Need advice on calorie intake
alid8333
Posts: 233 Member
Looking at my Apple Watch and MFP does it look like I’m under eating? I have my calorie intake manually set at 1380. If I set my account to losing 1 pound a week at sedentary it puts me at 1270 calories. I’ve tried that and I feel awful so I bumped it up to 1380. The weight is coming off very slowly and I constantly feel hungry. I aim to work out for 60 minutes. I typically will do 20 min on the elliptical and then do a brisk 3.5 mile per hour walk for 40 minutes 5 to 6 days a week. Outside of exercise my day consists of doing stuff around the house and running errands.
I also don’t eat all my exercise calories back. Maybe just half of them. In 2017 when I lost all the weight I was eating 1360 calories and worked out maybe 3 times a week and weight steady came off around 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I haven’t lost any weight in the last 2 to 3 weeks. Wondering if I should lower my calories down to 1270 like MFP suggests and then eat back my exercise calories or up my calories to what my watch is reflecting my TDEE is and minus 500. Which is between 1600 to 1800 calories, but not eat back my exercise calories.
Any advice would be appreciated
I also don’t eat all my exercise calories back. Maybe just half of them. In 2017 when I lost all the weight I was eating 1360 calories and worked out maybe 3 times a week and weight steady came off around 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I haven’t lost any weight in the last 2 to 3 weeks. Wondering if I should lower my calories down to 1270 like MFP suggests and then eat back my exercise calories or up my calories to what my watch is reflecting my TDEE is and minus 500. Which is between 1600 to 1800 calories, but not eat back my exercise calories.
Any advice would be appreciated
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Replies
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I wouldn't make any changes if it's only been 2-3 weeks since you've lost weight. Weight fluctuates and loss will not be linear. Give it more time and then assess your progress. Using NEAT vs TDEE is more of a personal preference. Personally, I I manually input my TDEE into MFP because I cant be bothered with logging ecercise calories. Eating to the same number every day regardless of exercise is just more simple. In the end if you're exercise calories when using NEAT are accurate then it should average out to be the same as TDEE anyway.2
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i wouldn't change things either.
but - are you using a food scale for all foods?
how much do you have left to lose?4 -
That’s the thing in the last 6 weeks I’ve lost 1.2 pounds. So I think something needs to change. Yes I use a food scale. Looking to lose 35 pounds. I’m currently 5’3 and 165 pounds.0
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That’s the thing in the last 6 weeks I’ve lost 1.2 pounds. So I think something needs to change. Yes I use a food scale. Looking to lose 35 pounds. I’m currently 5’3 and 165 pounds.
You don't have that much to lose so it will be slow and loss can easily be masked by water weight fluctuations. Even if it's not a lot, you're still losing so I still wouldn't change anything. Eating 1380 calories and half of your exercise calories puts you at a reasonable deficit and on track to lose 1-1.5 lbs a week (even if the scales don't reflect that). I certainly would not go any lower to speed things up.1 -
Teabythesea_ wrote: »I wouldn't make any changes if it's only been 2-3 weeks since you've lost weight. Weight fluctuates and loss will not be linear. Give it more time and then assess your progress. Using NEAT vs TDEE is more of a personal preference. Personally, I I manually input my TDEE into MFP because I cant be bothered with logging ecercise calories. Eating to the same number every day regardless of exercise is just more simple. In the end if you're exercise calories when using NEAT are accurate then it should average out to be the same as TDEE anyway.
But that’s the thing. If my Apple Watch is saying my TDEE is between 1969 and 2395 then subtract 500 from that I should be consuming 1469 to 1895. I’m not intaking close to that. No I haven’t lost any weight in 2 to 3 weeks, but I’ve only lost 1.2 pounds total in the last 6 weeks. As mentioned before I constantly feel hungry. I drink water hoping it will help and it doesn’t. I need to lose about 35 pounds. I’m fine with a .5 to 1 pound lose a week, but something needs to change. I use a food scale as well and I log everything that touches my mouth.
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weight loss is not linear. we have daily and weekly and monthly water fluctuations for all kinds of reasons especially as women. if you increased or changed up the exercise routine the muscles may be retaining more water temporarily.
before reducing calories I would double check weights and specifically entries used in MFP. i found lots of errors as i got close to goal even though i was "sure" i was being 100% diligent.
agree with 35lbs to lose you should be looking more at a rate of loss of 1lb/week4 -
weight loss is not linear. we have daily and weekly and monthly water fluctuations for all kinds of reasons especially as women. if you increased or changed up the exercise routine the muscles may be retaining more water temporarily.
before reducing calories I would double check weights and specifically entries used in MFP. i found lots of errors as i got close to goal even though i was "sure" i was being 100% diligent.
agree with 35lbs to lose you should be looking more at a rate of loss of 1lb/week
I definitely don’t want to lower my calories because I already feel kinda sluggish and super hungry all the time. I was curious if I should up my calories. 1.2 pounds in 6 weeks of feeling like crap and hungry is like a slap in the face lol. My goal is to be at around 1 pound loss a week. But according to my happy scale I’m at like a rate of 0.2 a week. You think oh cut calories more if your not losing weight, but I know not eating enough can be just as bad.
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I would consider periodising your diet rather than simply cutting and cutting to lose weight. Your body adapts to the amount of energy you put into it and that adaptation happens quicker than most people think. Sometimes you need to increase your intake a bit, say by around 5%-10% for a couple of weeks to allow your metabolism to adapt again before reducing. You've done the right thing by increasing when you felt the MFP setting was too low, if it feels wrong it probably is. General rule of thumb for weight loss is to set your daily calories to your weight in lbs x 10 so for you that would be 1650. Go with that for a week and see how you get on. If your weight goes up then drop 100 calories and go another week until you start to see steady weight loss of about .5% to 1% of bodyweight per week. As others have said, the last few lbs can be the most difficult to lose. Of course, you could just be delighted that you've got to where you are and not even think about losing any more. Sometimes relieving that stress can break a plateau
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If your logging is all accurate, you're on the verge of an amazing "whoosh!"
