MFP and not losing weight

fjm0534
fjm0534 Posts: 6 Member
edited November 28 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 58, weigh 270, height 5-11. I've been below the 2,000 calories now on most days: In 90 days, I've been over 2,00 calories 35 times. I don't get enough exercise on most days, like maybe 5 out of 7 days.

My plan has been to reduce my calorie intake until my weight starts dropping then get more active. But my weight has not budged. Should I reduce my calories, and if so, how far?
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Replies

  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    Agree with the others. If you aren't using a food scale then get one. Also when I looked at the last few days of your diary you list red wine 1 glass (3.5oz). Are you sure it was only 3.5 oz? Most pours are 5+ oz depending on who is pouring so right there you could be consuming more than you think. Also if you are below 2000 "most days", what about the others?
  • fjm0534
    fjm0534 Posts: 6 Member
    edited September 2018
    Thank you for the above responses! I weigh or measure almost everything I eat. If I don't weigh it or measure it, then I will rely on the MFP database. I almost always go over my estimations but after four months of measuring I am pretty accurate now. Maybe the days where I have a 'calorie blow-up' there is residual???
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    fjm0534 wrote: »
    OK, again, thank you everyone for you responses. This is great to have this input. I will work on all of these things starting today.

    Awesome :smiley: Let us know how it goes!
  • fjm0534
    fjm0534 Posts: 6 Member
    LKArgh wrote: »
    Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like a lot of your logging is just estimation based on things that are on mfb database just because they have similar names to what you are eating. For example, I see entries in a single dinner from 3 different restaurants which does not sound very likely, or homemade recipes that actually not homemade by you, so you have no clue how they correspond to what you are eating.
    To give a simple example, I might have a homemade chocolate cake recipe which has no oil and no sugar and my serving is paper thin, so I can call this something like "L's homemade, chocolate cake, 90calories per slice". Then someone else might have a rich cake, complete with butter, syrup and frosting and cut 1 inch thick slices. This person's slice might again be called "M's homemade, chocolate cake, 500calories per slice". If you eat a slice of homemade chocolate cake your friend offered you, how are you going to log it? If you pick the first homemade entry, while your friend made something that is more like the second one, you risk underestimating a lot.
    Try using entries by weighing single ingredients, using packaged things and again weighing, and if you eat out, it might be a good idea to intentionally overestimate a bit, since restaurant portions are not going to be that accurate in calories, and what you think is 1 portion might easily be e.g. 1.5.

    This is exactly what I am doing. A lot of my entries that look like eating out or processed foods is because I assume those would give me higher estimates and it's easier to do. In actuality processed foods and eating out is a very small percentage of my diet.

    Example: Chocolate chip cookie from Starbucks is really an all-natural chocolate chip or oatmeal cookie from my co-op. I just figure that the Starbucks cookie is going to be higher in calories/fat/sugar so it's an easy way for me to over estimate. .....and no I don't drink the coffee (blech) or the lattes or the ridiculously sweet drinks. I am a french roast coffee drinker.

    I eat out 1-2 times a week and if I do eat processed food it's peanut butter, macadamia nuts, organic wheat crackers etc. No hydrogenated oils, no HFCS, no nitrites (unless naturally occurring), no nitrates. Except for a few indulgences I am low sugar/no sugar or low glycemic sugar (coconut).

    ......again this is great input. I will stay below 2,000 calories for 30 days and try to move more.
  • climberbry
    climberbry Posts: 22 Member
    I agree with Michael Matthews. Think in terms of "cheat MEAL" and not "cheat DAYS".
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    Op - the biggest issue i saw with your diary were all the entries for .5 service; 1/4 of a loaf etc....recommend finding entries that are weight based and then weighing food
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