Help?! 1000-1200 cal. A day plus 1 hr exercise and not loosing an ounce....
Replies
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In possible defense of the OP’s diary entries, that’s kinda what mine looks like - for instance the one bread I eat is listed on MFP as 2 slices, but I know per the packaging that 2 slices = 66 g so I base my logging on that. Partial grams as mentioned by @Strudders67 is likely the ballpark weight when doing calculations. Using the 66g above, usually one slice is closer to 40g so I enter it in as .6 of one serving which can make for tenths of a gram. 42g is .636 so I could enter it in as .63 or .64, neither one will be spot on for 42 g.Muscleflex79 wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »I only went back a few days in your diary and, thankfully, you're probably eating more than you think.
2 slices white bread. 3 slices white bread.
How much did they weigh? What brand? Two slices of bread, even from the same loaf, won't weigh the same.
You're also selecting a different brand every day - do you really buy different loaves daily?
1tbs peanut butter. 1 tbsp jam. 1tsp brown sugar. 2tbsp salted butter.
How much one person fits in a tbsp may be vastly different to how much you put in. Did you use a level spoonful or a heaped one? What did the database entry use? You don't know how much your pb or jam or butter weighed and you don't know how much was in the serving that you selected from the database. There's a pic somewhere on this forum that illustrates that perfectly with spoons of peanut butter.
2 cups of Special K cereal. 1 cup of pasta. 1 cup of spaghetti. 1 cup of pasta with meaballs. 1 cup cooked rice.
Too vague. As above, what I'd measure as a cup could differ to how much you fill your cup.
Chili no meat - 2.4cups. How did you measure .4 of a cup?
Generic ground beef - 2.5oz Do scales accurately measure .5oz? (certainly mine don't)
Whey double rich chocolate - 30.4g. You must have much more accurate scales than me if you can measure .4 of a gram, so use grams for everything.
Steak frites - the portion says "about 2 pieces". So was it two pieces or not? does three small pieces count as two? What if one's a bit bigger?
I didn't see any mention of cooking oils, but maybe you didn't use any in the last few days.
You could continue as you are but, as I said before, give it 6 weeks then compare your weight then to your weight now and see what rate you've been losing at. That'll tell you how much of a deficit you're really in.
Or, weigh anything solid, preferably in grams. Anything calorie dense should definitely be weighed. When you're accurately logging what you're eating, you'll know how many calories you're actually consuming. But remember thta it's your net calories (what you've eaten - exercise calories) that should be 1200 or above.
yup - this is exactly what I noticed.
OP - your diary is full of "pieces," "cups" and "slices" without any mention of weight. start there - it will be eye opening!
Can’t say for sure that’s the case for her, but after a year I have lost at the expected rate and even though my diary looks iffy to other people, it is relatively accurate by weight.
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moonangel12 wrote: »
In possible defense of the OP’s diary entries, that’s kinda what mine looks like - for instance the one bread I eat is listed on MFP as 2 slices, but I know per the packaging that 2 slices = 66 g so I base my logging on that. Partial grams as mentioned by @Strudders67 is likely the ballpark weight when doing calculations. Using the 66g above, usually one slice is closer to 40g so I enter it in as .6 of one serving which can make for tenths of a gram. 42g is .636 so I could enter it in as .63 or .64, neither one will be spot on for 42 g.Muscleflex79 wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »I only went back a few days in your diary and, thankfully, you're probably eating more than you think.
2 slices white bread. 3 slices white bread.
How much did they weigh? What brand? Two slices of bread, even from the same loaf, won't weigh the same.
You're also selecting a different brand every day - do you really buy different loaves daily?
1tbs peanut butter. 1 tbsp jam. 1tsp brown sugar. 2tbsp salted butter.
How much one person fits in a tbsp may be vastly different to how much you put in. Did you use a level spoonful or a heaped one? What did the database entry use? You don't know how much your pb or jam or butter weighed and you don't know how much was in the serving that you selected from the database. There's a pic somewhere on this forum that illustrates that perfectly with spoons of peanut butter.
