My Plateau Nutrition Story, Learn from my mistakes.

bump....great info!

great post!

Thank for posting! It looks like I need to eat more. I generally stay at 1300 or less & I exercise about 6 days a week for 30 - 60 min. burning 300- 400 calories according to my hrm. I have been the same wt. for weeks!!! The scales don't budge. 220 or 221 no more, no less! Very frustrating for me after working so hard. So going to look at increasing my calorie intake.

I know I am having the same problem. I am the same weight as you also. Do you eat back our calories after working out?

Clarify "Olivia" method for me.
I do measure my foods but not by weight, by amounts. I follow package directions to the "T" and look it up if I'm unsure.
I do not use a HRM, but I do take my pulse and make sure I'm in the fat burning zone (or higher).
Bottom line is, I did the math and I think I need to take more calories in, so I'll burn more fat. We'll see what happens in a week.

so are you guys saying that i need to really put my exercise into this thing and try to make up all those calories that i burned? i feel like i'd gain so much weight from that? no?

do i do bump now? haha i don't know how these things work sorry!

so are you guys saying that i need to really put my exercise into this thing and try to make up all those calories that i burned? i feel like i'd gain so much weight from that? no?

YES, YES, and YES. You need fuel for those workouts, and you won't get it from just your base calories on here.

Bump

so like lets say i play an hour of racquetball and burn 900 calories (according to MFP)...i start with 1760...so i should really be eating 2670 calories on those days??? Why do i have this mental block that i'd gain weight back? How clean do you guys normally eat too?

For you, I'd recommend not eating what MFP tells you to and if possible not going by their calculations for exercise calories burned. First figure our your BMR and use the calculations posted in the very first page of this thread to figure out what you should be eating befpre exercise and then if possible go on ebay and find a deal on ANY heart rate monitor with a chest strap (I was able to bid on mine and got it for around $50) so that you know what you're acutally burning. Just my opinion though! And yes- eat those exercise calories back! Your body needs them.

So for me: 1400BMR times 1.6 for activity level = 2240 and 2240 minus 30% (2240 times .30) equals 672. So, 2240 minus 672 deficit equals an intake of 1568ish. I rounded down and am taking in 1530 BEFORE exercise (200 more than MFP had me at)and am only burning 250-350 an hour at a time 3-4 times a week and eating all or most of my exercise calories back. I think for you maybe re-examine the exercise you're doing? 900's silly to burn in one day really- you don't need to burn that much in one day.

As far as clean eating? Personally my eating's not "clean" because I go by the "everything in moderation" method. I DONT cut anything out completely, just limit them. I still eat sugary treats, bread etc... I just limit the amounts and plan my day in the mornings so that I'll stay under in my calories and macros but still get enough calories in. I end up adding things to my diet like greek yogurt, fruit, whole grains, healthy fats (easiest way to get like 150 more calories in your day).

....... just an opinion from someone who it's working for!!

ok so i figured out all my stuff and it's me eating around 1900-2000 calories a day to cut weight...so is that AFTER those exercise calories were configured? sorry i'm just a little confused...i just want to make sure that i'm doing it right thanks.