Losing hope instead of weight :(
Replies
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If you are logging accurately and maintaining your determined calorie deficit over the course of 4-6 weeks or more, you *should* see a change either on the scale, body comp or measurements. If you aren't, then it maybe time to see a doctor.
The reason most people haven't suggested that is that 99% of the time when we see posts like yours, it's not a medical issue but usually inaccurate logging. So if you are absolutely sure you're doing everything you need to do to create a deficit and waiting long enough to see results, then blood work is probably the next step.
I didn't see this asked... Are you on any kind of medication? Health issues? High-stress job/school? How much sleep do you get?
I don't think it's yet time to see a doctor. See my comment on water weight. We don't know how heavy TO is and whether the chosen deficit is realistic, nor do we know how often she steps on the scale. Say she does so once a week and can realistically only achieve a deficit of 0.5lbs. This small change can be hidden by water weight after a binge, or due to menstrual cycle. We really need more info to give proper advice.5 -
The first thing that jumps out to me is the phrase "cheat days". You can easily undo an entire week (or more) in one cheat day.
Absolutely! This is how I used to "maintain" my weight: I'd be good 6 days a week, eat at a deficit, then... WOO HOO! Party at the pub! Drinks, burgers, appetizers... more drinks
. One night out would set me back the whole week. Then rinse, wash, repeat. It worked for me for a long time, but yes not even one day off, but ONE MEAL OUT was enough to blow a whole weeks worth of work.
It took 3-4 days just to lose all the water weight from the carbs and sodium, FWIW.
If you are just starting your journey, I wouldn't recommend falling off the wagon for a few months to have a cheat meal, cheat day, day off, whatever you want to call it. Stick to the plan and figure out what works for you for a while first. Then you can manage your expectations better and decide if its worth it or not to deviate from time to time.
Good Luck!5 -
How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?
A decent source for walking calorie estimates is here:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Be sure to select "Net" in the "Energy" box.
You need to know the speed, and amount of time, plus personal characteristics. There are other boxes there (like Grade), and might fine-tune the estimate if you know them, but they're optional.4 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao
Maybe give some thought to what a success mindset looks like?
You asked a question, got the attention of a good selection of MFP-ers, including some who've been long-term successful at losing excess weight and keeping it off. For free, they spent some of their time asking you questions and suggesting things that could possibly be part of the situation, given the limited information you provided.
Sure, those replies may be sub-par (worth every penny you paid for them?). Still, could be some useful nuggets in there, if gleaned calmly.
Faced with feeling (it seems) disbelieved and criticized, you get mad at those who've tried to help (however imperfectly they may have executed that attempt) . . . and seemingly also at everyone on the app, because we don't ever listen to you.
How likely is it that people will continue to try to help you (for free)? I admit, if the help is uniformly bad, then maybe that's a plus. Maybe it would go better for you on your own.
Perhaps this post seems mean, too; but that's absolutely not my intention. I'd absolutely like to see you (and anyone/everyone) succeed at weight management and health improvement, because I've personally experienced how wonderfully transformational that can be.
I'm certainly old enough to be your granny, so this is just some internet granny advice, possibly slightly curmudgeonly. 🤷♀️
Quoting for truth:kshama2001 wrote: »xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao
Help us to help you by logging everything here where we can see it, including your cheat days. Otherwise, from the incomplete picture you provide, the only logical conclusion we can draw is that you are eating more than you acknowledge.
Don't take this personally, we see this here again and again, and studies find that too.
You've logged 5,538 calories for the past 7 days; 791 calories per day. What are we supposed to do with that information?20 -
Cliffs notes:
--Weight trend matters, not scale weight.
--Compare same points in monthly hormonal cycle
--Extremes get people no where:
** you can not sleep for days and then crash for a couple and can keep doing this for a few years... and after a few years you will no longer be able to and maintain your health.
