is 1500 caliries really enought?
parisdufresne
Posts: 6 Member
I dont want to undereat.
I am 45, 113 kg male, I workout 3 times per week at home and I got like 1500 calories max to lose like 1 kg per week....
I see many times I eat even less and do not lose weight. I stay at home all the time now.
and I am vegan.....why I am not losing weight is a big mystery to me....
I am 45, 113 kg male, I workout 3 times per week at home and I got like 1500 calories max to lose like 1 kg per week....
I see many times I eat even less and do not lose weight. I stay at home all the time now.
and I am vegan.....why I am not losing weight is a big mystery to me....
2
Replies
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How are you measuring your food intake? Do you use a scale? It's really common to underestimate how much we eat.
If you shoot for a slower weight loss, you'll get more calories. Don't forget to eat back calories from exercise. The number MFP gives you is just for daily living.
You are wise to be concerned about undereating. It can have negative health effects. Consider calculating your maintenance calories just for fun. Anything under that and you should lose weight. If it's just a little under, the weight loss will be slow. You'll also need to recalculate your calorie target as you lose weight because it takes fewer calories to support the smaller you that you will become.3 -
So you have to remember that the "2000 calories in a normal diet" thing is a sham.
Everyone's metabolisms are different.
Personally in order to lose weight I need to:
- Keep my calories under 1600 a week
- Walk a minimum of 10k steps a day, EVERY day
- 1 hour of cardio, 3 times per week
- Balance my Carbs/Protein/Fat at about 33% each
With all of that I maintain a weight loss rate of around 0.8 kg per week.
In my experience, many people with a slow metabolism will see small or non-existent weight loss from diet alone.
I did an experiment with myself starting at 2,000 (where I was definitely gaining weight) and cutting my calories by about 100 every 2-3 weeks to see when I would start losing weight.
I got as low as 1,200 (definitely in the unhealthy diet range for someone of my height) and still wasn't losing any weight, just maintaining.
It wasn't until I massively upped my daily exercise, PLUS calorie restriction that I saw results.
To give you an example, before I was getting MAYBE 750 - 1250 steps in a day. So I've worked myself up to 10x that (10k per day) plus the cardio.
Also, I had to turn off that "Adjust calories for exercise" feature of MFP. It's annoying, and adds WAYYYYYY too many calories for exercise (probably on purpose since the only way you can turn it off is to pay for the app).
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How are you measuring your food intake? Do you use a scale? It's really common to underestimate how much we eat.
If you shoot for a slower weight loss, you'll get more calories. Don't forget to eat back calories from exercise. The number MFP gives you is just for daily living.
You are wise to be concerned about undereating. It can have negative health effects. Consider calculating your maintenance calories just for fun. Anything under that and you should lose weight. If it's just a little under, the weight loss will be slow. You'll also need to recalculate your calorie target as you lose weight because it takes fewer calories to support the smaller you that you will become.
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I’ve really tried to pay close attention to caloric density and macros. I found that if I didn’t stay somewhat close to my recommended macros that I either crashed midday or went through the day hungry AND still didn’t lose weight. While paying attention to the macros is the goal, it is hard to do and I am making baby steps towards compliance. You are not alone KaceeAnne83 and there are a lot of great people on MFP that can offer suggestions on what helped them.1
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parisdufresne wrote: »I dont want to undereat.
I am 45, 113 kg male, I workout 3 times per week at home and I got like 1500 calories max to lose like 1 kg per week....
I see many times I eat even less and do not lose weight. I stay at home all the time now.
and I am vegan.....why I am not losing weight is a big mystery to me....
Actually no on some of what you think occurred.
You got 1500 calories for the minimum goal for a sedentary male. Because you picked the max weight loss rate.
May not be reasonable for your body. Of course your mind wants fastest - but that backfires for upwards of 80% of dieters that fail to reach or maintain goal weight.
That 1500 goal would be on days with NO workout.
And if you are truly sedentary - desk job, when done then home and hit the couch and then bed all evening and weekend outside the 3 workouts, no kids, pets or household responsibilities. That's sedentary.
You would be eating more on workout days because you are doing more.
Life lesson on weight management there.
Of course the other direction is the kicker, eat less when you do less.
As to not loosing weight - are you weighing everything you eat, especially calorie dense foods that have fat.
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The_Stargazer wrote: »So you have to remember that the "2000 calories in a normal diet" thing is a sham.