If you search the message boards for "whoosh" you'll find a lot of people in the same situation.
I'm 5'3" and went from 182 to 135 and had lots of stalls along the way. Stick with it!
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weight loss is not linear. we have daily and weekly and monthly water fluctuations for all kinds of reasons especially as women. if you increased or changed up the exercise routine the muscles may be retaining more water temporarily.
before reducing calories I would double check weights and specifically entries used in MFP. i found lots of errors as i got close to goal even though i was "sure" i was being 100% diligent.
agree with 35lbs to lose you should be looking more at a rate of loss of 1lb/week
I definitely don’t want to lower my calories because I already feel kinda sluggish and super hungry all the time. I was curious if I should up my calories. 1.2 pounds in 6 weeks of feeling like crap and hungry is like a slap in the face lol. My goal is to be at around 1 pound loss a week. But according to my happy scale I’m at like a rate of 0.2 a week. You think oh cut calories more if your not losing weight, but I know not eating enough can be just as bad.
As already mentioned, that 1.2 lb loss may not be an accurate representation of what you have truly lost. You could have very well lost more weight which is being cancelled out by water retention caused by exercise, hormone fluctuation, etc. Its only been 2-3 weeks without significant loss which is 100% normal. Upping your calories wont make you lose quicker, but if you feel hungry and sluggish then its probably a good idea.3 -
Kathryn247 wrote: »If your logging is all accurate, you're on the verge of an amazing "whoosh!"
If you search the message boards for "whoosh" you'll find a lot of people in the same situation.
I'm 5'3" and went from 182 to 135 and had lots of stalls along the way. Stick with it!
Lol I’ve been waiting on that whoosh. Before I’d always know when it was gonna happen cause I’d be up all night running back and forth to the bathroom 🙈 But nothing this time. In 2017 when I lost 42 pounds I steady lost about 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I’d be stuck for a week or 2 then bam drop 4 pounds over night. I just feel like something is off. I’ve been watching what I eat since January and have lost 9.1 pounds. To me that number is very low for how long I’ve been doing this.
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Which if you do the math I’ve been dieting for 20 weeks and lost 9.1 pounds. That puts me a little under .5 lost a week. My happy scale says .2 a week.0
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Teabythesea_ wrote: »I wouldn't make any changes if it's only been 2-3 weeks since you've lost weight. Weight fluctuates and loss will not be linear. Give it more time and then assess your progress. Using NEAT vs TDEE is more of a personal preference. Personally, I I manually input my TDEE into MFP because I cant be bothered with logging ecercise calories. Eating to the same number every day regardless of exercise is just more simple. In the end if you're exercise calories when using NEAT are accurate then it should average out to be the same as TDEE anyway.
This.
TDEE -500 cal% x 7 days should equal NEAT + exercise -500cals/day *7. The only difference might be the method used to calculate BMR in either calculation, but that would only be a 100 or so calories/day in the difference.
If your apple watch was accurate, assuming you log accurately, weigh solids measure liquids and pick the proper entry, then you would have lost more weight than you are seening. sound like your bmr, upon which tdee and neat are based, may be lower than the estimates in both mfp and apple watch.0 -
Kathryn247 wrote: »If your logging is all accurate, you're on the verge of an amazing "whoosh!"
If you search the message boards for "whoosh" you'll find a lot of people in the same situation.
I'm 5'3" and went from 182 to 135 and had lots of stalls along the way. Stick with it!
Lol I’ve been waiting on that whoosh. Before I’d always know when it was gonna happen cause I’d be up all night running back and forth to the bathroom 🙈 But nothing this time. In 2017 when I lost 42 pounds I steady lost about 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I’d be stuck for a week or 2 then bam drop 4 pounds over night. I just feel like something is off. I’ve been watching what I eat since January and have lost 9.1 pounds. To me that number is very low for how long I’ve been doing this.
If I use the same time frame for reference (since January) the scale has shown be exactly 4 lbs lost.... I found that whoosh effect got fewer and farther between the closer to my goal I got.
Trust the process. It's not magic and it's slowwwwwwwwwwwww. I cannot stress enough how slow it is.
And a million things can make it seem like you're not losing weight because you're retaining water. Monthly cycle, increased sodium, a random day of dehydration means the next day I will bloat because it's like my body forgot what water was?, Medications, new exercise, increased exercise, increased intensity of exercise. Or for literally no reason at all.
have you tracked other measurements? like using a tape measure?0 -
Been there - super frustrating. Like a few others mentioned weighing and using the correct entries is critical. Sounds like you are weighing. It might help, if you are interested, to open your diary so that we could help spot any entry errors. You can make you diary public in your settings.0
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If you're hungry persistently, try experimenting with what your eating, and when you're eating, to see if you can find a more satisfying way to spend your calories. (Some people are satiated by fat, some by protein, some by fiber, some by volume, some need complex carbs, etc. Some people do better with one big meal a day, others do better with frequent grazing on small snack-sized portions throughout the day, and others can fall anywhere in between those extremes.)
As far as whether to cut or add calories, I'm in the "hang in there" camp. Pay attention to trying to keep your daily-life activity up. If you're so fatigued that that's a struggle, I'd maybe suggest eating a little more, trying to find the sweet spot where your energy level keeps your calorie expenditure high, but you still have a deficit to lose weight . . . but that's a slow, experimental process.
Best wishes!2
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