4’11 and gain at 1200
jme260
Posts: 44 Member
Here is my TDEE I calculated but whenever I eat 1200-1300calories, Even when it’s not processed food, I wake up a little heavier. The only time I really lose is when I eat 900-1000 (that’s a loss of around .5-1lb a week)
Is it my height and I just need to up my exercise? Or should I try 2 weeks at 1200-1300 and see if it levels out.
Is it my height and I just need to up my exercise? Or should I try 2 weeks at 1200-1300 and see if it levels out.
7
Replies
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How are you measuring your food intake? If not using a food scale than you could easily be eating double what you think you are.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU 4 -
Another vote for food scale.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
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How are you weighing/tracking your intake, and what do you call "a little heavier"?
Weight fluctuations are normal. It's the overall trend that you need to look at.4 -
How much weight do you have to lose?
At your height, you can most likely lose weight eating 1200 calories, even sedentary, but it's probably going to be less than .5 pounds a week. Upping your activity if possible will have an impact on that number.
You really can't tell anything about weight loss/gain comparing day to day, or even week to week in the short run. Fat loss doesn't depend on how much processed food you eat, it depends on expending more calories than you eat, and especially when your rate of loss is smaller, the daily and weekly (even monthly) fluctuations in water weight and waste material will often mask progress until you have been at it long enough to see a trend.
Before changing your calories so that you are undereating, I suggest you look at these factors:
1. Are you logging your food accurately? Using a food scale for solids, measuring cups/spoons for liquids, logging everything all the time? You say you eat 1200-1300 calories when you're not losing weight - the 1300 calorie days will take you over a weekly average of 1200 calories daily, and you will be putting weight on incrementally, instead of losing it.
2. Don't weigh every day if you're expecting to see the impact of your food from the day before. It doesn't work that way. Trends happen over weeks, not days. Download a trending app and enter your weight there, and you will be able to see your actual weight loss trend as opposed to meaningless fluctuations
3. Don't be in a rush to see results. Sustainable weight loss is a long-term commitment, not a quick drop 20 pounds and done. If you want to maintain your losses you'll have to figure out how to eat so that you don't regain, and you learn that as you manage your calories as you lose.
Best of luck!
edited because posted before done.5 -
I love that there is no #2, @mph323. :laugh:2
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It was better the old way!
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I do use a food scale to measure things, but I do only have 10lbs to lose0
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most likely you are eating more than you think you or (or you have some underlying health issue). I agree with the above, get and use a food scale.0
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quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance1 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance
Half a pound is a perfectly normal fluctuation.4 -
collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance
Half a pound is a perfectly normal fluctuation.
This article should be required reading.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/4 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance
Half a pound is a perfectly normal fluctuation.
This article should be required reading.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
And "highly annoying" is such the right term for it -- I'd even go as far as to say annoying AF.
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collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance
Half a pound is a perfectly normal fluctuation.
This article should be required reading.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
And "highly annoying" is such the right term for it -- I'd even go as far as to say annoying AF.
But once you figure it out, it isn't so annoying any more.
Spaghetti night, I'm gonna be up 2ish pounds the next morning. Alcoholic drink? Yeah, I hold 2-3 pounds for almost a week!
But now that I know these things about myself, I don't sweat them any more.3 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »
If I can’t weigh something, I estimate High, but I usually weight 90%. I think maybe I should eat at 1200-1300 and not weigh myself for a week or so to see. Last time I gained 0.5 and have lost .5 consistently eating 900-1000 but I am trying to figure out how to start working towards maintenance
Half a pound is a perfectly normal fluctuation.
This article should be required reading.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
And "highly annoying" is such the right term for it -- I'd even go as far as to say annoying AF.
But once you figure it out, it isn't so annoying any more.
Spaghetti night, I'm gonna be up 2ish pounds the next morning. Alcoholic drink? Yeah, I hold 2-3 pounds for almost a week!
But now that I know these things about myself, I don't sweat them any more.
I admit that I get annoyed easily. It's the random "Oh, that sodium's not going to show up now, but let's hang out two days from now when you've already forgotten about us" that really are the worse.2 -
Thanks for the article, it makes total sense. No matter how much I know it’s normal, it’s so discouraging to eat at 1200 calories for a week and not lose a thing. I’m sure my height doesn’t help either5
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Thanks for the article, it makes total sense. No matter how much I know it’s normal, it’s so discouraging to eat at 1200 calories for a week and not lose a thing. I’m sure my height doesn’t help either
You're going to have to give it a LOT more than a week.
You also have to get out of the mindset that you're going to gain weight if you eat 1200 calories. You aren't. Eating under 1200 is not your answer. I am just under 5 feet tall and maintaining at 110-115 pounds on 1400 not counting any exercise. I lost weight eating 1200 plus exercise calories.
The last 10 pounds are SLOW and your deficit is extremely small. It is very, very easy to wipe out that small deficit with only a few errors in logging. You need to weigh and log every single thing you can possibly weigh, and make sure your exercise calories are not inflated. Weigh your oil, fruits, veggies, everything. Eat half your exercise calories unless you're very certain that they're accurate.
