NOT seeing results. Am I eating ENOUGH?

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emhow
emhow Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on MFP for about 80 days straight now.. And I've stuck to it like GLUE.. apart from a few tiny things here and there. I'm always scared that I'm eating too much because I always feel so stuffed and I'm not really losing pounds or inches. Or... am I not eating enough!? I have no clue. I work out every day apart from Sunday, burning around 400/500 calories each time. Eating back most of my calories. And nothing. Can someone please look at my diary and see what's going on here!? (I haven't finished logging today yet btw..) Oh, also.. I NEVER go over on carbs. my previous entries are only over because I lowered my carb intake today! Thank You xx

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  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    Anyone? :/
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Hey there! It looks like you have a lot of days with a few hundred left over. I don't think it would hurt to try to eat more of those exercise calories for a few days and see if that helps. The system is supposed to work so that if you eat all of your exercise calories back, you'll still be in deficit. What is your weight?
  • thriftycupl
    thriftycupl Posts: 310 Member
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    I've learned a lot from reading all the posts here, but I'm not an expert just to be clear. What I've found to make sense is the information in the group, Eat More to Weigh Less. There is a lot of information including calorie calculators, etc. Maybe you want to check it out.
  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    Yeah I had a feeling it would be that I'm not eating enough, but I always always feel like I'm stuffing. By the end of the day I am so full and I'm terrified if I eat more I will GAIN weight and not lose :/ I just can't seem to get into the mindset of eating more because I'm convinced I'm not losing because I'm being too piggy! I'm 5 foot 9 and around 132 pounds. I know I don't have a lot to lose but I'm extremely out of proportion and carry all my weight on my bottom half. I just can't seem to get the hang of this!
  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    actually. definitely think i'm gaining. just looked in the mirror and i swear my tummy looks slightly bigger? unless this is all psychological.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I'm not always a fan of eat more, but since you have the exercise calories to spare, it could be worth a try.

    If you are out of proportion on the bottom, what kind of exercises are you doing? I know you can't spot reduce, but maybe focusing on your bottom half would make you psychologically feel a bit better and bring out some muscle tone.

    At your current weight, you are very near the bottom of the BMI scale. Personal opinion is that you look thin in your user picture, and focusing on the fitness instead of the thin element may be a better way for you to go.
  • Jezebel_Barbie
    Jezebel_Barbie Posts: 198 Member
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    You said you think you look bigger when you look in the mirror; have you been measuring or weighing yourself as well? You probably can't trust your eyes. I've lost a few lbs since I started and I SWEAR when I look in the mirror that I look smaller. But I've been measuring too and the cold, hard facts are that I haven't lost any inches. So it's probably psychological because I'm feeling better about myself. I suspect yours too is psychological because you're worried about gaining.

    Also you haven't got very much to lose, so the weight will come off more slowly. What kind of exercises are you doing?
  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    I may give it a try eating more. I just keep thinking I'm gaining. I need to stop thinking it. I do various exercises in the gym.. Some days I'll do Interval Training on tredmill, cross trainer, cycling etc.. and Weight lifting on arms, legs, shoulders etc... So really, I do a bit of everything. I understand that I'm at quite a low weight for my height but I really do have a massive bum for my frame with plenty of cellulite! So, it really does need to go. But then again, my Mum, brother and Dad all have huge bottoms.. so maybe its unavoidable!
  • wahmx3
    wahmx3 Posts: 646 Member
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    At your height and weight, you won't lose more than a few pounds and you will have to work extremely hard to lose those. I think you would be better off to focus on a combination of cardio and strength to help lose a bit of fat and really tone up your muscles. You can't spot tone but you can help by exercising particular areas more often.
  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    any other ideas?
  • determinator645
    determinator645 Posts: 2
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    MFP is a great tool if you know how to use it, When counting your calories you should never have deficient of more than 500 cal, if you do then your body will think you are starving itself and go into starvation mode and store as much fat as possible. You can go online and google how many calories you should eat to maintain your weight or lose weight based on your height and weight MFP over calculates i had to adjust mine. Now as for those crazy extra pounds, DRINK LOTS OF WATER!! the more water you drink the less your body will store so your weight won't fluctuate as much and you will lose a few pounds of just water weight plus tons of other benefits. If your butt is your problem Jillian Michaels has a video called Killer buns and thighs I've been doing it and seen great results. Also if you go to www.bodybuilder.com there is a section on fat burning food also how to's on your problem areas i found it useful it has a lot of great information. Good Luck
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    The shape and where you store fat is genetic and you can't beat that. The one thing you can do is spend more time doing VERY heavy strength training where you fail at 6-8 reps and probably should be around 1800 calories daily based on your stats. You won't gain fat until you are eating well in excess of 2200 calories. If you do 3-4 days of heavy weight training and 1-2 days of HIIT you should be able to cut fat.
  • emhow
    emhow Posts: 79 Member
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    The shape and where you store fat is genetic and you can't beat that. The one thing you can do is spend more time doing VERY heavy strength training where you fail at 6-8 reps and probably should be around 1800 calories daily based on your stats. You won't gain fat until you are eating well in excess of 2200 calories. If you do 3-4 days of heavy weight training and 1-2 days of HIIT you should be able to cut fat.

    Yeah I thought that maybe heavy lifting would do the trick... I've just been avoiding it because I absolutely hate it! But then again.... if I want results I have to man up! And is that 2200 EXTRA calories? or if i ate 2200 calories daily? Because I am going on a 2 week holiday in June and eating whatever I want... i don't really want to gain.
  • drewsmom07
    drewsmom07 Posts: 8 Member
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    I was in the same boat as you a few weeks back. I upped my calories and made sure to eat my excercise calories back keeping my diet clean. Your diary looks great with the exception of a few hundred calories left over.. try to have no more than a 100 left over as opposed to 250+.. I know you're paranoid to gain but try it and see how it goes.

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