Weight loss: getting it right...?

[woohoo]

Over the last month I've joined the TE weight loss thread and started weighing in weekly. In 4 weeks of watching what I eat and exercising, my weight is basically the same (within 1lb). It's consistent through the day, too.

Now I've done some (very geeky, sorry, graph attached) number crunching on my calorie intake over the past month, and am beginning to wonder if I'm not eating enough... Seems ridiculous since I'm trying to lose weight, but looking at the last month's intake & output, my average calorie balance has only been 1200 per day. Looking online tonight, with my exercise level and base metabolic rate it seems like I should be eating closer to 1800-2000 calories per day.

Am worried that if I eat more I'll put on weight rather than staying the same, though, especially since my calorie balance seems to be pretty erratic. Anybody been in a similar situation? How did it work out? If I did start eating more, what type of food would be best: carbs/protein?

Thanks, woohoo

edit: should have said, I've been using the livestrong calorie tracker and aiming for 1629 calories per day.

[malkin]

I'm confused. Are you saying you haven't lost weight and you think you need to be eating more calories?

[channlluv]

I think we'd need more information on the quality of those calories you're taking in and the amount of exercise you were doing before you started this weight loss effort. It may be that you need to up the exercise, or introduce interval training. (Trek recommended it to me and I've tried to do at least six intervals per hour-long workout, and it's helping me get stronger.)

Good luck in your efforts!

Roxy

[ny biker]

If you don't eat enough, your body will slow your metabolism as a defense against starvation. Sometimes you do need to eat more in order to lose weight. Read Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook. It is an excellent resource.

[zoom-zoom]

I tell ya', I am finding this site to be about the best invention ever. For years I logged my food on Fitday.com, but it was a PITA to enter custom things and I still had to manually figure calories eaten vs. calories burned vs. my activity level the rest of the time vs. my current body weight, etc. I've been using My Fitness Pal for about 10 days and LOVE how well it does the work for me. I enter what I'm eating (and a TON of specific things are already in the system that have been entered by other users--including things like store-brand things, canned goods, etc.), enter my workout, and it tells me how many calories I have left to eat for the day. I can also specify breakdown of those calories...what %age of fats, carbs, protein, fiber.

Best part--at the end of the day it tells me what I would weigh in 5 days if every day were like the current day. It's very motivating when I hit everything right on and it tells me I'd be 5#s lighter than I currently am. It really makes me want to hit those goals daily.

[WindingRoad]

Woohoo - I too am experiencing what you mention. I exercise consistently through the week. I'm doing cardio and strength but my weight doesn't seem to budge. I am not sure what's going on with my body but I think I'm gaining muscle right now so I'm backing away from the scales for a month or so. I've been using livestrong's website to track my calories to get a pretty good idea of what my daily intake is. I'm usually right around 15-1700 depending on the day and if I exercise hard. I know its frustrating, it is to me too. Guess I just wanted to say "I feel your pain."