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You have to keep in mind that calorie-counting (both burning and consuming) are not precise; nutrition labels are only required to be 80% accurate in their calorie count, and there even is a margin of error for unpacked foods like fruit and veggies (your idea of a medium apple, for example, might actually be a large apple on My Fitness Pal). The same holds true on the calorie burning side: you could be overestimating how intense your workout was, plus it's not easy to estimate the number of calories burned during weight-training, for example. You could easily be eating back your calories if you are relying too much on calorie counters being accurate.
This makes sense. I don't even count my weight lifting calories because of this. I only count cardio calories burned, and I typically take ~5% off that number.
I wonder if that means I need to try keeping under, say, 1300 calories a day instead of 1500 just to be on the safe side since calories may be underestimated on my food labels? I'm used to closer to a 2,000 calorie day so adjusting to 1500 has been hard enough actually...so I am a bit hesitant to go even lower this soon. Like I mentioned I'm ok with the weight coming off slowly...just as long as over time I start to see a downward trend. It's these last few weeks of an upward trend that have me concerned.
Your calories burned are much more likely to be the culprit. A recently published study found that the very best tracker (Apple watch), was consistently off by nearly 30% in its estimation of calories burned. One FitBit model was off by over 80%.
I now subtract 600 calories from whatever total FitBit estimates I've burned, plus an additional 10% of the calories I've logged (because our species is awful at accurately tracking such things). That adjusted number jibes with my results almost perfectly.
Also, I keep hearing about this "eating back the calories" logic; set a daily budget for yourself and simply stick to it, stop with the sliding scale and adjusted numbers. I've budgeted 1,500 calories since early February and have lost nearly 60 lbs. Some days I go over, most days I don't, and I never fudge the numbers, ever. The more complicated you make the process, the less likely you are to be successful.
Your calories burned are much more likely to be the culprit. A recently published study found that the very best tracker (Apple watch), was consistently off by nearly 30% in its estimation of calories burned. One FitBit model was off by over 80%.
I now subtract 600 calories from whatever total FitBit estimates I've burned, plus an additional 10% of the calories I've logged (because our species is awful at accurately tracking such things). That adjusted number jibes with my results almost perfectly.
Also, I keep hearing about this "eating back the calories" logic; set a daily budget for yourself and simply stick to it, stop with the sliding scale and adjusted numbers. I've budgeted 1,500 calories since early February and have lost nearly 60 lbs. Some days I go over, most days I don't, and I never fudge the numbers, ever. The more complicated you make the process, the less likely you are to be successful.
Hmmm...so if I went an hour on the elliptical at level 18 (which I do often) and it says I burned 550 calories, how many calories should I estimate I actually burned? If it were you, you are saying you wouldn't count those as calories burned at all since you've been subtracting 600 calories from whatever FitBit says you burned, correct?
It sounds like I just need to keep under 1500 calories period and not worry about how much I'm burning.
I can do this. Weight loss at 38 is hard! Eating under 1500 calories and working out 6 days a week with no progress? I guess I am eating too much by eating back the calories. I just thought it was all about calories in verus calories out but I see I can't really count the calories I burn as 'calories' out...that's just news to me is all.
Hmmm...so if I went an hour on the elliptical at level 18 (which I do often) and it says I burned 550 calories, how many calories should I estimate I actually burned? If it were you, you are saying you wouldn't count those as calories burned at all since you've been subtracting 600 calories from whatever FitBit says you burned, correct?
It sounds like I just need to keep under 1500 calories period and not worry about how much I'm burning.
I can do this. Weight loss at 38 is hard! Eating under 1500 calories and working out 6 days a week with no progress? I guess I am eating too much by eating back the calories. I just thought it was all about calories in verus calories out but I see I can't really count the calories I burn as 'calories' out...that's just news to me is all.
That's basically what I said in my prior post in this topic - just stick to what the app says and do not eat more because of exercise. Exercise does give you wiggle room when it comes to diet, but you also need to experiment and see what works to achieve your goals. You're 38. I started my weight loss journey at 40. It's not fair, it's TOUGH, you have to work doubly hard for the same results, but it is what it is.
You may also be doing too much exercise. I exercise 4 x per week, 1.5 per day. 40 minutes cardio, 45 minutes lifting. I really don't get caught up with the preciseness of calories burned, just by how I fit in my clothes. It would be helpful to also know what you're eating and see if maybe your diet needs some adjustment.
That's basically what I said in my prior post in this topic - just stick to what the app says and do not eat more because of exercise. Exercise does give you wiggle room when it comes to diet, but you also need to experiment and see what works to achieve your goals. You're 38. I started my weight loss journey at 40. It's not fair, it's TOUGH, you have to work doubly hard for the same results, but it is what it is.