2 cups of Special K cereal. 1 cup of pasta. 1 cup of spaghetti. 1 cup of pasta with meaballs. 1 cup cooked rice.
Too vague. As above, what I'd measure as a cup could differ to how much you fill your cup.
Chili no meat - 2.4cups. How did you measure .4 of a cup?
Generic ground beef - 2.5oz Do scales accurately measure .5oz? (certainly mine don't)
Whey double rich chocolate - 30.4g. You must have much more accurate scales than me if you can measure .4 of a gram, so use grams for everything.
Steak frites - the portion says "about 2 pieces". So was it two pieces or not? does three small pieces count as two? What if one's a bit bigger?
I didn't see any mention of cooking oils, but maybe you didn't use any in the last few days.
You could continue as you are but, as I said before, give it 6 weeks then compare your weight then to your weight now and see what rate you've been losing at. That'll tell you how much of a deficit you're really in.
Or, weigh anything solid, preferably in grams. Anything calorie dense should definitely be weighed. When you're accurately logging what you're eating, you'll know how many calories you're actually consuming. But remember thta it's your net calories (what you've eaten - exercise calories) that should be 1200 or above.
yup - this is exactly what I noticed.
OP - your diary is full of "pieces," "cups" and "slices" without any mention of weight. start there - it will be eye opening!
Can’t say for sure that’s the case for her, but after a year I have lost at the expected rate and even though my diary looks iffy to other people, it is relatively accurate by weight.
Someone said the OP also has multiple different brands of bread listed across different days. I haven’t looked, but if that is correct, either they love a lot of different breads or they aren’t logging accurately.
I do NOT weigh bread, yogurt, apples, etc. I use what the package states (or “medium” for an apple). I am losing weight at above my expected loss rate (I also underestimate my cardio to help offset any tracking issues with my medium apples and such). If my method stops working, then I know I have the option of being more precise with my calorie counting and then I can choose to weigh my eggs, apples, yogurts and breads. 😊10 -
One week isn't enough time to really tell by the scale. Give it some more time and you will start to notice progress. Trust me, the diet is having an effect. With your intake and expenditure numbers you will start to see the fat melt off quickly. I did similar cals on a low carb diet and lost 65lbs in 6 months without much exercise. Started at 235 lbs (37M) now down to 170 and been maintaining weight but improving my body over the last 8 months.
It's all about nutrition. Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.
Edit: I went into your diary after I posted this. You might want to re-think the food you're eating. White bread, french fries, white rice, cereal, jam, pasta have little to no nutrition besides providing you with energy. You had chicken thighs in one but almost equal calories in sweet baby ray's bbq sauce. I also see you are taking a whey protein milkshake? I've never been a fan of getting my nutrition from a powder and choose to go with more natural food like, a cow?
I give my opinions on nutrition a lot these days but recognize that there are different theories that also work. Weight loss depends on calories in and calories out and there are many ways to do that. What isn't mentioned enough if that your body needs nutrition to perform bodily functions. Nutrient dense food is critical to building a strong, healthy body. The white bread, rice, cereal is all high cal, high carb, low nutrition food and basically a waste of calorie quota. I personally am a big believer in the keto diet which is high fat and low carb. I also believe in the concepts behind Paleo which focuses on eating food in it's most natural form as possible. Fasting is also very important. Your body does important work when you are not eating - look up Autophagy. I only eat one meal a day and don't crave food or feel hungry.
Some of the foods I eat are any meat besides lean chicken or turkey, trout or salmon, broccolli, ceasar salad with lots of bacon, organic eggs, green beans, bok choy. Lots of green coniferous vegetables. For desert it's usually a really high fat no sugar yogurt (10-11% fat) and berries. I eat lots of nuts usually 1-2 hand fulls a day. They are packed with nutrition and make a perfect snack. I also eat dark chocolate preferably if it has nuts in it.
