Help me decipher weight gain after tracking calories/macros for a week

[Anonymous]

Are you using a scale or cup size? Cup size is notoriously inaccurate due to settling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously you need to reduce calories if you are gaining.

I don’t think Myfitnesspal works well. It underestimates calories, and it overestimates the offsets from exercise.

I scanned barcodes, weighed portions, and uploaded full recipes plus using the serving size. It took a lot of time but I really wanted to see a true account of one week. So I think the calories are accurate.

I’ll give you that the calorie burn is probably high. But even so, I was only eating 1500-1600 calories. That doesn’t seem like it should be adding up to weight gain.

Are you weighing food pre-cooked? Because you need to. Also, cut out the cheese and butter. Way too much fat if you have low calorie count.
If it were me I’d boost protein and lower fat. You should have a minimum 100grams protein a day.

[Anonymous]

One week isn’t close to enough time to have actionable information.

[Anonymous]

You may have tracked your calories during a “normal” week. But maybe there were weeks where you mindlessly at more here or there. And maybe that’s where the 5 pounds came from.

I’m guessing if you consistently at 1500 calories a day you’d plateau or lose. But you’d have to do that for a few weeks to see. If you don’t, then you can try going down to 1400 calories for a while and see what happens.

The exercise part where you earn calories so you can eat more? Forget it. Don’t factor it in. Just focus on what you’re eating and then cut back just a smidge if you need to. The exercise is to be healthy and to feel good and for mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One week isn’t close to enough time to have actionable information.

+1.

[Anonymous]

If you want to lose weight at 45, you need to cut the carbs. This includes fruit--you can have some, but not a lot. Eat primarily protein and veggies, and moderate fat to make you full. Them's the breaks!

[Anonymous]

I find this very hard to believe. 1500 calories should be close to your BMR, so if you do not stay all day in bed, this should definitely be fat loss calories. I am also 5'6", about 145lbs and with 10-15k steps a day a 5 days a week of lifting I am maintaining at 2500. On days where I dont move out of the house and just sit at the desk all day I still burn about 1900.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find this very hard to believe. 1500 calories should be close to your BMR, so if you do not stay all day in bed, this should definitely be fat loss calories. I am also 5'6", about 145lbs and with 10-15k steps a day a 5 days a week of lifting I am maintaining at 2500. On days where I dont move out of the house and just sit at the desk all day I still burn about 1900.

What’s your basics for the 1900 number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this very hard to believe. 1500 calories should be close to your BMR, so if you do not stay all day in bed, this should definitely be fat loss calories. I am also 5'6", about 145lbs and with 10-15k steps a day a 5 days a week of lifting I am maintaining at 2500. On days where I dont move out of the house and just sit at the desk all day I still burn about 1900.

What’s your basics for the 1900 number?

Fitbit, which after years of wearing it and using the data for cuts and bulks seems pretty close to reality in my case.

[Anonymous]

I have found MyFitnessPal to be pretty reliable, as long as you are being accurate in what you input. For me at least, I need to stick to 1,200 calories in per day to lose weight. If I go over that, I don't lose weight or I lose super slowly. I find 1,200 calories to be pretty doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found MyFitnessPal to be pretty reliable, as long as you are being accurate in what you input. For me at least, I need to stick to 1,200 calories in per day to lose weight. If I go over that, I don't lose weight or I lose super slowly. I find 1,200 calories to be pretty doable.

+1. I also have to cut back to 1200 (or less) per day to lose weight. I did this 5 years ago and lost 40 pounds over the course of a year. Over the last year or so I’ve put a few pounds back on, so I’m back to paying close attention again for a while. If you have never done this, it sounds like an impossibly low number of calories, but I eat a wide variety of very healthy foods and it’s fine, really. I’ll admit it makes me feel a bit “disordered” to be weighing and logging everything, but for me it’s the only thing that works, and it’s temporary until I’m back to my preferred weight and can shift back into maintenance mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One week isn’t close to enough time to have actionable information.

+1

You can not decipher anything after a week. You need to give it a full month. Weighing daily and tracking the overall trend.

Weight can easily fluctuate 2+ lbs even when you eat right. Real loss can get caught up in the noise if you only look at it for a week.

[Anonymous]

I think that even though you were trying to track exactly what you eat in a normal week over the last 6 months, you subconsciously ate just a little bit healthier this week (slightly smaller portions, one less bite or snack). And you likely didn't have any special occasion, holiday, big night out, etc. this week.

I think if you keep tracking 1500 - 1600 consistently for a few weeks, you'll see your weight slowly go down (maybe lose the 5 pounds in a month or two, or maybe over 6 months, but I bet it will happen). Use Happy Scale to track your weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just used MyFitnessPal to calculate my calories/macros for a normal week. I didn't make an effort to diet or change anything because I wanted to see where I was currently. I've gained about 5 pounds in the last 6 months.

What I found is that I'm naturally eating about 1500-1600 calories a day and working out (according to my apple watch and MFP app) gives me 200 calories credit most days. So I am netting 1300-1400 calories a day! That seems really low and I don't feel like I should have to stay under that to be a healthy weight. for the past decade I've been about 148-150 pounds and I'm 5'6". The weight gain has put me up to about 155 at 5'6". I'm 45 years old, female.

What do I do? Do I really need to cut calories further? My macros were a weekly average of 34% carbs, 46% fat, 20% protein. Is that the issue? My foods highest in fats were eggs and the good cheese I eat. I also eat one pat of real butter on my whole grain toast in the mornings.

Ugh . . .

Yeah, you need to cut calories. It's the unfortunate part of getting older. One truly needs less calories to maintain themselves.
there is no magic number. You might need to go down to 1200 or 1000
I have to eat around 800 cals a day to lose weight. I can't eat that much fat and have to really eat a ton of protien
I am not suffering from muscle loss, my doctor has no concerns. He was the one who told me that as we age we really need less calories than we think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just used MyFitnessPal to calculate my calories/macros for a normal week. I didn't make an effort to diet or change anything because I wanted to see where I was currently. I've gained about 5 pounds in the last 6 months.

What I found is that I'm naturally eating about 1500-1600 calories a day and working out (according to my apple watch and MFP app) gives me 200 calories credit most days. So I am netting 1300-1400 calories a day! That seems really low and I don't feel like I should have to stay under that to be a healthy weight. for the past decade I've been about 148-150 pounds and I'm 5'6". The weight gain has put me up to about 155 at 5'6". I'm 45 years old, female.

What do I do? Do I really need to cut calories further? My macros were a weekly average of 34% carbs, 46% fat, 20% protein. Is that the issue? My foods highest in fats were eggs and the good cheese I eat. I also eat one pat of real butter on my whole grain toast in the mornings.

Ugh . . .

Yeah, you need to cut calories. It's the unfortunate part of getting older. One truly needs less calories to maintain themselves.
there is no magic number. You might need to go down to 1200 or 1000
I have to eat around 800 cals a day to lose weight. I can't eat that much fat and have to really eat a ton of protien
I am not suffering from muscle loss, my doctor has no concerns. He was the one who told me that as we age we really need less calories than we think.

This is insane and only true if you have been on seveer calorie restriction your whole life or if you are completely, 100% sedentary. Your body could not even function on that number.