I'm at a loss...

Sewilson33 · March 2010

I know I am not the only one having this problem so feel free to vent with me!

I have changed my diet drastically over the course of 4 months. When my FI and I moved into our apartment I started using the gym at least 2 days a week. I know I should be trying to be there 3 -4 days a week but between Grad School and a full time job it is very hard to squeeze that in. I have just started being able to job again for 10 minutes at a time. I used to be able to jog 2 miles without a break

. Anyways!!

I count calories, carbs, fats and proteins

Changed my diet to more fruits and veggies for snack and no chips or cookies

I eat salads for lunch at least 4 days a week! And healthy salads with no cheese or fattening dressings.

I started working out and finally jogging!

And after all these changes I have not lost a single pound!!!

raynes · March 2010

Are you eating enough? If you're not getting enough nourishment your metabolism could be slowed down.

Do you eat back your exercise calories so that you're netting your calorie goals each day?

Sewilson33 · March 2010

I use sparkpeople to manage my food intake and exercise. I am supposed to eat between 1200 and 1500 calories a day. There are days where I am under 1200 calories and rarely days where I am over 1500. When I go to the gym I to the treadmill for 30 minutes and run for 10 of those minutes. Sometimes I will cycle for 15 - 20. I mix yoga into my exercise and weights on occasion.

Could I really not be eating enough calories?? I feel like I eat plenty even when i am under 1200...

Hwrd2be · March 2010

To me, it sounds like your not eating enough. You shouldnt go under 1200 calories at all. Especially with the excercise your doing.

COkristi · March 2010

When I bought my GoWearFit I found that I was overestimating my calories burned on the treadmill. For me, it takes an hour of jogging/walking on the treadmill to burn 300 calories. That's about 60 less than the treadmill shows.

I would suggest adding weights into your workout routine and gradually increasing your cardio as well. It sounds like you are eating the right amount of calories to be losing, so I'm stumped there. I hope you see a loss soon, keep up the good work!

dibsontop · March 2010

I have a related question. In keeping with the goals I've set on SparkPeople, it estimates I should be eating 1200 and 1550 calories a day. I've also set fitness goals which *estimate* burning 2590 calories a week (I say estimate because I know everyone is different, but that's the figure SP uses).

Anyway, is SP estimating my calorie requirements for the day (1200-1550) based on the fact that I'll be completing the fitness goals I outlined? Or do I need to eat more on top of the 1200-1550 to make up for the exercise I'll be doing?

So confused! I don't want to be eating more if I don't need to, but I also don't want to be undereating for my amount of activity.

noelle24 · March 2010

This is the advantage of TDP, I think. TDP is more explicit that the calories you eat are NET calories (i.e., calories eaten - calories burned = 1200 to 1500). Also, sparkpeople does not adjust your calorie range if you are burning off more than you planned on working off. You'd need to readjust your goals to see that change, and it's not intuitive how to do it.

Also, it might be worth it to invest in a HRM. You might be burning a lot more or less than you think. Also, you really need a net of 1200 calories a day to function. Try eating more healthy calories, and see what happens.

raynes · March 2010

The range it gives you for your calories depends on your weight now, your desired weight, the time frame you want to achieve that in, and your generally activity level.

For them to be giving you a level of 1200-1500 it's probably not accounting for exercise.

For most people, 1200 calories is the absolute minimum you need in order to sustain basic body functions (like digestion, breathing, heat pumping, etc) and move around.

Consuming anything less than that can trigger a "starvation" mode where you body thinks its starving, and tries to hold on to fat. While you'll still lose weight in starvation mode, it will be very slowly, since your metabolism will be slowed signifcantly.

When you exercise, you should be eating back the calories that you burn so that at the end of the day calories eaten minus calories burned = 1200-1500.

raynes · March 2010

Here's some info I typed up last week for someone else. I think it explains the whole in - out = net thing and BMR's pretty well.

---

Your BMR is the amount of calories you'd burn if you lied in bed all day without moving. It's the amount of calories your body needs to carry out its basic functions (breathing, heat beating, digestion, etc).

Calorie requirement calculators generally take you BMR and apply a multiplier based on your average activity level to figure out how many calories you need to consume in a day to maintain your body weight. For someone like me with a desk job, it's about 1.2 (so for me to maintain my body weight, I'd need to eat my BMR X 1.2 calories a day and not burn any extra).

For weight loss, you need to create a calorie deficit. Generally, a pound of fat contains 3500 calories, so to lose a pound a week you'd need to cut out 500 calories a day from your maintenance level.

So, if your BMR is, say, 1450 and you have a desk job, your maintenance level would be 1450x1.2 = 1740. To lose a pound a week, you'd need to consume 1740-500 = 1250 calories a day.

Where exercise comes in is that you are burning more calories than just resting. There are two ways to work that in. Either you use a bigger multiplier than 1.2 (desk job), like 1.6 or 1.8 to calculate your "maintenance" level, or you account for each workout.

Keeping with the above example with a BMR of 1450, if you burn 1000 calories at the gym, and you need to have 1250 calories to lose weight, you should be consuming 1250+1000=2250 calories that day. If you're only eating 1400 calories, and burning 1000, you're only netting 400, which will do some serious harm to your metabolism. You might still lose weight, but it will be slowly.

dibsontop · March 2010

Thanks for the excellent example. I know I do not want to eat less calories than I need, I just didn't know if SP was accounting for my workouts, which apparently it is not.

raynes · March 2010

I really like The Daily Plate. I find it a lot more straight forward. I found Spark People just annoying.

KRN726 · March 2010

I HEAR you! I also have cut out sugar, almost no carbs (no whirte bread or pasta) and i am eating about 14000 a day when i eat alot. I am doing the treadmill every day for 1/2 hour but I have gained weight in the last five weeks. It is so disheartening!

I had my annual PAP yesterday and asked my doc about it. She said the best thing to do is crank up the exercise. She told me that 30 minutes a day is great, but only if I intesify it. I am going to try it starting today! Hope this helps!

raynes · March 2010

Gah! While cutting out refined sugar and processed wheats are always a good thing, carbs are one of the main things that fuel your body.

It's not about cutting out all carbs, its about cutting out bad carbs. Make smart, whole grain choices, and keep it to a reasonable level.

mralpha · March 2010

What worked for myself is cut out all refined processed foods. Only eat whole grains. This is Kashi for me. I struggled forever too. Then stayed consistent for at least a month and it started to drop off. Here was my routine:

I went to gym 5 days a week and did a program called couch to 5k on my iphone. Usually depending on the week consisted of running and walking. I did this for 30 min a day. Each week got harder and harder. I found the early weeks easy so I would add in some extra running which basically equated to 3-4 miles everytime I worked out.

I worked on my arms with weights once a week.

For B I ate Light and Fit vanilla yogurt with go lean kashi cereal mixed in.

for L I ate a fish lean cuisine meal

For Dinner I always had either chicken or fish with veggies.

Snacks were usually a kashi cereal bar.

I feel great now! You have to really sit back and look at what you have done for the day and don't cover it up. I found that when it wasn't working it was because one or two cheats a week set me back for the entire week.

I just added in an accelerate pill which make s me have a ton of energy!!! I love it!

Hope this helps!

Oh and drink lots of water!

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