Ongoing weight gain
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klfweo
Posts: 2 Member
Hi -
I have been using MFP for tracking EACH morsel of food that I eat. I have my FitBit linked as well. I am a dressage rider (horses). My FitBit calculates my steps/activity which translate to increased calories that are 'earned' in MFP. I have both ignored the additional calories allocated by the FitBit and have eaten the extra calories. Neither method is producing any weight loss. If I ignore the extra calories, I maintain my weight and if I eat the extra calories I gain. My goal is to lose weight. Any suggestions?
I have been using MFP for tracking EACH morsel of food that I eat. I have my FitBit linked as well. I am a dressage rider (horses). My FitBit calculates my steps/activity which translate to increased calories that are 'earned' in MFP. I have both ignored the additional calories allocated by the FitBit and have eaten the extra calories. Neither method is producing any weight loss. If I ignore the extra calories, I maintain my weight and if I eat the extra calories I gain. My goal is to lose weight. Any suggestions?
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Replies
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The formulas used for calculating caloric needs are based on averages. It's possible that you're an outlier for some reason and require fewer calories than the typical formula would suggest, or that your activity burns fewer than would be expected. How long have you been tracking using each method (eating back exercise calories or not eating them back)? Generally speaking you should do at least one month because water retention can mask fat loss on the scale, especially if you're female because there are cycle-related weight changes too. If the amount of weight you want to lose is small, and your desired caloric deficit is small, it may take a while for it to show up on the scale.
Other thoughts are how you measure your food (by weight will be more accurate than volume), as well as choosing accurate entries and using the recipe builder for home cooked foods rather than relying on entries made by others. If you make your diary public we can offer more tailored advice.
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I have done each method for 90 days. I weigh all food on a digital food scale.0
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There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings2
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What are your stats and what are your calories set at?
truly, without us being able to see your diary, we can not help much. We can take GUESSES but its all throwing darts in the dark.
I promise we do NOT care WHAT you are eating. You could be eating oreos and frosted flakes for every meal and we wouldnt care (worry about your nutrition maybe, but other than that, not care) We just want to see that you are weighing your food accurately (you would be surprised how many people truly believe they are, but are not) and are choosing accurate database entries (it is loaded with INCORRECT entries, and it is easy to NOT know how to spot them)
look- this is what ive had so today. hardly the epitome of 'picture perfect eating'. frozen convenience food and reeses peanut butter cup and the same sugar loaded creamer i have every single morning
ill probably add some oreos or popcorn or something else by the time the night is over LOL
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Hi -
I have been using MFP for tracking EACH morsel of food that I eat. I have my FitBit linked as well. I am a dressage rider (horses). My FitBit calculates my steps/activity which translate to increased calories that are 'earned' in MFP. I have both ignored the additional calories allocated by the FitBit and have eaten the extra calories. Neither method is producing any weight loss. If I ignore the extra calories, I maintain my weight and if I eat the extra calories I gain. My goal is to lose weight. Any suggestions?
Do you wear the FitBit while riding? Not sure if FitBits count steps using an accelerometer, or simply track heart rate, but both methods (especially the first) would likely be overcounting if you're wearing it while riding. Yes, you are doing some work (in the sense of using energy) while riding, but the accelerometer especially is also giving you credit for work the horse is doing.4 -
Fellow dressage rider here! Hello!
I agree with what the others have posted - if eating back your "exercise calories" results in a gain then obviously that is too many calories.
I wear my Garmin whilst riding and it counts the horses steps as mine, so I don't actually count riding as exercise (even though it absolutely is).
My advice would be to open your diary, maybe re-evaluate your daily activity level (are you moderately active, sedentary?) and maybe drop a level of activity, eat to that new calorie goal and only add half your exercise calories from exercise other than on horse back (only because it is so hard to gauge calorie burn)
Are you riding multiple horses in training a day, or just the one?
(I am 160cms, 69kg, sedentary with rides 30-60 minutes 2-3 days a week - other exercise of 30-90 minute walk/runs in lead up to a 5km)3 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »What are your stats and what are your calories set at?
truly, without us being able to see your diary, we can not help much. We can take GUESSES but its all throwing darts in the dark.