You may also be doing too much exercise. I exercise 4 x per week, 1.5 per day. 40 minutes cardio, 45 minutes lifting. I really don't get caught up with the preciseness of calories burned, just by how I fit in my clothes. It would be helpful to also know what you're eating and see if maybe your diet needs some adjustment.
Lunch:
Beans and franks (made with Hillshire farms turkey kielbasa sausage and Bush's dark red kidney beans)-350 calories
1/2 cup sauteed grean beans-30 calories
Dinner:
Spaghetti squash casserole (made with spaghetti squash, Publix grocery store brand garlic tomato sauce, Publix grocery store brand chicken italian sausage and topped with mozzarella cheese)-400 calories
1 cup bagged salad with a teaspon Kraft balsamic vinegarette (spelling?) dressing-30+30=60 calories
I counted 1305 calories above. About half the days I'll have a 100-200 calorie snack like a light popcorn or a tablespoon of peanut butter...it depends how far under 1500 calories I am.
I got the above calories from my home made meals by scanning everything I could as mentioned before. For instance, I scanned the Trader Joe's bread slice and verified the calories in that. I scanned the turkey kielbasa sausage and kidney beans, etc. etc.
So. This would be a day I don't work out. But that's rare. Right now I'm working about 6 days I week. I shoot to do:
5 days-Half days 1 hour cardio plus 20-30 minutes of weights, half days I reverse the amount of time (1 hour weights plus 20-30 minutes cardio)
1 day-Light exercise which is usually 60-80 minutes walking on an incline
As I mentioned before, I've been eating back the calories I've been estimating I've been burning though. So if I burn 600 calories from cardio I might have the equivalent of a 4th meal.
ETA: Water intake is approximately 60-70 oz daily right now.
Some of those meal items may be high in sodium causing water retention, maybe.
I still say stick to 1500 calories and see what happens. It's quite possible that if you go too low your body stubbornly holds onto the weight. At the same time, if you are doing everything right, then it's a matter of experimenting here and there. Your clothes are fitting fine, right? so as was said, don't get caught up with a number. I know you're petite, but just because you're short doesn't mean you have to be 110 lbs. An 8 is not big at all. I wear an 8/10, and I look great. Working out, I focused more on my composition than my actual weight. eventually the scale went down, but I started getting definition, fitting into clothes before my metabolism kicked into gear.
Some of those meal items may be high in sodium causing water retention, maybe.
I still say stick to 1500 calories and see what happens. It's quite possible that if you go too low your body stubbornly holds onto the weight. At the same time, if you are doing everything right, then it's a matter of experimenting here and there. Your clothes are fitting fine, right? so as was said, don't get caught up with a number. I know you're petite, but just because you're short doesn't mean you have to be 110 lbs. An 8 is not big at all. I wear an 8/10, and I look great. Working out, I focused more on my composition than my actual weight. eventually the scale went down, but I started getting definition, fitting into clothes before my metabolism kicked into gear.
I will keep a better eye out on the sodium. I'm already on blood pressure meds (diagnosed at a very early age) so I really should be paying attention to that anyway.
My clothes are fitting better despite the scale creeping closer to 140 than I would like. I even noticed this in my workout gear yesterday when I got dressed to head out to the gym. I'll know better in another month how I'm doing I guess. My cycle is next week so I'll try not to freak out as this week I could actually creep up to 140 or over for the first time in a while since I'm so close to that number now. I know it'll go back down after (hopefully)...we shall see.
I'll stick to the magic 1500 and see how things go.
Your calories burned are much more likely to be the culprit. A recently published study found that the very best tracker (Apple watch), was consistently off by nearly 30% in its estimation of calories burned. One FitBit model was off by over 80%.
I now subtract 600 calories from whatever total FitBit estimates I've burned, plus an additional 10% of the calories I've logged (because our species is awful at accurately tracking such things). That adjusted number jibes with my results almost perfectly.
Also, I keep hearing about this "eating back the calories" logic; set a daily budget for yourself and simply stick to it, stop with the sliding scale and adjusted numbers. I've budgeted 1,500 calories since early February and have lost nearly 60 lbs. Some days I go over, most days I don't, and I never fudge the numbers, ever. The more complicated you make the process, the less likely you are to be successful.
Agreed. You'll always be behind the 8 ball if exercise is used as a means to "earn" more calories. By all means, have a small snack after you work out (an apple and some peanut butter, for example), but it your goal is weight loss, then you shouldn't be consuming every calorie you just burned.
Two reasons you're not losing - over-counting calories burned at the gym and under-counting calories you're eating. There's no way at your height/weight that you're burning 600 calories an hour on an elliptical and since you don't use a food scale you're eating more than you think. Get a food scale, weigh every single thing solid and liquid that goes into your body, stick with eating 1,500 calories a day and you will certainly see your weight start going down again.
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