Like I said, there are many different approaches. This is my approach and it's been working for me and I'm loving the food I'm eating (bacon tastes so good). Last thing, don't get the idea that you have to be supremely rigid with your diet. Cheating is ok sometimes (tonight is pizza night for me). Just make considerations about how much nutrition you are actually getting from the cals you are consuming.3 -
I agree with those who suggested that 1 week is not long enough to see a change. Also, water has nothing to do with weight loss.5
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I am female, 56 years old, 5'7" and started Mfp this spring over 200 lbs. I chose sedentary as my activity level and was given the same calories as OP. I also walk 5-6x a week and lift weights 4x a week. Be sure to eat some of your exercise calories back. Be patient. You are most likely holding on to water weight. I have lost 46.5 lbs since March. From May through July I lost at a rate of three pounds a month. Two pounds a week is not necessarily true for everyone. Don't give up and just keep at it OP. You will succeed.3
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There is a useful link (posted in another MFP thread): https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
Others have said this, but I would suspect that you are eating too little. I am 5'11" and I find that eating 1200 cals per day is far too little for me and that I lose more consistently when I eat a little bit more, so my aim (before exercise calories), as suggested by mfp, is 1390 cals per day. I also eat try to eat a good balance of vegetables, fibre containing carbs (brown bread, brown rice), and protein. Even then, as others have said, plateaux are common along the journey: my own weight loss has been "stalled" between 80.5 and 80.0 kg for nearly three weeks, but this morning I was finally below 80 kg. It goes in fits and starts, up one day, down the next. I do weigh every day because it halps me to know that, but i also have a spreadsheet so I can remind myself of what has happened over the past few weeks/months: mfp will do that for you if you log your weight.
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I have had the same happen to me over the past few years. I would lose about 10 pounds, then stall out for weeks making no progress or fighting to maintain it, then start gaining it back, plus sometimes more. This year I did an elimination diet to figure out what was causing irritation or distress to my intestines. Then I continued to keep those foods out of my diet and cut back to an average of 1150-1300 calories daily. I typically burn between 2000 and 2150 daily. I have dropped almost 20 pounds since April and lost a lot of inches off my waist (no more inflamed gut). This is a first for me in in 6 years.
Now I'm where I am my weight loss has slowed a little, but so far each week when I weigh in there's still some small progress since the previous week. The only times there is no progress is when I eat something I shouldn't have. A couple weeks ago I went to eat sushi and I think there was gluten in the roll filling. I gained 2.5 pounds immediately overnight even though my calories for the day were at a deficit of -750 cals.1 -
I think nobody has to force themself to eat above satiety point. If you feel full, it means all your natural satiety quies are in place. Mother nature made everything for us to keep us strong and healthy. This is natural condition of human to be strong, healthy and happy. Why to bother with changing it ? Millions years of natural evolution premade this for us2
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I think nobody has to force themself to eat above satiety point. If you feel full, it means all your natural satiety quies are in place. Mother nature made everything for us to keep us strong and healthy. This is natural condition of human to be strong, healthy and happy. Why to bother with changing it ? Millions years of natural evolution premade this for us
No need to stop drinking or eating more than we need. Evolution made us perfect right? We got this. Let the wine flow!
Me: .... 😳🤢
We don’t got this OP. We don’t.9 -
danielle71686 you've just started, be patient. 1-2 lbs a week isn't "average". 1 lb a week is great! You want to keep it off. I eat 1900-2000 & 200 or so carbs per day. I exercise a lot. Had a couple of wks I didn't lose anything, but then next wk, I lost 2.5 lbs. You can easily up your exercise. Watch the salad dressings, you can thin them w/water. An incentive to exercise more, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Muscle takes up 22% less space than fat. Concentrate on eating healthy & recommend you focus on measurements, not so much weight. Food prep helps.