Everyone's metabolisms are different.
Personally in order to lose weight I need to:
- Keep my calories under 1600 a week
- Walk a minimum of 10k steps a day, EVERY day
- 1 hour of cardio, 3 times per week
- Balance my Carbs/Protein/Fat at about 33% each
With all of that I maintain a weight loss rate of around 0.8 kg per week.
In my experience, many people with a slow metabolism will see small or non-existent weight loss from diet alone.
I did an experiment with myself starting at 2,000 (where I was definitely gaining weight) and cutting my calories by about 100 every 2-3 weeks to see when I would start losing weight.
I got as low as 1,200 (definitely in the unhealthy diet range for someone of my height) and still wasn't losing any weight, just maintaining.
It wasn't until I massively upped my daily exercise, PLUS calorie restriction that I saw results.
To give you an example, before I was getting MAYBE 750 - 1250 steps in a day. So I've worked myself up to 10x that (10k per day) plus the cardio.
Also, I had to turn off that "Adjust calories for exercise" feature of MFP. It's annoying, and adds WAYYYYYY too many calories for exercise (probably on purpose since the only way you can turn it off is to pay for the app).
Do you use a digital food scale?2 -
4 -
The_Stargazer wrote: »So you have to remember that the "2000 calories in a normal diet" thing is a sham.
Everyone's metabolisms are different.
Personally in order to lose weight I need to:
- Keep my calories under 1600 a week
- Walk a minimum of 10k steps a day, EVERY day
- 1 hour of cardio, 3 times per week
- Balance my Carbs/Protein/Fat at about 33% each
With all of that I maintain a weight loss rate of around 0.8 kg per week.
In my experience, many people with a slow metabolism will see small or non-existent weight loss from diet alone.
I did an experiment with myself starting at 2,000 (where I was definitely gaining weight) and cutting my calories by about 100 every 2-3 weeks to see when I would start losing weight.
I got as low as 1,200 (definitely in the unhealthy diet range for someone of my height) and still wasn't losing any weight, just maintaining.
It wasn't until I massively upped my daily exercise, PLUS calorie restriction that I saw results.
To give you an example, before I was getting MAYBE 750 - 1250 steps in a day. So I've worked myself up to 10x that (10k per day) plus the cardio.
Also, I had to turn off that "Adjust calories for exercise" feature of MFP. It's annoying, and adds WAYYYYYY too many calories for exercise (probably on purpose since the only way you can turn it off is to pay for the app).
Your n=1 personal results are just that. They have as much relevance to OP as my n=1 results, which are that I'm losing weight as a 5'5" (165cm), 125ish pound (57kg), 65 y/o female eating over 2000 calories daily on average, while getting well under 5000 steps most days, eating all my exercise calories, and consistently eating close to 50% carbs. (Since OP is a vegan, many of his good whole-foods protein sources will come with carbs, BTW (I'm vegetarian).)
Most of the rest of the crew above are giving OP advice based on research that's generally applicable across the population, on average. I'm an outlier. You may be an outlier, dunno. Research-based population averages - not n=1 from possible outlier people - would be a good place for OP to start. By definition, most people are close to average.2 -
You didn't specify your height but given your age and weight you should be able to lose weight at well above 1500 calories. Some of the most likely scenarios are:
- You aren't really eating 1500 calories -- something is off in the way you are tracking
- You possibly haven't been tracking long enough to have good data.
- You are actually losing fat but you can't "see it" because of water weight or a misunderstanding of weight fluctuations
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Your n=1 personal results are just that. They have as much relevance to OP as my n=1 results, which are that I'm losing weight as a 5'5" (165cm), 125ish pound (57kg), 65 y/o female eating over 2000 calories daily on average, while getting well under 5000 steps most days, eating all my exercise calories, and consistently eating close to 50% carbs. (Since OP is a vegan, many of his good whole-foods protein sources will come with carbs, BTW (I'm vegetarian).)
I'll add my n=1 to equal n=2
I've always lost weight at the rate expected based on TDEE calculators based on my age and activity level. I'm 54, 5'7" and 177 lbs and can easily lose weight eating 2000 calories per day at my activity level -- which is fairly active now (working out 6 - 7 days per week).
Are there exceptions ? Sure. But those are just that ... rare and exceptional. For most of us we just need to track accurately and give the results time to take effect and avoid snap judgement based on small sample sizes.3 -
KaceeAnne83 wrote: »How are you measuring your food intake? Do you use a scale? It's really common to underestimate how much we eat.