** you can skip class and cram before the exams and once, twice, three times you will squeak through... and then discover that you actually missed the whole point since you pretty much learned *kitten all* from the whole endeavor (ask me how I know)
** you can watch no TV and then binge watch TV and then calculate your average and discover that you're watching more then a couple of hours of TV a day on average.
** you can eat nothing and then binge eat and discover that you're either losing or gaining an indeterminate amount of weight (because unless you're sampling your weight often enough and plotting the values you're unlikely to be able to differentiate between fat level changes and between changes in internal stomach contents on the way to disposal or fluid level changes in response to the biochemistry of your body that has to balance the trace minerals you ingest and keep you functioning in spite of what you go out of your way to do to it).
-- Nobody can function long term on sub 1000 Calories. In fact even 1200 is unlikely to even be remotely correct for a relatively young relatively not super short woman. You can try it and your body will continue to react (violently and detrimentally for your long term health) to it.
-- weight management is not "I am going to lose weight to go on vacation and wear a bikini by eating nothing for a couple of months"... that's the entry point to yo-yo dieting. And the short term mindset of getting to goal fast and without regard to consequences starting at a young age is why many people are using MFP in their middle and older years to try to get to a point where they can successfully manage their weight both to lose and to maintain.
There is nothing wrong with a weekly budget. There is something very wrong if you believe your weekly budget can consist of 700 Cal and 7000 Cal days.
Dampen the extreme swings.
If your budget is 1800 Cal a day, then CONSISTENTLY TRYING FOR six 1600 Cal days and a 3000 day is probably OK and probably do-able. CONSISTENTLY TRYING FOR Five 1200 Cal day and two 3300 Cal days is much much harder to do. And CONSISTENTLY TRYING FOR six 1200 Cal days followed by a 5400 Cal day is an incipient disaster. (Occasional SINGLE events can be shrugged off by most well functioning organisms, I'm talking something more regular than once a year here!)
Multiple 800 Cal days are a non starter.13 -
How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?
A decent source for walking calorie estimates is here:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Be sure to select "Net" in the "Energy" box.
You need to know the speed, and amount of time, plus personal characteristics. There are other boxes there (like Grade), and might fine-tune the estimate if you know them, but they're optional.
As depressing as it was, this calculator showed me during the year I gained and lost the same poundthat my fitbit's exercise calories were NOWHERE NEAR what my true exercise calories were. Once I started using the exrx.net calculation, I started losing again.4 -
How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?
A decent source for walking calorie estimates is here:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Be sure to select "Net" in the "Energy" box.
You need to know the speed, and amount of time, plus personal characteristics. There are other boxes there (like Grade), and might fine-tune the estimate if you know them, but they're optional.
This calculator seems to be using a multiplier of roughly 0.36 for average walking speeds in flat terrain. Thus 0.36* weight in lbs * distance in miles. Might be easier than figuring out how fast someone walks. The distance can for example be pulled out of google maps.1 -
How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?
A decent source for walking calorie estimates is here:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Be sure to select "Net" in the "Energy" box.
You need to know the speed, and amount of time, plus personal characteristics. There are other boxes there (like Grade), and might fine-tune the estimate if you know them, but they're optional.
As depressing as it was, this calculator showed me during the year I gained and lost the same poundthat my fitbit's exercise calories were NOWHERE NEAR what my true exercise calories were. Once I started using the exrx.net calculation, I started losing again.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Both fitbit and garmin give me crazy calorie burns for walking. Say I do a 20km hike in flat terrain. I don't do it often, but it might happen. Both devices would give me around 1800 calories. So that's probably gross calories, but even if I assume net I'd still be looking at 1500 calories or so. This calculator would give me about 600 calories. I feel that the truth might be a bit higher as there's still a difference between walking through a mall and walking in actual nature where nothing is truly flat, but it's eye opening.1 -
The difference won't be huge, but the calorie burn does vary according to speed. This is the basis for the calculator:
https://exrx.net/Aerobic/WalkCalExp
I went 'supernerd' and made my own calculator in a spreadsheet, but I also know the speed of all my walks and runs through my fitness tracker. For people who don't time their walks, a more simple formula certainly has its benefits too.1 -
I went 'supernerd' and made my own calculator in a spreadsheet, but I also know the speed of all my walks and runs through my fitness tracker. For people who don't time their walks, a more simple formula certainly has its benefits too.
