Don't think I am eating enought to lose?

hyperkate
hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
edited October 3 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I am on 1270 cals a day and exercise around 5 times a week. I have worked out from my weight and height and activity, using the bmr calculation etc that I need just over 2200 cals a day to maintain my weight. From what I am eating and what I need to maintain I should be losing 2lbs a week but am not? Some days I am over my calories and some days under but they stay within all my fat, protein, sodium levels etc. I am building muscle tone so know that I am losing fat weight but gaining muscle weight but my scales ahven't shifted in weeks now. Do I up my calorie intake as I cannot lower it anymore. Am just looking for a bit of advice if anyone is in the know please? I use 3kg weights at home and do shred and 6 week 6 pack. I walk around 5/6 miles a week through exercise not including walking my kids to school and back (I dont count that) I use the gym 1/2 times a week doing 25 mins of cardio each time and 25 mins of strength training. Thanks in advance for any responses I get. Oh and I am only 10lbs from my goal weight. But sitting at 10lbs away for this long is really getting to me

Replies

  • cmiles23
    cmiles23 Posts: 234 Member
    if you are burning calories by exercise you need to eat back those calories, you should only be at 500 calories deficit.
  • hyperkate
    hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
    but that's to lose only 1lb a week by calculations, I am not even losing that?
  • RaeannePemberton
    RaeannePemberton Posts: 382 Member
    do you log your workouts, eat calories back? how much do you want to lose? there are many factors..... how much have you lost? you can always play with the numbers... it's true that you have to eat to lose.... for sure. and if you eat too little you can actually hurt your metabolism. 1270 is crazy low if that's your intake, but if that's net then that's a different story..... if i were you i would shoot for a 500 to 700 calorie deficit overall.....
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    eat your exercise cals!
  • yager8725
    yager8725 Posts: 267 Member
    im having same problem. I have noticed some people say never eat back exercise and others say to eat back. i'll be watching your answers!
  • hyperkate
    hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
    Some days I have only eaten 900ish cals and some days I have eaten 1800. So if i need 2200ish to maintain my weight including the exercise I do then I reckon I should be on around 1700 a day. I may need to up my calories a bit. I aim for 1270 a day if not exercising.
  • charmainecurrie
    charmainecurrie Posts: 435
    1/2 pounds per week
    when you only have 10 pounds to loose..
  • elizamc
    elizamc Posts: 285 Member
    im having same problem. I have noticed some people say never eat back exercise and others say to eat back. i'll be watching your answers!
    Ditto!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Just becaue you want to lose 2 lbs per week, doesn't mean your body will allow it. Looking at your picture, you truely don't look like you have much to lose. People that 50+ lbs to lose, can set their goal at 2 lbs, 20 lbs -50 lbs can do 1 lb per week and if you have less than 20, it should only be .5 lbs per week.


    Also, this website already includes a deficit so if you exercise then you are creating a much larger one. Keep in mind, that if you only eat 1200 calories and burn 600 calories, its like only eating 600 calories. Also keep in mind that food is fuel, without your body will hold onto the fat to perserve energy for when it needs it.

    Below is what you are burning each day based on lifestyle and a 1833 BMR

    Sedentary - 2200 (assuming this is how you are calculating your maintenance calories)
    Lightly Active - 2520
    Moderately Active - 2841
    Very Active - 3162


    By working out 5 days a week, you will be moderately active (assuming you have a desk job) That means, you are burning about 2841 calories a day. That means, to lose weight (1 lb per day more than likely) you should be eating 2310 calories. This is one approach. The second approach is to gauge yoru basic lifestyle (so if you stil behind a desk) you should eat 1700 calories a day and then eat back your exercise calories.

    To let you know, my BMR is about 2050. I eat 2800 calories and that is set up for weight loss (300 calorie deficit) as I am concentrating on building muscle. Hope this helps. If you want to know more let me know.

    Lemon
  • Liz1978
    Liz1978 Posts: 1
    I had the same problem with my weight. I try to switch up my eating habits every few weeks. For 14 days I eat back my calories and the other 14 days I do not eat them back. I have found that I have to keep it different and changing. I also started a circuit routine along with my walking, its made a big change. Dont let this get you down, your on your last 10 and it always gets harder at the end. Hope this helps.
  • hyperkate
    hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
    thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)
  • aj_rock
    aj_rock Posts: 390 Member
    Hold up. If you know you're losing fat weight and gaining muscle, what's the problem? Pure weight loss shouldn't be your goal! Do what you're doing; lose the fat, gain the muscle!
  • karenxdixon
    karenxdixon Posts: 14 Member
    I was moaning about exactly this to my boyfriend this morning. He advised that I should be keeping my heart rate at a certain level for fat burning when I exersize, The calculation is 225 minus your age and then 65% of that figure will be the exersize heart rate you should maintain.
    Does anyone have any thoughts on this...?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

    i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!
  • sweetiebelle
    sweetiebelle Posts: 332 Member
    The last 10 is not easy. I had to change up my workouts. That worked a little. I took a week off of exercising, that worked for me. If have to do something different, you body gets used to the same things. The last 10 is hard.
  • hyperkate
    hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
    thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

    i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!

