weight going up

[JCS44]

Third week in and weight going up!!! Exercises done, all boxes ticked, trying to eat healthily and follow all guidelines but 1400 calories obviously too many for me - have now put on 3 lbs - how can I find a more reasonable calorie goal according to my age, height and BMI to loose weight?

[Hidden]

Hi JCS44,

Weight loss is not a mathematically perfect thing. Most people's weight loss journeys have ups and downs and blips and spurts. A number of things can cause changes in your hormones which will alter body functions such as fat burning / fat storing, or feelings of hunger or satiation.

However, don't reduce your calories yet. Stay where you are for a two or three weeks and then look at your weight loss / gain averaged out over two or three weeks.

If you're not achieving any weight loss, I would say the most likely candidate (by far) is that you need to ruthlessly look at your food intake to see whether it truly is only 1400 kcals.

Many, many people when keeping food diaries under-record what they eat and drink. You need to keep track of E V E R Y T H I N G - including the gravies, sauces, toppings, lattes, glasses of wine.

AND those "oh, one won't make any difference" and "it's only a llittle one" things.

AND in E V E R Y situation - at work, at home, out socialising, on the way to and from places.

It's not just about what you eat at "meal times".

Oh and be precise, weigh your portions of pasta, rice, cereal, etc., - don't guestimate them.

The other most common thing is for people to still be eating something that they just don't actually realise how calorific it is. Use the packages, or a seach engine, or an App to check out things like cashew nuts. I bet they contain much more calories than you expected. (They contained much more than I realised before I actually knew!

Also, be careful of failing to count some bits of your meals. Like just counting the calories in the pasta - but not those in the cheese sauce. Counting the dinner - but not the drinks. Forgetting to count 'extras' like the bit of cake you had in the office for Harry's birthday. Counting the calories in the crispbread, but not in the full-fat cheese that was on it.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.

[JCS44 in reply to Hidden]

Many thanks for the advice - I have found an internet site called 'futureself,com' where you can record all you eat during the day and it counts up the calories for you and tells you when you are approaching your limit - looks good!

[OlsBean]

You can double check your requirments using an online BMR Calculator to get your Basal Metobolic Rate myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-..., this is the minimum energy your body needs to perform it's daily functions at rest, then you can calculate your approximate daily calorific needs using the Harris Benedict Forumla:-

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375

If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

There are also online calculators that will do this for you, or if you want to a real Tech head you can invest in an activity monitor such as Fitbit or Jawbone that will track your activity level throughout the day and adjust your calorie requirements on the fly so to speak

If you are looking to lose 1-2 pounds a week you should aim for -500 calorie a day deficit below the figure you arrived at. Please remember though it's not an exact science.

I know it can be very disheartening, but please try to persevere, once you get it just right you will I am sure start to see the benefits.

Good Luck

[JCS44 in reply to OlsBean]

Great - just what I was looking for - many thanks

[JCS44 in reply to OlsBean]

result came out at 956 calories a day - no wonder I am putting weight on and not losing it!!! One big problem is that my ability to exercise is limited as I have had one knee replacement and am due another. I manage gardening and aerobics but nothing like walking or running.

[OlsBean in reply to JCS44]

Sounds quite low is this figure minus 500 calories, did you apply the formula to your BMR?

I should not worry too much about aerobic exercise, losing weight is critically 90% diet/food, added bonus if you can exercise for the health benefits alone, but you have to do some serious cardio to make a noticeable dent. Your body burns most of it's calories performing basic functions compatible with life, like keeping core temperature, imagine how much oil, gas or electricity you would use feeding your central heating at home in order to just keep one room at home at 37 ºc

Keep moving, walking, don't sit for long periods, trying swimming or water aerobics anything you can do will help with your general health.

[JCS44 in reply to OlsBean]

Yup. calculation of weight, height and age came to 1059 x 1.375 = 1456.125 - 500 = 956.125. I try to either do some aerobics at home with video for 45 minutes each morning or dig on the allotment for a couple of hours - depending on the weather, for exercise as I am working at a computer for several hours a day.

[Penel]

Hi JCS

Perhaps try changing the balance of what you eat. Different food affects the body in different ways, not all calories are the same.

I found that I needed to limit my carbs to lose weight, but made sure to keep up my protein intake.

Good luck.

[JCS44 in reply to Penel]

Good point - I am a bit of a bread addict - love granary bread - will try to cut back on it

[Hidden]

Actually, I can't see any point whatsoever in buying or using a product such as the one you are blatantly trying to advertise here. Can't you afford to pay for proper advertising of your commercial product?

What use are capsules of powdered fruit, veg and grain in a person's diet?

If they ate the actual fruit, at least they'd get the fibre from it.

Any vitamins or minerals would be much better consumed by eating healthy nutritious food - preferably in fresh forms if possible - but certainly not in the form of food that has been processed into powder and stuck into gelatine capsules!

And what has it got to do with weight loss - which is what this blog is about?

Seems to me a total waste of good money that could be spent on good sensible healthy food.

[OlsBean in reply to Hidden]

99% of the time it's not even a real person, just a script, a bot, that posts this sort of Spam.

[JCS44]

Many thanks to everyone for your support and ideas - I am working through them - all except for the Juice Plus - I would much prefer the real thing!!

[gingernut49]

Have you heard of the 5:2 Diet? You eat 500 calories or less on two non-consecutive days a week. I lost three stone (42 pounds, 20 kilos) in six months and now keep it off by just fasting one day a week. No slimming clubs where you lose the weight and pile it back on again! All the money I saved went on my new size 10 wardrobe and all my size 16s went to the charity shop!

[JCS44]

Was just listening to information about this on radio WM this morning - am giving it a try!