I have a spreadsheet somewhere that compares this and similar equations (I usually use the slightly lower 0.3 and 0.67 multipliers) to an exercise test I once had, and amount of energy from fatty acids and glycogen. Don't ask... The lower multiplyers seem to provide a rather good fit for me, but all my movement is aimed at preserving energy as much as possible, like not lifting up feel properly, not walking on sidewalks because they constantly go up and down a bit, using lots of other small hacks. Btw, I'm getting likely two more exercise tests with a prof in sports medicine to figure out what's wrong with me
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How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?
A decent source for walking calorie estimates is here:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Be sure to select "Net" in the "Energy" box.
You need to know the speed, and amount of time, plus personal characteristics. There are other boxes there (like Grade), and might fine-tune the estimate if you know them, but they're optional.
Thank you for that!! My treadmill always tells me I've expended 250+ calories while walking 30 minutes at 3.5 mph but I know that's not so. It doesn't take into account my weight, etc. This chart helps immensely!!2 -
Loving Ann's and Pav's replies.
So much sense and wisdom there.
Ya know, I have to admit something. When I first started on MFP, I took affront to a lot of the wisdom dished out by these 2, plus others. Looking back, I realize now they're pretty smart, know what they're talking about and find I'm a willing audience of theirs now. It all came down to not wanting to hear what they had to say because it felt like it would take me forever to get to my goal, I didn't want to put forth the time and effort to get there.
I've learned a whole lot since I've joined and am grateful for all the wisdom, knowledge, time, and experience that these 2 posters, along with many others, offer us on a daily basis. It might not hurt to step back and calm down, realize they just might be right and tweak your routine OP.
Have a great day everyone!14 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao
Feel better now that you had your temper tantrum? Calm down, read, absorb information, and understand that each and every one of us are trying to HELP and if you will stop screaming and stamping your feet, you might just learn something.
I don't have patience for children when I'm well, and especially not when I'm as sick as I am right now.
If you are truly eating as little as your diary INDICATES, you would be losing weight. How do I know this? Well, science and fact aside, I was on a med a year ago that made me lose my appetite and it was all I could do to choke down 800-1000 calories a day. Many of my friends on here may remember that. My doctor forbade any kind of exercise. I live on a farm and while I cut down what I did, eliminating everything was obviously unavoidable. But even with that little to eat and an average of under 4000 steps per day, I was losing a SCARY amount of weight per week. 3-5 POUNDS per week. It took weeks of adjusting the medication for us to get it to a level where it was still effective to do what I needed it to do but not make me lose weight. And months for things to totally level out and for my appetite to return to something resembling normal.
My anecdotal story aside, is that unless you have a medical condition that is causing weight gain (and its unlikely, statistically speaking, though certainly possible), you are taking in those calories SOMEWHERE. Maybe its in bites (many) that arent being logged. Maybe in cheat days. Maybe in alcohol or other drinks with calories you forget about, maybe inaccurate database entries, maybe in eating back too many exercise calories if you are eating those back, maybe a combination of all of the above, whatever. Drinking more water is not going to result in weight loss, just more bathroom trips.
I know listening to us can be hard. I know it can feel like we are all against you and hate you. I PROMISE this is not the case. I am talking to you like I would my own kids, and my own friends. I dont sugarcoat things. But you always know where you stand with me I want you to succeed. As does Ann, and Pav, and Reenie, and my other friends on here, and those who have commented that I do not know well. You wont find better cheerleaders than any of us. You also won't find a better group of people for helping you to find the problem, and showing you how to fix it, even if you think its not a problem. Do what we say for 6 weeks. Log EVERYTHING. every. single. thing. check all of the entries you are using against the packaging. then average everything out. I'd be willing to bet you find the problem and start to see the scale move.