I promise we do NOT care WHAT you are eating. You could be eating oreos and frosted flakes for every meal and we wouldnt care (worry about your nutrition maybe, but other than that, not care) We just want to see that you are weighing your food accurately (you would be surprised how many people truly believe they are, but are not) and are choosing accurate database entries (it is loaded with INCORRECT entries, and it is easy to NOT know how to spot them)
look- this is what ive had so today. hardly the epitome of 'picture perfect eating'. frozen convenience food and reeses peanut butter cup and the same sugar loaded creamer i have every single morning ill probably add some oreos or popcorn or something else by the time the night is over LOL
Sidenote: LOVE your meal names!4 -
I also ride, though not dressage. I have my smartwatch running map my run to get a calorie count for my rides, and don't use the step feature at all, and that seems to be working for me. You can check my diary if you like to see. I get a double dip somehow because samsung health also adds calories for the same ride, so I make sure not to eat more than one rides worth of work.
According to the mapmyrun Calc, using both accelerometer and heart rate, I earn about 50-80 calories per 30 minute, 1.5 mile medium intensity ride. If you're getting significantly more than that I think your fitbit It's probably overestimating.0 -
If using your Fitbit doesn't work for you for tracking your exercise, activity and steps then stop using it.
(Or maybe just use it for sleep tracking and motivation to move more but not calories.)
Plenty of people have used either the MFP method or the average TDEE method to lose weight successfully.
Use the goal set up here or the TDEE calculator such as https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ to get a start point from which you can adjust if results don't follow expectations.1 -
What weight loss rate did you choose in your MFP settings, for the period you didn't eat back the exercise calories but maintained your weight? How many calories was that?
And when you ate back the exercise calories, how many calories did that add per day? How much weight did you gain over those 90 days?
In your case I'd be tempted to skip the TDEE calculator and just take off 250 calories from what you ate when you maintained your weight and see how that works. If you're counting your calories correctly, you might simply have a slower metabolism than average causing you to not lose weight.
We often say here that people need to adjust their calorie goal based on their actual results because we're all different, this seems a very good example of that!0 -
MargaretYakoda wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »What are your stats and what are your calories set at?
truly, without us being able to see your diary, we can not help much. We can take GUESSES but its all throwing darts in the dark.
I promise we do NOT care WHAT you are eating. You could be eating oreos and frosted flakes for every meal and we wouldnt care (worry about your nutrition maybe, but other than that, not care) We just want to see that you are weighing your food accurately (you would be surprised how many people truly believe they are, but are not) and are choosing accurate database entries (it is loaded with INCORRECT entries, and it is easy to NOT know how to spot them)
look- this is what ive had so today. hardly the epitome of 'picture perfect eating'. frozen convenience food and reeses peanut butter cup and the same sugar loaded creamer i have every single morning ill probably add some oreos or popcorn or something else by the time the night is over LOL
Sidenote: LOVE your meal names!
LOL leave it to me to not do anything normal, right?
you cant see it cause its cut off, but my first meal is 'Coffee. Don't talk to me.'
I agree too, with those commenting about the fitbit possibly giving too many calories for the riding. Something seeing the diary would answer.
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I have done each method for 90 days. I weigh all food on a digital food scale.
This would indicate that when you ate at a certain level for 90 days and maintained: that was your maintenance level. I'm not sure of your stats or how much weight you need/want to lose. But a simple starting point would be to reduce from that # by 200-300 and expect to see about 2 pounds per month gone.2 -
I use a Garmin linked to MFP from over 2 months, weighing and tracking all food. I’m missing about 250 calories per day between exercise and under estimating food calories. Sounds like you have a similar error and the simple solution is stated by the poster above. GL!0
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »Hi -
I have been using MFP for tracking EACH morsel of food that I eat. I have my FitBit linked as well. I am a dressage rider (horses). My FitBit calculates my steps/activity which translate to increased calories that are 'earned' in MFP. I have both ignored the additional calories allocated by the FitBit and have eaten the extra calories. Neither method is producing any weight loss. If I ignore the extra calories, I maintain my weight and if I eat the extra calories I gain. My goal is to lose weight. Any suggestions?
Do you wear the FitBit while riding? Not sure if FitBits count steps using an accelerometer, or simply track heart rate, but both methods (especially the first) would likely be overcounting if you're wearing it while riding. Yes, you are doing some work (in the sense of using energy) while riding, but the accelerometer especially is also giving you credit for work the horse is doing.
I'm pretty sure they use an accelerometer - I usually get between 6,000 and 8,000 steps during my morning bike rides, but a vigorous weight lifting session (like leg days) where I don't move around a lot doesn't have the same effect.0
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