How Do You Know...I Have No Clue!

KeepItOff4Life
KeepItOff4Life Posts: 62 Member
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
How do you know the amount of calories that is right for you? Do you eat more to find out, or eat less? I've done both, and I am totally clueless. I love my support group on here, especiall Miss Shovav! BUT, our goals are different, so habits are different.

So how in the world do I figure out what works for me. I dropped 10 lbs, and now I am stagnant...I mean like old nasty water with mosquitoes flying around. I lowered my calories thinking that would help, it didn't. I ate more, NOPE!

Oh, and this whole eating back calories.... Ok, i get it... I really do (not really), but I am SO AFRAID that I am eating WAY too much when I up my intake. Today, I haven't had a lot (Elle DO NOT look at my diary), but I'm not hungry...not even a little bit. I drink 10-12 cups of water a day (it's actually more because I walk around with a 24oz cup and only count 18 of them because of ice and stuff..just hte ice, better not be any stuff in my cup!).

Now really, I need help. I really really do. I have lost weight before, and I just knew I knew what I was doing, but I don't...that was PRE-baby weight! I am too short to weigh this much!

Replies

  • whisperingdragon
    whisperingdragon Posts: 334 Member
    Listen to your body. If you are hungry eat, if not don't. Some days I can eat up to 3,000 calories and other days I eat around 800. It all evens out for me.
  • jendavis07
    jendavis07 Posts: 66 Member
    You might want to try visiting a nutrionist. They may be able to help you figure out the best meal plan for you and what's right for you. Good luck!! :)
  • ♥_Ellybean_♥
    ♥_Ellybean_♥ Posts: 1,646 Member
    Trial and error, listen to you body, if your hungry eat, if your not don't. Also try playing with your carbs, MFP has a very high setting for carbs, try reducing it down to 1/2 and you may see results.
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,316 Member
    Listen to your body. If you are hungry eat, if not don't. Some days I can eat up to 3,000 calories and other days I eat around 800. It all evens out for me.

    I tried listening to my body.. it lied to me.
  • cmiles23
    cmiles23 Posts: 234 Member
    TRY ZIGZAGGING HERE IS A CALCULATOR TO SHOW AN EXAMPLE
    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
    AFTER YOU HIT CALCULATE CLICK UNDERNEATH WHERE IT SAYS 7 day calorie cycle (zig-zag),CLICK ON IT..... THIS HELPED ME!
  • jmruef
    jmruef Posts: 824 Member
    For me it really is trial and error. I eat when I'm hungry! The thing is, I try to eat smart - a serving of almonds, for example, for the protein - or a bit of cheese, or SOMETHING filling. (I'm not terribly creative. There are lots of repeats in my food diary.)

    I change up my workout once in a while, too, so I'm not doing the same thing for weeks on end. I have no idea what the science behind it is, if there even is any, but for some reason it seems to make a difference on the scale - doing cardio for a while then switching to circuit training w/ hand weights, then going to yoga.

    *shrug* Wish I had all the answers! Everyone would be healthy and fit and I'd be filthy stinkin' rich. :laugh:
  • robpett2001
    robpett2001 Posts: 320 Member
    Did you fill out the "Goals" section here on MFP, and are you following the calorie target it gave you? That should give you a pretty accurate target to aim for.

    For another calculator to help you find your calorie target, check out the BMR calculator here:
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr

    Fill in your info, then look at the "Daily Calories" for your activity level. That's how many calories your body needs to operate. You can cut 300-400 calories off of that number to be losing weight...and in fact, I bet that number is probably fairly close to whatever MFP gives you, roughly speaking.
  • cr0wneddynam0
    cr0wneddynam0 Posts: 7 Member
    I think that if you are following the calories that MFP recommends for you that you should see results. I weigh just under 220 and MFP says that may intake should be 1,290 calories, it's close to 6x your weight, which is actually pretty aggressive. I don't eat less than that, but I try to not exceed 1600 calories either, and that seems to work for me. I do work out on almost a daily basis though. The days that I go to Body Pump (Weight Lifting) I find that I lose more the next morning on the scale than on the days when I just do cardio. Being someone who has struggled alot with figuring out what my body wants me to do in order to let go of the pounds, this is what has worked for me. I know many women who aim for the 1500-1600 calorie mark per day, maybe start with that. Also look at where you are getting your calories. For me sodium doesn't really affect my weight loss, but added sugar does, so I try to limit that as much as possible.
  • AdrienneinTO
    AdrienneinTO Posts: 111 Member
    It's hard to say without being able to see your food/exercise diary. Here are a few basics that I've come up with based on my experience. Feel free to add me if you'd like.

    - You probably should not eat fewer calories than your BMR (check it under Tools). For me, that's about 1350 calories a day. Set that as your goal in MFP (forget the 1 lb per week or whatever).
    - Exercise, using a HRM to give you an accurate measure of the # of calories that you are burning.
    - If you are trying to lose weight just by dieting, I personally don't think that you will get far.
    - Eat back at least some of the calories that you burn. As an example, I will burn 500 calories in a day and eat between 1600-1850.
    - Zig-zagging is probably helpful. I do it by accident/due to real life. My low-calorie days might be eating 1600 and burning 500 (net calories of 1100). My high-calorie days might be no exercise (rest day) and 3 nice meals (net 1900 calories).
    - Eat healthy food, as little processed junk as possible.

    I hope that helps.
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