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Another thought I had, and forgive me if you mention it somewhere in this thread... How much are you trying to lose/what are your current stats (age/height/current weight)?
The reason I ask (just in case you don't see the reason for my question), is because when you have a lot of weight to lose, it is easier to get the scale to move. you have a larger margin of error in your deficit. You can make more mistakes and still lose weight. For a long time, in many cases. But when you have LESS to lose, say.... under 20 pounds, and the less you have, the harder it is, the less room for error you have.
So, if you only have 5-10 pounds of what we will call 'vanity weight' (though for that person it may not be 'vanity weight'), it is absolutely CRITICAL to be spot on accurate with your logging. And it sucks. Not gonna lie. Especially if you are new to it, and aren't used to doing it properly (which is why I advocate so hard for people to do it correctly from day one!).
For this reason, it takes longer to lose the weight. At least if you do it in a manner that isn't going to make you miserable and possibly make you give up or just gain it back if you DO lose it. Losing it at a slower rate (which means you will eat a bit more), is a better plan rather than setting your goals for the fastest rate possible (which would be the 2 pounds per week MFP caps out at). Depending on how much you have to lose, setting your rate of loss to a quarter to a half pound per week will give you more to eat (which means you are less likely to binge or lie to yourself about what you are eating). If you set it at a quarter pound per week, you may also find you can fit in an evening with friends and - dont CHEAT- but be REASONABLE- in your choices and STILL maintain a deficit for the week, although the scale may still tip up temporarily due to increased sodium. I eat out fairly often (maybe once a week on average, though I rarely drink anymore) and still lose weight when I want to and focus on it. And I am going to guess, roughly twice your age (I'm 44) and statistically probably shorter than you (5'1), so even in maintenance... I just dont get that many calories to begin with LMAO.4 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything ...
I have just a couple of observations/questions.
Chloe, What's your family look like genetically? Everyone on my mom's side has weight problems and most end up with diabetes. Genetically some of us just are unlucky. What I've found is that my body very much wants to shut down my metabolism when I'm in a significant caloric deficit. I have to work the other side of the equation and jack up "energy out" to have any success.
Have you consulted your doctor yet? Blood work might help get you some answers, maybe revealing something going on with hormones or metabolism.
I know that students are too busy to eat on any sort of normal schedule, but it makes it that much more important to make sure the quality of your food is as good as it can be.
I track my weight as a 5 day average to weed out some of the outlying numbers from excess salt/water weight and dehydration. It helps make sense of where I'm really at.
Everyone here is on your side and hoping for your success. I'm sorry that you're so discouraged. As others have said, there's a lot of knowledge to be found here, not all of it easy to hear and much of it just isn't universally applicable. Sort through what you will, take what is useful, but don't lose hope.
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao
Feel better now that you had your temper tantrum? Calm down, read, absorb information, and understand that each and every one of us are trying to HELP and if you will stop screaming and stamping your feet, you might just learn something.
I don't have patience for children when I'm well, and especially not when I'm as sick as I am right now.
If you are truly eating as little as your diary INDICATES, you would be losing weight. How do I know this? Well, science and fact aside, I was on a med a year ago that made me lose my appetite and it was all I could do to choke down 800-1000 calories a day. Many of my friends on here may remember that. My doctor forbade any kind of exercise. I live on a farm and while I cut down what I did, eliminating everything was obviously unavoidable. But even with that little to eat and an average of under 4000 steps per day, I was losing a SCARY amount of weight per week. 3-5 POUNDS per week. It took weeks of adjusting the medication for us to get it to a level where it was still effective to do what I needed it to do but not make me lose weight. And months for things to totally level out and for my appetite to return to something resembling normal.
