I feel awfully silly. I've been using a calorie counter on my phone for 7/8 weeks now, i count EVERYTHING i eat and walk daily for about half an hour (outside of work). I also occasionally cycle and I have joined a rambling group. I am looking for an exercise group to join but i cant decide what to join.
The reason i feel silly is because, in using the calorie counter, i regularly under eat. My weekly average for under eating is between 3,000 and 5,000 calories. This isn't because i starve myself, it's because i am active enough to burn a lot off (according to the apps i use to track my activity) The issue is I am not getting any smaller. This is why i feel silly, i am clearly missing something very obvious. I am 15stone 8lb and 6 foot high which puts me at at least 2 stone overweight. I am unhappy with my weight, I can tell I have excess fat but I don't understand what i am doing that is preventing me losing any weight.
Help?
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HelpMe91
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How many calories a day are you eating? I found that I was actually eating too little so upped my calories but still keeping a deficit and then my weight started to reduce
My app sets it at 1,800 a day for my weight and height, but with the regular exercise I am averaging about 1,500 a day. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a lot less. An extreme example of a lot less would be this time last week when i walked 16 miles, which took my net consumption to 353.
I don't take off exercise calories. I lost 11 kilos last year by setting my calories to about 1500 and ignoring what I was using in exercise. (sometimes referred to as eating exercise calories). I did have to up my calorie intake earlier this year when I was training for a marathon.
It is also possible that if you are not eating enough your body might think its starving & hang on to the weight. Good luck with your weight loss journey.
I think it is almost impossible to calculate correctly how many calories we burn through exercise unless we do it in a lab! So many variables occur e.g. Individual metabolic and body composition differences, differences in equipment, intensity at which we exercise etc. Far safer to just go with the eating estimate: 3 small meals, one or two small snacks, made up from healthy food.
If you are not losing you are eating too many calories. Try cutting 300 cal and you are bound to lose.
I would not count the exercise calories at all and see what difference that makes, that's what I do and seems to make a big difference. Hope that helps
Hi , I'm using the calorie counter on my phone also . I was 15.6.now weigh 14.6 so have lost a stone .my intake 1200 daily and I struggle to eat that. After the initial first big loss . I average a lb to 2 lb a week. I am not overly active (waiting for surgery on my foot) but do voulenter work run a home shop etc . Just for losing that stone I feel loads better , and still motivated.
Forget factoring in any exercise. Are you weighing your food? It's ever so easy to guess calorific values and be miles out! Test yourself by guessing the weight/calorific value of some foods and then weigh them, you'll be surprised how easy it is to get things wrong! Your BMR will give you the maximum calories you should take for weight maintenance. . . . . you need to eat below this by about 3000 to 5000 a week to be sure of losing regularly.
I agree with lots of comments above. I concentrate purely on the calorie intake. I always eat just under 1,000 a day regardless of the amount of exercise I do. I think that is your key to success. I have lost 1st 1lb in 6 weeks doing exactly that. The only other thing is possibly another reason why your weight is not reducing - hormone inbalance, inactive thyroid - but then you would have some symptoms of this.
A lot of the 'calories burned through exercise' seem way off - which is why I have stopped using mine in conjunction with calories taken in (which again will not be that precise) My hunch is that you are not burning the calories you think you are. Half an hour's walking a day is great for your general health and wellbeing (and the best form of exercise is the one you actually do) but it isn't going to make a big difference in terms of burning calories (good for your metabolism though) and 300 calories from a half hour walk could be overoptimistic.
Go on the nhs bmi calculator and input your data. The lower figure in the calories range is what you should aim for. Don't eat more for exercise cos everyone is different don't even try to calculate how many calories you burn in exercise just stick to the figure it gives you.
It is a strange thing but most people who exercise a great deal don't lose weight very well, whether it is because it makes you hungry and they finish up eating more because of it or whether it is due to how the body works but most weigh in clerks at slimming clubs will tell you that the gym bunnies struggle to lose weight.
Now are you counting drinks, veg fruit and extras like gravy? Slimming world and weight watchers make people think you don't have to count some foods but it's easy to eat 400 calories a day with fruit and veg in fact some people who eat a lot of fruit can consume 1500 calories a day and way too much sugar!
I've been using the Fast Diet to lose weight and with some success - half a stone in around a month. thefastdiet.co.uk is the website. I wish you luck.
Can I just say, please do not feel silly, you are so not. You are trying really hard & are disheartened, rightly so, because it is not giving you the results you had hoped for yet. I am also trying not to eat my exercise calories (this is sometimes a struggle at weekends tbh!) & I always go with the higher estimate of calories on food & take the exercise calories with a pinch of salt. Try upping your protein & decreasing your carbs for a week or two & see if that helps kick-start things maybe... And watch that you are eating healthy, filling foods most of the time so your body is not tempted to increase fat storage through feeling deprived/undernourished. Let us know how you get on, we all struggle & feel disheartened at times too so understand, good luck! X
I don't weigh or count calories. My rule is simple. If it looks really tasty then you probably cant have it. The reality is that you can eat as much basic fruit and veg as you want and won't put on weight so long as you don't smoother them in other stuff. Also same with fish and chicken. Don't eat any cakes, crisps, sweets, deserts or biscuits. Avoid fat ladden food. Follow those few rules and watch weight drop off without calorie counting.
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Calories per day?
1st weigh in tomorrow.....but why am I so nervous!!!!
First Weight Post! 
Quick question RE: calories :)
