Too many calories? Or not enough?

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hasah99
hasah99 Posts: 6 Member
edited May 2020 in Health and Weight Loss
Question! I use my Fitbit in conjunction with MFP, but I’m not sure that I’m eating the right amount of calories. I have lost over 20 lbs, with another 55 to go. My daily limit in MFP is 1280 cal. Then plus what I get from exercising. I walk a minimum of 6km/day, sometimes more. I use 18-2100 calories/day usually. My weight loss has plateaued the last few weeks. But I know I still have lots to go, and don’t think it should be stalling this soon. I’m wondering if I’m eating to much, or not enough even. I’ve tried researching and everything is so varied! Any advice greatly appreciated!!
**Edit I am 5’6 and 209 lbs!

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Your exercise calories may be inflated. Try eating back half of them.

    You don't say how tall you are, how much you weigh, how old, so it's hard to know if 1800-2100 is too much or not.
  • debtay123
    debtay123 Posts: 1,327 Member
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    yes i know that most people- eat about half of their exercise calories(esp. from a fitbit or other device)- along with all the calories from mfp- then check weight for a few weeks then adjust up or down with calories- also did you change in mfp when you lost the 20 pounds that you mentioned. I know they say not to go below 1200 of you are a woman. I will not go below 1400(but that's just me-)
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
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    Have you updated your goals on MFP? Your calorie needs will change as you lose weight (and even if you enter your weight daily you have to manually adjust the goals in the settings area for it to change).

    There are also calculators you can us for calories burned while walking (some people on here can tell you the equation, I can never remember it). Using my Garmin, normally I “earn” less than 100 calories per mile of walking and around 110 for each mile of running (according to my current pace).
  • hasah99
    hasah99 Posts: 6 Member
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    Sorry, I should have given my height and weight! I did update my post.
    I have updated my goals in MFP, and I have made sure my weight was updated.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
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    I'm the same height as you and I have been steadily losing at 1500 calories a day.

    I think you may be eating too much.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
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    Are you eating the calories given by your FitBit or MFP? FB might be over estimating activity thus you are eating more at maintenance than at a deficit. Do you weigh everything you eat?
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    edited May 2020
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    Do you use a food scale and weigh and log everything, no skipping, cheating, or forgetting?

    (Not measuring cups or packaging labels - actual weighing on a food scale)

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    hasah99 wrote: »
    Question! I use my Fitbit in conjunction with MFP, but I’m not sure that I’m eating the right amount of calories. I have lost over 20 lbs, with another 55 to go. My daily limit in MFP is 1280 cal. Then plus what I get from exercising. I walk a minimum of 6km/day, sometimes more. I use 18-2100 calories/day usually. My weight loss has plateaued the last few weeks. But I know I still have lots to go, and don’t think it should be stalling this soon. I’m wondering if I’m eating to much, or not enough even. I’ve tried researching and everything is so varied! Any advice greatly appreciated!!
    **Edit I am 5’6 and 209 lbs!

    Sounds like you are aware that the Fitbit adjustment is just the increase to your daily burn from the estimate MFP had on it's own.
    Not really a matter of eating 1/2 your exercise calories back since it may not even be exercise, and the calorie burn isn't coming from a database anyway being added on top of already accounted for calories. (as in using MFP by itself logging walking)
    And it's about impossible to compare to someone else unless all burning stats match to compare the eating stats.

    I'd suggest that with that much walking, it would be good to test if your Fitbit stride length setting is correct.
    Small error with that much distance matters.
    Because it's distance and time and mass that calculates very accurate calorie burn.

    Besides the fact weight loss isn't linear and you may be in line for a whoosh - or it's warmer now and your body's cooling needs is increasing your blood volume.
    Are you measuring too since weight is not always the best indicator of fat loss anyway.

    Anyway - have you walked a known distance of of 1-2 km, at 3.2 kmh, and confirmed what Fitbit said the distance was?
    That's about midpoint in speed for daily activity from grocery store shuffle to exercise level pace.
    That allows Fitbit to dynamically adjust each step distance up or down for best accuracy.

