Need advice badly.
pastortim33
Posts: 8 Member
I am a 41 year old male. I am 5’5” tall and I currently weigh 263 pounds. My starting weight was 475. After losing 212 pounds my weight loss has stopped. I am eating between 1500-2000 calories a day. I am burning 1200 per day doing cardio according to my Garmin Fenix 5x. I am getting light headed while on the treadmill and having to take breaks. Can anyone please advise me on what I am doing wrong? Am I eating too much or not enough? How many calories should I be taking in each day if I am burning 1200? My muscles cramp a lot too. I really need some nutrition and exercise advice.
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Replies
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You've made a lot of progress so far. Congratulations!
Are you eating back any of your exercise calories? 1200 is a huge calorie burn, and MFP is designed for you to eat back all of your exercise calories assuming they are calculated accurately. If you're not eating those back, then that would definitely explain why you feel lightheaded. If you burn 1200 calories and eat 2000, you've only given your body 800 calories of energy for its non-exercise functions, and that isn't enough.
How long has your weight loss been stalled?
Have you recalculated your calorie goal recently? As you lose weight, your calorie goal will go down. The next thing I would do is go back into your MFP goals and recalculate it if you haven't done that. However, it doesn't sound like that's the bigger problem at the moment.
How long have you been doing this level of exercise? That's a pretty big calorie burn. If you're not used to doing that much exercise, you may be retaining water, which will mask fat loss.1 -
To know how much you are eating, you must use a scale to weigh your food. Are you doing so?
I lost some huge amount of weight without a scale and without logging food by changing some very bad habits. For several years, I got stuck around 270. When I started using a scale to weigh my food and using myfitnesspal to log my food, I found that I was eating enough to maintain around 270. I started making adjustments, most of which were nothing more than restaurant choices on weekends. I promptly began losing weight.
Use a scale. You'll discover what's maintaining your weight at 263. You'll also discover how to eat for something closer to 140 or whatever midrange healthy is for your height.4 -
Yes I do use a scale to weigh my food and no I do not eat back what I burn. I really didn’t know if I was supposed to eat them back or not.1
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pastortim33 wrote: »Yes I do use a scale to weigh my food and no I do not eat back what I burn. I really didn’t know if I was supposed to eat them back or not.
Oh my... this whole time you haven't been eating exercise calories back? Over what time period have you lost the 212 lbs? Are you under a doctor's care?4 -
pastortim33 wrote: »Yes I do use a scale to weigh my food and no I do not eat back what I burn. I really didn’t know if I was supposed to eat them back or not.
If you are confident that your calorie burn is accurate, eat all your exercise calories back. If you're not confident that it's accurate, then start by eating half of them back and adjust as needed. With your Garmin, your exercise calorie burn is probably pretty accurate, but I'll let someone who's used to using a Garmin on the treadmill weigh in on that.
Your lightheadedness is likely because your body isn't getting enough fuel to keep up the level of exercise you're doing.1 -
Just as an example, say you have an 1800 calorie day. If we say your 1200 exercise calories are a gross overestimate and just count half, that means you would only be netting 1200 calories. If we count it as 75%, that means you're only netting 900 calories. *shudder* 1500 net calories is the bottom floor for men.
If you've been doing this for a while, you're burning through lean muscle mass and your hormones are likely out of whack, which can interfere with weight loss. It's advisable for those losing large amounts of weight over a long period of time to take a diet break once in a while to get things back in order, and it certainly sounds like you could use one. It doesn't mean a free-for-all, just eating at maintenance for a couple of weeks. And a doctor's visit would certainly be in order, if you haven't had one recently.
Edited to add: Sorry, @apullum - I missed where you covered the math up above
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How long has it been since the weight stopped coming off?1
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Some of your symptoms are a bit concerning (lightheadedness, muscle cramping). These can be signs that you are under eating, not getting enough calories, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. Depending on what you've been eating, not getting enough protein or fat could also be a problem.
Over what period of time did you lose this weight? At any point have you taken a diet break? Staying in a calorie deficit (even one that isn't excessive) can create some changes in hormonal function. Have you seen your doctor for routine bloodwork? It would be worth following up with a doctor's visit to check on your nutritional status and overall health.