    It doesn't mean I can't eat more?? I was asking for advice and just explaining a bit about my life, that's all. I don't get what you mean?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    thanks guys. My problem is I want to do everything. I love Jillian michaels so do her shred and 6 pack. I love walking so try to do this twice a week and I love the gym so try to do this twice a week too. It changes on a weekly basis but I also have to fit in 3 kids and their sport and school activities etc, oh and work, where I do sit at a desk. I am also studying a sports nutrition course so I can be a sports nutritionist (only just started), I know what I want but just want it now. I know its a lifestyle though not a quick fix. Thanks everyone :-)

    i'm not trying to be mean, but how does any of that mean u cant eat more?!


    It doesn't mean I can't eat more?? I was asking for advice and just explaining a bit about my life, that's all. I don't get what you mean?

    i just mean that the general consensus from people is that you arent losing an more weight because you are eating too little for all the exercise that you do.

    So carry on with all the workouts as you obviously really enjoy them, and eat your exercise cals!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    Even if you were eating "too little," it wouldn't preclude you from eventually losing weight. Just look at anorexics. Sure, it might mess with short term water flux, thus masking tissue loss on the scale. But eventually thermodynamics will win out. If they don't, that means something's wrong medically or your calorie estimates in terms of intake and/or expenditure are off, which is very likely.

    None of this really matters, since, as it's been pointed out, you shouldn't be shooting for such a lofty rate of weight loss at your size. But for the sake of information integrity... eating too little won't automatically make you store weight. I talked about plateaus, adaptive thermogenesis and quite a bit more that would help you with your questions in this article:

    www.body-improvements.com/resources/eat
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I was moaning about exactly this to my boyfriend this morning. He advised that I should be keeping my heart rate at a certain level for fat burning when I exersize, The calculation is 225 minus your age and then 65% of that figure will be the exersize heart rate you should maintain.
    Does anyone have any thoughts on this...?

    The "fat burning zone" is an out of date idea that is has pretty much been dis-proven. Yes, you burn more "fat" when you exercise at that level but what is more important is over calorie deficit, so over all calories burned, and high intensity exercise = more calories burned.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    1/2 pounds per week
    when you only have 10 pounds to loose..

    This. It's what I've been doing (most of the time, except the last month) in addition to eating exercise calories.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    I was moaning about exactly this to my boyfriend this morning. He advised that I should be keeping my heart rate at a certain level for fat burning when I exersize, The calculation is 225 minus your age and then 65% of that figure will be the exersize heart rate you should maintain.
    Does anyone have any thoughts on this...?

    The "fat burning zone" is an out of date idea that is has pretty much been dis-proven. Yes, you burn more "fat" when you exercise at that level but what is more important is over calorie deficit, so over all calories burned, and high intensity exercise = more calories burned.

    Right-o.

    Heck, the greatest percentage of fat utilization comes when we're resting... so why not rest our ways to leaner physiques?

    :p
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I think a lot of us think we're being lazy, that we should be doing more, more, more, when we rest for a day. It's really as important as exercise!

    I'll echo what they all said. Eat more... your deficit is too much for the small amount of weight you want to lose. When I started eating more (netting 1500, usually eating a total of 1800-2000 with exercise calories), my energy level skyrocketed, I felt happier, and everything got easier. I was able to do pushups from toes instead of from knees, crunches were easier, lifting was easier, running was faster. My "weight loss" was slower, as it should be, but my body composition improved so much that the scale didn't matter.
  • hyperkate
    hyperkate Posts: 178 Member
    thanks all! Have changed my daily intake to 1500 net. Am ill at the mo so have had 2 days off the exercise and will just go for a walk tomorrow instead of the gym. Will see what happens in the next month :-)
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
    I thought i should listen to others on here so i overly enjoyed eating my exercise calories back. Scale did not move.

    I realized it didnt make sense, so i stopped eating my exercise calories and did a challenge to burn 3500 cals a week and the scale is dropping....well, until the weekend comes lol.

    I also changed my needs to lose .5 lbs a week instead of 1, so i guess some could say im eating the exercise cals back, but i burn about 600 a day..so not really :)
  • Jhanahan
    Jhanahan Posts: 3
    You are right, you should intake more, but there is one other thing to think about. You have to change things up. Change what you eat and the exercises that you do. The body has a great memory and it learns how to work at the most efficiant rate. If you stay in the same pattern all the time you will not see the same results --- Oh yeah and eat!!!!!!!!!
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