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Another thing to watch is sodium!! If you are eating lots of bread pasta rice fries and not paying attention to the sodium you will bloat very quickly I can eat 500 calories and go over on my sodium and feel like poo 💩3
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Give it the month. Your body is probably just shocked at the changes1
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Also could you consider weighing daily for a bit - just so you can see daily fluctuations. In the last week my weight range has been within a 2kg band (which is unusual for me). If I'd weighed myself once a week, but on the day where I got the +2kg I'd have been really confused as to wth is going on - as that was my typical weight in July!1
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So i totally hear where you are coming from on this. I often fround myself fretting over whether i'm inadvertently doing something 'wrong' and then i've 'wasted that time' in my weight loss journey. This has been the hardest mental hurdle for me to overcome - to not approach weight loss with a timeline in mind. I don't know about you, but I was constantly calculating how much weight I could lose by X date etc. Trust the process and tell yourself you wont conclude its not working till you've got a number of weeks of data to work from. This is not a short term project - its a long term project so you need to measure things in months, not days. I typically tell myself to wait till i have 6 weeks of habitual practice before i start seriously evaluating how its going. (I still weigh myself each week but i tell myself it doesn't 'count' till a full month/6 wks has gone by. just silly mind games i play with myself lol). This is where sustainable practices come into play, because if you are killing yourself to stick to this program, its REALLY hard to wait to see results. So whatever change you are making, try to make them bearable and sustainable, and be patient with yourself and your body.
Also just to mention it because i wish someone had told me - some people only really SEE their loss once per month. Meaning that hormones and water retention etc wrecks havoc and they will see weird up and down measurements and then all of a sudden ti will drop the expected # of lbs. For me, this is day 4/5 of my cycle. Thats when I see losses from the month most consistently.8 -
The scale might have a memory function. Meaning when you get on it if the previous reading is within 100-200gr of previous measure it will show the previous measure.
Try getting on it holding something heavy (a big water bottle) so it shows a higher number and then again without the bottle. You might find that ounce.
On a general note, as others mentioned you are restricting yourself too much. On top of being unhealthy and unsustainable in the long run it will also be rather inconsistent on the scale which will be discouraging. Take it easy on your body. Just do better then before and you will see results.
Good luck3 -
Starting off can be pretty frustrating. A couple things come to mind when considering your situation...
1. 1 Week is not enough time to determine what is and is not working
2. Increased exercise will result in increased water retention
3. You can lose 1 pound of fat and gain 2 pounds of water, frustrating the matter. But this is fine.
4. If you have a digital scale, they can sometimes automatically state your previous weight if it is within a certain range. Use something to weigh on the scale to reset it so it doesn't do that perhaps (I managed to lose 0.8 pounds one time in 10 minutes by having a coffee according to the scale because of this)
Anndd... you're not eating enough. At all.Barring some sort of medical issue, everyone no matter their weight/height/age will lose fat at 1200 calories a day. If you're comfortable at 1000-1200, you could consider some calories banked for a weekend.2 -
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A generic TDEE calculator puts your current daily energy need at ~2000 calories before exercise (sedentary other than intentional exercise). As your weight goes down, so does your daily energy need. But for now, 1500 calories/day will give you about 1 lb/week loss. More exercise will give you more calories at that rate of loss, which is a really good rate of loss.
FWIW, I'm your height but weigh 100 lb less (ETA: and 20 years older) than you and I lose weight consistently on 1500 calories/day (0.5 lb/wk). The easiest thing to address is logging accuracy, and it's also the most likely thing that's amiss. I would focus on that first. Good luck, OP!2 -
whitej1234 wrote: »The scale might have a memory function. Meaning when you get on it if the previous reading is within 100-200gr of previous measure it will show the previous measure.
Try getting on it holding something heavy (a big water bottle) so it shows a higher number and then again without the bottle. You might find that ounce.
On a general note, as others mentioned you are restricting yourself too much. On top of being unhealthy and unsustainable in the long run it will also be rather inconsistent on the scale which will be discouraging. Take it easy on your body. Just do better then before and you will see results.
Good luck
I was going to post this as well. My scale has a memory function that will give me the same reading for days and days. "Oh Hi! You again? Here's the number I gave you last time. Ok see you tomorrow!" So I will just pop out the batteries from time to time to reset it and get a new reading.
But, I think based upon a lot of the posts above you are probably consuming more calories than you think. It's a lot of work to really accurately measure and track every damn gram of food that goes in your mouth, but once you go through the exercises and start measuring you'll find that you start creating recipes for yourself in the database and eating the same foods consistently so it gets easier and easier. But yeah, it is work. But if it takes maybe 10 minutes all day to measure and log foods in order to drop the weight, in my book its worth it.