In the meantime, it would be worth taking a diet break to help with any imbalances that might be going on. This thread explains it much better that I could, most of the important information is in the first post:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p15 -
OP, have you been using MFP for your calorie goal? What does it give you, at your current weight, for a 2 lb/week loss? You should eat that full amount plus your calorie burns. That's the way MFP was designed to be used.2
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Recommend doing a complete physical and blood panel including gloucose. Take a break from intense exercise until you have results. If you can work with a nutritionist, have them review your logs. You may need to maintain for a break. That’s a tremendous weight loss, but it’s probably time to reasses everything. You could have a vitamin deficiency.
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It has been a couple of months since I have lost any weight at all. I am so thankful for all the replies and concerns. I had no idea that I was supposed to eat the calories back that I exercised. MFP gives me like 2600 per day. I eat like 1500-2000 of those then exercise 12-1300 calories. This February will be starting my third year on the diet. I have been feeling bad now for several months. My hands and arms and legs all Charlie horse and have been drawing up on me. I will start today putting those calories back.
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If you have Charlie horses, you may not be getting enough water as well.3
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A few things to try:
Take a diet break: Figure out what your maintenance calories are (use the MFP calorie generator and select "maintain" weight" as your setting). Eat at that calorie goal for two weeks, and then do that again to set your deficit (see the next step).
Reset your deficit: Re-enter your current stats into MFP and get a new calorie goal. You could reasonably still choose a loss rate of 2lbs per week, but you could also go with 1lb per week. Your call. 1lb per week will give you more calories to eat.
Eat those exercise calories! Make sure your activity setting in MFP is set to the lowest, so that way all of the exercise you do can be added back into food you can eat. MFP is designed to give you a deficit, so you can run into real problems if you aren't eating those calories back. Exercise calorie burns are estimates, so a lot of people start by eating half of the exercise calories back and monitor how their weight loss is progressing and then evaluate if they can eat more or fewer of those exercise calories.
Other helpful tips like drinking more water, etc. will help to and of course, if you don't feel "quite right" definitely see a doctor!
Congrats on your loss so far!5 -
pastortim33 wrote: »It has been a couple of months since I have lost any weight at all. I am so thankful for all the replies and concerns. I had no idea that I was supposed to eat the calories back that I exercised. MFP gives me like 2600 per day. I eat like 1500-2000 of those then exercise 12-1300 calories. This February will be starting my third year on the diet. I have been feeling bad now for several months. My hands and arms and legs all Charlie horse and have been drawing up on me. I will start today putting those calories back.
No wonder you're feeling bad. That huge deficit is a big strain on the body. Definitely eat those exercise calories!
I agree that since you have lost so much weight and have been undereating, getting a physical is a good idea if you haven't seen your doctor lately. You can explain that you know you aren't eating enough and have begun eating more. However, with an extended period of (unintentional) extreme calorie restriction, I would be concerned about potential deficiencies that could be making you feel worse.3 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »Make sure your activity setting in MFP is set to the lowest, so that way all of the exercise you do can be added back into food you can eat.
Generally excellent advice, but why the mention of using the lowest activity setting this way as a buffer? Why not just use the system the way it's intended, and if a person's exercise calories prove to be inflated, to adjust accordingly?2 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »Make sure your activity setting in MFP is set to the lowest, so that way all of the exercise you do can be added back into food you can eat.
Generally excellent advice, but why the mention of using the lowest activity setting this way as a buffer? Why not just use the system the way it's intended, and if a person's exercise calories prove to be inflated, to adjust accordingly?
Yeah, your activity level isn't designed to be used as a buffer. It's designed to be set to the closest match to your non-exercise activity, you'd log all your exercise either way. If someone has an genuinely active job/way of life outside of intentional exercise, choosing "Active" and logging intentional exercise will still be accurate.4 -
Other than my exercise routine my life is pretty sedentary. Office work sitting behind a desk all day type stuff. Then maybe some chores around the house but that’s it.0
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pastortim33 wrote: »Other than my exercise routine my life is pretty sedentary. Office work sitting behind a desk all day type stuff. Then maybe some chores around the house but that’s it.
Yes, sedentary is suitable for you. But please do take the advice being offered and check in with your doctor and stay out of a deficit for a while 1 -
What is your exercise routine on a daily basis?0
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For muscle cramps taking a magnesium supplement daily works wonders. Ideally take just before bed as it also helps you sleep.0
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Diet break and doctor visit time. I don’t recommend continuing to eat at deficit until you can get checked out. It might even be good news. If you take any medication for blood pressure, etc. it’s possible that you’ve lost enough weight that the dosage might need to be changed. I agree with others that it sounds like you are undereating. A couple weeks eating at maintenance calories should give you some time to regroup and redefine your goals.1
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