Only eating 1200 calories a day and not losing Weight
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Wow, that's a huge discrepancy! Oh crap!7
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RachelAnnSaldana wrote: »I don’t eat my excercise calories and I don’t like that the app adds the calories onto your total. If I eat the excercise calories I always gain.
That would be because you are inaccurately logging your food and eating much more than you think you are.14 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »RachelAnnSaldana wrote: »I don’t eat my excercise calories and I don’t like that the app adds the calories onto your total. If I eat the excercise calories I always gain.
That would be because you are inaccurately logging your food and eating much more than you think you are.
This is true - but course that doesn't matter if you are in fact losing as expected eating what you think you are eating and not eating back excercise calories.
The inaccurate logging evens up with the non eaten excercise calories and what you are doing is working.
It also doesn't help OP much since what she is doing is not working.
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janejellyroll wrote: »xx1chloe5xx wrote: »@janejellyroll if the packaging says 1 chicken is 300 cAlories then it mostly likely is 300 calories there not allowed to lie.
They're not lying, but they're also allowed to have variances of up to 20%. That can add up fast. But it's up to you. If you want the results you're getting, you can keep doing what you're doing.
This^^^OP. If you're not losing for a year there's a reason. It's usually logging food incorrectly or inflated (not intentionally) exercise calories. Do you want to start losing weight? Then give more information--age, weight, height, etc. Otherwise, we'll see you next year. Actually, I hope not.8 -
This was my food diary from the other day. The curry was a ready meal from Asda. I gained 3lbs after this and I was under calorie limit and exercised and lost almost 400 calories which I forgot to add on. I don’t know how to open my diary
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Gaining 3lbs after one meal has nothing to do with your calorie intake, it's just water retention from increased sodium.
For your slimming world chips entry. Did you weigh out your potatoes or guess? That's about 2/3 of a medium potato - or about 6 chunky chips. I make my own chips, with frylight too and even a smaller rooster potato the kind you'd pick up in Asda or Tesco is about 200g once peeled. Unless that's your own entry, then you're just hoping that someone has entered their own correctly. Log the potato, log the frylight.
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The chicken/curry/rice is that a recipe you made? A packaged meal?1
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deannalfisher wrote: »The chicken/curry/rice is that a recipe you made? A packaged meal?
It's a supermarket ready meal. I thought the calories looked very low for 350gr but I checked the supermarket website and it is correct. The only question there is if it really weighs 350 grams exactly.1 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »So for over a year now I have only been eating 1200 calories a day which is what MFP reccomends for me to lose weight. When I do exercise I burn more therefore I eat more. But I haven’t been losing weight I’m the same weight I was last year. Sometimes I might lose a few lbs so think it’s working but then next week they would of been gained back. I don’t understand
You are more then likely eating more then you think you are...11 -
When I log my food, I always change the portion size selection to grams or ounces so I can weigh and input exactly what I consumed. I try to never go with the just 1 serving option as it could be off from what was actually eaten.16
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Do the entries that you're using for the noodles, chips and bread match what it says on the packet?
I just googled Robert Medium Soft White Bread, for which you have 97 calories for one slice. According to their website, each slice is 114 calories.
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I'm goung to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say you can lose weight without weighing EVERYTHING I have managed to lose a lot of weight without weighing a lot of pre packaged food.
I basically just scan or add in the prepackaged item and generally adjust whatever amount comes up to add another 50cals (so if a biscuit I ate scanned in as 80cals I'd add 50 and log it as 130cals) I do that as a way to compensate for the variances that can occur. Sure it's not fool proof there's not even any real logic behind it other than my own, I just find it's always better to assume you've eaten more calories.
I never eat back my exercise calories either because unless you're exercising while hooked up to a machine, you never really know how many cals you've burnt. I logged the same exercise into 2 different 'calorie burning calculators' for the same exercise 1 site said I would burn 569cals the other 314cals.....thats a HUGE difference. Unless you're running a marathon or something equally physically demanding each exercise I wouldn't eat back the calories.
Also, you've got to be honest with yourself, you don't have to be honest with us folks on here if you want to tell us all you've definitely been sticking to 1200 without exception then ok, But be honest with yourself, do you REALLY eat only 1200 calls? Do you DEFINITELY burn 400cals per exercise?? Only you know if what you're saying and what you're tracking is truthful.