My anecdotal story aside, is that unless you have a medical condition that is causing weight gain (and its unlikely, statistically speaking, though certainly possible), you are taking in those calories SOMEWHERE. Maybe its in bites (many) that arent being logged. Maybe in cheat days. Maybe in alcohol or other drinks with calories you forget about, maybe inaccurate database entries, maybe in eating back too many exercise calories if you are eating those back, maybe a combination of all of the above, whatever. Drinking more water is not going to result in weight loss, just more bathroom trips.
I know listening to us can be hard. I know it can feel like we are all against you and hate you. I PROMISE this is not the case. I am talking to you like I would my own kids, and my own friends. I dont sugarcoat things. But you always know where you stand with me I want you to succeed. As does Ann, and Pav, and Reenie, and my other friends on here, and those who have commented that I do not know well. You wont find better cheerleaders than any of us. You also won't find a better group of people for helping you to find the problem, and showing you how to fix it, even if you think its not a problem. Do what we say for 6 weeks. Log EVERYTHING. every. single. thing. check all of the entries you are using against the packaging. then average everything out. I'd be willing to bet you find the problem and start to see the scale move.
Yes, when I had the tick-borne illness Anaplasmosis I had zero appetite for a few weeks, was eating about 800 calories per day, and also lost weight very quickly.
When I see that someone is eating 800 calories and not losing weight, the logical conclusion is that they are not in fact eating 800 calories.
Chloe, please don't take this as a personal criticism. I've been logging faithfully for most of the past 8 years and STILL make mistakes. When I log as perfectly as possible, and eat most (but not all) of my exercise calories, I lose as expected over time.8 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »@nooshi713 that’s annoying because I’m having a cheat at this Saturday and Tuesdays for peoples birthdays
I’m going to from Monday up my water intake to 1 gallon a day as now I drink maybe 500mls a day that’s all so I think I have a lot of water weight.xx1chloe5xx wrote: »@nooshi713 that’s annoying because I’m having a cheat at this Saturday and Tuesdays for peoples birthdays I’m going to from Monday up my water intake to 1 gallon a day as now I drink maybe 500mls a day that’s all so I think I have a lot of water weight.
You can go out and have fun with friends without blowing a calorie budget. Pretty much every restaurant has chicken and salad with dressing on the side (or similar idea). People are the important part of celebrations. You don’t need to have a huge amount of calories from food or alcohol to enjoy people.7 -
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high.
That seems a very unrealistic calorie burn to me.
Now admittedly I havent used spread sheets, calculators and the like (an not as nerdy as some MFP=ers ) - but from my expereince as an average sized woman, about 100 calories per half hour would be about right.
100 may not be exactly right for you - but is going to be far closer to correct than 362.8 -
paperpudding wrote: »Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high.
That seems a very unrealistic calorie burn to me.
Now admittedly I havent used spread sheets, calculators and the like (an not as nerdy as some MFP=ers ) - but from my expereince as an average sized woman, about 100 calories per half hour would be about right.
100 may not be exactly right for you - but is going to be far closer to correct than 362.
I agree. I walk a lot. I'm 5'11' and weigh around 178. My burn for an hour of leisurely walking is 150. For 30 min I give myself 75 calories. If I'm walking briskly or jogging part of the time, I give myself more.3 -
I agree with the others who suggested that calorie burn for a 30 min walk is very inflated and likely inaccurate.3
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Isn't it so helpful when you'r blamed for your misery?
I say...Keep with it.. don't get discouraged. Just keep changing your strategy. If what you are doing now isn't working.. then analyze and rethink your plan. But, don't be down..and don't get discouraged.
I've tired and stopped a few strategies in my time .. then I found what worked for me. I did low carb, intermittent fasting and strict calorie counting.. and none of those worked for me. But they sure work for a lot of people on here. Eating rules work for me... and that is how I lose. You can do this. it is hard for all of us.3 -
I used to weigh 98kg and now I'm 68kg in a span of 8 months. The thing you need to do is to listen to your body.. eat when hungry and stop when almost full. Never eat to your full
And the major thing : Eat multiple times and eat less..
