Confused and bummed

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MartyHeidi
MartyHeidi Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hello everyone, I've been trying my best to stay at or below my MFP Calorie suggestion, and not eating back the calories I've burned through exercise. I've been exercising a minimum of 60 minutes per day at least 5 days per week. Mostly cardio, treadmill, bike & elliptical, working with a personal trainer once a week on strength & resistance and I'm bummed about how slow the weight is coming off. My weight started at 306 back on December 6th, and compared to my lifestyle prior to starting this exercise and diet, which was ZERO exercise and terrible eating habits, I really thought I would have lost more than 10lbs by now?

What am I doing wrong? I drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day, getting vitamins, staying away from candy & sweets. I just don't get it. Am I not eating enough? MFP says I should eat about 1860 calories per day. I'm burning anywhere from 600-800 calories per day at the gym, plus whatever is being burned doing crunches daily and weights a couple times a week. Should I be eating back my burned calories? Is my body not working properly from too few calories? My gosh, I feel like I've been working so hard at this, and the days I have any kind of a "snack" and still remain under my total calories, I feel guilty like I should go back to the gym for a second time that day, just to work off that snack.

I hope I can find some answers here, as I'm REALLY MOTIVATED and want to do this right.

Thanks

Replies

  • alleyrat
    alleyrat Posts: 43
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    Yes you need to eat your exercise calories.
  • COShelly
    COShelly Posts: 9 Member
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    Wow, first of all congrats on your commitment to wanting to get the weight off! I am sort of in the same boat. Working out hard and watching my calorie intake (my suggested calorie intake on MFP is 1200). My gut tells me that I need to start taking in more calories (the right kind) and I am eating back my exercise calories. I definitely think you may be "starving" yourself and that you should absolutely be eating back your exercise calories, especially if you are burning that much at the gym (you go!...and I was all proud of my 300-500 calories! LOL)...

    I've been at it since November and I've lost 2 lbs (just in the last 10 days). I've been eating cleaner (litte to no processed food). I really don't know how to experiment with the "eat more calories" thing, but I may try upping it to 100 more a day to see if it makes a difference.

    So, I may not be the best in giving advice (same experience), but I want you to know that you are not the only one in this same boat!

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