Saddened

The heading doesn't really apply but...

I am not a super active person but I am not completely sedentary either so I am using the moderate activity level for my calorie intake.

Using this heading I am allowed to eat as much as 1900 calories per day. I think that is too much so 99% of the time I only eat 1600 or below.

I am very disappointed - within the last week or so I have gone over 1600 twice and 1900 once!!!!

I did add walking on the treadmill to my activities though.

The exercise number is always higher than the calorie intake so I guess I'm ok

Hope I can do better.

I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow - my albumin/creatinin levels are a little high. While I'm at the doctors office I will get weighed. We'll see what happens........

As long as your exercise numbers remain higher than your calorie numbers, you"ll be fine. When I weigh on a Dr.'s scale I always weigh about 6 lbs. more than I do on my home scale first thing in the morning, so keep that in mind and dont get discouraged at your weight on the Dr.'s scale. Or at least subtract 5 lbs. for clothes, shoes, and anything you may have ate or drank before you got there. Good luck!

i agree with holfraz. My weight early in the morning is about 5 lbs less than my weight during other times of the day.

Just like you, even though i eat a lot, i would never meet my Required Daily Intake.

I realised that quality is more important than quantity.

I increased the good calories with moderate weight training ..and i feel good...

Good Luck....

I think one of the things you're doing right is logging all your food. You deserve a pat on the back for that! Always being aware of what you're eating will help you on your weight loss journey. You're doing an excellent job!

Hi, You look as though you have done very well so far. Only one thing I would consider if you think you've come to a bit of a halt is whether you should consider changing your settings to sedentary instead of moderate. I know that sedentary sounds so bad doesn't it with connotations of being a couch potato, but I chose sedentary for myself as realistically I sit at an office desk for 8 hours and then after work spend most evenings at home.

Although I go dancing twice a week and fit in a long walk (3 miles) once a week and am fairly active I figure I can add these chunks of activity to my exercise log as and when I do them.

I think maybe 1900 calories is a bit high if you haven't reached the weight you are aiming for yet, but probably fine for maintenance.

All the best. A

I would definitely try to drop down to 1600 and leave that as your high. If you are not that active, then chances are you are not burning as many calories as you think you are.

Just for a comparison: I am 37 y/o, 5'0", 134 lbs. I have lost 73 lbs over the past 16 months. I am currently exercising 60-90 minutes daily - various activities such as zumba, HIIT, weight training, and cardio. I log 12,000-16,000 steps per day. I try to stay active most days and am on my feet Mon-Friday about 1/2 the work day. I only have couch time about 1 hour/day. I feel I am fairly active, but not as active as I could be. I have a bodymedia fit which I wear on my arm and it calculates my calories burned. It tells me that I am burning 2200 on a low activity day and 2600 on a high activity day (give or take 100 calories). On my low activity days, I am still on my feet quite a bit and still get over 10,000 steps and still at least 50 minutes of exercise - it's just not intense exercise and that is why I only burn 2200 calories on those days. I probably only burn 1800 calories a day if I sat on the couch all day.

I aim for a 1000 calorie deficit per day and usually hit that. I have been losing about 1 lb. per week. I eat about 1400-1500 calories per day. I rarely go over and occasionally I eat less.
I'm just giving you this info so you can compare. Everyone is different, but...

So, if you are not active, I would think you would have a hard time losing if you eat 1900 calories. You are probably not burning much more than that in a given day, unless you are really tall. As we age, things slow down and we don't need to eat as much as when we were 20. Keep that in mind. Eat more vegetables to fill you up and try to pick healthier foods - foods closer to their natural source and not as highly processed. Whole foods - fruits, veggies, unprocessed meats. Limit cheese and higher sodium foods.

I agree with the statements above, and would drop down to sedentary. Even though I consider myself moderatly active I picked sedentary as well. This is a trick I do where I underestiamate my exercise and get my food spot on, so even if I have a day where I only lay around I am still on track. I also make sure I log any major exercises, so I know if I need to add somemore healthy calories to balance out a hard workout or hike I can.

This is all good advice. I think I will also drop my activity level to sedentary as I work in an office all day but try to work out an hour 6 times a week. But I am not doing the walking pedometer thing so I know I have more room to improve.

When you are losing weight at a healthy rate, fluctuations are part of the process. Because you are properly logging your food and you are regularly exercising, you know you are doing the right things. There is no way that you are not losing weight. It may take a while for the scale to reflect that reality, but you are on a good track, so don't worry so much.

Also, don't sweat going a little over your RDI sometimes. That 1900 RDI is probably fine, but if you think you need to adjust down, keep in mind that if you drop your calorie intake too far down too quickly, you won't have any room to make changes if you hit a plateau. Also, if you eat too little, your body will resist your weight loss attempts because it will think you are in danger of starvation. The amount of food that is healthy to eat, even while you are trying to lose weight, is often more than popular culture would have you believe.

Assuming that you are eating at a healthy rate, I like to eat a little below my RDI, too, so that if I have a day or two where I eat too much, I still break more or less even. You don't have to eat perfectly everyday. Just keep tracking so that you can see week to week and month to month that you are staying within your proper limits. After you've been tracking for a while, you will see that occasional mistakes don't have much impact when your overall diet is good.

Make sure you are including proteins and healthy fats as well as fiber rich carbs in your diet more often than you don't and you have this thing aced.