New Here - Calories and Exercise, proper amount - a bit long, sorry.

ericmeyer330
ericmeyer330 Posts: 8 Member
edited December 19 in Food and Nutrition
A bit of background... after 7 years of failed “diets” - I decided to join a gym and do group training (circuit training). Started this back in October 2018 and 233#s. We did assessments about a month ago and I was 231, but body fat percentage is down 4%. 4 weeks later - still at the same weight, will not do full assessment for 4 more weeks. Talked to the trainers and they think that I am not eating enough - so started logging food and exercise here (wear a chest monitor at the gym and log in those stats). My net carbs per day was about 1300 after exercise, not enough. So I upped my food intake to 2400-2500 calories per day to make up for the difference. I feel better have more engery but am either miserably full all day OR feel like I could eat everything in the house.
I eat greek yogurt, eggs, fruit, vegetables, chicken breast, pork filets, protein shakes, almond milk (regular unsweet and chocolate). I am usually about 300-400 below the target according to MFP.
MFP says I should eat 1740 calories without exercise and I usually burn about 600-900 calories while working out. Example: yesterday 1740 calories needed - 2174 food eaten + 808 exercise calories = 374 left. There is no way that I can eat more food in a day, even if it were bad food, just because of the way I feel. Any advice would be great.

Replies

  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    Am I the ONLY 5'2", 105 lb, really old woman who can eat more than 2400 calories a day and still be able to eat more?

    Eat a snickers bar, @ericmeyer330. Eat it for me. Seriously! :)

    I also vouch for a good Snickers. Also, cheese. Does no one like cheese anymore? Need some calories? Slap some cheese on it.

    In all seriousness, though, try fitting more calorie-dense foods into your diet. Peanut butter, vegetable oils, cheese, nuts, etc. etc.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,759 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    Am I the ONLY 5'2", 105 lb, really old woman who can eat more than 2400 calories a day and still be able to eat more?

    Eat a snickers bar, @ericmeyer330. Eat it for me. Seriously! :)

    I also vouch for a good Snickers. Also, cheese. Does no one like cheese anymore? Need some calories? Slap some cheese on it.

    In all seriousness, though, try fitting more calorie-dense foods into your diet. Peanut butter, vegetable oils, cheese, nuts, etc. etc.

    The bolded too! :)

  • ericmeyer330
    ericmeyer330 Posts: 8 Member
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    A bit of background... after 7 years of failed “diets” - I decided to join a gym and do group training (circuit training). Started this back in October 2018 and 233#s. We did assessments about a month ago and I was 231, but body fat percentage is down 4%. 4 weeks later - still at the same weight, will not do full assessment for 4 more weeks. Talked to the trainers and they think that I am not eating enough - so started logging food and exercise here (wear a chest monitor at the gym and log in those stats). My net carbs per day was about 1300 after exercise, not enough. So I upped my food intake to 2400-2500 calories per day to make up for the difference. I feel better have more engery but am either miserably full all day OR feel like I could eat everything in the house.
    I eat greek yogurt, eggs, fruit, vegetables, chicken breast, pork filets, protein shakes, almond milk (regular unsweet and chocolate). I am usually about 300-400 below the target according to MFP.
    MFP says I should eat 1740 calories without exercise and I usually burn about 600-900 calories while working out. Example: yesterday 1740 calories needed - 2174 food eaten + 808 exercise calories = 374 left. There is no way that I can eat more food in a day, even if it were bad food, just because of the way I feel. Any advice would be great.

    Peanut butter
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    Am I the ONLY 5'2", 105 lb, really old woman who can eat more than 2400 calories a day and still be able to eat more?

    Eat a snickers bar, @ericmeyer330. Eat it for me. Seriously! :)

    Nope. 5'4 and 108 here. I could eat more than 2,400 calories every day. I wouldn't even find it hard (which is why I wound up tracking calories in the first place).
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    Avocado is good one if you like it. Full fat salad dressing is another.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    I had a friend who was like that too. He would give me the cheese on his pizza when we had school lunch. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got rid of the cheese, I got extra cheese.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,759 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    I had a friend who was like that too. He would give me the cheese on his pizza when we had school lunch. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got rid of the cheese, I got extra cheese.

    Is this like that person who was compromising for letting her hubby eat nuts at work so she wasn't tempted by them at home? :)
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    I had a friend who was like that too. He would give me the cheese on his pizza when we had school lunch. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got rid of the cheese, I got extra cheese.

    Is this like that person who was compromising for letting her hubby eat nuts at work so she wasn't tempted by them at home? :)

    How did I miss this thread? I'm on here more than I should be, yet I missed it. Please enlighten me.
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    Are you trying to gain or lose weight?

