diet and exercise

grob49
grob49 Posts: 125 Member
I let my weight creep up to 194. everything says I shoud consume 1600 calories a day with light to moderate exersice. I tried that for a couple of weeks and wasn't seeing any loss. I talked this over with my doctor and he said to drop down to 1200 calories. I also decided to try 15min on the elliptical once in the morning, noon and evening. I've been keeping my caories between 1100 and 1200 calories a day. this seems to be working for me. I'm loosing anywhere from 1.5 to 1 pound a week. I migh mention I am 69.

Replies

  • eacerda23
    eacerda23 Posts: 25 Member
    Have you tried finding put your resting metabolic rate? It's important to know how many calories your body will burn while in a resting state. This way, you can lower your caloric intake based off that number and not one that is pulled out of websites. Most primary care physicians can assist with this or refer you to a dietitian who can get this nunber for you.

    Once you have that number, you can reduce your calories by 300, then workout to burn another 200. This would help you lose 1 pound a week which is relatively healthy amount.

  • grob49
    grob49 Posts: 125 Member
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 978 Member
    I really hope you're eating a lot more than you think. You're not even eating 1200 calories, and that's the minimum for a short, little old lady. As a male, you should be eating at least 1500 calories.

    However, as sijomial says, you're not weighing anything you're entering, therefore your entries probably aren't particularly accurate.

    If MFP says you should be eating 1600 calories, you should be eating 1600 calories PLUS any exercise calories. However, you need to weigh your foods (all of them) and ensure you really are selecting accurate entries, to get a true feel for what's going on.
  • grob49
    grob49 Posts: 125 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.
  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    grob49 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.

    Because I'm not able to see your diary do you weigh everything with a food scale?
  • grob49
    grob49 Posts: 125 Member
    harper16 wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.

    Because I'm not able to see your diary do you weigh everything with a food scale?

    Except the things that are in measurements like tablespoons and cup not everything is listed by weight.
  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    grob49 wrote: »
    harper16 wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.

    Because I'm not able to see your diary do you weigh everything with a food scale?

    Except the things that are in measurements like tablespoons and cup not everything is listed by weight.

    Are you weighing and measuring or using measurements listed by other users?
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.

    OK last attempt as you aren't getting what I'm saying.

    I have looked at your diary and you are using spectacularly inaccurate methods to measure your food intake.
    Cups and spoons measure volume - and often pretty badly! Think of grated cheese, lightly spinkled in a cup or pressed down hard - same amount of cheese? Same amount of calories? Obviously not.

    The calories in food are in proportion to their actual weight - you measure weight with scales.

    And if your words don't do it, perhaps the videos and images here:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • grob49
    grob49 Posts: 125 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    grob49 wrote: »
    The 1600 calories is what Myfintess says I should be eating. My BMR is 1829. I have found that at my age and activity level and calories the 1200 works best for me. yes I'm measuring and entering my food correct, as correct as you can with Myfitness. For me 500 calories seems to work better than the 300.

    Did you not understand the point about how you are not measuring the weight of your food?
    Imagine someone asked you how much you weighed right now - would you measure the dimensions of yourself or would you step on your bathroom scales?

    Your calories don't make sense for someone your size - the explantion is that you don't really know how much you are eating. You think you are eating 1100 to 1200 but in reality you could be eating a lot more.

    I understand and know how to measure my food. My food diary is open. Take a look and see for yourself.

    OK last attempt as you aren't getting what I'm saying.

    I have looked at your diary and you are using spectacularly inaccurate methods to measure your food intake.
    Cups and spoons measure volume - and often pretty badly! Think of grated cheese, lightly spinkled in a cup or pressed down hard - same amount of cheese? Same amount of calories? Obviously not.

    The calories in food are in proportion to their actual weight - you measure weight with scales.

    And if your words don't do it, perhaps the videos and images here:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    Yes you are right. But what I do is look for what matches the calories listed on the package. Using your shredded cheese the package say. Serving size 1/3 cup (28g) 110 calories. I look for what best matches the calories listed. I've found a lot the the food and calories listed in the data base to be off. Either in food measurements or calories. So I weigh everything and look for what best matches the correct calories.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    Yes, there are many incorrect entries, but that's another matter than the way you measure your food.
    For incorrect entries, you can look for correct alternative entries or correct the existing entries (or create a new entry). For incorrect measurement options, you can look for alternative entries or create a new entry with the appropriate measurement option.

    But as for the measurement itself, when looking at your diary, it's not apparent that you are weighing your food, since there are many volume measurements and other non-weight units: tablespoons of guacamole, cans of tuna, slices of bread and lunch meat, number of pickles,... And those entries mentioning a weight per portion all have round numbers. So I don't quite understand what you mean when you say you weigh and look for what matches the calories on the package.

    For example your entry for wholewheat tortilla states 28gr per tortilla, but in reality a tortilla might weigh more.
    Your can of tuna might contain more tuna than is stated on the package.
    Your guacamole is a volume measurement.
    One large egg and one medium apple aren't weight measurements either.
    So if you are weighing everything, that's great. But then I dont understand how your diary looks the way it does. Mine has almost every food listed in grams and round numbers are rare.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    grob49 wrote: »
    Yes you are right. But what I do is look for what matches the calories listed on the package. Using your shredded cheese the package say. Serving size 1/3 cup (28g) 110 calories. I look for what best matches the calories listed. I've found a lot the the food and calories listed in the data base to be off. Either in food measurements or calories. So I weigh everything and look for what best matches the correct calories.

    I've done this - I'll weigh out the serving size in grams, but the matching entry in the database isn't listed as grams but as cups or tablespoons, though its the appropriate calories. So the serving size on the package says 1/3 cup (28g) but the entry in MFP's database just as 1/3 cup listed, though the calorie count is correct. So I'll weigh out the 28g and then choose the entry that says 1/3 cup because its the right calorie count. So you'll see cups and tablespoons in my diary, but I'm not measuring by cups and spoons; I'm using a food scale and going by grams.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    Read this:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    You're not logging accurately. This link will teach you what you need to do.

    Then when you are logging accurately, EAT 1600, not 1200. 1600 is way too low for a man.