Keep in mind that even a 0.5 lb/week rate of loss may be too much to expect. Near my goal weight I was losing a pound every 4-6 weeks. That means I often went a month or more without seeing the scale go down at all, because such a slow rate of loss is easily masked by normal water weight fluctuations.8 -
I agree with what everyone here has said, however some may not like this but you may not need to use a food scale as long as you are consistent with your inconsistencies. As stated, you are likely eating more than 900 calories since you are not accurately logging. If you collect enough data you will figure out what your calorie goal should be for your level of accuracy. So if you are consistent with how you log, weigh yourself everyday and use a weight trending app you should be able to see if you need to adjust up or down after several weeks. I know people here will freak if they peek at your diary and it shows 900. But you could realistically be eating 1200-1400. As long as you are not losing too quickly you will be fine. You can use this app however it works best for you. A .25 - .5lb loss per week at this point or even slower is perfectly fine for where you are.4
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mom23mangos wrote: »I agree with what everyone here has said, however some may not like this but you may not need to use a food scale as long as you are consistent with your inconsistencies. As stated, you are likely eating more than 900 calories since you are not accurately logging. If you collect enough data you will figure out what your calorie goal should be for your level of accuracy. So if you are consistent with how you log, weigh yourself everyday and use a weight trending app you should be able to see if you need to adjust up or down after several weeks. I know people here will freak if they peek at your diary and it shows 900. But you could realistically be eating 1200-1400. As long as you are not losing too quickly you will be fine. You can use this app however it works best for you. A .25 - .5lb loss per week at this point or even slower is perfectly fine for where you are.
<Kim comes screaming into the room waving arms wildly while freaking out>
To be sure, you can log however you want. Just don't log 900 calories loosely and then come onto the boards in 3 months telling newbies you had to eat 900 calories to lose weight, and it's perfectly fine for them to eat that too.
But if it is psychologically bringing you down to see that low number in your log but not the results you expect, 4-6 weeks of super accurate logging will probably help you clear up exactly what's going on. Then you can always go back to the less exact logging, knowing your 900 cals logged is really 1200 and your results are falling in line. We do all have to find that balance between accuracy, compliance, and sanity. Hang in there and good luck!16 -
mom23mangos wrote: »I agree with what everyone here has said, however some may not like this but you may not need to use a food scale as long as you are consistent with your inconsistencies. As stated, you are likely eating more than 900 calories since you are not accurately logging. If you collect enough data you will figure out what your calorie goal should be for your level of accuracy. So if you are consistent with how you log, weigh yourself everyday and use a weight trending app you should be able to see if you need to adjust up or down after several weeks. I know people here will freak if they peek at your diary and it shows 900. But you could realistically be eating 1200-1400. As long as you are not losing too quickly you will be fine. You can use this app however it works best for you. A .25 - .5lb loss per week at this point or even slower is perfectly fine for where you are.
<Kim comes screaming into the room waving arms wildly while freaking out>
To be sure, you can log however you want. Just don't log 900 calories loosely and then come onto the boards in 3 months telling newbies you had to eat 900 calories to lose weight, and it's perfectly fine for them to eat that too.
But if it is psychologically bringing you down to see that low number in your log but not the results you expect, 4-6 weeks of super accurate logging will probably help you clear up exactly what's going on. Then you can always go back to the less exact logging, knowing your 900 cals logged is really 1200 and your results are falling in line. We do all have to find that balance between accuracy, compliance, and sanity. Hang in there and good luck!
I totally agree with that!
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mom23mangos wrote: »I agree with what everyone here has said, however some may not like this but you may not need to use a food scale as long as you are consistent with your inconsistencies. As stated, you are likely eating more than 900 calories since you are not accurately logging. If you collect enough data you will figure out what your calorie goal should be for your level of accuracy. So if you are consistent with how you log, weigh yourself everyday and use a weight trending app you should be able to see if you need to adjust up or down after several weeks. I know people here will freak if they peek at your diary and it shows 900. But you could realistically be eating 1200-1400. As long as you are not losing too quickly you will be fine. You can use this app however it works best for you. A .25 - .5lb loss per week at this point or even slower is perfectly fine for where you are.
<Kim comes screaming into the room waving arms wildly while freaking out>
To be sure, you can log however you want. Just don't log 900 calories loosely and then come onto the boards in 3 months telling newbies you had to eat 900 calories to lose weight, and it's perfectly fine for them to eat that too.
But if it is psychologically bringing you down to see that low number in your log but not the results you expect, 4-6 weeks of super accurate logging will probably help you clear up exactly what's going on. Then you can always go back to the less exact logging, knowing your 900 cals logged is really 1200 and your results are falling in line. We do all have to find that balance between accuracy, compliance, and sanity. Hang in there and good luck!
That's especially true for short people! A lot of folks come to the boards claiming that they absolutely must eat under 1200 because they're short. It's not true, of course, but they believe it due to a combination of inaccurate logging, unrealistic expectations about their pace of weight loss, and water weight fluctuations.8 -
Thanks everyone, appreciate the advice.. my logging could definitely improve. For instance, I use tbsp for my oils and I don’t measure my eggs, etc. I will try to get more accurate and see if I’m eating more than I think . I think I’m also at the point where my weight is just going to drop really slow to reach my goal like you guys have said. I’ve made it from a size 10 to 4 so I love counting calories, just need to stick with it a few more months and learn how to maintenance.6
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Thanks everyone, appreciate the advice.. my logging could definitely improve. For instance, I use tbsp for my oils and I don’t measure my eggs, etc. I will try to get more accurate and see if I’m eating more than I think . I think I’m also at the point where my weight is just going to drop really slow to reach my goal like you guys have said. I’ve made it from a size 10 to 4 so I love counting calories, just need to stick with it a few more months and learn how to maintenance.
Oil is a big one. It's so calorie dense that weighing can really make a difference.1
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