MFP is a great tool, but if you are just throwing up figures for the sake of putting in figures its not really helping you. Your body is keeping perfect track of what you are eating, trust me!
We've all been there and had to fine tune our approach. You'll get it just stay with it! Good luck!
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Well poop I didn't know that about digital scales 😲1
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My other half is female, 40 and overweight. She was like 12 stone 3 and in 8 weeks gone to 11 stone 1 by having protein meal replacement shake which one scoop with water for breakfast and lunch (200 calories a times) then a normal meal and some crackers in the evening and weekends we have bread for lunch etc. We have a takeaway ever 2 weeks as a treat too!
Workout les Mills 6 times a week 1 hr mixture of attack and pump. Works a treat.
Walking will do nothing. Exercise and control of food is key.
Get your heart rate up to 170/180 for a decent burn, get burpess and press ups and mountain climbers in...
Diet and walking will take years... Exercise and diet massively accelerates the process... At least an hour a day 6 days a week and 1500 calories a day works a treat!1 -
gazpainter wrote: »My other half is female, 40 and overweight. She was like 12 stone 3 and in 8 weeks gone to 11 stone 1 by having protein meal replacement shake which one scoop with water for breakfast and lunch (200 calories a times) then a normal meal and some crackers in the evening and weekends we have bread for lunch etc. We have a takeaway ever 2 weeks as a treat too!
Workout les Mills 6 times a week 1 hr mixture of attack and pump. Works a treat.
Walking will do nothing. Exercise and control of food is key.
Get your heart rate up to 170/180 for a decent burn, get burpess and press ups and mountain climbers in...
Diet and walking will take years... Exercise and diet massively accelerates the process... At least an hour a day 6 days a week and 1500 calories a day works a treat!
Um... you are aware that walking IS exercise right??? And it’s fantastic exercise that burns calories and helps accelerate weight loss. Also, you can lose a bunch of weight and do 0 exercise if you choose since CICO dictates weight loss. Exercise can help people achieve a deficit, but it is NOT needed for weight loss if one doesn’t like it or isnt healthy enough to partake in exercise for some reason yet.27 -
gazpainter wrote: »My other half is female, 40 and overweight. She was like 12 stone 3 and in 8 weeks gone to 11 stone 1 by having protein meal replacement shake which one scoop with water for breakfast and lunch (200 calories a times) then a normal meal and some crackers in the evening and weekends we have bread for lunch etc. We have a takeaway ever 2 weeks as a treat too!
Workout les Mills 6 times a week 1 hr mixture of attack and pump. Works a treat.
Walking will do nothing. Exercise and control of food is key.
Get your heart rate up to 170/180 for a decent burn, get burpess and press ups and mountain climbers in...
Diet and walking will take years... Exercise and diet massively accelerates the process... At least an hour a day 6 days a week and 1500 calories a day works a treat!
When I lost the bulk of my weight years ago (60+ lbs), my primary exercise was walking and yoga, and it took about a year or maybe less. It certainly didn't take "years". Walking burns calories just like any other cardio..it's movement and exercise, and shouldn't be discounted. While higher intensity and burpees, etc, are great exercise...not everyone can physically do those sorts of exercises.
If even OP walks and it does end up taking a little longer to lose (which it shouldn't as long as OP keeps calories accurately, regardless of any kind of exercise), why is that bad? Slower loss is still losing..it shouldn't be a dead sprint to the finish line. In fact, a rapid rate of loss has a higher chance of setting one up for yo-yo dieting.19 -
Diet (as in calorie counting and a deficit) and walking worked for me- throughout lockdown that was all that was available to most!13
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Walking 15 to 20 mins total a mile burns around 80 calories
Exercise like hiit for 20 mins burns about 250 to 350.
Its all down to how quickly you want results.
You walk a mile a day 7 days a week, you burn 760 a week on top of daily burn.