    Any other workouts?
    Are you manually logging any on MFP?
  • hasah99
    hasah99 Posts: 6 Member
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    I use the calories given as per MFP, I use my scale religiously, and count down to the last bite even the 2 calories on a sandwich from my sprouts! I am trying to up my water intake this week as well.
    I do always still have calories left over each evening when I close my diary. I also do not add in any exercise I get from say a video or anything. The only exercise being added is from the steps from my FB, which is usually 15-20000 per day.
    This week I will try not going over 1500 calories/day and seeing if that helps!
    Thanks for everyone’s help and suggestions!
  • hasah99
    hasah99 Posts: 6 Member
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    I do use Runkeeper as well when I do my daily walks, as I have monthly goals for myself. I have checked to see if my Fitbit lines up with the Km from the Runkeeper app, and they are always fairly close, but checking the stride is an awesome idea! Thanks.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    That is a massive amount of daily steps - if that was purely from daily activity that would be well beyond Very Active or whatever MFP has called the top level on the app now.

    For point of comparison, if you were 20 yrs old, with your level set to Very Active from those steps being daily activity only - your daily burn would be estimated at 3120.

    Yes - 3120, with 2lb weekly and 1000 cal deficit - base eating goal 2120.

    And the thing is daily activity levels don't ramp up fast or high enough to replace exercise calories usually. Not 15k steps.

    So actually likely more daily burn than that.

    I don't think your adjustment is that far off now.

    I'm going to suggest you are in a normal hump of other things going on masking fat loss still happening.
    Hopefully you have been measuring body parts too for a better story.

    You can gain 4 lbs of water in blood volume when your body starts handling extra cooling needs.

    Shoot, I'll sweat out 12 lbs of water weight over the course of a 3-4 hr bike ride while still drinking in 5-6 lbs of water.

    If you've had some unusual stresses in life that cause increased cortisol, there's increased water weight too.
    And who hasn't had some different stresses going on for last month!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    Terytha wrote: »
    I'm the same height as you and I have been steadily losing at 1500 calories a day.

    I think you may be eating too much.

    Are you also walking a minimum of 6 km/day?
  • Mstrong0706
    Mstrong0706 Posts: 2 Member
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    Toxic burden could also be a factor. Biotoxins, such a Mold illness and Lyme disease tend to create a biofilm using adipose tissue as their hiding spot. They hold onto fat cells making it very difficult to lose weight.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    edited May 2020
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    Mstrong0706 wrote: »
    Toxic burden could also be a factor. Biotoxins, such a Mold illness and Lyme disease tend to create a biofilm using adipose tissue as their hiding spot. They hold onto fat cells making it very difficult to lose weight.



    Um, don't think that's the issue here (or anywhere). :noway:
  • KrissFlavored
    KrissFlavored Posts: 327 Member
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    Mstrong0706 wrote: »
    Toxic burden could also be a factor. Biotoxins, such a Mold illness and Lyme disease tend to create a biofilm using adipose tissue as their hiding spot. They hold onto fat cells making it very difficult to lose weight.

    ...what the actual holy... lol

    Again... my concern for humans... lol
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    Mstrong0706 wrote: »
    Toxic burden could also be a factor. Biotoxins, such a Mold illness and Lyme disease tend to create a biofilm using adipose tissue as their hiding spot. They hold onto fat cells making it very difficult to lose weight.

    After unknowingly working in a building with toxic mold, I developed chemical sensitivities and mold allergies, and I did not have issues with weight at this time.

    When I have issues with weight, it's because my calories in are greater than my calories out.
  • Mstrong0706
    Mstrong0706 Posts: 2 Member
    edited May 2020
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    I work in functional medicine and regularly see a pattern of gut dysbiosis and systemic pathogens causing metabolic dysfunction.
    Here is an article by Mark Hyman that explains why.
    https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/02/18/how-to-fix-your-gut-bacteria-and-lose-weight/

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