I used to eat 2 times a day my entire life and that resulted in me overeating a whole lot amount of food then I should.
I stopped using sugar too, as well as any snacks, candies or sweet stuff. I take lots of fruits, vegs, lean proteins. I also use oils (both saturated and non-saturated ones) but in very less amounts. I also try to consume less carbs where possible.
And remember to not starve please, it will make your body to store more fat instead of burning it.. so eat multiple times and eat less and your body will slowly but surely burn all extra fat reserves in your body. You will probably reach a dead end where it doesn't seem to lower weight further because most of the fat reserve in your body is empty. It may take years from there for your body to burn the remaining stubborn fat residues under your skin. But remember that it will do eventually if you stick to a long term diet and listen to your body. [Hint : Don't try keto or any special diet which is unrealistic to maintain for whole life and won't work in long term and don't cheat even for a day in a year lol]
In the end, know that you're doing all this for your own health and not due to people's opinion about you that how you should look or how you shouldn't look. When I was chubby people used to say I'm so damn fat and I should eat less, and when I'm lean they say I'm so weak why don't I eat ...
So just remember you eat for yourself and your body. Remember that weight loss only works when you stick with an easy and realistic diet plan for your whole life. Stay strong !1 -
GravesLord wrote: »I used to weigh 98kg and now I'm 68kg in a span of 8 months. The thing you need to do is to listen to your body.. eat when hungry and stop when almost full. Never eat to your full !
I think if most of us could listen to our body and stop eating when full we wouldn’t be here… overweight. I can’t speak for everyone but I am a fairly small person in height but I can put down A LOT of food without feeling full. I absolutely have to track my food or I will gain rather than lose. Maybe once you’ve tracked for a long time and are used to maintenance you could be used to the amounts of food that you need, but until then I would certainly track rather than “listen” to your body.20 -
Just scrolled through here quickly and I am concerned that I didn't see anyone mention this, but you need to calculate your TDEE (there are free calculators online) and maintain a modest deficit 300-500 calories per day below that. Too high of a deficit will not be sustainable nor healthy. You want to lose fat, not muscle and bone mass. Make sure to get enough protein, 30% of your calories should come from that. Another 30% from fats. You can adjust these macro goals in the MFP app. This will help keep you full longer and make your goals more achievable.
DO NOT give yourself extra calories from exercise, these estimates are never accurate. Be consistent and consume 300-500 calories less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. DO NOT rely on the MFP calorie goal calculator, it is not accurate.
Make sure to exercise a few times a week, go for a walk every day, lift some weights if you can. This will ensure you retain muscle while burning fat. The scale may not move but you will lose inches, look better, feel better, be healthier. Do not watch the scale every day, it's normal to fluctuate. Fat loss takes time. Be consistent and be patient.1 -
CrunchyDad wrote: »DO NOT give yourself extra calories from exercise, these estimates are never accurate. Be consistent and consume 300-500 calories less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. DO NOT rely on the MFP calorie goal calculator, it is not accurate.
MFP isn't less accurate than a TDEE calculator, it just uses a different system (exercise not included in the activity level).
I find the activity level descriptions of TDEE calculators woefully vague personally, just as likely to be wrong as what MFP gives us. And in MFP's system (exercise added separately) ignoring exercise burns (eating as if the exercise burn is zero, a number that is very certainly wrong) can lead to undereating if someone exercises a lot and/or has a low base calorie goal.
Both systems are flawed in the sense that they are estimates based on population averages and an individual may or may not be average. So people should use the numbers as a starting point and adapt based on results.9 -
First thing GravesLord - congrats on finding a way to lose the weight and for actually losing it!