After a year of it, you would 100% be seeing results by now.....3 -
Where are your fruits and veg? Woman cannot live on cake alone (sadly)
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xmissxamyx wrote: »I'm goung to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say you can lose weight without weighing EVERYTHING I have managed to lose a lot of weight without weighing a lot of pre packaged food.
I basically just scan or add in the prepackaged item and generally adjust whatever amount comes up to add another 50cals (so if a biscuit I ate scanned in as 80cals I'd add 50 and log it as 130cals) I do that as a way to compensate for the variances that can occur. Sure it's not fool proof there's not even any real logic behind it other than my own, I just find it's always better to assume you've eaten more calories.
I never eat back my exercise calories either because unless you're exercising while hooked up to a machine, you never really know how many cals you've burnt. I logged the same exercise into 2 different 'calorie burning calculators' for the same exercise 1 site said I would burn 569cals the other 314cals.....thats a HUGE difference. Unless you're running a marathon or something equally physically demanding each exercise I wouldn't eat back the calories.
Also, you've got to be honest with yourself, you don't have to be honest with us folks on here if you want to tell us all you've definitely been sticking to 1200 without exception then ok, But be honest with yourself, do you REALLY eat only 1200 calls? Do you DEFINITELY burn 400cals per exercise?? Only you know if what you're saying and what you're tracking is truthful.
After a year of it, you would 100% be seeing results by now.....
I don't think anyone is arguing that weighing food is *required* to lose weight. But if one is eating at what they think is a deficit and not seeing results, then switching to a more accurate method of estimating calorie intake is a reasonable step to take, I think.
If one source tells you that you're burning 314 calories and another tells you that you're burning 569, I don't know why you would substitute an estimate of zero calories burnt instead of going with the lower number. There's more of a difference between 0 and 314 than there is between 314 and 569, right?23 -
janejellyroll wrote: »xmissxamyx wrote: »I'm goung to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say you can lose weight without weighing EVERYTHING I have managed to lose a lot of weight without weighing a lot of pre packaged food.
I basically just scan or add in the prepackaged item and generally adjust whatever amount comes up to add another 50cals (so if a biscuit I ate scanned in as 80cals I'd add 50 and log it as 130cals) I do that as a way to compensate for the variances that can occur. Sure it's not fool proof there's not even any real logic behind it other than my own, I just find it's always better to assume you've eaten more calories.
I never eat back my exercise calories either because unless you're exercising while hooked up to a machine, you never really know how many cals you've burnt. I logged the same exercise into 2 different 'calorie burning calculators' for the same exercise 1 site said I would burn 569cals the other 314cals.....thats a HUGE difference. Unless you're running a marathon or something equally physically demanding each exercise I wouldn't eat back the calories.
Also, you've got to be honest with yourself, you don't have to be honest with us folks on here if you want to tell us all you've definitely been sticking to 1200 without exception then ok, But be honest with yourself, do you REALLY eat only 1200 calls? Do you DEFINITELY burn 400cals per exercise?? Only you know if what you're saying and what you're tracking is truthful.
After a year of it, you would 100% be seeing results by now.....
I don't think anyone is arguing that weighing food is *required* to lose weight. But if one is eating at what they think is a deficit and not seeing results, then switching to a more accurate method of estimating calorie intake is a reasonable step to take, I think.
If one source tells you that you're burning 314 calories and another tells you that you're burning 569, I don't know why you would substitute an estimate of zero calories burnt instead of going with the lower number. There's more of a difference between 0 and 314 than there is between 314 and 569, right?
I meant it as an example of how different information from one source to another can be.
If I only used the 1 calculator that told me I'd burn 569 cals for my work out and I took that as gospel and ate back all of those calories but in reality I only burnt 300cals, I've eaten 200 over my allowance. And if one does that constantly well, that number on the scale is eventually goung to start heading in the wrong direction isn't it?
I choose to eat back 0 of my work out calories because that's what works for me man, I don't trust that I'll burn the exact amount of calories each time so I make sure I stick to my limit and anything i may have burnt during exercise is a bonus.
(And I like knowing I have those burnt calls in reserve if you will, incase something comes up during the week where extra calories may be consumed)
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xmissxamyx wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »xmissxamyx wrote: »I'm goung to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say you can lose weight without weighing EVERYTHING I have managed to lose a lot of weight without weighing a lot of pre packaged food.