If you shoot for a slower weight loss, you'll get more calories. Don't forget to eat back calories from exercise. The number MFP gives you is just for daily living.
You are wise to be concerned about undereating. It can have negative health effects. Consider calculating your maintenance calories just for fun. Anything under that and you should lose weight. If it's just a little under, the weight loss will be slow. You'll also need to recalculate your calorie target as you lose weight because it takes fewer calories to support the smaller you that you will become.
Honestly, I don't weigh my food. My dr told me to use this app. I don't know where to buy a scale to weigh food. But, from all the posts ive noticed quite a few people do it, so I probably should. Because I'm going by the nutrition facts, where it says unprepared and then prepared. So, I have seen people say weigh it before prepared, weight it after. So, I would assume I putting prepared weight in the diary. But, what is the proper way? I'm trying to do this right, because honestly i am normally extremely underweight. Always have been. Then bam, i gained over 65lbs in a yr and a half. I never had issues losing weight. But, I'm 37 and now metabolism is slowing....I haven't weighed myself since I started a week ago. Îm nervous to. I didn't have a scale for a reason. It made me sad. But, I have noticed changes. Which I know are healthy, and muscle weighs more than fat, so I may have gained weight. I eat more than I did before this, but it's healthier, and smaller portions. So, I'm on my way! So...next a food scale! Thank you everyone, this is wonderful support, great advice!0 -
KaceeAnne83 wrote: »I don't know where to buy a scale to weigh food.
It's a great tool, and you can get them fairly inexpensive. I have no idea where on the planet you live. Around here, most department stores have them in the section with things like oven thermometers, measuring cups, and canning lids. Or you can look online. I bought mine at an employee-owned discount store. It wasn't expensive, so I wasn't sure it would last long. I just replaced the battery, so it's on its third now. It's still accurate when I calibrate it against a known weight.
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KaceeAnne83 wrote: »KaceeAnne83 wrote: »How are you measuring your food intake? Do you use a scale? It's really common to underestimate how much we eat.
If you shoot for a slower weight loss, you'll get more calories. Don't forget to eat back calories from exercise. The number MFP gives you is just for daily living.
You are wise to be concerned about undereating. It can have negative health effects. Consider calculating your maintenance calories just for fun. Anything under that and you should lose weight. If it's just a little under, the weight loss will be slow. You'll also need to recalculate your calorie target as you lose weight because it takes fewer calories to support the smaller you that you will become.
Honestly, I don't weigh my food. My dr told me to use this app. I don't know where to buy a scale to weigh food. But, from all the posts ive noticed quite a few people do it, so I probably should. Because I'm going by the nutrition facts, where it says unprepared and then prepared. So, I have seen people say weigh it before prepared, weight it after. So, I would assume I putting prepared weight in the diary. But, what is the proper way? I'm trying to do this right, because honestly i am normally extremely underweight. Always have been. Then bam, i gained over 65lbs in a yr and a half. I never had issues losing weight. But, I'm 37 and now metabolism is slowing....I haven't weighed myself since I started a week ago. Îm nervous to. I didn't have a scale for a reason. It made me sad. But, I have noticed changes. Which I know are healthy, and muscle weighs more than fat, so I may have gained weight. I eat more than I did before this, but it's healthier, and smaller portions. So, I'm on my way! So...next a food scale! Thank you everyone, this is wonderful support, great advice!
weighing everything out with a scale/measuring spoons has become second nature to me. you'd be surprised what you THINK a tablespoon of peanut butter is compared to how litttttttttttttttttle you're actually getting once you dip that measured tablespoon in and scrape it out. it's just something to get used to and i'm glad i've adopted this habit as it's important for maintaining *well right now a few covid pounds to get off* my weight.
*damn nemesis peanut butter!*
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Peanut butter especially. And calorie dense things like it.
Best way I measure those things is tare the scale with the jar on (no lid), then scoop some out. The number is negative, but that’s how many grams came out.
And I already measured what I lick off the knife.2 -
me before using actual measuring spoon for peanut butter:
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@lisamestiza2021
You dog you!
Oh. And pass the jelly....
I can totally sit down with a jar and a spoon and.... Almond butter is even worse. I mean better. I mean worse. I mean.....Yeah That.
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So true!0
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