I guess I have two questions:

Am I eating enough?
How many calories am I burning?

I started really tracking using The Daily Plate on February 10th. I am trying to be as accurate and honest as possible. I hate to give my stats because I'm embarrassed by how much I weigh, but here goes: I'm 5'11" and currently weigh 235. I lost my first 10 pounds fairly easily just by stopping going out to lunch and massively cutting back on diet Coke and beer (I indulge minimally on the weekend sometimes, but I count the beer calories when I have one). TDP says that, for a sedentary lifestyle, I should be shooting for 1749 calories a day. I'm just now realizing that my average is right around 1600, which doesn't sound too far off. However.....

....on to question 2. I'm not really "sedentary" anymore, as I am working out 3-4 times a week on an elliptical. I'm up to 24 minutes now, which is about 1.3 miles with a heart rate in the 120's. How many calories am I burning? TDP says that last ngiht's 24 minutes was 408 calories--is that really true? If I take TDP's word for it and I'm really burning as many as it says, then my daily calorie average is really more like 1459, which is pretty low for someone my size.

What do you all think? I know I'm throwing out a lot of numbers, but the scale hasn't really moved for a couple of weeks now. I have lost 1.5 inches off my waist and I'm feeling better so I'm not terribly discouraged, it's just that I'd like to have a scale reward!

I'm doing my best to make all my calories count. I've changed out ground beef for turkey, have cut out things like donuts, potato chips, cookies in exchange for apples, oranges, yogurt, etc. So I think I'm on the right track; I just want some ACTION on the scales! LOL!

I don't think 1450 is too low for someone your size, it sounds pretty perfect, actually. Personally, I've been trying to eat under 1500 since I was in the 250s, and I generally lose 1-2 pounds per week. I think if you stick to 1450, eventually you should start losing again.

As far as the exercise goes, it sounds like what you're doing is a bit too light for your body. A heart rate of 120 is, for most people, very very light exercise. Earlier this year, my heart rate would easily go to 120 just by walking at a slow to normal speed (1.5-2mph). Are you sure the heart rate monitor is correct? 400 calories in 24 minutes? I don't think this is correct, it's probably more like 200-400 calories in an hour of that exercise. As you keep going with the exercise, you'll be able to burn more and more calories- for the time being, though, I think you should push yourself until your heartrate is at least around 140-150, or ask your doctor what it should be if you have health risks.

Your lack of loss also might be because of that time of the month- the week before my TOM, I usually lose nothing at all. For some people, it can be the week of, the week after, or all of the above. When you get to the right part of your cycle, however, the water weight comes off, and you can see that you had been losing fat all along.

Good luck!

No, I'm not sure that the heart rate monitor is correct. I know that my heart is beating way faster than if I walked a slow to normal speed, though! I can walk 2 miles (part of it up a very steep hill) in around 30-35 minutes and it doesn't feel nearly as difficult as 24 minutes on the elliptical and I'm not breathing nearly as hard when I walk as when I'm on the elliptical. I do doubt the 400 calories burned number that TDP gives, though, because that seems like an awfully high payoff for a mere 24 minutes of cardio.

A heart rate calculator that I found online says that, for my age and average level of fitness that my target heart rate when working out should be between 104 and 138. Since I was at 130 for part of my workout (not all of it!), I think that's pretty good but I can see where stepping it up a level would be more beneficial. Maybe it's time to up the resistance and/or the incline again.

My suggestion would be that you set your TDP for your current level of exercise and eat at the calorie level it tells you. Stay with this for at least 2 weeks, and a month would be better.

I'm 5'3" and 153 pounds, and in the last 2 weeks I've lost 4 pounds (down from 157) by increasing my average daily calories to above 1500, as was recommended by my new trainer. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week at the gym. I was trying to use the "sedentary" setting on FitDay and then add in estimated exercise calories, but I ended up not eating enough, evidently, and couldn't lose and was having trouble staying on plan.

Jay

Thanks Jay, I'll give that a try. I was reluctant to change the activity level because I literally sit at a desk all day long. My committment for March is to do some kind of activity (elliptical, walking, resistance bands) six days a week so you're right; it's time to change that activity level!