I basically just scan or add in the prepackaged item and generally adjust whatever amount comes up to add another 50cals (so if a biscuit I ate scanned in as 80cals I'd add 50 and log it as 130cals) I do that as a way to compensate for the variances that can occur. Sure it's not fool proof there's not even any real logic behind it other than my own, I just find it's always better to assume you've eaten more calories.
I never eat back my exercise calories either because unless you're exercising while hooked up to a machine, you never really know how many cals you've burnt. I logged the same exercise into 2 different 'calorie burning calculators' for the same exercise 1 site said I would burn 569cals the other 314cals.....thats a HUGE difference. Unless you're running a marathon or something equally physically demanding each exercise I wouldn't eat back the calories.
Also, you've got to be honest with yourself, you don't have to be honest with us folks on here if you want to tell us all you've definitely been sticking to 1200 without exception then ok, But be honest with yourself, do you REALLY eat only 1200 calls? Do you DEFINITELY burn 400cals per exercise?? Only you know if what you're saying and what you're tracking is truthful.
After a year of it, you would 100% be seeing results by now.....
I don't think anyone is arguing that weighing food is *required* to lose weight. But if one is eating at what they think is a deficit and not seeing results, then switching to a more accurate method of estimating calorie intake is a reasonable step to take, I think.
If one source tells you that you're burning 314 calories and another tells you that you're burning 569, I don't know why you would substitute an estimate of zero calories burnt instead of going with the lower number. There's more of a difference between 0 and 314 than there is between 314 and 569, right?
I meant it as an example of how different information from one source to another can be.
If I only used the 1 calculator that told me I'd burn 569 cals for my work out and I took that as gospel and ate back all of those calories but in reality I only burnt 300cals, I've eaten 200 over my allowance. And if one does that constantly well, that number on the scale is eventually goung to start heading in the wrong direction isn't it?
I choose to eat back 0 of my work out calories because that's what works for me man, I don't trust that I'll burn the exact amount of calories each time so I make sure I stick to my limit and anything i may have burnt during exercise is a bonus.
(And I like knowing I have those burnt calls in reserve if you will, incase something comes up during the week where extra calories may be consumed)
Or, you could do like a lot of folks who are using the MFP estimates, and eat back a portion - say 50%. Even going with the higher end 569, eating back half is 285, so you'd still be conservative and would still be under even if you actually only burned 300.
Of course, if what you are doing now is working for you now, great; but if it stops working and you find yourself plateaued months on end even though you still need to lose weight, then what you're doing will need to be fine-tuned to get you going again, and the best way to fine-tune is tighten up on accuracy. Weighing items with a food scale is the easier method of getting better accuracy.7 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »This was my food diary from the other day. The curry was a ready meal from Asda. I gained 3lbs after this and I was under calorie limit and exercised and lost almost 400 calories which I forgot to add on. I don’t know how to open my diary
First of all, as someone else posted below - you did not gain 3lbs of fat from this meal. Weight fluctuates a huge amount, especially for women. Try other methods of measuring your progress such as taking measurements or even just comparing photographs. Try not weigh yourself around your period as this is a major time for water retention and bloating which will skew the scales. Also, if you weighed yourself directly after eating this, of course you will weigh more as the food is sitting in your stomach!
Secondly, eating 1200 calories of foods lacking in nutrients isn't the optimal way to approach your weight loss goals, try to incorporate more vegetables and fruits (fruits restricted to a degree) and focus on increasing your protein intake. From your diary entry above it seems you are eating way under what you should be. It may be worth investing in getting some professional advice because honestly, that looks to be a very unhealthy way to go about things, there are lots of good online coaches which can help you understand your needs better.
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xmissxamyx wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »xmissxamyx wrote: »I'm goung to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say you can lose weight without weighing EVERYTHING I have managed to lose a lot of weight without weighing a lot of pre packaged food.
I basically just scan or add in the prepackaged item and generally adjust whatever amount comes up to add another 50cals (so if a biscuit I ate scanned in as 80cals I'd add 50 and log it as 130cals) I do that as a way to compensate for the variances that can occur. Sure it's not fool proof there's not even any real logic behind it other than my own, I just find it's always better to assume you've eaten more calories.