Hiit 5 times a week for 20 mins (which is no time at all) will burn 1500.
So less exercise days but same amount of time and double the burn... Double the calories burned... Simple as that...
If you have more than 20lbs to lose... Trust me from experience, walking and diet will take over a year easily... And how long can you stay at a big calorie reduction without falling off the wagon?1 -
OP slow and steady weight loss is sustainable and you need to find the exercise that you enjoy and will DO (IF you choose to exercise at all).
And I’ve lost over 25 lbs in a couple of months now with primarily diet and exercise. Plus I have about 40 more lbs to lose. CICO eating at a deficit = weight loss. I have my mfp goal set to 1 lb per week. Even if I stopped ALL exercise RIGHT NOW, as long as I stayed at the deficit mfp set for me, I would lose 40 lbs in a year or slightly more (accounting for reduced weight loss as I get closer to goal).
You need to find what is sustainable for YOU. 😊10 -
gazpainter wrote: »Walking 15 to 20 mins total a mile burns around 80 calories
Exercise like hiit for 20 mins burns about 250 to 350.
Its all down to how quickly you want results.
You walk a mile a day 7 days a week, you burn 760 a week on top of daily burn.
Hiit 5 times a week for 20 mins (which is no time at all) will burn 1500.
So less exercise days but same amount of time and double the burn... Double the calories burned... Simple as that...
If you have more than 20lbs to lose... Trust me from experience, walking and diet will take over a year easily... And how long can you stay at a big calorie reduction without falling off the wagon?
20 minutes of true HIIT, 5 days a week, is not something that is realistic for the vast majority of people. You may be talking about the current fad of calling certain types of workouts HIIT, but there's really no compelling reason to do one of those if you really prefer walking.
There's no one right way to exercise. Some people will find walking much more pleasant and sustainable. I personally would be much more likely to take a walk than to either do a fake "HIIT" workout or an actual HIIT workout.
Exercise that you enjoy (or at least don't dread) is a key component of lifelong fitness.24 -
gazpainter wrote: »Walking 15 to 20 mins total a mile burns around 80 calories
Exercise like hiit for 20 mins burns about 250 to 350.
Its all down to how quickly you want results.
You walk a mile a day 7 days a week, you burn 760 a week on top of daily burn.
Hiit 5 times a week for 20 mins (which is no time at all) will burn 1500.
So less exercise days but same amount of time and double the burn... Double the calories burned... Simple as that...
If you have more than 20lbs to lose... Trust me from experience, walking and diet will take over a year easily... And how long can you stay at a big calorie reduction without falling off the wagon?
Not everyone can do HIIT. I have bulging discs and can only do low impact things. My former trainers used to encourage HIIT and one of them injured me. Never again!17 -
Most of my exercise is walking. Between 4-5.5 miles most days. At a brisk pace, with incline, good heart rate (for me).
Also felt it necessary to point out that what is a 'decent burn' heart rate level for you won't be the same for everyone else. One's heart rate zones are influenced by age and fitness level. Personally my target heart rate for moderate to intense exercise is 125-160.gazpainter wrote: »
Get your heart rate up to 170/180 for a decent burn, get burpess and press ups and mountain climbers in...
Diet and walking will take years... Exercise and diet massively accelerates the process... At least an hour a day 6 days a week and 1500 calories a day works a treat!
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What you burn doing a particular activity will not be the same as what someone else burns. It varies based on weight, gender and activity specifics. And, you're probably NOT burning 250-350 calories in 20 minutes of Hiit.gazpainter wrote: »Walking 15 to 20 mins total a mile burns around 80 calories
Exercise like hiit for 20 mins burns about 250 to 350.
Its all down to how quickly you want results.
You walk a mile a day 7 days a week, you burn 760 a week on top of daily burn.
Hiit 5 times a week for 20 mins (which is no time at all) will burn 1500.
So less exercise days but same amount of time and double the burn... Double the calories burned... Simple as that...
If you have more than 20lbs to lose... Trust me from experience, walking and diet will take over a year easily... And how long can you stay at a big calorie reduction without falling off the wagon?
21
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