    If lose, no one has addressed the "you're not losing weight because you're not eating enough" thing yet. That's not how it works. Chances are you are eating more than you think, burning fewer calories than you think or a combination of both.

    Sadly, a lot of us had this issue at the beginning, but the good news is it's fixable! Start weighing your food, log everything you eat and drink for 4-6 weeks and see if you are losing as expected. Good luck!
  • ericmeyer330
    ericmeyer330 Posts: 8 Member
    edited February 2019
    @Redordeadhead Trying to lose weight. Obviously missing the part of not weighing food, but logging it as closely as I can (chicken breast 2-pack says X weight in package divide by 2, etc.). Will get a food scale. I am assuming that the chest monitor from MyZone that I use at the gym is fairly accurate (well the heartrate portion is the same as compared to other gym equipment, fitbits, etc.).
    Last week (before increasing calorie intake) I was eating around 1700 calories of food per day and burning between 600 and 800 through exercise each day for 5 days, 2 days off. If that's not how it works - then why didn't I lose any weight?
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,759 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    I had a friend who was like that too. He would give me the cheese on his pizza when we had school lunch. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got rid of the cheese, I got extra cheese.

    Is this like that person who was compromising for letting her hubby eat nuts at work so she wasn't tempted by them at home? :)

    How did I miss this thread? I'm on here more than I should be, yet I missed it. Please enlighten me.

    Oh god, I wish I could remember the thread name but it was in chit chat and had to do with a woman whose in law was living with her and brought in yummy food to eat and the OP didn't have the will power to not eat it? Something like that.

    She, or someone else with the nuts story, got called out on her hubby eating nuts at work as not being a compromise but personally I, as someone without will power, saw her side. Her compromise would have been not killing him with all that temptation around. :)
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @Redordeadhead Trying to lose weight. Obviously missing the part of not weighing food, but logging it as closely as I can (chicken breast 2-pack says X weight in package divide by 2, etc.). Will get a food scale. I am assuming that the chest monitor from MyZone that I use at the gym is fairly accurate (well the heartrate portion is the same as compared to other gym equipment, fitbits, etc.).
    Last week (before increasing calorie intake) I was eating around 1700 calories of food per day and burning between 600 and 800 through exercise each day for 5 days, 2 days off. If that's not how it works - then why didn't I lose any weight?

    It may be a combination of things.

    The first thing I would start with is that 1 or 2 weeks is not enough time to measure success. Weight fluctuates for a number of reasons (amount of food in the digestive tract, higher than normal salt consumption, water retention from increased exercise to name a few). You may have done everything perfectly last week but that doesn't automatically mean you will see weight loss on the scale at the end of that week.

    In terms of estimating food calories, package weights are often wrong, many people are not good at eyeballing, cups and measuring spoons are not very accurate, database entries are user entered and may be wrong. You don't have to weight your food to lose weight, but if you're not losing as expected it may help increase your logging accuracy.

    Heart rate monitors are ok for steady state cardio but not very accurate for things like weights and resistance training. When I watch a scary film my heart rate goes up, but that doesn't mean I'm burning more calories. Gym machines that don't take into account your height, weight, gender etc.often give higher than accurate readings.

    Overall, I would say log as best you can for a few weeks and then judge if it's working or not. If not, you can make some adjustments.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    ericmeyer330 wrote: »
    @RelCanonical cheese is awful for me - the smell and texture turns my stomach unless its light and melted in something. Thanks for the ideas on the other items like peanut and nuts.

    I had a friend who was like that too. He would give me the cheese on his pizza when we had school lunch. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got rid of the cheese, I got extra cheese.

    Is this like that person who was compromising for letting her hubby eat nuts at work so she wasn't tempted by them at home? :)

    How did I miss this thread? I'm on here more than I should be, yet I missed it. Please enlighten me.

    Oh god, I wish I could remember the thread name but it was in chit chat and had to do with a woman whose in law was living with her and brought in yummy food to eat and the OP didn't have the will power to not eat it? Something like that.

    She, or someone else with the nuts story, got called out on her hubby eating nuts at work as not being a compromise but personally I, as someone without will power, saw her side. Her compromise would have been not killing him with all that temptation around. :)

    Ahhhh, that's why. I don't frequent chit-chat much. I should do it more, sometimes I need to get the snark out and accidentally do it in threads that are totes not appropriate to do it in.
  • ericmeyer330
    ericmeyer330 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks @Redordeadhead . They way that I ate for the previous week and logged food was the way I've been eating since October, though I didn't track it. I am one of those boring eaters that can eat the same meals multiple times a week. I'll give it go and see what happens.
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