Now, to address some of the things you said:GravesLord wrote: »I used to weigh 98kg and now I'm 68kg in a span of 8 months. The thing you need to do is to listen to your body.. eat when hungry and stop when almost full. Never eat to your full
This is commonly called intuitive eating and it can/does work for some people, for others it is a total disaster (me for example - I stopped listening to my body when I reached 280+ pounds... it was lying to me!)GravesLord wrote: »And the major thing : Eat multiple times and eat less..
Again, works for some and not for others - I have lost over 50 lbs eating a consistent 2 times a day. It really does not matter how many times you eat or when you eat, as long as you eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your current weight, you will lose weight.GravesLord wrote: »And remember to not starve please, it will make your body to store more fat instead of burning it..
Human bodies don't work this way - the body will not stop burning calories and storing fat because it is 'starving'. The only time there is a net storage of fat (increasing the fat on the body) is when you eat more calories than the body is burning.GravesLord wrote: »So just remember you eat for yourself and your body. Remember that weight loss only works when you stick with an easy and realistic diet plan for your whole life. Stay strong !
This statement I (and I think most of the folks on this site) totally agree with.10 -
First thing GravesLord - congrats on finding a way to lose the weight and for actually losing it!
Now, to address some of the things you said:GravesLord wrote: »I used to weigh 98kg and now I'm 68kg in a span of 8 months. The thing you need to do is to listen to your body.. eat when hungry and stop when almost full. Never eat to your full
This is commonly called intuitive eating and it can/does work for some people, for others it is a total disaster (me for example - I stopped listening to my body when I reached 280+ pounds... it was lying to me!)GravesLord wrote: »And the major thing : Eat multiple times and eat less..
Again, works for some and not for others - I have lost over 50 lbs eating a consistent 2 times a day. It really does not matter how many times you eat or when you eat, as long as you eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your current weight, you will lose weight.GravesLord wrote: »And remember to not starve please, it will make your body to store more fat instead of burning it..
Human bodies don't work this way - the body will not stop burning calories and storing fat because it is 'starving'. The only time there is a net storage of fat (increasing the fat on the body) is when you eat more calories than the body is burning.GravesLord wrote: »So just remember you eat for yourself and your body. Remember that weight loss only works when you stick with an easy and realistic diet plan for your whole life. Stay strong !
This statement I (and I think most of the folks on this site) totally agree with.
thank you for doing so patiently what I probably would not have had the patience to do today LOLGravesLord wrote: »I used to weigh 98kg and now I'm 68kg in a span of 8 months. The thing you need to do is to listen to your body.. eat when hungry and stop when almost full. Never eat to your full !
I think if most of us could listen to our body and stop eating when full we wouldn’t be here… overweight. I can’t speak for everyone but I am a fairly small person in height but I can put down A LOT of food without feeling full. I absolutely have to track my food or I will gain rather than lose. Maybe once you’ve tracked for a long time and are used to maintenance you could be used to the amounts of food that you need, but until then I would certainly track rather than “listen” to your body.
right??? I'm 5'1... I can out eat my husband most any day if I am so inclined LMAO granted, he's never had a weight issue in his life and is one of those rare people that really can eat whatever he wants and however much he wants and even after 50 years of age is still the same weight as he was at 24. jerk. LMAO
When im maintaining, I can do so one of two ways. I can NOT log and eat intuitively (being very mindful)... IF and ONLY IF I work out regularly OR if I am not working out, if I weigh and log my food.6 -
I'm going to suggest something that worked for me and then run away before the bombs land. Try adding in a few tablespoons olive oil everyday.
About a year ago I started eating 800 calories a day and after two weeks had lost nothing. This time I decided to try again following the Mediterranean diet recommended by my doctor. I'm also logging because I actually enjoy the weigh and measure part. So I've been averaging about 1200 per day and lost 13 pounds by the end of January (I only weigh once a month.) The oil helps break down body fat for fuel.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jnDxiD5aD2Y&list=WL&index=31 -
Slowfaster wrote: »I'm going to suggest something that worked for me and then run away before the bombs land. Try adding in a few tablespoons olive oil everyday.