I never eat back my exercise calories either because unless you're exercising while hooked up to a machine, you never really know how many cals you've burnt. I logged the same exercise into 2 different 'calorie burning calculators' for the same exercise 1 site said I would burn 569cals the other 314cals.....thats a HUGE difference. Unless you're running a marathon or something equally physically demanding each exercise I wouldn't eat back the calories.
Also, you've got to be honest with yourself, you don't have to be honest with us folks on here if you want to tell us all you've definitely been sticking to 1200 without exception then ok, But be honest with yourself, do you REALLY eat only 1200 calls? Do you DEFINITELY burn 400cals per exercise?? Only you know if what you're saying and what you're tracking is truthful.
After a year of it, you would 100% be seeing results by now.....
I don't think anyone is arguing that weighing food is *required* to lose weight. But if one is eating at what they think is a deficit and not seeing results, then switching to a more accurate method of estimating calorie intake is a reasonable step to take, I think.
If one source tells you that you're burning 314 calories and another tells you that you're burning 569, I don't know why you would substitute an estimate of zero calories burnt instead of going with the lower number. There's more of a difference between 0 and 314 than there is between 314 and 569, right?
I meant it as an example of how different information from one source to another can be.
If I only used the 1 calculator that told me I'd burn 569 cals for my work out and I took that as gospel and ate back all of those calories but in reality I only burnt 300cals, I've eaten 200 over my allowance. And if one does that constantly well, that number on the scale is eventually goung to start heading in the wrong direction isn't it?
I choose to eat back 0 of my work out calories because that's what works for me man, I don't trust that I'll burn the exact amount of calories each time so I make sure I stick to my limit and anything i may have burnt during exercise is a bonus.
(And I like knowing I have those burnt calls in reserve if you will, incase something comes up during the week where extra calories may be consumed)
If one sees that one's long-term trend is weight gain, then that can be addressed by eating back a smaller percentage of exercise calories (assuming one is confident that estimates of calories in are relatively accurate). For people who aren't very active, using exercise calories as a bonus may work. For people who are very active or already on lowish calories, it's not a great strategy. If you're adding 300+ calories to your deficit daily, that's not sustainable.
Now if you're doing it to create a reserve for going over on calories and you're actually using them, that's different. However, I'm a person who likes data. Instead of doing it "invisibly" (not tracking exercise calories and trusting everything will somehow balance out when I go over), I prefer to see it so I can make adjustments if necessary. I'm not saying it's the only way that it can be done, but if someone thinks they have been eating 1,200 for a year and not seeing results, I'm generally of the opinion that they need more data -- not less.10 -
RachelAnnSaldana wrote: »I don’t eat my excercise calories and I don’t like that the app adds the calories onto your total. If I eat the excercise calories I always gain.
I don't eat the exercise calories either since I also always gain. I have been on 1200 calories for 5 months and have lost 23 lbs (4.6 lbs/month). It is a slow go and not linear. I have also adjusted my macros to see what works for me, everyone is different. I try to keep my carbs below 100, my proteins to a max of 8 oz. per day and 25-30 grams fiber daily. I have been chastised on this board for this diet plan with claims that it is unhealthy, I will lose my hair, suffer horrible declines in my health, will not be able to maintain once I lose what I want. None of this has come true so far and my doctor is pleased. I am 70 years old, 5 ft. 2.5inches tall. I walk 5 miles most days of the week. I would suggest you consult your doctor on what plan is healthy for you.2 -
nationalvillage3215 wrote: »RachelAnnSaldana wrote: »I don’t eat my excercise calories and I don’t like that the app adds the calories onto your total. If I eat the excercise calories I always gain.
I don't eat the exercise calories either since I also always gain. I have been on 1200 calories for 5 months and have lost 23 lbs (4.6 lbs/month). It is a slow go and not linear. I have also adjusted my macros to see what works for me, everyone is different. I try to keep my carbs below 100, my proteins to a max of 8 oz. per day and 25-30 grams fiber daily. I have been chastised on this board for this diet plan with claims that it is unhealthy, I will lose my hair, suffer horrible declines in my health, will not be able to maintain once I lose what I want. None of this has come true so far and my doctor is pleased. I am 70 years old, 5 ft. 2.5inches tall. I walk 5 miles most days of the week. I would suggest you consult your doctor on what plan is healthy for you.
4.6 pounds a month is not a "slow go."20
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