About a year ago I started eating 800 calories a day and after two weeks had lost nothing. This time I decided to try again following the Mediterranean diet recommended by my doctor. I'm also logging because I actually enjoy the weigh and measure part. So I've been averaging about 1200 per day and lost 13 pounds by the end of January (I only weigh once a month.) The oil helps break down body fat for fuel.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jnDxiD5aD2Y&list=WL&index=3
But don't forget to log the olive oil.
@callsitlikeiseeit I hate your husband. But like you cuz you're actually shorter than me and that's rare! (I'm 5'2") 2 -
CrunchyDad wrote: »Just scrolled through here quickly and I am concerned that I didn't see anyone mention this, but you need to calculate your TDEE (there are free calculators online) and maintain a modest deficit 300-500 calories per day below that. Too high of a deficit will not be sustainable nor healthy. You want to lose fat, not muscle and bone mass. Make sure to get enough protein, 30% of your calories should come from that. Another 30% from fats. You can adjust these macro goals in the MFP app. This will help keep you full longer and make your goals more achievable.
I'm happy to hear that you've been successful approaching weight management this way - at least I assume that's why you're confident about this specific advice?
TDEE can work, but so can MFP's method of estimating calorie needs pre-exercise, and adding exercise calories when exercise is actually done. Either method has pros and cons, and either may work out better for one person vs. another.
I lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight just fine (less than a year), and have maintained for 6+ years since, carefully estimating my exercise calories (it's still just an estimate of course), and eating all of them back. For me, TDEE method would be much less practical: My exercise is weather dependent, seasonal, so varies a lot.
The 30% each for protein and fats wouldn't work for me, either: If I ate 30% protein, I'd be getting grams at a number about 1.25 times my body weight in pounds (1.65 times my estimated lean body mass!). That's completely unnecessary. Sure, if someone feels better doing that, it's fine. But it's not universally correct or needed. I don't need 30% fat either. Right around 20% is 0.45g per pound of bodyweight, which is fine. Fat isn't remotely filling for me, so why would I want more? (Men can usually get away with less than women health-wise, so I probably wouldn't even go for as much as I do if I were male.)DO NOT give yourself extra calories from exercise, these estimates are never accurate. Be consistent and consume 300-500 calories less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. DO NOT rely on the MFP calorie goal calculator, it is not accurate.
Make sure to exercise a few times a week, go for a walk every day, lift some weights if you can. This will ensure you retain muscle while burning fat. The scale may not move but you will lose inches, look better, feel better, be healthier. Do not watch the scale every day, it's normal to fluctuate. Fat loss takes time. Be consistent and be patient.
Yeah, I lost too fast at MFP's calorie estimate at first, had to eat more, but reading other people's stories here, I've come to understand that it's me that's non-average, not that the MFP estimates are inherently bad. MFP uses a standard research-based set of formulas to estimate calorie needs; it's as accurate as others, if understood and used correctly. It's just an average for similar people, not a magic crystal ball. . . which is also true for any decent TDEE calculator.
Many of us around here suggest people "test drive" a set of calorie estimates for a month or two, then adjust. That handles the situation that Lietchi mentioned, that some of us are more or less average than others. So, the test-drive is a good idea, whether using TDEE or MFP method.
The scale thing is individual, too. Yup, it's normal to fluctuate. Daily weighing has helped me understand what causes those fluctuations for my specific body, and how long they're likely to last, which is calming knowledge. I also like having more frequent data points to put into my weight trending app: Improves statistical validity over shorter timespans. But people who find weigh-ins stressful and demotivating may be better off weighing less often, sure.
Personalizing one's tactics to one's own preferences, strengths, limitations: I think that's pretty important. Cookie-cutter rules just aren't very tailored, may or may not be effective.6
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